Patent ID: 8512304

Claim:
An absorbent article, comprising: a chassis having a front waist region, a rear waist region, a crotch region, a front waist band associated with said front waist region and a rear waist band associated with said rear waist region and said chassis made of substantially non-stretchable material and being liquid-impermeable in at least said crotch region; an absorbent structure extending along a longitudinal direction of the absorbent article from said crotch region into said front and rear waist regions; first elastic elements attached to said chassis, extending only in the front and rear waist regions in a cross-body direction of the absorbent article outside of opposite side edges of said absorbent structure and crossing an absorbent structure region occupied by said absorbent structure in the cross-body direction, wherein the cross-body direction is orthogonal to the longitudinal direction; and second elastic elements bonded only to the front and rear waist regions and configured to extend along a leg of the wearer in such a manner that the second elastic elements do not extend into the crotch region, wherein an elongation percentage of the first elastic elements is lower in said absorbent structure region as well as in first side regions laterally adjacent to and outside at least respective ones of said opposite side edges of said absorbent structure region in the cross-body direction, and is higher in second side regions laterally adjacent to and outside at least respective ones of said first side regions in the cross-body direction, and said elongation percentage gradually increases in the cross-body direction from each first side region toward each second side region.