Patent ID: 7686792

Claim:
An absorbent article having a longitudinal direction and a lateral cross-direction, said article comprising a first pad section and a relatively smaller second pad section which is operatively joined to the first pad section; said first pad section including a first topsheet, a first backsheet, a first absorbent body located between said first topsheet and said first backsheet, and a first region of a first garment-attachment mechanism located on a garment-side surface of said first backsheet; said second pad section including a second topsheet, a second backsheet, a second absorbent body located between said second topsheet and said second backsheet, and a second region of a second garment-attachment mechanism located on a garment-side surface of said second backsheet; wherein said first pad section has a first longitudinal length and overlaps at least a portion of a bodyside surface of said second pad section; at least a portion of said first backsheet is configured to overlap at least an adjacent portion of a bodyside of said second topsheet; at least a portion of said first region of the first garment-attachment mechanism operatively attaches said first pad section to said second pad section; said first pad section overlaps said second pad section by an overlap length; said overlap length provides an overlap percentage defined by the following equation Overlap %=100%*(overlap length)÷(first longitudinal length) which is not more than about 60%; and said absorbent article has a total absorbent capacity, and said first absorbent body has an absorbent capacity which is at least about 55% of said total absorbent capacity wherein said absorbent article is a feminine care article; and wherein said second pad section can be selectively separated from said first pad section, and said second pad section can be independently employed as a second reduced-size feminine care article.