Patent ID: 7628777

Claim:
An absorbent article elongated to have longitudinally opposed front and rear edges and transversely opposed left and right edges, the absorbent article comprising a stack of: a backsheet having a liquid barrier effect; a liquid absorbent layer; a hydrophilic intermediate sheet including fibers; and a hydrophilic topsheet formed of a single sheet, wherein the absorbent article has a central region of a predetermined width, which is spaced apart from the left and right edges, the spaces between the central region and the left and right edges respectively defining left and right side regions outside of the central region; wherein each of the backsheet, liquid absorbent layer, intermediate sheet and topsheet extend across an entire width of the absorbent article, wherein a plurality of liquid passage holes are formed only in the central region and continuously extend from the opposed front and rear edges in a longitudinal direction of the absorbent article, each of the liquid passage holes continuously extend through the topsheet and the intermediate sheet, each of the liquid passage holes being aligned along a common axis through the topsheet and the intermediate sheet, and wherein each liquid passage hole is elongated longitudinally of the absorbent article to have a longitudinal dimension larger than a transverse dimension, and the longitudinal dimension of each liquid passage hole is gradually decreased as extending from a body surface of the topsheet to the intermediate sheet, wherein the topsheet and the intermediate sheet are bonded through a first adhesive layer which is applied in each of left and right side regions as a plurality of strips extending longitudinally and spaced apart from each other transversely, wherein the first adhesive layer for bonding the topsheet and the intermediate sheet is provided exclusively in the left and right side regions transversely outside the central region and having no liquid passage holes, and wherein the thickness of the absorbent article is no greater than 3 mm.