Patent ID: 7883497

Claim:
An absorbent article having a transverse direction, a longitudinal direction, a longitudinal centre axis extending in the longitudinal direction, and a direction of thickness, the article comprising: a liquid-permeable cover sheet arranged on an upper surface of the article, a backing sheet arranged on a lower surface of the article, and a folded absorbent structure enclosed between the liquid-permeable cover sheet and the backing sheet, having a transverse direction, a longitudinal direction, a longitudinal centre axis extending in the longitudinal direction, and a direction of thickness, the absorbent structure comprising a sheet, wherein at the time the absorbent structure is folded: the sheet is of uniform thickness, and defines, in the longitudinal direction, a middle portion and two opposite end portions and, in the transverse direction, a central portion and two opposite edge portions, and the edge portions in the middle portion of the sheet have a first mean pore size throughout the entire uniform thickness of the sheet and the central portion in the middle portion of the sheet has a second mean pore size throughout the entire uniform thickness of the sheet, the first mean pore size being greater than the second mean pore size, the absorbent structure being folded transversely in half along the longitudinal centre axis of the absorbent structure along the entire absorbent structure along the middle portion of the sheet, wherein an upper face of the edge portion in the middle portion of the sheet on one side of the longitudinal centre axis of the absorbent structure prior to folding and a corresponding upper face of the edge portion in the middle portion of the sheet on the other side of the longitudinal centre axis of the absorbent structure prior to folding are brought together when the absorbent structure is folded transversely in half to lie against one another at a plane of the longitudinal centre axis on an upper surface of the folded absorbent structure such that the edge portions of the sheet having the greater, first mean pore size form an area of the folded absorbent structure that during use receives liquid first before other areas of the folded absorbent structure and thus constitutes a liquid-receiving zone, the other areas of the folded absorbent structure including the central portion in the middle portion of the sheet having the lesser, second mean pore size which underlies the edge portions in the direction of thickness of the folded absorbent structure.