Patent ID: 7288079

Claim:
A disposable diaper capable of being put on from either the front or the back of a wearer comprising: a liquid permeable topsheet, a liquid impermeable backsheet, a liquid retentive absorbent member interposed between the topsheet and the backsheet, said diaper having a pair of longitudinal side portions and a pair of longitudinal end sections, with each respective side portion and end section having a side edge, and a crotch section having two side edges being positioned between said pair of longitudinal end sections, with each of the crotch section's two side edges containing an arched side edge, a fastening tape provided on each respective side edge of each longitudinal end section, and each longitudinal side section of the diaper containing both a standing gather and a leg gather; provided that: a ratio of the minimum width W 1 of the crotch section of the diaper to a whole width W 2 of the longitudinal end section having the fastening tapes provided on each side edge thereof is from 0.30 to 0.75, the minimum width W 1 is in an area extending from a centerline across the diaper that divides a total length of the diaper in two equal halves toward both the longitudinal end sections thereof by ±10% of the total length of the diaper, and an area ratio of S 1 to S 2 is from 0.45 to 0.60, where S 1 is an area of a region surrounded by an imaginary straight line L 1 which passes through a midpoint P on one of the arched side edges of the crotch section of the diaper, in which the crotch section is divided into equal halves, an imaginary straight line L 2 which intersects with the line L 1 at right angles and passes through an end point Q of the arched side edge of the crotch section on a side of the crotch section nearest the longitudinal end section of the diaper having the fastening tapes provided on each side edge thereof, and the arched side edge of the crotch section, and S 2 is an area of a region surrounded by the line L 1 , the line L 2 , and an imaginary straight line L 3 which connects the midpoint P and the end point Q.