The present invention relates to a disposable pants-type diaper and more particularly to such a pants-type diaper facilitating side edges of a crotch region to be held in close contact about the wearer's legs.
There are conventionally well known disposable diapers including elastic members arranged in a stretched state to the side edges of the crotch region in the diaper so as to extend about the wearer's legs. Upon contraction, these elastic members function to put the side edges of the crotch region in close contact about the respective legs and thereby to prevent bodily fluids from leaking beyond leg-openings.
For example, National Publication of Translated Version No. 1997-510385 (REFERENCE) discloses an open-type diaper wherein a liquid-pervious inner casing sheet covering an absorbent structure is provided on the side of its inner surface with a pair of flaps. These flaps are symmetrically laid about a longitudinal center line of the diaper and bonded to the inner casing sheet along the side edges of the diaper. Sections of the flaps transversely extending toward the longitudinal center line are connected with each other in the crotch region. These flaps are spaced from each other in front and behind the crotch region to define an opening adapted for passage of urine and an opening adapted for passage of feces. These flaps respectively include elastic strings extending in a back-and-forth direction along peripheral edges of the respective openings and attached in a stretched state to the respective flaps. Upon the contraction of the elastic strings, the diaper is deformed in the back-and-forth direction as well as in the transverse direction. Deformation in the transverse direction biases the side edges of the diaper to come in close contact about the wearer's legs and thereby serves to prevent possible leakage of bodily fluids about the wearer's legs.
With the conventional diapers as have been described above, if urine and/or feces flows on the flaps instead of flowing through the associated openings and being absorbed by the absorbent structure as expected, such body waste would miss out on a chance to come in contact with the absorbent structure, resulting in problems that the wearer's skin would be soiled with body waste and/or leakage of body waste would occur about the wearer's legs.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds