Disposable Undergarment With Absorption Pad

Abstract

A disposable waist-supported garment to be worn next to the skin, e.g., panty, bikini, crotch guard, men's supporter, the garment optionally including an integral absorbent crotch pad. The garment is made of a nonwoven (e.g., paper or paperlike) material with a sufficient amount of thermoplastic material such as polyester or polyethylene sprayed or otherwise incorporated into it so that the component parts of the garment can be heat-formed and heat-sealed, with the edges at the leg and waist portions V-crimped to form a ribbed edge effect with is sufficiently stretchable to sit securely against the body of the user. The chief contemplated uses for such garments are for menstrual use, incontinence, baby diapers, etc.

Description

This invention relates to a disposable undergarment of the type which is waist-supported and covers the crotch area, and contains a moisture-absorbing crotch pad suitable for menstrual use, incontinence, etc. Such garments can be made at a small fraction of the cost of garments made of woven fabric, and can be readily disposed of after a single use, since they can be sold at a cost comparable to the expense of laundry washing of ordinary garments. It will therefore be apparent that low cost is an essential feature of the garment, and this is obtained both by the elimination of the costly fabric material, and because the garment can be entirely machine-fabricated without any need for sewing. This is achieved by diecutting the components parts of the garment to shape and at the same time crimping the edge portions for elasticity and stretch, after which the component parts of the garment can be united or combined by heat sealing, also as an entirely automatic mechanical process. Prior to assembly of the component parts, a mass of absorbent material may be applied to the crotch area, which can also readily be done automatically, so that the entire garment will be entirely machine-made and can therefore be sold at a very low cost. Since in any garment of this type, the moisture-absorbing pad must be disposed of after each use of the garment, the throwaway principle is particularly adaptable to this type of combined garment. The garment may be provided in suitable colors, and suitable designs may be incorporated onto its surface by printing methods, to provide a variety of attractive effects.

The specific nature of the invention, as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a lady's panty according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows the garment of FIG. 1 after cutting and before assembly;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a crotch pad;

FIG. 5 is a developed view of the garment of FIG. 4 before assembly;

FIG. 6 shows a bikini-type undergarment after cutting and before assembly;

FIG. 7 is a top view of the garment of FIG. 6; and

FIGS. 8--11 show a men's undergarment and a method of making it.

Referring to FIGS. 1--3, which show a lady's panty made up in accordance with the invention, the panty 2 can be formed from a single piece of material which can be die-cut while flat in the configuration shown in FIG. 2 to form a front side 3 and a back side 4 with two generally semicircular notches as shown at 6 and 7, to form the leg openings. At the same time, or by subsequent operation, the edges are crimped as indicated at 8 and 9 to form the waist band, and at 6 and 7 to form the leg openings, so that both the waist and leg openings will be stretchable within required limits so as to fit closely to the body of the wearer. This crimping may be of any desired form which will impart stretchability to this portion, and may include creping or V-crimping with the V-groove in the order of one-sixteenth--three thirty-seconds of an inch in depth between crests, to form a ribbing sufficiently wide for the purpose, in the order of one-half--three-fourths of an inch. To add further strength to the ribbing, it may be formed of a double (or more) thickness of the material, particularly at the waist portion, where maximum strength is required, by folding over the edges 8 and 9 prior to crimping to form a multiple thickness material around the waist. The same may be done at the leg portions if desired. In the larger sizes, it may be considered necessary to float in an elastic thread to aid in fit while allowing maximum ease of the garment and a tight seam seal.

While the material as shown in FIG. 2 is still flat, the absorption pad 11 may be applied to the crotch area, which may be of any form commonly used for menstrual pads, and preferably includes an absorbent portion 12 (FIG. 3), a porous cover portion 13, and an impervious backing portion 14. For lowest cost of garment and pad useage, the pad may be applied as needed, attaching it to the crotch of the garment by an adhesive mass formed integrally with the pad. The pad is preferably permanently secured to the crotch by a suitable adhesive, or by heat sealing, etc. The pad may be flush-disposable as shown in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 671,769 of Phyllis M. Larson. The side edges of the precut material shown in FIG. 2 may also at this time be treated with a suitable adhesive along the edges 16a, 16b, and 17a, 17b. Alternatively heat-sealing may be used to adhere edge 16b to 16a and edge 17b to edge 17a. At this point, the sheet is folded at the crotch portion so that edges 16a and 16b coincide as do edges 17a and 17b, and then these edges are joined together in any suitable fashion, as by adhesive or heat-sealing, to complete the garment. Suitable machinery for accomplishing this operation is well known, for example in the paper- or plastic-bag forming art. A flat seal is preferred, so that it lies flat in the plane of the garment, rather than protruding therefrom, and instead of a simple overlap, the seal may be formed by an overlapping fold in one edge engaging one or more folds in the other edge, in order to form a stronger side seal if desired. Alternatively, the pad 11 can be removably attached in place by a tacky adhesive, so that when the pad is saturated, it can be removed and disposed of by flushing, and another similar pad used with the same garment. Alternatively, a paper pocket can be provided in the crotch portion for the insertion of sanitary pad 11, the construction in this respect being similar to that shown in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 651,760 of Phyllis M. Larson.

Alternatively, for emergency insertion without removing a panty girdle, a crotch pad made primarily of paper is provided as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In this case, the sanitary pad portion 21 is retained by a paper crotch strip 22, which is provided at its ends with suitable tapes or ties 23, 24, which may be essentially strings which can be tied together, or which may be provided at their extended ends with tacky adhesive with suitable coverstrips, as in well known adhesive plasters (Curado, Band-Aids) or disposable diapers so that they can be quickly adjusted to the waist of the user without showing any knots or lumps. In this case the pad can be inserted without removing a panty girdle or other garment worn by the user, and fastened securely in place for emergency use.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show a bikini-type undergarment made up on the same principle, the differences being only in design and appearance of the garment. In this case, it is preferred to fasten the garment ties 33, 34, by flat sticky adhesive, whereby the garment can be closely adjusted to the body with no knots or bulky seams.

FIGS. 8--11 show an undergarment for men made in accordance with the same principle, and which may or may not include a pad for incontinence. In this case, the problem is to provide a pouch at the crotch portion of the garment, the waist and leg portions being made as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The crotch portion 31 is formed by crimping and stretching the paper, to form a suitable pouch provided with vertical ribs or V-crimped grooves as indicated at 32 so that the pouch portion is readily capable of stretching up to 50 percent, to give the supporter sufficient "comeback" when in use under action. The edge ribbing is made as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the crotch ribbing is both deeper and longer than the edge ribbing to provide the desired elasticity.

One method of making the men's support-type garment is shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. After the crotch ribbing has been formed as in FIG. 9, threads 41 are laid vertically on the inner side of the crotch pouch as shown in FIG. 10. These are elastic threads of Spandex or similar memory material. On top of these threads, a second layer of paper, preferably meshed or crimped, is laid as shown in FIG. 11 and is spot sealed through the two layers as shown at 42, so that the Spandex threads are firmly held in place between the two layers of paper or paperlike material, after which the side seams of the garment can be joined to form the complete item.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact embodiment shown and that various modifications can be made in construction and arrangement within the scope of the invention.

Claims

I claim:

1. a. A disposable waist-supported undergarment of nonwoven porous fabric such as paper,

b. said fabric having a sufficient amount of thermoplastic material incorporated therein to enable the fabric to be heat-formed and heat sealed at joined edges,

c. said garment being formed of a single sheet of said fabric,

d. said garment having a waist-encircling portion,

e. the waist-encircling portion of said garment being heat-crimped in the form of a series of shallow V-shaped vertical corrugations to provide elasticity and stretch to the fabric,

f. said undergarment having side seams extending downward from the waist portion,

g. said side seams being joined edge portions of said single sheet,

h. said joined edge portions being heat-fused together at their engaged surfaces, by melting of said thermoplastic material,

i. said side seams lying flat along the sides of said garment.

2. a. A disposable waist-supported undergarment of nonwoven porous fabric such as paper,

b. said fabric having a sufficient amount of thermoplastic material incorporated therein to enable the fabric to be heat-formed and heat sealed at joined edges,

c. said garment being formed of a single sheet of said fabric,

d. said garment having a waist-encircling portion,

e. the waist-encircling portion of said garment being crimped to provide elasticity and stretch to the fabric,

f. said garment having a crotch portion in the form of a pouch,

g. said pouch having parallel crimped ribs laterally expansible under pressure of pouch contents to provide accommodation for said contents.

3. The invention according to claim 2,

h. said pouch having incorporated therein elastic threads to increase the elasticity and stretchability of the pouch.

4. The invention according to claim 3,

i. said elastic threads lying on the inner surface of said pouch, and

j. a layer of nonwoven material overlying said threads and adhered to the inner surface of said crotch portion.

5. The invention according to claim 4,

k. said layer being crimped for flexibility,

l. said layer being spot sealed to said pouch portion.

6. The invention according to claim 1,

j. the waist portion of said garment comprising at least two folded layers of said sheet fabric.

7. The invention according to claim 6,

k. said garment having two thigh-engaging leg portions, the edges of said thigh-engaging leg portions being crimped to provide elasticity and stretch to the fabric.

8. The invention according to claim 1,

j. said garment being of the bikini type with a crotch portion and a waist-belt portion,

k. said waist-belt portion having two halves jointed at two overlappingly adhered edge portions of said single sheet, and

l. a tacky separable adhesive removably joining said adhered edge portions.