Disposable Diapers With Adhesive Fastening Tapes

Abstract

The disclosure concerns disposable diapers having fastening tapes featuring adhesive end portions extending beyond a release paper covering the remainder of the adhesive face of the tape, whereby the free end of the tape may be releasably attached, during manufacture or afterwards, to the diaper to hold this otherwise free end in place until it is to be used.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to disposable diapers and, more particularly, those having adhesive tape fastening means for securing the diaper about the waist of an infant.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Disposable diapers having adhesive tape fastening means are known in the art. Exemplary of such diapers and tapes are those shown in Duncan et al. U.S. Pat. No. Re. 26,161 and Asseo, French Pat. No. 1,359,810. As indicated by the Duncan et al. and Asseo patents, disposable diapers incorporating adhesive tapes for waist fastenings characteristically have comprised diapers with strips of tape attached at positions on the diaper corresponding to the waist of the infant on which the diaper is to be worn, such tapes being located to join the front and the rear portions of the diaper about the waist of the infant, which tapes have one end firmly attached to the diaper and have another end, one side of which is coated with adhesive and removably covered by a release paper prior to use. The end coated with adhesive and covered by a conventional release paper hangs freely from the diaper. When it is desired to use the diaper, it is placed about the infant in a conventional manner, the release paper is removed from the tapes and the tapes are pressed into place to fasten the waist portion of the diaper about the infant.

While articles of the type characterized by the Duncan et al and Asseo patents have met with some success, they also present certain problems. For example, the free end of the tape will hang loosely from the diaper prior to its use. Particularly if the tape is fairly long, this loose hanging of the free end is undesirable. It presents potential manufacturing difficulties during mechanical packaging of the diapers because the loose end can become entangled in the machinery. Moreover, the tapes themselves may become damaged or even torn off in handling prior to final usage of the diaper. Still further, the loose end is unsightly and thus unappealing to prospective purchasers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Basically, the disposable diaper of this invention comprises an absorbent pad having a water permeable facing surface and a backing surface which may be defined by a waterproof backing sheet with the lateral extremities of the backing sheet folded over the lateral extremities of the pad, and tape fastener means which further comprise a tape strip, one end of which is firmly secured to the backing surface, and the opposite end of which features an adhesive surface adjacent the backing sheet, this adhesive surface having a releasably attached covering means covering all of the adhesive surface except for an end marginal portion of exposed adhesive at the outer extremity of this opposite end of the tape strip.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disposable diaper with an adhesive tape strip for fastening the waist of the diaper, which tape strip is provided with means for holding the adhesive coated end releasably secured to the diaper until that end is pulled free by the final user.

It is another object of the invention to provide a means for releasably securing the adhesive-coated end of a disposable diaper fastening tape to the diaper during manufacture to facilitate mechanical processing and packaging of the diaper, to protect the fastening tape prior to its usage and to present a more pleasing appearance of the diaper unit.

These and additional objects of the invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof given in connection with the following drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the disposable diaper of this invention with the adhesive fastening tapes in the releasably secured configuration prior to final use.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2--2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of a disposable diaper of this invention with the adhesive tape freed from its releasably secured position prior to use; this view is shown partially in section.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 comprising a pair of adhesive fastening tape strips 1 attached to a disposable diaper 12. The diaper comprises an absorbent pad 2, preferably of non-directional, non-woven cellulose, with a waterproof backing sheet or outer covering 3, preferably of a flexible plastic material such as polyethylene, and a water permeable inner covering 4, preferably of non-woven rayon. The backing sheet 3 and the facing sheet 4 extend beyond the longitudinal extremities of the absorbent pad by approximately one inch and are bonded together, either adhesively or by heat sealing, at their respective longitudinal extremities 5. The backing sheet 3 is also sized to extend beyond the lateral extremities 6 of the absorbent pad and is then folded over the lateral extremities 6 or edges of the pad and is disposed to extend inwardly from these edges. The facing surface or inner covering 4 is sized to extend laterally approximately to the lateral extremities or outside edges of the absorbent pad 2; this inner covering 4 is disposed to overlie the inwardly folded portion of the backing sheet 3 and is bonded, either adhesively or by heat sealing, to the backing sheet 3 along this overlying portion.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show various features of the tape fastening structure with greater detail. The portion of the tape 1 positioned beneath the side portions on side flaps 7 of the diaper 12 is described as the first portion of the tape; the exposed end of the tape, visible in FIG. 1, is described as the second portion. The inner surface 8 of the first portion of the tape 1 is firmly secured to the impermeable covering 3 on the underside of the side flaps 7 of the diaper 12 by an adhesive or by heat sealing. Inner surface 8a of the tape 1, a continuation upon the second portion of the tape 1 of inner surface 8 of the first portion, is coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive 9. This adhesive coated surface 8a is provided with a release paper covering 10 which covers all of surface 8a except for a small end marginal portion 11, the adhesive surface of which end marginal portion is left exposed. The outer surface 13 of the tape is left free of any coating.

During the manufacturing processes, after the first portion of the tape has been firmly secured to the underside of the diaper side flap 7, the outer portion may be folded over the lateral extremities 6 and the upper surface of the diaper side flaps 7 and releasably secured in place by pressing the exposed adhesive coated end marginal of portion 11 against the upper surface of the diaper side flap 7. In this configuration, the adhesive fastening tape 1 is releasably held in position against the diaper 12, thus facilitating packaging of the diaper by eliminating the problem of loose tapes hainging outside the folds of the diaper, and also presenting a neater and more pleasing appearance for the product. Consequently, while the use of a release paper to cover the adhesive portions of a diaper fastening tape is old in the art, this improvement of disposing the outer end of such release paper inwardly of the end marginal portion 11 of the adhesive diaper fastening tape provides substantial new benefits.

At such time as the diaper is to be used, the releasably secured end marginal portion 11 of the tape 1 may easily be pulled free from its secured configuration by slight finger pressure applied to lift the outer portion of the tape 1 away from the upper surface of the diaper side flap 7. The tape 1 will then be in the position shown in FIG. 3, such that the release paper 10 may then be peeled from the adhesive surface 8a thus exposing the full adhesive surface for use in fastening the diaper about the waist of the wearer in the conventional manner. Preferably, the marginal adhesive end of the tape is releasably secured to the surface of the water permeable facing sheet which desirably has a surface to which the adhesive will only lightly adhere so that it can be easily pulled free without substantially weakening the adhesive for subsequent use.

As will be evident, the structure of this invention may be used in conjunction with diaper fastening adhesive tapes of various types. For example, the adhesive fastening tape may be disposed such that it could be folded over any outer extremity of the diaper, lateral or longitudinal, and these tapes may be fabricated of cloth, rubber, plastic, or other suitable material and may be elastic or inelastic or may have an elastic section disposed between the firmly secured inner portion and an inelastic adhesive outer portion of the tape, such elastic section being coated with adhesive or not. The release paper used with this invention may be any conventional release material -- paper, cloth, or other suitable material usually treated with wax or other substance in a known manner so that the adhesive will only lightly adhere thereto. While two tape fasteners are shown in the preferred embodiment, clearly one extended tape fastener or more than two tape fasteners could be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

It is recognized that other modifications of the invention will occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the invention is to be limited solely by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Claims

I claim:

1. A disposable diaper comprising

an absorbent pad having a backing surface and a water permeable facing surface, and

tape fastener means comprising

a tape strip having an inner surface and an outer surface, the inner surface of a first end portion of said tape strip being firmly secured to said backing surface, the inner surface of a second end portion of said tape strip being adhesive, and

covering means overlying and releasably attached to said adhesive inner surface of said second end portion, said covering means being disposed inwardly of the outer end of said second end portion to leave exposed an end marginal portion of said adhesive surface.

2. The disposable diaper of claim 1 wherein said second end portion of said tape strip is folded over an outer extremity of said disposable diaper and is releasably secured in place.

3. The disposable diaper of claim 1 wherein the first end of siad tape strip is secured near a longitudinal extremity of said pad and extends outwardly from a lateral extremity of said pad, said second end portion of said tape strip being folded inwardly around said lateral extremity and secured by means of said exposed adhesive marginal end portion.

4. The disposable diaper of claim 3 wherein said tape fastening means includes a pair of said tape strips extending outwardly from the opposite lateral extremities of said pad and said adhesive is a pressure sensitive adhesive.

5. The disposable diaper of claim 4 wherein said water permeable facing surface is defined by a water permeable sheet overlying said pad and said marginal end portions are releasably secured to said water permeable sheet.

6. The disposable diaper of claim 4 wherein said backing surface is defined by a waterproof backing sheet underlying said pad and having lateral extremities folded over the lateral extremities of said pad.