CN106163477B

CN106163477B - Pants-type absorbent article

Info

Publication number: CN106163477B
Application number: CN201580018868.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 栗田典之
Original assignee: Eunija Co Ltd
Current assignee: Eunija Co Ltd
Priority date: 2014-04-10
Filing date: 2015-03-19
Publication date: 2019-12-31
Anticipated expiration: 2035-03-19
Also published as: JP6393503B2; JP2015198873A; WO2015156098A1; PH12016501821A1; MY170893A; PH12016501821B1; CN106163477A

Abstract

The disclosed device is provided with: an outer cover member having an outer sheet and an inner sheet and divided into a front side portion, a back side portion, and a crotch portion; an absorbent main body which absorbs excrement; a plurality of waist elastic members joined between the outer sheet and the inner sheet in the transverse direction and capable of imparting stretchability in the transverse direction to the outer covering member; and a plurality of leg hole elastic members joined between the outer sheet and the inner sheet along a leg hole opening portion, the outer cover member being capable of being given stretchability along the leg hole opening portion, welding portions for welding the back side portion and the abdominal side portion of the outer cover member being formed at both end portions in the transverse direction, the waist hole elastic members and the leg hole elastic members being joined to each other so as to intersect each other in a region on the inner side in the transverse direction than the welding portions, and a stress of the leg hole elastic members at the welding portions being smaller than a stress of the leg hole elastic members in a region on the inner side in the transverse direction than the welding portions.

Description

Pants-type absorbent article

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a pants-type absorbent article.

Background

There is generally known a pants-type disposable diaper formed by folding an outer cover member of the diaper in the vicinity of a longitudinal center portion and welding and joining both side regions. In such a pants-type disposable diaper, by joining an elastic member such as a string rubber to the outer cover member in an extended state, stretchability is imparted to the outer cover member, and good fitting properties can be obtained when the diaper is worn. In connection with this, patent document 1 discloses the following technique: when manufacturing a diaper, an elastic member is divided in advance in a side region of the diaper, and then welded in this region. According to such a diaper, the elastic member does not exert the stretching force in the welded side region, and the outer cover member does not contract any more, so that a welded portion having a sufficient welding strength is easily formed.

Prior art documents

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open No. 2013-126527

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In the method of patent document 1, since the scraps of the divided elastic member remain in the side region of the diaper, the appearance of the side region may be deteriorated. In contrast, the following methods are conceivable: the elastic member is cut at 1 part of the end region of the diaper without dividing the elastic member, and the elastic member is contracted inward in the lateral direction of the diaper, thereby making the stretchability in the side region ineffective and preventing the elastic member from remaining in the region of debris or the like.

However, in such a method, when the elastic member is cut and contracted, the joint portion between the outer package member of the diaper and the elastic member is peeled off, and the elastic member may be detached from the diaper. In particular, in the leg hole elastic members provided along the leg hole openings of the diaper, a large stretching force acts, and therefore the leg hole elastic members are highly likely to be separated from the diaper by the momentum of contraction.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a pants-type diaper in which welded portions of side portions are aesthetically pleasing and leg-surrounding elastic members are less likely to come off.

Means for solving the problems

A main aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is a pants-type absorbent article having a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction intersecting the longitudinal direction, the pant-type absorbent article comprising: an outer cover member that has an outer sheet positioned on the garment side of a wearer and an inner sheet superposed on the outer sheet from the skin side of the wearer, and that is divided into a stomach-side portion covering the stomach side of the wearer when the pants-type absorbent article is worn, a back-side portion covering the back side of the wearer, and a crotch portion covering the crotch of the wearer; an absorbent main body that is superposed on the inner side sheet from the skin side of the wearer and joined to the inner side sheet to absorb excrement; a plurality of waist elastic members joined between the outer sheet and the inner sheet in the transverse direction at the stomach-side portion and the back-side portion, and capable of providing stretchability in the transverse direction to the outer cover member; and a plurality of leg-surrounding elastic members joined between the outer sheet and the inner sheet along leg-surrounding openings of the pants-type absorbent article at the front and back side portions, the outer cover member being capable of providing stretchability along the leg-surrounding openings, the outer cover member having welding portions formed at both ends in the transverse direction and joining the back and front side portions of the outer cover member so as to intersect with each other at regions inward in the transverse direction than the welding portions, the leg-surrounding elastic members being joined at the welding portions with a stress lower than that of the leg-surrounding elastic members at regions inward in the transverse direction than the welding portions.

Other features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

Effects of the invention

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a pants-type diaper in which welded portions of side portions are aesthetically pleasing and leg-surrounding elastic members are less likely to come off.

Drawings

Fig. 1A is a plan view of the disposable diaper 1 in an unfolded state. FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view B-B of FIG. 1A.

Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the diaper 1 formed in a pants-type configuration.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a diaper manufacturing apparatus 100 for manufacturing the diaper 1.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the flow of the respective steps performed in the production of the diaper 1.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating a case where the base material of the diaper 1 is conveyed in the conveyance direction.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating a portion where a bonding region is formed.

Fig. 7A and 7B are views illustrating the arrangement of the leg hole elastic member 8L.

Fig. 8 is a view illustrating a state in which the base material of the folded diaper 1 is transported.

Fig. 9 is a diagram for explaining a case where the elastic member is cut in the elastic member cutting step (S107).

Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating the seal block 731.

Fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating a welded portion formed in the welding step (S108).

Fig. 12 is a view for explaining the arrangement of the leg elastic members 8L and the waist elastic members 8F in the vicinity of the side regions of the diaper 1.

Fig. 13 is a view showing a region where the waist elastic member 8F is cut at the widthwise central portion of the diaper 1.

Detailed Description

At least the following matters will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

A pants-type absorbent article having a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction intersecting the longitudinal direction, comprising: an outer cover member that has an outer sheet positioned on the garment side of a wearer and an inner sheet superposed on the outer sheet from the skin side of the wearer, and that is divided into a stomach-side portion covering the stomach side of the wearer when the pants-type absorbent article is worn, a back-side portion covering the back side of the wearer, and a crotch portion covering the crotch of the wearer; an absorbent main body that is superposed on the inner side sheet from the skin side of the wearer and joined to the inner side sheet to absorb excrement; a plurality of waist elastic members joined between the outer sheet and the inner sheet in the transverse direction at the stomach-side portion and the back-side portion, and capable of providing stretchability in the transverse direction to the outer cover member; and a plurality of leg-surrounding elastic members joined between the outer sheet and the inner sheet along leg-surrounding openings of the pants-type absorbent article at the front and back side portions, the outer cover member being capable of providing stretchability along the leg-surrounding openings, the outer cover member having welding portions formed at both ends in the transverse direction and joining the back and front side portions of the outer cover member so as to intersect with each other at regions inward in the transverse direction than the welding portions, the leg-surrounding elastic members being joined at the welding portions with a stress lower than that of the leg-surrounding elastic members at regions inward in the transverse direction than the welding portions.

According to such a pants-type absorbent article, it is possible to realize a pants-type diaper in which welded portions of side portions are aesthetically pleasing and in which leg-surrounding elastic members are less likely to come off.

In the above-described pant-type absorbent article, it is preferable that at least a part of the plurality of leg-surrounding elastic members intersect with two or more different waist elastic members of the plurality of waist elastic members.

According to such a pants-type absorbent article, even when the bonded portions between the outer sheet (inner sheet) and the leg elastic members are peeled off, the leg elastic members are prevented from contracting at the intersections where the leg elastic members intersect with the waist elastic members, and therefore the leg elastic members are less likely to be separated from the outer sheet (inner sheet).

In the above-described pant-type absorbent article, it is preferable that all of the leg elastic members of the plurality of leg elastic members intersect with two or more different waist elastic members of the plurality of waist elastic members.

According to such a pants-type absorbent article, even when the bonded portions between the outer sheet (inner sheet) and the leg elastic members are peeled off, the contraction of the leg elastic members is prevented at the intersection portions where the leg elastic members intersect with the waist elastic members, and therefore all the leg elastic members are less likely to be separated from the outer sheet (inner sheet).

In the pants-type absorbent article, it is preferable that the leg elastic members be disposed closer to the inner side panel than the waist elastic members at portions where the leg elastic members intersect with the waist elastic members.

According to such a pants-type absorbent article, since the leg-surrounding elastic members are disposed at positions separated from the non-skin side sheet provided on the non-skin side of the wearer, the impact generated when the non-skin side sheet rubs against the clothing of the wearer or the like is less likely to be transmitted to the leg-surrounding elastic members. This makes it difficult for the bonded portions of the leg hole elastic members to peel off, and the leg hole elastic members are more difficult to separate.

In the above-described pant-type absorbent article, it is preferable that the leg elastic members are joined to the inner panel or the outer panel and then the waist elastic members are joined to overlap with the leg elastic members.

In the pants-type absorbent article, it is preferable that an adhesive is applied to at least one of the leg elastic members and the waist elastic member.

According to such a pants-type absorbent article, since the amount of adhesive increases at the portions where the leg elastic members and the waist elastic members intersect with each other, the leg elastic members can be more strongly bonded to each other and can be made less likely to separate from each other. In addition, since the step of applying the adhesive and the step of disposing the elastic member can be performed at the same time when the diaper is manufactured, the manufacturing process and the manufacturing apparatus can be simplified easily.

In the above-described pant-type absorbent article, it is preferable that at least one of the leg elastic members and the waist elastic member is an elastic sheet member having a predetermined width.

According to such a pants-type absorbent article, the area of the intersecting portion between the waist elastic member and the leg elastic member can be increased. This more firmly fixes the waist elastic member and the leg elastic members, and thus makes it more difficult for the leg elastic members to be detached.

In the pants-type absorbent article, it is preferable that a part of the waist elastic member has one or more cut portions at the widthwise central portion.

According to such a pants-type absorbent article, since the lateral expansion and contraction force of the region where the absorbent main body is joined can be weakened, the absorbent main body can be prevented from being excessively contracted and from being narrowed in width, and leakage of excrement from the side region of the absorbent main body to the outside can be prevented in this portion.

In the above-described pant-type absorbent article, it is preferable that at least one of the outer side sheet and the inner side sheet is formed with a bonding region to which the leg hole elastic member is bonded, and the bonding region has a region that does not overlap with the welded portion in the transverse direction.

According to such a pants-type absorbent article, the component of the adhesive applied to the adhesive region is less likely to adhere to the weld forming device. This can prevent the number of times of maintenance of the weld forming device from increasing or prevent continuous diaper production from being hindered.

Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings

< basic Structure of diaper 1 >

First, as an example of the absorbent article according to the present embodiment, a basic structure of a pants-type disposable diaper (hereinafter, also referred to as a diaper 1) will be described. Fig. 1A is a plan view of the diaper 1 in an unfolded state, and fig. 1B is a sectional view B-B in fig. 1A. Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the diaper 1 formed in a pants-type configuration.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the diaper 1 has a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction which is a direction intersecting the longitudinal direction, and a thickness direction which is a direction intersecting the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction. Further, the present invention includes, as its constituent components: an outer cover member 10 having an outer sheet 5 positioned on the clothing side of a wearer and an inner sheet 7 superposed and joined to the outer sheet 5 from the skin side of the wearer in the thickness direction; the liquid-absorbent main body 3 is superposed on and joined to the inner sheet 7 from the skin side of the wearer in the thickness direction, and absorbs excrement such as urine. The outer sheet 5 and the inner sheet 7 are flexible sheet members having stretchability, and are formed of, for example, nonwoven fabric. Further, as shown in fig. 1B, the longitudinal length of the outer sheet 5 is longer than the longitudinal length of the inner sheet 7, and in the diaper 1 in the developed state, the outer sheet 5 is folded back at the longitudinal end edge portion 10e to cover the longitudinal end region of the absorbent main body 3. In the following description, the outer sheet 5 and the inner sheet 7 overlapped with the outer sheet 5 will be collectively referred to as an outer cover member 10.

The outer package member 10 has an outer shape of the diaper 1 in a developed state, and a planar shape thereof is substantially hourglass-shaped (see fig. 1A). That is, the outer cover member 10 (the outer sheet 5 and the inner sheet 7) has a shape in which both lateral end edges are recessed inward in the lateral direction at the longitudinal center portion. The outer cover member 10 is divided in the longitudinal direction into a stomach-side portion 10A that covers the abdomen of the wearer, a crotch portion 10B that covers the crotch of the wearer, and a back-side portion 10C that covers the back of the wearer. Then, the diaper 1 is folded in two from the unfolded state with the substantially central position in the longitudinal direction being the folded position, and the lateral end portion 10ae of the abdomen-side portion 10A and the lateral end portion 10ce of the back-side portion 10C are joined (sealed), whereby the waist opening 1hB and the pair of leg-hole openings 1hL and 1hL are formed as shown in fig. 2. As shown in fig. 2, the joined lateral end portion 10ae and lateral end portion 10ce form the lateral end portion 10s of the diaper 1.

The absorbent main body 3 is substantially rectangular in plan view, and is disposed at the center in the lateral direction of the diaper 1 with its longitudinal direction along the longitudinal direction of the diaper 1. The shape of the absorbent main body 3 need not be rectangular as shown in fig. 1A, but may be, for example, a substantially hourglass shape such as the outer cover member 10. The absorbent body 3 has: an absorbent body 3d that absorbs and retains liquid; a liquid-permeable top sheet 3s that covers the absorbent body 3d from the skin side of the wearer and allows passage of excrement such as urine; a liquid-impermeable back sheet 3b formed of a film or the like for covering the absorbent body 3d from the non-skin side and preventing liquid leakage from the non-skin side. The absorbent body 3d is formed by molding liquid absorbent fibers such as pulp fibers into a predetermined shape such as a substantially rectangular parallelepiped, and a super absorbent polymer is mixed in the inside thereof. Note that the absorbent body 3d may be covered with tissue paper. Further, a three-dimensional gather portion (leak-proof gather) for preventing side leakage may be provided at each of the lateral edges of the absorbent main body 3.

Further, a plurality of elastic members 8B, 8F, 8L … made of wire rubber or the like are interposed between the outer sheet 5 and the inner sheet 7 at appropriate positions of the outer covering member 10. These elastic members 8B, 8F, 8L … impart stretchability to the diaper 1. For example, a plurality of waist elastic members 8B and 8B are provided in the transverse direction at the respective longitudinal end edges 10e and 10e of the exterior member 10 (the edge 10e serving as the waist opening 1hB in the stomach-side portion 10A and the edge 10e serving as the waist opening 1hB in the back-side portion 10C). These waist elastic members 8B, 8B are partially bonded and fixed to the outer panel 5 and the inner panel 7 in a state of being stretched in the transverse direction, thereby imparting stretchability to the waist opening 1hB which is each of the end edge portions 10e, 10 e. Similarly, a plurality of waist elastic members 8F and 8F … are provided in the transverse direction at positions on the longitudinal center side of the arrangement position of the waist elastic members 8B. These waist elastic members 8F and 8F … are partially bonded and fixed to the outer panel 5 and the inner panel 7 in a state of being stretched in the transverse direction, thereby imparting stretchability in the transverse direction to each portion between each waist opening 1hB and the longitudinal center position.

Further, a plurality of leg hole elastic members 8L, 8L … are provided on the edge portions 10eL, 10eL serving as the leg hole openings 1hL of the respective end edges of the outer cover member 10 in the lateral direction. These leg hole elastic members 8L, 8L … are partially bonded and fixed to the outer sheet 5 and the inner sheet 7 in a state of being stretched along the edge portions 10eL, 10 eL. That is, as shown in fig. 1A, the leg hole elastic members 8L, 8L … are held by the outer package member 10 in a state of being elongated in the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction. This imparts stretchability to the outer covering member 10 along the edge portions 10eL, 10eL which become the leg hole openings 1hL, 1 hL. The leg elastic members 8L are provided in a more stretched state than the waistline elastic members 8B and the waist elastic members 8F, and thereby can exhibit greater stretchability with respect to the leg openings 1 hL. By increasing the stretchability of the leg hole openings 1hL, the fit around the legs of the wearer can be improved when the diaper 1 is worn, and the occurrence of gaps between the legs of the wearer and the leg hole openings 1hL can be suppressed. This makes it possible to prevent problems such as leakage of excrement to the outside of the diaper 1 from the gaps between the legs of the wearer and the leg hole openings 1 hL.

< details of the structure of diaper 1 >

Next, a detailed structure of the diaper 1 of the present embodiment will be described with a method of manufacturing the diaper 1 interposed therebetween.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a diaper manufacturing apparatus 100 for manufacturing the diaper 1. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the flow of the respective steps performed when the diaper 1 is manufactured in the present embodiment. Diapers 1 are continuously manufactured by performing the steps indicated by S101 to S109 in fig. 4 using the diaper manufacturing apparatus 100.

The diaper manufacturing apparatus 100 (hereinafter, also simply referred to as the manufacturing apparatus 100) includes a conveyance mechanism 101, a bonding region forming mechanism 110, an elastic member arranging mechanism 120, a stacking mechanism 130, an absorbent body joining mechanism 140, a folding mechanism 150, and a cutting/welding mechanism 170 (see fig. 3).

The conveyance mechanism 101 is a mechanism for conveying the base material of the diaper 1 in a predetermined conveyance direction at a predetermined conveyance speed. Here, the "base material of the diaper 1" is a belt-like member formed by continuously connecting a plurality of outer sheets 5 (or inner sheets 7) in the lateral direction as shown in fig. 1A. Hereinafter, a band-shaped member formed by transversely continuously connecting the outer sheet 5 is referred to as an outer band-shaped member 15, and a band-shaped member formed by transversely continuously connecting the inner sheet 7 is referred to as an inner band-shaped member 17. The "conveyance direction" refers to a direction along the lateral direction of the outer package member 10 in fig. 1A. In addition, a direction intersecting with the conveying direction (i.e., a direction along the longitudinal direction of the outer jacket member 10) is referred to as an "intersecting direction".

The conveyance mechanism 101 includes a conveyance roller 101A that conveys the base material of the diaper 1 in the conveyance direction by rotating while sandwiching the base material in the thickness direction, and a support roller 101B that supports the conveyed base material. The conveying speed can be changed by changing the rotation speed of the conveying roller 101A. The arrangement and the number of the conveying rollers 101A and the support rollers 101B are determined based on the size and shape of the manufacturing apparatus 100. While the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17 are being conveyed in the conveyance direction by the conveyance mechanism 101 (S101), the processes in steps S102 to S109 are sequentially executed, thereby producing the diaper 1.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating a case where the base material of the diaper 1 is conveyed in the conveyance direction. Fig. 5 shows a case where the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17 are conveyed so as to sandwich the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L in a state where they are overlapped in the steps S101 to S104. In the following description, a method of overlapping the elastic members 8B, 8F, 8L or the inner belt-like member 17 with the outer belt-like member 15 to be conveyed is described, but the outer belt-like member 15 or the like may be overlapped with the inner belt-like member 17 to be conveyed.

The outer belt members 15 are conveyed in the conveyance direction in a state where the outer sheets 5 adjacent to each other in the conveyance direction (the lateral direction of the diaper 1) are connected at the cut portions CL. The cutting portion CL is a position to be used as a reference when the outer sheet 5 is cut from the outer tape-like member 15 in a cutting step (S109) to be described later. That is, the position where the cut line for cutting the outer cover member 10 of the diaper 1 from the belt-like member into individual pieces is formed is the portion which becomes the lateral end portion 10s of the diaper 1 when the diaper 1 is formed into a pants-type shape (see fig. 2). The cutting points CL are set at intervals (pitches) of P1 in the conveying direction. The interval P1 corresponds to the transverse length of the front and back portions 10A and 10C of the outer jacket member 10 before contraction.

When the outer tape-like member 15 passes through the adhesive region forming means 110 while being conveyed in the conveying direction by the conveying means 101, an adhesive is applied to a predetermined region. Thereby, the bonding region is formed on the surface of the outer tape member 15 (S102). Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating a portion where the bonding region is formed, and is an enlarged view of the region a in fig. 5. In fig. 6, the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L are disposed on the outer belt-like member 15, but in the present embodiment, the elastic members are disposed in the next step (S103), and the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L are not disposed yet when the adhesive is attached to the outer belt-like member 15 in the adhesive region forming step (S102).

The bonding region forming mechanism 110 includes a bonding agent applicator (not shown) capable of applying a bonding agent to a predetermined region on the outer belt-shaped member 15, and forms a bonding region by applying a bonding agent to a region indicated by a grid portion in fig. 6 so as to have a predetermined weight per unit area while the outer belt-shaped member 15 is conveyed in the conveying direction. As the adhesive for forming the adhesive region, for example, a hot-melt type adhesive is used. In the present embodiment, the adhesive is applied to both sides of the cut portion CL of the lower tape member 15 in the conveying direction, thereby forming a pair of adhesive regions HMA sandwiching the cut portion CL in the conveying direction. In the example shown in fig. 6, the shape of the bonding region HMA is a substantially rectangular shape elongated long in the crossing direction. The shape and size of the adhesive region HMA may be appropriately changed depending on the size of the diaper 1 and the type of the base material, but the size is set to a degree that the elastic members 8L and 8F can be firmly bonded and fixed to the adhesive region HMA. In addition, the region where the adhesive is applied is not only the adhesive region HMA of fig. 6. In fact, the adhesive agent is intermittently applied also to the inner region in the conveying direction (i.e., the region between the cutting portions CL and CL), whereby the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L can be bonded and fixed to the outer belt-like member 15 in the inner region in the conveying direction.

In the above description, the adhesive region HMA is formed on the outer belt-shaped member 15 side by attaching the adhesive to the outer belt-shaped member 15, but the adhesive region HMA may be formed on the inner belt-shaped member 17 side by attaching the adhesive to the inner belt-shaped member 17. Further, the adhesive agent may be attached to both the outer belt-shaped member 15 and the inner belt-shaped member 17 to form the adhesive region HMA on both sides.

After the bonding region HMA is formed, the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L are arranged by the elastic member arranging mechanism 120, respectively (S103). The elastic member arrangement mechanism 120 is arranged on the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the bonded region forming mechanism 110, and includes a conveyance direction elastic member arrangement portion 121 in which the waist elastic members 8B and the waist elastic members 8F are arranged in the conveyance direction, and a cross direction elastic member arrangement portion 122 in which the leg hole elastic members 8L are arranged along the positions where the leg hole openings 1hL are formed.

The conveyance-direction elastic member disposing unit 121 supplies the waistline elastic member 8B and the waist elastic member 8F to the outer belt member 15 (or the inner belt member 17) conveyed in the conveyance direction while stretching each of the waistline elastic member 8B and the waist elastic member 8F in the conveyance direction. As shown in fig. 5, a plurality of the waistline elastic members 8B are disposed in the regions of both ends in the crossing direction of the outer belt-like member 15 (inner belt-like member 17) in a state of being stretched in the conveyance direction. At this time, the waistline elastic members 8B are each disposed so that at least a part of the region overlaps the bonding region HMA (mesh portion in fig. 6) formed in S102. Similarly, a plurality of waist elastic members 8F are disposed in regions inward of both ends in the intersecting direction of the outer belt members 15 (inner belt members 17) in a state of being stretched in the conveyance direction. At this time, the waist elastic members 8F are each disposed so that at least a partial region overlaps the adhesive region HMA formed at S102.

The intersecting direction elastic member arrangement portion 122 is a swing device that supplies the leg hole elastic members 8L in an extended state to the outer belt-like member 15 (or the inner belt-like member 17) conveyed in the conveying direction while reciprocating in the intersecting direction. Fig. 7A and 7B are views illustrating the arrangement of the leg hole elastic member 8L. In the example of fig. 7A, the leg hole elastic members 8L1 are supplied from the center position in the intersecting direction of the outer belt-like members 15 to the upper region so as to draw a meandering pattern such as a sine curve. Similarly, the leg hole elastic members 8L2 are supplied in a meandering pattern such as a sine curve from the center position in the intersecting direction to the lower region. At this time, at least a part of the regions of the leg hole elastic members 8L1 and 8L2 are arranged so as to overlap the bonding region HMA formed by S102. In addition, the leg hole elastic members 8L1 and the leg hole elastic members 8L2 may be arranged so as to cross each other in a partial region. In the example of fig. 7B, the leg hole elastic members 8L1 and the leg hole elastic members 8L2 are arranged to intersect each other in the vicinity of the intermediate portions of the cutting points CL and CL adjacent to each other in the conveyance direction.

By performing the elastic member disposing step (S103), as shown in fig. 6, the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L are disposed on the outer belt-like members 15 (or the inner belt-like members 17), respectively. At this time, the leg elastic members 8L are disposed so as to intersect with a part of the waist elastic member 8F. In fig. 6, the leg elastic members 8L are arranged so as to intersect the waist elastic members 8F at a plurality of places in the regions on both sides in the conveyance direction of the bonding regions HMA formed on both sides in the conveyance direction of the cut region CL. In the configuration of the manufacturing apparatus 100 shown in fig. 3, since the conveyance-direction elastic member arrangement portion 121 is provided on the upstream side in the conveyance direction and the intersecting-direction elastic member arrangement portion 122 is provided on the downstream side in the conveyance direction, the waist elastic member 8F and the leg elastic members 8L are arranged to overlap each other in this order from the non-skin side in the thickness direction on the outer belt member 15. By disposing the leg hole elastic members 8L at positions distant from the non-skin side, the bonded portions of the leg hole elastic members 8L bonded and fixed to the outer cover member 10 can be made difficult to peel off, which will be described in detail later.

In the elastic member arrangement mechanism 120, a cross-direction elastic member arrangement portion 122 may be provided on the upstream side in the conveyance direction, and a conveyance-direction elastic member arrangement portion 121 may be provided on the downstream side in the conveyance direction. In this case, the leg elastic members 8L are disposed first, and then the waist elastic members 8F are disposed so as to overlap above the leg elastic members. That is, the leg elastic members 8L are fixed to the base material (the outer belt member 15 or the inner belt member 17) of the diaper 1 so as to be sandwiched between the waist elastic members 8F.

In the above description, the adhesive region HMA is formed by adhering an adhesive to a predetermined region of the belt-like member to be conveyed, but the method of forming the adhesive region HMA is not limited to this. For example, the adhesive region HMA may be formed by attaching an adhesive to the belt-shaped member by arranging an elastic member, in which the adhesive is applied to a predetermined region, in an extended state on at least one of the outer belt-shaped member 15 and the inner belt-shaped member 17. That is, the bonding region forming step (S103) and the elastic member arranging step (S104) may be performed simultaneously. In this case, a method may be adopted in which an adhesive is applied to at least one of the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17, and then the adhesive is applied to the elastic member side. By applying the adhesive to both the belt-like member and the elastic member, the adhesive force of the elastic member in the adhesive region HMA can be further increased. Further, by performing the bonding region forming step and the elastic member arranging step at the same time, the diaper 1 can be efficiently manufactured. However, when applying the adhesive to the elastic member, care should be taken to avoid the position of the adhesive region HMA in the conveying direction from being shifted. That is, it is necessary to sufficiently adjust the position of the elastic member in the region where the adhesive is applied to the elastic member and in the case where the elastic member is disposed on the belt-like member.

After the elastic members are arranged, the inner belt-like member 17 is overlapped by the overlapping mechanism 130 from above the outer belt-like member 15 and the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L arranged on the outer belt-like member 15 (S104). Then, the inner belt-shaped member 17 is pressed against the outer belt-shaped member 15 from the thickness direction, and the both are bonded to each other in the bonding region HMA. Thereby, the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L are fixed in a state of being sandwiched between the outer belt member 15 and the inner belt member 17 in the thickness direction, and the outer cover member 10 of the diaper 1 is formed. The length of the outer belt-like member 15 in the intersecting direction is longer than the length of the inner belt-like member 17 in the intersecting direction. Therefore, at the time of S104, the regions at both ends in the intersecting direction of the outer belt-like member 15 are in a state of protruding from the regions at both ends in the intersecting direction of the inner belt-like member 17.

In the elastic member disposing step (S103), the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L are disposed in an extended state, respectively. Therefore, in this step (S104), the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L are sandwiched and fixed by the outer belt-like members 15 and the inner belt-like members 17, and thereby stretchability can be imparted to the outer covering member 10 (the outer belt-like members 15 and the inner belt-like members 17) of the diaper 1. For example, the leg elastic members 8L can be provided with stretchability along the leg hole openings 1hL, and the waistline elastic members 8B and the waist elastic members 8F can be provided with stretchability along the conveyance direction.

In addition, after the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17 are overlapped in the overlapping step (S104), the leg hole opening 1hL is formed. A leg hole opening 1hL is opened at a position shown as an edge portion 10eL of the outer jacket member 10 in fig. 1A by using a cutting device, not shown, at a position centered on the cutting position CL in the conveyance direction. The leg hole opening 1hL may be formed at the same time as or at a predetermined timing after the position of the cutting region CL is determined. In addition, at a stage before the overlapping step (S104), the leg hole openings 1hL may be formed in the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17, respectively.

Next, the absorbent body 3 is placed and joined from the skin side in the thickness direction of the inner belt-like member 17 superposed and bonded to the outer belt-like member 15 by the absorbent body joining mechanism 140 (S105). The absorbent body 3 itself may be separately manufactured in an absorbent body manufacturing line not shown, and the absorbent body joining mechanism 140 itself may be configured to include a manufacturing section of the absorbent body 3. As shown in fig. 5, the absorbent body 3 is disposed at a position intermediate in the conveyance direction of the cutting portions CL, CL (i.e., the widthwise central portion of the outer package member 10) so that the longitudinal direction thereof is along the intersecting direction, and is joined to the surface of the inner belt-like member 17 by an adhesive or the like. After the absorbent body 3 is joined, the protruding portion of the end portion in the cross direction of the outer band-shaped member 15 is bent so as to cover the absorbent body 3 from the upper side in the thickness direction (see fig. 1B), and a part of the protruding portion is bonded to the absorbent body 3 or the inner band-shaped member 17.

After the absorbent body 3 is joined, the folding mechanism 150 folds the central portion in the cross direction so that the inner belt-like member 17 is positioned inside the outer belt-like member 15 (S106). Fig. 8 is a view for explaining a state in which the base material of the folded diaper 1 is conveyed after the step of S105. As shown in the figure, the front side portion 10A and the back side portion 10C of the diaper 1 are overlapped in the thickness direction by being folded at the center portion in the cross direction, and the pants-type base material is put in a state of being continuous in the conveyance direction. In this step, the band-shaped member and the absorbent body 3 are simply folded and superposed, and the front side portion 10A and the back side portion 10C are not joined to each other.

Next, the elastic member is cut at the cutting location CL with respect to the outer belt-shaped member 15 and the inner belt-shaped member 17 which are overlapped (S107). The elastic member is cut by using a cutting/welding mechanism 170. In the present embodiment, the cutting/welding means 170 also performs welding (S108) and separation (S109) of the base material in the next step, but each step may be performed by a different apparatus.

As shown in fig. 3, the cutting/welding mechanism 170 includes an anvil roll 71, a precut roll 72, a seal roll 73, and a cutter roll 74. The anvil roll 71 is a cylindrical rotating body, and includes an unillustrated suction mechanism on its peripheral surface, and rotates while sucking and fixing the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17 on the peripheral surface, thereby conveying the belt-like members 15 and 17 in the rotational direction. A plurality of anvil blocks 711 are provided on the circumferential surface of the anvil roll 71. The anvil 711 is a member that is long in the axial direction of the anvil roll 71 (corresponding to the above-described intersecting direction). The precut roll 72 is a rotating body disposed at a position facing the anvil roll 71, and is used when an elastic member fixed in an extended state to the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17 is cut in advance (precut) before welding. A cutting block 721 is provided on the circumferential surface of the pre-cutting roller 72 in the axial direction (corresponding to the cross direction). While the anvil roll 71 is rotating, the pre-cutter roll 72 rotates in the opposite direction, and the anvil block 711 and the cutter block 721 provided on the circumferential surface of the anvil roll 71 are periodically in a positional relationship with each other. In the present embodiment, the anvil block 711 and the cutter block 721 are adjusted so as to be in an opposing positional relationship in accordance with the timing at which the belt-like members 15 and 17 are conveyed by the pitch P1 between the 2 cutting locations CL and CL adjacent in the conveying direction. The cutter block 721 is provided with a cutter portion along the axial direction (corresponding to the cross direction), and the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L can be cut at one stroke along the cutting point CL at the timing when the cutter portion is opposed to the anvil block 711 of the anvil roll 71 and is brought into contact with the base material.

Fig. 9 is a diagram for explaining a case where the elastic member is cut in the elastic member cutting step (S107), and shows a region corresponding to fig. 6. In fig. 9, when the elastic member is cut along the cutting point CL, the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L arranged in an extended state contract from the cut portion (cutting point CL) toward the bonding regions HMA formed on both sides of the cutting point CL in the conveying direction. This action is also referred to as "retraction (back)" of the elastic member.

In the region between the cut point CL and the bonding region HMA, the elastic members 8B, 8F, 8L are not bonded to the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17, and therefore, when the elastic members 8B, 8F, 8L are retracted, the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17 are not substantially contracted, and only the elastic members 8B, 8F, 8L are contracted in the conveying direction. The retracted elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L contract from the cutting region CL toward the bonding region HMA, and the end portions of the elastic members stop at positions slightly protruding from the end portions in the conveyance direction of the bonding region HMA (see fig. 9). In the present embodiment, a plurality of welded portions sl (see fig. 11) are intermittently formed in the intersecting direction in the region between the cutting region CL and the bonding region HMA by the following welding step (S108), and the protruding portion of the elastic member is held between the welded portions sl, sl adjacent in the intersecting direction. That is, a part of elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L may be present in the region where welded portion sl is formed. When the stretching force generated by the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L acts on the region where the welded portion sl is formed, wrinkles may be generated in the outer belt-shaped member 15 and the inner belt-shaped member 17 in the region, and the welded portion may not be formed normally. However, by retracting the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L, the stress of the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L in the region where the welded portion sl is formed is smaller than the stress of the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L in the region on the inner side in the conveying direction than the region where the welded portion sl is formed. That is, in the region where the welded portion sl is formed between the cut portion CL and the bonding region HMA, the elastic force generated by the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L hardly acts on the outer belt-shaped member 15 and the inner belt-shaped member 17. Thus, when welding is performed in the side region (the lateral end portion 10s in fig. 2) of the diaper 1, it is easy to ensure sufficient welding strength. In addition, since wrinkles are less likely to occur in this region, the appearance of the diaper 1 is improved, and the skin feel in the side region of the diaper 1 is also smooth.

In addition, as described above, in the present embodiment, the plurality of elastic members 8B, 8F, 8L are cut at 1 site at the cutting site CL, respectively. That is, the elastic member is not divided at a plurality of positions in the conveying direction, but is cut at 1 position in the conveying direction. More specifically, the plurality of elastic members are cut at 1 point between a pair of bonding regions HMA formed on both sides of the cutting point CL in the conveying direction. Then, the cut elastic member retracts to contract to the vicinity of the end of the adhesive region HMA. Therefore, it is difficult to cause a problem that the plurality of divided elastic member pieces remain as foreign matter in the side region of the diaper 1 or the cut elastic members protrude from the side region of the diaper 1. In addition, when welding is performed in the next step, it is possible to suppress the situation in which sufficient welding strength cannot be obtained due to adhesion of the divided elastic members to the welding surface.

After the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L are cut (precut), the overlapped ventral-side portion 10A and dorsal-side portion 10C are welded in a predetermined region (S108). Welding is performed by heat welding (heat sealing) or ultrasonic welding (sonic sealing). The following describes a case where the seal roller 73 provided in the cutting/welding mechanism 170 is used for thermal welding, but ultrasonic welding may be performed.

The seal roller 73 is a rotating body disposed at a position facing the anvil roller 71 on the downstream side in the conveying direction (rotation direction) of the precut roller 72, and a seal block 731 is provided on the circumferential surface thereof along the axial direction (corresponding to the intersecting direction). While the anvil roller 71 is rotating, the seal roller 73 rotates in the opposite direction, and the anvil block 711 and the seal block 731 are in a positional relationship of periodically facing each other. In fig. 3, the seal blocks 731 are provided at positions that are 4 equal parts in the circumferential direction of the seal roller 73, but the number of the seal blocks 731 is not limited to 4.

Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating the seal block 731. The seal block 731 includes convex portions 732 arranged in the conveyance direction (rotation direction). A plurality of rectangular portions 732a protruding in the thickness direction are intermittently arranged in the projecting portion 732 along the intersecting direction (axial direction). When the rectangular portion 732a faces the anvil block 711 of the anvil roller 71 and comes into contact with the substrate, the substrate is heated by the heated rectangular portion 732a and the anvil block 711, and thus, a region corresponding to the arrangement of the rectangular portion 732a can be thermally welded (heat-sealed). The shape of the rectangular portion 732a is not limited to the example shown in fig. 10, and may not necessarily be a rectangular shape. For example, it may be triangular or circular. The number of rectangular portions 732a may be appropriately changed depending on the width of the welding range and the welding conditions.

Fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating a welded portion formed in the welding step (S108), and shows a region corresponding to fig. 6. While being conveyed along the circumferential surface of the anvil roll 71, the outer belt-shaped member 15 and the inner belt-shaped member 17 are welded to a predetermined region including the cutting point CL at a timing when the anvil block 711 and the seal block 731 are in a facing positional relationship, thereby forming a welded portion sl as shown in fig. 11.

The welded portion sl is formed based on the shape of the convex portion 732 of the seal block 731 described above. Specifically, a plurality of rectangular-shaped welded portions sl are formed intermittently along the intersecting direction on both sides of the cutting location CL in the conveying direction. As described above, by cutting the elastic member in advance and retracting the elastic member in the step S107, the stress of the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L is very small in the region between the cut region CL and the bonding region HMA, and the elastic force hardly acts on the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17. Therefore, even if welding is performed in this region, problems such as contraction of the welded portion due to the influence of the elastic member are less likely to occur, and sufficient welding strength is easily ensured. In addition, since the welded portion does not shrink in the side region of the diaper 1, the appearance of the entire diaper 1 is improved.

The welded portion sl according to the present embodiment is formed so as not to overlap the bonding region HMA in at least a part of the region in the conveying direction. When the weld sl and the bonding area HMA overlap in the conveying direction, it is desirable that the overlapping portion be as small as possible. This is because if weld sl is repeatedly formed over the entire bonding region HMA, sufficient weld strength of weld sl may not be obtained due to oil content of the hot melt adhesive forming bonding region HMA. Further, the hot melt adhesive adheres to the seal block 731 (ultrasonic horn in the case of ultrasonic welding), and thus there is a possibility that the number of times of maintenance of the cutting/welding mechanism 170 increases or continuous production of the diaper 1 is hindered. Therefore, in the present embodiment, bonding region HMA and welded portion sl overlap only in a partial region, and do not overlap in a large portion, whereby welded portion sl can obtain sufficient welding strength. In the case of fig. 11, only the region of the conveying direction end (the end farther from the cutting site) of the welded portion sl and the region of the conveying direction end (the end closer to the cutting site) of the bonding region HMA overlap.

Note that the weld sl and a partial region of the bonding region HMA in the conveyance direction are intentionally overlapped in order to more firmly fix the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L bonded to the outer belt-shaped member 15 and the inner belt-shaped member 17 by the bonding region HMA. For example, by forming the welded portion sl so as to overlap a part of the bonding region HMA, the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L are bonded to the outer belt-shaped member 15 and the inner belt-shaped member 17 in the bonding region HMA, and are sandwiched and held between the outer belt-shaped member 15 and the inner belt-shaped member 17 that are pressed in the thickness direction by the welded portion sl, and therefore the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L are more difficult to separate from the bonding region HMA.

After the welding of the front and back portions 10A and 10C is completed, the outer cover member 10 is cut from the band-shaped members (the outer band-shaped member 15 and the inner band-shaped member 17) along the cutting portion CL (S109). The tape-like member is cut off by the cutter roller 74 of the cutting/welding mechanism 170. The cutter roller 74 is a rotary body disposed at a position facing the anvil roller 71 on the downstream side in the conveying direction of the seal roller 73, and a cutter block 741 is provided on the circumferential surface thereof along the axial direction (corresponding to the intersecting direction) of the cutter roller 74. While the anvil roller 71 is rotating, the cutter roller 74 rotates in the opposite direction, and the anvil block 711 and the cutter block 741 are in a periodically opposing positional relationship. The cutter block 741 is provided with a cutter portion (not shown) in the axial direction (cross direction), and when the cutter portion is opposed to the anvil block 711 of the anvil roll 71 and brought into contact with the base material, the base material can be cut in the cross direction. By cutting along the cutting portion CL, the outer jacket member 10 (the outer sheet 5 and the inner sheet 7) formed in a pants shape is separated from the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17. The cut-off portion is a lateral end portion 10s of the diaper 1 (i.e., a side region of the diaper 1).

The cut outer cover member 10 (outer sheet 5 and inner sheet 7) is conveyed in a state of being sucked by the anvil roll 71 and discharged to the outside of the diaper manufacturing apparatus 100 as the diaper 1. Through the above steps, the diaper 1 is manufactured.

< arrangement of leg elastic Member >

In the elastic member cutting step (S107), the elastic members bonded by the bonding region HMA may peel off and separate from the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17 under the impact when the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L contract inward in the transport direction (i.e., toward the lateral center side of the diaper 1). This phenomenon is also referred to as "rubber falling". When the rubber comes off, the stretchability of the portion is lost, and the fit when the diaper 1 is worn may deteriorate. In particular, if the fit of the leg hole openings 1hL is poor when the diaper 1 is worn, there is a possibility that gaps are easily formed between the legs of the wearer and the leg hole openings 1hL, and excrement may leak out of the diaper 1 through the gaps. Therefore, in the pants-type diaper, it is important to suppress the detachment (rubber falling-off) of the leg hole elastic members 8L.

In the diaper 1 of the present embodiment, the leg elastic members 8L are disposed so as to intersect the plurality of waist elastic members 8F in the elastic member disposing step (S103), and thus the leg elastic members 8L are easily prevented from coming off. Fig. 12 is a view illustrating the arrangement of the leg elastic members 8L and the waist elastic members 8F in the vicinity of the side region of the diaper 1 (i.e., in the vicinity of the cut region CL), and the region D in fig. 9 is enlarged. Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given with reference to fig. 12.

In fig. 12, 3 leg hole elastic members 8La, 8Lb, 8Lc are arranged along the leg hole opening 1 hL. Further, 3 waist elastic members 8Fa, 8Fb, 8Fc are arranged along the conveying direction. In the regions of the diaper 1 on the inner side in the transport direction than the welded portions sl formed at both ends in the transport direction (in the example of fig. 12, the regions on the inner side in the transport direction than the bonded region HMA), the leg elastic members 8La to 8Lc intersect with the waist elastic members 8Fa to 8Fc, respectively. Specifically, the leg elastic members 8La intersect the waist elastic member 8Fa at c1 and intersect the waist elastic member 8Fb at c 2. That is, the 1 leg elastic members 8L and the 2 waist elastic members 8F intersect and are joined to each other at the intersection portions of the 2 locations. Likewise, the leg elastic members 8Lb are joined to each other by intersecting with the 3 waist elastic members 8F at c3, c4, c5, and the leg elastic members 8Lc are joined to each other by intersecting with the 3 waist elastic members 8F at c6, c7, c 8.

In the elastic member cutting step (S107), when the leg hole elastic members 8La to 8Lc are cut at the cutting location CL, the leg hole elastic members 8La to 8Lc fixed in an extended state along the leg hole opening portion 1hL contract (retract) from the cutting location CL toward the bonding region HMA. At this time, if the bonding force of the bonding region HMA is insufficient, the above-described "rubber falling off" occurs, and the leg hole elastic members 8La to 8Lc further contract inward in the conveyance direction beyond the bonding region HMA. However, in the present embodiment, since the leg elastic members 8L and the waist elastic member 8F are joined to each other at the intersection, the contraction of the leg elastic members 8L can be suppressed by the waist elastic member 8F. For example, in fig. 12, even if the leg elastic members 8La are broken off, the leg elastic members 8La are restrained from contracting by the waist elastic member 8Fb at c2 and the waist elastic member 8Fa at c 1. Similarly, the leg hole elastic member 8Lb is restrained from contracting at 3 locations c5, c4, and c3, and the leg hole elastic member 8Lc is restrained from contracting at 3 locations c8, c7, and c 6. In this way, in the present embodiment, the leg elastic members 8L are made to intersect with the plurality of different waist elastic members 8F to suppress contraction, and the leg elastic members 8L can be suppressed from coming off the diaper 1. At this time, the more the mutually intersecting portions, the more difficult the leg elastic members 8L are to be detached, and in the present embodiment, all the leg elastic members 8L (8 La to 8Lc in fig. 12) have portions that intersect the plurality of waist elastic members 8F (8 Fa to 8Fc in fig. 12), and therefore, the leg elastic members 8L are configured to be easily prevented from detaching.

In particular, in the case where the elastic members themselves are coated with the adhesive, the amount of the adhesive increases at the portions where the elastic members intersect with each other, and therefore a higher separation-inhibiting effect can be obtained. For example, at the c1 where the leg elastic members 8La and the waist elastic member 8Fa intersect, there are an amount of adhesive applied to the leg elastic members 8La and an amount of adhesive applied to the waist elastic member 8Fa, and therefore the amounts of adhesives locally increase and are easily and firmly fixed to each other. This makes it possible to further prevent the elastic members from coming off.

In addition, the waist elastic members 8F can be prevented from being detached at the same time. For example, the waist elastic members 8Fa intersect the leg elastic members 8L at 3 locations c1, c3, and c6, and therefore contraction in the conveying direction can be suppressed at the intersecting portions. Therefore, the detachment of the waist elastic member 8Fa is also easily suppressed.

Further, by disposing the leg elastic members 8L on the skin side in the thickness direction of the waist elastic member 8F, the leg elastic members 8L can be more easily prevented from coming off. When the diaper 1 is worn, the outer sheet 5 (outer belt member 15) disposed on the non-skin side comes into contact with the clothing of the wearer (see fig. 1B). Therefore, when the outer sheet 5, the leg elastic members 8L, and the waist elastic members 8F are arranged in this order from the non-skin side in the thickness direction, an impact generated when the outer sheet 5 rubs against clothing of a wearer or the like is directly transmitted to the leg elastic members 8L, and the leg elastic members 8L may be easily peeled off from the bonded regions. On the other hand, in the case where the outer sheet 5, the waist elastic member 8F, and the leg elastic members 8L are arranged in this order from the non-skin side in the thickness direction, even when the outer sheet 5 rubs against the clothing of the wearer, the impact is transmitted to the leg elastic members 8L through the waist elastic member 8F, and thus the leg elastic members 8L can be made difficult to peel off by relaxing the impact. That is, by disposing the leg hole elastic members 8L at positions as far as possible from the clothing (non-skin side) of the wearer, the detachment of the leg hole elastic members 8L from the diaper 1 is easily suppressed.

In the elastic member disposing step (S103), the step of disposing the waist elastic members 8F and the leg elastic members 8L on the outer belt members 15 (or the inner belt members 17) is changed, whereby the leg elastic members 8L can be easily prevented from coming off. Specifically, the leg elastic members 8L are disposed on the outer belt members 15 (or the inner belt members 17) first, and then the waist elastic members 8F are disposed so as to intersect the leg elastic members 8L and bonded thereto. In this case, the leg elastic members 8L are fixed in the thickness direction in a state of being sandwiched between the outer belt member 15 (or the inner belt member 17) and the waist elastic member 8F. That is, the leg hole elastic members 8L are pressed and fixed to the surfaces of the belt-like members by the waist elastic members 8F. Then, in the overlapping step (S104), the leg hole elastic members 8L can be more firmly fixed by overlapping and bonding the outer belt-like member 15 and the inner belt-like member 17. This makes it easy to prevent the leg hole elastic members 8L from coming off the diaper 1.

Other embodiments are also possible

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the above embodiments are for the convenience of understanding the present invention, and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. It is needless to say that the present invention can be modified and improved without departing from the gist thereof, and the present invention includes equivalents thereof. For example, the following modifications can be made.

In the above-described embodiment, the outer cover member of the absorbent article is formed by arranging the elastic member on the outer base material (for example, the outer belt-shaped member 15) to be conveyed and then overlapping and joining the inner base material (for example, the inner belt-shaped member 17), but the order of forming the outer cover member is not limited to this. For example, the outer base material and the inner base material may be conveyed in parallel in a state of facing each other, and the elastic member may be disposed therebetween. In any case, the outer cover member may be configured to include an elastic member that is sandwiched between the first base material and the second base material and is in an extended state.

In the above-described embodiment, the elastic member cutting step (S107), the welding step (S108), and the base material separating step (S109) are performed as a series of operations by using the cutting/welding mechanism 170, but the steps may be performed separately. For example, the anvil roll 71 of the cutting/welding mechanism 170 may be divided into a first anvil roll and a second anvil roll, the elastic member cutting process (S107) and the welding process (S108) may be performed while the band-shaped substrate is conveyed by the first anvil roll, and then the cutting process (S109) may be performed while the band-shaped substrate is conveyed by the second anvil roll, or only the welding process (S108) may be performed at the anvil roll, and the cutting process (S109) may be performed independently of a separate cutting device. Further, the configuration may be other depending on the installation place or condition of the manufacturing line, and the order of the steps to be performed may be partially changed in the diaper manufacturing process.

In the above-described embodiment, the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L arranged in the region where the welded portion sl is formed are cut (precut) in the elastic member cutting step (S107), but the elastic members arranged in other portions may be cut.

For example, the elastic members 8B, 8F, 8L may be cut at the cut location CL, and the waist elastic member 8F may be cut in the region of the widthwise central portion of the diaper 1. Specifically, the plurality of waist elastic members 8F may be cut at intermediate portions between 2 cut portions CL adjacent in the conveyance direction, that is, between 2 bonding regions HCM adjacent in the conveyance direction. Fig. 13 is a view showing a region where the waist elastic member 8F is cut at the widthwise central portion of the diaper 1. In fig. 13, the portions of the waist elastic members 8F that are cut are indicated by hatched portions as the regions 1A. The region 1A is a region having a portion overlapping with a predetermined region to which the absorbent body 3 is joined. When a contraction force in the conveyance direction (the lateral direction of the diaper 1) by the waist elastic members 8F acts on this region, the absorbent main body 3 also contracts in the lateral direction to narrow the width, and therefore the area of the absorbent main body 3 covering the wearer's body decreases when the diaper 1 is worn. Then, the absorbent body 3 may not absorb the excrement completely, and the excrement may leak out of the diaper 1 from both lateral end portions. Therefore, by cutting at least a part of the plurality of waist elastic members 8F arranged in the region 1A in fig. 13, the stretching force generated in the waist elastic members 8F is made less likely to act in the region. This can suppress excessive contraction of the absorbent main body 3 in the lateral direction, and can suppress leakage of excrement from both lateral end portions of the absorbent main body 3 when the diaper 1 is worn. When the waist elastic members 8F are cut in the region 1A in fig. 13, each waist elastic member 8F may be cut at one portion in the lateral direction or may be divided into a plurality of portions in the lateral direction. In other words, at least a part of the waist elastic members 8F has 1 or more cut portions in the region of the widthwise central portion of the diaper 1.

In fig. 13, the region 1A is set only in the abdominal portion 10A, which is the abdominal side in the cross direction (the longitudinal direction of the diaper 1). This is because urine excreted to the abdomen side is more likely to spread in the lateral direction than feces excreted to the back side when the diaper 1 is worn, and therefore leakage of urine is not suppressed by narrowing the width of the abdomen side of the absorbent main body 3. By cutting the waist elastic members 8F at the abdomen side of the diaper 1 in this way, the fit of the waist portion can be appropriately maintained, and leakage of urine from the absorbent main body 3 can be easily suppressed. However, the back-side waist elastic members 8F may be cut by providing the back-side back portion 10C with a region equivalent to the abdomen-side region 1A. In this case, the contraction of the absorbent main body 3 in the lateral direction can be suppressed also at the back side. In addition to the waist elastic members 8F, a part of the leg elastic members 8L may be cut in the region of the widthwise central portion. That is, the leg hole elastic members 8L may be cut at a portion (the crotch portion 10B) shown in the region 1B of fig. 13. This can suppress the contraction of the absorbent main body 3 in the crotch portion 10B of the diaper 1 and adjust the fit.

The cutting of the elastic members 8B, 8F, and 8L at the cutting location CL may be performed in the same step as the cutting of the elastic members at the other portions, or may be performed in different steps.

In the above-described embodiment, the nonwoven fabric is exemplified as the material of the outer sheet 5 and the inner sheet 7, but the material thereof is not limited to the nonwoven fabric. For example, the sheet member may be a woven fabric or a sheet member other than a woven fabric.

In the above-described embodiment, the string rubber is exemplified as the elastic member 8, but the elastic member is not limited to this. For example, a belt-shaped rubber may be used as the elastic member 8, or a belt-shaped nonwoven fabric having elasticity or a belt-shaped resin film having elasticity may be used. For example, at least one of the waist elastic member 8F and the leg elastic member 8L may be constituted by a stretchable sheet member (belt-like member) having a predetermined width. In this case, the area of the intersecting portions can be increased at the portions where the waist elastic members 8F and the leg elastic members 8L intersect (e.g., c1 to c8 in fig. 12). As a result, the waist elastic members 8F and the leg elastic members 8L are more firmly fixed, and therefore, the leg elastic members 8L are more easily prevented from coming off the diaper 1.

Description of the symbols

1a diaper (an absorbent article),

1hB waist opening, 1hL leg opening,

3 an absorbent main body, 3b a back sheet, 3d an absorbent body, 3s a front sheet,

5 outer side piece, 7 inner side piece,

8B a waist elastic component which is arranged on the waist,

8F, 8Fa, 8Fb, 8Fc waist elastic members,

8L, 8La, 8Lb, 8Lc, 8L1, 8L2 leg elastic component,

10 an outer package member for a container for containing a liquid,

10A ventral portion, 10ae transverse end portion,

10B, a crotch part of the elastic piece,

10C, 10ce lateral end portion,

10e end edge portion, 10eL edge portion, 10s transverse end portion,

15 outer band-shaped member, 17 inner band-shaped member,

100A diaper manufacturing apparatus, which is capable of manufacturing diapers,

101 conveying mechanism, 101A conveying roller, 101B supporting roller,

110 the bonding area forming means is formed,

120 a mechanism for configuring the elastic member,

121 a conveying direction elastic member arrangement portion, 122 a cross direction elastic member arrangement portion,

130 of the plurality of the optical fiber bundles are overlapped,

140 an absorbent body engagement mechanism, and,

150 of the folding mechanism,

170 cutting and welding means for cutting and welding the metal,

the anvil roll 71, the anvil block 711,

72 pre-cut rollers, 721 cut the block,

73 sealing rollers, 731 sealing blocks, 732 convex parts, 732a rectangular shaped parts,

74 cutting rollers, 741 cutting blocks,

a CL cut-off part which is provided with a plurality of holes,

the area of bonding of the HMA,

sl weld

Claims

1. A pants-type absorbent article having a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction intersecting the longitudinal direction, comprising:

an outer cover member that has an outer sheet positioned on the garment side of a wearer and an inner sheet superposed on the outer sheet from the skin side of the wearer, and that is divided into a stomach-side portion covering the stomach side of the wearer when the pants-type absorbent article is worn, a back-side portion covering the back side of the wearer, and a crotch portion covering the crotch of the wearer;

an absorbent main body that is superposed on the inner side sheet from the skin side of the wearer and joined to the inner side sheet to absorb excrement;

a plurality of waist elastic members joined between the outer sheet and the inner sheet in the transverse direction at the stomach-side portion and the back-side portion, and capable of providing stretchability in the transverse direction to the outer cover member; and

a plurality of leg-surrounding elastic members joined between the outer sheet and the inner sheet along leg-surrounding openings of the pants-type absorbent article at the front and back side portions, and capable of imparting stretchability along the leg-surrounding openings to the outer cover member,

welding portions for welding the back-side portion and the abdominal-side portion of the outer package member are formed at both ends in the transverse direction,

the waist elastic member and the leg elastic members are joined to each other so as to intersect each other in a region on the inner side in the transverse direction than the welded portion,

the leg hole elastic member has a stress smaller than a stress of the leg hole elastic member in a region on the laterally inner side than the welded portion,

a bonding region for joining the leg elastic members is formed in at least one of the outer panel and the inner panel,

the end of the leg elastic member has a protruding portion protruding from the lateral end of the bonded region,

the protruding portion is held between the weld portions adjacent in the intersecting direction.

2. A pant-type absorbent article according to claim 1,

at least a part of the plurality of leg elastic members intersects with two or more different waist elastic members of the plurality of waist elastic members.

3. A pant-type absorbent article according to claim 1,

the leg elastic members of all of the plurality of leg elastic members intersect with two or more different waist elastic members of the plurality of waist elastic members.

4. A pant-type absorbent article according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

at the portions where the leg elastic members and the waist elastic members intersect,

the leg elastic members are disposed closer to the inner side sheet than the waist elastic members.

5. A pant-type absorbent article according to claim 1,

after the leg elastic members are joined to the inner panel or the outer panel, the waist elastic members are joined to overlap with the leg elastic members.

6. A pant-type absorbent article according to claim 1,

an adhesive is applied to at least one of the leg elastic members and the waist elastic member.

7. A pant-type absorbent article according to claim 1,

at least one of the leg elastic members and the waist elastic member is an elastic sheet member having a predetermined width.

8. A pant-type absorbent article according to claim 1,

the waist elastic member has at least one cut portion at a central portion in the transverse direction.

9. A pant-type absorbent article according to claim 1,

the bonding region has a region that does not overlap with the weld in the lateral direction.