FR2568469A1 - Disposable device for collecting and absorbing urine from male incontinents. - Google Patents

Abstract

Disposable device for collecting and absorbing urine from male incontinents, characterised in that it is constituted by two absorbent panels, each having substantially the shape of a "b", whose vertical branch is thickened and the top of the circular part is cut by an oblique line or curve directed downwards from the vertical branch of the "b", the two panels being attached over part of their perimeter, along the external line of the vertical branch and of the base of the panel, substantially as far as the said oblique line or curve, the said device thus constituting a pocket with dimensions allowing it to contain the penis and scrotum without hindering their natural movements.

Description

 The present invention relates to a disposable device for collecting urine from male incontinence, consisting of a pocket containing a material absorbing liquids.

The classic devices for collecting urine from male incontinence fall into two categories:
- Devices comprising plastic collection bags of large capacity, sometimes reusable, connected to a collecting system into which the penis is introduced. The means of fixing the assembly to the patient's body are varied.

 - disposable devices, essentially absorbent pads of various shapes and compositions, generally usable when the quantity of urine emitted is limited.

 In the second category, mention may be made of the absorbent pads which the incontinents can introduce at the gusset in panties of the usual shape more or less waterproofed, or even in a minislip, such as that described in FR-A-2 312 228, and consisting of a belt and a pocket used to house the genitals.

More recently, absorbent pads have been proposed in a shape adapted to the male anatomy. For example, the Certificate of Utility FR-A-2 466 984 describes a protection device composed of two films having substantially the shape of a parallelepiped, welded together on three sides
The penis and possibly the scrotum are introduced into this sort of absorbent horn. In patent FR-A-2 490 952, an incontinence bag of absorbent material is described which is not preformed, but will be produced by the user from a rectangular strip which he will stick on the sides and can even cut to its dimensions.

 Other devices are marketed, which consist of a substantially cylindrical lining which is placed like a sheath on the penis.

 The present invention relates to a preformed pouch of absorbent material of a shape specially adapted to the morphology of man, of large capacity and particularly inconvenient for the patient who wears it, whatever their age and morphology.

 This incontinence bag is made up of two panels, each roughly having the shape of the lowercase letter "b", the vertical branch of which is thickened and the top of the circular part is cut by an oblique or curved line directed downwards. from the vertical branch of "b", the two panels being made integral with one another over part of their contour by any means, such as gluing, welding or continuity of the material, along the external line of the vertical branch and the base of the panel, substantially up to the previously defined oblique or curved line, that is to say along the curved line delimiting the semi-circular part.

 The panels are approximately 100 to 150 mm, preferably 110 to 140 mm at their widest point and 120 to 500 mm, preferably 180 to 250 mm vertically, depending on the absorption capacity desired, and even the size of the user for whom the device is intended.

 The width / height ratio must obviously be chosen so that the device has the characteristic properties of the invention. Thus, the shell part must be of sufficient dimensions to encompass both the penis and the scrotum, while the vertical branch must be high enough to largely cover the penis and at least part of the pubis; the width of this branch is also adapted so that the flat area which covers the pubis is from 70 to 110 cm2 and, preferably, from 80 to 100 cm2 for a medium-sized device. With such devices, the natural mobility of genitals is absolutely not upset and the device is easily held in place thanks to the tab, which forms the vertical branch of "b", on which rests the underwear usually worn by the user, such as briefs, panties or underpants.

 The panels can consist of a single sheet of absorbent material of the type commonly used in absorbent pads; in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the panels are composed of three superposed layers: a layer, permeable to liquids, non-absorbent, located on the inside of the pocket, a layer of absorbent material, and an outer layer, composed a flexible film impermeable to liquids.

 The inner layer is preferably a non-woven veil, polyester and / or rayon fibers; 100% Bemberg @ fibers from 10 to 25 g / m2 and preferably 15 to 20 g / m2, sold by Dupont de Nemours, are particularly suitable.

The layer of absorbent material is, for example, a sheet of wood pulp having undergone a chemical or mechanical treatment, known under the name of "fluff" pulp, for example that put on the market by Buckeye Cellulose,
Division of the Procter and Gambia Company, or is made up of crosslinked sodium carboxymethyl cellulose or polyacrylates. These latter materials are marketed under various names, such as Sap Sheet # by
Sanyo Chemical Industries (Japan) or Akucell @ by ENKA
Industrial Colloids (Holland). The absorbent sheet has a basis weight between 100 and 500 g / m2 and preferably between 300 and 400 g / m2.

 In a preferred embodiment of the invention, grafted onto the absorbent material or deposited in place of compounds having bacteriostatic and / or deodorizing activity (zinc ricinoleate is particularly well suited to this application) and / or bactericide.

 The impermeable outer layer consists of a sheet of flexible plastic material, such as a sheet of polyethylene or polypropylene (30 to 60 micrometers thick), a sheet of a laminated complex of nonwoven polyester (30 to 60 g / m2) on polyethylene (10 to 18 g / m2) or also polyvinyl chloride (80 to 150 μm thick).

 Of the three superposed layers, only the two outer layers are made integral, by gluing or welding over their entire periphery, thus trapping the absorbent layer. The strength of the bond must be sufficient so that there is no pull-out due to the swelling of the absorbent material by the urine.

 The absorbent sheet has dimensions slightly smaller than those, substantially identical to each other, of the veil and the impermeable sheet, which cover it, to limit the drawbacks due to its swelling in the presence of urine; the edges of the absorbent sheet are located from 1 to 15 mm and, preferably, from 5 to 10 mm from the connection line of the two outer layers.

 The devices according to the invention have a certain number of advantages, resulting from their particular shape, advantages which were not found for the previously known devices. It can be noted that, for example, the semi-circular shape of the base of the pocket allows the user to move without any discomfort due to untimely friction; this shape also has the consequence of the absence of a protruding part, which could appear under clothing. The tab, which extends this semi-circular part, increases the absorption capacity of the device, the pressure exerted by the undergarment which keeps the whole in place being low enough for there to be absorption throughout the absorbent surface. , the liquid migrating into the leaf by capillarity.

 In the case where a nonwoven veil is in contact with the skin, the device is much more pleasant to wear, given the great softness of this material and its property of insulating the patient's skin from the humidity contained in the 'absorbent.

Examples of embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings
- Figure 1 shows a side view of a device according to the invention;
- Figure 2 shows a front view of the open device, ready to be put in place
- Figure 3 shows a front view of the two panels of the device, before their welding, in a particular form of implementation.

 In FIG. 1, the visible face F1 is welded to the other face, along the line A which is extended by the weld B. In this particular case, the two panels of the device are not integral, along B , by continuity of the layers.

 In FIG. 2, the two faces F1 and F2 are composed of three layers; the inner and outer layers are joined on their periphery by the weld C and the periphery 1 of the absorbent layer 2 is slightly distant from this weld.

 In FIG. 3, Bl represents the median axis along which the cut presented will be folded, before welding along A.

Claims (3)

 1. Disposable device for the collection and absorption of urine from male incontinence, characterized in that it consists of two absorbent panels each having substantially the shape of the lowercase letter "b", the vertical branch of which is thickened and the top of the circular part is cut by an oblique or curved line directed downwards, from the vertical branch of "b", the two panels being integral on part of their outline, along the outside line of the vertical branch and the base of the panel, substantially up to said oblique or curved line, said device thus constituting a pocket of dimensions making it possible to contain the penis and the scrotum without interfering with their natural movements.  2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the vertical branch is long enough to completely cover the penis and at least the pubis.  3. Device according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the panels are composed of three superimposed layers  - a layer located inside the pocket formed by the device, permeable to liquids and not absorbent,  - a layer of material absorbing liquids,  - an outer layer impermeable to liquids.