JPH0451179B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to sanitary articles such as disposable diapers and incontinence pads, and particularly to a method for forming an absorbent body thereof.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in disposable diapers, an absorbent body is formed into a so-called hourglass shape in order to ensure conformability to the body, and the central region of the absorbent body is formed in a thick shape in order to increase the body fluid absorption capacity of the absorbent body. It is known that the absorbent body is formed in layers, and that the rear region of the absorbent body is widened in order to increase the body fluid absorption capacity in the rear region where the wearer's buttocks are located.

First Prior Art To form the absorbent body into an hourglass shape, opposite ends of the absorbent body in the crotch area are cut away, or
A method is adopted in which the opposite ends are folded back. Furthermore, in order to form a thick layer in the central region of the absorbent body, a method has been adopted in which narrow and wide absorbent bodies are formed separately and then stacked on top of each other.

Second prior art: A continuous web of a desired width is formed from a water-absorbing material,
The web is cut so that it is left and right symmetrical at the center in the longitudinal direction, that is, in a wavy or uneven shape, and each of the cut webs is cut into the length of one sanitary article. A method of constructing an absorbent body by stacking two symmetrical cut pieces obtained by cutting them into one length so that the concave portion is located on the outside is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 58-46101 and 59-120153.
It is disclosed in the publication no. The latter publication also discloses that the two symmetrical cut pieces are stacked on top of a rectangular cut piece obtained by cutting a water-absorbing material into a required size.

Third prior art: Forming a continuous web of a required width from a water-absorbing material,
The web is moved in the same direction at a predetermined interval in the width direction so that a main absorbent member whose side edges are concavely curved in a V-shape and a rhombus-shaped sub-absorbent member are formed between the opposing and adjacent V-shaped edges. Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 50-26496 discloses an absorbent body in which the sub-absorbent member is interposed between the main absorbent members.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the first prior art, the method of cutting off the opposite side end in the crotch area of the absorbent body is not preferable from the viewpoint of material economy of the absorbent body, and the method of folding the opposite side end It is difficult to form a side edge shape in the inseam area so that it fits closely around the wearer's legs, and it is difficult to form a narrow and wide absorbent body separately and overlap them. However, there are drawbacks such as poor workability.

In the second prior art, only one pair of left and right absorbers are formed from one continuous web made of a water-absorbing material. For this reason, it is most effective to distribute the amount of material in the absorbent body.In other words, since body fluids are not evenly excreted and absorbed by the absorbent body, it is best to create a difference in the absorption capacity of body fluids. Although it is preferable to use the absorbent body and minimize the leakage of body fluids absorbed into the absorbent body, it is not possible to effectively deal with this problem. However, as mentioned above, in the publication of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 120153/1983, which is a method for forming an absorbent body according to the second prior art, the upper surface of a rectangular cut piece obtained by cutting a water-absorbing material into a required size is described. It is also disclosed that two symmetrical cut pieces are overlapped, but since the rectangular cut piece and the symmetrical cut piece cannot be formed simultaneously from one continuous web, the process for forming the absorbent body is complicated. become. Furthermore, it is insufficient to efficiently distribute the water-absorbing material.

The third prior art is the same as the second prior art in that the absorbent body is composed of two members, and the drawback of such a structure is that the effective distribution of the water-absorbing material cannot be achieved. I can't.

(Means for Solving the Problems) An object of the present invention is to provide a method for forming an absorbent body that can effectively solve the above problems.

The present invention includes forming a continuous web of a water-absorbing material having opposed and parallel first and second outer edges; forming the continuous web into an octagonal or elliptical shape in the center between the first and second outer edges; A central member consisting of each wide part of the shape and a continuous band-like narrow part interposed therebetween, and both side members symmetrical to each side of the central member are continuously arranged in the length direction of the continuous web. cutting the cut side members in the width direction between adjacent and opposing wide width portions of the cut central member and at a position biased toward one of the wide width portions; cutting each wide part of the central member in the width direction so that one of the adjacent and opposing wide parts becomes shorter in the length direction; The first and second outer edges are positioned inwardly so that they overlap each other with appropriate shifts in the width direction, and a central member is stacked on top of these. .

(Example) The present invention will be described below based on the illustrated example. However, in the description, the right side of the drawing is referred to as the front.

FIG. 1 shows a continuous web that is a constituent material of the absorbent body of the present invention. The continuous web 1 is made of a water-absorbent material conventionally generally used as an absorbent material for absorbent sanitary articles such as disposable diapers, for example,
It is formed from pulverized pulp and a mixture of this and superabsorbent polymer powder. One or both sides of the continuous web 1 is coated with a special material to serve as a carrier sheet for the pulverized pulp when forming it, or to maintain the shape of the absorbent material during its formation or when used as a diaper. A thin water-permeable sheet may be used.

As shown in FIG. 1, the continuous web 1 has first and second outer edges 2a, 2b facing in parallel, and in the center between these outer edges, an octagonal shape is indicated by a solid line or an octagonal shape is indicated by a chain line. A central member 5 consisting of each elliptical wide part 3 and a continuous band-like narrow part 4 interposed therebetween, and symmetrical side members 6a and 6b on both sides of the central member 5 are arranged in the length direction of the continuous web 1. Cut along the first and second vertical imaginary lines 5a, 5b so as to be continuous.

Furthermore, in order to obtain an absorbent material for one diaper, the continuous web 1 is formed by a first width direction imaginary line 7a that crosses the connection position with the narrow width part 4 in each rear part of both adjacent and opposing wide width parts 3 of the central member 5. , 7b, and the wide portion 3 is further cut along a second widthwise imaginary line 8 that crosses at a position near the first widthwise imaginary lines 7a, 7b. A first width direction imaginary line 7a of both side members 6a, 6b to be cut,
The lengthwise distance between 7b and 7a, 7b is preferably the same as the lengthwise distance between second width direction imaginary lines 8 and 8 of the wide portion 3 of the central member 5 to be cut.

The thus cut central member 5 and both side members 6a, 6b are stacked to form an absorbent body for one diaper, as shown in FIG. That is, the both side members 6a, 6b have a symmetrical shape with the inner edges produced by cutting along the first and second longitudinal imaginary lines 5a, 5b located on the outside, and the first and second outer edges 2a and 2b are located on the inside, and are arranged so as to be shifted by an appropriate width W and overlapped, and the central member 5 is stacked on top of these so as to be shifted in the length direction. The overlapping width W of the side members 6a and 6b is such that the overall width of the overlapping side members 6a and 6b is approximately the same as the width of the central member 5.

In the continuous web 1 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the position to be cut at the first width direction imaginary lines 7a, 7b is shifted to the front part between the adjacent and opposing wide width parts 3 of the central member 5. Other than this, it is the same as the continuous web 1 of the embodiment shown in FIG. In addition, in the absorbent body shown in FIG. 4, the overlapping aspect of the central member 5 obtained by cutting the continuous web 1 shown in FIG. The structure of the absorbent body is the same as that of the absorbent body shown in FIG. 2, except that the width of the wide portion 3 of the central member 5 is larger than the width of the wide portion 3 of the central member 5, and the length edges thereof are made to coincide with each other.

Note that the striped vertical lines and diagonal lines shown on the continuous web 1 are the center member 5 and both side members 6.
This is to make it easier to distinguish between a and 6b.

(Effect of the invention) According to the present invention relating to the above-mentioned forming method,
Since the central member and both side members are simultaneously formed from one continuous web made of water-absorbing material, the method for forming the absorbent body is extremely simple and suitable for high-speed diaper production, and the equipment for carrying out the method is also extremely simple. Therefore, inexpensive mass production of diapers becomes possible.

Moreover, by appropriately selecting the period, bending angle, and curvature of the longitudinal curve that cuts the continuous web into the central member and both side members, it is possible to form an absorbent body that fits and closely fits the body. This is because, as mentioned above, the central member and both side members are simultaneously formed from one continuous web made of water-absorbing material, that is, one absorbent body is composed of three members. The absorber is
The water-absorbing material can be distributed according to the body fluid absorption capacity so that there are three layers in the center, two layers on both sides, and one layer on the outermost side.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partial plan view in which a web to be used as a constituent material of a diaper absorbent body is continuously formed and cut in the longitudinal and width directions. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the continuous web of FIG. 1 cut into parts for one diaper and stacked to form an absorbent body for the diaper. Figure 3 shows
FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of another embodiment corresponding to FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a plan view of the continuous web of FIG. 3 cut into parts for one diaper and stacked to form an absorbent body for the diaper. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Continuous web, 2a...First outer edge, 2b...Second outer edge, 3...Wide width part, 4...Narrow width part, 5...Central member, 6a, 6b...Both side members, 7a, 7b...Width of both side members Direction cutting line, 8... Width direction cutting line of the central member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Forming a continuous web of a water-absorbent material having first and second opposing and parallel outer edges; A central member consisting of rectangular or elliptical wide parts and continuous band-like narrow parts interposed therebetween, and both side members symmetrical on both sides thereof, extend in the length direction of the continuous web. cutting the cut side members so that they are continuously formed; and cutting the cut both side members in the width direction between adjacent and opposing wide width portions of the cut central member and at a position biased toward one of the adjacent and opposing wide width portions; and further cutting each wide portion of the cut central member in the width direction so that one of the adjacent and opposing wide width portions is shorter in the length direction; The inner edge is located on the outside to form a symmetrical shape, and the first and second outer edges are located on the inside so that they overlap each other with appropriate shifts in the width direction, and a central member is placed on the upper surface of these. A method for forming an absorbent body for sanitary articles, comprising the steps of: