JPS62236547A - Tampon - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a tampon, which is an insertable sanitary product.

[Conventional technology and problems]

Many proposals regarding sanitary tampons have been made in the past, but users have not always been satisfied with them because menstrual blood often leaks to the outside before it is sufficiently absorbed by the tampon.

For this purpose, it is necessary to add highly absorbent polymer compounds, improve the menstrual blood absorption of the material fibers, or
As seen in Japanese Patent No. 83, improvements have been made, such as by devising the laminated state of fiber sheet materials to give a tampon a density distribution.

However, even with the above-mentioned tampons, when actually used, a large amount of menstrual blood remains unabsorbed, and in some cases menstrual blood often leaks to the outside even when the absorbed amount is less than 3 g. The fibers used in tampons are generally excellent at absorbing blood, etc., but in actual use, leakage occurs before the tampon reaches its full absorbency, so users have to replace the tampon frequently. , or are forced to use it together with napkins.

That is, the reality is that tampons are easy to use and do not feel uncomfortable or uncomfortable when worn like a napkin, making them less convenient than others.

Conventionally, since tampons are used by being inserted into the vagina, they have been required to (1) have an absorbent body with a small diameter and be easy to insert, and (2) have a large absorbent amount and be difficult to leak. In order to meet these demands, conventional tampon absorbers have been provided to users as high-density cylindrical articles made by pressurizing a large amount of fibers.

Table 1 shows data regarding regular type tampons (used by people with normal menstrual blood volume) currently on the market.

No. 1 Umbrella Ministry of Health and Welfare Notification No. 303 dated August 1970, 1972
Based on the Ministry of Health and Welfare Notification No. 251 revised on September 21, 2009, "Standards for Tampons for Menstrual Treatment."

As can be seen from Table 1, conventional tampons are 2.2 to 2.
5g fiber (rayon or cotton wool or mixture thereof)
These tampons are made of a material with good absorbency and have a cylindrical shape with an average fiber density of 0.4 to 0.7 g/cm. As shown, it is designed to absorb a large amount of liquid, 25g or more.

However, when such tampons are actually used, leakage sometimes occurs with a fairly small absorption amount of 3 g or less, and if the fibers are compressed to a high density as in the tampons shown in Table 1, This suggests that blood is not easily absorbed. This means that because the viscosity of menstrual blood is higher than that of water, conventional tampons with too high fiber density absorb menstrual blood at a slow rate, causing menstrual blood to leak to the outside.

Further, as can be known from literature, the shape of the human vagina has a flat cross section and is usually in an open state. Therefore, when a conventional hard, cylindrical absorbent body with high fiber density is inserted into such a vagina, a gap 10 is created between the inner wall 9 of the vagina and the absorbent body 5, as shown in FIG. This results in menstrual blood leaking outside.

Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-15213 discloses ``a water-dispersible agglomerate tampon in which an agglomerate of absorbent material is surrounded by a fluid-permeable packaging''. However, as is clear from the fact that the tampons disclosed here are intended to be water-dispersible, the packaging is closed with a water-soluble adhesive, so in reality, during use, the tampons become adhesive due to bodily fluids such as menstrual blood. The drawback is that the drug may dissolve and some of the packaged agglomerates of absorbent material remain in the body after use. Additionally, as can be inferred from the drawings in this publication, the absorbent material is tightly packed inside the package, which has the disadvantage that the tampon tends to deform to fit the shape of the vagina when worn inside the vagina. .

[Means for solving problems]

The present inventors have completed the present invention as a result of intensive research to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional tampons.

That is, the present invention relates to a tampon characterized in that an aggregate of fiber masses mainly composed of water-absorbing fibers is covered with a water-permeable sheet so that the relative position of the fiber masses can be easily changed by external pressure. It is.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the tampon of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the tampon of the present invention, and FIG.
, (b) is a cross-sectional view (BB' line cross-sectional view). As is clear from the drawings, the tampon of the present invention is characterized by the structure of its absorbent body 5, which is constructed by covering a plurality of fiber masses 1 with a water-permeable sheet 2, and then connecting strings 4. .

To be more specific, the fiber mass 1 is an aggregate of fibers mainly composed of water-absorbing fibers, and is covered with a water-permeable sheet 2 so that the fiber mass 1 can move freely to some extent, and is covered with a string 4.
The tampon of the present invention is a combination of the above. Therefore, since the tampon itself is soft and easily deformed, when it is inserted into the vagina, it assumes the shape shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 and fits into the original oval shape. Further, a certain amount of space 6 exists between the fiber masses, and when the tampon is placed in the vagina, menstrual blood is absorbed by the fiber masses while traveling through this space.

In the present invention, the fiber mass can be made by rolling water-absorbing fibers such as rayon, absorbent cotton, pulverized pulp, etc. in an appropriate manner, for example, by rolling them with fingers. In the case of rayon or absorbent cotton, it can be made by forming a web using a card and rolling an appropriate amount of the web, or by tearing a sliver to an appropriate length and then tipping it.

Alternatively, a small amount of rayon, absorbent cotton, or pulverized pulp may be compressed by mechanical force to form a dense fiber mass. Furthermore, a somewhat larger aggregate of fibers, for example, 2 cm3 or more, may be separated into small pieces using a cutter or the like to form a fiber mass of 1 cm3 or less.

Whichever method is used to form the fiber mass, it is natural that the fiber mass is preferably composed of water-absorbing fibers, but the shape stability of the fiber mass and shape retention during liquid absorption, In consideration of settling, a small amount of hydrophobic fibers such as thermoadhesive fibers (eg, product name "NBF" manufactured by Daiwabo), polyester fibers, and polypropylene fibers may be mixed.

The shape of the fiber lumps used in the tampon of the present invention is not particularly limited, but is configured as shown in Fig. 2 so that gaps (spaces) 6 are easily formed between the fiber lumps when breast milk is pumped. In addition, considering productivity, a spherical one (Fig. 3 (a)) is suitable, but as shown in Fig. 3, a cylindrical one)
It may also be a rectangular parallelepiped (C) or an ellipsoid (d).

Naturally, the performance of the tampon of the present invention depends on the volume, fiber density, number, etc. of each fiber mass.

The appropriate volume per fiber mass is 1 cm” or less,
Furthermore, it is preferably 0.5 cm3 or less. When the volume of each fiber mass exceeds 1 cm, the absorbent body does not easily deform, especially when the fiber density of the fiber mass is large.
Therefore, the fit to the vagina becomes poor.

The density and number of fibers in the fiber mass are closely related to the absorption rate and amount of absorption of the tampon. That is, in order to increase the amount of absorption, it is sufficient to increase the fiber density and the number of fibers in the fiber mass, but this tends to reduce the absorption rate. Also,
When the fiber density of the fiber mass is reduced or the number of fiber mass is reduced, the absorption rate increases (although the amount of absorption tends to decrease).Menstrual blood has a higher viscosity than water, and the endometrial It also contains exfoliated matter, and a certain amount of space is required to increase the absorption rate. However, simply reducing the amount of fiber in conventional tampons will certainly not absorb menstrual blood. Although the speed is improved, the amount of absorption is greatly reduced.Therefore, it is important to optimize the fiber density and number of fiber masses in order to achieve the performance of the tampon.

In the tampon of the present invention, the fiber density of the fiber mass is 0.
A fiber mass of 1 to 1.0 g/cm' and a number of 10 to 100 fiber lumps are suitable as an absorbent material for a tampon. More preferably, the fiber density of the fiber agglomerates is 0.3 to 0.7 g/cm' and the number of fiber agglomerates is 15 to 30. Furthermore, since it is used by being worn inside the vagina, the volume of the absorbent body before use is about 3 to 6 cm3, which is a size that is easy to insert, similar to conventional tampons.

Now, in the present invention, it is important that the fiber masses are covered with a water-permeable sheet because they are not equally bonded to each other. The water-permeable sheet is not particularly limited as long as it has sufficient menstrual blood permeability, but non-woven fabrics, perforated synthetic resin films, net-like materials, etc. are suitable. Suitable nonwoven fabrics include dry or wet nonwoven fabrics of single or mixed composition such as polyester fibers, polypropylene fibers, pulp, and rayon; however, polyethylene-polypropylene composite fibers (e.g., product name "NBF" manufactured by Daiwa Boseki) are suitable. Dry-laid non-woven fabrics containing ethylene-ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (trade name "EA" manufactured by Chisso ■) have heat-sealing properties, so as shown in Figure 1, these non-woven fabrics can be It is possible and convenient to cover the fiber mass by heat-sealing the water-permeable sheet 2 in the heat-sealing section 3.

In addition, rayon long-fiber spunbond nonwoven fabric (e.g., manufactured by Asahi Kasei Corporation, product name "Benliese"), self-adhesive short fiber spunbond nonwoven fabric of rayon (e.g., "TCP" manufactured by Two-Phase Kagaku, Ltd.), and rayon-based When a water-jet nonwoven fabric or the like of the present invention is used as the water-permeable sheet of the present invention, the sheet covering the fiber mass also absorbs menstrual blood, which increases the amount of tampon absorption. In addition, in the case of a sheet that does not have heat-sealing properties, a method such as tying it with thread can also be used.

Furthermore, the tampon of the present invention is characterized in that it fits the shape of the vagina during actual use and prevents menstrual blood from leaking, so that menstrual blood that has been absorbed into the absorbent body does not leak through the string. Furthermore, it is preferable that FF14 be treated to be water repellent. As such a string, for example, cotton thread or rayon thread that has been water-repellent treated with an alkyl ketene dimer-based or rosin-based sizing agent is suitable.

As mentioned above, the tampon of the present invention is softer (easier to deform) than conventional tampons, but it can be easily inserted into the body with fingers. When the tampon of the invention is loaded into a so-called applicator (insertion tool) 7 and a push-out tool 8 is attached, the tampon insertion operation is easier and the hands and fingers are not dirty. Of course, it is included in the present invention.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the tampon of the present invention is made by assembling a large number of fiber masses mainly composed of water-absorbing fibers, covering them with a water-permeable sheet and connecting strings, and is soft and deforms freely.
It fits well to the flat shape of the vagina, causing less discomfort than traditional rigid tampons, and is less likely to leak. In addition, there are spaces between the fiber clumps, and the absorption speed is faster than in conventional tampons in which the fiber density is approximately constant in each part of the absorbent body. Furthermore, since the fiber mass is covered with a sheet, fewer fibers fall off during use or when taken out.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples.

Examples 1 to 12 and Comparative Examples 1 to 5 As shown in Table 2, tampons were manufactured by covering fiber masses made of various materials with various sheets and binding strings. In addition, materials other than fibers were formed into cylindrical tampons of similar size to commercially available products, and their absorption performance was evaluated using the following method. The results are shown in Table 3.

Evaluation method> As shown in FIG. 8(C), each tampon absorbent body 5 was attached to a vagina model 11 made of silicone rubber with a flat cross section as shown in FIG. 8(81,(b)). 2 g of the test liquid (defibrinated horse blood) was injected at once through the glass tube (inner diameter 5 mmφ) 12, and the time required for the test liquid to be absorbed was measured, and this was taken as the absorption time.

If there is no leakage of the test liquid from the string 4 side, 2 g of the test liquid is injected after leaving it for 5 minutes, and this operation is repeated until leakage occurs. Stop the injection when leakage occurs, and
After allowing the tampon to stand for several minutes, measure the weight of the test liquid absorbed into the tampon and use this as the absorbed amount.

Measurements were performed five times for each sample, and the average value was calculated for each. A good tampon has a short absorption time and a large amount of absorption.

Note) 1. The volume per fiber mass and the fiber density of each fiber mass vary depending on the fiber mass, and are not exact values.

Book 2: Irregular cross-section rayon, manufactured by Courtaulds, UK. 3: Dry heat bond non-woven fabric, PP/NBF/60/
40.20g/m” Book 4 Rayon long fiber spunbond nonwoven fabric, 30g/m
m” (manufactured by Asahi Kasei Corporation, trade name “Benliese”) N5 Rayon self-adhesive short fiber spunbond nonwoven fabric, 30 g/m” (manufactured by Nimura Kagaku, trade name “TCP”) Table 3 Note) ml Absorption Efficiency is the value of (absorption amount)÷(tampon weight ff1), and is a measure of the absorption performance per unit weight of the tampon.

As can be easily understood from Table 3, the tampon of the present invention has a short absorption time and a large amount of absorption, making it an excellent tampon. The reason for this is that the absorbent body is an aggregate of fiber lumps, and although the fiber lumps themselves have a certain degree of density, spaces are provided between the fiber lumps to facilitate the absorption of menstrual blood.

In addition, the tampon can be freely deformed from its original flat shape, and there is less of a gap between the vaginal wall and the tampon.

As shown in the comparative example, conventional tampons have a high absorption capacity for low-viscosity liquids (see Table 1), but because the fibers are hard and highly compressed, they are difficult to deform, and therefore do not easily absorb into the vagina. Poor fit and easy to leak. Also, since there is less space inside the tampon, the absorption time is also longer.

Furthermore, since the tampon of the present invention has a space inside the tampon, the weight of the tampon as a whole must be reduced, but the tampon of the present invention has a smaller weight than conventional tampons that are heavier. The tampon absorbs more, and the absorption efficiency is more than 2.5 times that of conventional tampons.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the tampon of the present invention, Fig. 2 (al is a sectional view taken along the line AA' in Fig. 1, Fig.
1 is a sectional view taken along line B-B" in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of the shape of the fiber mass of the tampon of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a deformed tampon of the present invention when worn in the vagina. FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view at that time, FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an applicator type tampon of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which a conventional tampon is installed in the vagina, and Fig. 8 is a drawing explaining the vaginal model used in the experiment. The plan view (C) is a diagram showing the state in which the absorbent body is set in the vagina model. 1...Fiber mass 2...Water permeable sheet 3...Heat seal portion 4...String 5... ... Tampon absorber 6 ... Space 7 ... Applicator 8 ... Extrusion tool 9 ... Vaginal inner wall 10 ... Gap 11 ... Vagina model 12 ... Glass tube Applicant's representative Old Valley 2 Figure 1 Figure 2 (a) Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 7 Figure 8 (C,)

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A tampon comprising an aggregate of fiber masses mainly composed of water-absorbing fibers, covered with a water-permeable sheet so that the relative position of the fiber masses can be easily changed by external pressure. . 2. The tampon according to claim 1, wherein the volume of each fiber lump is 1 cm^3 or less, and the number of fiber lumps is 10 to 100 pieces.