MXPA98007281A - A bending method in packing of an absorbent article - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for folding a package, an absorbent article, such as a diaper or incontinence protection, comprising a rear part (5), a front part (4), a crotch part (6) intermediate, and an absorbent body (1) enclosed between two housing sheets (2. 3). According to the invention, the laterally projecting portions of the article are folded inward so as to provide the article with a rectangular configuration, after which at least longitudinally external portions of the rear and front parts (5, 4) of the article they bend inwards towards the crotch part (6). The invention also relates to an absorbent article bent in packing

Description

A METHOD I HAVE FOLDED IN PACKAGING AN ABSORBENT ITEM The present invention relates to a method for double packaging an absorbent article, such as a diaper or incontinence guard, comprising a back, a front, an intermediate crotch, and an absorbent body enclosed between sheets of enveloping accommodations. The invention also relates to an article folded into a package and Q with a package comprising a compressed bundle of said folded articles into a package. Absorbent articles of the aforementioned kind are usually folded together to form a rectangular configuration and then doubled, before being packaged. A disadvantage with twice the articles in this way, is that the bending is done in the crotch part of the article, which is often the most sensitive part of the absorbent body. After folding the articles into packaging, or the articles form in bundle and then compress in a manner to reduce the bundle volume, before inserting the bundle into a similar bag or packaging unit made of flexible material. This compression significantly reduces the volume of the article bundle. The 5 items packed with it adopt much less space of transport and storage space that would be the case if the articles were not compressed However the packaged items included try to return their original thickness and with it pressed against the walls of the package and against each other with a relatively large force The pressure exerted in this way the packaged articles can make it difficult to separate the first articles from a package. This problem has traditionally been solved by providing one of the walls of the package with relatively large pieces of detachment see for example EP-A2-0 349 050 and EP-BI- No. 0 554 411 Removal of these relatively large release pieces leaves relatively large openings through which parts of the packaged items are capable of fanning out because the expansion of these parts of the articles can no longer be prevented by the package wall An open package with it will require more space It is the object of the present invention to eliminate the aforementioned disadvantages and to provide a packing unit for compressed absorbent articles in which the articles are positively retained even when the package is opened and from which the articles can be opened. retire easily These objects are achieved in accordance with the invention by means of a method of the kind defined in the introduction and characterized by folding inwardly projecting portions of the article so as to provide the article with a rectangular shape and then bending the outer portions of the article. the back and front portions of the article inward toward the crotch portion thereof at least in the longitudinal direction of the article. In a preferred embodiment of the method only the portions of the housing material that remain outside the absorbent body are bent towards the crotch portion of the article The invention also relates to an absorbent article folded into a package such as a diaper or an incontinence protector comprising a back part, a front part, an intermediate crotch portion and an absorbent body enclosed between enveloping housing sheets wherein the article It is characterized in which portions of the back and front portions thereof are folded inwardly to the crotch portion at least in the longitudinal direction of the article and in which the absorbent body is left unfolded in the crotch portion the front and back of the article inward toward the crotch portion, it can be ensured that the upper and lower sides of the packaged folded article will remain straight regardless of the external contours of the front and back portions of the article, at the same time that the absorbent body will remain in its original undeformed state in the crotch portion. In a preferred embodiment, at least one of the front and rear portions of the article has an outer edge portion of accommodation material positioned outwardly of the absorbent body, this outer edge portion overlapping a portion of the other of the front or back article parts in the folded state in article packaging The invention also relates to a flexible packaging unit to accommodate at least one bundle comprised of articles absorbers, such as diapers or incontinence guards, each including a back, a front part, an intermediate crotch portion and an absorbent body enclosed between the enclosing housing sheets, the articles being folded so that the outer portions of front and back will bend towards the crotch part, when less in the longitudinal direction, and is oriented in one and the same direction in a respective beam, the packaging unit comprising the article bundle or stack and having a generally parallelepiped configuration including an upper side, a lower side, two mutually opposite side walls and two mutually opposite end walls, and an element opening unit package that allows the unit to be opened so that the articles can be removed therefrom, wherein the packaging unit is characterized in that the opening element of the packing unit comprises an opening forming part in the wall at the end toward which the folded-in portions of the back and front portions of the articles of the bundle face, wherein the aperture-forming portion extends parallel with the front and rear edges of the folded front and rear article portions inward and can move out of the plane_ of the end wall and has a pore and width such that at least one of the edges extends The openings of the front or rear article part will be exposed when the aperture forming part moves out of the plane of the end wall.

In a preferred embodiment, at least one of the front and rear article portions includes a longitudinally outer edge portion of accommodation material positioned outwardly of the absorbent body. the edge part overlapping a portion of the upper portion of the front and rear article portions in the folded state of the article where the aperture forming portion extends along the edge of the outer edge portion of the housing material The aperture-forming part has a width of less than 10 mm and a greater width corresponding to 33% of the length of an article folded into a bundle and is defined by two lines of mutually parallel weakening extending slightly towards the side walls and a further weakening line is provided in one of the side walls between the ends of the parallel weakening lines • The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figures 1 to 4 are schematic views illustrating the different steps in folding in packing a diaper in accordance with the invention from above Figure 5 is a side view of the diaper shown in Figure 4 Figures 6 and 7 schematically illustrate the introduction of a bundle of folded diapers in bundle , c to a packing unit in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention Figure 8 is a schematic perspective view of an open packaging unit Figures 9 to 12 are schematic side views with a side wall removed and show the different steps of removing a diaper from a packaging unit open and Figure 13 illustrates an end wall provided with an aperture forming element in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention. Figure 1 illustrates from above a diaper with which the invention can be conveniently applied. The illustrated diaper includes an absorbent body 1 Hourglass-shaped enclosed between two similarly shaped housing sheets 2 3 that are joined together along portions thereof that are facing away from the absorbent body 1 The lateral extension of the front and rear portions 4 and 5 of the diaper is larger than that of part 6 of the middle diaper The diaper also includes bodies 7 8 side and thread s or elastic bands 9 10 along the long edges of the crotch portion The side bodies 7 8 function to stabilize the three-dimensional configuration of the diaper when in use and it is desirable that these side bodies be deform to the smallest possible degree when the diaper is packed after its manufacture It will be noted that by the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article it is implied a direction extending from the front of the diaper to its back regardless of whether the article is folded in packing or not and regardless of whether its lateral extension is greater than its longitudinal extent. The diaper illustrated in Figure 1 is brought to its Packing state ie is folded into a package by folding the parts of the receiving sheets that are laterally out of the bodies 7 8 over the central parts of the diaper Figure 2 shows the configuration of the diaper after having folded inward the hand parts left of the housing sheets while Figure 3 illustrates the rectangular configuration of the diaper after having folded inward the right-hand parts of the housings In accordance with the invention the front part 4 of the article is first bent inwards towards the crotch part 6 and then the posterior part 5 along the lines a and B of transverse fold oked immediately outside the points defining longitudinally extending outer bodies 7 8 The diaper then has the configuration shown from above and in side view respectively in figures 4 and 5 none of the parts of the absorbent body 1 remaining in the crotch part nor the bodies side 7 8 will be affected by the fold in diaper packaging A folded diaper in the package shown in Figure 1 has reference 11 in Figures 4 and 5 Naturally the fold in diaper packaging according to the invention can be made by folding inward the back before folding in on the front of the diaper It will also be understood that the procedure of The fold described above can be applied with other types of absorbent articles with which it is desirable for the crotch parts of the absorbent bodies to remain in their original unfolded state or to include the central unfolded portions due to one reason or another , "In the configuration illustrated in figures 4 and the front and rear edges bent inwardly of the absorbent body 1 are mutually contiguous ie touching each other nevertheless the edge portions of the absorbent body can be bent , inward so they are spaced from each other Instead, for example, the latter alternative may be appropriate when the parts of the diaper that are desired to remain unfolded after the fold in diaper packaging could be affected by the fold in packing with the edges bent inward from the absorbent body lying on the edge of the diaper. It is also convenient to fold into packaging in accordance with the articles of the invention whose absorbent bodies have curved external contours in the front and / or back parts of the bodies with which to achieve the emgaque of the articles in a generally parallelepiped configuration. 6 and 7 schematically illustrate the packaging of a bundle of diapers 11 that have been folded in packaging to the configuration shown in Figures 4 and 5. In the illustration of Figure 6 the bundle of diapers has been compressed v gr by the retention of the bundle between the arms of a holding tool and then moving the arms towards each other until the beam has been The volume of a compressed diaper bundle can be half the volume of the bundle before compression. The compression of the bundle of diapers 11 is symbolized by the hollow arrows in Fig. 6. The compressed bundle of diapers 11 insert from some suitable way v gr, with the help of the aforementioned fastening tool, towards a packing unit 12 through the open bottom thereof, as indicated by the full arrow in figure 6, the open bottom of the unit 12 The packing material is then sealed and sealed, for example by ultrasonic welding or thermal welding when the packing material is weldable, or by glue, so as to obtain a parallelepiped configuration package. A closed packing unit 12 thereof is shown in FIG. Figure 7 The packing unit 12 has a top wall 13, a bottom or bottom side 14, two mutually opposite side walls 15, of which only one is shown in Figures 6-8, and two mutually opposite end walls 16, 17. diaper bundle 11 introduced into the packaging unit is pressed against the end walls 17 and the side walls 15 are thus fastened to a force acting in the direction of a double arrow in Figure 7 Extending through the end wall 16 are two parallel lines of perforations 18, 19, which also extend slightly towards the side walls 15. An additional perforated line 20 extends along the wall 15 which is oriented towards the observer of Figure 7, between the ends of the perforated lines 18 19 The three lines 18-20 perforated together define a detachment strip 21 Figures 8 and 9 show the packing unit 12 with the strip 21 detached from the end wall 16 so as to open the package. The strip 21 is properly left attached to the side wall which can not be seen in the Figure as illustrated in FIG. Figures 8 and 9 the opening created by detaching the strip 21 is placed opposite the end edge 22 of the rear part folded inward of the first diaper 11 present in the bundle. As a result of the compressive force acting on the diaper the edge of the diaphragm The end will be pressed outwardly through the opening and capable of being held by a user. The removal of a diaper from an open pack 12 is illustrated schematically in Figures 9-12. A diaper 11 is removed from the pack by grasping the accessible end edge 22. through the opening and then pulling the end edge downward as indicated by the arrows in Figures 9 and 10 when the top of the diaper has been stretched from the pack the direction in which the diaper is attached to the package is conveniently changed as indicated by an arrow in Figure 11 It has been found that it is easier to separate a first diaper from a packaging unit inventiveness of a known packaging unit in which the diapers are exposed in a fan-like configuration. Figure 12 illustrates the package 12 after the first diaper 11 has been separated from the diaper bundle. As will be seen from this Figure the package has an appearance that is identical to its appearance before separating the first diaper due to the slight expansion of the remaining diapers that with the same fill the empty space left by the first separated diaper The pressure on the end walls 16 17 However, it has decreased slightly Even when the bundle of items folded in a package is inserted through the open bottom of the packing unit and the bottom is then closed and sealed in the case of the illustrated embodiment, it will be understood that the packaging unit can receive an open upper part and the diaper bundle be introduced through the upper part and the diaper bundle enter through the top of the packing unit in its place In the latter case an article is separated by first pulling the end edge upwards and then downwards mainly in the same way as that shown in Figures 9-12 when these Figures are "2_b turn inside out The width of the strip 21 ie the vertical extension of the strip as seen in the Figures can vary within relatively wide limits. However the strip 21 will preferably have a width of less than 10 mm in order to allow the edge 22 of end is easily grasped The upper limit of the width of the strip is determined by the need to ensure that the diapers will be retained securely in the open package meaning that the wall 16 of The end should extend without breaking from the upper side and the lower side of the pack 12 to a certain degree. The maximum width of the strip 21 will therefore not exceed 33% of the vertical extension of the end wall 16. FIG. 13 illustrates a second embodiment of an inventive packaging unit The only difference between the packaging unit shown in figure 13 and the packaging unit shown in figures 6-12 is that the aperture-forming element 21 'is different from the strip 2Q 21 of the embodiment shown in Figures 6-8 The entire aperture-forming element 21 is disposed in the end wall 16 of the packaging unit 12 'and is defined by a horizontal perforated line 23 and two perforated lines 24 25 verticals that extend parallel with the side walls of the packaging unit 12 near the side edges of the end wall When the element 21 is opened two outwardly bent fins are formed between which the end of an item folded into a pack will protrude.

The embodiment illustrated in Figure 13 can be modified in various ways. For example, the horizontal perforated line 23 can extend between the opposite upper and lower ends of the vertical lines. In addition vertical lines can be provided in the side walls similar to the lines 20 In Figures 6-8 it will be understood in this regard that the lines 20 can be provided in the end wall 16 instead of the side walls in a manner analogous to the lines 24. It is preferred that the opening obtained in the packing unit has a width greater than 10 mm suitably greater than 20 mm conveniently greater than 30 mm and more preferably greater than 40 mm Tests have shown that a width of 50 mm is extremely effective and consequently it is preferred that the opening have a width of approximately 50 mm or a width that corresponds to 33% of the length of a folded item in a package depending on which d These measurements are the least. It will be understood that the modalities described in Illustrated embodiments of the invention may be varied within the scope of the inventive concept particularly with respect to the shape or configuration of the absorbent articles. Additionally other types of weakening lines other than perforated lines may be used to define the release strip. contain more than one bundle of items placed horizontally adjacent to each other and / or stacked one on top of the other When the bundles are placed hopontally adjacent to each other the strip of detachment can be conveniently common with mutually adjacent bundles facilitating the manufacture of said packing unit additionally the abpible part of the end wall can be provided at the opening forming end with a holding tab or the like to facilitate the opening of the packing unit The invention is therefore restricted only by the content of the packaging unit. the following reivi ndications

Claims (12)

1 - . 1 - A method for folding into packaging an absorbent article such as a diaper or an incontinence protector comprising a back part, a front part, an intermediate crotch part and an absorbent body enclosed between enveloping housing sheets characterized by bending inward portions that they project laterally of the article so as to provide the article with a rectangular configuration and then fold at least the longitudinally external portions of the rear and front parts of the article inward toward the crotch part

2 - A method according to claim 1 characterized by fold in the crotch portion of the article only parts of the housing material that remain outside the absorbent body

3 - A bent absorbent article in packaging such as a diaper or incontinence guard comprising a back part a front part a crotch part in termediate and an absorbent body enclosed between the accommodation sheets characterized in that at least the portions longitudinally - lí external d? the back and front parts are folded inward towards the crotch portion, and in that the absorbent body has been left unfolded in the crotch portion of article

4 - An article according to claim 3 characterized in that at least one of the front and rear parts of the article includes an edge portion of longitudinally outer housing material facing away from the body 10 absorbent, and in which the edge part overlaps part of the other of the front or rear of the article in its folded state in packaging

5 - An article according to claim 3, characterized in that the parts The back and front of the article have been folded so that the front and rear edges of the absorbent body will bump into each other

6 - A flexible packaging unit to receive at least one compressed beam of absorbent articles, 20 such as diapers or incontinence guards each comprising a rear part, a front part, an intermediate crotch portion and an absorbent body enclosed between the housing sheets wherein the articles fold in a manner , 5 that at least longitudinally external portions of the front and rear portions will fold inward toward the crotch portion and oriented in one and the same direction in the bundle where the packaging unit encloses the bundle or bundles of articles and has an essentially parallelpiped configuration with an upper side an lower side two mutually opposite side walls and two mutually opposite end walls and a forming element d? opening to allow the articles to be separated from the packaging unit characterized in that the opening-forming element is comprised of an opening-forming portion of the end wall towards which the inwardly bent portions of the front and rear portions of the Articles in the bundle are oriented where the aperture forming part extends parallel with the leading and trailing edges of the front and rear portions folded inwardly of the articles where the aperture forming part can move out of the plane of the wall of the aperture. end and wherein the aperture forming part is positioned so that it has a width such that at least one of the outer edges of the front or rear of the article will be exposed when moving to the aperture forming part outside the plane of the article. end wall

7 - A packing unit in accordance with the claim 6 wherein at least one of the front or back portions of the absorbent articles includes a longitudinally outer edge portion of lodging material facing away from the overlying absorbent body a part of the front or rear upper part of the article in the folded state in packaging thereof characterized in that the opening forming part sa extends along the edge of the outer edge portion of the housing material

8 - A packing unit according to claim 6 or claim 7 characterized in that the opening forming part has a width of less than 10 mm and a greater width corresponding to 33% of the length of the folded article in package

9 - A packaging unit in accordance with any of claims 6-8 characterized in that the opening forming part is defined by two mutually parallel weakening lines extending across the entire width of the end wall from one side wall to the other

10 - A unit of packaging according to claim 9 characterized in that the lines of parallel weakening extend slightly towards the later walls those in which a line of additional weakening is provided in one of the side walls, between the ends of mutually parallel weakening lines

11 - A packing unit according to any of claims 6-8 characterized in that the opening forming part is defined by a first line of weakening extending through at least most of the width of the end wall and two mutually parallel second mutually weakening lines extending perpendicularly to the first line of weakness on the respective sides thereof "

12 - A packing unit in accordance with any of claims 6-11 characterized in that the whole of the aperture forming part is positioned on the end wall towards which the inwardly bent portions of the front and rear parts of the articles in the bundle are oriented to each other.