Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F13/00—Bandages or dressings; Absorbent pads
  • A61F13/15—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators
  • A61F13/20—Tampons, e.g. catamenial tampons; Accessories therefor
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F13/00—Bandages or dressings; Absorbent pads
  • A61F13/15—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators
  • A61F13/20—Tampons, e.g. catamenial tampons; Accessories therefor
  • A61F13/2082—Apparatus or processes of manufacturing
  • A61F13/2085—Catamenial tampons
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F13/00—Bandages or dressings; Absorbent pads
  • A61F13/15—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators
  • A61F13/20—Tampons, e.g. catamenial tampons; Accessories therefor
  • A61F13/2051—Tampons, e.g. catamenial tampons; Accessories therefor characterised by the material or the structure of the inner absorbing core
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F13/00—Bandages or dressings; Absorbent pads
  • A61F13/15—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators
  • A61F13/20—Tampons, e.g. catamenial tampons; Accessories therefor
  • A61F13/2002—Tampons, e.g. catamenial tampons; Accessories therefor characterised by the use
  • A61F13/202—Catamenial tampons
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F13/00—Bandages or dressings; Absorbent pads
  • A61F13/15—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators
  • A61F13/15577—Apparatus or processes for manufacturing
  • A61F2013/15821—Apparatus or processes for manufacturing characterized by the apparatus for manufacturing
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F13/00—Bandages or dressings; Absorbent pads
  • A61F13/15—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators
  • A61F13/53—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators characterised by the absorbing medium
  • A61F2013/530131—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators characterised by the absorbing medium being made in fibre but being not pulp
  • A61F2013/530138—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators characterised by the absorbing medium being made in fibre but being not pulp characterized by the fibre length
  • A61F2013/530153—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators characterised by the absorbing medium being made in fibre but being not pulp characterized by the fibre length being long
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F13/00—Bandages or dressings; Absorbent pads
  • A61F13/15—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators
  • A61F13/53—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators characterised by the absorbing medium
  • A61F2013/530992—Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators characterised by the absorbing medium in the form of string or ball instead of sheets

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a tampon, particularly, but not exclusively, a sanitary tampon, with the use of one or more thin, optionally crimped filaments of fibre material which are formed into a porous tampon blank, which blank, optionally together with a with ⁇ drawal string or cord anchored therein, is compressed to a final tampon form.
• the invention also relates to a tampon produced in accordance with the novel method.
• Tampons are normally produced from relatively very coarse cotton tows, from which a predetermined length is cut and folded or wound to form a tampon blank, which is thereupon compressed to form a tampon. Tampons of this conventional construction are not particularly well suited for use as sanitary tampons. It is extremely difficult to produce a cotton tow of uniform thickness and consequently the tampons produced from such tows will contain varying quantities of cotton and therewith exhibit mutually different swelling and absorption properties. Moreover, sanitary tampons which are produced from tampon blanks obtained by conventional winding of a coarse cotton tow tend to lengthen considerably when removed, as a result of sliding between the turns, resulting in sanitary drawbacks, among other things.
• Proposals have also been made to produce sanitary tampons from thin fibre material filaments, in which the filaments extend in the longitudinal direction of the tampon; cf for instance US-A-2,934,068.
• the filaments may consist of single fibres, thereby favourably avoiding loosening of fibres.
• the absorbenc of the tampon can be enhanced by crimping the filaments, e.g., in accordance with SE-B-331 882, whereby by filaments will cross one another at a great number of locations in a desirable fashion, resulting in an improved capillary action and thus also in enhanced absorbency.
• An object of the present invention is to provide a novel and advantageous method of manufacturing tampons in which the aforesaid drawbacks are avoided, at least to a great extent.
• the tampon blank is produced by winding the filament or filaments of fibre material into a cross-ply configuration or braid on a mandrel which is caused to rotate relative to a ' filament guider which, in turn, is moved reci- procatingly in relation to the mandrel in the longitudinal direction thereof, said mandrel being rotated through 0,1-5 revolution during the time taken for the filament guider to move backwards and forwards once, and the cross-ply configura ⁇ tion forming the tampon blank being doffed from the mandrel . prior to compressing said blank to its intended tampon form.
• the fibrous filament or filaments used may comprise endless single fibres, or yarn made from staple fibres or other short fibres of any suitable material whatsoever.
• the filament used comprises a yarn, e.g. of cotton, which is produced from several individual preyarns, thereby providing a yarn which will vary only very slightly in weight per unit of length, enabling tampons of substantially the same weight to be produced by coiling or winding equal lengths of yarn. It will be understood that yarns formed from combinations of endless fibres and fibres of finite lengths can be used and that different types of filaments or yarns can be used in the manufacture of one and the same tampon.
• a filament formed from fibres of finite length e.g. staple fibres
• producing the outer layers of each tampon from filaments formed from endless fibres may be firstly used.
• SE-C-84634 which illustrates and describes one of the many known apparatus for coiling to a cross-ply configuration or ball.
• At least a part of the fibre material filament or filaments can be knitted or plaited to form at least one tow which is wound to form a cross-ply configuration, preferably while being held stretched.
• at least a part of the fibre material filament or filaments can be circular-knitted or plaited to form at least one tubular tow which is wound into a cross-ply configuration whilst being held streched.
• the filament or filaments or tow or tows of fibre material can be wound around an absorbent annular core previously fitted to the mandrel and, for instance, comprising a suitable open-pore foamed plastic.
• At least the outer layers of the tampon blank of cross-ply configuration can be formed by winding or coiling one or more filaments which comprise at least substantially continuous fibres.
• at least the outer layers of the tampon blank of cross-ply configuration is formed by winding or coiling one or more filaments which consist entirely or partially of heat-sealable material and which can be heated to heat-sealing temperature prior to compressing the tampon blank, preferably immediately prior to coiling the filament or filaments.
• the invention also relates to a novel and advantageous tampon, particularly, although not exclusi ⁇ vely, a sanitary tampon, which comprises substantially one or more thin, optionally crimped fibre material filaments and optionally a withdrawal string or cord anchored in the fibre material, and which, for the purpose of avoiding the drawbacks recited in the introduction, substantially comprises a tampon blank of cross-ply configuration which has been compressed to tampon form, said tampon blank optionally embracing a core of absorbent material.
• at least a part of the fibre material filament or filaments may advantageously have the form of one or more knitted or plaited, suitably stretched tows.
• the fibre material filament or filaments may have the form of one or more circular-knitted or tubular-plaited, stretched tows.
• at least the outer layer of an advantageous embodiment of the tampon consists completely or partially of one or more filaments of heat-sealable material, said filaments being bonded together at their points of intersection by heat sealing, so as to form a network.
• Figure 1 illustrates schematically the manufacture of a tarn- pon blank by winding or coiling a filament to form a cross- ply configuration
• Figure 2 illustrates schematically compression of a tampon blank to a tampon
• Figure 3 illustrates a tow knitted from a fibrous yarn
• Figure 4 illustrates the tow of Figure 3 in a stretched state
• Figure 5 illustrates a tubular tow formed by plaiting fibre material filaments
• Figure 6 shows the tow of Figure 5 in a stretched state.
• Figure 1 illustrates a tampon blank 1 of cross-ply configu ⁇ ration during manufacture.
• the blank is mounted on a shaft 2 which rotates in the manner illustrated by the arrow 3.
• the reference numeral 4 designates a filament guider which is arranged to move backwards and forwards along the shaft 2, in the manner shown by the broken arrows 5, in order to lay a fibre material filament 6 in a desired fashion, said filament being taken from a filament supply not shown.
• the shaft 2 rotates two revolutions in the time taken for the filament guider 4 to move backwards and forwards once.
• the compressing device illustrated in Figure 2 includes four jaws 7 each of which has two mutually perpendicular working surfaces 8 intended to be brought into pressure-exerting engagement with a tampon blank.
• the jaws 7 are reciprocatingly movable between the forwardly displaced position, in which the working surfaces 8 are shown in full lines, and the with ⁇ drawn position, in which the working surfaces 8 are shown in broken lines.
• the compressing device includes a further four jaws 9 each of which has a working surface 10 which, when seen in cross-section, is in the form of a cirtular- arcuate, cupped groove and which is also intended to be pressed against the tampon blank.
• the jaws 9 are recipro ⁇ catingly movable between the withdrawn position, shown in full lines, and an advanced or forwardly displaced position, in which the working surface 10 is indicated in broken lines.
• the working surfaces 8 on said jaws function as guide surfaces for the jaws 9.
• a tampon blank indicated in broken lines 11 can be inserted axially between the jaws.
• the jaws 7 are then advanced so as to compress the tampon blank to the cross-sectional shape shown by the hatched area in Figure 2.
• the jaws 9 are then advan ⁇ ced so as to compress the tampon blank, such that the blank will have a substantially circular cross-sectional shape and be fully incircled by the working surfaces 10 of the four forwardly displaced jaws 9. Subsequent to withdrawing all jaws 7, 9, the finished tampon can be removed from the compressing device.
• Figure 3 illustrates a knitted yarn tow 12 suitable for use in the manufacture of the inventive tampon.
• the tow Prior to being wound or coiled to a cross-ply configuration, such as the configuration illustrated in Figure 1 for instance, the tow is preferably stretched to the shape illustrated at 13 in Figure 4.
• Figure 5 illustrates a tubular-plaited tow 14 which is suit ⁇ able for use when producing the inventive tampon and which prior to being wound or coiled to a cross-ply configuration, for instance the cross-ply configuration shown in Figure 1, is preferably stretched to the form illustrated at 15 in Figure 6.
• any suitable material in filament form can be used to manufacture the inventive tampon, and th tampon blank can be compressed in a manner different to that shown, for example so as to obtain a tampon with a rounded en
• no withdrawal string or cord has been shown in the drawings, it will be understood that such a string or cord shall be anchored in the tampon blank in some suitable manner prior to compressing the blank to the final tampon form.
• the mandrel is caused to rotate 0.33-3, preferably 0.5-2, revolutions during the time taken for the filament guilder to move backwards and forwards once.
• the fibre material may comprise a crimped yarn made from a plurality, e.g. 20, preyarns and each preyarn may comprise a plurality, e.g. 50 to 100, single fibres of , for instance, regenerated cellu ⁇ lose.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Vascular Medicine (AREA)
• Epidemiology (AREA)
• Biomedical Technology (AREA)
• Heart & Thoracic Surgery (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Absorbent Articles And Supports Therefor (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20371582

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (10)

Cited By (8)

Citations (4)

• 1988
  • 1988-03-04 SE SE8800774A patent/SE460700B/sv not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1989
  • 1989-02-28 BR BR898907299A patent/BR8907299A/pt unknown
  • 1989-02-28 WO PCT/SE1989/000089 patent/WO1989007924A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1989-02-28 KR KR1019890702055A patent/KR900700067A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1989-02-28 AU AU40733/89A patent/AU4073389A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1989-02-28 EP EP89903284A patent/EP0404796A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1989-03-03 ZA ZA891651A patent/ZA891651B/xx unknown
  • 1989-03-03 AR AR313330A patent/AR240396A1/es active
• 1990
  • 1990-09-03 FI FI904340A patent/FI904340A0/fi not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1990-09-03 DK DK210290A patent/DK210290A/da not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (4)

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