US3654927A

US3654927A - Protective shield for holding sanitary napkins and method of making

Info

Publication number: US3654927A
Application number: US16801A
Authority: US
Inventors: Susan R Surpless
Original assignee: Johnson and Johnson
Current assignee: Johnson and Johnson Consumer Inc; Johnson and Johnson; Personal Products Co
Priority date: 1970-03-05
Filing date: 1970-03-05
Publication date: 1972-04-11
Anticipated expiration: 1989-04-11

Abstract

A protective shield for holding sanitary napkins in place during use comprising an elongated nonwoven fabric of overlapping, intersecting fibers having a primary or predominant direction of fiber orientation substantially in the long direction of the elongated nonwoven fabric whereby the elongated nonwoven fabric possesses excellent strength in its long direction and considerable extensibility in its cross direction, the side edges of the central portion of the protective shield being gathered together to form a boatlike configuration capable of securely holding a sanitary napkin in place therein during use.

Description

United States Patent Surpless 51 Apr.11, 1972 54 PROTECTIVE SHIELD FOR HOLDING 3,400,718 9/1968 SaIjO ..12s/291 ANITA Y N APKIN E AKINg 8 AND M THOD OF FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [7 Inventor: Susan R. surpless, Metuchen NJ- 239,49l 7/1962 Australia ..l28/290 R 73 Assignee; Johnson & Johnson Primary Examiner-Charles F. Rosenbaum Attorney-Alexander T. Kardos, W. Frederick Mayer and [22] Filed: Mar. 5, 1970 Robert Minim- 1 1. N .1 1 1 [2 1 App 6 80 57 ABSTRACT 52 US. Cl. ..128/290 1-! A pmtective Shield hlding Sanitary napkins in Place 51 Int. Cl. ..A6lf 13/16 ing use compising ekmgaed fabric 53 Field di Search 128/257 28'9 290 R 290 H laPPingi intersecing fibers having a Primary Pedmmam direction of fiber orientation substantially in the long direction of the elongated nonwoven fabric whereby the elongated nonwoven fabric possesses excellent strength in its long direction [56] References CM and considerable extensibility in its cross direction, the side UNITED STATES PATENTS edges of the central portion of the protective shield being gathered together to form a boatlike configuration capable of i; i g t? securely holding a sanitary napkin in place therein during use. e erson 2,896,626 7/1959 Voigtman ..128/29O W 1 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures l I l -7 l- E: 5 i

7 l- 5 l E l- PATENTEBAPR H I972 3, 654, 927

SHEET 1 UF 2 H (2 05s 2/354- r/o/v MACH/IVE .D/EEC r/wv Q I c'iass Dyes: r/a/v r" I T 1:, E M E 1956 r/a/v /Z Z 2/ 5 V W L L X 2 Q V5 INVENTOR 5 054 e ,Sz/IPP4 55 ATTORNEY PROTECTIVE SHIELD FOR HOLDING SANITARY NAPKINS AND METHOD OF MAKING The present invention relates to protective shields for securely holding sanitary napkins in place during use and more particularly to such protective shields which are made in a particular manner from a nonwoven fabric whereby they possess desired and necessary physical properties and characteristics.

Protective undergarments, appliances, shields, covers holders, and the like, have been designed and used previously to hold sanitary napkins securely in position and to prevent the escape of fluid from the sanitary napkin to soil the clothing of the wearer during use.

Some of these protective products are designed to be reusable and are thus economical, if reused, but such reuse thereby involves washing, cleaning, and drying operations which are generally undesirable with the result that such reusable products have never been as completely commercially satisfactory as desired.

Other protective products have been designed to be disposable perhaps after a single use in order to avoid the undesirable washing, cleaning, and drying operations and such other products are also relatively economical but have never really possessed the desired or necessary physical properties and characteristics to a sufficient degree to make them as commercially acceptable as desired.

It is therefore a principal purpose and object of the present invention to provide a protective shield for securely holding a sanitary napkin in place during use which will be economical; which will not require subsequent washing, cleaning, or drying; which possesses the necessary and desired physical properties and characteristics; and which can be disposed of readily after one or a limited number of uses.

The invention will be more fully understood from the description which follows, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which there are illustrated preferred designs and modes of operation embodying the invention. lt is to be understood, however, that the invention is not to be considered limited to the constructions disclosed except as determined by the seope of the appended claims. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a blank of nonwoven fabric suitable as the starting material for making the protective shield of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating one form of the method of folding the nonwoven fabric blank of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the folded nonwoven fabric blank which is provided with a plurality of triangular cuts or notches at the edges of the central portion thereof;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a folded nonwoven fabric blank similar to FIG. 3 but having the four corners cut away and removed to provide tapered end portions or fastening tabs;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a folded nonwoven fabric similar to FIG. 3 but showing fold lines whereby tapered end portions or fastening tabs may be obtained by folding means;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view showing the protective shield of the present invention in which the cuts or notches are drawn together and overlapped in the form of darts and are bonded together whereby the central portion thereof assumes a boatlike configuration;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the protective shield, taken on the lines 7-7 of FIG. 6, in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the protective shield, taken on the line 8-8 of FIG. 6, in the direction indicated by the arrows; and

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the protective shield, taken on the line 9-9 of FIG. 6, in the direction indicated by the arrows.

In the drawings and with particular reference to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a blank of nonwoven fabric 10 which is suitable as the starting material for making the protective shield of the present invention. The size of such a blank 10 may be varied considerably but, in order to describe the present invention, the blank 10 employed herein for illustrative purposes measures approximately 19 inches in the machine direction and approximately 10 inches in the cross direction.

The terms machine direction or long direction and cross direction" or transverse direction are used herein with reference to the method of manufacturing such nonwoven fabrics which are customarily made from carded or drafted fibrous webs, such as described in greater particularity in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,098,265, 3,119,152, and 3,283,366. The term machine direction is used herein to indicate the predominant or primary direction of fiber orientation, as described in these patents.

The carded or drafted fibrous webs are bonded into a selfsustaining nonwoven fabric by any of the known bonding techniques presently used in the industry. Typical examples of such techniques are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,039,312, 3,009,822, and 2,705,686-2,705,688 which describe the so-called MASSLINN" nonwoven fabrics and more specific details may be found therein, as regards binder agents, percentages of binder agent add-on, print patterns, surface coverages, etc.

Such nonwoven fabrics possess excellent strength in the machine or long direction and considerable extensibility and elasticity in the transverse or cross direction. Such unusual relationship of physical properties and characteristics, as will be pointed out hereinafter, render such nonwoven fabrics extremely desirable for making the protective shields of the present invention.

The fibers of the nonwoven fabric 10 overlap and intersect in known manner and are preferably absorbent cellulosic fibers, such as cotton or rayon. Other fibers, either absorbent or non-absorbent, may be used as desired or required in any desired proportion of blends and mixtures, whereby special fiber and fabric properties and characteristics are obtained. Such other fibers include polyamide nylon 6, 66, 610, etc.', polyethylene phthalate polyester fibers such as Kodel and Dacron; acrylic fibers such as Creslan and Orlon; modacrylic fibers such as Dynel and Verel; polyolefinic fibers such as polyethylene and polypropylene; etc.

The weight of the nonwoven fabric blank used as the starting material (See Fig. 1) for making the protective shields of the present invention may be varied relatively widely. Preferred weights are found in the range of from about 220 grains per square yard to about 500 grains per square yard. If, in the course of the manufacture of the protective shield, the starting blank is folded to double or triple its original thickness, then its weight per square yard, as used in the final product, is correspondingly doubled or tripled, as the case may be.

Subsequent to the bonding of the fibrous web into a selfsustaining nonwoven fabric, one surface 11 of the nonwoven fabric is coated with a fluid repellent material. This is accomplished by conventional extrusion coating processes such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,331,728.

As is noted in FIG. 2, this extrusion process will leave the other surface 13 of the nonwoven fabric uncoated and still soft, fibrous and of the same original hand or feel.

The fluid repellent material may be selected from a large group of known fluid repellent materials such as synthetic polymeric materials including ethylene vinyl acetate; unplasticized polyvinyl chlorides (Geon type); polyethylene glycol terephthalate polyesters; polypropylene; polyethylene; acetoxylated polyethylenes; etc.

Such fluid repellent materials actually form a film or a sheetlike coating on the nonwoven fabric and the thickness of such a coating may be varied from as thin as about one-fourth mil to as much as 2 or 3 mils or more, as desired or required. Within the more practical aspects of the present invention, thicknesses of from about one-half mil to about 1 mil are contemplated.

The fluid repellent material must naturally be inert, nontoxic, non-allergenic, and non-irritating to the skin of the user. It must have very little and preferably no affinity for water and specifically no affinity for body fluids and exudates. It should be used in an amount and in a fashion so as not to stiffen or reduce the softness of the protective shield, either immediately or upon ageing. It should be colorless and odorless and should not significantly reduce the wet or dry strength of the nonwoven fabric to which it is applied. FIG. 2 discloses one method of folding the nonwoven fabric blank in a so-called G-fold whereby three folded layers are formed, as shown. Such a 0-fold is preferred, but an S-fold or other folds are also of use. The resulting folded product still measures 19 inches in the long direction but now, as folded, measures approximately 3% to 3% inches in the cross direction. And, naturally, its weight per square inch is tripled.

It is to be appreciated that, if a G-fold is used, the surface of the nonwoven fabric coated with the fluid-repellent material will be folded inwardly whereby both outer surfaces of the final product will remain soft, fibrous, and of the same original hand or feel.

Small notches or

cuts

12, 12, 12 and 14, 14, 14 are formed in the side edges of the central portion of the folded product 20 (see FIG. 3) and these are preferably triangular in nature, having a base at the edge of the fabric which may be extremely small or even negligible, or which may be up to about threeeighths inch. The notch has a depth of from about one-fourth inch to about one-half inch or even more, if desired or required. For reasons to become clear from a further reading of this disclosure, these notches or cuts should be formed only in the central area 16 of the protective shield, which central area measures from about 6 inches to about 8 inches. Also, although three notches or cuts are disclosed, and are preferred, as few as one notch on each side may be used, or as many as four or five notches or even more may be employed on each side. These notches or cuts, however, are always formed in the central portion 16.

End portions

18, 18 are also present in the protective shield and, although they are disclosed as having substantially the same length, such has been done for ease of illustration and it is to be appreciated that they may also have unequal lengths.

The end portions 18 of the protective shield 20 may be tapered by having the four corners cutaway as indicated at 28 in FIG. 4. Or they may merely be folded inwardly along fold lines 30, as indicated in FIG. 5, whereby the end portions 38 have greater thickness and body and greater strength for fastening purposes.

Each individual triangular notch or cut 12 and 14 is gathered together and overlapped to some extent, thereby pulling the edges of the fabric together like a dressmakers dart" which gathers the fabric together to form a boatlike configuration. Heat and pressure are then applied thereto, whereby the fluid repellent material which possesses inherent self-bonding properties and which permanently bonds the protective shield into the boatlike configuration illustrated in FIG. 6.

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 disclose how the cross-sectional shape of the protective shield varies from (1) a relatively small crosssection at the tapered end portions or fastening tabs 48; to (2) a relatively larger cross-section 50 as the central portion of the protective shield is approached, and finally to (3) a boatlike configuration 52 at the central portion.

The creation of a boatlike configuration having desired and necessary physical properties and characteristics is made possible (I) by having the primary or predominant direction of fiber orientation extending in the lengthwise direction of the protective shield to provide the necessary strength requirements thereto and (2) by having the cross direction or transverse fiber direction extending in the widthwise direction of the protective shield whereby it is provided with the necessary extensibility and elastic properties required therein.

Because of these unique properties, the protective holder supports the sanitary napkin very securely. Actually, the gathered edges of the holder exert a strong holding force on the sanitary napkin and assist in the anatomical shaping of the sanitary napkin to the contours of the wearer. This, of course,

is due primarily to the extensibility of the holder in its cross direction, in cooperation with the excellent strength in the long direction of the holder.

The invention will be further described by reference to the following Examples wherein there are disclosed preferred embodiments of the present invention. However, it is to be appreciated that such Examples are illustrative but not limitative of the broader aspects of the inventive concept.

EXAMPLE I The nonwoven fabric blank starting material comprises l /z /z denier, 1 9/16 inch regenerated cellulose rayon staple fibers. It comprises 220 grains per square yard of such fibers and 40 grains per square yard of Rohm & Haas Rhoplex HA-8 ethyl acrylate polymeric binder agent which is applied in a wavy line pattern, 6 lines to the inch. The blank measures 19 inches in the long direction and 10 inches in the cross direction. The water repellent material is ethylene vinyl acetate and is applied as a one-half mil film by extrusion coating techniques to one side of the blank.

The blank is folded into a three-layer G-fold, as shown in FIG. 2, having a width of about 3 /2 inches. Three notches are formed in the side edges as shown in FIG. 3. These notches are located 7 /2 inches, 9 inches and 10% inches from the left hand end of the protective shield, as viewed in FIG. 3. Each notch is about one-fourth inch at the base and about one-half inch deep. The end portions of the folded blank are folded inwardly to form a tapered fastening tab having a length of 6 inches (left hand end) and 7 inches (right hand end), as shown in FIG. 5. The notches are individually overlapped slightly and then heat and pressure are applied thereto to bond the overlapped portion permanently together. A boatlike configuration as shown in FIG. 6 is obtained.

A conventional tab-less sanitary napkin of a standard size is placed in the boatlike central portion of the protective shield and is securely held therein. The and portions are used to fasten the protective shield to a standard, conventional belt and the product performs satisfactorily in use.

EXAMPLE II The procedures of Example I are followed substantially as set forth therein except that the cuts or notches in the edges are only one-fourth inch deep rather than one-half inch as shown therein. The boatlike configuration is still formed but is relatively shallower than that formed in Example I. The product performs satisfactorily in similar fashion.

EXAMPLE III EXAMPLE IV The procedures of Example I are followed substantially as set forth therein except that the overlapped areas are reinforced by adhesively secured reinforcement patches measuring one-half inch by 1% inches. The product performs satisfactorily in use.

EXAMPLE V The procedures of Example I are followed substantially as set forth therein except that only two notches are formed. These notches are located 7 inches from each end of the protective shield. The product performs satisfactorily in similar fashion.

EXAMPLE VI The procedures of Example V are followed substantially as set forth therein except that a spot of liquid adhesive is used to reinforce the overlapped areas. The product performs satisfactorily in use.

EXAMPLE Vll The procedures of Example I are followed substantially as set forth therein except that polyethylene is used as the fluid repellent material instead of ethylene vinyl acetate. The product performs satisfactorily in use.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to several examples and embodiments showing specific materials and specific products in specific arrangements and conformations, such is not to be considered limitative of the invention but merely illustrative thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A method making a protective shield for holding a sanitary napkin during use comprising: forming an elongated nonwoven fabric of overlapping, intersecting fibers having a predominant direction of fiber orientation substantially in the long direction of said elongated nonwoven fabric, whereby the protective shield has excellent strength in the long direction thereof and considerable extensibility in the cross direction; extrusion coating a water repellent material on one surface of the elongated nonwoven fabric; folding the nonwoven fabric lengthwise into a three-layer, G-fold configuration with the surface coated with the water repellent material folded inwardly to leave no surfaces exposed which are coated with the water repellent material; providing the edges of the central portion of said protective shield with at least one notch or cut on each side; and gathering the central portion together into a boatlike configuration capable of securely holding a sanitary napkin therein during use.