JP2003135516A - Method of manufacturing absorptive article, and absorptive article - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of manufacturing an absorptive article free from the appearance of wrinkles on a top sheet. SOLUTION: Nonwoven fabric bands 12 of low elasticity are jointed to both side parts of a top sheet base material band 11 to form a top sheet band 13. A core 4 is then arranged between the top sheet band 13 and a back sheet band 14 to join the respective sheet bands 13, 14. When the top sheet band 13 becomes protuberant due to the core 4, the appearance of wrinkles caused by the elongation of the top sheet band 13 is suppressed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a top sheet,
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an absorbent article having a back sheet and a liquid absorber arranged between the both sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, sanitary napkins have been known as absorbent articles of this type, and a liquid-permeable top sheet forming the front surface (contact surface with the skin) and a liquid forming the back surface. It is common to have an impermeable backsheet and a liquid-absorbent core disposed between these sheets.
In this sanitary napkin, the arrangement portion of the core in the top sheet is bulged due to the thickness of the core, and thus,
It is designed to surely fit the female genitals when wearing a napkin. A large number of holes are formed in the top sheet for permeation of menstrual blood, and the menstrual blood that has permeated the top sheet is absorbed by the core. Since the top sheet has a large number of holes, it has a higher elasticity than the top sheet having no holes.

In an absorbent article such as a sanitary napkin, cores are joined to a top sheet strip in such a manner that the cores are arranged at predetermined intervals, and then the core is sandwiched between the top sheet strip and the back sheet strip. After the top sheet strip and the back sheet strip are joined together as described above, the joined sheet strip is finally punched between the cores into a napkin mold.
That is, when the two sheet strips are joined together, the central side of the top sheet strip extends due to the thickness of the core, and a protrusion is formed on the top sheet strip.

[0004]

However, in the method for manufacturing an absorbent article, when the two sheets are joined together, the topsheet band is elongated due to the thickness of the core. Occur. Here, as described above, since the top sheet has a large number of holes and is easily stretched, wrinkles that can be visually confirmed are generated, and there is a problem that the commercial property of the absorbent article is significantly impaired. there were.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an absorbent article in which wrinkles do not occur on the top sheet.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, for example, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, in the invention according to claim 1, the top sheet 2 arranged on the front side and the back sheet on the back side are arranged. The back sheet 3 is provided, and a liquid absorber (for example, the core 4 or the like) is provided between the top sheet and the back sheet, and the top sheet has a protrusion 2a depending on the thickness of the liquid absorber. A method of manufacturing an absorbent article (for example, a sanitary napkin 1) in which a sheet edge is formed on both side portions of the top sheet base material band 11 and having a lower elasticity than the top sheet base material band. A topsheet band generation step 100 for joining member bands (for example, a non-woven fabric band 12 or the like) to generate a topsheet band 13, the topsheet band generated in the topsheet band generation step, and the backsheet band 14 And of By joining the top sheet strip and the back sheet strip in a state where the liquid absorber is arranged at a predetermined interval, the joining sheet strip 15 in which the top sheet strip is raised and the protrusion is formed And a joining step 300 for producing.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the top sheet and the back sheet are joined in the joining sheet strip forming step, the top sheet base material strip extends along the liquid absorber, The absorber causes the topsheet base material band to rise and form a protrusion. At this time, since the sheet end member bands having a lower elasticity than the central side are joined to both side portions of the top sheet base material band, the top sheet base material band is pressed down on both side parts thereof, Wrinkles are suppressed.

Therefore, it is possible to suppress the generation of wrinkles on the top sheet in the manufactured absorbent article, and to improve the merchantability of the absorbent article.

A top sheet 2 arranged on the front surface side, a back sheet 3 arranged on the back surface side, and a liquid absorber (for example, a core 4 etc.) arranged between the top sheet and the back sheet. An absorbent article (for example, a sanitary napkin 1) having a protrusion 2a formed by the thickness of the liquid absorbent body on the top sheet, the side portion of the top sheet being higher than that of the top sheet. Then, the low-elasticity sheet end member 7 is joined.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the top sheet and the back sheet are joined together, the top sheet extends along the liquid absorber, and the liquid absorber bulges and projects the top sheet. Parts are formed. At this time, since the sheet end members having lower elasticity than the center side are joined to both side portions of the top sheet, the top sheet is pressed down by the both side portions, and the generation of wrinkles in the top sheet is suppressed. .

Therefore, the occurrence of wrinkles on the top sheet in the manufactured absorbent article can be suppressed, and the commercial property of the absorbent article can be improved.

[0012]

1 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a sanitary napkin, and FIG.
(A) is sectional drawing of a sanitary napkin.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 (a), a sanitary napkin 1 as an absorbent article has a topsheet 2 arranged on the front surface (contact surface with the skin) and a rear surface side. A back sheet 3 and a core 4 arranged between the sheets 2 and 3. In addition, this sanitary napkin 1
A release paper 3a for covering the adhesive portion on the back side of the back sheet 3,
An individual packaging sheet 5 for packaging fixed to the release paper 3a with an adhesive or the like is provided. That is, this sanitary napkin 1 is
In the product state, as shown in FIG. 3, the individual packaging sheet 5 is folded in three in the longitudinal direction so that the individual packaging sheet 6 is placed outside, and the individual packaging tape 6 is formed.
Thus, the vicinity of the end portion of the individual packaging sheet 5 is fixed.

The top sheet 2 is made of, for example, a silk mesh sheet or the like, and has a large number of holes. That is, liquid permeability is imparted to the top sheet 2 through the large number of holes, and menstrual blood that has permeated the top sheet 2 is absorbed by the core 4. Further, since it has a large number of holes, the top sheet 2 has a higher elasticity than that having no holes. The top sheet 2 is formed with a protruding portion 2a that is raised due to the thickness of the core 4, and an embossed portion 2b is formed around the protruding portion 2a. The left and right sides of the top sheet 2 are provided integrally with the front side or the back side of the top sheet 2, respectively.
A sheet end member 7 extending in the longitudinal direction of the top sheet 2 is provided. In the present embodiment, the sheet end member 7 is provided integrally with the front surface side of the top sheet 2. Further, in the present embodiment, each sheet end member 7 is made of, for example, non-woven fabric, that is, each sheet end member 7 has a lower elasticity than the top sheet 2. The top sheet 2, the back sheet 3, the core 4, and the sheet end members 7 form a napkin body 1a.

The back sheet 3 is made of a liquid impermeable material such as polyethylene. As a result, liquid leakage from the back surface side of the sanitary napkin 1 is reliably prevented.

The core 4 as a liquid absorber is basically made of a highly absorbent material such as cotton-like pulp, and contains a polymer material that absorbs the liquid itself. Here, the pulp has a property of absorbing and holding the liquid in a short time, and the polymer has a property of reliably absorbing the liquid although it is relatively gentle. The core 4 is installed on the center side of each of the sheets 2 and 3 so that menstrual blood discharged from the human body is reliably absorbed by the core 4.

The individual packaging sheet 5 is fixed to the back surface side of the release paper 3a with an adhesive or the like, and by applying a force in a direction of separating from the back sheet 3, it is separated from the back sheet 3 together with the release paper 3a. ing.

Next, a method for manufacturing the sanitary napkin 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 4, this sanitary napkin 1
Is manufactured by the napkin manufacturing apparatus 10. The napkin manufacturing apparatus 10 includes a top sheet base material belt 11 and, for example,
A top sheet band generation unit 10a for joining the non-woven fabric band 12 to generate a top sheet band 13, and a top sheet band 13
After the core 4 is joined to the top sheet band 13 and the core disposing portion 10b for joining the core sheet 4 and the core 4, the top sheet substrate 1
Embossing part 10 for embossing 2b on core 1 and core 4
c, a joining sheet strip generation unit 10d that joins the top sheet strip 13 and the back sheet strip 14 to which the embossing 2b is applied to produce the joining sheet strip 15, and the joining sheet strip 15 between the cores 4 to form a napkin. It has a punched-out portion 10e that is punched out into individual sanitary napkins 1.

In this napkin manufacturing apparatus 10, the topsheet strip producing section 10a supplies, for example, two non-woven fabric strips 12 continuously supplied to both side portions of the topsheet base material strip 11 continuously supplied. , And the top sheet strips 13 are successively laminated to produce the top sheet strip 13 (top sheet strip production step 100). The top sheet band generation unit 10a has two rollers 10a1 and 10a2 that are vertically arranged side by side, and the top sheet base material band 11 and each nonwoven fabric 12 have two rollers 1
They are joined in a state of being sandwiched between 0a1 and 10a2. For joining, glue is applied to the joining portion of the topsheet base material belt 11 or the non-woven fabric belt 12 at the joining portion, and the two rollers 10a
There is a method of sandwiching with 1, 10a2 and joining by applying pressure, and a method of heat-sealing the joint portion of the topsheet base material belt 11 and the non-woven fabric belt 12 with the topsheet generating section 10a as a heat sealer. In the present embodiment, FIG.
As shown in (a) or (b), the topsheet base material belt 11 is bonded downward, and the nonwoven fabric belts 12 are bonded upward. As shown in FIG. 2C, the top sheet base material belt 11 may be joined in the upper state and the non-woven fabric belts 12 may be joined in the lower state.

In the napkin manufacturing apparatus 10, each core 4 intermittently conveyed while being placed on the belt conveyor 10b1 at a predetermined interval in the core arranging section 10b is a top sheet strip at a predetermined interval. It joins to 13 (core arrangement | positioning process 200). The core placement unit 10b is a belt conveyor 10b.
Upstream roller 10b2 provided adjacently above
And a downstream roller 10b3. here,
The roller 10b2 on the upstream side is formed to extend in the width direction of the belt conveyor 10b1, and the roller 10b3 on the downstream side is formed.
Are provided on both sides of the belt conveyor 10b1. That is, the top sheet strip 13 and the core 4 are joined in a state of being sandwiched between the belt conveyor 10b1 and the roller 10b2, and then, sandwiched between the belt conveyor 10b1 and each roller 10b3, the top sheet base strip 11 is extended to the outside and the core 4 is pressed down. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the top sheet band 13 is joined on the upper side and the core 4 is joined on the lower side. Thereafter, the embossing section 10c applies the embossing 2b to the top sheet base material belt 11 and the core 4.

In the napkin manufacturing apparatus 10, the backing sheet band 14 is joined to the top sheet band 13 in the state where the core 4 is joined in the joining sheet band producing section 10d (joining sheet band producing step 300). The joining sheet band generation unit 10d includes two rollers 10 provided vertically adjacent to each other.
d1 and the lower roller surface is made of elastic rubber, and the upper roller surface has a plurality of recesses for accommodating the core 4 and the protrusions 2a and pressing the top sheet base material strip 11 along the core surface. Are arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval. The top sheet strip 13 and the back sheet strip 14 are joined in a state of being sandwiched between the rollers 10d1.
5 is generated. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the top sheet band 13 is on the upper side and the back sheet band 14 is on.
Are joined in the lower state. That is, the core 4 is fixed between the top sheet band 13 and the back sheet band 14.

At this time, the joint portion of the topsheet strip 13 with the core 4, that is, the central side of the topsheet base strip 11 is tensioned by the core 4. And the topsheet base material belt 1
1 extends along the core 4, and the thickness of the core 4 forms a protrusion 2a. At this time, since the non-woven fabric bands 12 having low elasticity are joined to both side portions of the top sheet base material band 11, the top sheet base material band 11 is pressed by both side parts thereof.
Wrinkles are suppressed.

As shown in FIG. 4, the punched portion 10e is
After the portions to be cut are fused by a conventionally known method, the joining sheet band 15 is cut between the cores 4 to form individual sanitary napkins 1 (joining sheet band cutting step 400). Here, the punching portion 10e may be one that performs fusion bonding and cutting at the same time. The punching portion 10e has two rollers 10e1 and 10e2 provided vertically adjacent to each other, and the lower roller 10e2 is provided with a plurality of punching blades 10e3 for punching the joining sheet band 15. Then, when the rollers 10e1 and 10e2 are sandwiched between the rollers 10e1 and 10e2, the rollers 10e1 and 10e2 are rotated, so that the bonding sheet band 15 is punched at a predetermined interval, and the sanitary napkin is attached to the bonding sheet band 15. 1 outline is formed. The punched joint sheet band 15 is a so-called trim 16, and the trim 16 is sucked into the vacuum suction port 10e4 and discharged. In the punching portion 10e, even when the upper roller has the punching blade and the lower roller is the anvil, the same operation as described above can be obtained. After that, although not particularly shown, after the release paper and the individual packaging sheet 5 are attached to the back sheet 3 of the sanitary napkin 1, the sanitary napkin 1
Is folded in three so that the individual packaging sheet 5 side is the outer side, and the individual packaging tape 6 is attached to the individual packaging sheet 5. Then, after the adjacent sanitary napkins 1 are fused, the fused portion is cut, whereby the sanitary napkin 1 in a product state shown in FIG. 2 is manufactured. Also in this case, needless to say, the fusion and the cutting may be simultaneously performed.

As described above, according to the method for manufacturing the sanitary napkin 1 of this embodiment, the core 4 is formed after the non-woven fabric bands 12 having low elasticity are joined to both sides of the top sheet base material band 11.
Since it has been joined to the top sheet base material belt 11,
The generation of wrinkles in the top sheet band 13 is suppressed.
Therefore, the wrinkles of the topsheet 2 in the manufactured sanitary napkin 1 are suppressed, and wrinkles that are visually observable do not occur, and the commerciality of the sanitary napkin 1 can be improved.

Further, conventionally, the sanitary napkin was discarded as a defective product when wrinkles that could be visually confirmed were generated on the top sheet, but according to the method for manufacturing the sanitary napkin 1 of the present embodiment. Since the proportion of defective products is dramatically reduced, the manufacturing cost of the sanitary napkin 1 can be significantly reduced.

In the above embodiment, the non-woven fabric is used as the sheet end member 7, but any material may be used as long as it has a lower elasticity than the top sheet 2. . These are arbitrarily determined according to the product specifications of the sanitary napkin 1, and for example, a material that can obtain a good touch may be selected.

The embossed portion 10c may be a simple combining roller or another combining method (pre-welding), or may not have an embossing roller. When the embossing roller is not provided, the top sheet band 18, the core 4, and the back sheet band 14 are combined at once in the joining sheet generating unit 10d.

In the above embodiment, the example of the sanitary napkin 1 is shown as the absorbent article, but it goes without saying that other absorbent articles such as incontinence products may be used.

Further, the materials of the top sheet 2, the back sheet 3 and the like in the above-mentioned embodiment are arbitrary as long as they are within the scope of achieving the object of the present invention, and in addition, specific detailed structures and the like are also appropriately selected. Of course, it can be changed.

Further, as long as it is manufactured by the manufacturing process shown in FIG. 6, the processing route, the processing method and the like of each sheet band (web) are arbitrary, and the processing route and processing of the web shown in FIG. It goes without saying that the method and the like can be changed appropriately.

[0032]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
Generation of wrinkles on the top sheet in the absorbent article is suppressed, and wrinkles that are visible to the eye are not generated, and the commercialability of the absorbent article can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a sanitary napkin showing an embodiment of the present invention.

2A is a cross-sectional view of the sanitary napkin of the present embodiment, FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of a sanitary napkin showing another embodiment,
(C) is sectional drawing of the sanitary napkin which shows another form.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the sanitary napkin in a product state.

FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view showing a top sheet band generation unit, a core arrangement unit, an embossing unit, and a bonding sheet band generation unit of the napkin manufacturing apparatus used in the method for manufacturing a sanitary napkin of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view showing a punching portion of the napkin manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a process explanatory view of the method for manufacturing a sanitary napkin.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 sanitary napkin 2 top sheet 2a protrusion 3 back sheet 4 core 10 Napkin manufacturing equipment 10a Top sheet band generation unit 10b Core placement section 10c Embossing section 10d Bonding sheet generation unit 10e Bonding sheet band cutting part 11 Topsheet base material belt 12 Non-woven belt 13 Top sheet obi 14 back sheet obi 15 Bonding sheet belt 100 Topsheet band generation process 200 core placement process 300 Bonding sheet band generation process 400 Bonding sheet band cutting process

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) A61F 13/515 A61F 13/18 340 13/53 332

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A top sheet arranged on the front surface side, a back sheet arranged on the back surface side, and a liquid absorber arranged between the top sheet and the back sheet, A method for manufacturing an absorbent article in which a protruding portion is formed due to the thickness of the liquid absorber, the sheet end member having lower elasticity on both sides of the top sheet base material band than the top sheet base material band. A topsheet band generation step of joining the bands to generate a topsheet band, and the liquid absorption at a predetermined interval between the topsheet band and the backsheet band generated in the topsheet band generation step. A joining step of joining the topsheet strip and the backsheet strip in a state where the body is arranged to generate a joining sheet strip in which the topsheet strip is raised and the protrusion is formed. Method of manufacturing an absorbent article, characterized in that. 2. A top sheet arranged on the front surface side, a back sheet arranged on the back surface side, and a liquid absorber arranged between the top sheet and the back sheet, An absorbent article in which a protruding portion is formed due to the thickness of the liquid absorber, characterized in that a sheet end member having a lower elasticity than that of the top sheet is joined to both side portions of the top sheet, respectively. Absorbent article.