Kimberly-clark Worldwide, Inc.

Kimberly-clark Corporation

Robert J Makolin

Fung-jou Chen

Michael Alan Hermans

Kristin Ann Goerg

Mark Alan Burazin

Michael John Rekoske

Julia Smith Bahlman

William Grover Reeves

Theodore Edwin Farrington, Jr

Rodney Lawrence Abba

Jeffrey Dean Lindsay

Heather Anne Sorebo

Wendy L Hamilton

Patsy A Hansen

Emmanuelle C Damay

Robert J Waldron

Joseph DiPalma

Mark John Beitz

Alissa R Bruss

Maureen Myrl Falls

Garry Roland Woltman

Patsy Ann Krautkramer

David Joseph Nickel

Glory Framary Ceman

Mike Thomas Goulet

David Martin Jackson

Sylvia Bandy Little

Charles Wilson Colman

Jaime Braverman

Nancy Donaldson Kollin

Mark William Beduhn

Theodore E Farrington, Jr

Kristin Ann Goerg-Wood

Tiffany Marshalle Lee Hunter

Yen-Ling Lai

Steven Rashad Inabinet

John Thomas Cooper

Kent E Kordsmeier

A process for splicing a first portion of absorbent material to a second portion of absorbent material to form a longer, continuous length of absorbent material suitable for uninterrupted sequential infeed to a processing machine. The process includes the steps of placing a trailing end of the first portion adjacent a leading end of the second portion and aligning the ends. A piece of splicing material is attached to the ends. The piece of splicing material has a fluid permeability at least about as great as a fluid permeability of the first portion of absorbent material and at least about as great as a fluid permeability of the second portion of absorbent material.

Process for making a splice for a stabilized absorbent

A personal care absorbent article including spliced absorbent material. The absorbent material has a first portion of absorbent material spliced to a second portion of absorbent material to form a longer, continuous length of absorbent material suitable for uninterrupted sequential infeed to a processing machine. A trailing end of the first portion is adjacent a leading end of the second portion. A piece of splicing material is attached to the ends. The piece of splicing material has a fluid permeability at least about as great as a fluid permeability of the first portion of absorbent material and at least about as great as a fluid permeability of the second portion of absorbent material.

Personal care absorbent article having spliced absorbent material

Absorbent articles comprising fibrous nits and other free-flowing particles are disclosed. In one embodiment, an absorbent article is disclosed comprising free-flowing particles in a central portion which, in conjunction with other absorbent members, provides excellent body fit and good fluid handling performance. In another embodiment, good leakage control is provided by the combined effect of good intake and fluid handling performance of fibrous nits coupled with a wicking barrier between the nits and the longitudinal sides of the articles. An optional central rising member can further enhance the topography of the article when compressed by urging the portion comprising nits to deflect vertically upward. Methods of preparing cellulosic nits and incorporating them into absorbent articles are also described.

Absorbent articles with nits and free-flowing particles

Soft throughdried tissues, which are sufficiently soft to serve as premium bathroom tissues, can be made without the use of a Yankee dryer. The typical Yankee functions of building machine direction and cross-machine direction stretch are replaced by a wet end rush transfer and the throughdrying fabric design, respectively. It is particularly advantageous to form the tissue with chemimechanically treated fibers in at least one layer. The resulting tissues have high bulk (about 6 cubic centimeters per gram or greater) and low stiffness.

Soft tissue

A method for forming a composite absorbent member is provided that includes:

Method of forming composite absorbent members

A composite absorbent member containing layers that have a controlled pore size distribution is provided. For example, in some embodiments, the composite absorbent member has an inner layer and two outer layers, in which the inner layer has a higher weight percentage of pulp fibers than the outer layers and also contains smaller pores than the outer layers. In this embodiment, the resulting composite member can have a fast intake rate, less leakage, reduced rewetting, and reduced bunching and twisting.

Composite absorbent members

A process for splicing a first portion of absorbent material to a second portion of absorbent material to form a longer, continuous length of absorbent material suitable for uninterrupted sequential infeed to a processing machine. The process includes the steps of placing a trailing end of the first portion adjacent a leading end of the second portion and aligning the ends. A piece of splicing material is attached to the ends. The piece of splicing material has a fluid permeability at least about as great as a fluid permeability of the first portion of absorbent material and at least about as great as a fluid permeability of the second portion of absorbent material. In other aspects, the disclosure includes a spliced, continuous length of absorbent material, and a personal care absorbent article formed from the spliced absorbent material.

Usable splice for a stabilized absorbent

A method of preparing coils of wound ribbon to reduce twisting thereof during continuous axial ribbon feed to a processing machine. Each coil has a sequence of turns wound about a central axis and includes a central end at an inner-most turn of the sequence of turns and an outer end at an outer-most turn of the sequence of turns. The method includes orienting a first coil and a second coil so that the first and second coils are wound in identical directions and splicing the central end of the first coil to the central end of the second coil such that at least some twists developed during axial ribbon feed of the first coil are removed during axial ribbon feed of the second coil.

Method for axial feeding of ribbon material and a stock of ribbon material coils for axial feeding

A personal care product that has a liquid impermeable backsheet, a liquid permeable topsheet, and an absorbent composite located between the topsheet and backsheet. The absorbent composite has an upper layer made of synthetic fiber with at most 20 weight percent pulp and the upper layer has a density between about 0.03 and 0.15 g/cc and a basis weight between about 20 to 75 gsm. The composite has a lower layer having from 80 to 95 weight percent pulp, at most 20 weight percent binder, and has a density greater than the upper layer and between 0.06 and 0.20 g/cc, and a basis weight between 120 and 200 gsm.

Pulp and synthetic fiber absorbent composites for personal care products

A method of controlling twisting in ribbon material fed from a coil of ribbon material into a processing machine. The coil has a central axis perpendicular to a plane of the coil. The method includes pulling ribbon material from the coil in a direction having a twist-promoting axial component relative to the plane of the coil and continuously rotating the coil during the pulling step at a rotational speed greater than zero so that a number of twists in the unwound ribbon is maintained below a predetermined number.

Method and apparatus for axial feed of ribbon material

A process for splicing a first section of absorbent material to a second section of absorbent material to form a longer, continuous length ( ) of absorbent material suitable for a substantially uninterrupted sequential in-feed to a processing machine. The process includes a placing of a trailing end ( ) of a first portion ( ) of absorbent material in a position that substantially overlaps a leading end ( ) of a second portion ( ) of absorbent material to provide an overlapped splicing region ( ). The trailing end ( ) of the first portion ( ) is attached to the leading end ( ) of the second portion ( ) along at least a part of the overlapped splicing region ( ) with a thermal bond that provides a splice between the first portion ( ) of absorbent material and the second portion ( ) of absorbent material, and in a particular aspect, the absorbent material can be configured to provide an airlaid, nonwoven absorbent material. In another aspect, the trailing end ( ) of the first portion ( ) can be aligned with the leading end ( ) of the second portion ( ). In a further aspect, the splice has an operative tensile strength which is sufficient to support the sequential in-feed.

Usable splice for a stabilized absorbent and method for making the splice

A twist controlling device for ribbon material wound in a coil about a central axis. The device controls twists in the ribbon material as it is fed from the coil to a processing machine. The device includes a gate adapted to be positioned along a ribbon feed path from the coil to the processing machine and having an opening therethrough for receiving the ribbon material. The gate is adapted to engage the ribbon and is rotatable about a gate axis generally coincident with a center of the opening for controlling twisting of the ribbon.

Twist controlling device, rotatable nip and axial feed system

A method of preparing connected coils of wound ribbon in an alternating pattern to reduce twisting thereof during continuous axial ribbon feed to a processing machine. Each coil has a sequence of turns wound about a central axis and includes central end at an inner-most turn of the sequence of turns and an outer end at an outer-most turn of the sequence of turns. The outer end of a first coil of the coils is connected to the central end of a second coil of the coils. The method includes orienting the first coil in a clockwise winding direction and orienting the second coil in a counterclockwise winding direction such that at least some twists developed during axial ribbon feed of the first coil are removed during axial ribbon feed of the second coil.

Growing community of inventors

Neenah, WI, United States of America

Robert J Makolin