Smith and Nephew Associated Companies P.l.c.

Smith & Nephew Plastics Limited

Smith & Nephew Polyfabrik Limited

Smith + Nephew

T.j.smith and Nephew, Limited

Smith & Nephew, Inc., Research

Ronald Lloyd

Albert G Patchell

William O Murphy

James Dow

Peter J Herbert

Peter J Metcalfe

Brian W Walter

Karen A Stringer

Tampons

A pad for protecting female undergarments from light vaginal discharges is described in which pad a body liquid impermeable layer of pressure sensitive adhesive serves to prevent transmission of body liquids through the pad and also serves to adhere the pad to the undergarment.

Protective devices and methods

A disposable applicator for placing a pharmacologically active agent in contact with a moist body surface, especially the eye is in the form of an elongate strip disposed at one end of which is a soluble matrix element containing the pharmacologically active agent so that on contact with the moist body surface the matrix element separates from the remainder of the strip. In a preferred form the matrix element is attached to the remainder of the strip by a thin water soluble membrane which rapidly dissolves in body fluid thereby releasing the matrix element to the body surface. Processes for the preparation of the disposable applicators are also described.

Applicators for pharmacologically active agents, their preparation and

A moisture vapor transmitting film comprising a blend of polyurethane and an incompatible polymer characterized in that the incompatible polymer forms a discrete phase within a continuous matrix of polyurethane and that said film contains voids and processes for the manufacture thereof.

Moisture vapor transmitting film of polyurethane blended with an

A composite strip material comprising at least a backing layer, an adhesive layer on a surface thereof, and a removable protective layer over and contacting and peelably adherent to at least part of the adhesive layer; wherein each layer is finger-tearable and wherein at least one layer is cleanly finger-tearable from any point along its length in a predetermined transverse direction, thereby to influence and facilitate transverse tear of any other layers present in a like cleanly finger-tearable manner to provide clearly defined separate units of any desired size.

Tearable composite strip of materials

A melt-embossed polymer film with primary parallel grooves on one surface and secondary parallel grooves on the other surface such that the combined tapes of the grooves is at least substantially equal to the film thickness, the two sets of grooves being located at an angle to each other of not less than 30.degree., is stretched at right angles to the direction of the primary grooves by a small amount to give a perforate product which can be formed into strips tearable longitudinally or transversely and thus useful as a vapor-permeable substrate for adhesive-coated tape.

Embossed film product and adhesive coated strip formed therefrom

A net formed integrally of blended incompatible polymers, with parallel smooth longitudinal ribs interconnected by a plurality of split strands non-uniformly interspersed with a plurality of differently sized voids, by stretching a film with a generally longitudinal set of parallel primary grooves and a transverse or angled set, on the other surface, of parallel secondary grooves.

Net-like product produced by stretching a film composed of two

An extruded sheet or the like of cold-drawable polymer such as polypropylene is embossed as a molten sheet by a circumferentially multi-grooved roller and stretched in the direction of the embossed grooves to split into filaments along the grooves.

Production of filaments

A non-woven fabric is produced by stretching the film with on one surface a regular pattern of raised areas such as spaced hexagonal bosses and on the other surface a plurality of parallel grooves. Stretching is carried out in the groove direction. Preferably the polymer is a mixture of incompatible polymers so that on stretching a fibrous structure is formed. The film can be produced by melt-embossing. The stretched non-woven fabric may be coated with various adhesives to provide a tape useful in a medical context.

Polymer fabric

A melt-embossed polymer film is provided on one surface with a set of parallel grooves and on the other surface with a second set of parallel grooves at an angle to the first, the combined tapes of the grooves being at least substantially equal to the thickness of the film. The ratio between the intersection area common to two ribs on different surfaces and the cross-sectional area of each rib is low, e.g. not greater than 2:1 to ensure transmission of orientation on subsequent stretching. The ribs between the grooves may be square, trapezoidal (provided that the included angle of the tapering sides is not greater than 45.degree.) or wider at its outer part than at its inner part. Ribs of these shapes, especially the last named, can be produced by using deformable, e.g. rubber, profiling means.

Melt-embossed polymer film

Interconnected fibres banded by cross-sectional orientation and morphology differences, in an array which can be bundled up to separate the fibres at least partially. A thermoplastic sheet emboding areas of different degrees of fibrillation is cold drawn to initiate longitudinally extending cracks in the areas of lower resistance to fibrillation such that the cracks terminate at the areas of higher resistance to fibrillation. The sheet is then further drawn at a higher temperature to open the cracks and to cause the cracks to propagate through the areas of higher resistance to fibrillation. Both drawing steps are performed without lateral extension.

Growing community of inventors

Sawbridgeworth, United Kingdom

Ronald Lloyd