Patents by Inventor Hirotomo Mukai

Hirotomo Mukai has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20120289923
    Abstract: An absorbent article according to the present invention includes a topsheet, a backsheet, and an absorber. The absorber has a body unit having a foreside constricted portion and a backside constricted portion, and a pair of extension units extending outside in the widthwise direction of the absorber from the body unit. An outer region is folded toward an inner region at the side of the topsheet, and the maximum length of the inner region along the longitudinal direction of the absorber is shorter than the maximum length of the outer region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2010
    Publication date: November 15, 2012
    Applicant: UNICHARM CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshihisa Watabe, Hirotomo Mukai, Natsuko Takahashi, Tomoko Tsuji
  • Publication number: 20120143162
    Abstract: An absorbent article according to the present invention includes leg elastic bodies and a central elastic body. An absorber has a bent part formed along a longitudinal direction. The leg elastic bodies continuously extend from one rear waistline edge to the other rear waistline edge in a state of being stretched in a width direction in a rear waistline region. The central elastic body is provided in a central portion in the width direction in a state of being stretched along the longitudinal direction, while overlapping with any one of a front waistline region and the rear waistline region in a thickness direction. At least a part of the central elastic body intersects with the leg elastic bodies while overlapping with the bent part in the thickness direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: UNICHARM CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hirotomo Mukai, Tomoko Tsuji, Natsuko Takahashi, Yoshihisa Watabe
  • Patent number: 8183429
    Abstract: A composite sheet which has a low basis weight, can be prevented from breaking during the production of an absorbent article or in use, and is good to the touch. The composite sheet is a sheet formed by bonding a stretch nonwoven fabric to a nonstretch nonwoven fabric with an adhesive. The stretch nonwoven fabric is bonded in a stretched state to the nonstretch sheet. The stretch nonwoven fabric has, on each side, strip-form sparse regions and strip-form dense regions alternately formed. The sparse regions and dense regions on one side are alternately formed in a second direction so that the dense regions on this side do not overlie the dense regions on the other side. The composite sheet has a maximum breaking strength of 20 N/50 mm or higher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuya Hashimoto, Hirotomo Mukai, Satoshi Mitsuno, Tomoko Tsuji, Kenichi Akaki
  • Patent number: 8147474
    Abstract: The present invention provides an absorbent article 1 that does not easily warp in a leg-surrounding portion. The absorbent article 1 includes an absorbing member 2 in an elongated shape arranged along a longitudinal direction of the absorbent article, and a stretchable chassis 3 having a leg-surrounding portion 3a recessed inward in a width direction. At least a part of the chassis 3 is composed of a composite sheet 13 obtained by affixing a stretchable sheet 15 and a non-stretchable sheet 16 to each other by a plurality of adhesive portions 18. The leg-surrounding portion 3a has an intersection crossing an expansion and contraction direction of the chassis 3 at a predetermined angle. The plurality of adhesive portions 18 extend in a direction substantially perpendicular to the expansion and contraction direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Kei Wakasugi, Hirotomo Mukai, Tomoko Tsuji, Kenichi Sasayama, Tatsuya Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 8105305
    Abstract: The present invention provides an absorbent article having a composite sheet with a plurality of gathers on an inner surface facing a wearer's body, which fits and adheres comfortably to the wearer's skin. The composite sheet is provided which includes a stretchable non-woven fabric which expands and contracts in at least one direction, a non-stretchable non-woven fabric, a junction which binds intermittently the stretchable non-woven fabric to the non-stretchable non-woven fabric in the stretching direction, and a plurality of gathers which is formed by loosening a unbounded area of the non-stretchable non-woven fabric in a contracted state, and is arranged along a direction intersecting the stretching direction, in which an apex of each gather does not reach the neighboring gather when the gathers lean to one side of the stretchable direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: Unicharm Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoko Tsuji, Hirotomo Mukai, Kenichi Sasayama, Tatsuya Hashimoto, Kei Wakasugi
  • Publication number: 20120022486
    Abstract: The present invention provides an absorbent article having a composite sheet with a plurality of gathers on an inner surface facing a wearer's body, which fits and adheres comfortably to the wearer's skin. The composite sheet is provided which includes a stretchable non-woven fabric which expands and contracts in at least one direction, a non-stretchable non-woven fabric, a junction which binds intermittently the stretchable non-woven fabric to the non-stretchable non-woven fabric in the stretching direction, and a plurality of gathers which is formed by loosening a unbounded area of the non-stretchable non-woven fabric in a contracted state, and is arranged along a direction intersecting the stretching direction, in which an apex of each gather does not reach the neighboring gather when the gathers lean to one side of the stretchable direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2011
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Applicant: c/o Technical Center, Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoko TSUJI, Hirotomo Mukai, Kenichi Sasayama, Tatsuya Hashimoto, Kei Wakasugi
  • Patent number: 8100877
    Abstract: An absorbent article including a chassis having a front body and a back body with a waist opening and leg openings, and an absorbent body of higher stiffness than that of the chassis. The front body and the back body consist of a composite sheet stretchable in the width direction WD. A line DL and a line CL2? form an angle in the range of 0 to 50 degrees. DL is a line connecting a bottom-most point PI on the connection between the front body and back body edge portions, and point P2 where the back body meets a crotch portion. CL2? is a line in the transverse direction of the article which passes through the end point P2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoko Tsuji, Hirotomo Mukai
  • Patent number: 7955311
    Abstract: A disposable diaper includes a pants member and a body fluid absorbent pad lying inside the pants member. The pad is connected to elastic first and second suspender members extending in a circumferential direction of the diaper and joined under extension in the circumferential direction of the diaper to the pants member. Front and rear ends of the pad are joined to the suspender members in middle zones of these suspender members of which transversely opposite side edges are joined to transversely opposite side edges of front and rear waist regions. Inner and outer ends of the suspender members are joined to the front and rear waist regions in a joining zones arranged intermittently in the circumferential direction of the diaper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshikazu Tanaka, Hirotomo Mukai
  • Publication number: 20110046590
    Abstract: The present invention aims to provide an absorbent wearing article having a feeling to wear well improved. An absorbent wearing article 1 comprises an absorbent structure 8 and a cover sheet 7 defining an outermost layer wherein the cover sheet 7 is formed from a fibrous nonwoven fabric containing moisture-absorbent fibers and hydrophobic fibers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2008
    Publication date: February 24, 2011
    Applicant: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Hirotomo Mukai, Tomoko Tsuji, Tatsuya Hashimoto, Yoshihisa Watabe
  • Patent number: 7887523
    Abstract: A disposable diaper enabling the male sex organ to be drawn out easily at the time of urination, which includes: a chassis having at least a front body and a rear body when wearing; a liquid permeable top sheet arranged in at least part of the chassis; a liquid impermeable back sheet on one side in the thickness direction of the top sheet; and a liquid retentive absorber between the top sheet and the back sheet. The chassis has a first chassis and a second chassis. The front body of the chassis has an overlapping section formed by overlapping in at least part of the first and second chassis. The overlapping section has connecting sections for connecting the first and second chassis separated across a substantially center line, which extends in the longitudinal direction of the diaper and divides the width direction into two parts, and a non-connecting section between the connecting sections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Kenichi Sasayama, Hirotomo Mukai, Tomoko Tsuji, Tatsuya Hashimoto, Kei Wakasugi
  • Publication number: 20110022020
    Abstract: The present invention provides an absorbent article 1 that does not easily warp in a leg-surrounding portion. The absorbent article 1 includes an absorbing member 2 in an elongated shape arranged along a longitudinal direction of the absorbent article, and a stretchable chassis 3 having a leg-surrounding portion 3a recessed inward in a width direction. At least a part of the chassis 3 is composed of a composite sheet 13 obtained by affixing a stretchable sheet 15 and a non-stretchable sheet 16 to each other by a plurality of adhesive portions 18. The leg-surrounding portion 3a has an intersection crossing an expansion and contraction direction of the chassis 3 at a predetermined angle. The plurality of adhesive portions 18 extend in a direction substantially perpendicular to the expansion and contraction direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2010
    Publication date: January 27, 2011
    Applicant: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Kei Wakasugi, Hirotomo Mukai, Tomoko Tsuji, Kenichi Sasayama, Tatsuya Hashimoto
  • Publication number: 20100324521
    Abstract: The absorbent article includes a chassis, a crotch region, an absorbent body, and an elastic member arranged along a side edge in width direction of the crotch region. The oblong absorbent body arranged in the crotch region includes a first narrow width section, a second narrow width section, a center low rigidity section formed along a center line that halves the absorbent article in the width direction and a pair of lateral low rigidity sections provided at both sides of the center low rigidity section in the width direction with a substantially equal interval. Skin contacting face-side sheets and non-skin contacting face-side sheets 6 and 10 are arranged in the crotch region. The initial tensile strength of the skin contacting face-side sheets is lower than that of the non-skin contacting face-side sheets or that of the chassis 2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2010
    Publication date: December 23, 2010
    Applicant: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Hirotomo MUKAI, Akiyoshi Kinoshita, Tomoko Tsuji, Norihiko Ishikawa, Tatsuya Hashimoto
  • Publication number: 20100324523
    Abstract: The absorbent article includes a chassis, a crotch region, an absorbent body, and an elastic member arranged along a side edge in width direction of the crotch region. The oblong absorbent body arranged in the crotch region includes a first narrow width section, a second narrow width section, a center low rigidity section formed along a center line that halves the absorbent article in the width direction and a pair of lateral low rigidity sections provided at both sides of the center low rigidity section in the width direction with a substantially equal interval. Skin contacting face-side sheets and non-skin contacting face-side sheets 6 and 10 are arranged in the crotch region. The initial tensile strength of the skin contacting face-side sheets is lower than that of the non-skin contacting face-side sheets or that of the chassis 2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2010
    Publication date: December 23, 2010
    Applicant: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Hirotomo MUKAI, Akiyoshi Kinoshita, Tomoko Tsuji, Norihiko Ishikawa, Tatsuya Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 7754627
    Abstract: The present invention provides an absorbent article imparting superior comfort during wearing without inhibiting an absorbent property of an absorbent body, and a manufacturing method thereof. In the stretchable non-woven fabrics composed of a stretchable thermoplastic fiber and a heat-adhesive fiber having a lower melting point than that of the thermoplastic fiber which is arranged on a skin non-contacting side of a chassis, a low-stretchability portion is formed, in which the stretchability of the stretchable non-woven fabrics is lowered, at least in a portion thereof which overlaps an absorbent body in a thickness direction. The low-stretchability portion is formed by heating and pressurizing the portion of an elasticized non-woven fabric being extended.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Hirotomo Mukai, Tatsuya Hashimoto, Tomoko Tsuji, Akiyoshi Kinoshita, Hidefumi Goda, Masaharu Tomioka, Shinji Noma
  • Patent number: 7741235
    Abstract: A composite sheet that has a low basis weight and can inhibit adhesives from flowing out is provided. The composite sheet 1 according to the present invention is formed by bonding a stretchable nonwoven fabric 2 and a non-stretchable nonwoven fabric 3 to each other with adhesives 4. The stretchable nonwoven fabric 2 in an extended state is bonded to the non-stretchable sheet. The stretchable nonwoven fabric 2 has a plurality of strip-shaped non-dense regions 21 and a plurality of strip-shaped dense regions 22 formed on both its surfaces alternately and alternately in the transverse direction such that the dense regions 22 on one of the surfaces and the dense regions 22 on the other surface are not overlapped with each other. The stretchable nonwoven fabric 2 includes thermoplastic fibers that have been stretched at least partially and elastomer fibers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2010
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuya Hashimoto, Hirotomo Mukai, Satoshi Mitsuno, Tomoko Tsuji, Kenichi Akaki
  • Patent number: 7722590
    Abstract: A pull-on disposable wearing article is provided with a chassis and an absorbent batt structure extending on the inner surface of the chassis. The chassis has a front waist region, a rear waist region and a crotch region and is composed of a base sheet which is substantially not elastically extensible/contractible, and first and second outer sheets stretched in a transverse direction and bonded in such a stretched state to outer surfaces of the base sheet in the front and rear waist regions, respectively, and being elastically extendible/contractible in the transverse direction. An absorbent batt structure is laid inside the chassis. The base sheet defining an inner surface of the chassis is formed with gathers as the first and second outer sheets contract.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2010
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoko Tsuji, Hirotomo Mukai, Akiyoshi Kinoshita, Tatsuya Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 7674730
    Abstract: Nonwoven fabric includes thermoplastic elastomer fiber and thermoplastic polyolefin fiber. A variation of b-value appearing in laboratory color specifying system before and after irradiation of the thermoplastic elastomer fiber with 5000 KJ/m2 of UV radiation is 20 or higher, a variation of b-value appearing in the laboratory color specifying system before and after irradiation of the nonwoven fabric with 5000 KJ/m2 of UV radiation is 10 or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2010
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Satoshi Mitsuno, Hirotomo Mukai, Hiroki Goda
  • Publication number: 20100049153
    Abstract: A composite sheet which has a low basis weight, can be prevented from breaking during the production of an absorbent article or in use, and is good to the touch. The composite sheet is a sheet formed by bonding a stretch nonwoven fabric to a nonstretch nonwoven fabric with an adhesive. The stretch nonwoven fabric is bonded in a stretched state to the nonstretch sheet. The stretch nonwoven fabric has, on each side, strip-form sparse regions and strip-form dense regions alternately formed. The sparse regions and dense regions on one side are alternately formed in a second direction so that the dense regions on this side do not overlie the dense regions on the other side. The composite sheet has a maximum breaking strength of 20 N/50 mm or higher.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2007
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Applicant: UNI-CHARM CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tatsuya Hashimoto, Hirotomo Mukai, Satoshi Mitsuno, Tomoko Tsuji, Kenichi Akaki
  • Patent number: D583935
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Kenichi Sasayama, Yoshikazu Tanaka, Hirotomo Mukai, Tomoko Tsuji, Tatsuya Hashimoto, Kei Wakasugi
  • Patent number: D583936
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Uni-Charm Corporation
    Inventors: Kenichi Sasayama, Yoshikazu Tanaka, Hirotomo Mukai, Tomoko Tsuji, Tatsuya Hashimoto, Kei Wakasugi