USPTO Patent Grant: Absorbent Articles with Frangible Pathways

ChangeBridge: Patent Grants - Prosthetics (A61F)

Published March 24th, 2026

Detected March 24th, 2026

Summary

The USPTO has granted a patent (US12582562B2) to The Procter & Gamble Company for absorbent articles featuring frangible pathways. This patent covers specific designs for tear propagation between laminate regions with varying substrate layer counts, potentially impacting the manufacturing and design of such products.

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What changed

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued patent US12582562B2 to The Procter & Gamble Company. The patent details innovations in absorbent articles, specifically focusing on the design of belts within these articles that incorporate frangible pathways. These pathways are engineered with lines of weakness to facilitate controlled tearing between laminate regions that have different numbers of substrate layers, aiming to improve tear propagation for product functionality.

This patent grant represents a new intellectual property right for The Procter & Gamble Company concerning absorbent article technology. While not a regulatory mandate, it signifies a proprietary advancement in the field. Manufacturers in the absorbent article sector, particularly those developing or producing products with similar tear-propagation features, should be aware of this patent to avoid potential infringement issues. The patent's effective date is March 24, 2026, with a filing date of June 27, 2023.

Source document (simplified)

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Absorbent articles with frangible pathways adapted for tear propagation between regions of laminates having different numbers of layers of substrates

Grant US12582562B2 Kind: B2 Mar 24, 2026

Assignee

The Procter & Gamble Company

Inventors

Keith Richard Willhaus, Jeromy Thomas Raycheck, Jeffry Rosiak, Jason Edward Naylor, Michael Devin Long, Nicholas Alexander Taylor

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to absorbent articles including a first belt and a second belt. The first belt and/or the second belt may comprise a first region and a second region, wherein the first region comprises a first number of layers of substrates and the second region comprises a second number of layers of substrates, wherein the first number of layers substrates is greater than second number of layers of substrates. In addition, the first belt and/or the second belt may comprise one or more frangible pathways comprising first lines of weakness positioned in the first region, second lines of weakness positioned in the second region, and at least one transition line of weakness extending partially through the first region and the second region.

CPC Classifications

A61F 13/15585 A61F 13/15699 A61F 13/15723 A61F 13/49011 A61F 13/4902 A61F 13/49061 A61F 13/493 A61F 13/496 A61F 13/5126 A61F 13/51478 A61F 13/5512 A61F 13/5622 A61F 13/5644 A61F 13/565 A61F 13/5655 A61F 13/62 A61F 13/622 A61F 13/625 A61F 13/64 A61F 13/68 A61F 13/84 A61F 2013/15406 A61F 2013/15934 A61F 2013/49025 A61F 2013/49087 A61F 2013/8497 A61F 2013/55125 A61F 13/56 A61F 13/49007 A61F 2013/49063 A61F 2013/8402 A61F 13/49001