Hirotomo Mukai, Kagawa, Japan; and Yoshihisa Watabe, Kagawa, Japan.
Assigned to Unicharm Corporation, Ehime, Japan.

Filed: 4/19/11
Issued: 2/7/17

An absorbent article, comprising: a chassis; and an absorbent body, wherein the chassis includes a front waistline portion, a rear waistline portion, and a crotch portion provided between the front waistline portion and the rear waistline portion, each of the front and rear waistline portions has side edges opposite each other in a width direction of the absorbent article, the absorbent body has lateral edges opposite each other in the width direction, the side edges of the front waistline portion and the side edges of the rear waistline portion are joined to each other to define leg hole openings, the absorbent body extends, in a longitudinal direction of the absorbent article, from the crotch portion into the front waistline portion and the rear waistline portion, the front waistline portion includes a first portion provided at a leg hole opening side of a portion at which the side edges of the front and rear waistline portions are joined, and extending from one edge of the side edges of the front waistline portion to the other edge in the width direction, the rear waistline portion includes a second portion opposed to the first portion, the first portion includes a first elastic member that extends in a straight line in the width direction, the second portion includes a second elastic member that extends in a straight line in the width direction, an extension stress applied in the width direction by the first elastic member to the first portion is larger than an extension stress applied in the width direction by the second elastic member to the second portion, the chassis and the absorbent body are joined to each other at a first joining portion, a second joining portion, and a third joining portion, the first joining portion is arranged, in the longitudinal direction, between the second joining portion and the third joining portion, the third joining portion is arranged closer to a front edge of the front waistline portion in the longitudinal direction than the first joining portion, in a developed condition that is free of the extension stresses of the first and second elastic members applied to the first and second portions, respectively, a width of the first joining portion in the width direction at the first portion is smaller than (i) a width of the second joining portion in the width direction at the second portion and (ii) a width of the third joining portion in the width direction, a length of the third joining portion in the longitudinal direction is smaller than a length of the second joining portion in the longitudinal direction, an extension stress of the first portion between the lateral edges of the absorbent body in the width direction is smaller than an extension stress of the first portion outside the lateral edges of the absorbent body in the width direction.