Migaku Suzuki, Chigasaki, Japan; and Yoshio Hirai, Tokyo, Japan.
Assigned to Daio Paper Corporation, Shikokuchuo-shi, Japan.

Filed: 9/24/12
Issued: 6/9/20

An absorbent article, comprising: a leak preventer in sheet form; an absorber configured to absorb a bodily fluid, the absorber having a top surface and a bottom surface, the bottom surface of the absorber being arranged directly adjacent to the leak preventer, the top surface of the absorber being arranged on an opposite side of the absorber from the bottom surface of the absorber; a surface sheet located on the opposite side of the absorber from the bottom surface of the absorber and including at least one liquid impermeable area, which covers at least a part of the top surface of the absorber; and a pair of first and second floating leg gathers coupled to the surface sheet, which covers the absorber, each of the pair of first and second floating leg gathers extending from a front end part to a rear end part of a body of the absorbent article in a length direction of the body of the absorbent article via a front body, a crotch part, and a rear body, each of the pair of first and second floating leg gathers consisting of a head part and a hanging part that connects to the head part, wherein: a front end part and a rear end part of each of the pair of first and second floating leg gathers are respectively coupled to a vicinity of the front end part and a vicinity of the rear end part of the body of the absorbent article, the hanging part hanging down from the head part toward the absorber; and each hanging part of the pair of first and second floating leg gathers is respectively connected to the surface sheet at the crotch part and not connected to the surface sheet at portions of the front body and the rear body, such that a transfer passage for bodily fluids is formed in the crotch part by coupling each of the respective hanging parts of the pair of first and second floating leg gathers to the surface sheet, the transfer passage comprising side surfaces formed by the pair of left and right hanging parts and a bottom surface formed by the surface sheet, and the transfer passage is not formed where the hanging parts are not connected to the surface sheet.