US Patent No.: 8,614,365 B2
Inventor(s): John Lee Hammons, Hamilton, OH, US; Sybille Fuchs, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Jody Lynn Hoying, Mainville, OH, US; Timothy Ian Mullane, Union, KY, US; Casandre Maffett Walsh, Cincinnati, OH, US; Donna Marie Caudill, Madeira, OH, US; and Naomi Ruth Nelson, Cincinnati, OH, US
Company: The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, OH, US.
Filed: 7/25/07
Issued: 12/24/13

An absorbent article comprising a topsheet, a backsheet, and an absorbent core disposed between said topsheet and said backsheet, said topsheet comprising a first portion and a second portion, said topsheet having a longitudinal centerline that is coincident with a longitudinal axis of said absorbent article and a transverse centerline, said topsheet having an area; wherein said first portion comprises a first structurally modified zone comprising a first plurality of apertures; wherein said second portion comprises a second structurally modified zone comprising a second plurality of apertures that are different from said first plurality of apertures, wherein said second structurally modified zone has a periphery, a length, and a long axis, said length being a maximum straight-line dimension between two points on said periphery, said long axis extending between two points on said periphery separated by said length; wherein said periphery is not symmetric about an axis parallel to said longitudinal centerline; wherein said long axis of said second structurally modified zone is asymmetric to said longitudinal centerline; wherein said first plurality of apertures are substantially flat in the plane of said topsheet and wherein at least some of said second plurality of apertures comprises an aperture sidewall that protrudes outwardly from said topsheet in a direction away from said absorbent core; and wherein said second structurally modified zone comprises more than about 5% of said area of said topsheet.