Bradley Langford, Fort Mill, SC; Donald H. Lester, Jr., Charlotte, NC.
Assigned to: Aplix, Le Cellier, France.

Filed: 4/18/17
Issued: 4/7/20

A method for reducing or preventing tearing in a stretch laminate when the stretch laminate is stretched in a stretching direction, comprises the steps of: providing the stretch laminate with a pattern of perforations, each perforation having a shape selected from the group of circular, oval, rectangular, square, triangular, polygonal, star, crescent, and diamond, the pattern of perforations has at least two aligned columns, a first column having a plurality of pairs of perforations stacked one pair above the other pair, the perforations in each pair sloping in a first direction at an angle to the stacking direction and having a leading edge defined by the lowest point of the shape of one perforation in the stacking direction and a trailing edge formed by the highest point of the shape of the other perforation in the stacking direction, and a first space separating the leading edge of one pair in the first column from the trailing edge of an adjacent pair in the first column, a second column having a plurality of pairs of perforations stacked one pair above the other pair, the perforations in each pair sloping in a second direction at an angle to the stacking direction and having a leading edge defined by a lowest point of the shape of one perforation in the stacking direction and a trailing edge formed by a highest point of the shape of the other perforation in the stacking direction, and a second space separating the leading edge of one pair in the second column from the trailing edge of an adjacent pair in the second column, the one pair of perforations in the first column from its leading edge to its trailing edge is located within the second space between the one pair of perforations and the adjacent pair of perforations in the second column, and a third space between the first column and the second columns being less than the first space or second space.