U.S. Patent No.: 8,221,371 B2 

Inventor(s): Joseph Junio, Edison, NJ, U.S.; David L. Kimball, Flemington, NJ, U.S.; Ralf Mueller, Duesseldorf, Germany; and Tony Ng, East Brunswick, NJ, U.S.

Company: McNeil-PPC, Inc., Skillman, NJ, U.S.

Issued: 7/17/12

Description
A process for overwrapping a catamenial device such as a tampon comprising the steps of: a) providing a substantially cylindrical overwrapper material having an open end, a closed end, a first length, and a diameter; b) inserting a catamenial tampon having a tapered insertion end, a longitudinal axis, and a length less than the first length into the cylindrical overwrapper material, the open end of the overwrapper material extending parallel to the longitudinal axis beyond the insertion end of the inserted catamenial tampon; and c) closing the open end of the overwrapper material by: i) applying at least three concave clamping jaws to the open end of the overwrapper material to urge the overwrapper material toward the longitudinal axis of the catamenial tampon, wherein the excess overwrapper material extends along the longitudinal axis; to conform portions of the overwrapper material to the insertion end of the catamenial tampon; and to seal overwrapper material between adjacent clamping jaws to form fins extending outwardly from the conformed portions along the longitudinal axis wherein said fins do not extend beyond said diameter of the overwrapper perpendicular to the longitudinal axis; and ii) pressing the fins to the conformed portions of the overwrapper material.