A tampon has a pair of longitudinally extending side edges and an absorbent member. The absorbent member has an insertion area, a withdrawal area, and an intermediate area between the insertion area and the withdrawal area and an attachment area. The absorbent material has a plurality of fiber integrated nonwoven layers but are without fiber integration adjacent layers outboard of the attachment area. A withdrawal line extends from the withdrawal area and is attached to the absorbent member in the attachment area such that each of the plurality of absorbent layers is attached to an adjacent nonwoven layer in the attachment area.

Tampons that provide a balance of adequate absorption with sufficient expansion properties during absorption and a relatively small initial diameter for comfortable insertion are provided.

A tampon including a pledget, a wicking member disposed in direct contact with the pledget, and a withdrawal cord is disclosed. The wicking member is non-coaxially arranged with respect to the withdrawal cord.

Tampons that provide a balance of adequate absorption with sufficient expansion properties during absorption and a relatively small initial diameter for comfortable insertion are provided.

A tampon including a pledget, a wicking member disposed in direct contact with the pledget, and a withdrawal cord is disclosed. The wicking member is non-coaxially arranged with respect to the withdrawal cord.

In the manufacture of a tampon, an absorbent structure composed of an absorbent material can be formed into a tampon blank. In various embodiments, a withdrawal element can be attached to the absorbent structure either before or after the absorbent structure is formed into a tampon blank. The tampon blank can then undergo a compression step which can result in the pledget of the tampon. The pledget, and resultant tampon, can have at least one linear channel and at least one non-linear channel.

A doming tool for manufacturing absorbent tampon includes a plurality of stations made of devices for shaping a tampon pledget tip, and a hollow mandrel engaging with the stations. The stations are supported by at least one mounting plate.

A method for winding preforms for the manufacture of tampons feeds a material tape. Strips in the form of tapes are separated from this material tape and pushed into a continuously rotating winding drum by at least one drive roller in such a way that the strip is positioned between a winding fork and a guide bar such that when the winding fork moves around the guide bar, the latter pushes a section of the strip into a fork gap of the winding fork and thus enables entrainment. Also, a corresponding device carries out the method.

A tampon pledget is made by assembling one or more pads in a pad compression configuration, radially compressing the pad compression configuration in a traverse direction into a cylindrical form, and axially compressing the cylindrical form in a direction along a vertical axis to form the tampon pledget. In one embodiment, the axial compression is performed as a pressure is applied to at least one of a first and a second end of the cylindrical form. In one aspect of the present invention, the formed tampon pledget has an absorbent capacity as measured by the syngyna test of between about 6.0 grams to 9.0 grams and a density of about 0.4603 grams/cubic centimeter. In another aspect of the invention, the formed tampon pledget has an absorbent capacity as measured by the syngyna test of between about 9.0 grams to 12.0 grams and a density of about 0.4755 grams/cubic centimeter.

A tampon for feminine hygiene, having an insertion end, a recovery end, a recovery tape, and a longitudinal axis. The tampon is made of compressed fibrous material and has an outer surface that is at least partially provided with spirally shaped, pressed longitudinal grooves. The grooves define spirally shaped longitudinal ribs. Also disclosed is a method for producing the tampon.