03.30.04
A patent has been issued for a sanitary tampon comprised of a single layer absorber folded into a number of layers and compressed into a column shape while maintaining a layered structure. The single layer absorber includes an absorbent layer made of an absorbent fibrous material and a hydrophobic liquid-permeable layer that covers both surfaces of the absorbent layer. The layer has a number of small open recesses in both surfaces of the absorbent layer and extends toward an inner area of the absorbent layer. Prior to compression, the small open recesses have an opening diameter of 0.5-1.0 mm and a depth 1-5 mm, and are distributed in a density of 1-10 recesses/cm2.