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Claim 1

A SANITARY NAPKIN COMPRISING AN ABSORBENT CORE AND A HIGHLY PERMEABLE, SOFT AND STABLE NONWOVEN FABRIC COVER WRAPPED AROUND THE CORE, THE COVER BEING FLAT ON BOTH SIDES AND POSSESSING MOISTURE CONDUCTING POWER AND OFFERING SUBSTANTIALLY NO RESISTANCE TO THE FLOW OF FLUID INTO THE CORE THROUGHOUT THE FLAT SIDES OF SAID COVER, SAID COVER COMPRISING FIBERS ORIENTED TO DEFINE A MULTIPLICITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORMLY REGULAR AND UNIFORMLY SPACED HOLES ARRANGED IN A PREDETERMINED PATTERN AND GROUPS OF CLOSELY ASSOCIATED FIBER SEGMENTS BETWEEN SAID HOLES, SAID GROUPS BEING OF YARN-LIKE THICKNESS AND GENERALLY OVAL IN CROSS SECTION AND HAVING A CAPILLARY EFFECT WITH RESPECT TO THE CORE IN THE DIRECTION OF EXTENSION OF THE FIBER SEGMENTS, SAID COVER HAVING APPRECIABLE DEPTH AND SAID HOLES EXTENDING THROUGH THE DEPTH OF THE COVER, THE FIBER SEGMENTS BORDERING THE HOLES BEING IN SUBSTANTIAL PARALLELISM WITH CORRESPONDING PORTIONS OF THE PERIMETERS OF THE HOLES, SAID GROUPS BEING INTERCONNECTED BY FIBERS COMMON TO A PLURALITY OF GROUPS AT JUNCTURES WHEREIN THE FIBERS EXTEND IN A PLURALITY OF DIVERSE DIRECTIONS SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE PLANE OF THE FABRIC, SAID GROUPS AND SAID JUNCTURES EACH LYING IN THE SAME GENERAL PLANE.