Flexible waist diaper

Claim 1

A disposable diaper having a stretchable waistband comprising in combination, a topsheet for placement adjacent to the body and being provided with means for passing liquid therethrough, a water impermeable backsheet and an absorbent pad disposed between said topsheet and backsheet, one of said topsheet or backsheet being a stretchable plastic film having a Young's Modulus of less than 5000 lbs/in 2 and which exhibits recovery characteristics such that at up to 20% elongation it will recover about 99% and from 20 to 50% elongation it will recover from 99 to 90% respectively and still maintain a force of not less than 0.05 lbs, the other of said topsheet or backsheet being fabricated from a non-stretchable material, said topsheet and backsheet having end portions extending beyond said absorbent pad in diaper length direction, said stretchable plastic film constituting said topsheet or backsheet being adhered to said non-stretchable material in said end portions to form a reinforced stretchable waistband for said diaper, said non-stretchable material in said end portion being provided with openings in an amount and frequency such as to permit effective stretching of said waistband, and fastening means secured to opposing corners of said waistband on one of the end portions of said diaper.