U.S. patent application number 10/307760 was filed with the patent office on 2003-07-10 for soft pocket package for absorbent tissue sheets having a sail shaped opening.
This patent application is currently assigned to The Procter & Gamble Company. Invention is credited to Buschkiel, Dorothea Susanne, Goepfert, Sandra.
Application Number | 20030127352 10/307760 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 8179499 |
Filed Date | 2003-07-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030127352 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Buschkiel, Dorothea Susanne ;
et al. |
July 10, 2003 |
Soft pocket package for absorbent tissue sheets having a sail
shaped opening
Abstract
Packages for absorbent tissue sheets, such as handkerchiefs or
cosmetic tissues having an opening that is asymmetric in at least
two cartesian coordinates.
Inventors: |
Buschkiel, Dorothea Susanne;
(Bad Soden, DE) ; Goepfert, Sandra; (Speyer,
DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DIVISION
WINTON HILL TECHNICAL CENTER - BOX 161
6110 CENTER HILL AVENUE
CINCINNATI
OH
45224
US
|
Assignee: |
The Procter & Gamble
Company
|
Family ID: |
8179499 |
Appl. No.: |
10/307760 |
Filed: |
December 2, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
206/494 ;
206/233 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 75/5838
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
206/494 ;
206/233 |
International
Class: |
B65D 073/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 10, 2001 |
EP |
01129421.2 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A soft package for absorbent tissue sheets generally in the
shape of a parallelepiped the parallelepiped in a cartesian
coordinate system having a longest extension X in the x-coordinate,
a shortest extension Z in the z-coordinate, and an extension Y in
the y-coordinate the Y extension being smaller than the X extension
and longer than the Z extension, the package having an opening
extending in the x-and y-coordinate, the package having an edge
along the x-coordinate and an edge along the y-coordinate, wherein
the opening is asymmetric with respect to the x-coordinate and the
y-coordinate and the opening comprises at least one edge of the
package.
2. A package according to claim 1 wherein the opening also extends
in the z-coordinate and the opening is also asymmetric in the
z-coordinate.
3. A package according to claim 1 wherein the opening is provided
by a designated separation line in the package material, preferable
by a breakable cut, the separation line has a starting point and an
end point, which points are spaced apart and form a hinge line
between the points to allow the package material, which is
coextensive with the asymmetric opening, to be used as a flap by
folding away the flap from the package along the hinge line to
provide access to the tissue sheets.
4. A package according to claim 3 wherein the flap is provided with
a closure means.
5. A package according to claim 4 wherein the closure means is an
adhesive tape tab.
6. A package according to claim 3 wherein the separation line is
provided by a breakable cut.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to soft pocket packages for
absorbent tissue sheets, such as handkerchiefs or cosmetic tissues.
Such handkerchiefs are widely used, especially in Europe, and have
conventionally replaced cloth sheets for absorbing nasal excrements
or being used for wiping of cosmetics. Typically such packages
contain more than a single tissue sheet. In order to extract a
single sheet from such a package, it is necessary to provide an
opening in the package itself and conventionally provide a cutout
in the package material allowing access, but also providing a
re-closure capability to store the package and the remaining tissue
sheets in a hygienic manner. According to the present invention the
opening is asymmetric in at least two cartesian coordinates,
preferably resembling a sail design.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Packages for absorbent tissue sheets are widely used, and
many publications show or refer to such packages. For example EP
401 621 shows a parallelepiped package with an opening extending to
two sides of the package. The opening is provided with a flap
closure, which is formed by cutting the package material along a
line with two end points, thus creating a flap hinge between the
two end points in the package material and thereby also providing a
re-closure capability to the package. The re-closure is further
improved by the provision by a closure means; in this case an
adhesive tape tab. Other packages in the same field of technology
are shown for example in DE 2949496, showing a package with a
linear outline, DE 3911779 also showing a package with a
rectangular type of opening, DE 3915192 showing a package having an
opening with a non-linear outline, or DE 3920065 combining various
geometrical shapes in the way the opening is provided in the
package. Another package design, which involves only a single side
of the package, can be found for example in German utility model G
9010670.9 or German utility model DE 9321429.
[0003] In all these disclosures the opening provided in the
packages are shown and intended to be symmetric. This has the
benefit of allowing the user of such a package to retrieve an
individual article by grabbing it in the center of the opening and
retrieving it without any asymmetric unfolding. When designing an
opening for a package of absorbent tissue sheets, an optimization
process between the desire of convenient accessibility and hygienic
storage of the remaining sheets after retrieval of one has to be
made. A longer opening and reaching deep into the side of the
package favor accessibility. Hygiene is improved with smaller
openings. Any improvement in this respect, especially for
disposable tissue handkerchiefs, is a major step for the consumer
for such articles as they are not handled with great care and have
to satisfy both the convenience aspects when retrieving articles,
as well as the hygienic aspects when storing the package with the
remaining articles, for example in a pocket or lady's hand bag.
[0004] It is hence desirable to provide an improvement in
accessibility, and/or an improvement in the hygienic storage of the
remaining tissue sheets in a package.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention therefore relates to a package for
absorbent tissue sheets in which the package opening has been
selected such that its surface is minimized while providing a
better retrieval and presentation of the article than
conventionally possible in the opening provided by the prior art,
or existing packages for such tissue sheets. The present invention
therefore provides an asymmetric opening on the surface of the
largest side of a parallelepiped package for tissue sheets, which
opening also includes an edge of the respective side of the
package. This creates a package with an opening having an asymmetry
in 2 cartesian coordinates. The opening according to the present
invention may extend across two surfaces of the parallelepiped
package and may have asymmetry in all three cartesian coordinate
directions. In one embodiment the present invention utilizes the
material conventionally cut away to form an opening and provides a
closure flap from such material by creating the opening through a
cut in the package material with the cut having two end points and
thereby creating a hinge line between the two endpoints along which
the package material can be folded. It is thereby providing a flap,
which is coextensive with the opening in the package. In an even
more preferred version, such a flap is provided with a closure
means, which can for example be provided by an adhesive tape
tab.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment
according to the present invention.
[0007] FIG. 2 shows the package of FIG. 1 in its opened
condition.
[0008] FIG. 3 is a plan view of an alternative embodiment to the
package shown in FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0009] The present invention relates to a package of soft absorbent
tissue sheets, such as sheets of disposable paper handkerchiefs
well known in the art. Such packages are typically made of plastic
film materials or paper sheets and provided in a size convenient
for transportation for example in pockets of trousers or in a purse
or handbag.
[0010] The details of the selection of materials for such products
can be taken out of any of the numerous publications quoted above
and especially from the disclosure found in EP-A 743 264.
[0011] In one embodiment, the packages are made out of blanks, for
example out of plastic, for example poly-ethylene film material,
which is folded around the tissue sheets during manufacturing of
such packages. The film material blank is cut to the appropriate
size for folding around the packages and methods of folding can be
seen also in the above-mentioned disclosure references. An opening
is cut into the film material and when a flap is intended to be
provided by the material coextensive with the opening, the opening
is cut in such a way that upon first opening of the package, a
designated separation line within the package material is broken.
This can be achieved by a breakable cut such as e.g. by small
elements bridging the two sides of the cut, as in perforations,
micro perforations, or a cut extending only into a portion of the
material thickness, which may be provided by laser or dye cutting,
or any of the usual ways of creating a separation line of weakness.
No particular difference to the opening formed in accordance with
the state of the art needs to be used by the present invention as
far as making of the opening is concerned.
[0012] One aspect of the present invention relates to the selection
of a shape of the opening, which hereto forth has not been
disclosed or considered by those skilled in the art. The opening
that is formed in the package is asymmetric, at least in two
cartesian co-ordinates and preferably in all three. This results in
an opening on one side of a parallelepiped package, which is
asymmetric. Certain embodiments are best explained by reference to
the appended drawings now being described in greater detail. The
opening may be triangular shaped openings, and may have one or more
of the sides of the triangle curved so that the triangle has a
curvilinear periphery, without pointy corners. As shown in the
figures this results in a `sail` shaped opening.
[0013] FIG. 1 is an example of one embodiment according to the
present invention in which a package (10) is shown together with an
x-y-z cartesian coordinate system. The largest extension X of the
package is in the x-coordinate direction, the smallest extension Z
of the package is in the z-coordinate direction, and the extension
in the y-coordinate Y is smaller than the X extension and larger
than the Z extension. A cut line (20) starting at reference number
1 is shown and reaches its end at reference number 2. The line
along which the cut is formed is asymmetric in respect to the x-and
y-coordinates and in the case of FIG. 1 also the z-coordinate.
However, according to the present invention the asymmetry in z
direction is not mandatory and the endpoint (2) of the cut line
(20) could also end at a point on the edge (14), formed between the
surface (12) of the package and the surface (16) of the package,
thereby including the edge (14) in the opening as part of the
periphery of the opening.
[0014] According to the present invention, an edge, such as edge
(14) or edge (15) is formed between two surfaces of the package
(10), while a corner is formed where three surfaces (12, 16, 18) of
the package meet. In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1
where the cut line (20) extends from the corner (14) into the
surface (12) and further into the surface (16) crossing the corner
(14) again, a flap (22) is formed, which can be folded along the
line, formed between the starting point (1) and the end point (2)
of the cut (20). The opening as shown in FIG. 2 in its opened
condition then allows direct access to the tissue sheets (30)
inside the package.
[0015] It is, of course, also possible that an asymmetric opening
is provided including the edge (15) of the package, while this
would also satisfy the desire of optimizing hygienic continued
storage of articles remaining inside the package, while providing
improved access to the tissue sheets (30) inside the package, it is
less preferred than the embodiments shown in the figure including
an opening which extends and includes one of the edges extending in
the x-coordinate as these edges are the longest edges of a
parallelepiped package according to the present invention.
[0016] One surprising effect of the asymmetric shape selected in
accordance with the present invention, besides the possibility for
providing it in an aesthetic pleasing curvature, is the fact that
the relatively long opening extension along edge (14) allows
excellent access to the articles (30) as is shown in FIG. 2, while
at the same time reducing the size of the opening relative to a
symmetric opening, which provides the same level of accessibility
to the absorbent tissue sheets.
[0017] The openings as shown in the figures may have a triangular
or semi triangular shape, depending on whether the opening is
formed by linear or curvilinear lines. In the shown curvilinear
lines, the triangular shape reaches into the side (12) of the
packaging, such that one corner of the triangle almost extends in
the y-coordinate dimension to the mid point or half of the
extension of the package in the y-coordinate. Of course, this would
be the x-coordinate if the opening were to include the edge (15).
In general the opening should reach into the side (12) of the
package somewhere between 50% and 20%, preferably between 45% and
30% of the Y extension of the package in order to achieve the
desired result. The extent the opening reaches into the side (16)
of the package depends on the location of the end point (2) of the
cut (20). This should preferably also have an extension between 20%
and 50% of the Z extension of the package. The extent of the
opening along the edge (14) of the package should be between 95%
and 40% of the X extension of the package. Preferably, this extent
of the opening is between 60% and 90% of the X extension of the
package and most preferably as shown about 60% to 70% of the X
extension of the package.
[0018] If the opening is provided with a closure flap (22), it has
been found that in particular the endpoint (2) of the cut can be
extended by ripping the package material without intending to do so
by users of such packages. This may cause an aesthetic and a
hygienic problem for the package. It is therefore desired to
provide the endpoints (1 and 2) of the cut (20) with a rip stop
circle as shown at the endpoint (2) in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. The same
can of course be provided at the endpoint (1) of the cut line (22)
but as this preferably ends on the edge (14) of the package it may
not be provided there.
[0019] Also, if a flap (22) is created by a cut (20) in the package
material, such a flap can preferably be provided with a re-closure
feature. Two embodiments of tape tab type re-closure means are
shown in the drawings of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3. The tape (24) is on one
side provided with an adhesive means which, however does not extend
throughout the whole surface of tape (24) but has a region without
adhesive at the opening tape of the tape tab (24), thereby
facilitating easy grab of the tape tab. In the preferred embodiment
shown in FIG. 3, the tape extends along a longer length of the cut
(20) of the flap (22) and thereby provides additional hygienic
benefits. From an economic point of view, this can be achieved
without an additional cost by maintaining the overall surface area
of the tape tab (24), which will result in the same area being
adhesively attached in either of the embodiments shown in FIG. 1 or
FIG. 3. It has also been found that tapes having a longer extension
across the cut of the flap (22) are less due to contamination
because the extremities of the adhesive surface in an open
condition as shown in FIG. 2 are further apart, thus reducing the
probability of a contamination on one end of the exposed adhesive
to spread towards the other end of the adhesive on the closure tape
(24).
[0020] Finally it should be noted that if a flap is desired it can
be provided as indicated above, however attaching another material
piece to the package to provide the flap can also provide it. Such
attached flaps have the advantage that they can be selected to be
larger than the opening and hence provide improved closure of the
opening. This can also be achieved in the cut out flaps as shown in
the preferred embodiments by extending the cut edge of the flap
with extra material. In either design the closure means can be
provided on the material of the flap, which extends beyond the
opening.
[0021] While particular embodiments of the present invention have
been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those
skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can
be made without departing from the invention. It is therefore
intended to cover in the dependent claims all such changes and
modifications that are within the scope of this invention.
* * * * *