EP0518347A1

EP0518347A1 - Roll restraining dispensing container for sheet-like materials

Info

Publication number: EP0518347A1
Application number: EP92109905A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Filippo Guida; Roberto Ricci
Original assignee: Dow Italia SRL
Current assignee: Dow Italia SRL
Priority date: 1991-06-14
Filing date: 1992-06-12
Publication date: 1992-12-16
Also published as: ITMI910534U1; EP0587681A1; CA2103055A1; JPH06508088A; WO1992022479A1; IT222466Z2; ITMI910534V0; NO934579L; NO934579D0

Abstract

A dispensing container (1) for roll-type materials such as aluminum foil (24) or plastic film for wrapping foods to improve the preservation of the food comprising a parallelepipedal body (2) defined by a front wall (3), a rear wall (5), a lower wall (4) and an upper movable wall (6, 7) acting as an openable lid (C), said body being closed laterally by side walls (9) and adapted to retain a rotary cylindrical support member (23) for the foil or film. The container includes, associated with the side walls, at least two tabs (31) foldable towards the interior of the container and with the tabs' free ends arranged to cooperate with each other to define substantially rigid, substantially pyramidal structures (40) projecting into the interior of said container and arranged to cooperate with the ends of said support member (37) to axially retain the support member within the body, while allowing said support member to rotate to enable the foil or film to be unrolled.

Description

This invention relates to a roll restraining dispensing container for roll-type products such as the sheet-like materials like aluminum foils or plastic films, in particular, polypropylene or similar plastic films for wrapping foods to improve their preservation, said container comprising a parallelepipedal body defined by a front wall, a rear wall, a lower wall and an upper movable wall acting as an openable lid, said body being closed laterally by side walls which contains means adapted to cooperate with the ends of the roll to axially restrain the roll within the container while the roll is rotating to unroll the sheet-like material.
As is well known, foil or films useful for wrapping and preserving foods are usually commercially available in cartons which contain a cylindrical support or roll on which the foil or film is wound. As the foil or film is unrolled from its cylindrical support or roll and is extracted from the carton, a problem of retaining said cylindrical support or roll within the carton arises. In fact, the pull exerted by the user on the foil or film tends to cause the roll to escape from the carton with obvious consequences.
Various methods are known for preventing this escape of the roll from its containing carton. One of these methods is described, for example, in European Patent Application Publication No. 366034. This latter document describes a container for dispensing flexible material in sheet form wound on a roll, and provided with means for retaining said roll and preventing the roll's accidental extraction from the container when the sheet material is pulled from the roll.
The means for retaining the rolls (retention means) are provided on each side wall of the container. In a first embodiment the retention means comprise a cut part directed towards, but at a certain distance from, the rear wall of the container, the roll having end portions free from wound sheet-like material and each of the cut parts of the retention means being arranged to receive an end portion of the roll.
In a second embodiment, the retention means are in the form of an arcuate concave member of cradle shape provided at each of the corners adjacent to the front wall of the container, said member having a cut face directed towards the rear wall of the container. Preferably, the sides of the cradle shaped members are adjacent to the side walls of the container. The roll engages in the cradles of said members only when the sheet-like material is extracted from the container.
The above known embodiments attain the desired objects but are of a complex construction, thus affecting the manufacturing cost of the container and hence the selling price of the final commercial product.
In addition, the container has to be already pre-formed by the manufacturer, and this fact contributes to increase the manufacturing cost and the selling price of the finished product to consumers.
An object of the present invention is to provide a roll restraining dispensing container for roll-type products in which the axial retention of the roll within the container is achieved in a simple and reliable way, with negligible effect on the production cost of said container.
A further object of the invention is to provide a dispensing container for a roll supporting a film for food preservation, provided with means for axially retaining said roll which, after the insertion of the roll by the manufacturer or the repackager, can be easily arranged to suitably perform their function even by the end-user himself.
These and further objects are attained by a dispensing container characterized in that the container comprises, associated with each of its side walls, at least two tabs foldable towards the interior of the container and with the tabs' free ends arranged to cooperate with each other to define substantially rigid structures having a substantially pyramidal shape or conformation projecting into the body, said structures being adapted to cooperate with the opposing ends of a hollow roll bearing a sheet-like material to axially retain said roll within the container, while allowing said roll to rotate to enable the sheet-like material to be unwound.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a substantially parallelepipedal dispensing container for retaining a hollow roll on which there is wound a sheet-like material such as an aluminum foil or plastic film or the like for wrapping foods, said container allowing said foil or film to be unwound from said roll without removing said roll from said container, characterized in that the container comprises, associated with each of its side walls, two tabs foldable towards the interior of the container and with tabs' free ends arranged to cooperate with each other to define substantially rigid structures having a substantially pyramidal shape projecting inwardly toward the container interior, said tabs adapted to cooperate with the hollow portions of the opposing ends of the hollow roll to axially restrain the roll within the container, while allowing said roll to rotate to enable the sheet-like material to be unwound.
Said dispensing container can be of any suitable material strong enough to contain the roll bearing the sheet-like material (such as an aluminum foil or plastic film), to provide foldable elements of sufficient strength to resist the pulling stress exerted by the user and to restrain the roll during the unwinding of the sheet-like material. For example, cardboard or thin plastic sheet can be advantageously utilized as materials for manufacturing the dispensing container of the present invention.
The present invention will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings, which are provided by way of non-limiting example and in which:

Figure 1 is a partial plan view of one side of the container of the present invention shown before its assembly;
Figure 2 is a partly sectional perspective view of the assembled container of the present invention;
Figure 3 is a partly sectional top view of a portion of the container of the present invention;
Figure 4 is a partly sectional perspective view similar to Figure 2 but showing a portion of a preferred variant of the container of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a partly sectional perspective view of another embodiment of the container of the present invention; and
Figure 6 is a partly sectional perspective view of another embodiment of the container of the present invention.

With reference to Figures 1 to 3, the dispensing container of this invention is generically indicated as the container 1 and comprises a body 2 of substantially parallelepipedal shape.
Starting from the top in Figure 1, body 2 comprises a plurality of parts 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 defining respectively the front wall 3, the lower wall 4, the rear wall 5 and the upper movable wall 6 and 7 (herein referred to as lid C) of said body 2. The lid C in fact comprises two portions, walls 6 and 7, which lie at 90° to each other when the body 2 is assembled.
Said parts or walls 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are joined together by weakened preferential creasing lines 8 (for example small spaced-apart cuts) to enable said parts to be folded to form the substantially parallelepipedal body 2.
The body 2 is closed laterally by walls 9 defined by first flaps 10 and 12 and external second flaps 11 associated with the walls 3, 4 and 5 respectively, and which on assembling the parallelepipedal body 2 are folded and joined together in any known manner, for example by an adhesive.
Other flaps 13 and 14 are associated with the walls 6 and 7 of the lid C and, when folded using a suitable known manner, define the edges 15 of the lid C.
In the lid C of the body, there are also provided two weakened lines substantially of sawtooth shape 16. These lines define a removable portion 17 of the lid C adapted to be removed to open the dispensing container 1, according to a method already known in the art.
Specifically, a portion 18 of the lid C lies between the free or terminal edge 19 of lid C and a weakened line 16. The free edge 19 is joined in a known manner (for example by an adhesive) to the front wall 3 of said body 2 on assembling the parallelepipedal body 2.
The portion 17 also comprises a tab 20 to facilitate separation of portion 17 from the lid C according to a solution known in the art.
To use the dispensing container 1, a roll member 23 is disposed in the container 1 (Figure 2). The roll 23 is hollow at 28, and bears wound sheet-like material 24 such as aluminum foil or plastic film, for example polypropylene, PVC, or similar film for wrapping foods, for example, to improve the preservation of the food.
According to the present invention, the container 1 comprises elements for restraining the roll 23 during the unwinding of the sheet-like material 24 to enable a portion of the sheet to be torn off in a known manner, as desired.
In the embodiment shown in the Figures, each flap 10 and 12 comprises two parts 30 and 31 movable with respect to each other. The part or tab 31 is substantially rectangular, with one free edge 32, one edge 34 connected to the part 30 by a weakened creasing line, and opposite edges 33 and 35 separated from the part 30 by cuts. The dimensions of the part 31 are such that the part 31 partly extends its free edge 32 beyond the extremity of the free edge 36 of the part 30. When the container 1 is assembled, the parts 30 of the flaps 10 and 12 are joined (for example by adhesive) to the flap 11. The parts 31 of the flaps 10 and 12 may be folded inwards projecting into the interior of the container 1 so that their free edges 32 rest against each other to define a rigid structure 40 of substantially pyramidal shape. When the roll 23 is lying in the container 1, said structures 40 penetrate into the hollow portion 28 of said roll at the roll's opposite ends 37 to a sufficient depth to allow said structures 40 to hold the roll in place and to act as a pivot means around which the roll 23 can rotate during the unwinding of the sheet-like material 24.
Because of the rigidity of the structures 40, obtained simply by cooperation (mutual resting) between the edges 32 of the parts 31 of the flaps 10 and 12, each of said structures 40 is able to resist the normal pulling stresses which are exerted on the roll 23 during the unwinding of the sheet-like material 24.
Because of its extreme simplicity, the roll restraining container of the present invention is very easily practiced and is manufactured at very low costs. Therefore, it has very little effect on the cost of the final product.
The described embodiment requires assembling the structures 40 before fixing the flaps 10 and 12 or the flap 11.
The present invention comprises the dispensing container in both unassembled (Figure 1) and the assembled parallelepipedal form (Figures 2 to 3) adapted to receive and accommodate a hollow cylindrical support or roll (equivalent to that indicated by 23 in Figures 2 and 3) on which a sheet-like material, such as a food preservation foil or film, is wound, said container being provided with means which can be easily arranged to act as a pivot means for the rotation of said roll during the unwinding of said foil or film, according to the manner described above by manipulating the container once the hollow cylindrical support or roll has been placed therein.
The present invention includes also the container in the assembled form in which is lying the roll bearing wound sheet-like material both in the used conditions wherein the restrain structures 40 have already been formed by pushing the tabs 31 into the interior portion of the container and in the unused conditions wherein the tabs 31 have not yet been pushed inside the interior of the container and arranged to form the restraining structures within the hollow portion of the roll at the roll extremities as shown in Figure 4. In Figure 4, parts corresponding to the same parts shown in Figures 1-3 are indicated by the same reference numerals.
In the embodiment shown in Figure 4, the wall 9 of the body 2 comprises the already described flaps 10, 11, 12.
The flaps 10 and 12 have parts 31 folded parallel to the wall 9. The flap 11 is provided with a series of cuts 61 separated by connecting points 62. This series of cuts 61 (or, rather, pre-cuts) defines a (pre-cut) circular shape or part 63 connected to the remaining part of the flap 11 by the connection points 62.
To arrange the dispensing container in the form described with reference to Figures 2 and 3, it is necessary only to press with any known pointed tool (such as a pair of scissors or a pencil or pen) against part 63 towards the interior of the body 2, to separate said part from the flap 11.
This pressing and separation leaves a hole through which the pointed tool can reach the parts 31 of the flaps 10 and 12, to cause the parts 31 to penetrate into the body 2 (i.e. into the hollow portion 28 of the roll 23). This operation results in the parts 31 defining the previously described structure 40 to form the restraining pivot means for the extremity 37 of the roll 23.
This operation can be easily carried out by anybody, and does not require special instruments.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention there is shown in Figures 5 and 6, flap 11 including a substantially rectangular part 64 having an upper, lower and lateral side wherein the upper and lateral sides are determined by pre-cut lines (the two upper corners of the substantially rectangular part 64 optionally having a round off shape) and the lower side is determined by a weakened or creasing line. By exercising a slight pressure with a tool or a finger on the part 64, said part 64 is folded toward the interior of the body 2, arranged below the lower edges of the tabs 31 (which are folded toward the interior of the body 2 simultaneously with said part 64), and preferably, contacted with the lower edges of the tabs 31, to cooperate with the tabs 31 in forming and reinforcing the restraining structure 40. This embodiment is particularly advantageous because the part 64, when arranged in the above defined way contributes to the increase of the resistance and rigidity of the structures 40 toward the stresses generated on the hollow roll 23 when the sheet-like material is unwound.

Claims

A roll restraining dispensing container for roll-type products, said container (1) comprising a parallelepipedal body (2) defined by a front wall (3), a lower wall (4), a rear wall (5) and an upper movable wall (6,7) acting as an openable lid, said body being closed laterally by side walls (9), said container adapted to receive a hollow roll (23) bearing wound sheet-like material (24), characterized in that the container further comprises, associated with each side wall (9), at least two tabs (31) which can be folded towards the interior of the body with the tabs free ends (32) arranged to cooperate with each other to define substantially rigid structures having a substantially pyramidal shape (40) projecting into the body, said structures being adapted to cooperate with the opposing hollow portions at the extremities (37) of the hollow roll bearing wound sheet-like material to axially retain said roll within the container, while allowing said roll to rotate to enable the sheet-like material to be unwound.
A roll restraining container as in claim 1 characterized in that the substantially rigid structures (40) having a substantially pyramidal shape penetrate into the hollow portions at the extremities (37) of the hollow roll (23) to a sufficient depth to allow such structures (40) to act as pivot means around which the roll can rotate during the unwinding of the sheet-like material.
A roll restraining container as in claim 1, characterized in that each pair of tabs (31), said tabs being foldable towards the interior of the body (2) and associated with a side wall (9) of the body, are associated with first parts (30) of first flaps (10, 12) to be fixed to another external second flap (11) which together with the first flaps defines said wall, each tab having a free edge (32) distanced from the free edge (36) of the flap with which the tabs is associated, opposite edges (33, 35) separated from said flap by cuts, and an edge (34) connected to this latter flap by a weakened or creasing line.
A roll restraining container as in claim 3, characterized in that, in a position corresponding with the foldable tabs (31), the external second flap (11) comprises a series of cuts (61) defining a part (63) connected to said flap by connection points (62) between said cuts, said part (63) being separable from said second external flap simply by pressure, said separation enabling the foldable tabs to be reached and arranged to form the pyramidal structure (40).
A parallelepipedal roll restraining container (1) for containing a hollow roll (23) on which there is wound sheet-like material which allows said sheet-like material (24) to be unwound without extracting said support, characterized in that the container comprises, associated with each of its side walls (9), at least two tabs (31) foldable towards the interior of the body (2) of the container and with the tabs' free ends (32) capable to be arranged to cooperate with each other to define substantially rigid structures having a substantially pyramidal conformation (40) projecting inwards and cooperating with the hollow portions of the opposite extremities (37) of the hollow roll for sheet-like material to axially retain said roll within the body, while allowing said roll to rotate to enable the sheet-like material to be unwound.
A roll restraining container for dispensing roll-type products as in claim 1 or 5 wherein the sheet-like material is wound aluminum foil or plastic film for wrapping foods.
A roll restraining container for dispensing roll-type products as in claim 1 or 5 made of cardboard or thin plastic film.
A roll restraining container as in claim 1 or 5 wherein the tabs (31) can be folded toward the interior of the body (2) by exerting a slight pressure on a part (63) or (64) defined on the external second flap (11), said part (64) being foldable toward the interior of the body, arranged below the lower edges of the tabs, and substantially in contact with the same, to cooperate with the tabs in forming and reinforcing the restraining structures (40) toward the stress generated on the hollow roll (23) when the sheet-like material (24) is unwound.