EP0670807B1 - Wrapper/label for receptacles - Google Patents

Abstract

A wrapper consisting of a heat-shrinkable plastic sleeve (3) surrounding the body of a container (2) to form a data medium (9) and/or prevent movement of a lid (4). Said sleeve (3) further comprises a complementary loosely overlaid removable flap (5) extending between two external generatrices (x, y) of the side reference surface of the sleeve (3), said flap being at least partially releasably connected thereto at both its side ends (6, 7) to provide specific additional information (8) on the product. The wrapper may be used in product packaging.

Description

The present invention relates to the packaging of consumer products requiring consumer information.

They can be, for example, food products whose preparation must be carried out according to a particular method or according to a recommended culinary recipe.

They may also be chemicals, the implementation of which is carried out according to a specific user manual which requires taking the precautions for use laid down by the manufacturer.

Or, it can be pharmaceutical products, such as drugs, which must contain a certain number of regulatory information such as their composition, indications, contraindications, dosage, precautions for use, etc.

To communicate all this information to the user, it is well known to have a packaging on which appear the brand and the name of the manufacturer of the product as well as some summary information, all the specific and detailed information being the subject of a notice placed between the container and the packaging before closing the latter.

Thus, whether it is a cooking recipe, a user manual or even a pharmaceutical leaflet, the user will be able to collect and store by himself the said specific information, independently packaging of the product.

However, it turns out that the multiplication of the various aforementioned elements, namely: the product container, its packaging and its instructions, results in a manufacturing complexity, making it consequently expensive.

In addition, the diversity of the materials used makes it impossible to recycle them simultaneously and therefore leads to separate operations depending on the materials concerned.

It is known to limit these operations by producing a packaging, the material of which is of the same nature as the container, for example made of plastic.

It is then an envelope constituted by a heat-shrinkable sleeve capable of closely surrounding at least one part of the body of the container to form a support for elementary information and / or ensuring the relative immobilization of the opening and closing means. of said container.

It is thus only partially remedied the problem previously posed because, indeed, and this more particularly in the packages of small dimensions, the available surface proves very often insufficient.

In addition, regardless of this practical problem, when it comes to medication in particular, the user has the habit of having a leaflet that he can take with him to remember the dosage and this in taking part of the medication, without having to take the full box.

The same applies to a cooking recipe, a manual or any other kind of information that one may wish to detach from the product in order to dispose of it freely.

Thus we can say that the envelopes known as a sleeve surrounding a container often turn out to be of limited use with regard to the supply of necessary information and moreover do not make it possible to dispose of it freely by dissociating it from their support.

Document WO-A-92/02421 discloses an envelope intended for packaging a container containing a consumer product, of the type constituted by a sleeve capable of surrounding at least part of the body of the container to form a elementary information medium, said sleeve further having an extension forming a removable complementary flap which extends freely by superposition, between two external generatrices of the reference lateral surface of said sleeve, to which it is connected by its two lateral ends so detachable, to deliver additional specific information which it contains, in accordance with the preamble of claim 1.

It should be noted that this is not a sleeve obtained from a heat-shrinkable material, but a sleeve made of cardboard. This is the reason why the closure of the sleeve on itself can be obtained by a simple bonding, the latter not being the seat of retraction forces and therefore not having to resist them to avoid tearing. . In addition, it is expressly provided that the end edge of the flap is fixed with a lighter bonding (by bonding points) than the other edge in order to allow easy detachment by gripping a tab projecting from this terminal edge.

Document BE-A-506 116 also discloses a paper sleeve extended by a flap and closed on itself by gluing. The flap is formed by a leaflet, the free end of which is fixed to said sleeve by a clip or a washer of paper, which can be assumed to be adhesive.

In addition, it is also important to note that the sleeve described in the aforementioned documents is not obtained from a heat-shrinkable material, it supports being in both cases simply glued.

However, as already mentioned above, this is not sufficient to resist the retraction forces when the material of the sleeve is subjected to heat treatment, and this both at the level of the closure line of the sleeve on itself than at the connecting line of the flap at its free end.

The object of the invention is to remedy the various aforementioned drawbacks and to this end relates to an envelope more particularly intended for packaging a container containing a consumer product, of the type constituted by a sleeve capable of surrounding at least part of the body of the container to form an elementary information carrier, said sleeve further having an extension forming a removable complementary flap which extends freely by superposition, between two external generatrices of the lateral reference surface of said sleeve, to which it is connected by its two lateral ends detachably, to deliver additional specific information which it contains, characterized in that the envelope forming the sleeve and the complementary flap which extends it is obtained from a sheet of heat-shrinkable plastic, that the lateral ends of the complementary flap are connected to the sleeve by two parallel heat seals, and in that the means capable of making the complementary flap removable are arranged near each of the two heat seals, on the internal side thereof.

• la figure 1 est une vue en perspective d'un contenant emballé avec une enveloppe suivant l'invention;
• la figure 2 est une vue en plan de la surface développée de l'enveloppe selon la figure 1 ;
• les figures 3, 4 et 5 sont des vues en bout de l'enveloppe, au cours de trois phases successives de réalisation ;
• les figures 6 et 7 sont des vues en plan représentant successivement une enveloppe avant et après insertion sur le contenant ;
• la figure 8 est une vue en plan d'un contenant sur lequel l'enveloppe a été thermoformée ;
• la figure 9 est une vue en perspective d'un contenant après détachement partiel d'un rabat de l'enveloppe; et
• les figures 10, 11 et 12 montrent des vues en bout d'enveloppes selon des modes différents de présentation des informations.

The invention will be better understood and other characteristics thereof will be highlighted with the aid of the description which follows, with reference to the appended schematic drawings, illustrating, by way of nonlimiting example, how the invention can be performed and in which:

• Figure 1 is a perspective view of a container packed with an envelope according to the invention;
• Figure 2 is a plan view of the developed surface of the envelope according to Figure 1;
• Figures 3, 4 and 5 are views at the end of the envelope, during three successive phases of production;
• Figures 6 and 7 are plan views successively showing an envelope before and after insertion on the container;
• Figure 8 is a plan view of a container on which the envelope has been thermoformed;
• Figure 9 is a perspective view of a container after partial detachment of a flap of the envelope; and
• Figures 10, 11 and 12 show end views of envelopes according to different modes of presentation of information.

The envelope, generally designated by the reference 1 in the figures, is intended, on the one hand, for the packaging of a container 2 and, on the other hand, for the delivery of additional information 8 concerning the product contained by said container 2.

For this purpose, the envelope 1 comprises a first part, known per se, and constituted by a sleeve 3 made of heat-shrinkable material capable of closely surrounding the body of the container 2 to form a support for elementary information 9 and possibly ensuring immobilization. opening and closing means, in this case a plug 4, of said container 2.

According to the invention, the envelope 1 constituted by the sleeve 3 further comprises a second part formed by a flap 5 extending freely by superposition between two external generatrices x and y of the lateral reference surface of said sleeve 3, to which it is connected by its two lateral ends 6 and 7 detachably, at least partially, to deliver additional specific information 8 which it contains.

As shown particularly in FIG. 2, the envelope 1 is obtained from a sheet of heat-shrinkable plastic in one piece, the first part of which forms the sleeve 3 consists of zones I and II, and the second part III of which forms the flap 5 is obtained in one piece with said sleeve 3 as an extension of one of the lateral ends 6 of the developed surface (I + II) of said sleeve 3.

FIG. 2 also shows zones A, B, C, D which are intended for heat sealing during the shaping of the envelope 1.

This is how the zones A and B will be placed opposite one another with a view to their assembly to constitute the sleeve 3 and that the zone of the flap 5 will be placed opposite the zone D of the sleeve 3 for close said flap 5.

It should be noted that the assembly of zones A-B and C-D can be carried out successively or simultaneously.

In all cases, the lateral ends of the flap are connected to the sleeve by two parallel heat seals, one of them simultaneously forming the sleeve by closing its reference lateral surface on itself.

It should also be noted that the elementary information 9 carried by the sleeve 3 is necessarily transcribed in zone II because zone I is covered by zone III forming the flap 5.

This information 9 is of course necessarily readable from the outside once the sleeve 3 placed on the container 2, but on the other hand, the information 8 can be made readable from the outside or from the inside. This is so that, in the latter case, they remain discreet, for example with regard to certain drugs.

It should be noted that the length "L" of the flap 5 constituted by the zone III is deliberately limited in proportions such as not to allow the overlapping of the zone II and this for two reasons.

The first is obviously to prevent the flap 5 from masking the information carried by said zone II of the sleeve 3.

The second resides in the fact that it is not desirable to heat the zone I of the sleeve 3 covered by the zone III of the flap 5, during the heat-shrinking operation, because this could lead to a deformation of the latter, harmful to the information it contains. It is therefore preferred to heat only the only zone II, to ensure the shrinking of the sleeve 3.

As shown in Figures 6 and 7, after insertion of the sleeve 3 on the container 2, the hot air is blown in the directions F around the periphery of the zone II.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the flap is made removable by means of tearing means disposed near its lateral ends.

More specifically, the means capable of making the flap removable are arranged near each of the two heat seals, on the internal side thereof.

These pull-out means P1, P2 are in this case constituted by two lateral punctures.

These tearing means are particularly well illustrated in FIG. 9 showing a first cut out thanks to the puncture P1, the puncture P2 being in the process of being torn off. Note that the removal of the flap 5 does not in any way alter the sleeve 3 which remains in place.

It is obvious that the flap 5 can also be made removable by means of adhesive means (not shown) arranged near its lateral ends.

According to an exemplary embodiment shown in Figures 10 and 11, it differs essentially from the previous in that the flap defines with the sleeve a pouch capable of containing an explanatory note concerning the product.

In this case, the pocket defined by the flap is closed on all sides after introduction of the instructions to constitute an airtight protection to it.

However, as mentioned above, the flap 5 can be printed to constitute an explanatory note per se.

According to the embodiment shown in Figure 12, the inner surface of the flap is secured to an end fold of an explanatory note folded back on itself. In this case, leaflet 12 is folded back on itself in an accordion.

The end fold 12a of the leaflet 12 can be secured to the flap 5A by heat sealing simultaneously with the assembly of the zones C-D or else by gluing in said zone C of the flap 5A.

Also, a variant could consist in bringing the notice 12 onto the internal face 5a of the flap 5A of an envelope 1A by peelable adhesive means (not shown).

Finally, it should be noted that to achieve one of the aims set by the invention, the envelope 1 or 1A is made of a material of the same kind as the container (2) so as to make their simultaneous recycling compatible.

Better still, envelope 1 or 1A is made up of a material of the same kind as the container and the information leaflet so as to make their recycling simultaneous.

Thus we can say in more detail that the container 2 and its stopper 4, the sleeve 3 constituting its packaging, the flap 5 or 5A containing the notice 11 or 12, the notice 11 or 12 it -same, are of the same nature and consequently recyclable simultaneously.

Claims (9)

1. Wrapper (1,1A), intended more particularly for packaging a container (2) containing a consumer product, of the type consisting of a sleeve (3) capable of encircling at least part of the body of the container in order to form a carrier for basic information (9), the said sleeve (3) also having an extension forming a removable supplementary flap (5, 5A) which extends freely, by superposition, between two external generating lines (x, y) of the reference side surface of the said sleeve (3), to which it is joined in a detachable manner by its two lateral ends in order to supply supplementary specific information which it contains, characterised in that the wrapper (1, 1A) forming the sleeve (3) and the supplementary flap (5, 5A) which forms an extension of it is obtained from a sheet of heat-shrinkable plastic material, in that the lateral ends (6, 7) of the supplementary flap (5, 5A) are joined to the sleeve (3) by two parallel heat seals (A-B and C-D) and in that the means (P1, P2) capable of making the supplementary flap (5, 5A) removable are arranged in the proximity of each of the two heat seals (A-B, C-D), on the inside of the latter.
2. Wrapper according to Claim 1, characterised in that the flap (5, 5A) is made removable by means of tearing means (P1, P2).
3. Wrapper according to Claim 2, characterised in that the means (P1, P2), suitable for making the flap (5, 5A) removable by tearing, are formed by two lateral perforations.
4. Wrapper according to Claim 1, characterised in that the flap (5, 5A) is made removable by means of adhesive means.
5. Wrapper according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the flap (5) defines, with the sleeve (3), a pocket (10) suitable for containing an explanatory leaflet (11) relating to the product.
6. Wrapper according to Claim 5, characterised in that the pocket (10) defined by the flap (5) is closed on all sides following introduction of the leaflet (11), in order to provide the latter with hermetic protection.
7. Wrapper according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the inner surface of the flap (5A) is integral with an end fold (12a) of an explanatory leaflet (12) folded onto itself.
8. Wrapper according to Claim 7, characterised in that the leaflet (12) is pleated onto itself in concertina fashion.
9. Wrapper according to Claim 7 or 8, characterised in that the explanatory leaflet (12) is affixed to the inner surface (5a) of the flap (5A) by peel-off adhesive means.

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