EP0677014B1 - Package for a series of products and its method of production - Google Patents

Abstract

PCT No. PCT/FR94/01291 Sec. 371 Date Sep. 22, 1995 Sec. 102(e) Date Sep. 22, 1995 PCT Filed Nov. 7, 1994 PCT Pub. No. WO95/13228 PCT Pub. Date May 18, 1995A package formed by a wrapper wrapped around a plurality of stacked elongate products (2) each of which temporarily adheres by one of its ends (2B) to an end wall (4) of the wrapper (3). The products may be prepackaged products, such as strips of chewing gum or dairy products, biscuits or bars of chocolate, or else chip cards.

Description

The present invention relates to packaging for a series of products, of the type comprising a flexible envelope, in particular of generally elongated shape, comprising a folded and sealed sheet.

Known packages of this type are intended in particular for prepackaged products which may for example be food products such as chewing gum tablets, cheese wafers, cookies or chocolate bars, or even smart cards. The envelope contains these products and may consist of a rolled or folded sheet, for example of paper or of a complex produced, for example, from the combination of a plastic film, paper and aluminum (or of the combination of two of them); this sheet then surrounds and envelops a stack of said products to form a cylinder held by gluing a longitudinal edge of the sheet on the opposite longitudinal edge; the ends of the cylinder are kept in the folded position by sealing, for example by gluing, to form one the bottom, the other the cover of the envelope.

To open a package, one proceeds for example by tearing off and unfolding the cover of the envelope; when a tear strip is provided for this purpose near the cover on a circumference of the cylinder of the envelope, the procedure is preferably by tearing this strip and total and permanent removal of the cover.

Such packaging is very economical for everyday consumer products and very advantageous since it makes it possible to keep them grouped in the envelope and available at all times for distribution and consumption.

However, as soon as the envelope of a package of this type has been opened, it can no longer be closed securely and / or it is definitively devoid of a cover; it therefore risks at any time letting the remaining products which it contains escape, which represents a serious drawback. This is particularly troublesome when the packaging, the envelope of which is already open, is left in the pocket of a garment, in a bag or suitcase, or even in the glove compartment of a vehicle. The remaining products it contains can then be dispersed there with other objects.

The object of the invention is to preserve the integrity of the content of the packaging envelope after opening it, including after removal of one or more products from the open envelope, while retaining the economic character. and advantageous of this type of packaging.

To this end, the invention relates to a packaging of the aforementioned type, characterized in that a means of temporary adhesion of the products to be packaged is interposed between the envelope and each of the products.

• le moyen d'adhérence provisoire concerne une région desdits produits alignée avec une zone scellée de l'enveloppe;
• lorsque l'enveloppe souple comporte deux extrémités, l'une ouverte ou destinée à être fermée par un couvercle, notamment non refermable après ouverture, l'autre fermée par pliage et scellement servant de fond à l'enveloppe, le moyen d'adhérence provisoire des produits à emballer est interposé entre le fond de l'enveloppe et l'extrémité adjacente de chacun des produits;
• l'emballage contient plusieurs produits empilés de forme allongée, notamment préemballés;
• le moyen d'adhérence est porté par l'enveloppe;
• chacun desdits produits porte un moyen d'adhérence provisoire qui adhère à l'enveloppe;
• le moyen d'adhérence provisoire comprend une colle du type colle à froid activable par pression;
• le moyen d'adhérence provisoire comprend une colle du type thermoréactivable;

This packaging may include one or more of the following characteristics:

• the provisional adhesion means relates to a region of said products aligned with a sealed area of the envelope;
• when the flexible envelope has two ends, one open or intended to be closed by a cover, in particular non-resealable after opening, the other closed by folding and sealing serving as the bottom of the envelope, the temporary adhesion means products to be packaged is interposed between the bottom of the envelope and the adjacent end of each of the products;
• the packaging contains several stacked products of elongated shape, in particular prepackaged;
• the adhesion means is carried by the envelope;
• each of said products carries a temporary adhesion means which adheres to the envelope;
• the temporary adhesion means comprises an adhesive of the cold glue type activatable by pressure;
• the temporary adhesion means comprises an adhesive of the heat-activated type;

The invention also relates to a method for producing a package as defined above.

• (a) le placement d'un empilement desdits produits sur une feuille éventuellement préformée; et
• (b) la formation d'une enveloppe de forme générale tubulaire par pliage et scellement, notamment par collage, de ladite feuille refermant ainsi au moins partiellement cette enveloppe,

est caractérisé en ce qu'il comporte, avant l'étape (b) de formation de l'enveloppe, une étape (c) de pose d'un moyen d'adhérence provisoire sur la face de ladite feuille destinée à constituer la face intérieure de l'enveloppe, et en ce que, pendant l'étape (b) de scellement, l'activation du moyen d'adhérence est réalisée simultanément au scellement de l'enveloppe.In a first embodiment, this method, of the type comprising:

• (a) placing a stack of said products on a possibly preformed sheet; and
• (b) the formation of a generally tubular envelope by folding and sealing, in particular by gluing, of said sheet thus at least partially closing this envelope,

is characterized in that it comprises, before step (b) for forming the envelope, a step (c) of laying a temporary adhesion means on the face of said sheet intended to constitute the inner face of the envelope, and in that, during step (b ) sealing, the activation of the adhesion means is carried out simultaneously with the sealing of the envelope.

When the formation of the envelope of step (b) includes a sealing step, in particular by gluing, opposite edges of said sheet closing the circumference of the envelope blank, and a folding and sealing step, in particular by bonding, at least one end of the envelope blank, closing at least one bottom of the envelope, preferably, in step (c), the temporary adhesion means is placed at least on the part of the inner face intended to constitute the bottom of the envelope and is activated simultaneously with the sealing of the bottom of the envelope.

In a second embodiment, the method, of the type comprising the production of an envelope blank of generally elongated shape, the filling of the envelope blank with said products, and the formation of an envelope of general tubular shape by folding and sealing, in particular by gluing, of said sheet thus closing at least partially this blank of envelope, is characterized in that it comprises a step of coating part of each of the products or their prepackage intended to come into contact with the envelope by a temporary adhesion means, and in that the activation of the temporary adhesion means is performed simultaneously with the sealing of the envelope.

In this case, when the formation of the envelope comprises a step of folding and sealing, in particular by gluing, of at least one end of the envelope blank, thus achieving the closure of at least one bottom of the envelope, preferably, each of the products is coated on one of its ends, or of the ends of its prepackage, facing the bottom, by a temporary adhesion means, and the activation of the adhesion means is carried out simultaneously with the sealing of the bottom of the envelope.

• la Figure 1 est une vue en perspective d'un emballage selon l'invention dont l'enveloppe est fermée;
• la Figure 2 est une vue en perspective de cet emballage plein et avec son enveloppe ouverte;
• la Figure 3 est une vue en coupe longitudinale du même emballage après prélèvement d'une partie des produits;
• la Figure 4 est une vue partielle à échelle agrandie, en coupe longitudinale à proximité du fond de l'enveloppe de l'emballage; et
• les Figures 5 à 8 illustrent des étapes d'un procédé de fabrication d'un tel emballage.

The invention will be better understood on reading the description which follows, given by way of example and with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

• Figure 1 is a perspective view of a package according to the invention, the envelope is closed;
• Figure 2 is a perspective view of this full package and with its envelope open;
• Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same packaging after removal of part of the products;
• Figure 4 is a partial view on an enlarged scale, in longitudinal section near the bottom of the packaging envelope; and
• Figures 5 to 8 illustrate steps of a method of manufacturing such packaging.

The packaging shown in Figures 1 to 4 comprises a flexible envelope 1 which contains elongated products 2 stacked.

Products 2 can for example be prepackaged food products, such as chewing gum tablets, cheese wafers, cookies or chocolate bars, or other possibly prepackaged products such as smart cards.

The flexible envelope 1 comprises a body 3 of generally cylindrical shape with rectangular base closed at its two ends, one constituting the bottom 4, the other constituting the cover 5, by folding and gluing the ends of the body 3 thereon. same. The body 3 also includes a tear strip 6 on its circumference, near the cover 5.

For the consumption of the products, the envelope 1 is opened by tearing the strip 6 along the circumference of the body 3 and removing the cover 5 and an adjoining portion of the body 3. This operation releases a ends 2A of the products 2 contained by the envelope, as shown in FIG. 2. The envelope 1 thus opened can no longer be closed.

As indicated in FIG. 3, the packaging also includes a temporary adhesion means, here a film 7 of glue with low adhesion power applied to the bottom 4 of the envelope 1, which separably connects this bottom 4 at the adjacent end 2B of each product 2 contained in the envelope. The adhesive can be, for example, of the weak hot-melt type.

Thus, when the envelope 1 is open, the products 2 remain integral with the open envelope 1, because they are retained by their ends 2B against the bottom 4 of the envelope with the adhesive film 7. Despite the irreversible opening of the envelope, the products contained cannot therefore be dispersed outside. For the consumption of the products contained in the open envelope, it suffices to extract each product from the envelope by sufficient traction to separate its end 2B from the bottom 4. The packaging thus retains all of its properties for meeting and protecting products.

We will now describe, with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8, a method of manufacturing the packaging 1.

From a roll of a strip 8 continuously glued with glue 7 on its inner face along a marginal zone 8B, shown in Figure 5, a tear strip 6 is fixed near the opposite edge 8A in zone 8B, then sheets 9 are cut on the inner face of each of which, outside the glued zone, a stack of products 2 is deposited, as shown in FIG. 6. The strip 8 also carries on its external face pre-glued areas (not shown) used to close the packaging in a conventional manner. For these areas, for example, a strong heat-activated adhesive is used.

The strip 8 can be made of paper or of a complex material, for example consisting of a plastic film, a printed paper film and an aluminum film, superimposed and glued together. The width of the strip 8 is greater than the length of the products to be packaged.

Then we fold the sheet 9 according to a tubular blank of the body 3, as shown in Figure 7, and one glues one on the other the cutting edges of the sheet, which closes the blank along a generator; the marginal areas 8A and 8B of the sheet are then folded back on themselves, which now constitute the ends of the cylindrical body 3, respectively the cover 5 and the bottom 4 as shown in Figure 8. During this folding, the glued area 8B comes into contact with the corresponding end 2B of each of the products 2.

Then carried out, by a device (not shown) for dissipating heat at the two ends of the envelope, the simultaneous activation of the strong heat-activated adhesive and of the weak heat-activated adhesive film of the sheet edge 8B; this simultaneously causes the sealing of the two ends of the envelope and the temporary adhesion of the ends 2B of the products to the bottom 4 of the envelope.

A variant of the same process consists in using for the internal coating, at 8B, of the strip 8, a cold adhesive activatable by pressure. The compression of the envelope 1 by its two ends which accompanies the aforementioned sealing then simultaneously ensures the activation of the film of cold glue from the sheet edge 8B and causes the temporary adhesion of the ends 2B of the products on the bottom 4 of the 'envelope.

As a variant, the prior gluing of the strip 8 by means of an adhesive with low adhesion can be carried out differently. Thus, coating can be carried out batchwise, interrupting at intervals predetermined gluing of zone 8B or by gluing only pre-marked locations in this zone 8B which will constitute the bottom of the envelope after folding. In this case, the gluing can, on certain packaging lines, be carried out in strips transverse to the direction of advance of the sheets 9. The coating can also be carried out all along the zone 8B, but in the form of several parallel lines, possibly dotted, or with a repeating pattern such as oblique lines parallel to each other.

In a variant also, the strip 7 can be replaced by prior gluing, by the same type of weak adhesive, of the adjacent end 2B of the products 2.

In another variant, the temporary adhesion of the products 2 to the bottom of the envelope can be obtained by interposing a double-sided adhesive element.

Claims (12)

1. Pack for a series of products (2), of the type comprising a flexible envelope (3) and in particular having a generally elongated shape and incorporating a folded and sealed sheet, characterized in that a provisional adhesion medium (7) for the products to be packed is interposed between the envelope (3) and each of the products.
2. Pack according to claim 1, characterized in that the provisional adhesion medium (7) relates to one region of said products aligned with a sealed zone of the envelope (3).
3. Pack according to claim 2, in which the flexible envelope (3) has two ends, the one being open or intended to be closed by a cover (5) and in particular non-resealable after opening, the other closed by folding and sealing serving as the bottom (4) for the envelope, characterized in that the provisional adhesion medium (7) for the products to be packed is interposed between the envelope bottom (4) and the adjacent end of each of the products.
4. Pack according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it contains several elongated, stacked products (2), which are in particular prepacked.
5. Pack according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the adhesion medium (7) is carried by the envelope (3).
6. Pack according to any one of the claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each of said products carries a provisional adhesion medium (7), which adheres to the envelope (3).
7. Pack according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the provisional adhesion medium (7) comprises a glue of the pressure-activatable cold glue type.
8. Pack according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the provisional adhesion medium (7) comprises a heat reactivatable glue.
9. Process for packing elongated products (2), particularly in prepacked form, of the type comprising:

   (a) the placing of a stack of said products (2) on an optionally preshaped sheet (9) and

   (b) the formation of a generally tubular envelope (3) by folding and sealing, particularly by gluing, said sheet thus at least partly resealing said envelope,

   characterized in that it comprises, prior to stage (b) of the formation of the envelope (3), a stage (c) of placing a provisional adhesion medium (7) on the face of said sheet (9) which is to form the inner face of the envelope (3), and in that, during sealing stage (b), the activation of the adhesion medium takes place simultaneously with the sealing of the envelope (3).
10. Packing process according to claim 9, in which the formation of the envelope (3) of stage (b) involves a sealing stage, particularly by gluing, of opposite edges of said sheet resealing the circumference of the envelope blank and a stage of folding and sealing, particularly by gluing, of at least one end of the envelope blank, bringing about the sealing of at least one bottom (4) of the envelope (3), characterized in that instage (c), the provisional adhesion medium (7) is placed at least on the part of the inner face which is intended to constitute the bottom (4) of the envelope (3) and is activated simultaneously with the sealing of the bottom (4) of the envelope (3).
11. Process for packing elongated products (2), particularly in prepacked form, of the type comprising the production of a generally elongated envelope blank (3), the filling of the envelope blank with said products and the formation of a generally tubular envelope (3) by folding and sealing, particularly gluing, said sheet, thus resealing at least partly said envelope blank, characterized in that it involves a stage of coating one portion of each of the products (2) or their prepack intended to come into contact with the envelope by a provisional adhesion medium (7) and in that the activation of the provisional adhesion medium (7) takes place simultaneously with the sealing of the envelope (3).
12. Packing process according to claim 11, in which the formation of the envelope (3) involves a folding and sealing stage particularly by gluing, of at least one end of the envelope blank, thus bringing about the sealing of at least one bottom (4) of the envelope (3), characterized in that each of the products (2) is coated on one of its ends or the ends of its prepack, facing the bottom (4), by means of a provisional adhesion medium (7) and in that the activation of the adhesion medium (7) takes place simultaneously with the sealing of the bottom (4) of the envelope (3).

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