EP1194335B1

EP1194335B1 - Article display and dispenser

Info

Publication number: EP1194335B1
Application number: EP00938355A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Paulo Eduardo Do Rio Vieira Pereira
Original assignee: Johnson and Johnson Industrial Ltda
Current assignee: Johnson and Johnson Industrial Ltda
Priority date: 1999-06-15
Filing date: 2000-06-15
Publication date: 2004-04-21
Anticipated expiration: 2020-06-15
Also published as: DE60010082D1; AR024317A4; CA2374518A1; MXPA01013092A; BR7901289U; AU5377000A; WO2000076864A1; AU762104B2; WO2000076864B1; JP2003502221A; CN1355754A; PE20010179Z; EP1194335A1; ZA200200314B

Description

Field of the Invention

The present invention refers to an article display and dispenser, in the form of a package which is particularly applied for storing adhesive wound dressings.

Background of the Invention

The known displaying and dispensing packages for storing articles such as those mentioned above, usually consist of a parallelepipedic box of small height, with its upper wall defined by one of the two larger faces, with its front, rear and lateral walls interconnected by corresponding fold lines, which define the respective lateral edges of said package, and with the bottom wall defined by the other larger face of said box and formed by overlapping and affixing rear flaps, which are interconnected, through fold lines, to the corresponding lateral, front and rear walls.

Though being highly used, this displaying/dispensing package of know construction has the inconvenience of having the access to its inside limited by only a small dispensing window usually provided at an end portion of one of its lateral walls, which does not permit the simultaneous access to all the stored articles, practically forcing the user to take one article at a time, and which does not facilitate the exposure of the article to the consumer.

An article dispenser is defined in the preamble of claim 1 is disclosed in WO-A-97 22528.

Summary of the Invention

Thus, it is a general objective of the present invention to provide an article display- and dispenser for storing several articles, such as adhesive wound dressings, of simple construction and assembly and low cost and which allows the articles to be commercialized both individually and in a larger amount.

It is a further objective of the invention to provide an article display and dispenser as mentioned above, which, in the condition of commercialization of the articles in a larger amount, presents a display surface for advertisement of the article for sale.

The objectives mentioned above are achieved by an article display and dispenser, in the form of a package manufactured from a sheet material, which is adequately folded along fold lines, in order to define a parallelepipedic box comprising, in a lying position, a larger upper wall articulated, through a rear fold line defining the upper rear edge of the box, to a smaller rear wall and having a front portion and a rear portion, which are separated by a median fold line, around which said larger upper wall is folded when conducted from a closed position to an open position, characterized in that the larger upper wall is articulated through a front fold line defining the front upper edge of the box, to a retaining flap which is seated against the inner face of a front wall of the box when the larger upper wall is found in the closed position, and against the inner face of the smaller rear wall, when the larger upper wall is conducted to the open position, said box further having, to be used in a suspended vertical condition, a dispensing window defined by a respective portion, which is detachable from a lateral wall and a suspension flap which is detachable from the bottom wall and provided with a fixing means and occupying a position vertically projecting upwardly from the rear fold line defining the lower edge of the box in the lying position through which it remains incorporated to the box.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be described below, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of the article display and dispenser of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the article display and dispenser of the previous figure, when in the lying operational position; and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the article display and dispenser of figure 1, when in the suspended operational position.

Description of the Illustrated Embodiment

According to the figures mentioned above, the article display and dispenser is in the form of a package manufactured from sheet material or the like, which is adequately provided with fold lines, cut, dimensioned and folded, in order to define a parallelepipedic box having a larger upper wall 10, a smaller rear end wall 20, a smaller front end wall 30, two opposite lateral walls 40 and a bottom wall 50.

In the operational condition illustrated in figure 2, the box is placed in the lying position on a shelf or other supporting surface in a commercial place, with its larger upper wall 10, which defines the lid of the package when the latter is used to sell the articles in a packaged condition, showing the whole content of the box to the consumers or to the retailer.

As it may be observed, the larger upper wall 10 has its front and rear edges defined by a front fold line 11 and a rear fold line 12 incorporating said larger upper wall 10 to a retaining flap 13 and to the smaller rear end wall 20, respectively. When in the box closed position, illustrated in figure 3, the retaining flap 13 is fitted between the inner face of the smaller front end wall 30 and the front edge of a pair of inner lateral flaps 41, which are incorporated, through respective fold lines 42, defining front lateral edges of the box, to the upper edge of the opposite lateral walls 40.

The larger upper wall 10 has a front portion and a rear portion defined by a median fold line 14 preferably provided with an interrupted median region, with its ends coinciding with the ends of the lateral legs of a "U" shaped cut 15, having its basic leg turned to the rear fold line 12 of the larger upper wall 10.

As it may be observed from the figures, the cut 15 has its lateral and basic legs defined by respective weakened lines, which may be easily broken when the user applies pressure thereon with his fingers, in order to detach said cut 15 from the rear portion of the larger upper wall 10, said rear portion remaining coplanarly connected to the front portion of said larger upper wall 10.

With this preferred construction, when one desires to commercialize the articles, allowing the simultaneous access to the whole content of the box, the latter has the cut 15 ruptured and its upper wall 10 is opened and folded around the rear fold line 12 and median fold line 14, such as illustrated in figure 2, so that the retaining flap 13 may be seated against the inner face of the smaller rear wall 20 and preferably fitted into a small ear 21 which is detached from the smaller rear wall 20, maitaining the larger upper wall 10 folded around the median fold line 14, upwardly projected and coplanarly incorporating the cut 15 which is upwardly extended beyond the median fold line 14.

In this condition of use illustrated in figure 2, the lateral flaps 41 are outwardly folded, in order to completely liberate the access to the inside of the box, the front portion of the larger upper wall being usually provided with advertising messages allusive to the article being commercialized. In this situation, the cut 15 forms a salient additional surface for carrying a useful information, such as the price of the product, or any other message to the consumer.

In the other embodiment illustrated in figure 3, the box is placed in the vertical position, with the larger upper wall 10 defining the front face of the box and remaining closed, in which case the cut 15 is not detached.

In the illustrated embodiment, the bottom wall 50 is formed by overlapping and affixing, through mutual fitting, four

rear flaps

25, 35, 45, 45, which are respectively incorporated, by means of

fold lines

25a, 35a, 45a and 45a, to the smaller rear wall 20 and smaller front wall 30 and lateral walls 40, the rear flap 25 connected to the smaller rear wall 20 incorporating a suspension flap 26 provided with a fixing means 27 in the form of a throughbore (as illustrated) or a weakened line, a region with adhesive, a ring or a hook, and having one of the sides thereof defined by the fold line 25a of this rear flap 25 and with the remainder of the contour connected to the latter by a weakened line 28, which may be easily broken by the user, so that the suspension flap 26 may be articulated around the respective fold line 25a, until it occupies the position illustrated in figure 3, coplanar to the bottom wall 50, but projecting upwardly from the box, so as to have the fixing means 27 applied to any suspending hook.

In order that the adhesive wound dressings or any other articles thus stored may be taken out of the box, one of the lateral walls 40 is provided with a dispensing window 48, which is adjacent to the edge opposite to the bottom wall and which is incorporated to said lateral wall 40 by a surrounding-weakened line 48a, which is easily ruptured by the user. This dispensing window 48 allows the articles to be individually taken from the inside of the box, which remains closed.

In order to facilitate the grasping of the articles in this way of using the present article diplay and dispenser, the dispensing window 48 may further extend into the larger upper wall 10 and the bottom wall 50, also by breaking the

respective cuts

19 and 49 provided on the larger upper wall 10 and in the lateral flap 41 and rear flap 45, which are connected to said lateral wall 40.

Claims

Article display and dispenser, in the form of a package manufactured from a sheet material, which is adequately folded along fold lines, in order to define a parallelepipedic box comprising, in a lying position, a larger upper wall (10) articulated, through a rear fold line (12) defining the upper rear edge of the box, to a smaller rear wall (20) and having a front portion and a rear portion, which are separated by a median fold line (14), around which said larger upper wall (10) is folded when conducted from a closed position to an open position, characterized in that the larger upper wall (10) is articulated through a front fold line (11) defining the front upper edge of the box, to a retaining flap (13) which is seated against the inner face of a front wall (30) of the box when the larger upper wall (10) is found in the closed position, and against the inner face of the smaller rear wall (20), when the larger upper wall (10) is conducted to the open position, said box further having, to be used in a suspended vertical condition, a dispensing window (48) defined by a respective portion, which is detachable from a lateral wall (40)and a suspension flap (26)which is detachable from the bottom wall (50) and provided with a fixing means (27) and occupying a position vertically projecting upwardly from the rear fold line (25a) defining the lower edge of the box in the lying position through which it remains incorporated to the box.
Article display and dispenser, as in claim 1, characterized in that the smaller rear wall (20) is provided with an ear (21), which is preferably cut in the form of an inverted "U" and inside which the retaining flap (13) is seated when the larger upper wall (10) is conducted to an open position, folded around the median fold line (14).
Article display and dispenser, as in claim 2, characterized in that said median fold line (14) has a region interrupted by a cut (15), which is usually "U" shaped and provided on said larger upper wall (10) and wherefrom it may be easily detached, in order to be incorporated only to the front portion of said larger upper wall (10).
Article display and dispenser, as in claim 1, characterized in that the dispensing window (48) is further defined by a respective portion, which is detachable from at least one of the larger upper wall (10) and the bottom wall (50).
Article display and dispenser, as in claim 1, characterized in that the fixing means (27) is defined by one of the elements selected from a weakened line, a region with adhesive, a ring, a hook and, preferably, a throughbore.