Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D83/00—Containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents
  • B65D83/08—Containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents for dispensing thin flat articles in succession
  • B65D83/0805—Containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents for dispensing thin flat articles in succession through an aperture in a wall
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D77/00—Packages formed by enclosing articles or materials in preformed containers, e.g. boxes, cartons, sacks or bags
  • B65D77/10—Container closures formed after filling
  • B65D77/20—Container closures formed after filling by applying separate lids or covers, i.e. flexible membrane or foil-like covers
  • B65D77/2024—Container closures formed after filling by applying separate lids or covers, i.e. flexible membrane or foil-like covers the cover being welded or adhered to the container

Definitions

• the present invention generally relates to a disposable glove system, and more particularly to a dispenser package that has enhanced sanitary properties.
• Disposable gloves are mandatory equipment in many industries that require clean and/or sterile environments, e.g., the food service industry.
• the use of disposable gloves reduces the spread of viruses and other contaminants among individuals. In the food service industry, such contaminants are less likely to be transmitted from employees to food when employees regularly wear gloves, and when employees frequently and regularly replace used gloves with new ones.
• the gloves should be easily removable from the dispenser, and be substantially free of contaminants prior to donning. Many types of disposable gloves are known to and used by the food service industry.
• Disposable gloves are typically fabricated using vinyl, latex or polyethylene.
• Disposable gloves are generally sold in stacked units containing a supply of gloves layered one on top of the other. Gloves may be sold in a dispenser, such as a paperboard box, which encloses the stack and from which gloves may be removed one at a time. (A glove is typically removed in the manner that a tissue paper is removed from a tissue dispenser.)
• a box dispenser thus provides a simple and economical means for protecting the stored gloves from contamination and for dispensing the gloves. Variations of box dispensers for disposable gloves are shown in U.S. Patent No. 4,844,293 to McLaughlin and U.S. Patent No. 5,655,682 to Hoffrichter. Box dispensers have a drawback, however.
• the box dispensers are typically made of paper product such as cardboard. Therefore, the box dispensers are susceptible to getting wet so as to dampen not only the outside of the box, but also the inside and thus the gloves inside the box. Such penetration of moisture into the box may result in contamination of the gloves within.
• the box dispensers made of paper products are typically folded at the end to form the box. Such folded boxes typically are not completely sealed, but have one or more narrow slit openings (i.e., cracks) on one or more sides and/or at the bottom. The gloves inside the box may also be contaminated through these narrow slit openings.
• a glove dispensing package in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, includes a plastic container and a top sheet.
• the plastic container has walls that define a cavity and an opening thereof.
• a plurality of gloves are disposed within the cavity.
• the top sheet is attached to the plastic container over the opening to seal the cavity, such that the glove dispensing package is substantially impervious to moisture.
• a method of packaging gloves in a glove dispensing package is provided.
• a plurality of gloves are placed within a cavity defined by walls of a plastic container through an opening which is also defined by the walls.
• the plastic container is sealed using a top sheet placed over the opening, thereby substantially preventing moisture from entering the plastic container.
• a glove dispensing package in yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, includes a plastic container and a top sheet.
• the plastic container has walls that define a cavity and an opening thereof, and a flange formed around a periphery of the opening.
• a plurality of gloves are disposed within the cavity.
• the top sheet is attached to the flange of the plastic container over the opening to seal the cavity, such that the glove dispensing package is substantially impervious to moisture.
• the top sheet has a perforated area separated from the rest of the top sheet via a perforation such that the perforated area can be removed by puncturing the perforation so that the gloves can be accessed without removing the top sheet.
• FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dispensing package in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention
• FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the dispensing package of FIG. 1, where the dispensing package is placed upside down;
• FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a dispensing package in another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in which the gloves are folded in half prior to stacking;
• FIG. 4 is a flow diagram that illustrates a process of packaging gloves within a cavity of a plastic container, and accessing the gloves.
• FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a glove dispensing package 100 in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
• the dispensing package 100 includes a top sheet 102 sealed to a plastic container 104.
• the term "plastic" is used herein to generally designate synthetic polymeric material such as resin.
• the plastic container has a substantially rectangular box-like shape with a cavity 109 formed by four side walls and a bottom wall. The side walls also define an opening of the cavity 109.
• the plastic container may have other shapes (e.g., cubic) in other embodiments.
• the plastic container in the exemplary embodiments is made of thermoform plastic or other rigid plastic and may be transparent, semi-transparent or non-transparent, and may be of any desired color.
• the plastic container 102 may also be partly transparent, semi-transparent and/or non-transparent. Further, the plastic container may have letters (e.g., stylized), pictures, logos, designs and or other markings placed thereon through printing (e.g., multicolor), engraving, molding, or any other suitable method.
• the plastic container in other embodiments may be made from other suitable material that is substantially water resistant (i.e., impervious to water or moisture).
• the top sheet 102 in the exemplary embodiment is made of cardboard, and may be laminated on one or both sides to protect against moisture.
• the top sheet 102 may be made of soft plastic or other suitable material that is substantially water resistant.
• the top sheet 102 may be multi-color (e.g., four-color) printed on one or both of its surfaces with letters (e.g., stylized), pictures, logos, designs and/or other markings.
• the top sheet 102 may be transparent, non-transparent or semi-transparent, or any combination thereof.
• the top sheet 102 has formed thereon a perforated area 106, which can be removed by puncturing a surrounding perforation 107 to form an opening that is smaller than the opening of the plastic container 102. This way, gloves inside the plastic container can be removed without making unnecessarily large hole on the top sheet 102.
• the perforated area 106 as shown in FIG. 1 has a relatively wide side that is flanked by two convex curves that gradually approach each other as they move further away from the relatively wide side, and eventually meet to form a generally semi-circular shape, opposing the relatively wide side.
• the shape and or size of the perforated areas may be different in other embodiments.
• the plastic container 104 contains within its cavity 109 a number of gloves 108, which may be disposable. As can be seen in FIG. 4, for example, the gloves are placed within the cavity of the plastic container (250), and then the plastic container is sealed using the top sheet (252). The gloves can then be accessed by removing the perforated area from the top sheet (254).
• the gloves may be made of vinyl, latex, polyethylene, or any other suitable material.
• the gloves 108 may be non-transparent, transparent or semi-transparent. Further, the gloves 108 may have any desired color.
• the gloves 108 have all five fingers as shown in FIG. 1.
• the gloves may be a mitt having a compartment for four fingers and a separate thumb compartment.
• the gloves may also have various different sizes, all in a single dispenser package or different sizes in different dispenser packages.
• the size of the plastic container 104 (and the top sheet 102) may vary in different embodiments to correspond to the size of the gloves to be packaged therein.
• FIGs. 1 and 2 show that all the gloves are oriented in the same direction for illustrative purposes, since the gloves typically are thicker at a finger portion than at a cuff portion, in practice the gloves are generally stacked in units of ten, with each 10-unit stack rotated 180 degrees with respect to the 10-unit stack below and the 10-unit stack above. Hence, the 10-unit stacks of gloves face alternate directions.
• the plastic container contains 100 gloves. The number of gloves may vary in other embodiments.
• FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the dispensing package 100 of FIG. 1.
• the plastic container 104 has a flange 105 around the periphery of its opening.
• the top sheet 102 is affixed to the flange 105 so as to seal the plastic container 104.
• the dispensing package 100 do not necessarily have vacuum within, and may have air inside.
• the top sheet 102 may be affixed to the flange 105 using pressure sensitive adhesive or through heat sealing, or using any other suitable adhesive/method known to those skilled in the art.
• the top sheet 102 is placed on top of the plastic container 104, and heat is applied so that the top sheet will stick to the flange 105 of the plastic container.
• other suitable methods may be used to create such sealing between the flange 105 and the top sheet 102.
• the glove dispensing package of the present invention also results in a temper-proof packaging.
• FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a dispensing package 200 in another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
• the dispensing package 200 has a generally square box-like shape, and is sized such that gloves 208 are folded in half to fit within a cavity 209 of a plastic container 204. Since the dispensing package 200 (including a top sheet 202 and the plastic container 204) is made of substantially the same material and sealed using substantially the same method as the dispensing package 100 and the method of FIGs. 1, 2 and 4, the structure or sealing method of the dispensing package 200 will be only briefly described.
• the top sheet 202 is affixed to a flange 205 of the plastic container 204, in much the same manner as the top sheet 102 is affixed to the flange 105 of the plastic container 104.
• the gloves 208 can be removed from the dispensing package 200 by removing a perforated area 206 by puncturing a perforation 207 between the perforated area 206 and the rest of the top sheet 202. While the gloves 208 are shown as stacked having a single orientation, similar to the gloves 108, the gloves 208 may be stacked as stacks, each having a predetermined (e.g., 5) number of units. By orienting adjacent stacks 180 degrees of each other, the total thickness of the stacks between two ends may be made substantially the same, as the finger portion is typically thicker than the cuff portion in the gloves.
• the folded gloves By folding the gloves, and stacking them, the folded gloves can be removed easier through a same sized opening than the non-folded gloves. This way, the removability of the gloves can be increased without increasing the size of the opening, thereby enhancing sanitary properties of the dispensing package.
• the dispensing package and the packaging method of the present invention may be applied to other disposable items such as stacks of food wrapping papers, food wrapping plastic sheets, or the like, that require sanitary packaging.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Packages (AREA)
• Gloves (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=33452340

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (13)

Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (15)

• 2004
  • 2004-04-06 CA CA002526513A patent/CA2526513A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2004-04-06 EP EP04760796A patent/EP1633638A4/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2004-04-06 US US10/819,329 patent/US20040245269A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2004-04-06 WO PCT/US2004/010530 patent/WO2004101366A2/en not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (3)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events