GB2101566A - Blister packs - Google Patents

Abstract

The shell (20) of a blister pack is secured to a base member (10) by means of a seal formed as a major part (23) extending around most of the periphery of the shell, and a minor part (24) which is separated from the major part by unadhered portions (25) of the shell, so that the minor part of the seal may be ruptured to obtain access to the contents of the pack without rupturing the major part of the seal, in order to facilitate re-use of the pack for storage purposes. A finger grip portion (12) is afforded by the shell and/or the base member adjacent to the minor part of the seal. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Packs for articles This invention relates to packs of the kind comprising one or more articles mounted on a flat base member and enclosed within a hollow shell of shape-holding plastics material which is adhesively secured to said base member. Such packs are commonly referred to as "blister packs" and that term will be used herein.

Such blister packs are used increasingly for the packaging of many different types of articles and the articles may be secured to the base member either by suitable mounting means or by only the hollow shell itself.

In our prior patent No. 1,169,244 we have disclosed a reclosable pack for needles and like elongated articles of light weight in which part of the base member can be bent away from the hollow shell, the base member affording a tab which can be latched over a marginal portion of the shell to hold the pack in a closed condition.

This type of pack is particularly suitable where the articles are held by a mounting member secured to the base member and the hollow shell is only adhered to the base member over a minor portion of its periphery and the part of the base member which is required to be bent away is not adhered to the shell, or is only lightly adhered thereto so that it can readily be opened.

However, particularly when the articles are mounted on the base member only by means of the hollow shell, it is essential that the shell is initially secured firmly to the base member, especially when heavier articles are contained in the pack. This frequently makes the pack rather difficult to open and often the base member itself more often be partly ruptured during opening so as to render it less suitable for storing the articles subsequently.

According to the invention we provide a blister pack comprising a generally flat base member with one or more articles enclosed within a hollow shell of shape-holding plastics material wherein an adhesive seal is formed around the periphery of the shell whereby the shell is secured to the base member, and such seal is interrupted at two points so as to divide the seal into separate portions occupying respectively a major part and a minor part of the periphery, the base member and/or the shell being so shaped adjacent to such minor part of the periphery so as to afford finger grip means whereby the minor part of the seal may be disrupted to enable the base member to be partly separated from the shell without disrupting the major part of the seal.

The finger grip means may comprise a tree marginal portion of the shell lying outwardly of the minor part of the seal, and in that case it is preferably at least partly spaced from the base member.

Such finger grip means afforded by the shell may extend along the whole length of an edge at which it is provided, but alternatively it may take the form of a tab which projects beyond the edge of the shell or a raised portion intermediate the ends of such edge.

Alternatively, or additionally, the base member may extend beyond the shell adjacent to the minor part of the seal to afford such finger grip means.

In a preferred embodiment, the shell is of rectangular shape and the major part of the seal extends substantially along three sides thereof, terminating short of the fourth side, whilst the minor part of the seal extends along the fourth side.

Whilst both the major and minor parts of the seal preferably comprise continuous areas of adhesive material, it will be appreciated that each part may itself comprise a plurality of spaced areas of adhesive, the spacing between adjacent areas of adhesive in each part of the seal being substantially less than the spacing between the two parts of the seal.

These and other features of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: FIGURE 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of pack in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 2 is a corresponding fragmentary side view on enlarged scale; and FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a further embodiment of pack in accordance with the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, for simplicity, the product which is packaged is not shown, but the packs illustrated are intended for holding single elonyated articles, such as crochet hooks.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 2, the pack shown therein includes an elongate base member 10 of cardboard or other similar flexible material which has adhesively secured thereto a hollow shape-retaining shell 20 of suitable transparent plastics material. As can be seen, the shell 20 extends over only part of the length of the base member 10 and includes a shaped cavity 21 which is adapted to hold, in this case, a single crochet needle against the base member 10, the shell 20 having a flat peripheral margin 22 which extends entirely around the cavity 21. An adhesive seal between the shell 20 and the base member 10 is forrned only in the areas indicated by shading. As can be seen the seal includes a major part 23 which extends along the lower margin 22a and along most of the length of the lateral margins 22b of the shell 20.The seal further includes a minor part 24 extending along the upper margin 22c. Unadhered portions 25 of the lateral margins adjacent to the upper margin separate the two parts 23 and 24 of the seal.

The upper margin 22c of the shell 20 includes a free marginal portion 26 which, as shown, is preferably inclined upwardly relative to the flat margin of the shell 20 as a whole, and is also of corrugated form. This serves as a finger grip portion to facilitate partial separation of the shell 20 from the base member 10 in order to gain access to the enclosed product. Alternatively, only a central part of the free marginal portion may be spaced from the base member or the free marginal portion of the shell may be of plain, uncorrugated form and may lie flat against the base member 1 0.

The upper end part 12 of the base member where it extends beyond the shell 20 also serves as a finger grip portion for the base member.

Thus, in use, the upper end part 12 of the base member 10 is bent rearwardly about the line A-A at the edge of the adhesively secured upper margin 22c of the shell 20. The user can thus grip the portion 26 readily and peel back the base member 10 by rupturing the adhesively secured area 24. This enables the upper half of the base member 10 to be bent rearwardly away from the shell 20 about the line B-B, and by virtue of the unadhered marginal portions 25, physical disruption of the base member 10 itself is effectively eliminated. The user may then readily remove the article from the interior of the shell 20 and may also replace the article for storage as and when required.If desired, the face member may be scored or creased along lines A-A and B-B to facilitate the required bending thereof.

Whilst the base member 10 preferably extends beyond the shell 20 to afford finger grip portion 12, it will be understood that the periphery of the base member could correspond entirely with the periphery of the seal.

Turning now to Figure 3, the alternative embodiment illustrated therein is of generally similar construction and includes a flat base card 110 having a hollow shell 120 affording a flat peripheral margin with an adhesive seal 123, 124 similar to that shown in Figure 1 whereby it is secured to the base member in the areas indicated by shading. However, in this case the upper margin 1 22c of the shell is flat over the whole of its width, but the seal 124 is narrower than the flat margin and inset from the free edge thereof so that outwardly of the seal a free marginal portion 126 of the shell is available.In use, the upper end part 112 of the base member 110 is bent rearwardly about the line C-C so that the unadhered marginal portion 126 of the upper margin 1 22c of the shell 120 serves as the finger grip portion to facilitate rupturing of the seal 1 24 and subsequent folding of the base member 110 about the line D-D for access to the enclosed product. The unadhered marginal portion 125 serves to isolate the two parts 1 23, 1 24 of the seal and facilitate rupturing of the latter without disturbing the former.

As illustrated an aperture 127 is formed in the base member 110 whereby it can be supported on a suitable pin for display purposes, and the upper margin of the shell 120 may include a corresponding cut-out.

The illustrated embodiments are each intended to hold a single crochet needle which is secured to the base member by means of the hollow shell.

However, it will be understood that similar packs may be designed to hold a plurality of articles, and that such articles may be mounted on the base member by any suitable mounting member, rather than merely being held by the shell. In particular, small articles such as darning needles or the like may conveniently be mounted in this way, but it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its applicability to packs of articles which are of elongated form.

Particularly where the packs are relatively wider than in the illustrated embodiments, it is not necessary for the finger grip portion of the shell to be afforded by a marginal portion which extends along the entire length of the relevant edge of the shell. Thus, for example, the upper marginal portion of the shell might be adhesively secured to the base member over its entire width and along its entire length, and be provided with an extension in the form of a tab which either normally lies in face-to-face engagement with the base member (as in the Figure 3 embodiment), or is normally upwardly inclined away therefrom (as in the Figure 1 embodiment). In a further alternative, the upper marginal portion of such a shell may include a raised portion, for example midway along its length, to serve as said finger grip portion.

Claims (9)

1. A blister pack comprising a generally flat base member with one or more articles enclosed within a hollow shell of shape-holding plastics material wherein an adhesive seal is formed around the periphery of the shell whereby the shell is secured to the base member, and the seal is interrupted at two points so as to divide the seal into separate portions occupying respectively a major part and a minor part of the periphery, the base member and/or the shell being so shaped adjacent to such minor part of the periphery as to afford finger grip means whereby the minor part of the seal may be disrupted to enable the base member to be partly separated from the shell without disrupting the major part of the seal.

2. A pack according to Claim 1 wherein a free marginal portion of the shell lying outwardly of the minor part of the seal serves as said finger grip means.

3. A pack according to Claim 2 wherein said free marginal portion of the shell is at least partly spaced from the base member.

4. A pack according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the base member extends beyond the shell adjacent to the minor part of the seal to serve as finger grip means.

5. A pack according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the shell is of rectangular shape and the major part of the seal extends substantially along three sides of the shell, terminating short of the fourth side, and the minor part of the seal extends along the fourth side.

6. A pack according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the base member is formed with a score of fold line adjacent to the minor part of said seal.

7. A pack according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the base member is formed with a score of fold line adjacent to the major part of said seal.

8. A blister pack substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

9. A blister pack substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.

1 0. Any novel feature or novel combination of features disclosed herein and/or shown in the accompanying drawings.