JP2009529465A - Large capacity dispenser container - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a dispenser container that is more economical and has a higher capacity.
A dispenser container according to the present invention includes a chamber that is oriented in a substantially vertical direction and configured to receive a plurality of protective articles, the chamber having an opening, The opening includes a portion that gradually narrows or narrows along its contour.
[Selection] Figure 5B

Description

  This application claims priority to US Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 781,617 (filed Mar. 10, 2006).

  The present invention relates to a dispenser container unit for storing and providing protective articles such as gloves and face masks.

  Conventional containers for protective articles such as gloves and face masks are often similar to tissue boxes. A conventional container accommodates, for example, gloves stacked one by one with the cuffs and fingertips being staggered every few pairs. The conventional container is generally formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape and tends to be disposed horizontally. The opening in the conventional container for the user to approach the protective article is similar to the opening in the tissue box, and is formed in a simple rectangular or elliptical shape on the upper surface of the container. Conventional glove dispenser containers can typically hold about 100 gloves. In a laboratory or clinical setting where a relatively large amount of gloves is used, the glove box is consumed in a short period of time (eg, several days to a week). In order to increase the number of gloves, a problem arises for the user if the dispenser container is made a deeper box while maintaining the same installation area as a conventional dispenser container. First, as gloves are consumed and access to the bottom is at the bottom, it becomes difficult to grasp the gloves. Also, if the box is deeper, the user has to put his hand deeper into the dispenser container, so the opening needs to be larger. However, increasing the size of the opening increases the likelihood that the glove will be exposed to contaminants outside the container, so increasing the size of the opening is not good.

  Therefore, there is a need for a better dispenser container that can accommodate a larger amount of product in a functional container so that a large amount of gloves can be held and the consumption of the container can be reduced. More economical and higher capacity containers have several advantages. For consumers, a larger container eliminates the need for frequent box replacement and lowers the cost of consumption per unit, thus improving user convenience. And for manufacturers, larger containers can reduce material and manufacturing costs per unit.

  The present invention relates to a container system and its design. In this new design, the glove storage direction was changed from the conventional horizontal arrangement to the vertical arrangement. All gloves are oriented in the same direction with the cuff side facing up. Product orientation facilitates the user to access the product and remove it from the container. Conventionally, the glove is taken out by pinching and pulling the vicinity of the center of the product or the palm region. However, in the container design according to the present invention, the user can take out the glove by pinching and pulling the cuff region. This can prevent physical contamination of other areas of the glove body where the sample is handled in laboratory work or where medical personnel contact the patient.

  The dispenser container unit 10 has an opening 2 for a user to approach the container contents. The opening has a portion 4 between the first end region 6 and the second end region 8 where the opening gradually narrows or narrows. The first and second end regions may have a symmetric or asymmetric shape, as shown in FIGS. 2A-2D and 3A. The first end region is significantly larger in size than the second end region. The opening has a dog-bone or hourglass-shaped contour. Alternatively, the opening has a rectangular, trapezoidal, triangular, teardrop-shaped or paddle-shaped contour.

  The container can be configured to dispense products from both sides of the package simultaneously, if necessary, without inverting the container 180 degrees. In one embodiment, an internal insert or divider 12 divides the entire dispenser into two chambers 14a and 14b that both contain the product and adds physical strength to the container to provide structural integrity. In addition, the handle 16 provided on the top panel 17 of the container box 10 enables the carrying of the dispenser to deal with common problems related to moving home health care nurses and emergency medical technicians (EMT). can do. In one embodiment, four rounded or chamfered corners 18 are added to the overall design to help collect the protective article in the center for dispensing the protective article at the opening. The footprint of the base 20 of the dispenser container with two or many chambers should be large enough to ensure the stability of the container. Therefore, a combination of the aforementioned dispensing characteristics is obtained. If the dispenser is present only on one side, it becomes unstable and tends to collapse when the product is taken out. Also, when the dispenser is present only on one side, if the base is made sufficiently large to be stable, the depth becomes too large, so that it cannot be dispensed efficiently at the end of the glove supply.

  Additional features and advantages of the invention will be disclosed in the following detailed description. It should be noted that the foregoing summary and the following description are merely illustrative of the invention.

  The present invention, in part, is oriented substantially vertically, unlike a conventional container box 1 having a relatively wide opening 1a in the top panel shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B for comparison. The present invention relates to a dispenser container unit having a housing surrounding a chamber. In one embodiment, the container includes a dispenser unit with two or multiple chambers that can provide a large volume of product with substantially the same footprint as a conventional dispenser container. The container can be stored and dispensed in a capacity of at least 50%, up to about 200%, or more than conventional protective article dispensers.

  Each chamber is configured to contain a plurality of protective articles, such as a screening glove or a face mask. The chamber has at least one aperture or opening along the side to allow a user to access the interior of the chamber from one side of the housing. The opening is formed to have a contour that gradually narrows or narrows along a portion of the opening. It is preferable that the gradually narrowing or narrowing portion is located at the center or near the center of the opening or at one end of the opening. Accordingly, the gradually narrowing or narrowing portion is generally formed in the shape of a dog bone, hourglass, tear-drop, or paddle. The attached drawings 2A to 2D show some specific examples of the shape of the opening 2. Each container box is unfolded and unfolded in a two-dimensional plane, through which various designs of openings through which the user can access the protective articles contained therein, such as tabs on the container box Other structural components such as flanges and folded areas are shown. FIG. 2A shows an opening having a contour closer to a rectangle than a trapezoid, with both sides in the longitudinal direction of a straight line or a curve gradually narrowing so as to approach each other, and ends in a short direction that is rounded or bowed Indicates. FIG. 2B shows a contoured opening having a generally circular or round shaped portion 2a and a gradually narrowing long tail-shaped portion 2b extending from the circular shaped portion. FIG. 2C shows an asymmetric hourglass or dog-bone shaped opening, one end of which is significantly larger than the other end. A large hourglass shaped opening is also shown in FIG. 2D. Some portions of the panel of the container box are pre-perforated so that the user can bend or pull out a handle 19 designed to extend from the top panel when the container box is properly folded and assembled. It is put.

  FIG. 3A shows a panel deployed in an unfolded plane similar to the previous figure in another dispenser container design. FIG. 3B is a perspective view showing a state in which the dispenser container of FIG. 3A is properly assembled. A handle extends from the upper surface of the dispenser. The dispenser box includes two chambers arranged back to back. The opening 2 forming part of the panel plane at one end of the container has a dog-bone or hourglass-shaped contour. As illustrated, one end 2a of the opening 2 is relatively wider or larger than the other end 2b. The opening is covered with a perforated card to protect the dispenser contents until ready to be opened for use. In this embodiment, the opening has a slightly larger upper end and a smaller lower end. The same opening is provided on the opposite panel surface of the dispenser box.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, a handle 16 projects from the top panel of the assembled container. The handle can be easily lifted by the user without cutting into the shape of the user's hand, is flexible and has sufficient strength to carry the full dispenser container weight without tearing the top panel. It is desirable to have. In general, the handle can be made from certain flexible plastics, rigid thermoplastic materials, woven fabrics, non-woven materials, or combinations thereof. For example, the main body portion of the handle can be made of cloth or non-woven fabric, and the fixing portion of the handle can be made of a thermoplastic material.

  FIG. 5A shows how the user approaches the contents inside the dispenser by removing the cover from the opening and removing it. FIG. 5B shows a perspective view of a dispenser container with two identical chambers placed back to back. A feature of this dispenser design is that all gloves are housed in one direction. That is, in all gloves, the cuff is on the same side and the fingertips point in the same direction. As shown here, in the preferred embodiment, all gloves are oriented vertically with the cuff region on the top and the finger region on the bottom. FIG. 5B shows how the user pulls out the gloves from both sides of the two dispensers by grasping the cuff. This prevents contact with the palm of the glove, the back of the hand, or the fingertip area and contamination. Although the vertical area of each chamber is larger than its installation area, it is desirable that the installation area of the dispenser box is larger than its vertical area in order to stabilize the dispenser box.

  6A and 6B illustrate that in one embodiment, each chamber can hold up to about 250 gloves. Thus, a dispenser container with two chambers can accommodate up to about 500 gloves. In other embodiments, more or fewer gloves can be accommodated. For example, a maximum of about 275 gloves per chamber, that is, a total of up to about 550 gloves in two chambers can be accommodated. The number of products accommodated per dispenser is significantly higher (2 or 2.5 to 5 times) than conventional glove container boxes.

  The body of the container combining two or multiple chambers (odd or even, preferably even) (eg 3 or 4) should have a substantially right-angled and linear shape. For example, a container combining four chambers can be a cube where each chamber occupies one of four corners. In certain embodiments, the container has a right angle, round or chamfered corner. The opening of the dispenser container is provided on the side of the container unit that is greatly bent or chamfered. The side panel or front panel of the dispenser container in which the opening is provided is a flat panel that is parallel to the corresponding panel on the opposite side (shown) or substantially perpendicular to the adjacent side panel. Alternatively, the side panel or front panel is slightly curved outward and protrudes from the body of the container (not shown) in order to maximize the size of each chamber and accommodate more product within it.

  Protective articles such as gloves and face masks dispensed from the container unit are oriented in a predetermined direction within the chamber. The first end region is located at a position that is substantially aligned with or proximal to a portion of the protective article, and is configured to facilitate access to the protective article. When the container unit is used for glove dispensing, the unit comprises at least one chamber configured to receive a plurality of gloves with their cuffs oriented in the same direction. The chamber has an opening. The opening is formed in a substantially hourglass shape so as to gradually narrow between the first end and the second end. In a preferred embodiment, the first and second ends are asymmetrically formed such that the first end is significantly larger than the second end, and the first end is the glove. Proximal to the cuff, the user is configured to approach the glove cuff. The dispenser container unit may comprise two or more separate chambers. In order to arrange them symmetrically, it is desirable that the number of chambers is an even number. Each chamber can contain at least about 20-50% more gloves per unit volume than similar containers of equal dimensions.

  The container may be made of, for example, paperboard or plastic and may further comprise a handle that can be drawn out in an arc above the top panel of the container. This handle can facilitate transport, movement or handling of the container box.

  By providing two chambers, the number of gloves that can be accommodated in the dispenser can be increased. In addition, by storing the gloves in the vertical direction, even if the depth of the container is increased, there is no problem with the conventional container that stores the gloves in the horizontal direction. Can also be more. For hygienic reasons, it is preferable to grip the cuff region of the glove when removing it from the box to prevent the palm and fingertip portions of the glove from coming into contact with contaminants. Since the user can grab the cuff, it does not contaminate other gloves. By having a shape in which the panel opening is gradually narrowed or narrowed, it is possible to prevent the glove from spilling out of the chamber when the glove cuff is pulled out.

  The outline of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the foregoing description and the appended claims.

It is a plane development view which shows the state before the assembly of the conventional container box for hold | maintaining protective articles, such as a glove and a face mask. An opening is provided in the panel which is the upper surface of the container box. It is a perspective view which shows the state which bent and assembled the container box of FIG. 1A appropriately. This container box has an elliptical opening on the top surface. It is a figure which shows various embodiment of the container box which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows various embodiment of the container box which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows various embodiment of the container box which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows various embodiment of the container box which concerns on this invention. It is a plane expanded view which shows the state before the assembly of the other container box which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which assembled the container box of FIG. 3A. It is a figure which shows the container box of FIG. 3B, and has shown the state which the handle protruded from the upper surface of the container box. It is a figure which shows the same container box as FIG. 4A, and has shown that the container box was comprised easily to carry by hand. It is a container box of Drawing 3B, and is a perspective view showing the state where a lid or card stock panel which covers the opening was partially separated from the surface of a side panel. It is a perspective view which shows the state in which many gloves were arranged in the perpendicular direction. The glove is accommodated with the cuff facing upward, and the user can pull out the glove from the container box by picking the cuff. It is a notch figure of the container box containing two chambers arrange | positioned adjacently. Each chamber is configured to hold a predetermined amount of protective article. For example, each chamber can hold about 250 gloves and two chambers can hold about 500 gloves. It is a figure which shows the same container box as FIG. 6A. In addition, it is also possible to accommodate other protective articles in each chamber. Moreover, the number of products accommodated in each chamber is not limited.

Claims (14)

A dispenser container unit,
A chamber oriented substantially vertically and configured to contain a plurality of protective articles;
The chamber has an opening;
The unit, wherein the opening includes a portion that becomes gradually narrower or narrower along its contour. The dispenser container unit according to claim 1,
The unit is characterized in that the opening is located on a side surface of the chamber. The dispenser container unit according to claim 1,
The opening includes a gradually narrowing portion located between the first and second end regions;
The unit characterized in that the first and second end regions have a symmetric or asymmetric shape. The dispenser container unit according to claim 1,
The unit characterized in that the opening has a contour of a dog bone or a substantially hourglass shape. The dispenser container unit according to claim 1,
The unit, wherein the opening has a triangular, teardrop, or paddle-shaped outline. The dispenser container unit according to claim 3,
The unit characterized in that the first end region is significantly larger in size than the second end region. The dispenser container unit according to claim 1,
The protective article is oriented in a predetermined direction within the chamber;
The first end region is positioned so as to be substantially aligned with a portion of the protective article or proximal to the portion to facilitate access to the protective article. Unit. The dispenser container unit according to claim 1,
The protective article includes a glove or a face mask. A dispenser container unit,
Comprising at least one chamber containing a plurality of gloves with cuffs oriented in the same direction;
The chamber has an opening;
The unit, wherein the opening has a substantially hourglass-shaped contour including a portion that gradually narrows between the first end and the second end. A dispenser container unit according to claim 9,
The unit characterized in that the first and second ends have an asymmetric shape. A dispenser container unit according to claim 9,
The first end is significantly larger than the second end;
The unit is characterized in that the first end is located proximal to the cuff of the glove and is accessible to the cuff of the glove. A dispenser container unit according to claim 9,
A unit comprising two separate chambers arranged symmetrically with respect to each other. A dispenser container unit according to claim 9,
The unit is characterized in that the opening is located in or near a plane having largely curved or chamfered sides in the unit. A dispenser container unit according to claim 9,
A unit characterized in that the chamber contains at least about 20-50% or more gloves per unit volume than similar containers of equal dimensions.

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