SK7753Y1 - Envelope for packing of small piece goods and flexible wrapping material for manufacture of it - Google Patents

Abstract

Envelope (1) for small goods comprised of contact areas of at least single-layer inner and outer laminate structures, in which parts projecting beyond ends of a column of packed goods are shaped as tightly closed butt-end caps (2). A reed flap (3), which is suitable for repeated opening and closing and in which a line of perforation (5) confines the reed (4) is located nearby at least one of said butt-end caps. A flexible wrapping material for the envelope is shaped as a long-length band that is comprised of many prospective uniform envelopes' blank-segments. Each blank-segment has contact areas of at least single-layer inner and outer laminate structures and a zone meant for formation of a prospective reed flap (4) confined by a line of perforation (5). Each line of perforation is made only in the outer laminate structure, and each prospective reed is placed initially onto the inner laminate structure. This decreases substantially the probability of accidental ruptures of filled envelopes.

Description

This utility model relates to the structure of packages for packing a column set of the same small piece goods such as granules, chewing gums, supplemental tablets, candies, vitamin tablets, etc., and the structure of a laminate (at least bilayer) flexible packaging material for producing such packages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Column sets of identical piece goods (mainly confectionery) are packed in rigid boxes having flap covers which consumers can repeatedly bend to remove the packed product and close it again after it has been removed (see eg WO 2006/075231 and WO 2004/101375 showing boxes having corresponding quadrilateral and hexagonal cross-sections).

Such boxes effectively prevent accidental spilling of unselected pieces. However, these solid boxes are resource-intensive and labor-intensive.

Therefore, it is desirable to package said small piece goods in packages made of thin foil flexible packaging materials using efficient automatic packaging machines.

Each well known packaging, made of traditional thin foil flexible packaging materials, includes an inner cover and a separate outer cover. Said inner cover is made of a material which is inert to the packaged pieces (e.g., thin cohesive paper). Said outer cover is made of a material capable of retaining the desired shape (e.g., metal foil or metallized polymeric foil) and serves as a carrier of information about the packaged product. Manufacturing each double wrapper involves two steps, namely forming the inner cover and then forming the outer cover. Each said cover fixed with respect to a column set of wrapped pieces by means of a longitudinal seam of adhesive (or weld) has end flaps. These flaps may be formed by folding a packaging material projecting beyond said column set of packaged pieces. The details of each outer flap are held together by gluing or welding. The details of each inner flap do not stick together. Thus, the box is easy to open and the pieces removed.

Similarly, each consumer of small piece goods packaged in this manner tears an outer flap, then unfolds the respective inner flap, removes the pieces successively and immobilizes the remaining pieces in said package by pressing the empty portions of said inner and outer covers.

Obviously, the two-step production of said package by means of two empty segments of different thin foil flexible packaging materials complicates and increases the cost of packaging said goods. Respectively. it is desirable to form each package with a single empty segment of a thin foil flexible packaging material and provide an element suitable for repeatedly opening and closing the dispensing opening in the package.

Prototypes of such packaging and thin film flexible packaging materials for its manufacture are described in WO 2011/004156. A known package for packaging small piece goods based on the known thin film flexible packaging material comprises:

at least a single-layer inner and at least a single-layer outer laminate structure held together along the contact surfaces in which the parts protruding beyond the ends of the column of packaged pieces are formed as closely fitting end caps (in particular by pressing said parts and gluing the joint of their adjacent surfaces); and

a tongue tab disposed adjacent to at least one of said abutting end caps, which is suitable for repeated opening and closing and wherein the tongue is defined by a line of perforation.

Such a portion of the known tongue tab, which must be movable in the operative position, is delimited by two equal lines of continuous mechanical perforation of the two (i.e., said inner and said outer) laminate structures and held together within the zone of said perforation lines by a peelable adhesive.

Similarly, the thin foil flexible wrapping material for manufacturing said wrappers is shaped as a longitudinal strip. This strip comprises many possible identical empty packaging segments, each held together (preferably glued) along the contact surfaces of the at least one-layer inner and at least one-layer outer laminate structure. Each said empty segment has a zone designed to form a possible reed valve. Each such zone is delimited by the two aforementioned perforation lines, which are mechanically formed in both laminate structures and these structures are held together in the zone of said perforation lines by a peelable adhesive.

Any consumer of a packaged small piece shape in this manner can easily penetrate through each package in and around the tongue flap, tilt the tab out, remove the wrapped pieces one by one through the obtained dispensing opening and close the remaining pieces by returning the tab to the tear point. Usually, the packaging of any small piece goods is simplified because of the well-known efficient automatic packaging machines

SK 7753-1 are capable of cutting a previously manufactured web of suitable thin foil flexible wrapping material into individual clean segments in order to form said known containers from these segments in one step.

However, the through (especially mechanical) perforation of the two (i.e., inner and outer) laminate structures and their bonding along the contact surfaces by means of two adhesives having different compositions and properties create favorable conditions for accidental tearing of the tongue flaps of said known containers. Moreover, the aforementioned design characteristics considerably complicate the manufacture of any known flexible packaging material.

The essence of the technical solution

This technical solution is based on the solution of the problem - by improving the structure of the tongue flap to form a package for the packaging of a small piece shape and a flexible packaging material for its production that would substantially reduce the likelihood of accidental tearing of each filled package.

The first part of the problem was solved in this way. A package for packaging small piece goods based on a flexible packaging material comprising at least a single-layer inner and at least a single-layer outer laminate structure, each held together along the contact surfaces. The portions of these structures that protrude beyond the ends of the stack of packaged pieces are shaped as tightly closed abutting end caps. A tongue flap suitable for repeated opening and closing is located near at least one of said abutting end cap. The perforation line defines the tab of the flap. According to the invention, said line of perforation that defines the tab of the flap is formed only in the outer laminate structure and the tongue is initially freely placed on the inner laminate structure.

The second part of the problem has been solved by making the flexible packaging material for the production of small piece goods packages shaped as a longitudinal strip. The belt consists of a plurality of future identical empty packaging segments, each held together along the contact surfaces of the at least monolayer inner and at least monolayer outer laminate structure, and each said empty segment having a zone intended to form a possible tongue flap defined by a perforation line. According to the invention, each said perforation line is formed only in the outer laminate structure and each possible tongue is initially freely placed on the inner laminate structure.

This considerably reduces the likelihood of accidental tearing of the proposed packages, since the consumer must consciously make a significant effort (i.e., press the nail) to penetrate the inner laminate structure into and around the reed flap. In addition, any consumer using the proposed package can regulate the size of the dispensing opening according to the dimensions of the packaged pieces. Finally, the proposed thin film flexible packaging material is practically feasible as compared to the known thin film flexible packaging material. In fact, it is considerably easier to leave parts of the contact surfaces of the inner and outer laminate structures that are located in the tongue zone zone without adhesive (or other bonding medium) than to spread a narrow and thin strip of peelable adhesive in each such zone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This technical solution will now be explained by a detailed description of an improved packaging and an improved thin film flexible packaging material for its manufacture with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows such a small-piece packaging which is shaped as a rectangular parallelepiped (closed);

Figure 2 shows the container of Figure 1 when the tab of the flap is half open;

Figure 3 shows a cylindrical container for small piece goods (closed);

Figure 4 shows the package of Figure 3 when the tab of the flap is half open;

Figure 5 shows a fragment of a strip of the proposed thin foil flexible wrapping material (plan view showing a tapered delta-shaped tab);

Figure 6 shows a strip similar to Figure 5 (plan view showing the trapezoidal tongue of the valve;

Figure 7 shows a strip similar to Figure 5 (a plan view showing the tab of the flap defined by a circular arc);

Figure 8 shows a cross-section of a four-layer thin film flexible packaging material (as one of many feasible embodiments of the present invention).

SK 7753 Υ1

EXAMPLES

Any proposed packaging (see figures 1 and 2, 3 and 4) shall consist of:

a packaging box 1 which is made of a thin foil flexible packaging material described in detail below and closely surrounds an explicitly not shown column of certain small piece goods; abutting end caps 2 of the package, which are formed by folding and subsequently gluing and / or welding a thin foil flexible wrapper projecting beyond the ends of said stack of pieces; and for re-opening and closing suitable and close to at least one of said abutting end caps 2, a tongue flap 3 in which the tongue 4 is defined by a line 5 of perforation.

The height of the tongue 4 can be selected with respect to the height of the individual small piece (usually as large as two to three times its height).

In any case, the package (see Figures 2 and 4) has at least a single-layered inner and at least a single-layered outer laminate structure, which are conventionally shown here in white and gray. Moreover, said figures usually show that said perforation line 5 defining a tongue 4 of said tongue flap 3 is made only in the outer laminate structure and the tongue 4 is initially loosely placed on the inner laminate structure. The remaining parts of the laminate structures that form the box X of the package are held together on the contact surfaces by gluing (or welding).

It is clear to the person skilled in the art that the cross-section of the boxes X of the packages need not be only rectangular or round.

The proposed thin film flexible packaging material for the manufacture of packaging is shown in detail in Figures 5 to 8.

Thus, Figures 5, 6 and 7 show that said thin foil flexible wrapping material has been shaped as a longitudinal strip formed of a plurality of identical empty segments 6 to form separate packages. Each said empty segment 6 has on one side a zone intended to form a tongue flap 3, which is delimited (preferably by laser) by a perforation line 5.

Figure 8 shows one sample of such a thin foil flexible wrapping material that has not been specifically named:

an outer laminate structure in the form of a single-layer aluminum foil (e.g. having a thickness of 9 μιη), from which the easily detachable tongue 4 of the tongue flap 3 must be formed and whose upper surface serves as a carrier for the article and the manufacturer; and an inner laminate structure formed of three layers of polyethylene terephthalate foil (e.g. having a thickness of 12 µιη). These layers are glued along all of their contact surfaces, the inner laminate structure being held together (also generally by gluing) with the outer laminate structure along their contact surfaces outside the zones for forming the tabs 3.

One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other thin film flexible packaging materials structures may be used to manufacture the proposed containers. For example, certain thin foil flexible packaging materials may have an outer laminate structure formed of two layers of polyethylene terephthalate foil that are glued along their contact surfaces outside the zones for forming the flaps 3. In this case, the article information of the packaged goods and its manufacturer they can be pre-printed (ie prior to gluing) on the back of the outer layer of said outer laminate structure.

Correspondingly, the inner laminate structure may be formed as a monolayer aluminum foil, or preferably be formed of monolayer polyethylene terephthalate foil and monolayer aluminum foil, which are glued along their contact surfaces.

The proposed thin film flexible packaging material can be made as a number of combinations of inner and outer laminate structures from available polymers (including ready-made polymer or metallized polymeric films), metal (usually aluminum) foil and adhesives (especially adhesives containing solvents or two-component polyurethane adhesives). from Henkel) using conventional equipment and manufacturing multi-layer laminated plastics.

Naturally, the proposed wrappers can be formed from the proposed thin foil flexible wrapping material by means of efficient automatic packaging machines.

Each package containing a column set of any small piece goods may be opened as follows. The consumer moves the tongue 4 of the tongue flap 3, which easily separates from the inner laminate structure along the perforation line 5. It further presses the nail along the perforation line 5, penetrates through the inner laminate structure until the first wrapped piece appears in the dispenser opening obtained, removes one or more such pieces and closes said opening.

SK 7753 Yl

Industrial usability

This technical solution can be widely used for wrapping chewing gums and similar small chunks (namely sweets and medicaments) using conventional packaging machines. Filled packagings are resistant to accidental damage to laminate structures because they can only be torn by deliberate action by consumers.

PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS

Claims (1)

A package for packaging small piece goods based on a flexible packaging material, the package being formed of at least one-layer inner and at least one-layer outer laminate structure held together along the contact surfaces in which portions protruding beyond the ends of the stack of packaged pieces are shaped as closely closed a lid (2), and a tab (3) located 15 in the vicinity of at least one abutting end cap (2) for re-opening and closing, and wherein the tongue (4) is delimited by a perforation line (5), characterized in that the perforation line (5) defining the tongue (4) The tongue tab (3) is formed only in the outer laminate structure, and the tongue tab (4) of the tongue tab (3) is initially loosely positioned on the inner laminate structure. A flexible packaging material for making small-piece packaging according to claim 1, which is shaped as a longitudinal strip, the strip comprising a plurality of identical empty packaging segments (6), each held together along the contact surfaces of at least one-layer inner and at least a single-layer outer laminate structure, and each said empty segment (6) has a zone for forming a tongue tab (3) that is delimited by a perforation line (5), 25 that the perforation line (5) is formed only on the outer laminate structure and each tongue (4) of the tongue tab (3) is initially loosely positioned on the inner laminate structure. 4 drawings