US20070181454A1

US20070181454A1 - Device for the packing flat recording media

Info

Publication number: US20070181454A1
Application number: US11/700,950
Authority: US
Inventors: Francis Laroche
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-02-01
Filing date: 2007-02-01
Publication date: 2007-08-09
Also published as: EP1818939A1; FR2896781A1; RU2007103786A; DE602007000872D1; EP1818939B1; ATE429013T1

Abstract

A device for packing digital media such as discs, CDs and DVDs. The device includes a plastic case made up of at least one tray articulated by a hinge, one of the trays having a holder for at least one disc. It includes a binding formed by a sheet having two main blanks which are shorter than the length of the length of the tray and a spine formed by three sections delimited by creases. The length of the median section substantially matching the thickness of the plastic case and the length of the two lateral sections substantially matching the difference between the length of the shell and the length of the main blank.

Description

The present invention relates to the field of packing discs, in particular CDs, DVDs, UMD memory cards and, in more general terms, any recording medium.
Numerous solutions are known in the state of the art, using cardboard or, more generally, plastic packages. The most commonly used package is the so-called “jewel box” (trade name) . It consists of two trays made from rigid plastic articulated by a hinge formed by two tabs that extend the edge of one of the trays, interacting with axles provided on the edge of the other tray.
This solution is very fragile and its general appearance is not very satisfactory.
The present invention aims to solve this drawback by providing a solution that enables solid and elegant packing of flat media, such as discs.
Other cases are known in the state of the art. In particular, international patent application WO05106885 relates to a media disc package including a plurality of disc holding trays arranged in a stack, each tray in the stack having at least one hinging edge, each hinging edge having at least one docking appendage extending therefrom. A binding clip includes a plurality of segments that are connected to each other by flexible links, each segment including at least one dock therein for receiving a docking appendage. Adjacent trays in the stack are hinged together by seating one or more respective docking appendages of each adjacent tray into a correspondingly positioned dock in the binding clip.
In this patent, an alternative embodiment provides for attachment to the bottom tray of a cover forming a free flap that can be placed over the top tray. This cover and this flap have a decorative function and do not contribute to the solidity of the case. Moreover, page 11 of the international patent application expressly states that only the bottom part of the cover is attached to the case.
For this purpose, the invention relates, in its most general sense, to a device for packing flat recording media comprising a plastic case made up of at least one tray articulated by a hinge, one of the trays having means for holding at least one disc, characterised in that it comprises a binding formed by a sheet having two main blanks and a spine formed by three sections delimited by creases. The sheet is attached both to the outside surface of the bottom tray and to the outside surface of the top tray, the spine on the other hand being at least partially separate from the case.
The blanks are shorter than the length of a tray. The length of the median section of the spine substantially matches the thickness of said plastic case and the length of the two lateral sections substantially matches the difference between the length of the shell and the length of the main blank.
Said binding is advantageously attached to the case by gluing each of the main blanks to the corresponding shell.
According to one particular variation, at least one of the blanks of said binding is extended by a folding tab on a lateral inner strip of the corresponding shell.
The binding preferably has an external crease connecting a blank and a lateral section of the spine, and an internal crease connecting the lateral section and a median section of the spine.
According to a variation, one of the blanks has a cut-out that allows the surface of the disc to be seen through the transparent shell forming the plastic case.
The invention will be understood better from reading the following description, which refers to the appended drawings relating to a non-limiting embodiment of the invention, wherein:
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the binding;
FIG. 2 shows a cross-section view of the binding;
FIG. 3 shows a cross-section view of the spine of the binding;
FIG. 4 shows a view of the device in open position;
FIGS. 5 to 7 show alternative embodiments of a binding for a package according to the invention.
The invention comprises a CD case and a binding.
The CD case is formed by two plastic trays. At least one of the trays comprises a dock for holding a disc. One of the trays has two tabs that extend at the top and bottom edges respectively. The other tray has complementary pivots that enter the articulation holes of said tabs. These tabs therefore form an articulation that makes it possible to articulate the two trays, allowing the case to be opened and closed.
In order to avoid the exertion of excessive force on this articulation, the binding respectively glued to either one of the trays provides rigidity against torsion stress in the event of incorrect use.
The binding is formed by a sheet of cardboard or any other printed material having two blanks (1, 2) and a spine (3). The sheet of cardboard is, for example, five tenths of a millimetre thick, printed on its outer face.
The spine (3) is formed by a median section (30) extended on either side by lateral sections (31, 32). The articulation of lateral sections (31, 32) to the median section (30) is made by means of internal creases (33, 34).
The lateral sections (31, 32) have a length of approximately 5 millimetres.
The articulation of the lateral section (31, 32) to the corresponding blank (1, 2) is made by means of an external crease (35, 36).
The overall length of a lateral section of the spine (31, 32) and of a blank (1, 2) substantially matches the length of the shell or tray corresponding to the CD case on which the binding is glued.
This case is preferably made from thermoformed or injected plastic.
According to an alternative embodiment, this overall length is slightly greater than the length of the tray, for example by around 3 millimetres.
Each blank (1, 2) is extended by a folding tab (10, 20) which covers the edge of a tray of the case, and a matching lateral strip on the inner surface of the tray.
FIG. 4 shows a view of a package in open position. The binding is glued to the case at the level of the blanks (1, 2) and of the outer surface of the two trays (15, 25).
The articulation area of the shell is left free to allow the spine (3) to deform when opening and closing the case.
The binding is printed in order to decorate the case. It further reinforces the package by limiting the effort exerted on the hinge (40) of the case.
FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment of a binding for a CD case package. It has two blanks (1, 2) with a length of 132 millimetres each. The spine (3) has three strips (30 to 32) with a length of 12 millimetres each, separated by creases with a thickness of 2 millimetres. The blanks (1, 2) and the sections (30 to 32) of the spine are extended by tabs (51 to 55 and 61 to 65) folding on the edge of the trays of the case covered by the binding. The blanks (1, 2) are furthermore extended by folding tabs (10, 20). These tabs have a width of 20 millimetres.
FIG. 6 shows a variation in which the tabs (10, 20) extend the blanks (1, 2), having a length similar to that of the blanks (1, 2), or 131 millimetres.
FIG. 7 shows another variation for packing DVDs. The spine has a central section (30) with a width of 11 millimetres and two lateral sections (31, 32) with a width of 5 millimetres.

Claims

1. A device for packing flat recording media comprising a plastic case made up of at least one tray articulated by a hinge, one of the trays having means for holding at least one disc, wherein the device comprises a binding formed by a sheet having two main blanks and a spine formed by three sections delimited by creases, said sheet being attached both to an outside surface of a bottom tray and to an outside surface of a top tray, the spine being at least partially separate from the case.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the two main blanks are shorter than the length of a tray.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein said spine is made up of three sections delimited by creases, the length of the median section substantially matching the thickness of said plastic case and the length of the two lateral sections substantially matching the difference between the length of the shell and the length of the main blank, said binding being attached to the case by gluing each of the main blanks to the corresponding shell.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the blanks of said binding is extended by a tab folding on a lateral inner strip of the corresponding shell.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the binding preferably has an external crease connecting a blank and a lateral section of the spine, and an internal crease connecting the lateral section and a median section of the spine.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the overall length of the blank and of the lateral segment of the spine is slightly greater than the length of the shell.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the blanks has a cut-out.