WO1994026135A1

WO1994026135A1 - Disposable bib and method and device for manufacturing the same

Info

Publication number: WO1994026135A1
Application number: PCT/SE1994/000444
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gullan Andersson
Original assignee: Gösta Andersson Konsult Ab
Priority date: 1993-05-17
Filing date: 1994-05-11
Publication date: 1994-11-24
Also published as: SE9301697D0; SE9301697L; AU6810494A; SE500162C2

Abstract

The invention relates to a disposable bib, comprising a laminated, thin material, e.g. plastic-coated tissue paper, one end of which is folded to form a collection pocket (18), the other end including means for attaching the bib round a wearer's neck. The bib (14) is formed from a section (5) cut from a web (1) of said material, the section being folded along its longitudinal axis of symmetry (15) to form a shape substantially that of a right-angled triangle, the base portion (20) of which, along its free edge region (23) perpendicular to the fold line (15), has at least this free edge region of its two halves joined together to form the collection pocket (18), this pocket being opened automatically and remains in an open attitude when the bib (14) is opened out to its full width. The invention also relates to a method and apparatus for producing disposable bibs from the material web comprising a barrier layer (2) and an absorption layer (3), preferably plastic-coated tissue paper.

Description

DISPOSABLE BIB AND METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MANUFAC¬ TURING THE SAME

The present invention relates to a disposable bib, comprising a laminated, thin material, e.g. plastic- coated tissue paper, which can be placed against the wearer's chest. One end of the bib is folded to form a collection pocket and its other end includes means for fastening it round the wearer's neck. The invention also relates to a method and apparatus for producing disposable bibs from a material web comprising a bar¬ rier layer and an absorption layer, preferably plastic- coated tissue paper.

Disposable bibs are used to a great extent at present within health care and care of the aged. Such bibs, provided with a pocket, are mainly produced from a material web comprising an absorbent tissue layer with a barrier layer of polyethylene behind it. Bib manufac- ture is performed by cutting this web transversely at right angles into rectangular sections, a pocket being formed by a short side of the material with a length of about one sixth of the section length being folded over and glued along its short sides to the rest of the material, using an adhering agent applied to the tissue layer. Perforations and/or cut-outs are made at the other end of the section to form an opening or tying ribbons for fastening the bib round the neck of the wearer. A drawback with these bibs has been found to be their high price, and attempts have been made to coun¬ teract it by reducing the superficial weights and qualities of the raw materials used. In turn, this has led to deteriorated bib function, since the ability to absorb liquid spillage has been reduced. A further drawback with the known disposable bibs is the high cost of freight packing, storage and freight, since the material combination and the folded pocket make the product voluminous.

The object of the present invention is to provide a disposable bib of the kind described in the introduc¬ tion, and where the above-mentioned drawbacks have been eliminated. The distinguishing features of the inven¬ tion are disclosed in the accompanying claims.

As a result of the present invention there has now been achieved a bib, which meets its purpose excellently, while being both cheap and simple in manufacture. In comparison with a bib of the same length and pocket width as the bibs now being marketed, there is obtained a material saving of about 40% with the inventive bib. In addition, and as a direct result of the implementa¬ tion of the pocket on the inventive bib not causing any increase in the packaged volume, the format and volume of freight packing is considerably reduced. Since the area of the material section used in making the bib is notably less than that required in the known solutions for this kind of product, the reduced area of the section required for the inventive bib may be utilized to reduce the raw material cost, or to increase the absorption properties of it without increasing the cost above that for a bib of rectangular configuration.

The invention will now be described in detail, with the aid of a preferred embodiment and with reference to the drawings, where

Fig. 1 is a plan of a material web, from which sec¬ tions for making bibs are cut, Fig. 2 depicts a section for a bib folded along its longitudinal axis of symmetry,

Fig. 3 depicts a fully processed bib that was folded as in Fig. 2, seen from the front and fully opened out, before releasing tying ribbons and insertion flap, and just before placing on a wearer,

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the bib as shown in

Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a view from the front of the bib with tying ribbon and insertion flap pulled away along the perforations,

Fig. 6 is a schematic end view showing the discharge of folded bibs from the folding system of a converting machine, where they are mutually oriented head-to-foot, and

Fig. 7 is a schematic side view of an apparatus for the production of disposable bibs in accord¬ ance with the invention.

In illustration of a preferred embodiment Fig. 1 shows in plan a portion of a material web 1, which comprises a barrier layer 2 and an absorption layer 3, and is preferably of plastic-coated tissue paper. It will be seen from the figure that absorption layer 3 is not as wide as barrier layer 2, thus leaving a narrow band 4 of the barrier layer 2 on either side of the absorption layer 3 in the longitudinal direction of the web. The two layers may of course have the same width. For producing bibs 14 the web 1 is cut into sections 5 along the separating lines 6 and 7. Two juxtaposed sections 5 are thus in mutual head-to-foot orientation and together form a parallelogram. Perforations 9, 10 are made in the apex portion 8 of each blank 5 such as to form two tying ribbons 11, 12 and an insertion flap 13. To facilitate producing bibs, the sections 5, after being cut off, are folded with the absorption layer 3 inward along the longitudinal axis of symmetry 15, shown by a chain-dotted line.

In connection with perforation, the section 5 is pre- creased along lines 16 and 17 for facilitating the later operation of folding over the upper part 19 of a collection pocket 18, as well as helping to keep the pocket open.

Fig. 2 illustrates the appearance of a section 5 after it has been folded along its longitudinal axis of symmetry 15 into a shape substantially that of a right- angular triangle to form a future bib 14, with its apex portion 8 upwards and its base portion 20 downwards. In this case, after the section 5 has been folded, the free edges 4 of the barrier layer 2 are glued together, or alternatively heat sealing by welding may be used, so that a leakproof pocket 18 is achieved. In the alternative embodiment of the section 5, where the web layers 2 and 3 have the same width, either both tissue layer edge portions may be fixed together with a suit¬ able glue, or the edge region may be turned upwards and backwards so that the respective portions of the bar¬ rier layer 2 may then be fixed to each other, e.g. by heating.

In Figs. 3 and 4 the bib 14 is shown respectively from the front and in perspective, as it would be placed on a wearer after the tying ribbons 11, 12 and insertion flap 13 have been liberated along the perforations 9, 10. When the bib 14 is put in place the insertion flap 13 is tucked behind the collar or the like of the wearer, round whose neck the ribbons 11 and 12 are tied. When the folded bib 14 is opened out, the front surface 21 of the pocket 18 first forms a four-sided figure, but after the upper part 19 is folded inwards along the crease lines 16 and 17 the pocket 18 is given the shape of a triangle with its apex downwards. It will be seen from Fig. 4 how the upper edge 22 of the pocket 18 is defined by folding in the upper part 19, which also stiffens it.

In the method of producing disposable bibs 14 in accor¬ dance with the invention, a material web 1 is first divided into sections 5 along transverse separation lines 6 and 7, these lines forming a zig-zag pattern along the web 1, such that two consecutive sections 5 form a parallelogram. The individual sections 5, dis¬ posed head-to-foot, are then folded along their longi¬ tudinal axes of symmetry 15 to form a shape substan¬ tially that of a right-angled triangle with a truncated apex portion 8 at one end and a base portion 20 at the other. The edge region 23 of the base portion 20 is joined together to form the collection pocket 18 which, in using a bib 14 in accordance with the invention, is automatically openable in connection with opening out section 5 to its full width. Before the sections 5 are cut off from the web 1 along the lines 6 and 7, they are provided with perforations 9, 10 for enabling the formation of tying ribbons 11, 12 and an insertion flap 13 between them. These ribbons may be liberated along the perforations 9, 10 for tying round the neck of a wearer, behind whose collar or the like the insertion flap may be tucked.

An apparatus is schematically illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 for producing disposable bibs 14 from a material web 1, which preferably comprises plastic-coated tissue paper. This apparatus includes a stock roll 24 of the web 1 and at least two working rolls 25 and 26, to which the web 1 is fed via supporting and guide rollers 33. The web 1 is fed on to the roll 25 via a nip 27 and is kept against it with the aid of vacuum from a vacuum pump 34. The sections 5 are cut from the web 1 in head- to-foot orientation with the aid of a knife roller 28. From the roll 25 the sections are transferred to roll 26 for folding each section along its longitudinal axis of symmetry 15 into a shape substantially that of a right-angled triangle with the aid of unillustrated folding means. From the latter the sections 5 are taken consecutively to a double belt conveyor 29, adapted to keep them unrumpled by gripping their base and apex portions. The conveyor 29 extends into the region of motion for a separating means 30 provided with pivoting collector arms 31. As these arms swing through the conveying path of the belts 32 they collect a folded section, i.e. a future bib 14 and deposit it alterna- tingly to the left and right of the conveyor. Fig. 6 illustrates to a larger scale how the bibs are fed folded from the folding system of a converting machine, and it will be seen that they are oriented alternating- ly head-to-foot as a direct result of cutting into sections in the manner described. As mentioned, the arms 31 urge the folded bibs 14 to stacks either to the left or right of the conveyor 29, and this is performed by the arms 31 remaining on the same side as the last collection and delivery, until the next folded bib 14 arrives at its collection position, the arms 31 then taking it over to the other side of the conveyor 29 and so on. The free edge region 23 of the bib 14 may also be sealed to form its collection pocket 18 as the folded section 5 is conveyed from the roll 26 and its associated folding system to the collection position of the finished, folded bib 14 in the conveyor 29, after leaving which they are ready for packaging.

Claims

1. Disposable bib for placing against the chest of a wearer and comprising a section (5) of a web (1) such as plastic-coated tissue paper (2, 3), one end of the section being folded to form a collection pocket (18) and its other end including means for fastening the bib

(14) round the neck of the wearer, characterized in that the bib (14) comprises the section (5) , which has been folded along its longitudinal axis fo symmetry

(15) into a shape substantially that of a right-angled triangle, the base portion (20) of which, along its free edge region (23) perpendicular to the fold line (15) , at least has this free edge region of its two halves joined together to form the pocket (18) , which automatically opens out and remains in an open attitude when the bib (14) is opened out to its full width.

2. Bib as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the base portion (20) is provided at a given spacing from the fold line (15) with a crease line (16, 17) parallel to said fold line (15) in each half of the folded section (5) , these crease lines allowing folding over the upper part (19) of the pocket (18) to form the upper edge (22) of the pocket (18) after the bib (14) has been opened out to its full width.

3. Bib as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the means for attaching the bib (14) round the wearer's neck comprise tying ribbons (11, 12) formed at the apex portion (8) of the section (5) when they are pulled away at the perforations (9, 10) made at said portion (8) , an insertion flap (13) being formed simultaneously with this operation.

4. Bib as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the joint between the two halves of the folded section (5) , this joint forming the collection pocket (18) , is a glued joint, or alternatively one heat sealed by welding.

5. Method of producing disposable bibs from a mate¬ rial web comprising a barrier layer and an absorption layer, preferably plastic-coated tissue paper, charac- terized in that the web (1) is cut into sections (5) along transverse cutting lines (6, 7) disposed in a zig-zag pattern along the web (1) such that two adja¬ cent sections (5) form a parallelogram, in that the cut-out sections (5) disposed consecutively head-to- foot are folded along their longitudinal axis of symme¬ try (15) to form a shape substantially that of a right- angled triangle with a trunkated apex portion (8) and base portion (20) facing alternatingly in opposite directions, and in that the base portion halves are joined together at their edge region (23) to form a collection pocket (18) which, when a bib (14) comes into use, is automatically openable when the folded bib is opened out to its full width.

6. Method as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that before cutting off the sections (5) from the web (1) along the lines (6, 7), each section is provided with perforations (9, 10) in its apex portion (8) for defining tying ribbons (11, 12) and an insertion flap (13) therebetween, and in that when the bib (14) is to be used, these parts are releasable at the perfora¬ tions, respectively to form the tying ribbons for attaching the bib (14) to the wearer and tucking behind the collar or the like of a wearer.

7. Apparatus for producing disposable bibs from a material web comprising a barrier layer (2) and an absorption layer (3), preferably plastic-coated tissue paper, characterized by a stock roll (24) of said web (1) , which may be drawn out to at least two working rolls (25, 26) and caught at the first roll (25) , against which the knife roll (26) engages for cutting the web (1) into separate sections (5) disposed head- to-foot, folding means being arranged at the second roll (26) to fold each section (5) along its longitu¬ dinal axis of symmetry (15) , by a double belt conveyor (29) juxtaposed the roll (26) for entraining folded sections (5) ready-processed into future bibs (14) coming from the roll and adapted to keep them unrumpled by gripping their apex and base portions, and by a separating means (30) with pivoting collection arms (31) having their sweep of motion passing between the belts (32) of the conveyor (29) and being adapted to separate folded bibs (14) with their bases to the left from those with their bases to the right and collect them in separate stacks.