WO2006053602A1

WO2006053602A1 - Flexibly storable container for hygiene paper

Info

Publication number: WO2006053602A1
Application number: PCT/EP2005/010139
Authority: WO
Inventors: Karine Bagkntasarian
Original assignee: Sca Hygiene Products Gmbh
Priority date: 2004-11-22
Filing date: 2005-09-20
Publication date: 2006-05-26
Also published as: DE202004018125U1

Abstract

A flexibly storable container (1) for hygiene paper product has an opening (2) at the front side (3) thereof for withdrawing individual or inter-connected hygiene paper sheets. The container (1) has a length (4) of not more than 20 cm, a breadth (5) of not more than 15 cm and a height (6) of not more than 8 cm.

Description

Flexibly Storable Container for Hygiene Paper

Description

The present invention relates to a flexibly storable container for hygiene paper having an opening at the front side thereof for withdrawing individual or inter-connected hygiene paper sheets.

Containers for hygiene paper are sufficiently known, in particular, in connection with facial tissues. Containers of this type usually consist of cardboard and preferably stand on a table, a sideboard or the like and are not fixed thereto.

WO 01/89935 describes containers for wet toilet paper which consist of two different sections and together show a basically roll-like shape. No indication is made in this laid-open document as to which size the roll-like containers laid out therein are supposed to have.

The already known containers for hygiene paper are usually relatively large and cannot be fixed to vertical walls. For these reasons, they are not very suitable for the field of motor vehicles since there is mostly only little space available in the interior of vehicles and containers which are not fixed and lie therein can easily fall from the tray area as a result of the vibrations created during driving. Moreover, in particular during outdoor sports or camping, it is desirable to have a flexible container for hygiene paper available which is easy to handle and which can moreover be stored in little space.

This object is solved by a flexibly storable container for hygiene paper which has, inter alia, an opening at the front side thereof for withdrawing individual or inter-connected hygiene paper sheets, the container having a length of not more than 20 cm, a breadth of not more than 15 cm and a height of not more than 8 cm.

The container according to the invention is in particular designed such that its length is not more than 18 cm, preferably not more than 15 cm, and its breadth is not more than 12 cm. The height thereof should preferably not be more than 6 cm, in particular not more than 5.5 cm.

In order to be able to easily fix the container according to the invention to a surface, e.g. in a vehicle or in a camping tent, it is recommendable to provide the same with an adhesive strip or an adhesive surface at the rear side opposite the front side and/or on at least one of the lateral surfaces. Such adhesive strips or adhesive surfaces may be applied to the large lateral surfaces as well as to the small lateral surfaces. They may be provided, inter alia, with a so-called adhesive gluten, e.g. on the basis of copolymers of acrylic acid or methacrylic acid or esters thereof, of styrene, of butadiene or of vinyl acetate, which is in particular suited for releasable adhesion to surfaces. However, a mechanical adhesive part may also be used, i.e. in the form of a plurality of small hooklets which can engage with the structure of certain fibrous surfaces and thereby create adhesion.

Moreover, the container according to the invention can also have so-called mechanical fixing elements, such as, for example, suspension elements, loops, clamps or hooks, in order to fix the same to surfaces provided for this purpose. It is recommendable that such mechanical fixing elements are made of the same material as the container according to the invention, thus basically of cardboard, reinforced paper or plastic materials. Such mechanical fixing elements may of course also consist of other materials, e.g. of certain metals.

The container according to the invention preferably has a rectangular shape. In order to cover the opening provided at the front side for withdrawing the hygiene paper, a hinged lid means can additionally be provided at an edge of the container which ensures bonding with the front side of the container by means of an adhesive strip or an adhesive surface applied to the lid. Moreover, it may be recommendable to provide at least one further opening at the rear side of the container or at its lateral surfaces in order to facilitate insertion of a new package of hygiene paper. The container according to the invention thereby becomes reusable.

The container according to the invention is suited, inter alia, for rolled, stacked and individually withdrawable paper products, in particular for hygiene paper, such as, e.g., napkins, handkerchiefs, cleansing tissues, kitchen towels or, on the other hand, toilet paper. Tissue products of this type can, as needed, be correspondingly folded, creped or creased as well as, optionally, provided with a suitable perforation or stripline. In order to create a positive impression of such tissue products with the consumer, it may also be recommendable to provide these with an optically appealing single or multi-colored pattern which may be designed in various ways. The tissue products present in the container may be single-ply, two-, three- four-, five-ply hygiene paper or even higher- ply hygiene paper. Suitable raw materials for hygiene paper of this type are, inter alia, celluloses obtained, according to a suitable digestion process, e.g. according to the sulfite process or the sulfate process, from softwood, e.g. from spruce, fir, pine or larch wood or, on the other hand, from hardwood, e.g. from beech, birch, cottonwood or eucalyptus wood. Apart from this, synthetic fibers, such as, for example, polyethylene fibers or polypropylene fibers, polyester fibers, in particular on the basis of aromatic polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate as well as polyvinyl alcohol, can be used, with said polyethylene fibers and polyethylene terephthalate fibers being preferably used.

It is possible to produce from the obtained celluloses, inter alia, according to the TAD (through air drying) process or according to conventional drying processes suitable web-like, dry-creped or also uncreped raw tissue products to which optionally suitable wet-strength agents and conventional auxiliaries or additives may be added and which may then be processed on a roller station into multi-ply hygiene products. The individual plies of the hygiene paper can have the same basis weight as well as, however, also basis weights different from each other. The basis weight thereof preferably lies in the range from 12 to 40 g/m², in particular in the range from 12 to 30 g/m² and particularly preferred in the range from 14 to 25 g/m².

The container according to the invention may, inter alia, consist of cardboard, reinforced paper or of suitable plastic materials and may optionally be provided with a consumer-appealing pattern, images or ornaments. In order to render the amount of hygiene paper still available in the container visible for the consumer, said container may additionally have a visible surface portion of transparent material, such as for example, of transparent paper or of a plastic foil, on at least one lateral surface. Such a window facilitates monitoring the hygiene paper consumption.

The container according to the invention is suited to store conventional hygiene paper, such as, inter alia, handkerchiefs, facial or cleansing tissues, kitchen towels, paper napkins, wiper tissues or even toilet paper.

In this regard, it is particularly recommendable to store toilet paper or small-sized kitchen towels in containers of this type. They may be either a coreless roll or a stack of individual or inter-connected sheets.

With the container according the invention it is possible to store said hygiene paper in an easy, flexible and discrete manner. Therefore, it is particularly suited to store hygiene paper in motor vehicles, such as for example automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, boats or airplanes, as well as for outdoor sports or camping.

It is also possible to store wet hygiene paper in the container according to the invention.

The invention will now be discussed below in further detail by means of an exemplary embodiment in the form of a drawing, the illustrations being made in a purely schematic manner.

The figure below shows a rectangular container 1 according to the invention, having an opening 2 of length 4, breadth 5 and height 6 provided at its front side 3. Said container 1 further comprises a rear side (not shown) opposing the front side 3 as well as large lateral surfaces 7 and small lateral surfaces 8 respectively.

Claims

1. Flexibly storable container (1) for hygiene paper having an opening (2) at the front side (3) thereof for withdrawing individual or inter-connected hygiene paper sheets, said container having a length (4) of not more than 20 cm, a breadth (5) of not more than 15 cm and a height (6) of not more than 8 cm.

2. Container according to claim 1, the length (4) thereof being not greater than 18 cm and the breadth (5) thereof being not greater than 12 cm.

3. Container according to claim 2, the length (4) thereof being not greater than 15 cm and the height thereof not being greater than 6 cm.

4. Container according to one of claims 1 to 3, said container having, either at the rear side opposite the front side (3) and/or on at least one lateral surface (7, 8), an adhesive strip or an adhesive surface for fixation to surfaces.

5. Container according to one of claims 1 to 4, said container having one or more mechanical fixing elements for fixing said container to surfaces.

6. Container according to one of claims 1 to 5, said container having a hinged lid means for covering the opening (2) provided at the front side (3).

7. Container according to one of claims 1 to 6, said container having at least one further opening at the rear side or one of the lateral surfaces (7, 8) for inserting a new package of hygiene paper.

8. Container according to one of claims 1 to 7, further containing on at least one lateral surface (7, 8) a visible surface portion of transparent material.

9. Container according to one of claims 1 to 8, said container consisting of paper cardboard, reinforced paper or plastic materials.

10. Container according to one of claims 1 to 9, said container containing toilet paper or small-sized kitchen towels as hygiene paper.

11. Container according to claim 10, said toilet paper or the small-sized kitchen towel being present as a coreless roll.

12. Container according to claim 10, said toilet paper or the small-sized kitchen towel being present as a stack of individual or inter-connected sheets.