Patent Application
20190106265
Blister card display packages are commonly used in retail merchandising to contain and display small articles. Such packages often include a paperboard card on which the product name and other information is printed and a plastic blister pack containing the article secured on the card. In addition, a hole is often placed at the top of the card so that the package can be hung from an extended peg of a pegboard display.
Blister packages are also often used to contain multiple small articles such as tablets, each contained within a separate blister portion. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,866,476. However, such package requires substantial amount of paperboard to protect the rupturable film portion covers the unused blister portions when not in use, resulting the packages being thick and bulky.
The present invention relates to an improved blister package containing a plurality of blister portions that includes an operable flap that allows access to the rupturable film sheet covering the blister portions.
In one aspect, the present invention features a blister card display package including a card containing a front sheet having a front outer face and a front inner face and a rear sheet having a rear outer face and a rear inner face, wherein at least a portion of the rear inner face is affixed to the front inner face; and a unitary blister pack mounted between the front inner face and the rear inner face and containing a plurality of blister portions for containing an article to be displayed and a rupturable film sheet covering the plurality of blister portions; wherein the rear sheet contains one or more openings that allow the plurality of blister portions to protrude through the rear outer face of the card and the front sheet contains an operable flap that allows access to the portion of the rupturable film sheet covering the plurality of blister portions.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description of the invention and claims.
It is believed that one skilled in the art can, based upon the description herein, utilize the present invention to its fullest extent. The following specific embodiments can be construed as merely illustrative, and not limitative of the remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs. Also, all publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference. As used herein, all percentages are by weight unless otherwise specified.
As discussed above, the present invention features a blister card display package. As shown in
As shown in
As mentioned above, the blister card display package 1 includes a unitary blister pack 40. The unitary blister pack 40 contains a plurality of blister portions 45 for containing the article to be displayed by the blister card display package 1. In one embodiment, the unitary blister pack 40 includes at least four blister portions 45, such as at least eight four blister portions 45, such as at least ten blister portions 45.
The unitary blister pack 40 and/or the blister portions 45 may be made into a variety of shapes and sizes based upon the shape, size, and friability of the articles to be contained within. The blister pack 40 and/or the blister portions 45 may also be made of a variety of materials suitable to hold and protect the articles to be contained within. In one embodiment, the blister portions are made of a transparent plastic material to allow the articles to be seen through the blister portions 45. Such plastic material may be clear or have color. The unitary blister pack 40 may be manufactured by various means known in the art, including thermoform and injection molding techniques. The unitary blister pack 40 may be manufacture with a rigid or semi-rigid material. Suitable materials include, but are not limited to, plastic materials such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polychlorotrifluoroethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, cyclic olefin copolymer, ethylene vinyl alcohol, high density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, fluorinated-chlorinated resin, fluoropolymer, and mixtures and laminates thereof. In one embodiment, the unitary blister pack 40 is desirably made of recyclable material.
The unitary blister pack 40 also contains a rupturable film sheet 50 covering each of the plurality of blister portions 45. Rupturable film sheet 50 retains the article within blister portion 45, but allows the user to intentionally remove the article from a blister portion 45 by rupturing the part of rupturable film sheet 50 covering such blister portion (such portions depicted within areas 51 in
In one embodiment, rupturable film sheet 50 is affixed to unitary blister pack 40 by use of heat sealing, adhesive seals (such as with heat-activated or solvent adhesive such as glues), RF or sonic seals, or any other suitable means. The materials of the rupturable film sheet 50 and the unitary blister pack 40may be pre-treated to facilitate sealing of such materials together.
As shown in
As shown in
The operable flap 60 also provides visibility to a portion of front inner face 20 of the front sheet 10 when the operable flap 60 is in the open position. In one embodiment, both the outer face of the operable flap 60 and the inner face of the operable flap 60 contain writing.
In one embodiment, front sheet 10 contains a single operable flap 60 that allows access to the portion of the rupturable film sheet 50 covering all of the plurality of blister portions 45. In another embodiment (not shown), front sheet 10 contains a plurality of operable flaps 60 each of which allows access to only a portion of the rupturable film sheet 50 covering only a portion of the plurality of blister portions 45.
In one embodiment, operable flap 60 contains a tab 70 that is operative to releasably maintain the operable flap 60 over the portion of the rupturable film sheet 50 covering the plurality of blister portions 45. In one embodiment, when operable flap 60 is in the closed position, tab 70 can come into frictional contact with edges 41 and 42 of rear sheet 25, thereby maintaining operable flap 60 in the closed position.
In one embodiment, card 5 comprises one or more sets of perforations 75 between a removable portion of card that is not in contact with the unitary blister package and the portion of the card that is in contact with the unitary blister package. Such an embodiment allows for the user once they have purchased the blister card display package 1 to remove a portion of card 5, thereby reducing the size of the blister card display package.
In one embodiment, the unitary blister package contains an opening 80 for hanging the blister card display package from a support device, such as an extended peg of a pegboard display. In one embodiment, a removable portion of the card contains such opening for hanging the package from a support device.
It is understood that while the invention has been described in conjunction with the detailed description thereof, that the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the scope of the appended claims. Other aspects, advantages, and modifications are within the claims.
