This invention relates to packages, and more particularly to quickly openable moisture resistant packaging for products adversely affected by humidity, as for example, packages of copy paper used in photocopy machines. The invention is also useful for other products having similar humidity resistance packaging requirements.
Conventionally, in the past, photocopy paper has been packaged in adhesively sealed paper wrappers. Such wrappers are not humidity proof, and during shipping and storage, over time, some moisture penetrates the wrapper and the sheets of paper within. Such moisture causes clumping of the adjacent sheets of paper so that they do not slide easily over one another when the package has been opened. With the advent of ubiquitous high volume photocopiers, which feed paper at high speed, two problems arose in connection with the supply paper.
The first problem was that the humidity, which causes variable adherence of adjacent sheets of the supply paper to one another, causes erratic simultaneous feeding of multiple sheets of paper, resulting in numerous paper jams. The occurrences of such jams require shutting down the copier, clearing the jams, and restarting the machine. Apart from the waste of paper due to wrinkling, which renders the paper non-feedable, the production time lost is sufficiently high to be unacceptably costly. Accordingly, a demand has arisen for packages of substantially humidity free supply paper. The solution to this first problem was to package the stacked copy paper in sealed humidity resistant plastic wrapping instead of in paper wrapping. Unfortunately, while this solved the first problem, it created a second problem.
The second problem is that, while the formerly used paper wrapping was easily torn open and quickly removed so that little time was lost in reloading the copier with a new paper supply, the new plastic wrappers can not be easily and speedily removed because the wrappers do not tear easily, cleanly, or in a directionally controllable way. They have to be cut with a knife, razor cutter, or other sharp implement. This is time consuming and can nick the paper edges, again giving rise to misfeeds and jams in the copier. If care is not taken when removing the wrapper to insure that the corners of the paper stack are clear of the wrapper, and excessive pulling force is used, the corners of the paper stack can be bent, again resulting in subsequent misfeeds and paper jams. These factors have combined to uneconomically substantially extend the time needed to open a plastic wrapped package of paper and load it into the copier. The novel wrappers according to the invention economically solve all of these problems.
The novel package wrappers according to the invention are made of humidity resistant plastic. The package is completely sealed but does not require the use of any tool to open it. One embodiment utilizes a strip of teartape disposed proximate to, but spaced inward from, one edge of the package, and which, in a generally rectangular package, extends substantially linearly continuously about three adjacent sides. Other package configurations will determine other teartape dispositions A second embodiment does not utilize a separate physical teartape, but forms a teartape from a portion of the package wrapper material itself. Which form of package wrapper is used will normally be determined by cost and transparency considerations In the embodiment utilizing a physically separate teartape the package wrapper material could be a single layer or multiple layer bi-axially oriented polypropylene film between 1.75 and 3.25 mils thick, typically 2 mils thick, with a heat seal coating such as ethyl vinyl acetate. This material is crystal clear and is typically used where maximum transparency is desired, as for example to disclose graphics on the packaged item. The teartape typically could be of 1.5 to 4 mils thick polypropylene or polyester between 4 mm and 20 mm in width, coated with an ultraviolet resistant pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive.
In the embodiment not including a separate additional piece of teartape material, the package wrapper material could be a composite of a bi-axially oriented polypropylene film laminated to a mono-oriented polypropylene film, in which in package formation the mono-oriented film is the inner layer disposed next to the packaged item. The mono-oriented film is quite strong and the integrally formed teartape will tear along the direction of the film orientation and through the bi-axially oriented outer film layer. As an alternative to the mono-oriented polypropylene film there could be used a mono-oriented polyethylene film. The composite packaging wrapper film could typically be about 3 mils thick with the mono-oriented film being 30% to 70% of the thickness and with the bi-axially oriented film comprising the remainder.
After the teartape, of whatever form, has been removed, fingers or a thumb may be inserted beneath the revealed torn edge of the wrapper and the wrapper then torn downward through tear-down slits in the then exposed portions of the ends of the package wrapper which had been previously overlaid by the teartape ends, such slits being concealingly disposed and sealed beneath the overlying ends of the intact wrapper before removal of the teartape. When the composite wrapper material is used, the tear-down slits lengths are aligned with the orientation of the mono-oriented laminate.
By locating the teartape fairly closely to one edge of the package and providing the underlying tear-down slits in the package wrapper ends, the intact upper corners of the opened package are able to slide smoothly over and down around the corners of the contained product without exerting any substantial pressure thereon. Accordingly, in the typical case of a ream of copy paper there is no corner curling force exerted on the sheets sufficient to cause corner distortion. The package is quickly openable and the wrapper quickly and easily removable from the contents, so that the dry undistorted paper may be quickly loaded into the copier.
It is a primary object of the invention to provide a novel, quickly openable and removable, humidity resistant package wrapping.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel, quickly openable and removable, humidity resistant package wrapping as aforesaid which utilizes a novel teartape structure in conjunction with aligned slits in the wrapper to provide an easily and cleanly openable and removable package wrapper.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a novel, quickly openable and removable, humidity resistant package wrapping as aforesaid which utilizes a novel teartape structure in conjunction with aligned slits in the wrapper to provide an easily and cleanly openable and removable package wrapper, the teartape in one form being a separate piece of material adhered to the package wrapper, and in another form being a teartape integral with and formed from a portion of the package wrapper material itself.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel package wrapping as aforesaid that may be removed without causing distortion of the corners of the contents during package opening.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide novel methods of making novel wrapped packages according to the invention as aforesaid.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide novel apparatus for making novel wrapped packages according to the invention as aforesaid.
The foregoing and other objects of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter as disclosed by the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein:
In the several figures, like elements are denoted by like reference characters.
Considering first the Prior Art showing of
Turning now to
The film 20 with attached tape 24 passes through a timed film slitting device having upper and lower parts, 28A and 28B respectively, movable toward and away from one another as shown by the arrows 29-29 on
After being slit, the film 20 continues to move toward the packaging machine 23, as shown by the arrows 35 on
When, instead of the just described bi-axially oriented wrapper film, the composite laminate packaging wrapper formed of mono-oriented and bi-axially oriented film is to be utilized to form a package wrapper, the teartape 24 and its supply roll 25, as seen in
While the packaging film is being processed as aforedescribed, the ream of copy paper 39 is transported to the packaging machine 23 by the moving belt 40 and elevator 41 where it is properly registered with and enters the packager 23 with the prepared package wrapper sheet 42, exiting the packager 23 as the finished package 27 and being conveyed away on moving belt 43.
Turning now to
The opening of the package 27 is shown in the rest of the drawings, but refer first to
Turning now finally to
As previously described, when the composite wrapper material having mono-oriented and bi-axially oriented layers is utilized without a separate physical teartape 24, the lift tabs 33 function as the ends of a teartape integral with and formed from the wrapper material itself. In operation the two forms of the invention function in the same way and produce the same result.
Having now described our invention in connection with particularly illustrated embodiments thereof, it will be understood that modifications and variations thereof may now occur from time to time to those normally skilled in the art without departing from the essential scope or spirit of the invention, and accordingly it is intended to claim the invention both broadly and specifically as indicated in the appended claims.
This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/911,591, filed Aug. 8, 2004.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10911591 | Aug 2004 | US |
Child | 11041730 | Jan 2005 | US |