Patent Application
20230312221
The disclosure relates to a package dispenser for containing and dispensing at least one stack of wipes, such as industrial wipes. The disclosure also relates to a blank from which the package can be made and a method for producing the package.
Disposable wipes are frequently used for heavy-duty wiping applications, in particular for object wiping and cleaning purposes in industrial environments. The wipes may be made from nonwoven materials and may include thermoplastic polymeric fibres, absorbent cellulosic fibres or combinations of thermoplastic polymeric fibres and cellulosic fibres. The wipes may be provided in the form of rolls of wiping material from which individual wipes may be torn off. Alternatively, individual wipes may be removed from a stack of folded wiping material. The wipes are commonly placed in a dispenser, which may be e.g., a roll stand or a dispensing box. For environments in which the need for wiping may arise in many different locations, it may be desirable for the dispenser to be easily moved by hand between different locations. Furthermore, it is desirable for the dispenser to be sturdy such that it can withstand repeated handling and such that it will rest in a stable and secure manner on a surface on which it is placed. Yet further requirements include the dispenser being easy to operate, allowing one-hand dispensing of one wipe at a time, and providing adequate storage and protection for the wipes until the last wipe has been dispensed. Moreover, the wipes are used in environments in which it is usually convenient if new wipes can be made immediately available as soon as a dispenser has been emptied of its contents, without having to load new unused wipes into the dispenser.
Thus, in view of the many different demands on dispensers for heavy-duty wipes, there is a need for further improvement of the currently available dispensers.
The present disclosure is based on the insight that a practical and highly functional combined package and dispenser for wipes, in particular for heavy duty wipes, such as industrial wipes, may be achieved at least in part by the features of claim 1. A blank for making the package dispenser is defined in claim 13 and a method for making the package dispenser is defined in claim 14. Variations of the disclosure are set out in the dependent claims and in the following description.
The package dispenser as disclosed herein is a package dispenser for containing and dispensing at least one stack of wipes, the package dispenser having a bottom wall, a top wall, two opposing side walls extending in a height direction of the package dispenser and being parallel to a length direction of the package dispenser and two opposing end walls extending in the height direction of the package dispenser and being parallel to a width direction of the package dispenser, the bottom wall, the top wall, the side walls and the end walls together delimiting a storage space containing the at least one stack of wipes, wherein:
The package dispenser as disclosed herein serves both as a package for storing the one or more stacks of wipes up until they are to be used and as a dispenser for dispensing individual wipes from the stacks of interfolded wipes contained in the package dispenser. The package dispenser is easily converted by hand from the initial closed configuration in which the package dispenser offers protection for the wipes during transport and storage prior to use into the dispensing configuration in which at least one dispensing opening has been formed in the package dispenser. The at least one dispensing opening may be formed manually without using any tool, such as a knife, scissors, etc.
By the provision of a handle, the package dispenser can be lifted and moved from one location to another, as needed.
The at least one dispensing opening may comprise a dispensing opening portion which extends into a side wall of the package dispenser, the side wall of the package dispenser comprising provisions for creating the dispensing opening portion in the side wall of the package dispenser. A dispensing opening which extends from the top wall of the package dispenser into the adjacent side wall makes the wipes in the package dispenser more readily accessible for grabbing and removing from the package dispenser. When the height of a stack of wipes has been reduced after a number of wipes have been removed from the stack, the current top wipe is still easy to reach and grab as it is exposed in the dispensing opening portion in the side wall.
The provisions for creating the at least one dispensing opening may comprise or consist of one or more material weakenings which are arranged in the package dispenser.
The material weakenings may be any suitable weakenings as known in the art such as scorings, perforations, cut-outs, etc. The material weakenings may be arranged to allow a portion of the package dispenser wall to be completely torn out or punched away, or to be folded out to create the one or more dispensing openings.
As set out herein, two stacks of interfolded wipes may be arranged in the storage space of the package dispenser. The stacks may be arranged to be dispensed through a single common dispensing opening arranged in the top wall and optionally also in one or both of the side walls adjoining the top wall. Alternatively, separate dispensing openings for each of the stacks may be arranged in the top wall and optionally also in one or both of the corresponding adjoining side walls.
As set out herein, any useful number of stacks of interfolded wipes may be arranged in the storage space of the package dispenser, such as one, two, three, four, five, six, for example. The stacks may be arranged to be dispensed through a dispensing opening which is shared with one or more other stacks or may be arranged to be dispensed through a dispensing opening being dedicated to a particular stack.
The top wall may comprise two overlapping top wall portions:
The handle of the package dispenser as disclosed herein may be a two-part handle. A first handle part may be formed from an inner top panel and a second handle part may be formed from an outer top panel.
In a package dispenser as disclosed herein, each of the side walls may be formed from a side panel, and each of the end walls may be formed from overlapping panel end parts which are panel end parts of the two side panels, an inner top panel and panel end parts of a bottom panel forming the bottom wall.
When forming the package dispenser, the side panel end parts are folded in first, and thereafter the top panel end parts and the bottom panel end parts are folded in over the side panel end parts. The size of the panel end parts may be such that the side panel end parts meet along an end wall centre line extending in the height direction of the package dispenser and the bottom panel end parts meet along an end wall centre line extending in the width direction of the package dispenser. In this manner, the end wall will be made up of two layers of panel material.
The package dispenser as disclosed herein may be made from a relatively rigid and durable material which allows the package dispenser to be moved around and handled without special care. As set out herein, the package dispenser may be a cardboard package dispenser, such as a corrugated fibreboard package dispenser. As used herein, the term “cardboard package dispenser” refers to a package in which the walls of the package dispenser are made of cardboard material. Also the handle may be made from cardboard material e.g., by the handle being created from a portion of the top wall material, as set out herein. Alternatively, the handle may be separately produced and attached to the package dispenser. A separately produced handle may be made from plastic or cardboard and may have any suitable form such as a preshaped rigid grip, a flexible loop, etc.
The wipes making up the one or more stacks of interfolded wipes in the package dispenser as disclosed herein may be referred to as being reversed interfolded wipes. A stack of wipes which are reversed interfolded is configured to be dispensed from the top of the stack toward the bottom of the stack.
The stacks of interfolded wipes as disclosed herein have a generally rectangular shape and are sized to fit in the rectangular storage space defined by the walls of the package dispenser.
That the wipes are interfolded means that they are interleaved, i.e., folded into one-another, so that they form a chain of wipes being interconnected by folded portions. In this manner, when removing one wipe from the stack of wipes and pulling the wipe completely through the dispensing opening in the package dispenser, the pulled-out wipe will automatically bring a portion of the next wipe in the stack out through the opening thereby making it readily available for gripping and removing from the package dispenser. The connection between the wipes in the stacks of interfolded wipes relies on friction between contacting surfaces of the individual wipes. No other connection means such as non-broken tab portions between the individual wipes or adhesive are therefore necessary.
The interfolded wipes as disclosed herein may have a length of from 20 to 100 cm and a width of from 20 to 40 cm. The number of panels in each wipe may be from 3 to 10.
The interfolded wipes as disclosed herein may be relatively large wipes with a surface area in the range of from 0.10 m2 to 0.25 m2 and may each have dimensions in a flat, unfolded state of e.g., 42 cm×35.5 cm or 63 cm×35.5 cm.
The basis weight of the interfolded wipes as disclosed herein may be from 40 g/m2 to 150 g/m2.
The thickness of the interfolded wipes as disclosed herein may be from 0.4 mm to 2 mm per ply.
Thickness of the wipes was measured according to EDANA's and INDA's Nonwoven Standard Procedure: NWSP 120.6.R0 (15).
The thickness was measured according to the procedure for regular nonwovens by measuring the distance between a reference plate on which the nonwoven rests and a parallel presser-foot (or plate) that exerts a specified pressure on the area under test. An apparatus used for conducting the measurements should be configured as follows. The upper plate or presser-foot shall be capable of moving vertically.
Test specimens should be taken from areas of the sample that are free of folds, wrinkles and any distortions that would make these specimens abnormal from the rest of the test material. The test specimens should be larger than the area of the presser-foot.
The samples should be conditioned in the standard atmosphere for testing nonwovens as directed in ISO 139.
Test Procedure:
In a package dispenser as disclosed herein, each of the at least one stack of interfolded wipes may contain from 50 to 130 interfolded wipes, such as from 60 to 120 interfolded wipes, from 70 to 110 interfolded wipes or from 90 to 105 interfolded wipes, for example. Larger wipes will generally have a smaller number of interfolded wipes in each stack, such as 50 to 80 interfolded wipes for example, while smaller wipes may have a larger number of interfolded wipes in each stack, such as 80 to 130 interfolded wipes, for example.
The wipe material may be any suitable wiping material. In particular, the interfolded wipes may be made from nonwoven material, such as a hydroentangled material comprising cellulosic fibres.
The wipe material may be made from up to 100% staple fibres, such as regenerated cellulose fibres, thermoplastic fibres, etc. The wipe material may comprise cellulose pulp in combination with staple fibres.
The term “cellulosic staple fibres” as used herein refers to man-made and natural cellulosic fibres. Examples of man-made cellulosic fibres, also called regenerated cellulosic fibres, are lyocell and viscose. Examples of natural cellulosic fibres are seed hair fibres, e.g. cotton, kapok, and milkweed; leaf fibres, e.g. sisal, abaca, pineapple, and New Zealand hemp; or bast fibres e. g. flax, hemp, jute and kenaf.
If the cellulosic staple fibres are man-made fibres, they may be treated with spin finish and crimped. Spin finish and crimp is normally added to ease the handling of the fibres in a dry process, e.g. a card, and/or to give desired properties, e.g. hydrophilicity, to a material consisting only of these fibres,
Cutting of a fibre bundle to staple fibres is normally made to produce a single cut length, which may be altered by varying the distance between the knives of a cutting tool such as a cutting wheel. Thereby the fibre length may be set according to requirements of the continued processing of the fibres into a wiping material.
The term “cellulosic staple fibres” as used herein refers to fibres that have been cut from fibre bundles to a length being within a desired length range, as well as fibres having a natural length being within the desired length range, e.g. some of the natural cellulosic fibres mentioned above, also called staple-length fibres. The desired length may be e.g., in the range of 2-25 mm, such as within the range of 2-20 mm, 5-15 mm or 6-12 mm, for example.
The term “cellulose pulp fibres” as used herein refers to pulp fibres from chemical pulp, e.g. kraft, sulphate or sulphite, mechanical pulp, thermo-mechanical pulp, chemo-mechanical pulp and/or chemo-thermo-mechanical pulp, abbreviated as CTMP. Pulps derived from both deciduous (hardwood) and coniferous (softwood) may be used. Fibres may also come from non-wood plants e.g., cereal straws, bamboo, jute or sisal. The fibres or a portion of the fibres may be recycled fibres, which may belong to any or all of the above categories.
Furthermore, the wipes may include recycled textile fibres.
Additives such as softeners, dry-strength agents or wet-strength agents may be added in order to facilitate manufacturing of the wipe material and to adjust the properties thereof.
The package dispenser as disclosed herein may be formed from a package blank, wherein the package blank comprises:
The outer top panel may have inclined end edges, which means that the end edges need not be parallel to the end edges of the inner top wall portion of the inner top panel.
In order to facilitate and promote correct folding of the package blank, fold-lines may be arranged between panels and panel portions.
The package dispenser as disclosed herein may be formed by a method of forming a package dispenser containing at least one stack of interfolded wipes, the method comprising the steps of:
Adhesive may be applied between overlapping portions of the package blank during folding of the package blank to keep the resulting package dispenser in the folded configuration with the one or more stacks of interfolded wipes contained in the package. Alternatively or in addition to using adhesive for attaching the package parts to each other, adhesive tape, staples, etc. may be used, as known in the art.
The package dispenser, the package blank and the method as disclosed herein will be further explained hereinafter with reference to the appended drawings in which:
Different aspects of the present disclosure will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the drawings. The package dispenser as disclosed herein can be realized in many different forms within the scope of the appended claims and should not be construed as being limited to the aspects set forth herein.
The package dispenser 10 as shown in
A handle 40 is shown to be arranged on the top wall 12. In the package dispenser 10 shown in
The top wall 12 and the side walls 13, 14 further comprise provisions 50′, 50″ for creating a dispensing opening 60′, 60″ on each side of the handle 40. The provisions 50′, 50″ are constituted by intermittent cuts and perforations made in the material in the top wall and in the side walls 13, 14 along a contour of each of the dispensing openings 60′, 60″. In the package dispenser 10 in
It is to be understood that a two-part construction of the provisions for creating a dispensing opening is not a requirement of the package dispenser as disclosed herein. Other constructions, such as a single part construction or a construction allowing more than two parts to be separately removed are also contemplated herein. Multi-part constructions of the provisions for creating a dispensing opening may be used to create dispensing openings which may be varied with regard to size as well as shape.
It is also to be understood that the shape of the dispensing opening 60′, 60″ may differ from the shapes shown in the Figures. Notably, in the package dispenser 10 which is shown in
When two or more dispensing openings are arranged in a package dispenser as disclosed herein, the dispensing openings may have the same or different sizes as well as the same or different outlines. A package dispenser containing two or more stacks of interfolded wipes may have the same type and size of wipes in all stacks. Alternatively one or more stack of wipes in the package dispenser may be constituted by wipes having a different constitution and/or a size different from another stack of wipes in the package dispenser. In such case, the size and outline of the dispensing openings may be adapted to differences in the wipes. By way of example, a more flexible wipe may be better dispensed from a smaller dispensing opening relative to a stiffer wipe. The size and shape of the dispensing openings may also be used to signal differences in the properties of the wipes to be dispensed through the openings.
Each stack 20 has a rectangular shape with a bottom surface 22 formed from a bottom wipe 21′, a top surface 23 formed from a top wipe 21″, two side surfaces 24 and two end surfaces 25, the side surfaces 24 and the end surfaces 25 extending between the bottom surface 22 and the top surface 23. The stacks 20 of wipes 21 are placed in the storage space 30 of the package dispenser 10 with the bottom surface 22 of the stack 20 resting on the bottom wall 11 of the package dispenser 10, and with the top surface 23 of the stack 20 facing the top wall 12 of the package dispenser 10.
Each stack 20 of wipes 21 is a stack 20 of interfolded wipes 21, the wipes 21 being arranged to be dispensed from the top surface 23 of the stack 20 through a dispensing opening 60′, 60″ in the package dispenser 10.
It is to be understood that other interfolding configurations than the interfacing configuration shown in
When placed in the package dispenser 10 as shown in
With reference now to
The package blank 100 comprises a bottom panel 101, which is composed of a bottom wall portion 111 and a first and a second bottom panel end wall portion 101a, 101b. The bottom wall portion 111 has a first and a second side edge 122, 123. The side edges extend in a length direction L which corresponds to the length direction of a package dispenser assembled from the package blank 100. The bottom wall portion 111 further has a first and a second end edge, 124, 125 extending in a width direction W, which corresponds to the width direction of a package dispenser assembled from the package blank 100. The bottom wall portion 111 of the package blank 100 has a length lb in the length direction L and a width wb in the width direction W. The first bottom panel end wall portion 101a extends in the length direction L from the first end edge of the bottom wall portion 111 and a second bottom panel end wall portion 101b extends from the second end edge 125 of the bottom wall portion 111.
The package blank 100 comprises an inner top panel 102 comprising an inner top wall portion 112′. The inner top wall portion 112′ has a first end edge 128, and a second end edge 129, the end edges extending in the width direction W. A first side edge 126 and a second side edge 127 of the inner top wall portion 112′ extend generally in the length direction L between the first end edge 128, and the second end edge 129. As is seen in
The package blank 100 comprises an outer top panel 104, the outer top panel 104 having a first end edge 133 and a second end edge 134 extending in the width direction W and a first side edge 131 and a second side edge 132 extending generally in the length direction between the first and second end edges 134 of the outer top panel 104. The length Ito of the outer top panel 104 is shown to be somewhat less than the length lb of the bottom wall portion 111 of the bottom panel 101 and the length lti of the inner top wall portion 112′ of the inner top panel 102. As is seen in
The package blank 100 further comprises a first side panel 105, the first side panel 105 comprising a first side wall portion 113a, the first side wall portion 113a of the first side panel 105 having a first side edge 123 which is identical with the second side edge 123 of the bottom wall portion 111 of the bottom panel 101 and a second side edge 126 which is identical with the first side edge 126 of the inner top wall portion 112′ of the top panel 102. The first and the second side edges 123, 126 of the first side wall portion 113a extend in the length direction L. First and second end edges 135, 136 of the first side wall portion 113a extend between the first and the second side edges 123, 126 of the first side wall portion 113a. In a package dispenser assembled from the package blank 100, the first and second end edges 135, 136 of the first side wall portion 113a will be arranged in the height direction of the package dispenser. A first side panel end wall portion 105a extends in the length direction L from the first end edge 135 of the first side wall portion 113a of the first side panel 105 and a second side panel end wall portion 105b extends from the second end edge 136 of the first side wall portion 113a of the first side panel 105.
The package blank 100 also comprises a second side panel 106, the second side panel comprising a second side wall portion 113b, the second side wall portion 113b of the second side panel 106 having a first side edge 122 which is identical with the first side edge 122 of the bottom wall portion 111 of the bottom panel 101 and a second side edge 131, which is identical with the first side edge 131 of the outer top panel 104. The first and the second side edges 122, 131 of the second side wall portion 113b extend in the length direction L. First and second end edges 137, 138 of the second side wall portion 113b extend between the first and the second side edges 122, 131 of the second side wall portion 113b. In a package dispenser assembled from the package blank 100, the first and second end edges 137, 138 of the second side wall portion 113b will be arranged in the height direction of the package dispenser.
A first side panel end wall portion 106a of the second side panel extends in the length direction L from the first end edge 137 of the second side wall portion 113b of the second side panel 106 and a second side panel end wall portion 106b extends from the second end edge 138 of the second side wall portion 113b of the second side panel 106.
First provisions 180a for creating at a first dispensing opening are arranged as a line of weakness (i.e., a frangible line) extending in the inner top wall portion 112′ and in the first side wall portion 113a of the first side panel 105.
Second provisions180b for creating a second dispensing opening are arranged as a weakened line (i.e., a frangible line) extending in the outer top wall portion 112″ and in the second side wall portion 113b of the second side panel 106.
One or more and—in some embodiments—all dividing lines between the different panels and panel portions, of the package blank 100 may be formed as fold lines which are arranged to facilitate folding of the package blank 100 to assume a package dispenser configuration and to promote correct folding of the package blank 100 along the dividing lines. Such fold lines may be created by partial scoring through the thickness of the packaging material, by local compression of the package material, for example.
The package blank 100 as shown in
The method may comprise:
Adhesive may be applied between overlapping portions of the package blank 100 during folding of the package blank 100. Alternatively, or additionally, adhesive tape, staples, etc. may be used to keep the package dispenser 10 in the folded configuration.
When the package blank 100 has been folded as set out above, the side walls 13 in the package dispenser 10 are formed from a side wall portion 113a, 113b of a respective side panel 105, 106. The end walls 15 are formed from overlapping panel end parts 105a, 105b, 106a, 106b, 102a, 102b, 101a, 101b of the two side panels 105, 106, the inner top panel 102 and the bottom panel 101. The bottom wall 11 is formed from the bottom wall part 111 of the bottom panel 101 and the top wall 12 is formed from the inner top wall portion 112′ of the inner top panel 102 and of the outer top panel 104 which overlaps the inner top wall portion 112′ of the inner top panel 102.
Package dispensers containing a different number of stacks from the two stacks shown in the Figures may be assembled in a corresponding manner from an appropriately sized and shaped package blank.
This application is a National Stage application of PCT/SE2020/050671, filed Jun. 26, 2020, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety herein.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/SE2020/050671 | 6/26/2020 | WO |
