The invention relates to a package with a package insert for fixing objects in place according to the preamble of claim 1. Such package inserts are mainly used to receive elongate objects and are employed in particular in the pharmaceutical industry for packing ampules, small bottles, syringes, vials, etc.
A comparable package of the type in question, with a folding box and with a package insert fitted in the latter, has been disclosed in WO 98/15461, for example. The package insert comprises webs that are each designed as triangular hollow bodies standing upright from a base plane. The package insert is formed from a single blank which, after being set upright, is adhesively bonded to the box base. The webs have cutouts which are open toward a top face of the webs and into which elongate objects can be placed. The packed objects can thus be easily removed from the package. For certain applications, however, it may be necessary to prevent the objects from being able to be removed too easily. Moreover, the package does not have what is called a “tamper-evident function”, i.e. evidence as to whether the package has remained intact since initially being filled and sealed by the manufacturer. Moreover, the package is not especially suitable for handling objects in groups. Packages of this kind are assuming an ever more important role. Thus, for certain applications, it may be important to store different active substances separately, for example in vials, but to administer them together. Such pairs of vials can, for example, contain an active substance on the one hand and a solvent on the other.
It is therefore an aim of the present invention to avoid the disadvantages of the prior art and in particular to create a package of the type mentioned at the outset, with which the objects can be better fixed in place in a package insert and which is provided with a tamper-evident function. The package should also be easy to handle and, in particular, permit advantageous grouped storage of objects.
This aim or other aims are achieved with a package having the features in claim 1.
According to the invention, a package has a package insert for fixing objects in place, comprising at least one web and, arranged in the web, recesses which each at least partially receive an object. The web is fixed on a bottom section. For this bottom section, the term “bottom wall section” is also used for simplicity hereinbelow. Moreover, the at least one web can preferably be covered by a top wall section or by another section. By means of at least the bottom section being provided with predetermined tear lines, tear-off package units can be defined. In this way, a package unit, with an object or with a group of objects, can be easily separated from the package insert.
In addition or alternatively, the package insert can have at least one web and, arranged in the web, recesses which each at least partially receive an object. The package insert can also have sections which lie opposite each other and are connected or connectable to each other, between which sections an object or a group of objects is arranged. At least the two said sections can each be provided with predetermined tear lines for predefining tear-off package units, such that a package unit, with an object fixed in place therein or with a group of objects fixed in place therein, can be separated from the package insert.
The package insert can preferably be used for fixing in place objects that extend in a longitudinal direction. For this purpose, the package insert can have sections which each extend in a longitudinal direction and on which the objects extending in a longitudinal direction are placed or can be placed. Depending on the embodiment, these sections can be the bottom wall section and the top wall section, or the side-wall sections lying opposite each other.
The at least one web can extend transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction and preferably approximately at right angles to the longitudinal direction. For this direction of the web, the term “web direction” is also used hereinbelow. In terms of cross-section, the webs can have a triangular, trapezoidal or rectangular profiled shape. This profile can extend transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction (or in the web direction) so as to form a hollow body. However, other designs of the webs in terms of their cross-section are also conceivable. These include, for example, a double-walled web standing upright relative to a base plane, with the web side-walls bearing on each other and adhesively bonded to each other.
It may be advantageous if each section (that is to say, depending on the embodiment, at least the bottom wall section and the top wall section; or the two side-wall sections and, if appropriate, the bottom wall section) is provided with predetermined tear lines. In this way, individual package units can be easily separated from the rest of the package insert. Since the bottom wall section and the top wall section or the side-wall sections lie opposite each other and are connected to each other, advantageous storage of the objects in the package insert is also ensured at the same time. In particular, this arrangement can also ensure that an object or a group of objects is still securely stored even in package units that have been detached.
In an advantageous embodiment, the sections (for example the stated side-wall sections) can be assigned to a common blank. In this case, the sections can be connected to one another by further sections separated from them by fold lines.
Alternatively, however, the sections described at the outset can also be formed by separate parts made of cardboard or of a cardboard laminate. For example, bottom wall section and top wall section can be designed as separate planar parts. Bottom wall section and top wall section can be connected to each other via an intermediate part that can predefine the web or webs. Adhesive can be used to fix the connection.
In order to predefine tear-off package units, the at least one web can be provided with predetermined tear lines and/or cut lines. With this arrangement, the package units can be separated particularly easily from the package insert.
A web can extend in a web direction across the width of the package insert. Instead of a continuous web, an arrangement of webs can also be divided into individual separate webs (or web segments), which can each extend across only a part of the width of the package insert.
Several separate webs can be arranged next to one another in the web direction on the bottom wall section, and the predetermined tear lines can extend between the webs.
Separate webs can be arranged offset from one another on the bottom section or on the bottom wall section, in which case the predetermined tear lines follow the offset arrangement of the web segments. Particularly advantageously, the predetermined tear lines can be designed with a more or less serpentine shape, said serpentine shape being predefined by the offset arrangement of the web segments.
Individual web segments, spaced apart from one another in relation to the web direction, can be arranged on the bottom wall section. Each web can be provided with a recess which is open toward a top face of the web and which receives an object. A further object is received or can be received in the gap formed by the space between two webs. In this way, the storage capacity of a package can be optimized.
In order to form groups of two, or pairs of objects, the package insert can particularly advantageously have four webs or web segments which are arranged behind one another and which are each arranged spaced apart from one another, of which two webs or web segments in each case serve for the storage of one object.
An advantageous embodiment can also be obtained if the at least one web has a plurality of cutouts which are open toward a top face of the web and which are predefined by the recesses and each receive an object. Elongate objects, for example, can be easily placed in these cutouts and stored horizontally therein. To block off the recesses open toward the top face of the web, the package insert can have, as a cover, the top wall section which is preferably affixed to the top face of the web. The top wall section (i.e. the cover) can be provided with predetermined tear lines for ensuring the tear-off function of the package insert.
At least one web can be a hollow body standing upright from a base plane and provided with two web side-walls and with a top face that preferably extends parallel to the base plane. The web side-walls can be laterally adjoined by fastening sections which are arranged on the base plane and which are preferably fixed on the bottom section and adhesively bonded to the latter. The fastening sections can be provided with predetermined tear lines and alternatively with cut lines, in which case these lines can preferably extend congruently with respect to the predetermined tear lines assigned to the bottom wall section or to the top wall section.
In an alternative embodiment, the package insert can have a profiled body which is produced from preferably one blank and which is formed by adhesive bonding and folding operations, which profiled body in terms of its cross-section surrounds an object or a group of objects. The web can in this case be an integral component part of the profiled body. For packing elongate objects, the mutually opposite side-wall sections provided with predetermined tear lines can extend in the longitudinal direction like the objects.
It may be particularly advantageous if the profiled body has a web standing upright from a base plane and of preferably triangular, trapezoidal or rectangular cross-section. The web can divide the interior of the profiled body into two cavities, with one object being assigned to each cavity. For example, two objects can in this way be combined particularly advantageously in one group per package unit.
The web can have web side-walls provided with recesses, which recesses each extend, starting from a base plane, in the direction of a top face of the web, and an object is or can be partially received in a respective recess. This design of the package insert is suitable in particular for upright storage of elongate objects, in which case one end of the object (e.g. a bottom of a vial) can bear on the base plane.
Further advantages may be afforded if, in order to fix the objects in place on both sides in the area of the base plane, mutually opposite recesses are arranged on the web side-walls and on the side wall sections.
On the face lying opposite the base plane, the mutually opposite side wall sections can be adjoined by bridge sections which are oriented toward each other and which can be connected to each other by overlapping adhesive sections. For advantageously fixing the objects in place in the area of the face lying opposite the base plane, the bridge sections can be provided with recesses which each partially receive an object.
The package can comprise a folding box which is made preferably from one blank and in which the package insert is or can be fitted. However, it would of course also be conceivable for the above-described package insert to be used as a package without a folding box or any other outer packaging.
An advantageous embodiment can be obtained if the package has a folding box made preferably from one blank and comprising a box base. The box base can form the bottom wall section of the package insert, to which the fastening sections of the webs are preferably secured and particularly preferably adhesively bonded. In this arrangement, the package insert can be integrated in an advantageous manner in a box. In addition or alternatively, the box base can be provided with predetermined tear lines in such a way that the package insert can be pressed out of the folding box. Of course, the box base can, by means of alternative configurations, predefine other types of separation. For example, solutions with separating threads are conceivable, or with tear-off strips predefined by perforation lines for detaching the package insert.
Such a design of the box base can also be advantageous for packages with conventional package inserts. For the latter case, it would not therefore be strictly necessary to provide package inserts with perforation lines.
Further individual features and advantages of the invention will become clear from the following description of the illustrative embodiments and from the drawings, in which:
From
A plurality of recesses are arranged in the blank. The recesses 10 are assigned to the web or the web segment 6, and the recess 11 is assigned to the web or the web segment 7 (cf.
It can be seen in
In contrast to the preceding illustrative embodiments,
The package insert has a profiled body 23, which surrounds the paired groups of objects 30 and 31 arranged next to one another. A web 6 of triangular cross-section is arranged in the interior and divides the interior of the profiled body. The profiled body 23 has two side-wall sections 49 and 50, which lie opposite each other and which extend parallel to the longitudinal directions A1/A2. The bottom wall section 40, on which the adhesive sections 19 and 20 of the profiled body 23 lie flat and are adhesively fixed, lies on the base plane indicated by B. The sections 49 and 50 are each adjoined by sections 33, 34 designated as bridge sections, which extend obliquely upward. Toward the top, the package insert is closed by adhesive sections which overlap each other and are adhesively bonded to each other. An adhesive section 35 which adjoins a bridge section 33, and which extends approximately plane-parallel with respect to the base plane B, can be seen in
The web 6 has web side-walls (not visible in
It will be seen from
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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09159063.8 | Apr 2009 | EP | regional |