Patent Application
20080296188
The present invention relates to packages of sheet material formed into rolls, and methods of use thereof. In the field of gift wrap sheet material, a great variety of patterns, colors, finishes, and sizes of packages must be produced. In the marketing of such sheet material, it has been found that consumers often prefer relatively small amounts of any one type of gift wrap sheet material. Accordingly, it is often not practical for the manufacturer to package large quantities of one type of gift wrap sheet material for retail sale.
However, for the manufacturer, and ultimately for the consumer, the practice of providing a separate stiff core for each roll of a relatively short length of sheet material is expensive and not in the spirit of conservation. Each roll of gift wrap material generally has a low cost, but requires a large volume of shelf space for display and storage for a relatively minor amount of sheet material. This results in a relatively high “shelf space to cost” ratio, which greatly reduces the profit margin on each item. In fact, the shelf space for each roll of gift wrap is primarily consumed by the core, rather than by the relatively small amount of gift wrap material which is wrapped about the core.
It would therefore be desirable for the consumer, manufacturer and retail seller to have a roll of gift wrap material which took up less space than currently on the market items and which also reduced the eventual wastage of the core.
Currently, rolls of wrapping material are sold as a long unfolded web of material which is taken up on a cylindrical tube or core. For example, if the web of material has a width of 30 inches, the length of material when wrapped about the core also has a width of 30 inches. Conversely, in the present invention, as described in more detail below, the web of material is in one embodiment doubled over (folded in half lengthwise) before being taken up on the core, thereby providing a length of folded material on the roll. For example, if the original web of material has a width of 30 inches, the length of folded material on the roll will have a width of about 15 inches. The length of the core upon which the folded material is rolled can therefore be reduced to about half of the length of a core of a standard roll of wrapping material thereby reducing the amount of shelf space needed to store the roll and greatly benefitting the consumer, manufacturer, retailer, and the environment by reducing land fill needs.
The present invention therefore is a roll of folded wrapping material and a method of use thereof for wrapping gift items or other items. Where used herein, the term “gift item” may include potted plants of floral groupings such as bouquets or cut flowers.
Referring now to the drawings, shown in
The inner core 12 or 12a may be constructed of any material typically used by persons of ordinary skill in the art to construct such cores, for example, cardboard or plastic. The material used to construct the length of folded sheet material 14 or 14a may be any flexible material used by a person of ordinary skill in the art of gift wrapping or wrapping of other packages or items. For example, it may be plastic, paper, synthetic or non-synthetic polymeric film, or non-polymeric film, foil, a rubber or rubberized material, a fabric comprised of natural or synthetic materials, net, cellophane, shrinkable materials (e.g., heat shrinkable), or combinations or laminations thereof.
The roll of folded wrapping material 10 or 10a is preferably covered with a transparent film or bag (not shown) for sale and labeled and may be packaged together as multiple rolls in a manner well known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
The roll of folded wrapping material 10 or 10a may be produced by any suitable manner which enables a web of material to be folded lengthwise. For example, one such apparatus for folding and rolling is shown in
In use, a portion (not shown) of the folded sheet material 14 or 14a, or other folded sheet material as described herein, is removed from the roll of folded wrapping material 10 or 10a, respectively. The portion of the folded sheet material 14 or 14a comprising a sheet of material is then unfolded and disposed about the gift item or other item, or in another method of use, is left in a folded condition and is disposed about the gift item or other item.
While the invention is described above in connection with certain embodiments so that aspects thereof may be more fully understood and appreciated, it is not intended that the invention be limited to these particular embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended that all alternatives, modifications and equivalents are included within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Thus the examples described above, which include preferred embodiments, will serve to illustrate the practice of this invention, it being understood that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of preferred embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of procedures as well as of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention.
Changes may be made in the construction and the operation of the various components, elements and assemblies described herein or in the steps or the sequence of steps of the methods described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 11/147,103, now abandoned. The entire contents of the above-referenced patent application is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. Not applicable.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11147103 | Jun 2005 | US |
| Child | 12220387 | US |
