Patent Application
20170240328
This application claims priority of Taiwanese Invention Patent Application No. 105202465, filed on Feb. 22, 2016.
The disclosure relates to a closing sleeve, and more particularly to a straw closing sleeve, and a foldable blank supplying sheet and a roll of foldable blank supplying tape for providing one or more of the straw closing sleeves.
A straw generally has an insertion end portion for being inserted into liquid, such as a beverage, received in a container, such as a cup, and a drinking end portion opposite to the insertion end portion to protrude from the container. When a user wants to drink the beverage in the cup through the straw, the drinking end portion of the straw will be put in the mouth of the user and may collect saliva and residual liquid from the beverage. Hence, the drinking end portion easily gathers dust or germs, and may even attract insects, such as flies, upon exposure to the environment. Thus, hygienic concerns are an issue associated with the straw.
Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a straw closing sleeve that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.
According to one aspect of the disclosure, the straw closing sleeve for closing a drinking end of a straw includes a foldable blank.
The foldable blank is converted into a sleeve body. The sleeve body includes a top end wall, two surrounding wall halves, and two adhesively bonded joint portions.
The surrounding wall halves extend downwardly from a peripheral end of the top end wall, and cooperate to define a bottom opening that is opposite to the top end wall and a receiving space that is between the top end wall and the bottom opening.
The adhesively bonded joint portions are respectively connected to two opposite sides of each of the surrounding wall halves.
According to another aspect of the disclosure, a foldable blank supplying sheet includes a blank carrier layer, a release layer, and an adhesive layer.
The blank carrier layer includes a plurality of foldable blanks, a plurality of tear lines each surrounding one of the foldable blanks, and a plurality of scrap regions each surrounding one of the tear lines.
The adhesive layer is formed between the blank carrier layer and the release layer.
Each of the foldable blanks includes an elongate blank sheet that has a longitudinal adhesive-free portion, two longitudinal adhesive-bearing portions that are respectively disposed at two opposite sides of the adhesive-free portion, a mid fold line that extends transversely through the adhesive-free portion and the adhesive-bearing portions and that divides the elongate blank sheet into two parts, and a looped fold line intersecting the mid fold line within the adhesive-free portion.
The layer of the adhesive covers the longitudinal adhesive-bearing portions of the foldable blanks and the scrap regions.
According to the other aspect of the disclosure, a roll of foldable blank supplying tape includes a blank tape.
The blank tape has a long row of foldable blanks interconnected in series, and a plurality of blank tape transverse tear lines each formed between two adjacent ones of the foldable blanks.
Each of the foldable blanks includes an elongate blank sheet that has a longitudinal adhesive-free portion, two longitudinal adhesive-bearing portions that are respectively disposed at two opposite sides of the adhesive-free portion, a mid fold line that extends transversely through the adhesive-free portion and the adhesive-bearing portions and that divides the blank sheet into two parts, and a looped fold line that intersects the mid fold line within the adhesive-free portion.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics.
Referring to
The sleeve body 2 includes a top end wall 21, two surrounding wall halves 22, and two adhesively bonded joint portions 222. The surrounding wall halves 22 extend downwardly from a peripheral end of the top end wall 21, and cooperate to define a bottom opening 20 that is opposite to the top end wall 21 and a receiving space (S) that is between the top end wall 21 and the bottom opening 20 and that is used for receiving the drinking end 11 of the straw 1. The adhesively bonded joint portions 222 are respectively connected to two opposite sides of each of the surrounding wall halves 22. In the embodiment, each of the adhesively bonded joint portions 222 has a grip part 223 that projects outwardly in a direction opposite to the surrounding wall halves 22 and that is adapted to be gripped by a user.
The foldable blank 2′ includes an elongate blank sheet 23 and adhesive strips 24. The elongate blank sheet 23 has two longitudinally opposite ends 231, a longitudinal adhesive-free portion 232 that extends from one of the opposite ends 231 to the other one of the opposite ends 231, and two longitudinal adhesive-bearing portions 233 that are respectively disposed at two opposite sides of the adhesive-free portion 232 and respectively have the adhesive strips 24.
The elongate blank sheet 23 further includes a mid fold line 211 that extends transversely through the adhesive-free portion 232 and the adhesive-bearing portions 233 and that divides the elongate blank sheet 23 into two parts, and a looped line 212 intersecting the mid fold line 211 within the adhesive-free portion 232. In the embodiment, the foldable blank 2′ further includes a printed layer 25 that is formed on a surface of the elongate blank sheet 23 opposite to the adhesive strips 24. The printed layer 25 may include a pattern having at least one word, an image, or some colors for identification purposes.
Referring to
Referring back to
Referring to
As mentioned above, each of the foldable blanks 2′ includes the elongate blank sheet 23. The adhesive layer 24′ covers the longitudinal adhesive-bearing portions 233 of the foldable blanks 2′ and the scrap regions 311 so as to serve as the adhesive strips 24. In the embodiment, the number of each of the foldable blanks 2′, the tear lines 312, and the scrap regions 311 is respectively exemplified to be three, and the scrap regions 311 are exemplified to be integrally formed as one piece. It is worth noting that the numbers of the foldable blanks 2′, the tear lines 312, and the scrap regions 311 can be adjustable and different from each other according to actual practice.
When the foldable blank supplying sheet 3 is being used, each of the foldable blanks 2′ is capable of being torn off from the release layer 32 along the corresponding one of the tear lines 312, followed by converting the foldable blank 2′ into the sleeve body 2 as mentioned above in connection with
Alternatively, the foldable blank supplying sheet 3 may be further formed with a printed sheet such that each of the foldable blanks 2′ obtained therefrom has the above printed layer 25.
Referring to
The blank tape 41 has a long row of foldable blanks 2′ interconnected in series, and a plurality of blank tape transverse tear lines 411 each formed between two adjacent ones of the foldable blanks 2′.
When the roll of foldable blank supplying tape 4 is being used, each of the foldable blanks 2′ is capable of being torn off along a corresponding one of the blank tape transverse tear lines 411, followed by converting the foldable blank 2′ into the sleeve body 2 as mentioned above in connection with
Referring to
The blank tape 41 further includes multiple pairs of longitudinal scrap regions 412 and multiple pairs of longitudinal tear lines 413.
Each pair of the scrap regions 412 is formed between two adjacent ones of the blank tape transverse tear lines 411 at two opposite sides of a corresponding one of the foldable blanks 2′. Each of the longitudinal tear lines 413 is disposed between two adjacent ones of the blank tape transverse tear lines 411 and between a corresponding one of the foldable blanks 2′ and a corresponding one of the longitudinal scrap regions 412.
In summary, by virtue of the design of the foldable blank 2′, and the foldable blank supplying sheet 3 and the roll of foldable blank supplying tape 4 for providing the same, the sleeve body 2 for detachably and closely sleeving the drinking end 11 of the straw 1 can be easily obtained. Thus, the drinking end 11 of the used straw 1 can be effectively protected from contacting dust and insects, and hygienic concerns when using the straw 1 can be greatly eased.
In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments maybe practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects.
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 105202465 | Feb 2016 | TW | national |
