Patent Grant
7661554
Disposable sheet style dispensers are well-known in the art for dispensing individual folded sheet products such as facial tissues, hand sheets, wet wipes, or the like. In general, disposable sheet dispensers typically include a container and a stack or clip of pre-folded, interfolded sheets disposed within the container. The sheets may be C-folded, V-folded, Z-folded, tab-bonded or flat so that once the top sheet in the clip is withdrawn, the underlying sheet is individually presented for subsequent use.
One of the common problems among disposable sheet dispensers involves the issue of “double pull”. This occurs when more than one sheet comes out of the container when the leading sheet is withdrawn. Additionally, the problem of “streaming” can occur in disposable sheet dispensers. Streaming occurs when the user pulls the first sheet out, and subsequent sheets are also withdrawn, with the separation of the following ones never occurring.
To overcome some of these problems, disposable sheet dispensers have been designed with the dispensing slot covered by a plastic film defining a slit. The use of slits has worked well in eliminating some of the above problems, and narrow slits are also well suited for presenting tissue sheets for subsequent removal. In some applications, however, it is sometimes difficult to remove the initial sheet from the stack when a slit is present. For instance, the slit can interfere with the ability of a user to grab the leading edge.
In order to overcome some of these problems, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,952 to Masui, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, a box containing facial tissues is disclosed in which a tape or strings are attached to the undersurface of a removable panel of the box and to the upper most of the facial tissues. In this manner, when the box is opened, and the removable panel is removed along a perforated line, the upper most facial tissue is automatically removed from the container along with the removable panel.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,633 to Thoms, which is also incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, a dispenser for dispensing a stack of disposable sheets is disclosed having a removable panel that is releasably attached to the first sheet in the stack. When the removable panel is pulled off the container, the first sheet in the stack is partially withdrawn from the container. After being partially withdrawn, however, the sheet releases from the removable panel.
Although the above two patents have provided advancements in the art, further improvements are still needed. For example, with the methods disclosed in the above cited patents, the adhesive is exposed to the interior volume of the dispenser during manufacture of the structure and subsequent insertion of the clip of interfolded sheets. This situation is disadvantageous in that the adhesive may interfere with production of the dispenser container and loading of the clip of sheets into the dispenser. Also, the potential exists for the adhesive to become soiled by any manner of particulate matter inherently present in any facility that processes tissue products, thus rendering the adhesive ineffective.
In general, the present disclosure is directed to a dispenser for dispensing interfolded disposable sheets. A stack (“clip”) of interfolded disposable sheets is housed within a container and the sheets are arranged to be withdrawn from the container one after another. The sheets can be various paper products, including facial tissues, paper towels, industrial wipers, laboratory wipers, wet wipes, and the like. The dispensing container includes a removable panel that, once removed, uncovers an opening for withdrawing the sheets. In certain embodiments, the removable panel is a portion of a top or side wall of the container that has been perforated for easy removal by a consumer. In other embodiments, the removable panel may be a separate piece of material, such as a film, paperboard, or the like, that is removably attached to the container wall to overlie the dispensing opening and is removed by the consumer prior to use of the dispenser.
The removable panel is attached to a first sheet in the clip of interfolded sheets. In particular, the removable panel is adhered to the first sheet such that when the removable panel is removed from the dispensing container, the first sheet is pulled through the dispensing opening in the container. The sheet may be released from the removable panel so as to remain at least partially within the container, or may be completely withdrawn from the dispensing container when the panel is removed.
In particular embodiments, the removable panel is attached to the first sheet in the clip of interfolded sheets by an adhesive material that is exposed to the interior volume of the container in an adhesive or “activated” state only after the clip of interfolded sheets has been inserted into the container. Prior to insertion of the clip, the adhesive is inactivated (i.e., non-adhesive) or, if in an adhesive state, kept isolated from the interior volume of the container. In this manner, the adhesive material does not interfere with the manufacturing process, particularly insertion of the clip of interfolded sheets into the container.
Once the clip of interfolded sheets is loaded into the dispensing container, the adhesive is then exposed to the interior volume of the container in an adhesive conditions and may be contacted with the first sheet in the clip by various means. For example, the container may be inverted to cause the first sheet in the clip to rest on the removable panel. Alternately, the removable panel may be pressed into contact with the first sheet in the clip by applying external pressure to the outside surface of the removable panel.
In a particular embodiment, the adhesive material is applied in an unactivated state between an underside of the removable panel and the clip of interfolded sheets, and is subsequently activated to an adhesive state after insertion of the clip into the container. For example, the adhesive material may be applied entirely to the underside of the removable panel in its unactivated state and subsequently activated by exposure of the dispenser to an external stimulus after the clip of sheets has been loaded into the dispenser. Various types of activatable adhesives may be used in such an embodiment, including various commercially available RF or UV activated adhesives, wherein the container is exposed to a source of RF or UV energy after insertion of the clip in order to activate the adhesive.
In an alternate embodiment, the adhesive material is a two-part adhesive that is not activated until the two component parts are brought into contact. For example, the two-part adhesive may be an epoxy adhesive that is not activated until a resin component is brought into contact with a hardener component. A first part of the adhesive may be disposed on the underside the removable panel and the second part of the adhesive may be disposed on the uppermost sheet of the clip of interfolded sheets. However, the individual parts are not in an adhesive state and thus do not interfere with insertion of the clip or other manufacturing steps. After the clip has been inserted, the adhesive material is activated or exposed to the interior volume in an adhesive state by contacting the uppermost sheet against the underside of the removable panel such that the adhesive components are brought into contact for a sufficient time to blend and form the adhesive material.
In alternate embodiments, the adhesive material may be physically isolated from the interior volume of the container until after insertion of the clip, wherein the adhesive is moved from it isolated location into a position within the container to contact the top sheet in the clip. In a particular embodiment, the removable panel includes a hinged flap and the adhesive material is disposed on an upper (external) side the flap. This flap may take on various forms. For example, the flap may be a perforated portion of the removable panel, or a separate material disposed over an opening in the removable panel. The adhesive material is exposed to the interior volume of the container by repositioning the flap so as to bring the adhesive into a facing position relative to the uppermost sheet in the clip of interfolded sheets. The flap may be repositioned simply by being pressed down into the interior volume so as to fold at least partially under the removable panel and expose the adhesive material to the uppermost sheet. The flap may have sufficient resiliency after being folded under the removable panel to move into direct contact with the first sheet in the clip simply upon release of the flap. Alternately, the container may be inverted to cause the first sheet to contact the adhesive on the down-turned face of the flap. If desired, the adhesive may be protected by a release liner that is removed by the user prior to activating the dispenser.
The present invention encompasses any manner of dispenser made in accordance with the method principles described herein.
The dispensing container can be made from various materials and is generally not critical to the present invention. For instance, the dispensing container can be made from paperboard or from a flexible polymer film. The dispensing container can be in the shape of a rectangular box, a square box, or in the form of any other suitable shape.
Other features and aspects of the present invention are discussed in greater detail below.
An embodiment of the present invention is described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Repeat use of reference characters in this present specification and drawings is intended to represent same or analogous features or elements.
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, and is not meant as a limitation of the invention. For example, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield still a third embodiment. It is intended that the present invention includes these and other modifications and variations.
In general, the present disclosure is directed to a dispenser for dispensing interfolded disposable sheets from a clip. The disposable sheets can be, for instance, facial tissues, paper towels, industrial wipers, laboratory wipers, wet wipes, and the like. The dispensing container includes a removable panel that, once removed, uncovers an opening for withdrawing the sheets. The removable panel is attached to the first sheet in the clip with an adhesive material that is not exposed to the interior volume of the container in an adhesive state until the clip of interfolded sheets has been loaded into the container. Once the clip has been placed into the container, the adhesive material may be positioned, activated, or otherwise acted upon so as to be exposed within the interior volume in an adhesive state. The uppermost (“top” or “first”) sheet in the clip is then brought into contact with the adhesive material to attach the sheet to the removable panel. Various embodiments of this methodology are discussed in detail below by reference to the figures.
Depending upon the particular application and the desired result, the adhesive material may securely affix the removable panel to the first sheet in the clip or may be releasably attached to the first sheet. For example, in one embodiment, the removable panel is attached to the first sheet in a manner such that when the panel is removed from the dispensing container, the first sheet is partially withdrawn. Once the sheet is partially withdrawn, the first sheet then detaches from the removable panel. Thus, once the panel is removed from the container, the first sheet in the clip is available for easy and immediate removal. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,633 discussed above (and incorporated herein by reference) for a more detailed description of this feature. In an alternative embodiment, the removable panel may be more securely affixed to the first sheet in the clip of disposable sheets such that the first sheet is completely withdrawn from the dispensing container when the removable panel is removed. It should be appreciated that any degree of attachment between the adhesive and first sheet in the clip that results in at least partial withdrawal of the first sheet upon removal of the panel is within the scope of the invention.
Referring to the figures in general, embodiments of a dispensing container generally 10 are illustrated for housing a clip 12 of any manner of interfolded sheets, such as facial tissue. It should be understood that the invention is not limited to any particular type of interfolded disposable sheets. The clip of interfolded disposable sheets 12 may be C-folded, V-folded, Z-folded, tab-bonded or configured with respect to one another by any means commonly known in the art.
The dispensing container 10 may take on any desired geometric shape and size. In the illustrated embodiments, the container 10 includes a pair of sides or walls 16, end walls 15, a bottom wall 14, and a top wall 20. The walls define an interior volume sized for receipt of the clip 12 of interfolded sheets, which generally rest upon the bottom wall 14.
The top wall 20 of the container 10 includes a removable panel 22 that, once removed, exposes a dispensing opening 42 in the top wall 20. The removable panel 22 may include an end extension 26 at one or both ends thereof configured to allow a consumer to grasp either of the end extensions 26 in order to pull the panel 22 away from the top wall 20. The panel 22 may be “removable” relative to the top wall 20 by various means. For example, in the embodiment of
It may be desired to include a film layer 25 over the dispensing opening 42 in addition to the removable panel 22, as illustrated in
In general, the dispensing container 10 can be made from various materials. For instance, the container can be made from paperboard or cardboard. Alternatively, the container can be made from plastic films, such as thermoplastic films. Materials used to form the walls of the container can be rigid or flexible.
As illustrated in the figures, below the top wall 20 is the clip 12 of interfolded sheets with an uppermost or top sheet 28. The sheets may be interfolded in various fold patterns known to those skilled in the art, such as C-folds, V-folds, and so forth. In
The adhesive material 50 used in the various embodiments to attach the top sheet 28 to the removable panel 22 is not activated or exposed to the interior volume of the container 10 in an adhesive condition until the clip 12 of interfolded sheets has been inserted into the container 10. In this manner, the adhesive material 50 does not interfere with the manufacturing process, particularly insertion of the clip 12 into the container.
In the embodiment illustrated, for example, in
It should be appreciated that various types of single component adhesives that are cured by an external stimulus, such as a light, UV, RF, or microwave source, are well known in the adhesive art and may be used with embodiments of the present invention. Vendors of these types of adhesives include Jenton UV (division of Jenton International), Cyberbond LLC, Electro-Lite Corporation, and Parson Adhesives, Inc.
The embodiment wherein the adhesive material 50 is activated at a subsequent time after insertion of the clip 12 is readily adaptable to conventional manufacturing lines wherein the dispensing container 10 is formed from a one-piece blank that is subsequently assembled into a flat sleeve configuration. The inactivated adhesive material 50 may be applied to a location on the blank panel corresponding to the underside of the top wall 20 and removable panel 22 prior to forming the blank into the flat sleeve configuration. For convenience and manufacturing efficiency, it is often the case that the dispensing containers 10 are stored or transported in the flat sleeve configuration prior to being loaded with a clip of disposable interfolded sheets at a subsequent production location. In this flat sleeve configuration, the underside of the top wall lies in contact with other walls of the container 10. However, because the adhesive material 50 is inactivated, the adhesive will not cause the walls to adhere together, and thus will not interfere with subsequent formation of the flat sleeves into a box-like container 10.
It should be appreciated that, depending on the type of activatable adhesive, provision may be necessary in the container for supply of the external stimulus. For example, in the case of a UV activated adhesive, it may be necessary to provide a transparent panel or film in the container at a location such that UV energy may be supplied to the adhesive subsequent to insertion of the clip of sheets. The top wall 20, or a portion of the wall, may be made of a transparent material.
Any number of multiple component adhesives are commercially available and may be used in various embodiments of the invention. Examples of such adhesives include two part acrylics, epoxies, and urethanes. 3M Corporation offers various commercially available versions of these adhesives.
The adhesive material 50 used in the embodiments of
It should be appreciated that any of the embodiments illustrated and described herein may include a polymeric film 25 between the removable panel 22 and top sheet 28 in the clip of interfolded sheets, as particularly illustrated in
These and other modifications and variations to the present invention may be practiced by those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, which is more particularly set forth in the appended claims. In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the various embodiments may be interchanged both in whole and in part. Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way of example only, and is not intended to limit the invention so further described in such appended claims.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| 20070131703 A1 | Jun 2007 | US |
