Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~056350
This invention relates to a combined shipping container
and dispensing sleeve for disposable cups of flexible material.
Various types of dispensing sleeves have been propos-
ed, equipped with means to retain a stack of cups and to allow
the bottom one to be withdrawn, when grasped and pulled,
while retaining the rest of the stack in place. One such
device is shown in U.S. patent 3,462,044 McKenna (1969).
That device uses a heavy tube purely as a dispenser
into which the cups are loaded at the dispensing site. The
retaining means comprise a plurality of members presenting
bristles projecting substantially perpendicularly towards the
axis of the dispenser at a distance sufficiently to engage the
rims of the cups in position within the dispenser.
An aim of the present invention is to provide a device
which works on the same general principal, but is constructed
of low cost disposable material so that it may be used at the
same time as a shipping container in which the cups are shipped
from the manufacturer and as a cup dispenser which can be
mounted at its destination.
`, 20 With this in mind, the invention provides container
means for supporting cups in a dispenser which is a retaining
element having a blister of plastic material which projects ~ -
perpendicularly towards the axis of the dispenser at a dis-
tance sufficient to engage the cup within the dispenser in a ~ -
supporting relationship. Preferably, the dispenser is a sleeve
of transparent material. The sleeve is desirably of rectangular
cross-section.
- In the preferred form, the retainer means is a blister
which has at least one, preferably two or three, elongated
juxtaposed cup engaging ribs. This structure can be formed
inte~rally in the plastic material of the container-dispenser.
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1056350
Preferably, however, it is made as a separate unit comprising
a rectangular frame with the blister extending from within said
frame to present a pair of end walls and several elongated ribs
extending between them. The frame is adhesively secured to
the inner wall of the sleeve spaced from its lower end. There
are at least two oppositely disposed retainer means provided,
for example on opposite walls of the sleeve, or, better still,
a rectangular sleeve is provided with a retainer means on
each wall.
Having thus generally described the invention, it
will be referred to in more detail by reference to the accom-
panying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment and
in which:-
FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a container
dispenser according to the invention'
FIGURE 2 iS an enlarged fragmentary cross-section
showing the relationship between the bottom
cups of the stack and the retaining
device, and
FIGURE 3 iS an enlarged perspective view showing
the structure of a preferred retaining
device.
More specific reference will now be made to the
drawings.
The preferred container dispenser shown is made up
of an elongated open-ended sleeve A of transparent plastic
material. The sleeve is of rectangular cross-section and has
walls 15, 16, 17 and 18. A removable cover 19 seats on the
top of the sleeve.
Spaced from the bottom edge of each wall, considering
~' the wall 18 by way of example, there is a retaining device B of
,
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~056350
transparent plastic material. The device s has a flat rectangular
frame 21 adhesively secured to the inner face of the wall 18.
Extending inwards from the inner edge of the frame 21 is an
integral blister made up of end walls 23, side walls 25 and
between the side walls 25, three ribs 27, 29 and 31. Similar
retaining devices Bl, B2 and B3 are connected to the walls 15,
16 and 17.
As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a stack of cups C, Cl,
C2, etc. of expanded plastic material is held within the sleeve.
The blisters B, Bl, B2 and B3, engage the rim 33 of the lower-
most cup C with the latter in a position having a part of its
body projecting downward beyond the end of the sleeve A.
The structure and resistance to flexure of the ribs
27, 29 and 31 in conjunction with the resistance to flexure of -
the cups is such that under normal conditions the stack of
cups will be held from falling down through the bottom of the
sleeve. But, the ribs 27, 29 and 31 are slightly flexible as
is the rim 33 of the cup C, that is flexible enough in combina-
tion to allow the lowermost cup to be withdrawn by a user
grasping it and pulling it downwards so that its rim moves
down past the blister. This will advance the next cup Cl into
the position of the cup C so that its rim 35 will be engaged
by the blister and prevent the cup from moving further down
under the mere weight of the stack of cups and presenting it
ready for dispensing in its turn.
Preferably the walls of the sleeve are made out of
transparent synthetic resin. A desirable material is polyvinyl-
chloride sheet having a thickness from about 0.0125 to 0.02
inches. This material is sufficiently rigid to retain its form
for holding the stack of cups during shipping and to hold the
cups as they are dispensed one-by-one. The retaining device
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is of a more flexible plastic material.
A desirable material for the blisters is polyvinyl-
chloride.
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