Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
The present invention relates generally to novel
package systems and particularly to a combination hand
carried dispensing and unitary carton-shipping package
system for industria1 size wipers.
At one time, virtually all industrial and shop
wipers were assorted, odd-sized rags, sold typically in 25
pound bundles~ Oftimes, these 25 pound bundles contained
poor quality rags having a variety of fluid absorbent
characteristics which did not adequately meet users needs.
In an effort to provide an effective replacement
'or rags and other textile products, which would meet most
of the needs of the users, many manufacturers of paper and
synthetic products developed large size sheets of absorbent
paper and synthetic material for use as wipers and towels
which could be packaged and rapidly dispensed, providing
the user a better wiper product than the aforementloned
textile wipers.
Some manufacturers have provide~ large size
disposable wipers e.g. 18 x 15 inches packaged in bundles
of 50 wipers or in cartons of up to 200 wipers. The wiper
material having qualities which compete with the strength;
bulk, durability and oil as well as wa~er absorbency as do
textile products have been produced.
~5~2~
In preparing textile replacement products,
manufacturers explored various techniques and methods for
packaging their products. Some manufacturers prepared
material in roll form for use in dispensers having a
serrated cutter for cutting strips from the rollO Others
packaged stacks of wipers in flat or folded sheet ~orm, in
bands or cartons for distribution from dispensers. Still
others formed continuous unitary tissue strips folded
across its wid~h dimensions; each fold being in the
alternate direction providing a zig-zag configuration
containing perorations placed across its width dimension,
at sequentially chosen locations, forming wiper segment
regions. This folded and perfcrated strip is placed in a
storage box. U. S~ Patent No. 3,490,645 dated January 20,
1970 of James Glass et al describes such a tissue strip.
Removal and separation of the tissue strips into wiper
segments is accomplished by pulling a wiper strip out o~
the storage box through an opening therei~ and thereafter
~ detaching each individual segment from the strip along the
perforations. To provide compact storage of the wiper
strips, the material is usually folded longitudin~lly into
C-folds or Z-folds.
Realizing problems such as the inconvenience of
physically detaching each wiper along the perforations from
wiper strips, a search for various other means to effec~
wiper dlspensing was initiated. This search resu]ted in the
; improved product of the present invention.
According to one aspect of the invention there is
provided a dispensing system for dispensing wipers from a
dispensing carton, the system having a subs-tantially
continuous web of wiper material, of a predetermined
length having disposed therein a plurality of transverse
perforation lines disposed substantially equidistant to
form a plurality of serially connected separable wipers
within the web, each of the perforated lines including a
plurality of perforated teeth and slits disposed in a
particular sequence, at least one of the first and last
slits in each perforation line extending to a side edge of
the web, the seperable wipers being disposed in a stack in the
carton. A dispensing port means is disposed in the
carton for providing a port having a shape which permits
detaching a leading separable wiper from the stack to
yield a dispensed wiper. Detachment of the leading wiper
from the trailing wiper is initiated by the at least
one of the first and last slo-ts along the perforation
line between the leading wiper and a trailing wiper
straddling an edge of the port means. Following dispensing
of the wiper, partial dispensing of the trailing separable
wiper is effected so that dispensing and partial dispensing
permits sequential dispensing of the stack of separable wipers.
According to another aspect of the present invention
there is provided a method of making a zig-zag folded wiper
dispensing system, the method including the steps of trans~
versely perforating a plurality of perforation lines spaced
- 3 -
jrc:S ~
equidistant along a predetermined length of wiper material web
to form a predetermined number of serially connected separable
wipers, the perforation lines providing the separability
characteristic of the web, each perforation line being
comprised of a predetermined number of perforation teeth and
slits spaced equidistant along the line with at least a one
of the first and last slits extending into the respective
edges of the web. Each of the separable wipers is trans-
versely folded in the web in alternating opposite directions
such that the folded segments are formed. A carton is formed
for housing the folded web, the web being disposed in the
carton such that each separable wiper is stacked upon the
ne~t in a column. A removable elongated region is formed
in a top panel of the carton, the region being of a given
shape which, when removed, provides a dispensing port having
an opening along a major axis of the top panel for the
stack of separable
-E~"` '
~.~
. .
~rc~
':
~lS~2~
.
wipers having a length dimensiorl shorter than the wi~th of the
web- A dispensing port is formed by removing the removal
region of the carton.
In use a leading separable wiper is advanced through
the port in a manner causing at least the first or last slit
along the per~oration line connecting the leading separable
wiper to a trailing separable wiper to s-traddle the outer
boundary regions of the opening along the major axis o~ the ~op
panel causing at least one corner of a firs-t segment of the
trailing separable wiper to abut against the bottom surface of
the top panel. The top panel provides a resistance to the
trailing separable wiper of a magnitude which causes a last
segment of the leading separable wiper to curl about the major
axis of the port in a direction opposite to the direction which
the first segmènt of the trailing separable wiper curls, causing
the first and last perforation teeth along the perforation line
to detach. The leading separable wiper is fur-ther advanced
through the port so as to increase the magnitude of resistive
force along the trailing separable wiper causing the remaining
~0 perforation teeth to detach effecting -the dispensing of a wiper
and also to cause the first segment of the trailing separable
wiper to protrude through the port and the remaining segments
of the trailing separable wiper to partially unfold in
alternating opposite directions providing a web structure
which tends to resist fallback of the trailing separable wiper
onto the stack.
~ t has been found that a package containing large
quantities of separable wipers such as 75 separable wipers in
- 5 -
sb/J ,,
.S~
a stack, such a stack in a vertical column becomes quite
; unstable and would tumble over, hence,in a speci~ic
embodiment of the invention, a second carton containing
another 75
'
-- 6 --
sb/`.
separate wipers is disposed in juxtaposed relationship to
achieve physical stabilityO
BP.IEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
-
Referring to the dxawing figures, in which like
numerals represent iike parts in the sevexal views:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of machinery used to
form the web having a plurality of separable wipers of this
invention;
FIGS. 2 and 3 are cross sectional views of FIG. 1
along lines 2-2 and 3-3 respectively;
. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a blank of box material
utilized in this invention;
FIG. 5 is comprised of several plan view
geometric diagra~s at a reduced scale, namely FIG. 5A - 5C
illustrating various parameters of the elliptically shaped
dispensing port of the present invention;
FIGS. 6 and 6A are perspective views of a
preferred embodiment of the carton of this invention;
. FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view of the separable
wiper web of FIG. 2 illustrated in the dispensing position
being dispensed from a carton~ the carton shown as a
cutaway perspective view;
FXGS. 8 and 9 are cross-section views of FIG. 7
along lines 8-8 and 9 9; and
FIG. 10 is a plan view of the web and carton
illustrative of the "pop-out" feature of this invention.
-- 7
s~
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DETAlLED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EI~ODIMENT
Referring to the drawing figures, there is sho~n
in FIG. 1 a bloc~ diagram 10 which is illustrative of
machinery used to prepare a stack of separable wipers
suitable for use in this invention.
A continuous and bulky web 12, illustratively, of
four-ply creped wadding material having a thickness of
approximately 508 micrometers (20 mils~, a width of 38.10
cm (15 inches) and a length of at least 48058 meters
~1912.5 inches) is stored on storage reel 14. Web 12,
which is fed from reel 14 into a conventional perforating
device 16 is perfora~ed in a chosen manner to provide a
plurality of transverse perforation lines 18-18 spaced
equidistant along and transverse to the machine direction
o~ web 12. (See FIG. 2.) Prior to the perforation
operation, a plurality of equidistant lines are marked
~ transverse to the direction o web travel, illustratively
every 48.58 meters (1912.5 inches) b~ a marking device 15
so as to provide an indication of enough footage of web
material 12A for forming a stack of separable wipers.
In FIG. 2, there is shown~ as an elementary plan
view of web 72A with lines 18-18 spaced at a chosen
- interval transverse to the machine direction or
longitudinal axis of the web. Illustratively, lines 18-18
are nominally spaced every 64.77 cm (25~ inches~. Also,
each line 18 is comprised o a select number of p~rforation
-- 8
bonds ox teeth 18A-18A and perforated slits 18B-18B of a
certain width and length respectively, disposed in a
particular manner. Illustratively, line 18 comprises in
th'e preferred embodiment elght (8) teeth which are 203
micrometers (8.0 mils) width and seven (7) slits which are
4.445 cm (1-3/4 inches) long; the two teeth at the
extremities of line 18 are positioned inwardly from the
edges of the web by approximately 1.27 cm (~ inch) leaving
slits of approximately 2.223 cms (7/8 inch) ex,tending to
the edges. These perforating teeth and slits are capable
of being severed or broken in a controlled manner by means
disclosed by this in~ention.
: Each marked and perforated web 12A is fed into a '
conventional web folding device 20 which is capable of
folding the web into a plurality of individually folded
separable wipers, each separable wiper being folded in
alternating opposite directions to form a stack of
separable wipers as illustrated in FIG. 3~ In the
preferred embodiment each separable wiper is folded into
10.8 x 38.10 cm 14~ x 15 inches) units within the
substantially continuous ~eb 12A, the perforation lines
- 18-18 preventing the web from being a totally continuous
web. Illustratively, each separable wipex is comprised of
a first half-size segment l~D. Each group Of 75 folded but
separable wipers in web 12A are manually detached along the
marked line previously mentioned to form the stack of
_ 9
separable wipers that is placed in each of the stoxa~e
compartments ~f the carton and shipping package o~ this
invention.
Means are provided in the carton and shipping
package of this invention for dispensing individual wipers
serially from the stack of separable wipers stored in the
packaye. Referring now to FIGURE 4, there is shown the
organization of a blank 30 of box material used in
constructing the carton and shipping package o~ this
invention. Tn the preferred embodiment, blank 30,
fabricated from a die-cut blank of corrugated single-wall
(or sometimes referred to as double-faced) box board, or
other case-forming material, cut to a predetermined
thic~ness, size, direction and contour, having proper
~ending ~ualities is employed. Illustratively, blank 30
has a nominal thickness of 0.318 cms (0.125 inch) and a
nominal basis weight of 52.6 kg (116 pounds) per 6500 cm2
(1,000 square feet). The direction of the die-cut is such
that flutes (f) of the corrugated fiberboard run parallel
to the depth of the box, the side flutes being a B-flute
construction of approximately 45 to 52 flutes per lineal
foot~ Blank 30 comprises a partition panel 3~ with a 3.46
cm (1-3~8 inches) wide partition tab 34A attached to a
first end of the panel 32 ~nd a pair of partition flaps
34B-34B attached ~o opposing ends. Panel 32 also has a
perforated region 34C which when removed forms an aperture
-- ].0 --
~l15~
through ~Jhich the fingers of a hand may be extended; a
- first bottom ~anel 36A with first partial inside flaps
38A-38A attached to opposing ends; a first side panel 40
with a pair of outside flaps 42-42 attached to opposing
ends of panel 40; and a top panel 44 with full inside flaps
38B-38B attached to opposing ends, a second side panel 46
with a pair of outside flaps 42 att2ched to opposing ends
and a second bottom panel 36B with a pair o second partial
inside flaps 38C-38C attached to opposing ends.
Panel 44 also includes two elongated elliptically
shaped perforated resions 44B-44B, which when removed, ~orm
two side-by-side dispenser ports 44C-44C (best seen in FIG.
7). Dispenser ports 44C-4~C are used when dispensing the
wipers from the stacks of wipers stored in the storage
compartments of the package and are used in combination to
form a hand opening for grasping a handle pan~l 44A used
for hand carrying an open package.
Pursuant to a desirable feature of ~he invention,
the size and shape of regions 44B-~4B are relaied to the
width of web 12 and to the size of hand of an average man.
~s illustrated in FI&. 5 and its sub-figures SA SC, the
length or major axis and width or minor axis of region 44B
are dictated by the diameter of the major and minor
a~xiliary circles, respectively, of the ellipse which
defines regions 44B-44B, centered at X=O, Y=O of the
rectangular coordinates shown in FIG. SA. Other elongated
,
-- 11 --
115~
shapes may be used, however, but the elliptical shaped
region has be~n chosen for use in the preferred embodiment.
The auxiliary circles are used as an aid in forming the
ellipse. The length of the major a~is of the ellipse which
corresponds to the diameter of the major auxiliary circle
is so chosen to be shorter than the width o~ wiper 12A so
that when a lead wiper is dispensed through port 44C a
trailing wiper is partially pulled through port 44C and
held about the circumference of port 44C by the retention
forces caused basically by the length of the opening being
substantially less than the width of the trailing wiper.
This retention and holding action of the trailing wiper
makes possible the "pop-out" feature of this dispensing
system.
The length of the minor axis of the ellipse which
corresponds to the diameter of the minor auxiliary circle
~ is chosen to be substantially equivalent to the thickness
of a fully-open hand of the a~erage man so that the average
man may be able to insert his hand through port 44C to
grasp a wiper on the top of the stack of wipers. For
representative dimensions for forming the preferred
emhodiment, the major auxiliary circle of the ellipse is
22.86 cm (9 inches) in diameter and the minor auxiliary
circle is 7.62 cm (3 inches) in diameter.
To form the ellipse having major and minor axes
corresponding to the diameters of the major and minor
- 12 -
auxiliary circles respectively, several well-kno~m methods
m~y be used, such as obtaining a preformed template of the
precise slze or using analytical geometry or other plotting
técnniques to plot arcs and- points which may be connected
to form the shape.
Knowing the diameters of the major and minor
auxiliary circles, represented by lengths AC and AB
respectively, in FIGo SB the coordinates of the foci can be
determined. By using the well-known pythagorean theorem,
which states the square of the hypotenuse of a right
triangle equals the sum of the squares on the other sides,
the length of CB which represents the distance between the
oci fi-fi o~ FIG. SC of the ellipse may be calculated.
The coordinates of the ~oci along the major axis will be
CB/2.
~aving the coordinates of the foci and knowing
that elliptical curves are characterized by the fact that
the sum of the distances from any point on the curve to the
two foci is constant for that particular ellipse, the shape
of tne ellipse having the chosen major and minor axes may
be accurately traced b~ any of the aforementioned methods
and disposed on top panel 44.
The perforated reaions 44~-44B are comprised o
~io different sizes of per.o-ation teeth and perforated
slits, the slits being located between the teeth as
illustrated in FIG. 5C at a reduced scale~ The smaller of
- 13 -
~.-15~
the two sets of perforation teeth and slits disposed along
the arcs PP and QQ provide lines of weakness for inltlating
removal of the regions 44B-44B as well as to lessen the
tendency of tearing the outer facing covering the
horizontal flutes or corrugations during completion of the
removal operation. The larger teeth and slits are disposed
along arcs PQ-PQ in order to minimize the loss of board
strength of top panel 44 due to the perforations as well as
to lessen the tendency of tearing the outer ~acing covering
the horizontal flutes or corrugations during removal of
regions 44B-44B. Both the small and large teeth are spac~d
substantially equidistant along the arcs of the ellipse.
Representative dimensions used to form the preferred
embodiment provides six (6) teeth along arcs PQ-PQ having
widths of 0.397 cm (5/32 inch) and the remaining
twenty-four (24) teeth along arcs PP and QQ having widths
of 0.318 cm ~1/8 inch) with slits of 1.27 cm (~ inch in
length) disposed equidistant between the teeth along the
arcs. Additional perforations are disposed in regions D-D
in a manner perm-tting easy access to region 44B~44B.
Score line 48-48 of FIG. 4 are disposed so as to
facilitate folding the cardboard panels, the bending along
the score lines being such that the fiberboard is not
ruptured to a point where it seriouslv weakens the box.
~eferring now to FIG. 6, there is shown an
open-end view of an asse~bled paskage 31 formed from the
.
- 14 -
~l~S~
one-piece blank of board material and two stacks of
separable wipers. To assen~le package 31, blank 30 is
folded along the designated score 48-48 starting with
be~nding tab 34A and the fir:st bottom panel 36A with partial
inside flaps 38A-38A.attached, in the direction shown to
form partition 32. Then the first side pznel 40 with
outside flaps 42-42 attached, top panel 44 with the full
ins~de flaps 38B-38B attached, second side panel 46 with
- outside flaps 42-42 ~ttached and the second bottom panel
36B with partial inside flaps 38C-38C attached are folded
in the direction shown to shape the blank into an open
carton format. Each.panel 34B-34B (not shown) are disposed
to abut against a stack of separable wipers. Then
partltion tab 34A is cemented to a longitudinal region E of
top panel 44 ~ith a suitable glue in a manner disposing
partition panel 32 to be equidistant from the two side
panels 40 and 46, forming two adjacent wiper stack storage
compartments 52 and 54 respectively. Following the act of
Lorming the compartments, a free edge of second panel 36B
is overlapped and abutted against a first edge re~ion 50 of
first bottom panel 36C and cemented to form a glued joint F
which extends to the partial inside flaps which depend Lrom
the Lirst and second bottom panels. The inside flaps 38A,
38B and 38C, illustratively are 90 rectangular panels,
~hile outside flaps 42-42 are made to be substantially
rectangular ln shape but the outer edge corners of ~laps
- 15 -
5~ 3
42-42 are oftimes slightly less than 90 corners to
facilitake fo~ming smooth ends upon closure of the package
30. T~JO stacks of wipers, illustratively 150 wiper units/
7S wipers per stack are end-loaded into respective storage
compartments 52 and 54 and the ~laps are closed and sealed
with a conventional glue or in some instances with a
conventional packaging adhesive tape forming the
carton-packa~e shown in ~I~. 6A. The dispensing ports of
package 31 is disposed at a height measured from the bottom
of the carton which is approximately one half the lenqth of
a wiper which is dispensed from the cartonr
* * * * * * *
The operation of the package system will now be
discussed. This svstem provides a combination unitary
shipping package and a wiper dispensing hand carrying
carton, the carton having a built-in carrying handle and a
un~que "pop-out" dispensing feature tha~ allows the
trailing wiper from the wiper stack to be partially
- dispensed after the lezd wiper is dispensed.
Upon sealing the flaps closed, package 31 becomes
a shipping package suitable for cargo shipment in
interstate or intrastate commerce. The aforementioned
perforation teeth configuration in the top panel 44
associated with regions 448-44B are disposed substantially
in the same direction as the flu~es of the board material
and provide suitable stren~th to the facing to enable this
.
16 -
~.~L5~21
package to be used as a shipping package. Upon removal of
the elliptical shaped perforated regions 44B-44B, the
shipping package becomes a wiper dispenser carton having a
pair of dispensing ports members 44C-44C. These port
members also provide an opening or grasping the handle
panel member 44A disposed in top panel 44.
Since dispensing of wipers from either storage
compartment is identical, only one storage compartment and
one dispensin~ port will be referred to hereinafter to
describe the manner in which wipers are dispensed.
However, two storage compartments are used to provide
stability to the package since a single stack of 75
sepzrab1e wipers would tend to tumble over. ~ithin the
storage compartment the stack of separable wipers are of
such a height and width that an initial air gap region G-G
of approximately 0.635 cm (~ inch) exists between the first
wiper in the stack and the top panel. Also, there is
approximately a 0.635 cm (~ inch) clearance between the
stack and the partition, sidewall and the side flaps which
form the storage compartment. To dispense the first wiper
from the stack of separable wipers the dispensing procedure
requires the extraction of the wiper from the storage
compartment and then a separation of it from the stackO
The rirst half p~nel 12~ (best seen in FIG. 2) is grasped
and pulled so 2S to cause the rem2ining five (5) folded
panels 12C-12C and the other half panel 12D to unfold and
- 17 -
'
.
bend to an elongated convergent~shape (best seen in FIG.7), as the panels pass through the dispensing port 44C of
~IG. 7. As the first s~iper is pulled further through port
member 44C, the outer surface edge regions of panel 12D
bend about a portion of the elongated convergent-shaped
opening forming a somewhat distorted "C" shaped wiper~
(See FIG. 8.) As the half panel 12D exists port me~ber
44C, the outer surface edge regions of the lead ~;per is
released fro~ the curl condition and the edges of the two
wipers juxtaposed to the first and last slits straddle the
substantially curved boundary regions of port 44C 2S shown
in FIG. 9. . .
: Also in this condition, the first and last
perforation teeth of line 18 abut against the substantially
curved boundary region of port member 44C. A5 further
pulling force is e~Yerted on the leading wiper, the first
- and last perforation teeth at the extremities o line 18
are severed automatically without being manually detached
by a twisting action of the first half segment 12B of the
trai'ing wiper which tends to twist in a direction opposite
to that of the twisting action exerted ~n the other half
segment 12D of the leading wiper. Once ~he outer extremity
teeth are broken with the continuing pulling force being
exerted on the leading wiper against the resistive Corces
being exerted on the trailing wiper by the bottom face of
panel 44, the frictional force caused by the arc ~oundary
_ 18 -
,
2~L -
.
: regions PQ of port member 44C as the traili~g wiper
protrudes through port member 44C causes a force exceeding
the tensile force to occur within the remaining interior
perforation teeth which overcomes effectively the tensile
force in the teeth resulting in a chain-type teeth breaking
reaction across the transverse line 18 separating the
leading wiper from the trailing wiper. Upon separation,
the first half segment of the tr~iling wiper is held within
the boundaries of the oval opening; the full segment o~ the
wiper becomes partially unfolded to form expended zig-zag
segments which are weakly indispensibly displaced from the
hard fold format. .These ull segments extend from the port
to the:top of the stack of separable wipers in a manner
which tends to resist fall back of the trailing wiper onto
the stack, see FIG. 10.
If the first and last teeth had been disposed at
both e~tremities of the transverse line 18, this
aforementioned separation sequence would probably not occur
since neither outer ed~e of the trailing wiper unit would
have been given a chance to abut against the bo-ttom face of
.op panel 44 of the package. Also, if the teeth 11A-11A
along line 18 are not sized and spaced to present minimal
resistance to breakage, the chain-t~pe teeth breaking
reaction would be hindered, thus preventing the leading
wiper from being separated from the stack of wipers.
-- 19 --
~j.
`
.
Other fola configurations of separable wipers
such as "V", "C" and "z" fold zig~zag may be used in this
invention provided the perforation teeth and slits ar~
s~aced in the manner specified supra.
In the preferred embodiment as previously noted,
the four-ply creped ~adding web was specified in order to
provide high strength and good oil and water absorbency
characteristics in the wiper. However, the web could be
other materials such as nylon scrim reinforced tissue
laminate or absorbent polyolefin of a thickness which can
be perforated, ~olded in the alternating opposite
directions and whi~h can be separated in the manner as
delineated by the present invention~
Also, the shape of the dispensing port may be
varied to form similar shaped openings such a5 diamond and
rectangular forms, provided the dispensing of the leading
separable wiper and the popping out of the carton of the
trailing wiper, as disclosed, can be accomplished.
It is understood that the above descxibed
embodiments are mainly illustrative of the principles of
the invention, One skilled in the art may make changes and
modifications to the embodiments disclosed herein and may
devise other embodiments without departing from the scope
and essential characteristics thereof.
- 20 -
