Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1923/203'~ Fll/ua
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Moisture-proof box
The present invention relates to a moisture-proof box for
keeping moist towlets laying direct in contact with each
other to form a stack. The box has an opening at the upper
surface above the stack, the opening being normally her-
metically sealed by means of a tongue- or a sheet_like
sealing member of a moist-proof material. The sealing member
is secured by one end to the upper surface of the box and
is of such length and width that it can cover said opening
to form a moisture-proof seal when the sealing member
abuts the edge of said opening. The sealing member is made
of a resilient material and is so attached at the upper
surface of the box that it can temporarily be lifted to
expose said opening in the box, wherein the sealing
member automatically returns 'o its closing position
when released.
The box according to the present invention is intended for
towlets for personal hygiene, primarily when soap and water
are not available. Such a towlet normally consists of a
closure of paper or non-woven fabric and is generally
saturated with a cleansing, antiseptic solution containing
a mild cleansing component, an oil-replenishing agent pre-
venting the skin from drying, a bactericid and possibly
perfume.
These towlets, to be used in a moistened condition, were
originally packed separately in moist-proof wrappers such
as aluminium foils to ensure that each separately packed
towlet is kept in its original condition up to the time
for use.
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.~s such separately packed towlets are expensive, it has already
been suggested to pack several such towlets in a box of the kind
referred to. (Compare e.g. United States Patent No. 4143762).
The present invention provides a cleansing tissue pack having a
plurality of moist towelettes or the like packed in a box and
lying in direct contact with each other in the box, said box being
made of material which is sufficiently impenetrable to moisture
for the purpose and is provided with an open box part and a sealing
lid part to fit said box part, the lid part being provided with an
opening for removal of the moist towelettes from the box and a
substantially sheet-like sealing member attached to the outside of
the lid part and covering the opening and the area therearound,
said sealing member having a free end by means of which the opening
can be exposed by lifting said free end of the sealing member from
a first position in which the sealing member is in contact with the
area around the opening and forms a sufficiently moisture-tight
seal for the purpose and is resealed by returning t'ne free end to
said first position, said sealing member is provided with a section
located at its free end and protruding away from the base of the
flap and past the free end of the flap, characterized in that the
sealing member is provided with two first cuts directed substan-
tially towards each other and spaced from the free end of the seal-
ing member, that in a corresponding position the lid part is pro-
vided with two second cuts directed substantially away from each
other leading from the opening, that the distance between the first
cuts is substantially identical to the distance between the two
second cuts, and that the sealing member extends through the open-
ing from the inside of the box to the outside of the lid part, the
first cuts fitting into the second cuts in the lid part, so when
the free end of the seallng member is released from its raised
position, the opening i5 automatically re-sealed in a substantially
moisture-tight manner.
Since the sealing member is secured to the flap at the free end of
the flap, there is less waste of material during manufacture.
Furthermore the flap remaining in the opening contributes to sat-
isfactory re-sealing of the box by forming a narrow sealing gap
between the flap and the edges defining the opening and another
sealing gap is formed around the opening, namely between the out
side of the lid member which at least normally is in pointwise
contact therewith.
Both the lid member and the sealing member are easy to manufacture
and that it is easy to assemble the sealing member in the opening
of the lid member and yet maintaining an adequate sealing effect
of the sealing member against the lid member.
The invention will be more fully described in the following with
reference to the accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the
moisture-proof box with an upper corner portion removed
to provide greater clarity.
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Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a second preferred embodiment
of the box with an upper corner portion removed to
provide greater clarity.
Fig. 3 is a plan view of the moisture-proof box.
Fig. 4 is a cross-section along the line IV - IV in Fig. 3
and
Fig. 5 is a side view of an alternative embodiment of a
sealing member.
A moisture-proof box with the moist towlets according to
Fig. 1 consists of a parallel-epedic box 1 of moisture-
proof material and a plurality of moist towlets 2, 2', 2''
packed in the box and laying direct in contact with each
other to form a stack 3. The moisture-proof material pre-
ferably consists of a diffusion-tight plastic being inert
to the constituents of the moisturizing solution.
The moist towlets consist, for instance, of paper cloths or
cloth of non-woven fabric. If the towlet shall be used for
cleansing purposes, it can be impregnated with a cleansing,
antiseptic solution, preferably a 15% ethanol solution
containing a bactericid such as triklorhydroxyl phenyl eter
or cetyl pyridin chloride andan agent reducing surface
tension, such as an amphoteric tenside. The solution may
also contain substances beneficial to the skin such as
lanoline and isopropyl myristate, as well as perfumes such
as menthol.
The box 1 comprises an open box part 4 and a lid member 5
fitting this box part for closing it. The box part 4 is
provided with an up-set or flange-like upper edge 6 and
the lid member 5 has a folded edge 7 which is snapped
over the up-set or flange 6 to form a moisture tight seal.
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In order to improve the sealing effect, the folded edge
may be provided at the corners of the box with longi-
tudinal indentations 8, one of which is shown in the
figure. Alternatively, the folded edge 7 at the corners
of the lid may be reinforced by a number of transversely
extending protuberances 9, as is shown at one of the
corners.
Furthermore, at the top of the stack 3 the lid member 5 is
provided with an opening 10 for the removal of the moist
towlets 2 from the box 1 as well as a substantially tongue-
like sealing member 11 secured to the lid member 5 and
covering most of the opening 10 and the region immediately
around it. The sealing member 11 has a free end 12, wherein
the opening 10 can be exposed by lifting the free end 12
from sealing position - not shown in the figure - in which
the sealing member 11 abuts the region around the opening
1Q forming a closure which is sufficiently moisture-proof
for the intended purpose. By releasing the free end 12 of
the sealing member 11, it is automatically returned to its
closed and sealed position at the lid member 5.
According to the invention, the opening 10 is incomplete in
that the lid member 5 has been slit to form a flap 13 re-
maining in the opening 10, said flap having a base 14 and
a free end 15. The sealing member 11 is attached to the flap
13 by its free end 12 at the free end 15 of the flap and
protudes over this free end.
In the preferred embodiment shown in Fig. 1 the sealing
member 11 is provided with a portion 16 located at its
free end 12 and protruding away from the base of the flap
past the free end 15 and out over the side edge of the lid
member 5 in order to provide a grip for the fingers when
lifting the sealing member 11.,This grip provided by the
portion 16, facilitates the lifting of the sealing member
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11 and the exposure of the towlets placed in the box. Further-
more the lid member 5 is provided with an inverted channel-
like reinforcement 17 integrally formed in the material of
the lid member 5 and extending along its edges. The central
part 19 of the lid portion is recessed in relation to the
crown 18 of the reinforcement 17 and the sealing member 11
covers at least most of this central section 19. The rein-
forcement 17 has a break 20 through which the protruding
part 16 of the sealing member extends.
The lid member 5 may be constructed so that when the free end
12 of the sealing member is lowered from raised position the
opening 10 is automatically re-sealed in substantially moisture-
proof manner. In certain cases, however, it is advisable
for the reinforcement 17 to be provided with two end surfaces
21, substantially rounded in shape (one of which is shown in
the drawing), defining the break with which the protruding
section 16 of the sealing member forms a snap-infit. It is
also advisable for the open box part 4 to be sealed by
means of a foil 22 prior to the pack beiny opened which
foil is sufficiently moisture-proof for the purpose and which
can easily be torn off. The foil 22 may consist of thin
p]astic, plastic-coated aluminium or some other suitable
foil material which can be welded, glued or in some other
suitable manner secured to the up-set or flange 6 on the
box part 4.
The sealing rnember 11 is point-welded, seal-welded, ultra-
sonic-welded, glued or some other suitable manner secured
to the flap 13. If a single attachment point is used this
should preferably be placed in the direction from the middle
of the flap towards the free end 15. The flap 13 is preferably
substantially rectangular, for instance quadratic, and may
have rounded corners - as shown in the drawing. The base 14
of the flap and the free flap end are preferably parallel to
the longitudinal sides of the lid member 5. Furthermore, it
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is suitable for the flap 13 to be located substantially
centrally in the central section 19 of the lid member and
that its width in the longitudinal direction of the lid
member is at least half, preferably two thirds, of the
length of the central section 19 in order to facilitate
the removal of moist towlets from the box 1. If an extra
spring force counter acting the lifting of the sealing
member 11 and the flap 13, the slit at the base 14 of the
flap may be allowed to terminate at a distance, perhaps
10 - 15 mm; from the inverted channel-like reinforcement
17 and the sealing member 11 extending substantially up to
the reinforcement 17 along the longitudinal side located
nearest to the base 14 of the flap.
Figures 2 - 4 show another embodiment of the invention, wherein
the same numeral references for the corresponding details in
Fig. 1 have been used.
In this embodiment, the lid member 5 at the top of the stack
3 is also provided with an opening 10 as well as a sealing
member 11 covering the opening 10 of the lid member 5 and
the region immediately around it.
According to this embodiment shown in Figures 2 - 4, the
sealing member is provided with two ClltS 23 directed
substantially towards each other and spaced from the free
end 12 and the lid member 5 is in a corresponding position
provided with two other cuts 24 directed substantially away
from each other and extending from the opening 10. Furthermore
the distance between the two first cuts 23 is substantially
identical to the distance between the two second cuts 24 and
the sealing member 11 extends through the opening 10 from
the inside of the box 1 to the outside of the lid member 5,
the cuts 23 fitting into the cuts 24 in the lid member. With
such an arrangement, both the lid member and the sealing
member are easy to manufacture and it is easy to assemble
the sealing member 11 in the opening of the lid member 5,
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thus offering advantages primarily from the technical point
of view in connection with manufacture.
In order to achieve a good spring-back action of the sealing
member 11 against the region around the opening 10 and thus
a good sealing effect, it is advisable for the section 25
of the sealing member 11 located inside the box 1 to be in
contact with the lower side of the lid member 5 also when
the free end 12 of the sealing member 11 is raised and the
opening 10 thus exposed. In this preferred embodiment this
is achieved by said section 15 being clamped between the
box part 4 and the lid member 5. However, other methods and
arrangements of attachment are of course possible to choose
within the scope of the invention. For instance, the sealing
member 11 may consist of a resilient sheet material covering
the lid member 5 at least inside the reinforcements 17 and
being positioned onto the upper surface of the lid member 5,
whereby the section 15 is suitably attached to the upper
side of the lid member 5.
A further alternative embodiment of the invention is shown
in Fig. 5. In this embodiment, the rearward portion of the
sealing member overlaps the longitudinal edge of the box
and is secured to the side wall of the box in a suitable
manner. This embodiment provides a simple assembly of the
lid member and the sealing member, yet obtaining an
excellent resilient back-spring action of the sealing member
at the same time as an essentially greater portion of the
upper surface of the box is exposed and thereby improve the
- accessibility of the moist towlets in the box.
