Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
2037293
Christian Senning Verpackungsautomaten GmbH & Co.
Kalmsweg 10, 2800 Bremen 21
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10 A soft plastic film packaging for parallelepiped-shaped piles
of flexible flat objects
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The invention relates to a soft plastic film packaging for
parallelepiped-shaped piles of flexible flat objects, more
especially of folded paper or cellulose serviettes, having
plane parallel "covering" (top and bottom) walls and also ;
side walls connecting them, with a perforation line, which
penetrates at least one wall, limiting a sealing section,
which can be torn open or off, for an aperture for the
removal of said objects.
In conventional packagings of this type, perhaps packagings
for piles of folded paper serviettes, a perforation line
which ex~ends in a straight line and penetrates both
covering wal}s and the side walls, which are opposite one
another, between said covering walls are spaced parallel to
the side wall connecting those side walls, so that when the
packaging is opened its "head" is torn off and removed.
~herefore the pile is exposed over the edge region adjacent
to this side wall. The result is that the entire pile or
individual items can slip out of the package, depending on
;how well they cling to one another. Only the handler's skill
can prevent this happening. There is also the risk of the
contents o~;the packagingj which have a relatively large
surface,~ becoming dirty.
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The object o~ the invention is to provide a packaging of the
type mentioned at the beginning with a sealing section,
which permits the separate removal of the stacked objects,
but at the same time is not associated with the risk of the
objects falling out of the packaging.
This is achieved in accordance with the invention in that
the sealing section occupies a corner region of a covering
wall. The topmost item in the pile can be grasped through -
the withdrawal aperture produced by tearing this sealing
section open or off and it can be removed because of its
flexibility. A paper serviette, for example, if it is
grasped by the exposed corner, automatically forms
diagonally extending folds and thus reduces its square
measurement (at right angles to the direction of ~ithdrawal)
so that it fits through the relatively small aperture for
its withdrawal. Subsequently the serviette assumes its flat
shape again, without any creases remaining.
Naturally the inherent flexibility of the item packaged is
a prerequisite for this operation. However it is significant
that the folding operation required for the reduction in
cross section automatically occurs if the corner of the flat
object is pulled. ~he fold becomes more pronounced as the
object is pulled out, and a narrow tapered or conical shape
results.
The withdrawal aperture can be somewhat enlarged by the
sealing section enclosing adjacent edge sections of the side
walls ~eeting in the corner. In this case the arrangement is
expediently such that the perforation lines in the side
~ ~walls extend at a slight distance parallel to the edges in
; ~ 35 contact with the top wall.
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Furthermore the shape of the edges of the sealing section
may be varied by the appropriate position of the perforation
lines and may be adapted, for example, to the folding
characteristics of the respective items to be packaged.
To assist the tearing open of the packaging section, a part
of the perforation line, in fact its section present in the
top wall which is at the greatest distance from the side
lo walls, can be constructed as a longer interface, so that the
user can insert a finger under the sealing section and pull
it up. In combination with such an interface or instead of
it, an adhesive strip coated with contact adhesive can be
provided, which ~artially covers the sealing section and
partially covers the adjacent wall and is provided with a
tab free of adhesive on its end covering the wall (c.f.
German Patent Specification 29 49 496).
The drawings illustrate the invention by means of
exemplified embodiments, and show:
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Fig. 1 a soft plastic film packaging according to
the invention in perspective general view;
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25 Figures 2 a detailed view of other outline config-
to 4 urations of the sealing section with an
adhesive strip and an interface respect-
ively at this place; and
30 ~ Figure 5 a reduced representation of the pattern
for the packaging. ~!~
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The~paokaging shown~in Fig. 1 has plane parallél "covering"
top~and bottom) walls 1 and 2 and also side walls 3, 4 and ;~
35~ 5, 6,~ which are disposed opposite to one another
respectively. The latter are produced~by foIding over and
heat-sealing or~stioking in another~way end flaps 7 and 8.
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In the region of one corner 15 of the packaging (its creased
edge corner in the case of objects folded several times), a
sealing section 10 is defined by a perforation line ~ in the
top wall 1, and its removal exposes the objects packaged
underneath. As the figures of the drawings reveal, sealing
section 10 extends into the adjacent side walls 3 and 5,
which have edge 11 or 12 respectively mutually with top wall
1.
In top wall 1, perforation line 9 has two sections 13, 14,
which extend substantially at right angles to the edges 11,
12; in contrast to the representation of the pattern shown
in Fig. 5, in Fig. 1 they are inclined slightly away from
the corner 15 (in which the edges 11, 12 converge). A
section 16 of perforation line 9 connects the end points of
sections 13, 14, which are at the greatest distance from the
edges 11, 12 and consequently the side walls 3, 5. In the
region of this diagonal section 16 of the perforation line
9 is attached -at right angles to section 16 - an adhesive
tape 17, which adheres partially to sealing section 10 and
partially to the adjoining region of top wall 1. At its end
18 there is provided (in a per se known manner) a tab free
from adhesive, which is not shown in greater detail.
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In the side walls 3, 5 are provided further sections 19 and ~-~
20 respectively of perforation line 9, which are joined and
at their edges remote from the corner 15 are connected
~ cornerwise to sections 13 and 14 respectively of perforation
;~ 30 line 9 and supplement these to form a perforation line
completely surrounding the sealing section 10 with the edge
sections lOa and lOb of side walls 3, 5. As Figures 1 to 4
show, the perforation line sections 19, 20 extend at a
slight distance parallel to the edges 11 and 12 respectively
between the top wall 1 on the~one hand and the side walls 3,
5 on the other hand.
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2037293
If, when the package is first used, the sealing section lo
is torn off (by means of the adhesive tape 17), in the
region of the corner 15 the topmost item in the packaging -
a paper serviette with its creased edge corner - is exposed
and it can be grasped and be withdrawn, and automatically
folded, through the aperture produced by the sealing section
(in the direction determined by the longitudinal
extension of the adhesive tape, which is no longer present.
Of course the arrangement can be such that the sealing
section 10 is not completely removed, but remains attached
to the remaining package - for example along one o~ the
sections 19, 20 of perforation line 9 - and after the
required item is removed from the package it is again sealed
by means of the adhesive tape 17. For this purpose one
section of the perforation line 9 can be left unperforated.
However for reasons of cost it is often preferred not to
provide an adhesive tape 17 and instead to construct the
section 16 of perforation line 9 as an interface 16a, as the
respective alternatives to Figures 2 to 4 show. The
interface 16a permits the insertion of a finger under
sealing section 10 and then it may be torn open or off. An
interface 16a may however also be provided in conjunction
with an adhesive tape 17; in this case the former is
(substantially) covered by the latter.
Figures 2 to 4 show modifications of the perforation line 9
in the region of its sections 13, 14 and 16; only the length
of sections 19, 20 changes as a function thereof. Thus
sections 13, 14 and 16 in the example o~ Figure 2 have the
shape of a continuous quarter circle with,the sections 23
and 24. In the example shown in Figure 3 the sections 33, 34
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extend parallel to: one another and to the longitudinal :.
direction of the adhesive tape 17; they are connected to one
another by a section 36 of semi-circular shape. A section
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203729~
46, in the shape of a part of a circle, of per~oration line
9 is also shown in the example of Figure 4; to this are
connected outwardly curved sections 43 and 44 and form an
obtuse angle with the edges 11, 12 not affected by sealing
section lO.
The modifications to Figures 2 to 4, which are represented
on the right-hand side of the page next to them, comprise an
interface 16a in the perforation line 9 instead of the
lo adhesive tape 17.
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