Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
Z044884
A PACKAGE FOR TOASTED BREAD SLICES AND
THE LIKE FOOD PRODUCTS OF FLATTENED SHAPE
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DESCRIPTION
This invention relates to a package for toasted bread
slices- and the like bakery products of substantially
flattened shape, such as crackers, hardtack, shortbread,
sliced loaf and toasted bread, stuffed biscuits, etc.
~ ore particularly, the invention relates to a package
of the so-called cartridge type, wherein a sheet of a
suitable material for food product packaging is wrapped
~ -- tightly around a plurality of such food products packed
together and then sealed along the opposed short sides of
the packed products into a closure which follows basically
the pattern of a m,il letter envelope closure.
It is a known fact that the cartridge packages of the
type outlined above have met with widespread acceptance by the
food processing industry on account of the proven advantages
that they afford from the sanitary as well as the technical and
economical standpoints.
However, he difficulty remains to be solved that such
packages pose to the end ccnsumer when one or more of the
packaged food products is to be taken out for consumption.
In fact, to open the package, the consumer will start from one
of the package short sides, where the overlapping flaps of
the package can be torn open, thereby the first of the packaged
products presents itself face up still firmly withheld
all around its perimeter by the packag;ng sheet. The recognized
difficulty encountered in getting hold of the product and the
friable nature of the latter both hint to the advisability of
also tearing the package open some distance down one or more
of its long sides~ But even so, the risk of crushing the
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Z044884
packaged product to be picked up into bits cannot be fully
avo;ded, and in addition, the package cannot be closed again
or at least closed with some assurance of its being tight and
hyg;enically satisfactory.
The problem that underlies this invention is to provide
a cartridge package of the kind specified above which has such
construction and performance characteristics as to overcome
the cited drawbacks with which the prior art is beset, that
is so as, additionally to facilitating the picking up of
the individual packaged products with no risk of their being
crushed in so doing, to afford good package re-closing features
for a practically unlimited number of times.
This problem is solved accord;ng to the invention by a
cartridge package for toasted bread slices and the like
food products of substant;ally flattened shape, laid close
against one another into a pack, wherein a wrapper comprising
a sheet of a suitable material for food product packaging
which ;s wrapped tightly around said pack and sealed at the
opposed short sides thereof, characterized in that said wrapper
is formed with a tear-open weakening line which spans the
full length of the pack and equal transverse sections at the
opposed short sides thereof, and means for-tearing the wrapper
all along said line to open the package substantially in a
casket-like fashion.
The features and advantages of the invention will be more
clearly understood from the following detailed description
of a package according to the invention, given with reference
to the accompanying illustrative and non-limitative drawings
which show, by way of example, the packaging of toasted bread
2044884
slices.
In the drawings:
Figure 1 shows a sheet of a suitable material for food
packaging, as pre-cut to provide a cartridge package for
toasted bread-slices - in accordance with the invention;
Figures 2 and 3 show in perspective a package according
to the invention in the closed and opened conditions thereof,
respectively; and
Figure 4 illustrates schematically a method of providing
the blank shown in Figure 1.
With reference to the drawing views, generally shown
at 1 is package of the so-called cartridge type intended for
a predetermined number of toasted bread slices 2, laid
close against one another into a substantially parallelepipedic
pack. The package comprises a parallelepipedic wrapper 3
formed from a sheet 4 of a suitable material for food packaging
~F;gure 1) which is wrapped tightly around said pack of
toasted bread slices and sealed along opposed
short sides thereof, that is around the toasted bread slices which
form the opposed ends of said pack.-Specifically, the wrapper
3 is sealed by having triangular end flaps thereof overlapped
and secured, and follows basically the same pattern as a
letter mail envelope.
The sheet blank 4 (Figure 1) dimensions are related to
the overall, flat-developed surface of the parallelepipedic
pack toasted bread slices 2 and shown thereon in phantom lines
are the l;nes along wh;ch said sheet ~ ;s folded into the
wrapper 3 for packaging a toasted bread slice pack therein.
The sheet blank 4 is provided with a tear-open weakening
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2044884
line comprising a section 5 which spans the full length of
a long corner edge of said wrapper 3, and two equal sections
6, 7 extending along opposed, parallel short corner edges of
the wrapper 3 contiguous with the long cornerr edge just
mentioned. The tear-open weakening line 5, 6, 7 bounds,
along three sides, one of the side waLls of the wrapper 3,
which wall is denoted by the reference numeral 8 in Figure 1.
The fourth side of said wall is a hinge side for opening the
wrapper, as explained hereinafter.
Generally shown at 9 is a pull tongue for opening the
wrapper 3. This tongue comprises a first portion 9a, glued
on the wall 8 in the vicinity of the section 5 of the tear-open
weakening line, and a second portion 9b which extends beyond
said section S externally of the wall 8. The portion 9b has
a region 10 coated with an adhesive layer shown
hatched in Figure 1.
A selected number of toasted bread slices 2j laid against one
another into a substantially parallelepipedic pack, are
packaged by wrapping tightly therearound a sheet blank 4
in accordance with the invention using a conventional technique,
and then sealing the resulting wrapper 3 along the short sides
of the slice pack, as by securing folded down overlapping
flaps.
The package thus obtained (Figure 2) is quite similar
in appearance to a conventional type cartridge package except
for the provision of the tongue 9, the portion 9b whereof
is accessible for the consumer, and the tear-open weakening
line 5, 6, 7.
By means of this portion 9b, the wrapper 3 can be torn
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along said tear-open weakening line 5, 6, 7 to open the package
1 "casket-like" fashion, essentially by tilting the wall 8
open about its reapective hinged side. In this way, the entire
pack of toasted bread slices becomes accessible for the consumer
with the toasted bread slices Z arranged edgewise and, therefore,
convenient to seize and pull out. After some of the toasted bread slices
have been picked up, the package can be re-closed, th;s being
feasible so long as the adhesive of the layer 1û can st;ck
to the corresponding wall of the wrapper 3.
Thus, the technical problem submitted at the start is
fully solved to provide advantages which are self-evident.
A further major advantage is that the package of this
invention can be manufactured on a commercial scale in an
automated manner using the same equipment as has been employed
to manufacture conventional cartridge packages. In fact, the
sheet blank 4 whence the inventive wrapper 3 is formed can be
a repeated un;t on a coiled web 11, the manufacture whereof
is illustrated schematically in Figure 4. l!
With reference to this figure of the drawings, indicated
at 12 is a coil or roll of a fresh web to be "labelled" which,
at a paper marking station 13, is provided with appropriate
tear-open weakening lines. Subsequently to a conventional
glue application step, at a labelling station 14 the web is
applied labels constituting the pull tongues 9. The processed
web is then wound back into a coil and the coil 15 of labelled
web is then loaded into a conventiona~ packaging machine, e.
9. for toaster~ bread sl;ces, and utilized in quite a similar
manner as for providing convent;onal packages.
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