AU677685B2 - A packaging - Google Patents

Description

1 A PACKAGING Technical Field The present invention relates to the wrapping of an array of packs, each of the packs containing a plurality of items.

Background of the Invention Rolls of paper, such as rolls of paper towel and toilet tissue, are generally sold in packs. Each pack consists of a plurality of rolls. For example, toilet tissue is frequently sold in packs containing four rolls. In the case of papers towels (kitchen towel) they are frequently sold in packs containing two rolls. The rolls of each pack are bound together lo by a wrapping sheet, which is frequently transparent.

The above mentioned packs are loaded into boxes for distribution to shops such as j supermarkets. They are then opened and the packs removed and stacked in shelves.

Such packs can also be distributed in bundles by having the bundles wrapped in a taut polythene sheet.

The use of boxes for distribution purposes is both costly and time consuming since the packs must be removed from the boxes for stacking on shelves.

The use of the polythene sheet has a disadvantage that the sheet needs to be cut so V that the product may be removed therefrom. This frequently results in the product being damaged by the knife particularly if little care is taken in opening the bundle. The use of 20 a line of perforations in the polythene sheet to overcome the necessity to use a knife, is not acceptable since handling of the bundle during distribution would frequently cause rupturing of the perforation line and loss of integrity of the bundle. Conventional lines of perforations respond to forces transverse of the line for the purposes of tearing along the line. During handling this would occur and therefore the sheet would fail prematurely.

Object of the Invention It is the object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate the above disadvantages.

Summary of the Invention There is disclosed herein a method of forming a wrapped sheet for a package, said method including the steps of: providing a sheet of plastics material; providing a perforating assembly, said assembly including a perforating lade with a plurality of teeth arranged in a "saw tooth" manner along the blade; and reciprocating the blade in a direction generilly normal to the sheet and perforating the sheet to provide a line or lines of perforw'ions, said teeth of said blade being

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la configured to form perforations having configurations approximating a "diamond" shape so as to facilitate tearing of the sheet along the line or lines; and wherein said line or lines form a loop so as to enclose a removable panel to be provided by the sheet which upon removal, would enable articles to be removed from a package having said wrap sheet.

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Brief Description of the Drawings Preferred forns of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a wrapped bundle of saleable inner packs; Figure 2 is a schematic side elevation of an apparatus to manufacture the wrap sheet for the bundle of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a schematic plan view of a blade to be used in forming a tear panel in the wrap sheet for the bundle of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a schematic perspective view of a wrapped bundle containing a plurality of bundles; Figure 5 is a schematic side elevation of an apparatus to form the tear panel in the wrap sheet for the bundle of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a schematic plan view of a blade employed in the device of Figure Figure 7 is a schematic perspective view of a porti n of a blade which may be employed in the device of Figures 2 and Figure 8 is a schematic side elevation of the blade portion of Figure 7; Figure 9 is a schematic perspective view of a portion of a blade which may be employed in the device of Figure 2 or Figure Figure 10 is a schematic side elevation of the blade portion of Figure 9; Figure 11 is a schematic side elevation of a further blade portion which may be employed in the device of Figures 2 and •Figure 12 is a schematic side elevation of the blade portion of Figure 11; Figure 13 is a schematic perspective view of a portion of a conventional perforating 25 wheel; Figure 14 is a schematic side elevation of the perforating wheel of Figure 13; Figure 15 is a schematic perspective view of a wrapped bundle of saleable inner packs; and Figure 16 is a schematic plan view of a blade to be used in forming a tear panel in 30 the wrapped sheet for the bundle of Figure 14.

.oo• Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment In Figure 1 there is schematically depicted a bundle 10 wrapped in a sheet 11 so that the bundle 10 maintains its integrity. The bundle 10 of this particular embodiment has forty-eight rolls of toilet tissue, with the rolls being arranged in packs containing typically four rolls. The rolls 12 being maintained in their individual packs again by a wrapping.

The sheet 11 is folded about the stacked packs, with the edges of the sheet being secured together by an adhesive or by welding along seams 13.

IN:\LIBfTr00082:LMM ar Preferably the sheet 11 is of a plastics material such as polythene. The sheet 11 would be ma:intained taut while the edges were joined.

The sheet 11 is provided with a tear panel 14 which is formed by having the sheet 11 perfcrated prior to being wrapped around the rolls 12. The perforations form two lines 15. When forming the sheet 11 for delivery to a packaging machine which wraps it around the rolls 12 and forms the seams 13, a web of sheet material 16 is intermittently moved and passes through a press 17 provided with a knife blade 18. The blade 18 is mounted on a base 19 mounted in the press 17. The base 19 is caused to reciprocate in a direction normal to the plane of the ribbon 16. The press 17 would be activated so that the blade 18 engages the ribbon 16 every time the web 16 is advanced a length sufficient to provide a sheet 11.

The blade 18 extends around a closed loop so as to have two longitudinal portions 19 and two end portions 20. When the blade 18 engages the ribbon 16, it forms perforations extending around a loop so as to encompass an area forming the tear panel 14. That loop includes the two lines 15 of weakness.

In Figure 4 there is schematically depicted a bundle 40 of rolls 41. The rolls 41 are maintained in a bundle by a wrapping sheet 42. Typically, the rolls 41 would be toilet tissue with the bundle 10 having forty-eight rolls, arranged in twelve packs. Therefore each pack would contain four rolls. Each pack would be individually wrapped.

In this embodiment, the sheet 42 would be of plastics material such as polythene.

The sheet 14 would be wrapped around the packs and the edges of the sheet joined at seams 43 to maintain the integrity of the pack 40. The seams would be formed by adhesive or welding. Again the sheet 42 is maintained taut.

The sheet 42 of this embodiment is provided with a tear panel 44, with this tear panel 44 being enclosed by a line 45 of perforations forming a closed loop.

The wrap 42 comes from a ribbon 46 of the plastics material, which ribbon 46 passes through a press 47. The press 47 incorporates a blade 48 which forms the line of perforations. The blade 48 is mounted on a base 49 which is mounted in the device 47. The base 49 is reciprocated in a direction transverse of the ribbon 46 as the ribbon 46 30 is advanced intermittently. The ribbon 46 would be advanced a required length to suit the sheet 42 before the base 49 is again activated to form the line 45 in the ribbon 46.

In this embodiment, the line 45 defines a tab 50, with the perforations defining the tab 50 ruptured so that the user can grab the tab 50 to aid in removing the tear panel 44.

In the embodiments of Figures 1 to 5, the lines and perforation are formed so that rupturing of the line is inhibited by forces which are transverse of the line. The lines of perforation are ruptured by the tearing action "running along" the line. This is achieved by the person opening the pack 14, grabbing an end of the panel 14 or alternatively the tab 50 of the embodiment of Figure 4, and tearing along the line of perforations. This is quite different to rupturing the perforations by applying a force transverse of the line of [N:\LIBTTOOO82:LMM perforations. During normal handling (such as during transportation and stacking) the forces applied to the pack would be forces which are generally transverse of the line of perforations as opposed to a tearing action which would move along the line of perforations.

The tear strips 14 and 44 are removed to provide an opening through which the bundles may be removed. This enables direct stacking of the packs into shop shelves.

In Figures 13 and 14, there is schematically depicted a perforating wheel 60 of conventional structure. The wheel 60 has a plurality of perforating teeth 61 which when engaged with a sheet 62 form a line 63 of perforations 64. Each perforation 64 is a puncture of generally square or rectangular configuration corresponding to the configuration of the teeth 61. The size of each perforation 64 is predetermined, particularly as the position of the wheel 60 is fixed in respect of its rotational axis being spaced a predetermined distance fron the sheet 62. The lines 63 will rupture when a force is applied transverse of the lint 63, It is less likely to tear in the fashion of a "tear panel"; that is, by a tearing action running along the line 63.

In Figures 11 and 12 there is schematically depicted a portion 70 of a perforator blade. The portion 70 may be part of the blades 18 or 48 of the previously described embodiments. The portion 70 has a plurality of teeth 71 which are of a "saw tooth" pattern so that when they puncture the sheet 72, the perforations 73 formed are of a "diamond" configuration. The spacing between the perforations 73 as well as the length and width thereof may be varied according to the depth of penetration of the teeth 71.

Accordingly the size and spacing of the perforation 73 can be adjusted to best suit the material forming the sheet 72, as well as the conditions to which the sheet 72 will be subjected. The sheet 72 being intended to be used with the packs 10 and 40 of the 25 previously described embodiments, that is the sheets 72 would form the sheets 11 or 42.

In Figures 7 and 8 there is schematically depicted a blade portion 80, which may be S. a portion of the blades 18 or 48 of the previously described embodiments. However in this embodiment, either twin blades would be employed or the blade 80 moved so as to form two lines 82 of perforations 83. The perforations 83 are aligned in pairs transverse 30 of longitudinal direction of the line of perforations. Again the perforations 83 would be ooe° of a "diamond" configuration with their spacing and size being determined by the size of the teeth 84 and the depth of penetration through the teeth In the embodiment of Figure 9, the blade portion 90 has two rows of teeth 94 so that two lines 91 are formed in the sheet 92. Again the perforations 93 are of a diamond configuration with their size and spacing being determined by the size of the teeth 94 and the depth of penetration of the teeth 94 through the sheet 92. However in this particular embodiment, the perforations 93 are not aligned transversly of the longitudinal direction of the lines 91. More particularly, the perforations of one line are staggered with respect IN:\LIBTTIO0082:LMM Il~s~ to the other line. Again the blade portion 90 could be replaced with a single blade which is moved to form the two lines 91.

In Figure 15 there is schematically depicted a bundle 100 wrapped in a sheet 111 so that the bundle 100 maintains its integrity. The bundle 100 of this particular embodiment s has seventy-two rolls of toilet tissue. The tissues are arranged in six packs. However it should be appreciated that basically the same configuration but reduced in size can be used to provide a bundle of forty-eight rolls, the rolls being arranged in four packs. The rolls 102 are maintained in their individual packs again by a wrapping.

The sheet 101 is folded about the stacked packs, with the edges of the sheet being secured together by an adhesive or by welding along the seam 103.

Preferably the sheet 101 is of a plastics material such as polyethylene. The sheet 101 would be maintained taut while the edges are joined.

The sheet 101 is provided with a tear panel 104 which is formed by having the sheet 101 perforated prior to being wrapped around the rolls 102. The perforations follow the line 105. An additional line of perforations 110 cooperates with a portion of the line 105 to provide a tear strip 106. The lines of perforation defining the tear strip 106 are ruptured by the tearing action "running along" the lines. A person wishing to open the pack 100, ruptures the end of the tear strip 106 and then pulls it to cause rupturing along the remainder of the line 110 and then further removes the panel 104 by causing rupturing 20 of the perforations forming the line 105.

In Figure 16 there is schematically depicted a blade 107 used to form the tear panel 104. The blade 107 would be of a configuration previously described and would have an o S" additional olade element 108 to form the line 110.

As best seen in Figures 6, 9 and 11, the perforations are of a "diamond" configuration as previously described, with apexes of the diamond shaped perforations being aligned.

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Claims (9)

1. A method of forming a wrap sheet for a package, said m.dThod including the steps of: providing a sheet of plastics material; providing a perforating assembly, said assembly including a perforating blade with a plurality of teeth arranged in a "saw tooth" manner along the blade; and reciprocating the blade in a direction generally normal to the sheet and perforating the sheet to provide a line or lines of perforations, said teeth of said blade being configured to form perforations having configurations approximating a "diamond" shape 1o so as to facilitate tearing of the sheet along the line or lines; and wherein said line or lines form a loop so as to enclose a removable panel to be provided by the sheet which upon removal, would enable articles to be removed from a package having said wrap sheet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said method includes the step of forming a S 15 tear strip in said sheet, said tear strip being defined between two lines of perforations, which perforations are also formed by said blade. tw

3. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the lines of perforations of said "two lines of perforations forms part of said loop.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the perforations have apexes 20 which are aligned in the direction of the line/lines of perforations.

5. A method of forming a bundle, said method including the steps of: providing a stack of items to be wrapped; providing a wrap sheet according to any one of claims 1 to 4; wrapping said sheet about said items and maintaining said sheet taut while forming S 25 seams therein to close the sheet about said items.

S6. The method of claim 5, wherein said panel is positioned so as to extend over a corner of said stack.

7. The method of claim 5 or 6, wherein said items are packs of objects.

8. A bundle, when produced by the method of claim 5, 6 or 7.

9. A method of producing a bundle, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3, 4 to 6 or 15 and 16, in conjunction with Figures 7 and 8, 9 and 10 or 11 and 12. Dated 21 January, 1997 Kimberly-Clark Australia Pty Limited Patent Attorneys for the Applicant/Nominated Person SPRUSON FERGUSON A PACKAGING Abstract A method and apparatus to produce a bundle (10) of individual packs of rolls (12). The bundle (10) has a wrapped sheet (11) which is taut. The wrapped sheet (11) is provided with a line of perforations (45) which defmne a removable panel The perforations which form the line (45) are of a "diamond" configuration. Fig. 1 a. o* •oe *o *e I* *oo* a o