Special receptacle or package – For folded sheetlike article
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-10
2003-07-15
Luong, Shian (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
For folded sheetlike article
C229S162700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06591989
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dispensing container and to a sleeve, which surrounds and covers the dispensing container so that the exterior of the dispensing container is concealed. The sleeve has a custom exterior and can be used to display promotional and advertising materials, or other desired custom exteriors.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Conventional dispensing containers are mass-produced with exteriors having a general appearance designed to appeal to the public at large. For example, tissue boxes have exteriors that are printed with a variety of floral and other graphical designs. These patterns are neutral and designed to be compatible with a variety of styles of interior decor and other fashions. Since these tissue boxes and other dispensing containers are mass-produced, the pictorial designs and graphics are not readily subject to custom changes. Generally, these designs are printed on card stock, and the card stock is then stamped into the required geometry to create a dispensing container. The card stock containing the specific print is also mass-produced. In order to develop a custom or new outer design for an application, the manufacturer of the dispensing container will usually require that the user purchase upwards of 100,000 to 1,000,000 units of the particular dispensing container. This is necessary to offset the large set-up charges in changing the design and changing over a production line to run the user's custom design. This is cost prohibitive, leaving the user who only desires a small number of custom designed dispensing containers with no alternative. Users of other dispensing containers, other than tissue boxes, are faced with the same manufacturing economies of scale.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus of the present invention overcomes these disadvantages with regard to customizing the exterior appearance of a mass-produced dispensing container. The apparatus of the present invention is basically the combination of a display sleeve that fits over a dispensing container.
The dispensing container has a hollow interior volume for holding and dispensing materials, for example tissues. The dispensing container has a dispensing opening in the container that allows access to the materials in the interior so that the materials can be manually pulled through the dispensing opening to the outside of the dispensing container.
The display sleeve is a body with a hollow interior volume adapted to receive the dispensing container in a tight fit therein so that the dispensing container is held stationary in the display sleeve. The display sleeve has an access hole that is positioned on the display sleeve and shaped to coincide and match with the dispensing opening of the dispensing container when the dispensing container is inserted into the display sleeve. When placed in the display sleeve, materials can be pulled from the interior volume of the dispensing container through the dispensing opening of the container, through the access hole of the sleeve and outside the display sleeve. In this way, the display sleeve conceals the dispensing container so that the exterior appearance of the dispensing container, except for the dispensing opening, is concealed and housed within the interior volume of the display sleeve. Since the display sleeve can be manufactured more cost effectively in lower lot quantities than can the dispensing container and dispensing materials, the display sleeve exterior can be printed using custom designs and custom graphics as desired by a user. Thus, the display sleeve allows custom changes to the exterior appearance of the dispensing container in a cost-effective manner without disrupting mass production of the dispensing container. Preferably, such a display sleeve is made of a single unitary blank where the blank is formed from cardstock.
In another aspect of the invention, the display sleeve to be used with the dispensing container is formed from a single unitary blank of card stock and folded into a box. The box has a top panel and a bottom panel with four face panels extending between the top and bottom panels. The four face panels are comprised of opposite left and right side panels operably attached to opposite front and back panels. The left and right side panels, the front and back panels, and the bottom panel define an interior of the box.
The top panel is provided with an access hole. The top panel is hinged to the back panel along a top panel hinge line for pivotal movement between a closed position in which the top panel extends from the top panel hinge line to the front panel, and an open position in which the top panel is displaced from the front panel to provide an installation entrance to the box interior through which the dispensing container can be received.
The left and right side panels each have a top flap hinged to the respective left and right side panels along a top flap hinge line. Each of the top flaps pivots about its respective hinge line between a closed position in which each of the top flaps extends from its respective hinge line over the installation entrance toward the opposite top flap, and an open position in which each of the top flaps is displaced from the installation entrance to provide access to the box interior. Each of the top flaps has a distal edge opposite its hinge line that is curved to conform and match with the access hole in the top panel when the top panel is in the closed position.
Yet, another aspect of the invention includes a method of changing the exterior appearance of a dispensing container. The dispensing container in this invention has a dispensing opening to allow contents of the dispensing container to be passed through the dispensing opening from within the dispensing container to outside the dispensing container. In this method, the display sleeve is provided with a desired exterior print. The dispensing container is inserted into the display sleeve such that the exterior appearance of the dispensing container is concealed by the display sleeve and the desired exterior print of the display sleeve is displayed. The dispensing opening of the dispensing container is aligned with the coinciding access hole provided in the display sleeve by moving the top flaps and the top panel to their closed positions, whereby the access hole coincides with the dispensing opening to allow the contents of the dispensing container to be passed from within the dispensing container to outside the display sleeve. The dispensing container is secured inside the display sleeve by closing the top flaps and the top panel.
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Luong Shian
Thompson & Coburn LLP
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