Package making – Methods – Forming a cover adjunct or application of a cover adjunct to...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-30
2001-02-06
Sipos, John (Department: 3721)
Package making
Methods
Forming a cover adjunct or application of a cover adjunct to...
C053S429000, C053S435000, C053S468000, C493S411000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06182418
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for packaging tissue in a pop-up dispenser. More particularly, this invention pertains to a method and an apparatus for packaging tissues in a pop-up dispenser such that a visually distinct tissue is visible through the carton opening.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Pop-up style dispensers have been used for many years to dispense individual folded sheet products such as facial tissues or the like. In general, pop-up dispensers typically include a container and a stack or clip of prefolded interfolded tissues disposed within the container. The tissues may be C-folded or V-folded so that once the top tissue in the clip is withdrawn, subsequent sheets are individually presented for individual use.
One problem that has persisted through the years concerns the user being able to identify the proper location at which to grasp the top sheet to remove it through the opening in the container. Quite commonly with present commercial tissue containers, the user ends up tearing tissues, separating tissue plies, or dispensing multiple tissues when attempting to remove the top tissue. Furthermore, many commercial tissue dispensers include a plastic film over the opening of the container. Once the top tissue has been raised through a dispensing slit in the plastic film, subsequent tissues are held in an upright position by the plastic film for individual use. If the user has to search with his or her fingers to identify the proper location to grasp the top sheet, the plastic film can become distorted. Particularly with larger size containers, this may result in fall-backs, which refers to subsequent tissues dropping back down into the container rather than staying upright and ready for use.
A number of solutions have been proposed to address the problem of dispensing the top tissue in a pop-up dispenser. For example, it has been recommended that portions of the top sheet can be physically elevated, and thus, more readily identifiable from surrounding portions of the top sheet. It has also been suggested that the top sheet can be bonded to a removable panel of the carton, so that the top sheet is automatically raised through the opening when the panel is removed to form the opening. Other solutions to the problem have suggested adding separate strips within the stack of folded sheets, so that when the separate strips are pulled through the opening of the container, the top sheet is pulled through as well.
The foregoing and other proposed solutions attempting to facilitate proper removal of the top sheet in a pop-up dispenser have either been unsatisfactory or have created new problems. Most notably, past attempts to address the issue have increased the difficulty and/or expense of manufacturing pop-up dispensers, such as by adding new elements within the stack. Moreover, these past attempts to facilitate proper removal of the top tissue have not assisted the user in visually identifying the proper location at which to grasp the top sheet.
Therefore, what is lacking and needed in the art is an improved method and apparatus for dispensing tissue from a pop-up dispenser that facilitates identification and removal of the top tissue without wasting tissue.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In response to the discussed deficiencies in the prior art, a method and an apparatus for dispensing tissue from a pop-up tissue dispenser have been invented. The method and apparatus improves the ease at which tissue products are dispensed from a pop-up carton.
In one embodiment, a pop-up tissue dispenser includes a carton and a clip of tissues disposed within the carton. The carton has a plurality of walls that define a carton opening through which the tissues may be removed from the carton. The clip includes a visually distinctive tissue and a plurality of other tissues. The visually distinctive tissue and the other tissues are substantially identical except that the visually distinctive tissue includes a visual indicator. The visually distinctive tissue is oriented within the carton such that the visual indicator is visible through the carton opening prior to removal of any tissues from the carton.
This embodiment allows correct dispensing of tissues from the carton by providing visual identification of the best location for the user to grasp the first tissue in the carton. As a result, the user is able to easily dispense the top sheet and initiate the pop-up feature for the underlying sheets. This aspect saves the user from having to waste time examining the clip to determine a good place to initiate removal, and the improved dispensing eliminates wasting sheets on first dispensing. Also, the first tissue comes out easily without being tom and without distorting the plastic film covering the carton opening, if present.
The clip of tissues may be interfolded, prefolded interfolded, or non-interfolded. As used herein, the phrase “prefolded interfolded” tissues means that the tissues are folded and interleaved with neighboring tissues immediately above and/or below in the clip of tissues. The tissues can be interleaved by any suitable means, including the use of an interfolder as is well known in the papermaking arts. If an interfolder is used, consecutive tissues will be attached to each other at perforation lines. In such cases the unperforated segments of the perforation lines should be sufficiently weak to permit the consecutive tissues to separate from each other upon removal from the carton. This can be controlled by the degree of perforation of the tissue sheet. Tissues in a non-interfolded clip are not interleaved with neighboring tissues but are releasably attached to neighboring tissues so that upon dispensing one tissue, the next adjacent tissue is then ready for dispensing. Suitable means for releasably attaching neighboring tissues in a non-interfolded clip include adhesives, mechanical engagement, ultrasonic bonds, thermal bonds, lap seals, fin seals, or the like, as is known in the art.
The term “visual indicator” is used herein to mean a continuous or intermittent pattern disposed directly on and/or in a tissue to visually identify for the user the best location to grasp a tissue to initiate dispensing. The pattern may consist of designs or symbols, such as alphanumeric characters, that are visually distinguishable by the human eye from surrounding regions of the tissue. The pattern is desirably formed of a color that stands out from the surrounding portions of the tissue and is clearly identifiable through any plastic film covering the opening to the container.
Other than the presence of the visual indicator on the visually distinctive tissue, the visually distinctive tissue and the other tissues are desirably substantially identical in all other material respects. Thus, the visually distinctive and other tissues are formed of essentially the same material and have the same basis weight, size and other visual properties as one another. Further, each of the other tissues is desirably substantially visually uniform, which as used herein means that any particular region of one of the other tissues is macroscopically indistinguishable from any other region of that tissue, and in particular that the other tissues are all of the same color. Point bonding between plies of tissue, fold lines, or the like, typically do not provide color differentiation to characterize a tissue as substantially visually nonuniform.
In another embodiment, a pop-up tissue dispenser includes a clip of interfolded tissues disposed within a carton. The clip includes a visually distinctive tissue and a plurality of other tissues. The visually distinctive tissue has primary and secondary folds and includes a visual indicator disposed adjacent the secondary fold. The other tissues have a primary fold and are substantially visually uniform. The visually distinctive tissue is oriented within the carton such that the visual indicator is visible through the carton opening prior to removal of any tissues from the carton.
In particular embodiments, the visual indi
Charlier Patricia A.
Connelly Thomas J.
Kimberly--Clark Worldwide, Inc.
Sipos John
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