Special receptacle or package – For plate or sheet
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-17
2003-02-18
Foster, Jim (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
For plate or sheet
C206S039000, C206S469000, C206S532000, C206S725000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06520329
ABSTRACT:
DESCRIPTION
The invention relates to a packaging for planiform objects, for example flexible pharmaceutical flat bodies, in particular susceptors, cachets, wafers, transdermal therapeutic systems (TTS) or transdermal drug delivery systems (TDDS or TDS), chewing gum, microchips, stamps or the like.
So-called blister packs have become established in the field of packaging of tablets, said blister packs consisting of a support card with a multiplicity of cavities or cups in a matrix-type pattern which are intended to individually receive tablets, pills, capsules or the like, and of a cover film which is welded to the upper side of the support card and occludes the cups. This film generally consists of aluminum which, on the side facing the support card, is provided with a layer of polypropylene, polyethylene or sealing varnish which permits welding. The filled blister cards are packaged individually or severally, together with an insert leaflet, in a folding carton of suitable size.
To remove a tablet from one of the cups, the tablet is pressed upwards against the cover film from underneath using the thumb, and the cover film thus bursts and tears open in the area of the cup. This procedure is made possible because of the softness of the material of the support card and the rigidness of the tablets, in conjunction with the low strength of the cover film. However, it is not possible to remove soft or sensitive objects from the cup using this procedure, because the latter can damage sensitive objects.
Pharmaceutical preparations have also recently become commercially available in which the pharmaceutical active substance is accommodated in a sensitive and relatively flat plaster—a small cachet or a wafer-thin, specially produced film—to be taken up on a patient's tongue in order to reach the patient's circulation without passing through the stomach. Flat objects of this type, which in addition are insufficiently rigid to be pressed through a cover film, are not suitable for packing in a blister pack of the abovementioned type. The same applies to brittle thin objects such as semiconductor wafers.
It is an object of the invention to make available a packaging of the type mentioned at the outset, which permits a simple packing procedure and straightforward individual removal of the individual planiform objects/products from the packaging.
An object of the invention is achieved by a packaging comprising a support card with one or more cavities each intended to receive one of the objects, the upper side of said support card being covered by a cover film which occludes the cavities and which is sealed to the support card at sealing lines at least in the margin area around the cavities in such a manner that said film can be torn open, said sealing lines each being surrounded by a weakened line merges into the contour or the boundary cutting line of a pull tab for gripping and manually tearing open the cover film over the respective cavity.
The invention makes use of a support card which is similar to that of the prior art and which has cavities for receiving the planiform objects/products. The card is covered by a cover film which is connected to it and which occludes the cavities. Unlike in the prior art, however, the card is not designed for the packaged planiform objects to be removed by pressing them through the cover film from underneath. Instead, the cover film is designed in conjunction with the support card in such a way that the chambers formed by the cavities can be opened individually and only in the area of these chambers by pulling off a section of the cover film lying over the cavity in question.
The support card can preferably be made of board since, when opening the chambers formed by the cavities, the stiffness of the board is not an obstacle but on the contrary makes the opening procedure even easier. The board material, preferably with a thickness of 0.3 to 0.5 mm, is preferably coated with a sealable varnish or a sealable film which not only forms a vapor barrier but is also used for sealing to the cover film. Tearing open of the individual chambers is made possible by a material separation between board and coating.
Depending on the thickness of the flat bodies to be received, the cavities are set back from the surface of the support card, by 0.5 to 1 mm for example. They are created in particular and preferably by embossing the support card material when producing the blank.
The cover film is sealed to the support card, at least in the area around the edges of the cavities, in order to ensure a tight seal of the chambers formed by the cavities. To make it easier to tear open the chambers, the cover film is provided with weakened lines, for example a perforation or scored line, around the edges of the cavities outside the abovementioned seals. To make tearing open easier, a pull tab can be formed on each section of the cover film to be torn open, which pull tab could be gripped by the fingers. This pull tab would then preferably be securely connected to the underlying material of the support card, and the section of the support card lying under the tab would be delimited from this by a weakened line so that, in order to open the associated chamber, this section could be easily broken away from the card and torn off together with the pull tab and the contiguous section of the cover film.
The cover film can preferably also be securely connected, for example adhesively bonded or sealed, to the support card in a matrix pattern which is aligned with the distribution of the cavities, in order to prevent an uncontrolled peeling-off of the cover film from the support card when the cavities are torn open.
The packaging preferably also includes a sleeve-like envelope which receives the support card and can be locally connected releasably to the support card in order to form an original closure which not only holds support card and envelope together, but also provides a guarantee that the packaging has not been tampered with prior to its first use.
In a development of the invention, a further support card can be applied to at least one of the edges of the support card, which further support card can be of the same design as the above-described “main” support card in order to increase the holding volume of the packaging, but can also be an information support card which, for example, replaces the insert leaflet required for medicaments. It is also possible, on two or three edges of the support card, to apply additional support cards, of which one for example is an information support card. The connection of these additional support cards to the main support card could for example be on perforation lines, so that the additional support card(s) can be torn off from the main support card when no longer needed. The envelope too can be closed on three or four sides by adhesive bonding, sealing or otherwise.
It is essential for the invention that the cover film can be easily detached from the support card in the area of the cavities. The area of the sealing line must therefore be easy to tear open, either by the sealed material combination being separable, or by a lining coming loose from a base, which can easily be achieved when board is used. As has already been described, the support card can be made of board, or, conversely, the support card can also be made of a sealable plastic while the cover film can be made of a lined or varnished board.
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Fuchs Michael
Simon G{overscore (u)}nter
Weber Notger
Foster Jim
Frommer & Lawrence & Haug LLP
LTS Lohmann Thapie-Systeme AG
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