Product housing stacked body of wet tissues

Details Product housing stacked body of wet tissues Product housing stacked body of wet tissues

1999-08-04

2001-06-26

Noland, Kenneth W. (Department: 3651)

Article dispensing

Concurrent separation and distortion of flexible article

With presentation of non-coextensive or distorted fold

C206S812000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06250495

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a wet tissue product having a stacked body of folded wet tissues housed in a container or package.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In general, wet tissues are scaled and housed in a container or package so as to keep their wet state before use or when unused. These wet tissues are folded and sequentially stacked to have combined areas so that they are sequentially pulled out one by one from an outlet provided in the container or package. When the wet tissue at the uppermost position is pulled out, a portion of the succeeding wet tissue protrudes from the outlet of the container. This is generally called the “pop-up type”.
As a method to form such a pop-up type wet tissue stacked body, for example, it is well known in the art to double each wet tissue into a “V” shape to form upper and lower halves, and to stack them such that the upper half of each wet tissue is sandwiched between the upper and lower halves of the overlying wet tissue, and the remaining lower half is sandwiched between the upper and lower halves of the underlying wet tissue, as shown in FIG.
6
. With this wet tissue stacked body, however, when the upper wet tissue is pulled out, the upper half of the succeeding wet tissue is protruded from the outlet so that its protrusion becomes so large as one half of the area of the unfolded wet tissue. If the protrusion of the wet tissue from the outlet is excessively large, it is not confined within the area of a cover which is usually provided with the container or package to close (or cover around) the outlet, so that the protrusion partially extends from the cover and dries up. Further, if the wet tissue thus partially extends from the cover, this cover is not reliably closed to lower the sealability of the container or package so that the wet tissues inside of the container or package are susceptible to drying out.
FIG. 7
shows another method to form a pop-up type wet tissue stacked body. In this method, each wet tissue is folded in three into a “Z” shape to form an upper folded portion, a lower folded portion and an intermediate folded portion between them (or with one edge upward and with the other edge downward). The three-folded wet tissues are stacked such that the upper folded portion of each wet tissue is sandwiched between the intermediate portion and the lower portion of the overlying wet tissue and the lower folded portion thereof is sandwiched between the upper folded portion and the intermediate portion of the underlying wet tissue. In this wet tissue stacked body, the protrusion from the outlet can be made smaller than that shown in
FIG. 6
, to one third of the area of the unfolded wet tissue. However, since each wet tissue is folded into three, the stacked body has a thickness of 1.5 times as large as that of the stacked body which is formed of an equal number of wet tissues and in which each wet tissue is folded into two (or into the V-shape).
In Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 7-213453 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,903), on the other hand, there is disclosed a folding structure for wet tissues to be consecutively pulled out one by one. In this folding structure, as shown in
FIG. 8
, each wet tissue is folded in two, in the same manner as shown in
FIG. 6
, and thereafter a lower half of each wet tissue is further folded downward in two, so as to have an upper half, a small intermediate portion and a small lower portion. That is, each wet tissue is folded into a deformed Z-shape. Then, the wet tissues are stacked so that the upper half of each wet tissue is sandwiched between the upper half and the small intermediate portion of the overlying wet tissue. According to this construction, the protrusion of the wet tissue from the outlet is proper (at about one quarter of the area of the unfolded wet tissue). Further, the stacked body is not as high as compared with that shown in FIG.
6
.
In this wet tissue folding structure, however, the upper half of the wet tissue positioned third from the top is making contact, over a wide area, with both the wet tissue positioned at the top and the wet tissue positioned second from the top. When the wet tissue positioned at the top is pulled out, therefore, the wet tissue positioned third from the top may also protrude from the outlet. Alternatively, there may be such a case that the smaller lower portion is dragged on the upper half of the wet tissue positioned third from the top, thereby unfolding the lower half and making the uppermost wet tissue into the V-shape. In this case, the upper half of the succeeding wet tissue is so wholly protruded from the outlet that its protrusion becomes as large as one half of the area of the unfolded wet tissue.
Thus in the construction shown in
FIG. 8
, the individual wet tissues are combined in a very complicated manner making it difficult to pull them out one by one via the necessary protrusion. To overcome this difficulty, conventional methods of separating the wet tissues either make the outlet of the container housing them extremely narrow or establish a resistance by a resisting portion provided at the outlet. In this case, however, a considerable amount of hard work is required to pull out the wet tissues one by one. Moreover, when a wet tissue is pulled out, the container is also raised together with the wet tissue and must be held with the hands thereby making the pull-out very inconvenient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention has been conceived to solve the problems of the prior art thus far described, and has an object to provide a wet tissue product whereby when a wet tissue is pulled out, the protrusion of the succeeding wet tissue is small.
Another object of the invention is to provide a wet tissue product from which a wet tissue can be pulled out always with a constant protrusion.
The invention provides a wet tissue product comprising a stacked body of folded wet tissues and a container or package housing said stacked body,
wherein the folded wet tissues fall into two groups; a first-group of folded wet tissues and a second-group of folded wet tissues,
each of the first-group of folded wet tissues is formed by folding a plane wet tissue in two generally along a centerline thereof, to have an upper half and a lower half,
each of the second-group of folded wet tissues is formed by folding a plane wet tissue with one edge thereof upward and with the other edge thereof downward, to have an upper folded portion, a lower folded portion and an intermediate portion, and
the first-group of folded wet tissues and second-group of folded wet tissues are alternately stacked in such a manner that the upper half of the first-group of folded wet tissue is sandwiched between the lower folded portion and the intermediate portion of the overlying second-group of folded wet tissue, and the lower half of the first-group of folded wet tissue is sandwiched between the upper folded portion and the intermediate portion of the underlying second-group of folded wet tissue, thereby to form the stacked body.
In the invention, it is preferable that an area of the upper folded portion is equal to that of the lower folded portion.
In the invention, further, it is preferable that the area of the respective upper and lower folded portions is about one quarter of that of the plane wet tissue before folding.
In the invention, furthermore, it is preferable that the plane wet tissue to form the first-group of folded wet tissue and the plane wet tissue to form the second-group of folded wet tissue are identical to each other in shape and size.
In the invention, moreover, it is preferable that the wet tissue exhibits a lower adhesion at one face and a higher adhesion at the other face to another wet tissue in a face-to-face contacting relationship, and the first-group of folded wet tissues and second-group of folded wet tissues are combined such that the face of a lower adhesion and the other face of a higher adhesion confront each other at a combined area where the half of the first-group of folded wet tissue and t

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