Special receptacle or package – With pallet feature – Knockdown or collapsible type
Patent
1987-01-15
1988-11-01
Marcus, Stephen
Special receptacle or package
With pallet feature
Knockdown or collapsible type
206439, 206461, 2064841, 206634, 383120, B65D 7558
Patent
active
047812974
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a package intended for sterile articles. A most essential feature in packages of this type is that total sterility for the enclosed article is secured during handling.
If gas or steam is chosen as a sterilization medium, the package must of course be gas and vapor permeable. To this end, such packages for sterile articles should not be made of plastic alone, or paper coated with plastic all over its surface, because the packages would then burst during the gas sterilization process.
Opening of a sterile package often takes place in a sterile environment such as an operating room. It is fundamental to make sure that the opening procedure does not give rise to contamination of the surroundings, for example by release of fiber or dust particles. Although sterile, such particles could easily cause inflammatory reactions when coming into contact with body tissues in an operation wound.
Another essential demand is to allow for the sterilized article to be packed in such a manner that its sterility is preserved when taken out of the package.
The packages used today for small or thin articles normally consist of two sheets of paper sealed together along their edge margins, whereas thick or bulky articles are packed in plastic trays heat-sealed to a paper lid. These two types of package are opened by tearing off the seals. Since sealing is usually performed by melting together a sheet of paper coated with a lacquer and a sheet of paper without coating, opening of a conventionally produced package will result in a certain amount of paper being ripped off when breaking the seal open and, as an inevitable consequence, the appearance of loose fiber particles.
A further significant factor associated with such packages is the problem of attaining seams which are tight and strong enough to provide sterility for their contents, but still easily pulled apart without splitting the paper when opening the package.
If the package is ripped as a result of too strong heat seal welds, the contents will most probably be contaminated by the rugged tear edges, and the article which is no longer sterile has to be discarded. With the present invention there is obtained a package intended for sterile articles which, when opened, does not give off fiber particles and which eliminates the problem of adjusting the seals or bonds to the desired strength.
A package for sterile articles made according to the invention is primarily distinguished in that it includes a paper web part (1) to which is joined a plastic web part (2), said web parts together serving to accommodate at least one article (8), whereby the plastic web part is formed of a film made of a linearly oriented plastic material, is tearable in the direction of orientation of the plastic material, and preferably has one or more tear indications (5) for opening the package.
In order to break open a conventional package, the interconnected package-forming webs must be pulled apart, as previously mentioned. Such tearing will require the use of both hands, which after having been in touch with the non-sterile outer surfaces of the package are no longer sterile. Emptying the package by turning it upside down and letting the contents fall out and down onto a sterile surface would involve a considerable risk of contamination, since the article could then easily come into contact with the ripped non-sterile sealing surfaces of the package. To enable removal of the sterile article from the package with its sterility intact, there is thus needed the assistance of a second person.
A further disadvantage in conjunction with the opening of conventional packages is that their contents tend to slip aside thereby easily getting in touch with the non-sterile, ripped surfaces, or they will just fall right out of the package and down onto a non-sterile surface.
With a suitable embodiment of a package according to the invention, the aforesaid drawbacks are overcome by at least one portion of the paper web part being folded in over the contents of the package; by the p
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Abrahamsson Rolf
Berencreutz Mats
Gehman Bryon
Marcus Stephen
Molnlycke AB
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