Sheet package

Details Sheet package Sheet package

2001-12-05

2003-11-11

Bollinger, David H. (Department: 3653)

Article dispensing

Concurrent separation and distortion of flexible article

With presentation of non-coextensive or distorted fold

C221S049000, C428S126000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06644501

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet package housing a sheet stack in which a plurality of sheets are stacked, received within a package container having a dispensing opening.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some of sheets for hand cleaning, baby wipes or sheets for cleaning toilet, kitchen and so forth are provided as wet type sheet. Such wet type sheets are sealingly received within a package container, such as a hard packaging vessel and a bag formed of a packaging sheet in order to maintain wet condition. The package container is formed with a dispensing opening so as to permit sequential dispensing of the sheets. On the other hand, this kind of sheets are so combined as to link vertically adjacent sheets with each other, so that next sheet is drawn together with the uppermost sheet to project the upper portion thereof through the dispensing opening when the uppermost sheet is pulled out.
Such type of the sheet package is typically called as pop-up type. Prior art of a sheet stack of the wet type sheet as pop-up type will be discussed with reference to
FIGS. 6 and 7
.
The sheet stack shown in
FIG. 6
is formed by stacking a plurality of folded sheets
80
combined with each other. Each sheet
80
is folded in a folding line
81
to form an upper piece
82
and a lower piece
83
. The odd number order sheets
80
and the even number order sheets
80
are combined symmetrically with each other. Between the upper piece
82
and the lower piece
83
of the upper sheet (or the overlying sheet), the upper piece
82
of the lower sheet (or the underlying sheet) is disposed. An overlapping width between the lower piece
83
of the upper sheet and the upper piece
82
of the lower sheet are set in an extent of 30 mm, for example. The lower piece
83
and the upper piece
82
are joined by a water screen.
The sheet stack is housed within a package container
100
, such as a hard packaging vessel, a packaging bag or the like, provided with a dispensing opening
100
a.
Pinching the upper piece
82
of the upper sheet with fingers and pulling out the same through the dispensing opening
100
a,
the lower sheet is drawn at the upper piece by the lower piece of the upper sheet. Then, due to resistance at the edge portion of the dispensing opening
100
a,
joining between the upper sheet and the lower sheet by the water screen is broken to separate the upper sheet and the lower sheet. As a result, the upper piece
82
of the lower sheet is projected from the dispensing opening
100
a
to facilitate dispensing of the next sheet.
Each sheet
90
in the sheet stack shown in
FIG. 7
is folded in such a manner that an upper piece
91
is placed at upper side of an intermediate piece
93
and a lower piece
92
is placed at lower side of the intermediate piece
93
. Thus, the sheet
90
is folded into substantially Z-shape.
In the sheet stack, the upper piece
91
of the lower sheet is disposed between the intermediate piece
93
and the lower piece
92
of the upper sheet. When the upper piece
91
of the upper sheet is drawn out through the dispensing opening
100
a
of the package container
100
, the upper piece
91
of the lower sheet is trained (or dragged) together with the lower piece
92
of the upper sheet to be drawn out through the dispensing opening
100
a
to project therefrom.
However, in the sheet stacks shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
, the lower sheet is drawn out to project from the dispensing opening
100
a
when the upper sheet is dispensed through the dispensing opening
100
a.
For separating the lower sheet from the upper sheet as trained, a resistance force is exerted on the upper piece
82
projecting through the dispensing opening
100
a
in case of the sheet stack shown in FIG.
6
. On the other hand, the resistance force is exerted on the upper piece
91
projecting through the dispensing opening
100
a
in case of the sheet stack shown in FIG.
7
.
Therefore, in the case where strength of each sheet is low in dispensing direction, when the upper piece
82
or
91
projecting from the dispensing opening
100
a
is drawn out with pinching by fingers, the sheet may be broken at the mid-way of dispensing due to sliding resistance between the edge portion of the dispensing opening
100
a
and the sheet, or the sheet may be damaged to be locally become thin due to separation between the fibers.
Particularly, when the sheets in the package container
100
is in wet condition, strength of each sheet becomes low. Furthermore, when the sheet
80
or
90
is water-decomposable sheet to be dispersed in large amount of water as disposed into flush toilet after use, the breaking strength in dispensing direction is typically less than or equal to 4.9N per 25 mm width in wet condition. Therefore, the water-decomposable sheet can be damaged by resistance as being dispensed through the dispensing opening
100
a.
For preventing damage to the sheet dispensed as a single sheet as set forth above, an inner width W100 of the dispensing opening
100
a
is required to be widened to reduce sliding resistance to be exerted on the sheet from the edge portion of the dispensing opening
100
a.
However, when the inner width W100 of the dispensing opening
100
a
becomes excessively wide, the sheets within the package container
100
in wet condition can be easily dried. Also, since a cover member closing the dispensing opening
100
a
becomes excessively large to cause difficulty in certainly adhering the cover member in the circumference of the dispensing opening
100
a
when the dispensing opening
100
a
is covered by the cover member. If closure of the dispensing opening
100
a
by the cover member is incomplete, the sheet can be easily dried.
On the other hand, when number of sheets to be received is smaller as compared with a volume of the package container and when a slight gap is formed between the uppermost sheet and the dispensing opening, resistance to be exerted as dispensing uppermost several sheets becomes smaller. However, in this case, excessive size of the package container becomes necessary as compared with the sheet stack. On the other hand, when the package container is formed with a packaging sheet, the package container is formed by wrapping the sheet stack with the packaging sheet. At this time, it is difficult to continuously and automatically perform operation for packing the sheet stack with maintaining a gap (space) within the package container.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been worked out in view of the problems in the prior art as set forth above. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sheet package which can prevent from causing damage to a sheet upon dispensing the sheet through a dispensing opening without widening an opening width of the dispensing opening and providing extra gap within a package container.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a sheet package includes a sheet stack, in which a plurality of folded sheets are stacked, received within a package container with a dispensing opening,
wherein each individual sheet is folded into two-ply sheet along a first folding line, two sheets of the two-ply sheet are folded along a second folding line extending in parallel to the first folding line together for forming a folded sheet, a plurality of folded sheets are stacked in such a manner that a portion including the first folding line of a lower folded sheet is disposed within a valley folded portion of an upper folded sheet.
The sheet stack may be formed with placing the first folding line of each folded sheet with a width range of the dispensing opening. The sheet may be a water decomposable sheet disposed within the package container in wet condition, the two-ply sheet may have a breaking strength less than or equal to 9.8N per 25 mm width in wet condition in a direction perpendicular to the first folding line. The folded sheets in the sheet stack may include first folded sheets oriented in one direction and second folded sheets orient

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