Sanitary glove dispensing package

Abstract

A glove dispensing package including a plastic container and a top sheet. The plastic container has walls that define a cavity, and an opening thereof. A plurality of gloves are disposed within the cavity. A top sheet is attached to the plastic container over the opening to seal the cavity, such that the glove dispensing package is substantially impervious to moisture. The plastic container may have a flange formed around a periphery of its opening. The top sheet may be affixed to the flange via heat sealing or using a pressure sensitive adhesive. The top sheet may have a perforated area separated from the rest of the top sheet via a perforation. The gloves may be stacked unfolded or folded in half within the cavity of the plastic container.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/469,942 filed on May 13, 2003, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention generally relates to a disposable glove system, and more particularly to a dispenser package that has enhanced sanitary properties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Disposable gloves are mandatory equipment in many industries that require clean and/or sterile environments, e.g., the food service industry. The use of disposable gloves reduces the spread of viruses and other contaminants among individuals. In the food service industry, such contaminants are less likely to be transmitted from employees to food when employees regularly wear gloves, and when employees frequently and regularly replace used gloves with new ones. The gloves should be easily removable from the dispenser, and be substantially free of contaminants prior to donning.

[0004] Many types of disposable gloves are known to and used by the food service industry. These disposable gloves are typically fabricated using vinyl, latex or polyethylene. Disposable gloves are generally sold in stacked units containing a supply of gloves layered one on top of the other. Gloves may be sold in a dispenser, such as a paperboard box, which encloses the stack and from which gloves may be removed one at a time. (A glove is typically removed in the manner that a tissue paper is removed from a tissue dispenser.) A box dispenser thus provides a simple and economical means for protecting the stored gloves from contamination and for dispensing the gloves. Variations of box dispensers for disposable gloves are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,293 to McLaughlin and U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,682 to Hoffrichter.

[0005] Box dispensers have a drawback, however. The box dispensers are typically made of paper product such as cardboard. Therefore, the box dispensers are susceptible to getting wet so as to dampen not only the outside of the box, but also the inside and thus the gloves inside the box. Such penetration of moisture into the box may result in contamination of the gloves within. In addition, the box dispensers made of paper products are typically folded at the end to form the box. Such folded boxes typically are not completely sealed, but have one or more narrow slit openings (i.e., cracks) on one or more sides and/or at the bottom. The gloves inside the box may also be contaminated through these narrow slit openings.

[0006] Therefore, a glove dispensing package and a method of packaging gloves that allow for keeping gloves in a more sanitary condition are desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a glove dispensing package is provided. The glove dispensing package includes a plastic container and a top sheet. The plastic container has walls that define a cavity and an opening thereof. A plurality of gloves are disposed within the cavity. The top sheet is attached to the plastic container over the opening to seal the cavity, such that the glove dispensing package is substantially impervious to moisture.

[0008] In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method of packaging gloves in a glove dispensing package is provided. A plurality of gloves are placed within a cavity defined by walls of a plastic container through an opening which is also defined by the walls. The plastic container is sealed using a top sheet placed over the opening, thereby substantially preventing moisture from entering the plastic container.

[0009] In yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a glove dispensing package includes a plastic container and a top sheet. The plastic container has walls that define a cavity and an opening thereof, and a flange formed around a periphery of the opening. A plurality of gloves are disposed within the cavity. The top sheet is attached to the flange of the plastic container over the opening to seal the cavity, such that the glove dispensing package is substantially impervious to moisture. The top sheet has a perforated area separated from the rest of the top sheet via a perforation such that the perforated area can be removed by puncturing the perforation so that the gloves can be accessed without removing the top sheet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dispensing package in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0011] FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the dispensing package of FIG. 1, where the dispensing package is placed upside down;

[0012] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a dispensing package in another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in which the gloves are folded in half prior to stacking; and

[0013] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram that illustrates a process of packaging gloves within a cavity of a plastic container, and accessing the gloves.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a glove dispensing package 100 in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The dispensing package 100 includes a top sheet 102 sealed to a plastic container 104. The term “plastic” is used herein to generally designate synthetic polymeric material such as resin. The plastic container has a substantially rectangular box-like shape with a cavity 109 formed by four side walls and a bottom wall. The side walls also define an opening of the cavity 109. The plastic container may have other shapes (e.g., cubic) in other embodiments.

[0015] The plastic container in the exemplary embodiments is made of thermoform plastic or other rigid plastic and may be transparent, semi-transparent or non-transparent, and may be of any desired color. The plastic container 102 may also be partly transparent, semi-transparent and/or non-transparent. Further, the plastic container may have letters (e.g., stylized), pictures, logos, designs and/or other markings placed thereon through printing (e.g., multi-color), engraving, molding, or any other suitable method. The plastic container in other embodiments may be made from other suitable material that is substantially water resistant (i.e., impervious to water or moisture).

[0016] The top sheet 102 in the exemplary embodiment is made of cardboard, and may be laminated on one or both sides to protect against moisture. In other embodiments, the top sheet 102 may be made of soft plastic or other suitable material that is substantially water resistant. The top sheet 102 may be multi-color (e.g., four-color) printed on one or both of its surfaces with letters (e.g., stylized), pictures, logos, designs and/or other markings. The top sheet 102 may be transparent, non-transparent or semi-transparent, or any combination thereof.

[0017] The top sheet 102 has formed thereon a perforated area 106, which can be removed by puncturing a surrounding perforation 107 to form an opening that is smaller than the opening of the plastic container 102. This way, gloves inside the plastic container can be removed without making unnecessarily large hole on the top sheet 102. The perforated area 106 as shown in FIG. 1 has a relatively wide side that is flanked by two convex curves that gradually approach each other as they move further away from the relatively wide side, and eventually meet to form a generally semi-circular shape, opposing the relatively wide side. The shape and/or size of the perforated areas may be different in other embodiments.

[0018] The plastic container 104 contains within its cavity 109 a number of gloves 108, which may be disposable. As can be seen in FIG. 4, for example, the gloves are placed within the cavity of the plastic container (250), and then the plastic container is sealed using the top sheet (252). The gloves can then be accessed by removing the perforated area from the top sheet (254).

[0019] Returning now to FIG. 1, the gloves, for example, may be made of vinyl, latex, polyethylene, or any other suitable material. The gloves 108 may be non-transparent, transparent or semi-transparent. Further, the gloves 108 may have any desired color. The gloves 108 have all five fingers as shown in FIG. 1. In other embodiments, the gloves may be a mitt having a compartment for four fingers and a separate thumb compartment. The gloves may also have various different sizes, all in a single dispenser package or different sizes in different dispenser packages. By way of example, the size of the plastic container 104 (and the top sheet 102) may vary in different embodiments to correspond to the size of the gloves to be packaged therein.

[0020] While FIGS. 1 and 2 show that all the gloves are oriented in the same direction for illustrative purposes, since the gloves typically are thicker at a finger portion than at a cuff portion, in practice the gloves are generally stacked in units of ten, with each 10-unit stack rotated 180 degrees with respect to the 10-unit stack below and the 10-unit stack above. Hence, the 10-unit stacks of gloves face alternate directions. In the exemplary embodiment, the plastic container contains 100 gloves. The number of gloves may vary in other embodiments.

[0021] FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the dispensing package 100 of FIG. 1. As can in seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the plastic container 104 has a flange 105 around the periphery of its opening. The top sheet 102 is affixed to the flange 105 so as to seal the plastic container 104. When sealed, the dispensing package 100 do not necessarily have vacuum within, and may have air inside.

[0022] The top sheet 102 may be affixed to the flange 105 using pressure sensitive adhesive or through heat sealing, or using any other suitable adhesive/method known to those skilled in the art. In an exemplary heat sealing process, the top sheet 102 is placed on top of the plastic container 104, and heat is applied so that the top sheet will stick to the flange 105 of the plastic container. In other embodiments, other suitable methods may be used to create such sealing between the flange 105 and the top sheet 102.

[0023] In addition to providing a more sanitary dispensing package, the glove dispensing package of the present invention also results in a temper-proof packaging. In fact, once the dispensing package 100 is sealed at the factory, any attempt to open the dispensing package (e.g., by removing the perforated area or removing the top sheet 102) is likely to be clearly visible, and therefore, a consumer would be warned of any tempering.

[0024] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a dispensing package 200 in another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The dispensing package 200 has a generally square box-like shape, and is sized such that gloves 208 are folded in half to fit within a cavity 209 of a plastic container 204. Since the dispensing package 200 (including a top sheet 202 and the plastic container 204) is made of substantially the same material and sealed using substantially the same method as the dispensing package 100 and the method of FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, the structure or sealing method of the dispensing package 200 will be only briefly described.

[0025] The top sheet 202 is affixed to a flange 205 of the plastic container 204, in much the same manner as the top sheet 102 is affixed to the flange 105 of the plastic container 104. The gloves 208 can be removed from the dispensing package 200 by removing a perforated area 206 by puncturing a perforation 207 between the perforated area 206 and the rest of the top sheet 202. While the gloves 208 are shown as stacked having a single orientation, similar to the gloves 108, the gloves 208 may be stacked as stacks, each having a predetermined (e.g., 5) number of units. By orienting adjacent stacks 180 degrees of each other, the total thickness of the stacks between two ends may be made substantially the same, as the finger portion is typically thicker than the cuff portion in the gloves.

[0026] By folding the gloves, and stacking them, the folded gloves can be removed easier through a same sized opening than the non-folded gloves. This way, the removability of the gloves can be increased without increasing the size of the opening, thereby enhancing sanitary properties of the dispensing package.

[0027] It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential character hereof. The present description is therefore considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention to be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0028] For example, the dispensing package and the packaging method of the present invention may be applied to other disposable items such as stacks of food wrapping papers, food wrapping plastic sheets, or the like, that require sanitary packaging.

Claims

1. A glove dispensing package comprising:

a plastic container having walls that define a cavity and an opening thereof;

a plurality of gloves disposed within the cavity; and

a top sheet attached to the plastic container over the opening to seal the cavity, such that the glove dispensing package is substantially impervious to moisture.

2. The glove dispensing package of claim 1, wherein the plastic container has a flange formed around a periphery of the opening, wherein the top sheet is affixed to the flange.

3. The glove dispensing package of claim 1, wherein the top sheet has a perforated area separated from the rest of the top sheet via a perforation.

4. The glove dispensing package of claim 3, wherein the perforated area can be removed by puncturing the perforation so that the gloves can be accessed without removing the top sheet.

5. The glove dispensing package of claim 1, wherein the gloves are stacked unfolded in the plastic container.

6. The glove dispensing package of claim 1, wherein the gloves are folded in half when disposed in the plastic container.

7. The glove dispensing package of claim 1, wherein the top sheet is heat sealed to the plastic container.

8. The glove dispensing package of claim 1, wherein the top sheet is attached to the plastic container using pressure sensitive adhesive.

9. A method of packaging gloves in a glove dispensing package, comprising:

placing a plurality of gloves within a cavity defined by walls of a plastic container through an opening which is also defined by the walls; and

sealing the plastic container using a top sheet placed over the opening, thereby substantially preventing moisture from entering the plastic container.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the top sheet is attached to a flange formed on the plastic container around a periphery of the opening.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the top sheet has a perforated area separated from the rest of the top sheet via a perforation.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising removing the perforated area by puncturing the perforation so that the gloves can be accessed without removing the top sheet.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein placing the plurality of gloves comprises stacking the gloves unfolded in the plastic container.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein placing the plurality of gloves comprises folding the gloves in half and stacking the folded gloves in the plastic container.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein sealing the plastic container comprises heat sealing the top sheet to the plastic container.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein sealing the plastic container comprises attaching the top sheet to the plastic container using pressure sensitive adhesive.

17. A glove dispensing package comprising:

a plastic container having walls that define a cavity and an opening thereof, and a flange formed around a periphery of the opening;

a plurality of gloves disposed within the cavity; and

a top sheet attached to the flange of the plastic container over the opening to seal the cavity, such that the glove dispensing package is substantially impervious to moist,

wherein the top sheet has a perforated area separated from the rest of the top sheet via a perforation such that the perforated area can be removed by puncturing the perforation so that the gloves can be accessed without removing the top sheet.

18. The glove dispensing package of claim 17, wherein the gloves are folded in half when disposed in the plastic container.

19. The glove dispensing package of claim 17, wherein the top sheet is heat sealed to the flange of the plastic container.

20. The glove dispensing package of claim 17, wherein the top sheet is attached to the flange of the plastic container using pressure sensitive adhesive.