Adhesive bandage envelope
The present invention incorporates ways to rapidly open an envelope in which an adhesive bandage is packaged in a sterile manner. Such bandages are commonly described as Band Aids™. The method consists of a modification of the tabs currently used on one end of nearly all such envelopes. The modification consists of the enlargement of the tabs and the use of an additional fold to make the tabs easily gripped because they project out from the envelope. An additional embodiment of the invention causes all the envelopes in a box to be anchored in the box by tabs which are extensions of one half of each envelope, so that by pulling on the tab of the other half of the envelope, the bandage is both pulled from the box and extended from the envelope. An additional enhancement of the invention has one of the release strips protecting the adhesive portions of the bandage to adhere to the envelope, making the bandage ready for application without the need to remove that release strip through a separate action. A variety of bandage sizes may be included in one box, each size being available by a separate opening.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. U.S. 60/646,959, filed on Jan. 24, 2005, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The invention described herein relates to adhesive bandage packaging, and ways to improve them, in particular with regard to the ease and speed with which they can be used.
2. Prior Art
There are a number of patents which describe ways in which adhesive bandages of the Band-Aid variety (a trademark of Johnson and Johnson) are more rapidly and easily used. Oliveira in U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,188 shows a bandage attached to a release liner in a way which makes it easier to grip. Dupont in U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,092 shows a bandage envelope which can be pulled apart. Damikolas in U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,343 B1 shows a dispenser which strips away the envelope which encloses the bandages. Dotta in U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,137 shows a configuration for the bandage envelope which involves pulling on opposite ends of the envelope to release the bandage. Etheredge in U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,477 shows a plastic case with a cavity in place of the paper envelope used by currently available adhesive bandages, with only one release paper with its end folded over to permit easy removal. Grossman in U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,320 also shows various ways to release a bandage from its envelope by pulling on the opposite ends of the envelope. Grossman's patent includes a number of prior art references not cited above. Despite these and other packaging proposals, the half-dozen or so makers of bandages in envelopes vary little in their packaging structures. Nonetheless, consumer annoyance with the difficulties of using “Band Aids”™ is commonplace and near-universal. The envelopes which encloses adhesive bandages being manufactured today typically have narrow “tabs”, which range from ⅛th inch to ¼ inch wide, on one end of the envelope. In most cases these tabs are formed by folding a narrow strip on the ends of one or both of the adhesive-coated sides of the envelope on itself, so that if these tabs are manually gripped, the two halves of the envelope may be peeled apart. In practice, these narrow tabs can be gripped only by fingertips, and in the case of some bandage brands, they are difficult to separate, even though they are not glued together. In the case of some manufacturers, the tab on one half of the envelope protrudes beyond the other to some extent, up to ⅛th inch. Other makers give the tabs no significant separation at the ends of the envelope, so that peeling the envelope open is extremely difficult. In a few cases, there are no tabs, requiring that the envelope be torn open. Once opened, the envelope's bandage has its two adhesive halves covered by release strips, which, once pulled off, reveal the adhesive of the bandage. If a user pulls off both release strips at once, however, the adhesive is now attached to the fingers of the user, and hence loses some of its adhesive grip. Consequently, the ideal use of the bandage requires that only one release strip is removed at a time, with the exposed adhesive then placed on the skin while the bandage is held using the other release strip. An alternative proper use is to pull both release strips partially off the adhesive, with the partially exposed adhesive then pressed to the skin while the remainder of the release strips are removed. However, in many cases, both release strips are removed at once, as previously described, with the possibility of the adhesive strips touching each other, or being folded on themselves, or at least sticking to the fingers of the user.
While the enlargement of envelope end tabs would be useful to help peel the envelope open, if they even lightly stick together, separating them can be difficult and time consuming. Often, the envelope must be opened rapidly, as a cut may be dripping blood. Or, the user may have poor eyesight or may have impaired manual dexterity, making it difficult to either find the tabs to separate and pull or to tear the envelope apart. In a few examples, the end of the envelope with the tabs is indicated by a color stripe. In other cases, there are no markings that would be useful to someone with poor eyesight or in a rush. Some makers of packaged bandages even pack them as pairs, side by side, or in groups, so that to open only one envelope, the packages must first be separated, and then one peeled, or torn, open. There are examples of envelopes which have no method of opening the envelope other than tearing off an end, a method which may result in the bandage being torn in the process.
Goals and Objectives of the Invention
The goal of the present invention is to speed the use of packaged adhesive bandages and to minimize mistakes in their application, such as the user touching the adhesive prior to it being applied to the area of the wound. The present invention provides a structure which enables the user with poor eyesight or trembling fingers to easily and rapidly peel open an adhesive bandage envelope, and to remove the bandage in a way which minimizes inadvertent finger contact with an adhesive surface prior to application.
For the average user, the time required by contemporary designs from box to skin varies from 22 to 35 seconds, sometimes longer, even over a minute, depending on whether the envelope tabs easily separate or not and whether the person using the bandage knows how the tabs should be separated. If the envelope is torn open rather than peeled apart, total time is often over 40 seconds, possibly longer if the adhesive bands stick to the fingers of the user. Some adhesive bandage envelope designs provide little or no clue to which end should be opened, and are so difficult to peel apart that they invite the envelopes to be torn open, the slowest way to remove the bandage. Using the structure described herein, however, total time can be as low as 10 seconds or less, with a typical high of 15 seconds. The most important aspects of the present invention are that the bandages employing its teachings can be rapidly used by individuals with poor eyesight and trembling hands, and that there is only modest added manufacturing cost associated with its use. An advantage of a major embodiment of the invention is that it allows an adhesive bandage to be extracted from its box by pulling on a tab extending from the box which also peels the envelope apart as the bandage is removed. Another advantage of the invention is that it allows one box to contain various sizes and types of bandages, each with their own exit door, so that a user need not randomly pull bandages from a box looking for a particular size.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention incorporates ways to rapidly open an envelope in which an adhesive bandage is packaged in a sterile manner. The method consists of a modification of the tabs currently used on one of the ends of nearly all such envelopes. My modification consists of the enlargement of the tabs and the use of an additional fold to make the tabs easily gripped because they project out from the envelope. An additional embodiment of the invention causes all the envelopes in a box to be anchored in the box by tabs which are extensions of one half of each envelope, so that by pulling on the tab of the other half of the envelope, the bandage is both pulled from the box and extended from the envelope. An additional enhancement of the invention has one of the release strips protecting the adhesive portions of the bandage to adhere to the envelope, making the bandage ready for application without the need to remove that release strip through a separate action.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention consists, in part, of at least one folded tab on the end of a bandage envelope, as seen in
A preferred embodiment of the invention causes one tab to be substantially longer than the other. This tab is lengthened sufficiently to permit it to be used to secure a group of the bandage envelopes to each other, and then to the bottom or top flap of a box from which they can be pulled by the free tab, opening the envelopes as they are pulled from their box.
After envelope 34 in
An advantage of the present invention is that when a conventional (prior art) adhesive bandage envelope is removed from its envelope, the user must dispose of at least four bits of paper: each side of the envelope, and both of the release slips. If the envelope is torn open, there may be additional separate bits of paper. With the present invention, the user typically has two pieces of paper to dispose of, that being the partially opened envelope or, alternatively, the one-piece envelope, and one release paper, the other being attached to the envelope.
An important aspect of the design of any product which is an improvement or advancement of a pre-existing product is the extent to which the existing manufacturing equipment which is being used to make the product can be modified or converted to make the improved version of the product. In the case of the invention described herein, the dimensions of the envelope's halves and the addition of one fold, 6 in
Another advantage of the method of releasing bandages provided by the present invention is that each bandage envelope may be numbered or given some other indication of the number in the box, so that, for example, if a box contains 20 bandages of a given type, when the 18th bandage is pulled, it can have printing on it which says “only two more left, time to buy more”, or can simply be colored red as a warning.
Although the present invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood the disclosure has been made by way of example, and changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
Claims
1. The combination of an adhesive bandage and a releasable envelope for the bandage comprising in combination:
- an envelope comprised of two confronting sheet-like halves having an adhesive on confronting faces of said halves, said halves having opposite ends and wherein one end of at least one of said halves is folded along a fold line so as to define a tab forming an angle with the remainder of the half, and
- a bandage confined between the confronting faces of the envelope halves.
2. The combination of claim 1 wherein both of said halves have such a tab.
3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said tab forms an angle in the range of 15-179 degrees.
4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said tab is folded upon the remainder of the associated half.
5. The combination of claim 1 wherein said tab is integral with the remainder of the associated half.
6. The combination of claim 1 wherein said tab is affixed to the remainder of said half.
7. The combination of claim 1 wherein said bandage has a gauze portion and an adhesive portion on opposite sides of said gauze portion with said adhesive portion having an adhesive face, and first and second release strips, said first release strip being adhered on a first face to an adhesive portion on one side of said gauze portion and said second release strip being adhered on a first face to said adhesive portion on the opposite side of said gauze portion, said second release strip being further adhered on an opposite second face to a confronting face of one of said envelope halves.
8. The combination of claim 1 wherein said envelope is formed from a single strip of paper folded along a second fold line to define said halves on opposite sides of said second fold line.
9. A package defining a plurality of the combinations set forth in claim 2 wherein said envelopes on adjacent combinations are releasably attached.
10. The package of claim 9 further including a container in which said plurality of combinations are housed, said container including an opening adjacent to a tab of one of said enclosures whereby said tab is accessible through said opening.
11. The package of claim 10 further including an elastic element in said container biasing said package of combinations toward said opening.
12. The package of claim 10 wherein there are a plurality of said packages in said container and further where said container includes an opening associated with each said package.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 13, 2006
Publication Date: Aug 3, 2006
Inventor: Raymond Auger (Aspen, CO)
Application Number: 11/331,690
International Classification: A61B 17/06 (20060101);