DISPENSER PACKAGE

Abstract

A dispensing package that includes opposed flexible front and back walls joined along opposed side edges. A transversely extending resealable closure forms a resealable opening for the dispensing package. A dispensing barricade is located between the front and back walls and comprises a flexible sheet material that is folded upon itself to form a transversely extending fold line and a pair of opposing flexible walls that are located between and in contact with interior surfaces of the front and back walls of the package. At least one restricted opening is formed in the dispensing barricade adjacent the fold line through which material in the dispensing package may be dispensed.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is related to and claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/727,973 filed Oct. 18, 2005, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a dispenser package, and more particularly to a recloseable pouch-like package that has an integral internal dispensing feature so that a consumer can controllably dispense a product contained in the package.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The dispensing package of the present invention provides a package that can be loaded with a product by a manufacturer and sealed to provide an airtight, watertight package for storage and shipment of the product. The package has an integral dispensing feature that allows for controllably dispensing a product from the package. The package can be reclosed and resealed by the consumer after opening to allow for storage of the remaining product until needed. A wide variety of products can be dispensed from the package. For example, it is particularly useful for dispensing dry or pre-moistened wipes. It can also be used for dispensing discrete individual objects, such as candies, cough drops, etc.

The dispensing package of the present invention includes opposed flexible front and back walls, each having a top edge, a bottom edge, and opposed side edges extending longitudinally from said top edge to said bottom edge. Side seams extend longitudinally along said opposed side edges to join the front and back walls to one another. A transversely extending resealable closure is spaced inwardly from the top edge of the front and back walls and joins the front and back walls to one another to form a resealable opening for the dispensing package. A dispensing barricade is located between the front and back walls and extends from one side edge to the opposite side edge. The dispensing barricade comprises a flexible sheet material that is folded upon itself to form a transversely extending fold line and a pair of opposing flexible walls that are located between and in contact with interior surfaces of the front and back walls of the package and extend inwardly from the fold line toward said bottom edge. The flexible walls of the dispensing barricade are connected respectively to the adjacent interior surfaces of the front and back walls by transversely extending seams. At least one restricted opening is formed in the dispensing barricade adjacent the fold line through which material in the dispensing package may be dispensed. The dispensing package may further include a transversely extending top seal located at the top edge of the front and back walls or between the top edge and the transversely extending resealable closure. This top seal seals the dispensing package and prevents access to the resealable closure until broken or removed.

In one embodiment, as initially manufactured, the front and back walls are unsealed along the bottom edge to allow for filling of the dispensing package by a manufacturer through the open bottom of the package.

In another embodiment, the dispensing package can be filled with a product and sealed by forming a seam or seal along the bottom edges of the front and back walls. The material may, for example, include a plurality of individual sheets of material, with each sheet being inter-folded with an adjacent sheet so that individual sheets may be successively dispensed from the package through the dispensing opening.

In yet another embodiment, the product may include an elongate strip of material having longitudinally spaced apart transversely extending perforations arranged to facilitate separating the material into individual sheets so that individual sheets may be successively dispensed from the package through the dispensing opening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

Some of the features and advantages of the invention having been described, others will become apparent from the detailed description which follows, and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic front view showing an empty dispensing package in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the package taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a dispensing package in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention that has been filled with a product and sealed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the package filled with individual inter-folded sheets of a material, such as a disposable wipe.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the package filled with a continuous strip of a material, such as disposable wipes, wound into roll form and arranged so that the material may be dispensed from the package and separated into individual sheets.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the bottom portion of the dispensing package showing an alternative embodiment in which a gusset is provided at the bottom of the dispensing package.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

A dispensing package in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention as indicated generally in the drawing figures by the reference character 10. As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the dispensing package includes opposed front and back walls 11, 12 formed of a flexible sheet material. In the illustrated embodiment, the front and back walls 11, 12 are of a generally rectangular shape, each having a top edge 13, a bottom edge 14 and opposed side edges 15 that extend longitudinally from the top edge 13 to the bottom edge 14.

The front and back walls 11, 12 are joined to one another along the opposed side edges 15 by side seams 16. The side seams 16, as well as the other seams of the dispensing package to be described presently, can be formed by any of various methods conventionally used in the packaging industry, including seams formed mechanically, such as by sewing or stapling, adhesively, or by fusion, such as by forming seals by with heat or ultrasonic energy. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the front and back walls are made from a heat sealable material and the side seams 16 are formed by producing a fusion bond or seal between contacting interior surfaces of the front and back walls using pressure and heat or ultrasonic energy as is well known. Although referred to herein as “heat seals”, it should be understood that this term is intended to apply both to seals formed by heating the contacting surfaces with a heated anvil or platen, as well as to heating and fusion produced by other methods, such as application of ultrasonic energy.

As shown, the package 10 also includes a top seam 17 extending transversely adjacent the top edge 13 of the front and back walls 11, 12. Located inwardly from the top seam 17, is a transversely extended resealable closure 18. The top seam 17 seals the package and prevents access to the resealable closure 18 until the package has been opened by the consumer. A perforation, notch or other line of weakening (not shown) can be conveniently provided either in the top seam or adjacent to the top seam 17 to make it easier for the consumer to open the package by removing the top seam 17 and to thereby gain access to the resealable closure 18.

The resealable closure can be any of various known configurations that allow for opening and reclosing of the package. In the illustrated embodiment, the resealable closure comprises a pair of cooperating interlocking strips that are configured to releasably interconnect and to form a “press and seal ” type of releasable and resealable interconnection. This type of resealable closure typically includes a rib-like male profile strip and a cooperating groove-like female profile that receives the rib-like male profile to form a seal. The closure can be closed simply by applying pressure along the length of the strips, or in some embodiments a zipper-type slider can be provided to facilitate opening and closing. These two strips are bonded to the interior surfaces of the front and back walls 11, 12 in a suitable manner, preferably by heat sealing.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the bottom edges 14 of the front and back walls 11, 12 are left unconnected. The dispensing package may be conveniently manufactured in this configuration and delivered to a manufacturer in the form of a stack of unfilled dispensing packages. The manufacturer may then fill each package through the open bottom, and thereafter seal the package by forming a bottom seam 21 (as indicated by the broken line at the bottom of FIG. 1) along or adjacent to the bottom edge 14 of the front and back walls 11, 12.

Located interiorly of the package adjacent the resealable closure 18 is a dispensing barricade, indicated generally by the reference character 22. In the illustrated embodiment, the dispensing barricade is formed from a generally rectangular sheet material having a width dimension corresponding generally to the width of the package and a length dimension considerably less than the distance from the resealable closure 18 to the bottom edge 14 of the front and back walls 11, 12. The sheet of material forming the dispensing barricade 22 is folded upon itself to form a fold line 23 extending transversely from one side edge of the package to the opposing side edge. The sheet of material thus forms a pair of opposing flexible walls 24, 25 (FIG. 2) which, when the package is in the unfilled flattened configuration shown in FIG. 1, lie in opposing contacting relationship with interior surfaces of the front and back walls 11, 12. A bottom edge 26 of each wall is located interiorly of the package away from the fold line 23 and toward the bottom of the dispensing package. The flexible walls of the barricade are joined to interior surfaces of the front and back walls 11, 12 by a seam 27 located at or adjacent to the bottom edge 26. In the illustrated embodiment, the flexible barricade is made from a heat sealable sheet material and the seam 27 is formed by heat sealing.

The dispensing barricade 22 is provided with one or more restricted openings 30 through which material in the dispensing package may be dispensed. The restricted opening 30 may be formed by punching and removing material from the dispensing barricade, or if desired, may be formed by producing perforations or lines of weakening in the sheet material of the dispensing barricade, whereby the consumer, after opening the package by breaking or removing the top seam 17 and opening the resealable closure 18, can reach in and remove material from the dispensing barricade along the perforations to reveal the restricted opening 30. In the embodiment shown, the restricted opening 30 is a single opening that is centrally located and extends through the fold line 23. In alternative embodiments, two or more restricted openings can be formed in the dispensing barricade 22.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the size and position of the dispensing barricade 22 is such that the barricade always remains interiorly of the dispensing package behind the resealable closure 18. When the package is filled with material, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the fold line 23 is not evident and the dispensing barricade extends across the upper end of the dispensing package interiorly of and adjacent to the resealable closure 18.

The dispensing package 10 of the present invention can be fabricated from any of a wide variety of flexible sheet materials conventionally used in the manufacture of packages including paper, coated paper, nonwoven sheet materials, films and laminates. In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the package is formed from sheets of thermoplastic polymer film. The front and back walls 11, 12 can be formed from a single ply of film or from a multi-ply film laminate. When the front and back walls are made from a single ply of flexible polymer film, they may be conveniently printed on either or both surfaces with printed information, indicia, logos and the like. When the front and back walls are made from a multi-ply material, printing may be applied to either or both exterior surfaces of the multi-ply material, or alternatively, one of the plies can be reverse printed with the desired information so that the printing is encapsulated within the multi-ply laminate. In this event, the exterior ply is typically transparent and the interior ply can be transparent or opaque. The single or multi-ply films can be formed from various thermoplastic polymers including polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester and nylon. When heat sealability is desired, the heat sealable surface preferably includes a sealable polymeric material such as polyethylene or ethylene copolymers.

In the embodiment shown, the side seams 16 are formed by sealing the opposing interior surfaces of the front and back walls 11, 12 to one another to form a simple single side seam. However, it is contemplated that when larger or more bulky materials are to be contained within the dispensing package, the sides of the package can be formed with gussets.

The dispensing package of the present invention is particularly useful for dispensing dry or pre-moistened sheets of tissue or nonwoven fabric, such as are used, for example, as disposable wipes. In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4 for example, the dispensing package can be used to dispense individual sheets of material where each sheet has been inter-folded with an adjacent sheet so that the individual sheets may be successively dispensed from the package through the dispensing opening 30. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the dispensing package can be used for dispensing a continuous elongate strip of material. The strip of material may have longitudinally spaced apart transversely extending perforations arranged to facilitate separating the material into individual sheets so that individual sheets may be successively dispensed from the package through the dispensing opening. As shown in FIG. 5, the elongate strip of material is wound upon itself in roll form, and the end of the elongate strip at the interior of the convolute winding is directed through the restricted opening.

FIG. 6 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a dispensing package in which a gusset 50 is provided adjacent the open bottom of the package. The package is capable of being filled through the open bottom and thereafter sealed to form a stand-up pouch. More specifically, the gusset 50 comprises a strip of flexible film that has been folded upon itself to form a transversely extending fold line 51 which is located inwardly of the bottom edge 14 and a pair of opposing flexible walls 52, 53 located between the front and back walls 11, 12 and extending from the fold line 51 toward the bottom edge 14. A heat seal 54 joins the bottom edge of one of the walls 52 to the adjacent bottom edge 14 of the front wall 11. The side seams (not visible in FIG. 6) also seal the side edges of the flexible walls 52, 53 and the side edges 15 of the front and back walls 11, 12.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Claims

1. A dispensing package comprising:

opposed flexible front and back walls, each having a top edge, a bottom edge, and opposed side edges extending longitudinally from said top edge to said bottom edge,

side seams extending longitudinally along said opposed side edges and joining the front and back walls to one another,

a transversely extending resealable closure joining the front and back walls to one another to form a resealable opening for the dispensing package,

a dispensing barricade located between the front and back walls and extending from one side edge to the opposite side edge, the dispensing barricade comprising a flexible sheet material folded upon itself to form a transversely extending fold line and a pair of opposing flexible walls located between and in contact with interior surfaces of the front and back walls and extending inwardly from the fold line toward said bottom edge,

transversely extending seams joining the flexible walls of the dispensing barricade respectively to interior surfaces of the front and back walls, and

at least one restricted opening formed in the dispensing barricade adjacent said fold line through which material in the dispensing package may be dispensed.

2. The dispensing package of claim 1, further including a transversely extending top seam located between said top edge and said transversely extending resealable closure and joining the front and back walls to one another adjacent the top edges thereof to seal the dispensing package.

3. The dispensing package of claim 1, wherein the front and back walls are unsealed along the bottom edge to allow for filling of the dispensing package.

4. The dispensing package of claim 1, including a plurality of individual sheets of material located within the dispensing package between said front and back walls, each sheet being inter-folded with an adjacent sheet so that individual sheets may be successively dispensed from the package through said dispensing opening.

5. The dispensing package of claim 4, including a transversely extending bottom seam joining the front and back walls to one another adjacent the bottom edges thereof to seal the sheets of material within the package between the bottom seam and the resealable closure, and a transversely extending top seam located between said top edge and said transversely extending resealable closure and joining the front and back walls to one another adjacent the top edges thereof to form a seal that must be removed to gain access to the resealable closure.

6. The dispensing package of claim 1, including an elongate strip of material located within the dispensing package between said front and back walls, the strip having longitudinally spaced apart transversely extending perforations arranged to facilitate separating the material into individual sheets so that individual sheets may be successively dispensed from the package through said dispensing opening.

7. The dispensing package of claim 6, including a transversely extending bottom seam joining the front and back walls to one another adjacent the bottom edges thereof to seal the sheets of material within the package between the bottom seam and the resealable closure, and a transversely extending top seam located between said top edge and said transversely extending resealable closure and joining the front and back walls to one another adjacent the top edges thereof to form a seal that must be removed to gain access to the resealable closure.

8. The dispensing package of claim 1, wherein the flexible front and back walls are formed of polymer film, and including printed indicia on at least one surface of the film.

9. The dispensing package of claim 8, wherein the front and back walls are formed of a heat-sealable film, and wherein said side seams are formed by fusing the inwardly facing surfaces of the front and back walls to one another.

10. The dispensing package of claim 8, wherein the flexible front and back walls include an outer transparent film layer oriented outwardly and an interior film layer laminated thereto, and including a layer of printing between the outer film layer and the interior film layer.

11. The dispensing package of claim 1, wherein said at least one restricted opening in the dispensing barricade is defined by perforations in the dispensing barricade allowing a portion of the flexible sheet material of the dispensing barricade to be removed along the perforations to reveal the opening.

12. The dispensing package of claim 1, including a single centrally located opening in the dispensing barricade.

13. The dispensing package of claim 1, including a plurality of spaced apart openings in the dispensing barricade.

14. The dispensing package of claim 1, wherein the transversely extending resealable closure comprises plastic zipper closure including a pair of cooperating, interlocking profiles heat sealed respectively to interior surfaces of the front and back walls.

15. A dispensing package comprising:

opposed flexible front and back walls formed of a heat-sealable polymer film, each having a top edge, a bottom edge, and opposed side edges extending longitudinally from said top edge to said bottom edge,

side seals extending longitudinally along said opposed side edges and fusion bonding interior surfaces of the front and back walls to one another,

a transversely extending resealable closure spaced inwardly from said top edge toward said bottom edge and joining the front and back walls to one another to form a resealable opening for the dispensing package, said resealable closure including a pair of cooperating, interlocking extrusions heat sealed respectively to interior surfaces of the front and back walls,

a transversely extending top seal located between said top edge and said transversely extending resealable closure and joining the front and back walls to one another adjacent the top edges thereof to form a to seal that must be removed to access the resealable closure,

a dispensing barricade located between the front and back walls and extending from one side edge to the opposite side edge, the dispensing barricade comprising a rectangular flexible heat sealable film folded upon itself to form a transversely extending fold line and a pair of opposing flexible walls located between and in contact with interior surfaces of the front and back walls, the fold line being spaced inwardly from the resealable closure toward said bottom edge, and the opposing flexible walls extending inwardly from said fold line toward said bottom edge and having side edges and a bottom edge located inwardly from said fold line,

transversely extending seals adjacent the bottom edge of the flexible walls of the barricade and joining the flexible walls respectively to interior surfaces of the front and back walls, and

at least one restricted opening formed in the dispensing barricade adjacent said fold line through which material in the dispensing package may be dispensed.

16. The dispensing package of claim 15, wherein the front and back walls are unsealed along the bottom edge to allow for filling of the dispensing package.

17. The dispensing package of claim 16, additionally including a gusset located between the front and back walls adjacent said bottom edge and extending from one side edge to the opposite side edge.

18. The dispensing package of claim 15, including a plurality of individual sheets of material located within the dispensing package between said front and back walls, each sheet being inter-folded with an adjacent sheet so that individual sheets may be successively dispensed from the package through said dispensing opening.

19. The dispensing package of claim 18, including a transversely extending bottom seal joining the front and back walls to one another adjacent the bottom edges thereof to seal the sheets of material within the package between the bottom seal and the resealable closure, and a transversely extending top seal located between said top edge and said transversely extending resealable closure and joining the front and back walls to one another adjacent the top edges thereof to seal that must be removed to access the resealable closure.

20. The dispensing package of claim 15, including an elongate strip of material located within the dispensing package between said front and back walls, the strip having longitudinally spaced apart transversely extending perforations arranged to facilitate separating the material into individual sheets so that individual sheets may be successively dispensed from the package through said dispensing opening.

21. The dispensing package of claim 20, including a transversely extending bottom seal joining the front and back walls to one another adjacent the bottom edges thereof to seal the sheets of material within the package between the bottom seal and the resealable closure, and a transversely extending top seal located between said top edge and said transversely extending resealable closure and joining the front and back walls to one another adjacent the top edges thereof to seal that must be removed to access the resealable closure.