Self-contained squeeze card hanging package
A tamper-resistant hanging package particularly attractive in the squeezing of a confectionery, cosmetic or other flowable product content out through a nozzle includes a tear-off corner which, upon twisting, removes a connected cap from the nozzle of a bladder in which the product content is stored in allowing the product content to be sucked or spread through the nozzle; but with the tear-off corner being thereafter separable from the cap to allow the cap to be placed back onto the nozzle to close off and retain any remaining product content in the bladder for future use.
NONE
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENTResearch and development of this invention and Application have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under any Federal program.
REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIXNOT APPLICABLE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hanging package products for displaying items for retail sale, in general, and to a self-contained hanging package particularly attractive for the display sale of confectionery, and wet or dry form cosmetics, in particular.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hanging package products for display sales generally consist of carded packagings where such goods as toys, hardware, and electrical items are contained between a specially made paperboard card and a clear pre-formed plastic shells, typically of polyvinylchloride. Allowing a consumer to easily examine the product through the transparent plastic, the plastic shell is typically vacuum-formed around a mold to contain the item snugly. The card is usually brightly colored and designed depending on the item inside, and the polyvinylchloride is affixed to the card using heat and pressure to activate an adhesive to form a heat seal coating on the card. Oftentimes, referred to as blister packs, the adhesive employed is selected strong enough so that the pack may hang on a peg, but weak enough so that the package can be easily opened. Sometimes with large items, the card has a perforated window for access to allow the item inside to be more easily removed.
As will be readily appreciated, however, these hanging package units, in construction, embody two separate products—the item itself, and the package which surrounds it. Frequently, the package is designed to be difficult to open by hand so as to deter tampering. With this, as with the simpler version of allowing easy access to the item inside, once the package is opened and the plastic shell discarded, there is little that can be done to recover the item for future use, resulting in the wasting of the extra materials employed.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention to provide a new and unique hanging package product for display unit sales which overcomes this disadvantage of the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention, also, to provide such a hanging package product in which the item inside and the clear plastic shell are formed together as a self-contained construction.
It is another object of the invention to provide a hanging package product of this nature which is particularly attractive for the display sales of confectionery, and wet or dry form cosmetics.
It is a further object of the invention to provide this confectionery and cosmetic hanging package product which is both tamper resistant in opening, but able to be closed off to save any remaining product after a partial draining of its contents.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide this hanging package product for display unit sales in which the product content can be released by a simple squeezing of the plastic shell itself.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAs will become clear from the following description, the tamper resistant self-contained hanging package of the invention is formed of three unique components—a bladder, a cap, and a sealing card. The bladder component will be seen to be fabricated of a squeezable plastic, preferably flat on one side, and fillable with any type of confectionery, and wet or dry form cosmetic. The cap component will be seen to be provided with “ears”—which, when the package is ready to be opened, are turned to both open the cap and separate it from a nozzle of the bladder. The sealing card component will be seen to be die cut, with an outer layer of cardboard and an inner layer of plastic for not only supporting the finished product, but to be foldable to allow the bladder and all interior areas of the card to be heat sealed together. Designed with a “tear-corner”, the only way to access and dispense the product contents will be seen to be a ripping of this corner which, at the same time, opens the cap and removes it from the bladder nozzle. Fabricating the ripped “tear-corner” to be easily removable from the cap, furthermore, allows the cap itself to be thereafter attached to the nozzle in closing off the bladder to save any remaining content for later use.
These and other features of the invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The bladder component 10 of the self-contained hanging package is fabricated from a soft and squeezable material, enabling a user to easily dispense and squeeze out its contents—such as confectionery, and wet or dry cosmetic products. In the preferred embodiment depicted in
As an appreciation of the views of
The cap component 35 of the hanging package is illustrated in the various views of
Reference numerals 43 and 45 identify extensions on opposite sides of the cap allowing the cap 35 to be fixed into a corner 85 of the sealing card illustrated in the views of
In this respect, inside the cap 35 are a pair of stoppers 47, 48 on a track 49 with a raised edge located on both sides of the cap (
The sealing card support component 75 of the hanging package of the invention is composed of an outer cardboard layer 60 (
Reference numeral 78 in
When so assembled, the perforated area all the way through the top corner of the card, when twisted or torn in a counterclockwise position, tears open the card in allowing the cap 35 to be removed. The torn off cardboard corner and cap can be easily separated, and the cap replaced upon the bladder's nozzle 16 so that the remaining product can be accessed at another time. This follows, since the ears 43, 45 allow the cap 35 to turn while the corner is being torn from the card—but since the cap 35 is made of polypropylene rather than polyethylene (i.e., another material), the cap 35 will not seal to the card. Once the cap 35 is removed from the nozzle 16, the contents of the bladder—whatever it may be—can be squeezed and sucked out (or just squeezed out) the nozzle opening simply by pressing down on the low density polyethylene bladder. Once the bladder is emptied, the bladder can simply be discarded.
Whereas there has been described what is considered to be a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will readily be appreciated that modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from its teachings. For example, while the preferred embodiment has been described with a single product containing bladder, double chambered bladders with nozzles 90° apart can be located at both the left and right corners of the card, as well. Likewise, the bladder design can be of amy geometric or freeform shape—all as shown in, for example, the single chamber splodge of
And, as yet another feature and modification of the invention, instead of having the bladder component 10 essentially of a clear composition to allow a consumer to easily view its contents, the bladder portion can be printed or decorated with whatever images may be desired in resembling characters, scenes or topological features for example—and with or without the bladder having a flat base bottom. As will be understood, however, by having a flat base bottom instead of one which is convex, the ease of printing the back of the sealing card with backgrounds, advertising, and information becomes not only simpler, but allows for greater informational content.
For at least the foregoing reasons (and for the further reason that the squeezable bladder can contain a wide type of flowable product contents other than confections, or cosmetics), resort should be had to the claims appended hereto for a true understanding of the scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A package display unit comprising:
- a support card having an inner heat-sealable plastic layer and an outer cardboard layer;
- a squeezable bladder of product content to be dispensed through a nozzle thereof;
- a heat-sealable plastic edge framing said bladder;
- die cut areas through said inner and outer layers to receive said bladder and said nozzle;
- a cap for said nozzle having opposing side extensions sandwiched between said inner and outer layers of said card at a corner thereof;
- a tear line between said corner and the remainder of said card; and
- a fold line across said support card for folding a bottom portion of said inner layer of said support card over a top portion of said inner layer of said support card in bringing said heat-sealable plastic edge framing said bladder in abutting relationship with said inner heat-sealable plastic layer.
2. The package display unit of claim 1 wherein said fold line divides said support card in half,
3. The package display unit of claim 1 wherein said inner heat-sealable plastic layer and said heat-sealable plastic edge framing said bladder are fabricated of polyethylene.
4. The package display unit of claim 1 wherein said squeezable bladder is fabricated of low density polyethylene.
5. The package display unit of claim 1 wherein said cap is fabricated of polypropylene.
6. The package display unit of claim 1 wherein said fold line divides said support card in half, wherein said inner heat-sealable plastic layer and said heat-sealable plastic edge are fabricated of polyethylene, wherein said squeezable bladder is fabricated of low density polyethylene, and wherein said cap is fabricated of polypropylene.
7. The package display unit of claim 1, also including tearable perforations between said opposing side extensions of said cap and said inner and outer layers of said support card.
8. The package display unit of claim 1 wherein said bladder includes a domed top and a flat base.
9. The package display unit of claim 1, including die cut areas through said inner and outer layers of said support card to receive a peg for hanging said display unit.
10. The package display unit of claim 1, including areas on said cardboard layer to receive print information of the product content within said bladder.
11. The package display unit of claim 6, also including tearable perforations between said opposing side extensions of said cap and said inner and outer layers of said support card, wherein said bladder includes a domed top and a flat base, die cut areas through said inner and outer layers of said support card to receive a peg for hanging said display unit, and areas on said cardboard layer to receive print information of the product content within said bladder.
12. The package display unit of claim 2 wherein a top half of said support card includes a die cut area for receiving the bladder and nozzle and wherein a bottom half of said support card includes a die cut area to overlie said nozzle when folded upwardly across said support card.
13. The package display unit of claim 1 wherein said squeezable bladder is fabricated of a transparent plastic.
14. The package display unit of claim 1 wherein said squeezable bladder encloses a confectionery and wet or dry form cosmetic.
15. The package display unit of claim 1 wherein said squeezable bladder contains a flowable product content.
16. A package display unit comprising:
- a squeezable bladder of product content to be dispensed through a nozzle thereof;
- a heat-sealable plastic edge framing said bladder;
- a support card having an inner heat-sealable plastic layer and an outer cardboard layer between which said heat-sealable plastic edge is sandwiched;
- a cap for said nozzle having opposing side extensions sandwiched between said inner and outer layers of said support card at a corner thereof;
- a tear line between said corner and the remainder of said support card; and
- a Euro hanging hole through said support card.
17. The package display unit of claim 16, including tearable perforations between said opposing side extensions and said support card corner.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 21, 2010
Publication Date: Jul 21, 2011
Inventor: Marc Mamiye (Old Bridge, NJ)
Application Number: 12/657,443
International Classification: B65D 35/56 (20060101);