Sealing Label with Identification Function and Container Wrapped with said Sealing Label
A sealing label for wrapping a container including a container body and a lid portion, the sealing label includes an upper region covering the lid portion, a lower region covering the container body, a cutaway region disposed between the upper region and the lower region, and a tear-off line provided in a boundary between the cutaway region and the lower region as well as in a boundary between the cutaway region and the upper region. An identifying mark comprised of a shape, a pattern, a color or any combination thereof is provided to the lower region and a further identifying mark same as or similar to the identifying mark is provided to the upper region, a region comprised of the upper region and the cutaway region or a region comprised of the upper region, the cutaway region and the lower region.
The present invention relates to a sealing label for wrapping a container including a container body and a lid portion detachably attached to an outlet of the container body. The invention relates also to a container wrapped with the sealing label.
BACKGROUND ARTA sealing label for wrapping a container having a lid portion is used for preventing unauthorized unsealing in order to ensure that this container is an unopened unused container (see e.g. Patent Documents 1-2).
A sealing label disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes an upper region covering a lid portion and a lower region covering a container body. In the upper region, there is provided a colored layer for identifying purpose in the form of a band extending along an upper end edge thereof. A tab portion projects from an upper end portion of the upper region of the sealing label. And, a perforation line extends vertically across the upper region from the tab portion. This perforation line is connected with another perforation line which is provided at the boundary between the upper region and the lower region. At the time of opening of the sealing label, the upper region is removed.
A sealing label disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes an upper region covering a lid portion and a lower region covering a container body. A transverse perforation line extends along the boundary between the upper region and the lower region, and an inclined perforation line extends obliquely across the upper region. In order to allow cutting of the transverse perforation line simultaneously with cutting of the inclined perforation line, an elongate large uncut portion is provided in a connection region between the transverse perforation line and the inclined perforation line. The upper region is removed in association with turning of the lid portion.
CITATION LIST Patent LiteraturePatent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-068907
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-130621
SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical ProblemIn the case of the sealing labels disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, after unsealing, the upper region covering the lid portion is removed, so that the integrity (unity) between the lid portion and the container body is lost. As a result, in the case of a user having many eye dropper containers, the user may attach an erroneous lid portion which is different from the correct one. On the other hand, there is a conceivable arrangement for ensuring integrity between the lid portion and the container body by e.g. coloring the lid portion. In this case, however, there will arise insufficiency of variation for allowing identification of many kinds of container contents. Thus, a practical solution has not yet been achieved.
As another arrangement for ensuring integrity between the lid portion and the container body, it is also conceivable to provide an identifying mark directly in the lateral face of the lid portion. However, as the lid portion has a non-planar shape, provision of such identifying mark is not easy. Moreover, provision of identifying mark in the lateral face of the lid portion involves disadvantage of manufacturing cost increase also.
Then, in view of the above-described state of the art, the object of the present invention is to provide a sealing label providing superior identification function, greater convenience of use and achieving manufacturing cost reduction, as well as a container wrapped with such sealing label.
Solution to ProblemAccording to the present invention, there is provided a sealing label for wrapping a container including a container body and a lid portion detachably attached to an outlet of the container body, the sealing label comprising:
an upper region covering all or a part of the lid portion;
a lower region covering all or a part of the container body;
a cutaway region disposed between the upper region and the lower region;
a tear-off line provided in a boundary between the cutaway region and the lower region as well as in a boundary between the cutaway region and the upper region;
wherein an identifying mark comprised of a shape, a pattern, a color or any combination thereof is provided to the lower region and a further identifying mark same as or similar to the identifying mark is provided to the upper region, a region comprised of the upper region and the cutaway region or a region comprised of the upper region, the cutaway region and the lower region, thereby to allow recognition of integrity (unity) between the lid portion and the container body.
In the above-described configuration, as a further identifying mark same as or similar to an identifying mark comprised of a shape, a pattern, a color or any combination thereof and provided to the lower region is provided to the upper region, a region comprised of the upper region and the cutaway region or a region comprised of the upper region, the cutaway region and the lower region, integrity (unity) between the lid portion and the container body can be readily recognized. Further, the identifying mark comprised of a shape, a pattern, a color or any combination thereof can be an indication which can be easily recited or referred to by the user and which can be of great variety, such as a graphic pattern of a triangle, a square, a rhombus, a circle, a star shape, a crescent shape, a heart shape, etc. or a single letter such as an alphabet character or a Japanese “hiragana” character, etc. Therefore, even when the contents of the container exist in great variety, identifying marks for each common contents can be readily created. Moreover, the identifying mark comprised of a shape, a pattern, a color or any combination thereof can be readily recognized by vison-handicapped persons if the indication is provided with e.g. embossing treatment.
Moreover, since the cutaway region is disposed between the upper region and the lower region of the sealing label, the upper region and the lower region will remain attached to the lid portion and the container body respectively, after unsealing. So, the integrity between the lid portion and the container body can be maintained during the period of continued use of the container.
In the above-described sealing label according to the present invention, preferably, a plurality of the identifying marks are provided in the lower region; and/or a plurality of the further identifying marks same as or similar to the identifying marks are provided to the upper region, the region comprised of the upper region and the cutaway region or the region comprised of the upper region, the cutaway region and the lower region.
In the above-described configuration, a plurality of identifying marks are provided in the lower region or the region including at least the upper region of the sealing label. This arrangement enables visual recognition of the identifying marks from any viewing angle in the circumferential direction of the container. In particular, at the time of use of the container, the lid portion is to be removed. Therefore, by providing a plurality of the same or similar identifying marks in the upper region covering the lid portion and the lower region covering the container body, visual recognizability is improved. Consequently, the erroneous attachment by the user which could occur between the container body and the lid portion can be prevented in a reliable manner.
In the above-described sealing label according to the present invention, preferably, a tab portion for unsealing is provided in the cutaway region.
With the provision of the tab portion in the cutaway region as proposed in the above-described arrangement, an opening operation of the sealing label is made easy. Further, the leading end direction of the tab portion can be in any one of the upper region, the cutaway region and the lower region in order to facilitate gripping thereof.
In the above-described sealing label according to the present invention, preferably, an adhesive agent is applied to a predetermined area of back faces of the upper region and the lower region.
With the adhesive agent applied to a predetermined area of back faces of the upper region and the lower region in the above-described arrangement, bonding of the sealing label to the container is improved. Therefore, after the cutting-away of the cutaway region, the upper region and the lower region of the sealing label will remain adhered to the lid portion and the container body, respectively, so that the integrity (unity) between the container body and the lid portion can be still recognized.
A container to which the sealing label of the invention is attached is obtained by wrapping the inventive sealing label over a container.
The inventive sealing label allows addition of an identifying mark to a surface of this sealing label by a simple method such as printing. And, there is no need to provide the identifying mark directly to the lid portion and the container body. Thus, the label can contribute also to reduction of manufacturing cost.
In the above-described container according to the present invention, for further enhancement of the integrity (unity) between the container body and the lid portion, a top face of the lid portion may be provided with a further identifying mark same as or similar to the identifying mark provided in the sealing label and comprised of a shape, a pattern, a color or any combination thereof.
With the above-described arrangement, with the provision of a further identifying mark same as or similar to the identifying mark provided in the sealing label to the top face of the lid portion, the integrity (unity) between the container body and the lid portion can be recognized also from the upper side of the container.
Next, embodiments of a sealing label 1 relating to the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. In these embodiments, as an exemplary application of the sealing label 1, there will be explained a case in which the sealing label 1 is used for wrapping an eye dropper container 2. However, it is understood that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments and various modifications thereof are possible.
First EmbodimentThe sealing label 1 in this embodiment, as shown in
The sealing label 1, as shown in
In the boundary between the cutaway region 13 and the upper region 11, there is provided a perforation line 14 (tear-off line), and in the boundary between the cutaway region 13 and the lower region 12, a further perforation line 15 (tear-off line) is provided. Namely, the cutaway region 13 is a laterally elongate band-like region which extends from one end of the sealing label to the other end of the sealing label in a direction of wrapping the sealing label 1 around the eye dropper container 2. And, along the vertical direction of this cutaway region 13, there are provided the upper region 11 and the lower region 12 having rectangular shapes via the perforation lines 14, 15. In this description, the term “perforation line” means a group of through holes (cut portions 16) extending through the front and back faces of the sealing label 1 like sewing stitches spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. In such perforation line, between adjacent through holes, non-through portions (uncut portions 17) exist.
Further, in the cutaway region 13 at its end, there is also formed a tab portion 18 used for unsealing. In this embodiment, the tab portion 18 is formed integral with the cutaway region 13 along the lateral direction. The projection amount of this tab portion 18 will be set to an appropriate length so that this tab portion 18 will hardly be twisted according to thermal contraction properties of the sealing label 1.
For using the eye dropper container 2, the tab portion 18 will be gripped and pulled to tear apart and remove the cutaway region 13 along the circumferential direction of the eye dropper container 2, thereby to open the sealing label 1. Incidentally, the shape of the leading end of the tab portion 18 in this embodiment is a semi circular shape. However, in actuality, this shape can also be an angular shape, a triangular shape, etc. and will be appropriately determined, in consideration to such factors as shrinkage strength, a gripping ease, etc. Further, the position of the tab portion 18 is not limited to an end of the cutaway region 13.
Preferably, the cut portions 16 of the perforation lines 14, 15 are formed longer than the uncut portions 17. With this arrangement, the perforation lines 14, 15 can be torn off more smoothly. Incidentally, the front-view shape of each single cut portion 16 is not particularly limited, but can be e.g. a narrow linear shape, a needle-hole shape (punched approximately circular shape or approximately oval shape) as long as this shape allows easy and smooth tearing.
In the sealing label 1, over a predetermined area in its back face, an amount of adhesive agent is applied. In this, preferably, such adhesive agent is applied over a predetermined area in the back face of the upper region 11 and the lower region 12. Alternatively, the sealing label 1 can be affixed by being wrapped around the lid portion 21 and the container body 22 and then heat-shrunk thereon. Further alternatively, the sealing label 1 can be prepared in a cylindrical form, which then is to be fitted on the lid portion 21 and on the container body 22 and then heat-shrunk to be affixed thereto respectively.
As shown in
Next, with reference to the plane views of
The identifying mark 3 comprises a shape, a pattern, a color or some combination thereof. Preferably, the identifying mark 3 will be created in consideration to such factors as medical substances, contents to be held in the eye dropper container 2.
As shown in
Variations are made possible by varying the shape, the pattern, the color of the identifying marks 3. Therefore, even when the contents of the eye dropper container 2 are of a great variety, an identifying mark 3 common for each kind of contents can be easily created.
In the eye dropper container 2, after opening thereof with gripping of the tab portion 18 of the sealing label 1, the upper region 11 and the lower region 12 will remain attached to the lid portion 21 and the container body 22, respectively, so that the recognizability of the identifying marks 3 can be retained. Therefore, throughout the period of continued use of the eye dropper container 2, the integrity between the lid portion 21 and the container body 22 will be maintained, so that a user will visually recognize the identifying marks 3 in the container body 22 and the identifying marks 3 in the lid portion 21, so that the user can attach the lid portion 21 to the container body 22 without error.
As shown in
Provision of such multiple identifying marks 3 in the upper region 11 and the lower region 12 allows omnidirectional recognizability of the identifying marks 3, so that erroneous attachment of the lid portion 21 to the container body 22 can be avoided even more reliably. In particular, provision of two identifying marks 3 in the lower region 12 will further promote the omnidirectional recognizability of the identifying marks 3.
Moreover, in the lower region 12 of the sealing label 1, there may be provided a rectangular character indicating portion which can have e.g. a white background. And, preferably, in this character indicating portion, medical substances, the serial manufacturing number etc. of an eye dropping agent will be written.
As shown in
Incidentally, aside from the above-described arrangements, a plurality of identifying marks 3 can be provided in any appropriate combination of the region consisting of the upper region 11, the region consisting of the upper region 11 and the cutaway region 13 or the region consisting of the upper region 11, the cutaway region 13 and the lower region 12.
As shown in
Further, as shown in
Incidentally, as an example of medical content, there is shown a numerical value (0.1%) to mean that 1 mg of medical agent is contained in 1 ml of eye dropper solution. In this way, a value corresponding to medical content can be shown appropriately as needed. Also, in the above, there was shown the example wherein two same or similar circular patterns are provided as the identifying marks 3 in the upper region 11 and the lower region 12, respectively. However, in this invention, the kinds and number of the identifying marks 3 are not particularly limited. Further, such medical content can be shown in only one of the two identifying marks 3 provided in the upper region 11. And, the identifying marks 3 and the showing of medical content in the top face 23 can be omitted.
As shown in
As shown in
In the cutaway region 13 in this embodiment, there are formed a first region 19 extending from one end to the other end along the direction of wrapping the sealing label 1 over the eye dropper container 2 and a second region 20 extending from the first region 19 toward the upper region 11. That is, this embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the second region 20 is formed to branch with an inclination from the first region 19 toward the upper region 11.
The second region 20, as shown in
The second region 20 includes a right side in which the cut portions 16 extend continuously to the perforation line 14 and a left side in which the cut portions 16 and the uncut portions 17 extend continuously to the perforation line 15. In this arrangement, the right side cut portions 16 are formed large so as to facilitate gripping of the tab portion 18 and the uncut portions 17 are provided on the left side. However, the uncut portions 17 can be provided in the right side too.
Needless to say, the number and layout of the identifying marks 3 in the second embodiment can be used in any combination as desired as described in the first embodiment. That is, respecting the two identifying marks 3 provided in the region including at least the upper region 11 or the lower region 12, either one on the left or the right can be omitted. Further, the plurality of identifying marks 3 provided in the upper region 11 can be provided in any desired combination of the upper region 11, the region consisting of the upper region 11 and the cutaway region 13 or the region consisting of the upper region 11, the cutaway region 13 and the lower region 12.
Incidentally, the identifying marks 3 shown in
(1)
(2) In the foregoing embodiments, the tab portion 18 is formed integral with the cutaway region 13. Instead, the tab portion 18 can be formed separately of the cutaway region 13 and can be subsequently bonded to this cutaway region 13. This arrangement allows any desired orientation of the leading end of the tab portion 18 in the vertical direction as well as in the right/left direction.
(3) Regarding the shape of the identifying marks 3 provided in the surface of the sealing label 1 of the invention, it can be e.g. a rectangular shape as shown in
Further, needless to say, the number and layout of the identifying marks 3 can be combined as desired as described in the first embodiment. That is, respecting the two identifying marks 3 provided in the region including at least the upper region 11 or the lower region 12, either one on the left or the right can be omitted. Further, the plurality of identifying marks 3 provided in the upper region 11 can be provided in any desired combination of the upper region 11, the region consisting of the upper region 11 and the cutaway region 13 or the region consisting of the upper region 11, the cutaway region 13 and the lower region 12.
Incidentally, the identifying marks 3 shown in
(4) In the foregoing embodiments, the sealing label 1 has a rectangular shape. However, the shape is not particularly limited as long as it allows wrapping in correspondence with the shape of the eye dropper container 2. For instance, it can be e.g. an elongate circular shape.
(5) The lid portion 21 is not limited to the truncated conical shape and the container body 22 is not limited to the elongate circular shape as described in the foregoing embodiment. Instead, both of these can be provided with angular column-like shape or can be any other shape as well.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITYThe present invention is applicable to a sealing label which is wrapped over a container holding therein e.g. a liquid agent, a tablet, a granular agent, a particulate agent, etc. and applicable also to a container wrapped with such sealing label.
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST
-
- 1 sealing label
- 11 upper region
- 12 lower region
- 13 cutaway region
- 14 perforation line (tear-off line)
- 15 perforation line (tear-off line)
- 18 tab portion
- 19 first region
- 20 second region
- 2 eye dropper container (container)
- 21 lid portion
- 22 container body
- 23 top face
- 3 identifying mark (shape, pattern, color or any combination thereof)
Claims
1. A sealing label for wrapping a container including a container body and a lid portion detachably attached to an outlet of the container body, the sealing label comprising:
- an upper region covering all or a part of the lid portion;
- a lower region covering all or a part of the container body;
- a cutaway region disposed between the upper region and the lower region;
- a tear-off line provided in a boundary between the cutaway region and the lower region as well as in a boundary between the cutaway region and the upper region;
- wherein an identifying mark comprised of a shape, a pattern, a color or any combination thereof is provided to the lower region and a further identifying mark same as or similar to the identifying mark is provided to the upper region, a region comprised of the upper region and the cutaway region or a region comprised of the upper region, the cutaway region and the lower region, thereby to allow recognition of integrity between the lid portion and the container body.
2. The sealing label according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the identifying marks are provided in the lower region; and/or a plurality of the further identifying marks same as or similar to the identifying marks are provided to the upper region, the region comprised of the upper region and the cutaway region or the region comprised of the upper region, the cutaway region and the lower region.
3. The sealing label according to claim 1, wherein a tab portion for unsealing is provided in the cutaway region.
4. A container wrapped with the sealing label according to claim 1.
5. The container according to claim 4, wherein a top face of the lid portion is provided with a further identifying mark same as or similar to the identifying mark provided in the sealing label.
6. The sealing label according to claim 2, wherein a tab portion for unsealing is provided in the cutaway region.
7. A container wrapped with the sealing label according to claim 2.
8. A container wrapped with the sealing label according to claim 3.
9. A container wrapped with the sealing label according to claim 6.
10. The container according to claim 7, wherein a top face of the lid portion is provided with a further identifying mark same as or similar to the identifying mark provided in the sealing label.
11. The container according to claim 8, wherein a top face of the lid portion is provided with a further identifying mark same as or similar to the identifying mark provided in the sealing label.
12. The container according to claim 9, wherein a top face of the lid portion is provided with a further identifying mark same as or similar to the identifying mark provided in the sealing label.
Type: Application
Filed: May 27, 2014
Publication Date: Mar 31, 2016
Inventor: Yoshiyuki Azuma (Osaka-shi)
Application Number: 14/892,144
