Bend to open flat poly-pack tissue cassette for use in over-shell dispensers

Abstract

A tissue dispensing system with a rigid overshell having 5 sides and an opened bottom with a tissue withdrawal opening in the top is adapted to receive a bend-to-open pack containing a clip of tissue sheets enwrapped in a capaciously sized overwrap having a medial line of weakness formed therein and situated to allow withdrawal of tissue through the tissue withdrawal opening after the line of weakness is ruptured and the tissue pack is placed in the overshell.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is based on U.S. Provisional. Patent Application No. 62 / 116,719, filed Feb. 16, 2015, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 153,236, filed Apr. 27, 2015, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION[0002]Packaging can make a crucial difference in the success, or lack of it, for many consumer products, often constituting a significant portion of the cost that the consumer must ultimately bear for the product. Facial tissue is often sold in a “boutique” format in which the tissue resides in an almost cubical paperboard carton with a top opening, usually an oval, through which the tissue is dispensed. As the paperboard carton adds significantly to the cost of the facial tissue, this format—even though widely used—is quite wasteful. Further cartoning a large number of boutique cubes inside corrugate is rather wasteful as the amount of boxed boutique tissue that can be placed i...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a new tissue cassette design that solves problems with current tissue cassettes. The new design uses a flat poly-pack that can be bent or flexed to open, making the tissue easier to dispense. This design also eliminates the need for a paperboard carton, which saves money and reduces environmental impact. The tissue can be stored in a more efficient way, and the new design works well with both long boxes and rectangular prismatic over-shells. Overall, the new design improves the experience of using tissue cassettes.

Problems solved by technology

Packaging can make a crucial difference in the success, or lack of it, for many consumer products, often constituting a significant portion of the cost that the consumer must ultimately bear for the product.

As the paperboard carton adds significantly to the cost of the facial tissue, this format—even though widely used—is quite wasteful.

Further cartoning a large number of boutique cubes inside corrugate is rather wasteful as the amount of boxed boutique tissue that can be placed in a given corrugate container is rather small in relation to the volume of the corrugate as, when the tissue is folded over into a folded clip, it occupies a significantly greater volume than the volume of the flat clip before folding.

Since the amount of tissue that can be effectively trucked is limited by volume rather than weight, this adds significantly to cartoning expense as well as to transportation cost.

Therefore, if the packaging is not well suited to the particular tissue format, it can be difficult to easily remove sheets from the boutique package without tearing the sheet or lifting the package from its desired location.

Provision of the polyethylene interlining adds to the cost of the carton thereby aggravating an already wasteful format.

Because the footprint of the boutique carton is relatively small, it can be particularly advantageous for use in bathrooms where the space is limited, either in a free standing box or more commonly in a five sided plastic over-shell without a bottom, but the bottom of the typical conventional plastic over-shell is thus vulnerable to water thereby counteracting suitability.

In particular, when facial tissue is presented in hotel / ′motel applications, guests are often very cavalier about splashing water on the counter leading to the need to replace a box of tissue merely because the bottom was spoiled by water even though a substantial amount of tissue remained un-used therein.

Thus it can be understood that boutique packaging of boxed facial tissue inside a re-usable plastic over-shell presents several distinct issues:Cost of the paperboard carton as well as the polyethylene interlining and overwrap binding the boutique boxes together in aggregates that are easily handled;Cost of the corrugate overwrap in relation to the amount of tissue containable within a given volume of corrugate as well as the associated environmental impact of manufacture and disposal of the paperboard carton;Transportation costs for the format;Susceptibility to water and concomitant spoilage;Loading issues; andDispensing of the tissue from the container.

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