Abstract:
The present application related to a resealable pack for wipes, preferably disposable wipes. The pack comprises an opening specifically located so as to permit easy access to and removal of the wipes from the pack. The pack is also specifically designed so as to be at least 1.16 times larger than the wipe in either the x- or y-dimension.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     The present application related to a pack, preferably a resealable pack, for wipes. More preferably said wipes are disposable. The pack comprises an opening specifically located so as to permit easy access to and removal of the wipes from the pack. The pack is also specifically designed so as to be at least  1 . 16  times larger than the wipe in either the x- or y-dimension.  
       BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Wipes have recently become the medium of choice in the surface cleaning field. Such wipes are generally packaged in reclosable, generally rigid, generally plastic boxes. However such boxes are quite large and thus take up more surface area on the work surface, for example the kitchen work surface, than is preferred. Moreover the boxes although reclosable are not resealable and thus allow the entry and/or exit of moisture. And finally such boxes incur greater cost to the manufacturer and thus also to the consumer.  
         [0003]     Flexible packs are designed to be used as such or designed to be placed inside the reclosable box. The flexible pack is easy to produce by flow wrap technology and uses less raw materials than the box and which reduces both cost to the manufacturer, consumer and the environment. The opening of a flexible pack, such as those described above are usually provided by means of a perforated area in one face of the package that the consumer would open before use. Such flexible packages can be made with resealable openings, wherein the removable opening area of the package is covered with an adhesive film extending beyond the size of the opening, such that, the adhesive film can then be used as a resealing adhesive label.  
         [0004]     The packages of the present invention are specifically designed for use in packaging and dispensing of dry or substantially dry wipes. The dry wipes are stiffer than the average wet wipe and thus are less easily manipulated. When such packs are used with wet wipes, the opening is made as small as possible and the consumer must pinch the wipe in order to grasp and remove it from the pack. The wipe folds as necessary from the point of being pinched in order to be removed from the pack through the opening. However the wipes for which the present pack has been designed are less flexible than standard wet wipes. They can not be pinch gripped and do not fold and thus are difficult to remove from the pack.  
         [0005]     The Applicants have thus designed the present pack to be able to accommodate such less flexible wipes. The packs of the present invention are oversized as compared to the wipes containing therein. The extra size of the pack versus the wipe permits manoeuvrability of the wipe within the pack. Hence the wipe can be manoeuvered within the pack so as to encourage an edge of the wipe to be available at the opening. The opening of the pack is located in the body portion such that an edge of the wipe contained therein can be easily accessed through the opening.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     According to the present invention there is provided a pack for dispensing at least substantially dry wipes  7 , having a body portion  1  defining an article-receiving cavity and being provided with an opening  3 , characterized in that said pack comprises at least one substantially dry wipe  7 , said body portion  1  is at least 1.16 times longer than the wipe in either the x or y dimension.  
         [0007]     According to the present invention there is also provided a pack for dispensing at least substantially dry wipes, having a body portion  1  composed of two horizontal and two longitudinal sides, defining an article-receiving cavity and being provided with an opening  3 , characterized in that said pack comprises at least a substantially dry wipe  7  having at least two longitudinal and two horizontal edges, and said body portion  1  being at least 1.16 times longer than at least either the horizontal or longitudinal edge of the wipe contained therein.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the pack of the present invention also showing a stack of 3 wipes contained within the pack.  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the wipe contained within the pack of the present invention. 
     
    
       [0010]     The packs of the present invention are generally formed from plastic materials for example a polyethylene film, polypropylene film or a laminate consisting of for example polyethylene or polypropylene layers. The body portion  1  is preferably formed of a single sheet of plastic material sealed at its ends by end seams  2  and a longitudinal seam on the face of the body portion that does not contain the opening (the reverse face, not shown in  FIG. 1 ). Preferably the pack is substantially the same shape as the wipes contained therein. More preferably the packs are a rectangular shape. An opening  3 , preferably an elongated opening  3  is defined on the body portion  1 . The opening  3  may be placed in the middle of one of the faces of the body portion  1  or may be located over two faces of the pack i.e. over an edge of the pack. The opening  3  is preferably of generally rectangular shape, preferably with rounded edges  4  so as to avoid forming sharp corners which might be unhelpful as regards removal of the wipes from the pack or cause injury to the user. The opening  3  is located at a point on the body portion  1  such that an edge of the wipe  7  can be accessed through the opening  3 . In said embodiment the body portion  1  comprises two shorter horizontal sides and two longer longitudinal sides. The opening  3 , preferably being of similar shape to the body portion  1 , is preferably located on the body portion  3  parallel to either the horizontal or longitudinal sides. In said embodiment the opening  3  therefore exposes either the longitudinal or horizontal edge of the wipe  7  contained therein.  
         [0011]     The opening  3  is covered by a sealing member  5  which is resealably adhered to the body portion  1  around the perimeter of the opening  3  by means of an adhesive, for example an acrylic-based or rubber-based adhesive. Sealing is provided over the whole of the area where the sealing member  5  overlies the body portion  1 , except for a tab  6  at one end of the sealing member. This tab  6  provides a location where the user can grasp the sealing member  5 . It is necessary for even a small opening  3  to provide a comparatively large sealing member  5 , since the latter must extend beyond the former around the perimeter of the opening  3  if it is to provide the requisite seal. The material of the sealing member  5  i.e. the substrate to which the adhesive is applied, may for example, be a polypropylene film, or a laminate of paper and polypropylene, paper and polyethylene or polyethylene and polypropylene. Where a two layer laminate is used which includes paper, the adhesive is advantageously applied to the paper.  
         [0012]     When using the pack the user grasps the tab  6  and pulls the sealing member  5  away from the body portion  1  to as to expose the opening  3 . A wipe  7  is removed from the pack and the sealing member  5  is replaced over the opening  3 , resealing the pack. The body portion  1  can be described in terms of x-, y- and z-dimensions. The z-dimension is defined as being the dimension portrayed by the stack of wipes  7  contained within the said body portion  1 . The x- and y-dimensions are thus the dimensions portrayed by the length and width of the wipe. The body portion  1  is at least 1.16 times longer than the wipe  7  in either the x or y dimension. Clearly the body portion  1  is also more than 1.16 times larger than the wipe  7  in the z-dimension so as to accommodate a stack of wipes. Alternatively the body portion  1  may also be described as being at least 1.16 times longer than at least either the horizontal or longitudinal side of the wipe  7  contained therein. The pack therefore gives the impression of being outsized as compared to the wipe itself, being either overly wide or overly long or both.  
         [0013]     The pack of the present invention comprises at least one, at least substantially dry wipe  7 . More preferably the pack comprises a stack of said wipes. The stack may comprise from 2-3 wipes to for example 20 or 30 wipes. The wipe is preferably composed of several layers of substrate. Such substrates may be selected from preferably nonwoven materials composed of natural or synthetic fibres. Natural fibres include all those which are naturally available without being modified, regenerated or produced by man and are generated from plants, animals, insects or by-products of plants, animals and insects. Preferred examples of natural fibres include keratin fibres and cellulosic fibres, including wood pulp, cotton, hemp, jute, fax and combinations thereof. Natural material nonwovens useful in the present invention may be obtained from a wide variety of commercial sources. Nonlimiting examples of suitable commercially available paper useful herein include Airtex®, an embossed airlaid cellulosic having a base weight of about 71 gsm, available from James River, Green Bay, Wis.; and Walkisoft®, an embossed airlaid cellulosic having a base weight of about 75 gsm, available from Walkisoft U.S.A., Mount Holly, N.C.  
         [0014]     As used herein, “synthetic” means that the materials are obtained primarily from various man-made materials or from natural materials that have been further altered. Nonlimiting examples of synthetic materials useful in the present invention include those selected from the group consisting of acetate fibers, acrylic fibers, cellulose ester fibers, modacrylic fibers, polyamide fibers, polyester fibers, polyolefin fibers, polyvinyl alcohol fibers, rayon fibers and combinations thereof. Examples of suitable synthetic materials include acrylics such as acrilan, creslan, and the acrylonitrile-based fiber, orlon; cellulose ester fibers such as cellulose acetate, arnel, and acele; polyamides such as nylons (e.g., nylon 6, nylon 66, nylon 610, and the like); polyesters such as fortrel, kodel, and the polyethylene terephthalate fiber, polybutylene terephalate fiber, dacron; polyolefins such as polypropylene, polyethylene; polyvinyl acetate fibers and combinations thereof. These and other suitable fibers and the nonwovens prepared therefrom are generally described in Riedel, “Nonwoven Bonding Methods and Materials,” Nonwoven World (1987);  The Encyclopedia Americana , vol. 11, pp. 147-153, and vol. 26, pp. 566-581 (1984); U. S. Pat. No. 4,891,227, to Thaman et al., issued Jan. 2, 1990; and U. S. Pat. No. 4,891,228, each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.  
         [0015]     In a preferred embodiment the wipe also comprises an abrasive net of fibres, otherwise known as a scrim. By the term ‘net’ it is meant a structure made directly from melts or fibres which are at least 0.2 mm long and are held together by systems other than hydrogen bonding. The fibres may be selected from metal, natural or synthetic wires, filaments or stands or mixtures thereof. Preferred fibres are selected from those of synthetic organic origin, more preferably from polymeric synthetic organic origin and thermoplastic polymers. The fibres are preferably selected from polyamide, polyethylene, polypropylene fibres and mixtures thereof.  
         [0016]     The wipe  7  preferably comprises a detergent composition. More preferably said detergent composition is in the form of a paste and applied to the wipe in strips  8 . The layers of substrate of the wipe  7  are preferably bonded  9  to one another. Most preferably the layers of substrate are spot heat bonded to one another. In a particularly preferred embodiment the pattern of bonding and stripes of detergent paste encourages the wipe to be bent or folded along particular fold lines. The bonding pattern and the stripes of detergent paste thus both aid the removal of the more rigid wipe from the pack when the size of the opening is less than the length of the wipe accessing through the opening.  
         [0017]     All documents cited in the Detailed Description of the Invention are, in relevant part, incorporated herein by reference; the citation of any document is not to be construed as an admission that it is prior art with respect to the present invention.  
         [0018]     While particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.