Scent packet and method of making scent packet

The invention is of a product and a method for its manufacture, which product is for delivering a desirable scent, such as provided by potpourri products, over a longer period of time than currently available scent delivering products. Applicant's "envelope sachet" includes a wick sheet on which perfume oil is applied, a strip or band of plastic film which is wrapped about the wick sheet, a plastic bag or pouch in which the wick sheet/film strip combination is placed, and an outer paper envelope which is the only outwardly visible aspect of the product when in use. Applicant's envelope sachet produces scent over a substantially longer period of time that conventional sachet and potpourri products using substantially equal portions of perfume oil.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
Applicant's invention relates to products intended to provide desirable 
fragrances for home and personal use, as well as methods for effectively 
manufacturing such products. 
2. Background Information 
Products for emitting desirable fragrances, particularly for use in home 
environments, represents a hundreds of millions of dollars per year market 
in the United States alone. This does not take into account the perfume 
and cologne markets which are distinct from the product categories to 
which Applicant's invention relates. 
It is common knowledge in the retail industry that the popularity of 
products such as potpourri, essential oils, sachets, scented candles, and 
similar scented items (herein collectively referred as "scented gift 
items") has markedly increased in recent years. As compared with other 
scented products for which a scent is merely incidental to the product's 
intended purpose and primary consumer appeal (scented toilet paper, soaps, 
furniture polishes, for example), scented gift items are purchased 
primarily for the scent which they provide. 
Without question, a foul smelling potpourri will be a commercial failure, 
no matter what decorative trim or trappings are added. Conversely, scented 
gift items which provide a particularly attractive scent will likely 
succeed in the marketplace, particularly if they do so for a prolonged 
period of time. 
It is this last characteristics--scent longevity (time over which the 
sachet emits a substantially unvarying scent potency)--to which 
Applicant's invention relates and which has represented a serious 
short-coming for most scented gift items thus far offered to the public. 
Anyone having used most of the presently available scented gift items 
knows that, when used in their intended environments, scent is 
substantially exhausted in a matter of a two or three weeks (at most). 
In recognition of this problem, potpourri companies often sell "refresher 
oils" to add to existing potpourri products to rejuvenate their scents. 
Refresher oils are not, however, suitable for use in many environments, 
such as those in which sachets are used (one would not, for example, want 
to expose fine clothing and other items close to which sachets are often 
used to oily substances of any kind). Persons who have used sachets until 
now simply have to replace them frequently in order to continually enjoy 
their effects. 
Applicants invention addresses these short-comings of presently available 
sachets. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel sachet product 
the scent longevity of which is substantially longer than comparable 
existing products. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel sachet 
product the scent longevity of which is substantially longer than 
comparable existing products, but the scent intensity of which is 
substantially constant over the sachet product's useful life. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel sachet 
product the scent longevity of which is substantially longer than 
comparable existing products, but the scent intensity of which, at no 
time, need be substantially greater than such comparable existing 
products. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel sachet 
product the scent longevity of which is substantially longer than 
comparable existing products, but which is not dependant on post-purchase 
scent augmentation through the addition of scented materials. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel sachet 
product the scent longevity of which is substantially longer than 
comparable existing products, but the manufacture of which is neither 
complex nor unduly expensive. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method for 
manufacturing a sachet product the scent longevity of which product is 
substantially longer than comparable existing products. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method for 
manufacturing a sachet product the scent longevity of which product is 
substantially longer than comparable existing products, but the scent 
intensity of which product is substantially constant over the sachet 
product's useful life. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method for 
manufacturing a sachet product the scent longevity of which product is 
substantially longer than comparable existing products, but the scent 
intensity of which product, at no time, need be substantially greater than 
such comparable existing products. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method for 
manufacturing a sachet product the scent longevity of which product is 
substantially longer than comparable existing products, but which is not 
dependant on scent post-purchase scent augmentation through the addition 
of scented materials. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method for 
manufacturing a sachet product the scent longevity of which product is 
substantially longer than comparable existing products, but the 
manufacture of which product is neither complex nor unduly expensive. 
In satisfaction of these and related objectives, Applicant's present 
invention provides a novel and unobvious envelope sachet and method for 
making the same. Applicant's envelope sachet is constructed in such a 
manner as to gradually and steadily release scent from an enclosed portion 
of perfume oil over an extended period of time. Applicant's invention 
provides the purchasing public with a substantially improved means by 
which to obtain the benefits of sachets. 
An envelope of Applicant's invention, manufactured according to Applicant's 
method emits its scent for a substantial period of time, even in an 
unenclosed environment (e.g. in open space as opposed to in a closed 
drawer, etc.). Tests of envelope sachet 10 by Applicant have revealed a 
scent longevity of not less than about a year, with a scent longevity of 
two or more years appearing likely. This compares very favorably to the 
two to three week scent longevity of a conventional sachet under like 
conditions. 
The physical dimensions of Applicant's envelope sachet also provide all the 
benefits of a conventional sachet, but in form which can be accommodated 
virtually without notice in almost any physical space (even in a 
conventional greeting card-size envelope). 
While Applicant's method for producing her envelope sachet is unique, and 
represents a significant advance over methods of others with like 
objectives, Applicant's method is quite simple and inexpensive to utilize. 
Materials for practicing Applicant's method are readily available, and no 
specialized training or experience is required. In fact, the assembly of 
Applicant's envelope sachets may well represent another, much needed 
opportunity for manufacturing work for which developmentally challenged 
workers may be suitable.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the envelope sachet of Applicant's invention is 
referenced generally by the numeral 10. Envelope sachet 10 is fabricated 
from four principle, visible elements: a wick sheet 12, a film strip 14, a 
plastic envelope 16 and a paper envelope 18. 
The preferred embodiment of Applicant's envelope sachet includes wick sheet 
12 which is a square or rectangular piece of 100 pound blotter paper. In 
the preferred embodiment of Applicant's envelope sachet 10, the wick sheet 
12 is a 21/4".times.4" piece of 100 pound blotter paper to which is evenly 
applied 0.002 pounds (0.032 fl. oz) of perfume oil. In developing the 
envelope sachet 10, Applicant attempted numerous methods for applying 
perfume oil to wick sheets 12 such that a substantially correct measure, 
and even distribution of the oil is achieved. 
Rolling, brushing, dipping, wiping, and spraying the oils all provided 
unsatisfactory results. In some cases, too much or too little oil was 
applied to any given wick sheet 12. In other cases, oil was concentrated 
on certain portions of wick sheets 12, but lacking in others. This created 
oily spots which tended to extrude from the wick sheet and to thereby 
accelerate the delivery of scent and, in turn, prematurely exhaust the 
envelope sachet's 10 scent. In still other cases, the expensive perfume 
oil was consumed in far greater quantities than needed to actually reach 
the wick sheets 12, thereby drastically increasing the cost of 
manufacture. 
The sole method which has produced satisfactory results, both with respect 
to quality of application and cost considerations, involved assembling a 
stack of wick sheets 12 (approximately 30 in number works very well), and 
tightly binding them as with a multiply-looped rubber band, etc. An 
applicator bottle (not shown in the drawings, but substantially similar to 
a common glue bottle) is filled with the appropriate volume of perfume oil 
for the number of wick sheets 12 to be treated. The oil is then applied 
with the bottle to all four edge surfaces of the stack (assuming square or 
rectangular wick sheets 12) carefully insuring that a substantially 
uniform application of the oil is achieved about all exposed edge surfaces 
of the wick sheets 12. The wick sheets 12 in the stack are allowed to 
absorb the oil for approximately an hour before disassembling the stack to 
continue the assembly of individual envelope sachets. 
Wick sheet 12 is wrapped length-wise by film strip 14 which, in the 
preferred embodiment, is a 21/2".times.8" strip of 100m-30, 1 MIL. 
MYLAR--film (the 8" length is a minimum, with no maximum length, except as 
dictated by practical considerations such as conservation of materials, 
etc.). 
The combined wick sheet 12 and film strip 14 are then enclosed in plastic 
envelope 16. The plastic envelope 16 of the preferred embodiment of 
Applicant's envelope sachet is a 2 MIL polyethylene bag 
(23/4".times.51/2") with a single opening at a first short end of the bag 
through which the wick sheet 12 and film strip 14 combination are 
introduced into the plastic envelope 16. 
Once the wick sheet 12 and film strip 14 combination is seated adjacent to 
the second, closed end of the plastic envelope 16, the portion of the 
plastic envelope 16 extending beyond the edge of the wick sheet 12 closest 
to the open end of the plastic envelope 16 is doubled over to overlie an 
adjacent portion of the plastic envelope 16 and to substantially close the 
plastic envelope 16 and to thereby enclose the wick sheet 12 and film 
strip 14 combination within the plastic envelope 16. 
Plastic envelope 16 is then enclosed in paper envelope 18 which, in the 
preferred embodiment, may be of a decorative paper for aesthetic purposes. 
Paper envelope 18 is preferably a glued flap envelope such as a smaller 
version of the typical letter or greeting card envelope. The paper 
envelope 18 is sealed to permanently enclose the plastic envelope, wick 
sheet 12 and film strip 14 combination and to complete assembly of the 
envelope sachet 10. 
During development and testing of envelope sachet 10 Applicant has 
determined that envelope sachet 10 exhibits a scent longevity of not less 
than a year, with indications that a two year scent longevity appears 
likely. 
Although the invention has been described with reference to specific 
embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limited 
sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as 
alternative embodiments of the inventions will become apparent to persons 
skilled in the art upon the reference to the description of the invention. 
It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover such 
modifications that fall within the scope of the invention.