PACKAGE

Abstract: A pack containing an article such as a bar of soap consists of an inner tubular liner (2) within an outer wrapper (8). The material of the inner liner is folded over at opposite edges to form increased thickness margins (6) at opposite ends of the pack. The outer wrapping may be of paper and has flap closures (10) at opposite ends which are secured by adhesive. It can be arranged that the adhesive also secures the outer wrapping to the liner, preferably over faces of said folded over margins. By these measures, a more economical pack can be provided, employing a thinner grade of material for the inner liner without sacrificing the degree of protection afforded to the article within the pack.

Description: This invention relates to packs for solid articles. Articles such as bars of soap which require some protection and brand identification but which do not justify expensive and elaborate packaging may be packed in a paper wrapper. As a support for the thin paper wrapper, to allow a clean neat fold of the ends of the wrapper in a controlled manner on an automatic wrapping line, and also to stabilise the bars when they are packed or stacked, there may be a thicker paper or card inner liner within the wrapper. The liner takes the form of a simple rectangular sheet approximately equal in length to the article and wrapped around it as an encasing tube. Such an inner liner also serves the purpose of simplifying the wrapping of articles with curved or otherwise non-planar faces, and with the convex surfaces often adopted in bars of soap the liner forms an air space around the ends of the bar, which provides added protection. More elaborate forms of packaging for solid articles such as bars of soap are also known, and one such example of a soap package is shown in US 3159274 which provides, within an outer wrapper, an inner protective frame for the soap bar. This is made of cardboard or like cut and scored to form spaced tubular supports in a rigid rectangular frame construction, the soap bar being held between the supports. Although such a frame can be made in a lighter grade of cardboard than a simple box, it is a relatively expensive form of packaging in terms of material and constructional costs. It is an object of the present invention to provide an economical form of packaging comprising an outer wrapper and inner liner. A pack in accordance with the invention, for a solid article, comprises within an outer wrapper, an inner tubular liner having a pair of opposed parallel edges at opposite ends of its tubular form, said inner liner being in the form of a sheet of plain material closely following the greatest cross-sectional contour of the solid article perpendicular to the axial direction of its tubular form with the material of the sheet folded over at said opposite ends to form margins at said edges of the sheet of increased material thickness in relation to the greater part of the extent of the sheet, the folded-over and unfolded portions of each margin lying adjacent to one another and the combined width of said folded-over margins being substantially smaller than the extent of the liner between said margins. In principle, the maximum width of the margin on an inner liner for a pack according to the invention is dictated by economic factors, but generally only a narrow folded margin is needed to give a substantial increase in stiffness at the edges of the sheet. As an example, in place of a plain inner liner of 170gm paper, a folded-over margin of some 2mm at the opposite ends of a 147gm liner sheet of the same quality will give the edges the same or better stability, although less material is used. Normally, the width of the margin may be between 1mm and 6mm; widths significantly greater than 6mm will usually not give any saving of material, and a width of between 2mm and 4mm will usually be preferred, but in particular cases some advantages may still be obtained with margins up to 10mm wide. The invention does not preclude the possibility of multiple-fold margins, although in many instances these will not give any advantage that compensates for the increased production effort. The invention also has the advantage that the formation of the folded margins in the liners can be achieved simply and very economically. In a preferred method of forming the liners, a continuous web of liner material is passed through rolls which form creases or fold-lines along opposite side edges of the web to define the margins, guide means fold said edges over to an acute angle with the web, and pressure means then press them down against the strip to complete the folded margins. When, as is common, an outer wrapper has flapped closures which lie over the ends of the article at the edges of an inner liner and which are sealed by a hot-melt adhesive, it is found that the activated areas of the adhesive extend beyond the surfaces to be sealed together and where these areas come into contact with it there can be adhesion to the inner liner. This occurs by chance, i.e. inadvertently or because the heating apparatus is not correctly operated, and normally does not have any appreciable effect. If, as can be arranged, the margin folds of a liner used in the present invention provide a larger contact face with these activated areas than a plain sheet liner, however, a stronger bond can be produced and the stiffness of the completed package is thereby further increased. This improvement relies also on the increased local stiffness at the folded over margins which makes them more resistant to buckling or vibrating through the pressures applied during the sealing process. It will be understood that a similar result can be obtained, although perhaps less conveniently, not only with heat-sealing agents but also with other adhesives such as glue. By way of example, the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows the liner for a pack according to the invention and containing a bar of soap, Fig. 2 shows the completed pack, and Fig.3 is a schematic illustration of the means for forming the folded over edges of the liner of Fig. 1. In Fig. 1, an oblong bar of soap S with convex faces has a paper sheet wrapped around it to form a tubular liner 2, open at the ends 4. At these ends, the material of the liner has been folded over to provide a double-thickness margin 6 some 2.5mm wide. The liner is made from 147g paper so that the material thickness at the folded over edges is significantly greater than in a conventional plain liner using 170g material. In the packaging line, the liner can be wrapped around the soap in the same manner as a conventional plain liner, i.e. being placed together with a conventional outer wrapper 8 of thinner, preferably moisture-resistant, paper. After that step the combined wrapper and liner is wrapped closely around the soap and the usual flap closures 10 are formed at opposite ends of the wrapper supported by stiffened end margins. The folded over flaps of the closures may be secured together by adhesive, e.g. by a hot-melt adhesive coating the inner face of the paper wrapper. Because the folded over end margins of the liner present a significantly larger end surface than the cut edges of a conventional plain liner, it can be arranged that the hot-melt adhesive also attaches the outer wrapping to the liner in the regions of these end edges so that together they form a laminated structure increasing the local stiffness. As a "hot-melt adhesive" it is possible to use any heat-activated sealing material such as coatings with PE, ionomers, EVA, PP, their mixtures or copolymers, with each other and with vinyl-acetate, acrylicacid and the whole range of thermoplastic materials which are tacky when hot, and solid when cold, a process which is reversible. Other suitable materials are wax, resins, heat-seal-varnishes, rosins, etc. The coating may be continuous or a pattern coating. If the complete inside face of the wrapper is coated the sealing material may serve as a moisture and vapour barrier. To increase the area of adhesion between the liner and the wrapper, the folded over margins may be disposed on the outer periphery of the liner so that their outer faces stand slightly proud of the adjoining main extent of the liner. Sufficient local pressure can then be applied to the margin outer faces to ensure the adhesion of these faces to the wrapper, in addition to the adhesion between the axial end edges of the liner and the wrapper substantially in the planes of the end wrapper flap seals. Fig. 3 illustrates schematically the formation of the liner from a continuous web of paper. The apparatus for each of the illustrated stages of manufacture can be of conventional form, as will be understood by those skilled in the art and more detailed illustration is therefore unnecessary. The web is drawn through a pair of creasing rolls 20 where creases or fold lines are formed defining the extent of the margins in the side edges of the web, and possibly the rolls also produce an initial bending of the margins out of the plane of the web. Folding means 22, e.g. stationary guides fold over the margins to an acute angle with the main area of the web as the web travels between the creasing rolls and a pair of pressing rolls 24 which press the folded-over portions flat against the main area of the web. Finally, a known cutting means 26 severs the required lengths from the web to form the liners which are wrapped around the product. For the best results, care is taken to ensure that the liner walls are straight along their length and not bent inwards or outwards, so that they have the maximum resistance to axial compression forces. The folded-over margins may lie on the outside of the liner, if it is required to achieve an optimum bonding with the outer wrapper as described above, and liners so arranged may be easier to handle in an existing packing line. If it is more important to provide a pack with a smooth outer surface, however, the liners may be wrapped around the product with the folded-over margins at the inside. The grooving or creasing rolls may form a single crease line for each margin or multiple crease lines, e.g. a pair of crease lines that define a strip of a defined width that will be disposed substantially perpendicular to the main area of the liner and so form an adhesion face generally parallel to the outer wrapper end flaps.

Claims: A pack for a solid article (5) in which, within an outer wrapper (8) there is an inner tubular liner (2) having a pair of opposed parallel edges at opposite ends of its tubular form, characterised in that the liner is in the form of a sheet of plain material closely following the greatest cross-sectional contour of the solid article (5) perpendicular to the axial direction of its tubular form with the material of the sheet folded over at said opposite ends to form margins (6) at said edges of the sheet of increased material thickness in relation to the greater part of the extent of the sheet, the folded-over and unfolded portions of each margin (6) lying adjacent to one another and the combined width of said folded-over margins being substantially smaller than the extent of the liner between said margins. A pack according to claim 1 wherein each said margin is less than 10mm wide. A pack according to claim 2 wherein each said margin (6) is not substantially more than 6mm wide. A pack according to claim 3 wherein the margins (6) are between 2mm and 4mm wide. A pack according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the folded-over material of the margins (6) is disposed on the outer periphery of the liner (2). A pack according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the outer wrapper (8) is adhered to the liner (2) in the region of said increased thickness margins (6). A pack according to claim 5 together with claim 6 wherein the outer wrapper (8) is adhered to the outer faces of said folded-over material. A pack according to claim 6 or claim 7 wherein the outer wrapper (8) has end closures formed by adhesive on end flaps (10) of the wrapper and an adhesive coating on the inner face of the wrapper for said closures extends into contact with said margins (6) of the liner (2) to provide said adhesion between the wrapper and the liner margins. A method of forming a liner (2) for a pack according to any one of the preceding claims, the method being characterised in that the continuous web of liner material is passed through rolls (20) which form creases or fold-lines along opposite side edges of the web to define the margins, said edges are folded over to an acute angle with the web, and they are then pressed down against the web to complete the folded margins.

Inventors: WILL, PETER M.
Applicants: UNILEVER N.V., UNILEVER PLC
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B65D75
IPC codes: B65D65, B65D75