Screen printed product sampler in hermetically sealed package

Abstract: A consumer product sampler including a base (2) (e.g. a barrier laminate constructed of multiple layers of polymers and/or foil and/or paper) onto which a unit dose of product (4) (e.g. a volatile make-up substance) is screen printed. A cover (6) formed of either a barrier laminate or a clear plastic sheet is sealed to the base (2) at its periphery and overlays the product (4). If the cover (6) is a barrier laminate, the outer surface can be provided with printed matter identifying the cosmetic or other substance contained in the sampler. Depending upon the product to be sampled, the cover (6) can either be heat sealed to the base or sealed to the base with a perimeter adhesive. If the product (4) to be sampled is a liquid or semi-liquid substance (e.g. water or solvent based), the base (2) is preferably formed of a thermoformable plastic or a paperboard laminated with a barrier laminate and is provided with one or more debossed/embossed wells or cut-outs into which the product (4) to be sampled is screen printed. The product sampler of the present invention is particularly suited for sampling a volatile silicone based substances such as lipstick, liquid make-up or blush.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention: The present invention relates to product samplers and, more specifically, to a product sampler comprising a base having an upper surface, a unit dose of product provided on the upper surface of said base, and a cover sealed to the upper surface of said base over the product. 2. Description of the Related Art: Cosmetics have typically been available for sampling in department stores in the very containers in which the product is sold, or in smaller versions of the same container. With this method of marketing, a cosmetic can become quite expensive and can create an uneasiness in the consumer since others "have been in the same pot". Moreover, until recently, there has been no inexpensive and convenient method of marketing cosmetics or other similar products by hand-outs or by mail, e.g. as inserts which accompany department store bills, other than cosmetic "strips", which consist merely of make-up samples deposited on a substrate covered by a paper mask. Such "strips" do not allow for the presentation of the cosmetic sample in a design pattern, nor do they allow for the simultaneous presentation of a number of colors in a single design. One particularly advantageous type of cosmetic sampler that has recently come into use is a screen printed version, such as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,751,934, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. Screen printed cosmetic samplers are unique from other types of cosmetic samplers in that the cosmetic is applied through a patterned mesh and forms a well-defined pattern on the substrate. Thus, screen printed cosmetic samplers advantageously permit the presentation of cosmetic in a specially suited and/or aesthetically pleasing pattern. For example, a screen printed sample of lipstick can be provided on a flat base in the pattern which resembles the shape of a stick of lipstick, or a make-up sampler with various type of make-up can be provided in a colorful package emulating a woman's compact. Waxed-based cosmetics such as lipsticks and liquid, semi-liquid or solvent based substances such as creams and lotions, present a particular problem for unit dose sampling since they cannot simply be deposited on a flat substrate, due to problems with offset and leakage. Additionally, cosmetics which are based upon a volatile silicone, such as certain types of lipstick, liquid make-up and blush, require specially constructed, hermetically sealed containers to prevent dry out and solvent loss. Such containers, typically in the shape of wands or bottles, are extremely costly and not economically feasible for mass production and distribution. Moreover, GB-A-2 284 155 discloses a sampler for a volatile product comprising a vapour barrier base layer to the upper face of which is applied said volatile product and over which is applied a vapour barrier cover layer, but said volatile product is not screen printed on said base layer. EP-A-0 722 676 discloses a cosmetic sampler package having powder-based product sample printed on a paper base, and a perimeter adhesive is applied to said paper base and a cover sheet is laminated over said product. However, the perimeter adhesive used to seal said cover to said paper base does not form a hermetic seal. Accordingly, a need exists for a screen printed product sampler provided in a hermetically sealed container which is inexpensive and readily adaptable to mass packaging and distribution. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive sanitary hermetically sealed disposable package which allows the consumer to sample one or more unit doses of a product, such as a lipstick, cream, or other cosmetic, in a medium which can be economically mass produced and distributed as a handout or placed in magazines or mailers. A second object of the present invention is to provide a unit dose package for sealing volatile silicone based product samples, or other substances in which dry-out and/or solvent loss is a concern. According to the invention these objects are achieved in that the base is formed of a barrier laminate, said unit dose of product has a volatile silicone base, and is screen printed onto said base, and said cover is formed of a barrier laminate and is hermetically sealed to the upper surface of said base over said unit dose of product to prevent loss of components from said product, wherein the hermetic seal is formed by heat sealing the cover laminate to the base. If the product to be sampled is a liquid or semi-liquid substance (e.g. water or solvent based), the base is preferably formed of a thermoformable plastic or a paperboard laminated with a barrier laminate, and is provided with one or more debossed/embossed or cut-out wells. The product to be sampled is screen printed directly into the embossed/debossed or cut-out well. If the sampler is provided with multiple wells, the wells are preferably provided in a side-by-side configuration, each of the wells containing a unit dose sample of the screen printed product. As in the first embodiment, a cover is sealed to the base and, in this case, overlays the well or wells containing the screen printed product. The cover can be formed of either a barrier laminate (With or without graphics) or clear plastic sheet. The screen printed sampler and method of the present invention allows a relatively large amount of a consumer product to be laid down in any desired pattern (whether on a flat base or in a well), and the hermetic seal of the sampler advantageously prevents dry-out or solvent loss from the product. The sampler and method of the present invention is particularly advantageous for sampling water based and solvent based products, such as cosmetics, personal products, pharmaceuticals and foods. Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 shows a top view of the product sampler of the present invention provided on a flat base. Fig. 2 shows a side view of the product sampler of Fig. 1. Figs. 3A and 3B show a perspective and top view of the product sampler of the present invention provided on a base with a cut-out well for containing the product sample. Fig. 4 shows a side view of the product sampler of Figs. 3A and 3B. Fig. 5 shows a top view of the product sampler of the present invention provided on a base with an embossed or debossed well. Fig. 6 shows a side view of the product sampler of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 shows a top view of the product sampler of the present invention provided in a multi-well embodiment. Fig. 8 shows a side view of the product sampler of Fig. 7. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the consumer product sampler of the present invention comprises a base 2 onto which a product sample 4 (e.g., volatile make-up) is screen printed in any desired pattern, preferably using the manufacturing method described in U.S. Patent No. 4,751,934, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, base 2 is formed of a flat barrier laminate constructed of multiple layers of polymers and/or foil and/or paper, e.g. a laminate provided on a 12 pt. SBS paperboard stock. A cover 6 formed of a barrier laminate or a clear plastic film (e.g. 3 mil. polyester) is provided atop the sample 4 and is hermetically sealed to the upper surface of base 2 around the consumer product (e.g. cosmetic) to prevent dry-out and solvent loss of the product. Depending upon the properties of the product sample, cover 6 may either be heat sealed to the base 2 or sealed to the base by a perimeter adhesive 7. Referring now to Figs. 3A-8, if the product to be sampled is a liquid or semi-liquid substance (e.g. a water or solvent based cosmetic), base 2 is provided in a layered embodiment with a cut-out forming a well 8 (Figs. 3A, 3B and 4), or the base can be formed with an embossed or debossed well 10 (Figs. 5-6) or provided with multiple wells 12 in a side-by-side configuration (Figs. 7-8) for containing and preventing leakage of the consumer product or products to be sampled. In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 3A, 3B and 4, the layered embodiment with a cut-out forming a well 8 is preferably formed in the manner described in U.S. Patent No. 5,562,112, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. More specifically, in the embodiment of Figs. 3A, 3B and 4, the product sample 4 and base 2 lie beneath a cover 6 by means of a spacing element 5. The spacing element 5 may be a coated board, paper, or film provided with a cut-out portion. The cut-out is adapted to surround sample 4 creating a well 8 in which the sample 4 sits. Cover 6, which is shown in Figs. 3-4 as a polyester film overlay, is attached to the spacing element 5 by means of an adhesive 7, and the spacing element 5 is similarly attached to the base 2 by means of an adhesive 7. The resulting well 8 forms a container for sample 4 and prevents offset of the sample 4 onto the cover 6. In the embodiments of Figs. 5-8, the embossed or debossed well 10 or multiple wells 12 can be formed in either the barrier laminate base described above, or in a base formed of a thermoformable plastic. To form the embossed or debossed well 10 (or multiple wells 12), the base is pressed between male and female dies. If the base is made of thermoformable plastic, the dies are pre-heated to about 210°-220°F to soften the plastic during embossing/debossing at a dwell time of 0.5 - 1.5 seconds. The formation of the embossed/debossed well is done on-line, the product sample being screen printed into the well 10 in a subsequent step. Well 10 may be formed in any desired shape, such as the rectangular shape as shown in Fig. 5. In the multiple embodiment of the invention shown in Pig. 7-8, the embossing or debossing provides partitions 14 between the wells which allow multiple samples of liquid or semi-liquid products to be presented in a single package without mixing. The raised partitions 14 provides a surface against which the cover 6 can be adhered or heat sealed. The screen printing of a product sample on a flat base is performed in accordance with conventional techniques such as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,751,934. However, in the embodiments of the present invention in which the product sample is screen printed into a well, a very coarse screen mesh such as 38 mesh to 60 mesh is employed, where "mesh" indicates the number of lines per inch of screen area. Lower mesh sizes, such as 17 mesh, are difficult to stretch since the threads are very thick, which leads to production inefficiency, very time consuming screen preparation, and poor visual print translation. A coarse screen, as described above, combined with a soft squeegee, such as a 60 or 70 durometer, permits a considerable deposit of material being literally forced into the embossed/debossed area outlined by the well. In the embodiments of the invention in which the base is provided with one or more wells, cover 6 can be secured to the upper edges 16 of the well or wells by heat sealing, as discussed above, or by a perimeter adhesive, depending upon the contents of the substance being sampled and the degree of hermetic sealing required to prevent loss of solvent, water or other ingredients. Likewise, as mentioned above, depending upon the substance being sampled either the base 2 or the cover 6, or both, may be formed of a barrier laminate constructed of multiple layers of polymers and/or foil and/or paper. If cover 6 is formed of a barrier laminate, the outer surface may be pre-printed with a fanciful or descriptive design or other printed matter and/or text identifying the screen printed product contained in the sampler. The present invention, whether provided on a flat base or a base provided with wells, and whether formed of a barrier laminate or a thermoformable plastic, is particularly suitable and advantageous for sampling products based on a volatile silicone (examples of which are lipstick, liquid make-up and blush), or other substances, e.g. creams, lotions, fragrances, eye shadows, toiletries, where moisture loss, dry-out or solvent loss is a concern. Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.

Claims: A product sampler comprising a base (2) having an upper surface, a unit dose of product (4) provided on the upper surface of said base, and a cover (6) sealed to the upper surface of said base over the product, characterized in that (a) said base (2) is formed of a barrier laminate, (b) said unit dose of product (4) has a volatile silicone base, and is screen printed onto said base; and (c) said cover (6) is formed of a barrier laminate and is hermetically sealed to the upper surface of said base (2) over said unit dose of product (4) to prevent loss of components from said product (4), wherein the hermetic seal is formed by heat sealing the cover laminate to the base. A product sampler as recited in claim 1, characterized in that said cover (6) is formed of a clear plastic barrier laminate. A product sampler as recited in claim 1, characterized in that said base (2) comprises a thermoformable plastic, and that a well (8; 10; 12) is formed in the upper surface of said base (2). A product sampler as recited in claim 3, characterized in that a plurality of wells (12) are provided in a side-by-side configuration, each of said wells (12) containing a unit dose sample of said screen printed product (4). A product sampler as recited in claim 1, wherein said cover (6) comprises a combination of barrier films including a foil laminate. A product sampler as recited in claim 1, wherein said cover (6) is opaque and includes a printed outer surface. A product sampler as recited in claim 2, characterized in that a perimeter adhesive (7) is applied to said base, and wherein said cover (6) comprises a clear plastic film sealed to the upper surface of said base by said perimeter adhesive. A product sampler as recited in claim 2, wherein said cover (6) comprises a clear plastic film.

Inventors: FLEMING CATHLEEN M, GUNDERMAN ANTHONY J, FLEMING, CATHLEEN M., GUNDERMAN, ANTHONY J.
Applicants: COLOR PRELUDE INC, COLOR PRELUDE, INC.
Application year: 1998
Main classification: A45D40
IPC codes: A45D33, A45D40, G09F5