Abstract:
The present invention incorporates ways to rapidly open an envelope in which an adhesive bandage is packaged in a sterile manner. Such bandages are commonly described as Band Aids™. The method consists of a modification of the tabs currently used on one end of nearly all such envelopes. The modification consists of the enlargement of the tabs and the use of an additional fold to make the tabs easily gripped because they project out from the envelope. An additional embodiment of the invention causes all the envelopes in a box to be anchored in the box by tabs which are extensions of one half of each envelope, so that by pulling on the tab of the other half of the envelope, the bandage is both pulled from the box and extended from the envelope. An additional enhancement of the invention has one of the release strips protecting the adhesive portions of the bandage to adhere to the envelope, making the bandage ready for application without the need to remove that release strip through a separate action. A variety of bandage sizes may be included in one box, each size being available by a separate opening.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    The present application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/331,690, filed on Jan. 13, 2006 entitled “Adhesive Bandage Envelope,” which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/646,959 filed on Jan. 24, 2005, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The invention described herein relates to adhesive bandage packaging, and ways to improve them, in particular with regard to the ease and speed with which they can be used. 
         [0004]    2. Prior Art 
         [0005]    There are a number of patents which describe ways in which adhesive bandages of the Band-Aid variety (a trademark of Johnson and Johnson) are more rapidly and easily used. Oliveira in U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,188 shows a bandage attached to a release liner in a way which makes it easier to grip. Dupont in U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,092 shows a bandage envelope which can be pulled apart. Damikolas in U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,343 B1 shows a dispenser which strips away the envelope which encloses the bandages. Dotta in U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,137 shows a configuration for the bandage envelope which involves pulling on opposite ends of the envelope to release the bandage. Etheredge in U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,477 shows a plastic case with a cavity in place of the paper envelope used by currently available adhesive bandages, with only one release paper with its end folded over to permit easy removal. Grossman in U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,320 also shows various ways to release a bandage from its envelope by pulling on the opposite ends of the envelope. Grossman&#39;s patent includes a number of prior art references not cited above. Despite these and other packaging proposals, the half-dozen or so makers of bandages in envelopes vary little in their packaging structures. Nonetheless, consumer annoyance with the difficulties of using “Band Aids”™ is commonplace and near-universal. 
         [0006]    The envelopes which encloses adhesive bandages being manufactured today typically have narrow “tabs”, which range from ⅛th inch to ¼ inch wide, on one end of the envelope. In most cases these tabs are formed by folding a narrow strip on the ends of one or both of the adhesive-coated sides of the envelope on itself, so that if these tabs are manually gripped, the two halves of the envelope may be peeled apart. In practice, these narrow tabs can be gripped only by fingertips, and in the case of some bandage brands, they are difficult to separate, even though they are not glued together. In the case of some manufacturers, the tab on one half of the envelope protrudes beyond the other to some extent, up to ⅛th inch. Other makers give the tabs no significant separation at the ends of the envelope, so that peeling the envelope open is extremely difficult. In a few cases, there are no tabs, requiring that the envelope be torn open. Once opened, the envelope&#39;s bandage has its two adhesive halves covered by release strips, which, once pulled off, reveal the adhesive of the bandage. If a user pulls off both release strips at once, however, the adhesive is now attached to the fingers of the user, and hence loses some of its adhesive grip. Consequently, the ideal use of the bandage requires that only one release strip is removed at a time, with the exposed adhesive then placed on the skin while the bandage is held using the other release strip. An alternative proper use is to pull both release strips partially off the adhesive, with the partially exposed adhesive then pressed to the skin while the remainder of the release strips are removed. However, in many cases, both release strips are removed at once, as previously described, with the possibility of the adhesive strips touching each other, or being folded on themselves, or at least sticking to the fingers of the user. 
         [0007]    While the enlargement of envelope end tabs would be useful to help peel the envelope open, if they even lightly stick together, separating them can be difficult and time consuming. Often, the envelope must be opened rapidly, as a cut may be dripping blood. Or, the user may have poor eyesight or may have impaired manual dexterity, making it difficult to either find the tabs to separate and pull or to tear the envelope apart. In a few examples, the end of the envelope with the tabs is indicated by a color stripe. In other cases, there are no markings that would be useful to someone with poor eyesight or in a rush. Some makers of packaged bandages even pack them as pairs, side by side, or in groups, so that to open only one envelope, the packages must first be separated, and then one peeled, or torn, open. There are examples of envelopes which have no method of opening the envelope other than tearing off an end, a method which may result in the bandage being torn in the process. 
       Goals and Objectives of the Invention 
       [0008]    The goal of the present invention is to speed the use of packaged adhesive bandages and to minimize mistakes in their application, such as the user touching the adhesive prior to it being applied to the area of the wound. The present invention provides a structure which enables the user with poor eyesight or trembling fingers to easily and rapidly peel open an adhesive bandage envelope, and to remove the bandage in a way which minimizes inadvertent finger contact with an adhesive surface prior to application. 
         [0009]    For the average user, the time required by contemporary designs from box to skin varies from 22 to 35 seconds, sometimes longer, even over a minute, depending on whether the envelope tabs easily separate or not and whether the person using the bandage knows how the tabs should be separated. If the envelope is torn open rather than peeled apart, total time is often over 40 seconds, possibly longer if the adhesive bands stick to the fingers of the user. Some adhesive bandage envelope designs provide little or no clue to which end should be opened, and are so difficult to peel apart that they invite the envelopes to be torn open, the slowest way to remove the bandage. Using the structure described herein, however, total time can be as low as 10 seconds or less, with a typical high of 15 seconds. The most important aspects of the present invention are that the bandages employing its teachings can be rapidly used by individuals with poor eyesight and trembling hands, and that there is only modest added manufacturing cost associated with its use. An advantage of a major embodiment of the invention is that it allows an adhesive bandage to be extracted from its box by pulling on a tab extending from the box which also peels the envelope apart as the bandage is removed. Another advantage of the invention is that it allows one box to contain various sizes and types of bandages, each with their own exit door, so that a user need not randomly pull bandages from a box looking for a particular size. 
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    The present invention incorporates ways to rapidly open an envelope in which an adhesive bandage is packaged in a sterile manner. The method consists of a modification of the tabs currently used on one of the ends of nearly all such envelopes. My modification consists of the enlargement of the tabs and the use of an additional fold to make the tabs easily gripped because they project out from the envelope. An additional embodiment of the invention causes all the envelopes in a box to be anchored in the box by tabs which are extensions of one half of each envelope, so that by pulling on the tab of the other half of the envelope, the bandage is both pulled from the box and extended from the envelope. An additional enhancement of the invention has one of the release strips protecting the adhesive portions of the bandage to adhere to the envelope, making the bandage ready for application without the need to remove that release strip through a separate action. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a bandage envelope with two folded tabs. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a bandage envelope with attached tabs. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a bandage envelope with only one tab folded. 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the envelope assembly in  FIG. 1  when opened. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a schematic view of the envelope assembly shown in  FIG. 5 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is a schematic view of the envelope assembly in  FIG. 5  when opened. 
           [0017]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a modification of the envelope assembly in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0018]      FIG. 8  is a side view of a group of envelope assemblies such as seen in  FIG. 7 . 
           [0019]      FIG. 9  is a section view of a box containing a group of envelope assemblies as seen in  FIG. 8 . 
           [0020]      FIG. 10  is a perspective view of the assembly in  FIG. 9  in operation. 
           [0021]      FIG. 11  is a section view of an assembly such as in  FIG. 10 , showing attachment to the top of the box rather than the bottom as in  FIG. 9 , and the use of two bundles of bandages in one box. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0022]    The present invention consists, in part, of at least one folded tab on the end of a bandage envelope, as seen in  FIG. 1 . The tab itself may or may not be made by folding the adhesive surfaces of the tab on itself as seen in  FIG. 1 , or unfolded, as in  FIG. 2 . The fact that at least one tab is folded away from the bond or fold line of the bandage envelope insures that they will not stick together, a major problem with bandage envelopes as currently manufactured. Because the tabs are folded, they are deflected outward from the envelope making their function more obvious. These tabs are of a size easily seen and gripped by the user. One tab may be held by the teeth while the other is pulled by a free hand, partially opening the envelope. The tabs may be enlargements of the existing type of tab, with one or both folded outward away from the other tab, or they may be separate strips of paper stuck to the envelope as seen in  FIG. 2 . A second feature of the invention which may be optionally used, attaches one of the release strips to one side of the envelope, so that when the envelope is opened and the bandage is removed, one of its adhesive bands is already exposed and ready for use. After that half of the bandage is attached to the skin of the user, the second release strip can be removed to complete the adhesion of the bandage to skin. Although the removal of a release strip may take only two or three seconds, there are situations where the user may be dripping blood profusely from a deep finger cut, and those seconds are important in terms of what the blood drips onto. Also, if only one release strip has been removed, the bandage can be applied with one hand. If both release strips are removed before the bandage is applied, applying the bandage generally requires two hands. 
         [0023]    From the perspective of manufacture, there are two alternative methods of obtaining the invention&#39;s tab structure. The first might be viewed as a retrofit solution: separate peeling tabs can be added to packaged adhesive bandages as currently manufactured. Bandages already made and in inventory can be so modified. This solution has the advantage of imposing no changes in the design of the envelope or its production machinery. The second solution imposes a design change on machinery used to currently make the bandage&#39;s envelopes. The tabs are currently made by some manufacturers by folding approximately one eighth of an inch of the inner adhesive-covered envelope paper on itself, although Johnson and Johnson eliminates the adhesive from the tab area. To obtain the performance of the present invention, these tabs would be one half inch to three quarters of an inch in size, and then at least one of them folded back against the envelope. This second fold separates the tabs and makes their function obvious even for someone who has never seen such a structure. Because the tabs do not face each other, they need not be folded on themselves to cover their adhesive surfaces, as is the case with the tabs used by many current manufactures of envelopes. 
         [0024]    A preferred embodiment of the invention causes one tab to be substantially longer than the other. This tab is lengthened sufficiently to permit it to be used to secure a group of the bandage envelopes to each other, and then to the bottom or top flap of a box from which they can be pulled by the free tab, opening the envelopes as they are pulled from their box. 
         [0025]      FIG. 1  shows an envelope  1  of the type which contains an adhesive bandage, with folded tabs  2  used to pull the halves of the envelope apart. Typical of bandage envelopes currently in use, the insides of the envelope are coated with an adhesive, so that pressing them together completes the sealed space into which the adhesive bandage is placed. Printed on tabs  2  may be indicators of the action required to open the envelope, for example, an arrow  3 , or shown in  FIG. 2 , a word such as pull, or any combination of the two. Tabs  2  in  FIG. 1  are made by folding the paper of which the envelope is made on itself, with the adhesive surfaces in contact, at fold  4 , whereas the tabs  5  in  FIG. 2  are made by adhering separate structures  5  onto the body of the envelope  6 . The use of separate structures  5  has the advantage of being able to use a material which causes the fold  7  to have a spring characteristic which causes tab  5  to stand out from envelope  6 . Desirably the tabs form an angle in the range of 15 to 179 degrees with the remainder of the bandage envelope. If tab  5  is gripped by teeth, for example, having it clearly separated from envelope  8  is most desirable. Since the tabs  2  and  5  will be compressed against the envelopes when the bandages are boxed, having elasticity in folds  7 , is a nice feature of the invention. The fold  7  in  FIG. 1  may be obtained by a method which bends tabs  2  only enough to permit the insertion of the bandages into a box so that when removed from the box, the tabs spring open to an easily-seen angle from the envelope. 
         [0026]      FIG. 3  shows an envelope  8  with but one folded tab  9 , the other tab  10  being straight. Tab  9  has an optional second fold at  11  intended to deflect tab  9  away from bandage envelope  8  so as to make it more easily gripped by the user. Since the outward facing surfaces of tabs  10  and  11  are coated with adhesive, there is some potential for them to stick to an adjacent envelope in its package. This possibility is diminished by the type of adhesive used, and whether it primarily bonds with itself, and by minimizing pressure between envelopes in a package. It is also possible to coat the outside of the envelopes which face the adhesive tabs with a releasing agent. 
         [0027]      FIG. 4  shows an envelope of the type seen in  FIG. 1  in the process of being peeled open by its tabs  15 . The release strip  12  covering the lower half of the bandage  13  is shown attached to envelope half  14 . In theory, this could be accomplished by coating one side of release strip  12  with an adhesive. 
         [0028]      FIG. 5  is a schematic side view of a bandage assembly such as shown in  FIG. 3 . The two halves of the envelope are  19  and  20 . Two release strips are shown,  16  and  18 . Strip  16  has its end  17  folded so that its release-coated surface faces release strip  18 . Release strip  18  will adhere to the envelope half  20  when the envelope is peeled apart because of the fact that the release surfaces of strip  16  and  18  face each other at  17 , providing virtually no adhesion, whereas strip  18  is lightly bonded to envelope half  20 . The bond between envelopes halves  19  and  20  is weak, since it permits the envelope halves to be easily peeled apart. Typically, the bond between  18  and the adhesive of bandage  21  (even though  18  has a release-coated surface) is greater than the bond between  18  and  20 . Only if you peel  18  and  21  apart starting from the top end of  18 , which is against the bandage gauze, and has no tack at all, does the adhesion between  18  and  20  predominate, and once the peel is started, that bond remains intact. However, in the case of  16  and  21 , the peel starts at the top, where the contest is between the adhesive of the bandage  21  and release strip  16  versus the weak adhesive of  20 . Even though release strip  16  has a release coat, it nonetheless sticks to the adhesive of bandage  21  to a greater degree than to the adhesive of the envelope  20 . The little fold  17  is intended to make sure that the release strip  16  does not stick to the other release strip  18 . Thus, when you pull the envelope open, the upper release strip  16  tends to stick to the bandage  21 , while the lower release strip  18  tends to stick to the envelope  20 . 
         [0029]      FIG. 6  shows the same configuration as in  FIG. 5 , with the envelope opened. Envelope side  19  is shown separated from and pulled down from side  20 . The bandage  21  is clear of the envelope, easily pinched and lifted for removal and use, leaving release strip  18  on envelope half  20 . It is desirable to enable the user to hold the bandage by the end having its adhesive covered, applying the uncovered end of the bandage to a specific section of skin. Envelope half  19  may be fully pulled free from envelope half  20 , rather than partially attached as shown. Or, alternatively, envelope halves  19  and  20  may be one sheet of paper, folded to cover the bandage. 
         [0030]      FIG. 7  shows an adhesive bandage  22  by dashed lines in an envelope  23  having one of its halves  24  substantially longer than envelope  23 .  FIG. 8  shows how a number of extended tabs  24  can be stapled  25  or joined by other methods, such as adhesives or clips, into a pack or assembly  26  whose overall shape is shown by a dashed line  27 .  FIG. 9  shows the fan-like assembly  27  in  FIG. 8  as it would appear inserted and stapled  29  into a box  28  shown in simplified form. Box  28  is shown with a door or port  30  through which the envelope tab  31  projects so that it can be pulled by a user. When tab  31  is pulled through window  30 , envelope  32  is peeled apart, as seen in  FIG. 10 . Also shown in  FIG. 10  is a flap  33  which covers window  30  prior to the box  24  being opened. Flap  33  may seal window  30  by an adhesive tape or the insertion of a tab, not shown, into box  24 .  FIG. 10  shows bandage  35  without the release paper that covers the adhesive tab of the bandage for illustrative clarity. 
         [0031]    After envelope  34  in  FIG. 10  is pulled apart sufficiently for the bandage  35  to be removed, the envelope half  36  which extends through window  30  must be torn out of box  24 . This may be done by perforating envelope half  36  at any point within box  24 , or by forming the bottom edge of window  30  into a saw-tooth shape to permit paper  36  to be torn at that point. A metal saw-like edge can also be attached along the bottom of window  30  to facilitate ripping paper tab  36  at that point. As the bandage envelopes in  FIG. 10  are removed, it is desirable that the next envelope in the stack or fan move against window  30 . This can be encouraged in a number of ways, one being shown in  FIG. 11 . In this figure a spring-like L shaped pressing element  41 , made of cardboard or plastic, pushes the assembly of bandages,  37 , towards window  40 . Other materials may be used in place of element  41 , for example, elastic foam. 
         [0032]      FIG. 11  shows three bandage envelopes  37  attached to one of the top flaps  38  of the box  39 . The three envelopes are illustrative of a group which may include as many as forty or more envelopes. Bundled bandages  37  are pushed towards door opening  40  by deflector  41  which may be made of cardboard, plastic or anything with sufficient elasticity to provide some modest pressure on bandage assembly  37 . A virtue of the configuration in  FIG. 11  which uses upper box flap  38  as the bandage envelope mounting point, is that it minimizes the length of the tabs  44  needed to secure the group of bandage envelopes  37  to box  39  and thus forms an alternative to the embodiment of  FIG. 9 . Although somewhat schematically illustrated, the two halves of each envelope of the group  37  are shown as one piece of paper, folded at the bottom, rather than two pieces glued together at their bottoms. The virtue of this variation of the invention is that when a bandage is removed from an envelope, it remains as one piece of paper, and is easier to dispose of than two. The possibility of employing this variation of the invention has been previously mentioned with regard to schematic illustration  FIG. 6 .  FIG. 11  also shows a second assembly of bandages, outlined by dashed line  42 , which can fit in the same box as assembly  37 , this second assembly to be removed through opening  43 . 
         [0033]    This second assembly of bandages could be a different size than assembly  37 . Additional assemblies of bandages of various sizes may be added to the same box, each with its own access window. 
         [0034]    An advantage of the present invention is that when a conventional (prior art) adhesive bandage envelope is removed from its envelope, the user must dispose of at least four bits of paper: each side of the envelope, and both of the release slips. If the envelope is torn open, there may be additional separate bits of paper. With the present invention, the user typically has two pieces of paper to dispose of, that being the partially opened envelope or, alternatively, the one-piece envelope, and one release paper, the other being attached to the envelope. 
         [0035]    An important aspect of the design of any product which is an improvement or advancement of a pre-existing product is the extent to which the existing manufacturing equipment which is being used to make the product can be modified or converted to make the improved version of the product. In the case of the invention described herein, the dimensions of the envelope&#39;s halves and the addition of one fold, 6 in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , are the major product changes, but relatively minor in terms of production machine design. Box  39  in  FIG. 11  requires more than a minor modification of the prior art boxes into which adhesive bandages are packed for sale, but the technology of box manufacture is well-known and old art. The machinery which assembles the bandages into the fan-shape of  FIG. 9  and then insert that fan into box  28  may be the most complex new item needed to manufacture the present invention. 
         [0036]      FIG. 11  shows that more than one group of bandages may be located in one box, each with its own window for removal. A significant advantage of box structures such as in  FIG. 11  is that it allows each door to be identified on the outside of the box in terms of the type or size of bandage available through it. At present, boxes of packaged bandages which contain an assortment require that the user pick through them looking for the type or size required. 
         [0037]    Another advantage of the method of releasing bandages provided by the present invention is that each bandage envelope may be numbered or given some other indication of the number in the box, so that, for example, if a box contains 20 bandages of a given type, when the 18th bandage is pulled, it can have printing on it which says “only two more left, time to buy more”, or can simply be colored red as a warning. 
         [0038]    Although the present invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood the disclosure has been made by way of example, and changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.