Abstract:
A package for product pieces includes a housing having a plurality of walls forming an interior adapter to hold a plurality of product pieces. The housing has a dispensing opening in communication with the interior. A resilient member is disposed in the housing interior and is adapted to urge the product pieces toward the dispensing opening. The housing has an aperture formed in one of the plurality of walls disposed adjacent the dispensing opening to permit the product piece to be engaged and moved out of the interior through the dispensing opening.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATEDAPPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/663,466, having a 35 USC 371(c) date of Sep. 14, 2010, which is the U.S. national phase application of PCT/US2008/007138 filed on Jun. 6, 2008 which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/942,628 filed on Jun. 7, 2007. The entire disclosure of all aforementioned applications are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. 
     This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/942,628 filed on Jun. 7, 2007 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a dispensing package for storing and dispensing comestible items such as pieces of gum having a slab-like configuration. It is within the contemplation of the present invention that other comestible items could be dispensed. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Chewing gum is currently available to consumers in a variety of different formats. These include stick gum, slab gum, pellet gum, extruded gum, and others. A variety of types of gum packaging also exist, including certain types of packaging used predominantly for one or the other of the gum formats. Slabs of gum have often been sold in foil packages. Originally, these slabs were arranged in a package in a side-to-side manner, perhaps including five to seven slabs per package. More recently, these slabs have been arranged within the foil packages in a face-to-face manner, allowing 15-20 slabs to be contained in a convenient package. Slabs are also offered in packages where the slabs lay side-by-side, and a cover moves between a closed and open position to permit dispensing. Such packaging typically has broad front and back surfaces on which product information can be placed. 
     Packaging typically includes covers which are moved to an open position to permit access to the product. However, the opening up of the cover exposes all the product pieces. Therefore, the product pieces are susceptible to falling out of the package every time one piece is removed. While this issue had been addressed by adhesively retaining the pieces in the package, the adhesive must be light enough to permit the pieces to be removed and, over time, handling of the package can cause the other pieces to separate. 
     Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide packaging for product pieces which permits one piece to be removed while securely retaining the other pieces. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a package for product pieces. 
     The present invention further provides a package for dispensing individual comestible pieces. 
     The present invention still further provides a package for comestible products including a housing having a resilient member acting on a stack of comestible pieces and an opening for dispensing the pieces. 
     The present invention also provides a package for product pieces including a housing having a plurality of walls forming an interior adapter to hold a plurality of product pieces. The housing has a dispensing opening in communication with the interior. A resilient member is disposed in the housing interior and is adapted to urge the product pieces toward the dispensing opening. The housing having an aperture formed in one of the plurality of walls disposed adjacent the dispensing opening to permit the product piece to be engaged and moved out of the interior through the dispensing opening. 
     The present invention still further provides a package assembly including a plurality of product pieces and a housing having a plurality of walls forming an interior. The plurality of product pieces is disposed within the interior. The housing has a dispensing opening in communication with the interior. A resilient member is disposed in the housing interior and is adapted to urge the product pieces toward the dispensing opening. The plurality of housing walls include a first wall having an aperture disposed therein adjacent the dispensing opening to permit one of the product pieces to be engaged and moved out of the interior through the dispensing opening. 
     The present invention provides a method of dispensing a plurality of comestible product pieces including obtaining a housing forming an interior adapter to hold a plurality of product pieces. The housing has a dispensing opening in communication with the interior. A resilient member is disposed in the housing interior and is adapted to urge the product pieces toward the dispensing opening. The housing has an aperture disposed adjacent the dispensing opening to permit the product piece to be engaged and moved out of the interior through the dispensing opening. The method further includes engaging one of the product pieces through the aperture, moving the product piece through the dispensing opening, and removing the product piece from the package housing. 
     The present invention also provides a method of forming a package for dispensing product pieces including forming a blank and folding the blank to form a housing. The method also includes inserting a plurality of product pieces into the housing and inserting a resilient member into the housing and securing the resilient member in the housing wherein the resilient member urges the plurality of product pieces toward a dispensing position. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a top perspective view of a dispensing package of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a side elevational view of the package of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is an elevational view of the package of  FIG. 1  with a portion removed for illustrative purposes. 
         FIG. 4  is an elevational view of an alternative embodiment of a package of the present invention with a portion removed for illustrative purposes. 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded view of one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is an exploded view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a top plan view of a blank of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the dispensing package of the present invention with a portion removed for illustrative purposes. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a package  5  for containing and dispensing a comestible product  28 . In particular, the present invention may be used for containing and dispensing confectionery products such as gum pieces, hard candy, or other comestibles. While the particular embodiments shown herein are employed to contain gum pieces, it may be appreciated that the package may contain any type of product. Such product may also include other confectionery products such as gum in various sizes and shapes, such as sticks, slabs, pillows, pellets and the like, as well as other confectionery products, such as hard candy, chocolate, and the like. The product may include multiple pieces or be a single unitary piece. Also, non-confectionery products may be contained and dispensed in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the present invention includes a package assembly  10  having a package housing  12 . The package housing  12  is preferably formed of a paperboard material. However, it is within the contemplation of the present invention that the package housing  12  may be formed of a plastic or metallic material. The package housing  12  includes a top wall  14 , bottom wall  16 , a front wall  18 , back wall  20 , and a first and second side walls,  22  and  24  respectively. Top wall  14  extends between and is connected to the front  18  and back wall  20 . With reference to  FIG. 3 , the various walls form a package housing interior  26  in which a stack of product pieces  28  are disposed one on top of the other in a face-to-face arrangement. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 3 , the package housing  12  may further include a dispensing opening  30  which is in communication with the housing interior  26 . Dispensing opening  30  may be formed between top wall  14  and first side wall  22 . Preferably the dispensing opening  30  may be disposed directly below the top wall  14  and is therefore located adjacent the top end of the package housing  12 . Dispensing opening  30  permits the comestible to exit the package housing  12 . Top wall  14  includes an access aperture  32  which permits a user to engage the product piece  28 , such as with their finger, and push it out of the package through the dispensing opening  30  as will be described in more detail below. Access aperture  32  may have an elongated shape extending in the direction of product piece movement as indicated by an arrow in  FIG. 3 . 
     The package assembly  10  may be covered by a plastic over-wrap (not shown) of a type known in the art, which is removable by a user prior to dispensing the comestibles. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 3 and 5 , the package assembly  10  further includes a resilient device  34  disposed within the housing interior  26 . The resilient device  34  acts against the stack of product pieces  28  and urges them toward the dispensing opening  30 . The product piece adjacent the dispensing opening is in the dispensing position. In this position, a product piece  28  is accessible through the access aperture  32  and disposed adjacent the dispensing opening  30 , thereby permitting dispensing. The resilient device  34  may include a piece of compressibly resilient foam, such as open cell polyurethane, or any other resilient material. A cover  36  may be positioned over the end of the resilient device adjacent the comestible. Cover  36  may be formed of paperboard or any other smooth material which permits the comestible to slide there-over. The cover  36  may have a generally U-shaped cross-section having a portion which covers the top of the foam and portions that extend partially down the sidewalls of the foam. The foam may be compressed when the comestibles are loaded into the package housing  12 . 
     In an alternative embodiment shown in  FIGS. 4 and 6 , the resilient device  34 ′ may include a generally flat platform  38  and one or more biasing devices  40 , such as compression coil springs, engaging the bottom surface of the platform  38 . The biasing devices  40  may be operably coupled to the platform  38 . It may be appreciated that any suitable biasing device may be employed. The platform may be formed of plastic or paperboard or other material which will permit the comestible to slide there-over. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 3 , in order to dispense the product pieces  28 , a user may hold the package housing  12  and place a finger through the access aperture  32  and onto the product piece  28  lying there-beneath. Then the user may urge the product piece  28  out of the dispensing opening  30 , pushing it therethrough. The product piece  28  exits the dispensing opening and the user may then grab the exposed portion of the product piece  28  to fully remove it from the package housing  12  ( FIG. 4 ). The biasing nature of the resilient device  34 ,  34 ′ causes the stack of product pieces to be moved upwardly to fill the void left by the dispensed product piece. The next product piece is then ready to be dispensed. 
     In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the package housing  12  is formed of one piece of material such as paperboard or other foldable material. With reference to  FIG. 7 , a blank  50  includes various panels which may be formed by die cutting, punching or by any other manner known in the art. The various panels may be folded and glued to form the package housing  12 . Blank  50  may include a back panel  52  which forms back wall  20 . Extending laterally from one side of back panel  52  is a first side panel  54  which forms first side wall  22 . Extending laterally from the other side of back panel  52  is a second side panel  56  which forms second side wall  24 . A front wall panel  58  extending from first side wall panel  54  forms the front wall  18  of the package housing  12 . Back panel  52  further includes a top panel  60  extending from an upper end and a bottom panel  62  extending from a lower end. The top panel  60  includes a first portion  64  which forms the top wall  14  of the packaging and a second portion  66  which is folded onto the front wall panel  58  and adhered thereto. The first portion  64  may have formed therein the access aperture  32 . The bottom panel  62  includes a first portion  68  which forms the bottom wall  16  and a second portion  70  which is folded over and adhered to the front wall panel  58 . The top panel second portion  66  and bottom panel second portion  70  may be folded over the outside surface of front wall panel  58  as shown in  FIG. 1 . Alternatively, panels  66  and  70  may be folded and secured to the inside of the front wall panel  58  such that the panels  66  and  70  are not visible from the outside of the package housing  12 . 
     The various panels may be folded along fold lines  71  to form the package housing  12 . The first and second side wall panels  54  and  56 , back panel  52  and front panel  58  each include securement tabs  72  which are folded and secured, preferably by adhesive, to opposed surface of the package housing  12  to maintain the panels in the folded positions to form the package housing. Therefore, the package housing  12  is formed from one unitary piece of material. 
     In an alternative embodiment, the bottom panel  62  may be eliminated, and the bottom of the package housing may be a separate piece  74  which is secured to the package housing, such as by an adhesive, as shown in  FIG. 5 . While  FIG. 5  shows the embodiment of the resilient device using the foam material, it is within the contemplation of the present invention that other types of resilient devices could be used. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the product pieces  28  may be loaded in the package housing interior  26  through a loading opening  73  disposed in the housing bottom. The resilient device  34  or  34 ′ may then be placed in the housing interior  26 . The bottom may then be secured to the package housing. In the embodiment where the bottom is a separate piece  74  as shown in  FIG. 5 , the bottom  74  can be placed in and secured to the surrounding housing walls. In the embodiment wherein the bottom is formed by the bottom panel  62  as shown in  FIG. 6 , the bottom panel  62  may be folded into place and secured, thereby retaining the product pieces and the compressed resilient device in the package housing. When the package is assembled, the product pieces  28  are urged toward the dispensing position. It is also within the contemplation of the present invention that the product pieces  28  could be loaded in through the top of the package housing  12  and then the top wall could be secured thereby retaining the product pieces  28  in the package housing  12 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 8 , a further alternative embodiment of the package is shown. In this embodiment, the product pieces  28  may be stacked side edge to side edge. Package housing  100  may include first and second opposed walls  102  and  104  which are joined on their sides by third and fourth walls  106  and  108  and fifth and sixth walls  110  and  112 . These walls form a housing interior  114 . Walls  102  and  104  may be broad panels larger in area than the walls connecting them together. A dispensing opening  116  is formed at one end of the package housing in third wall  106  and is defined by sixth wall  112  and the first and second walls  102  and  104 . Access aperture  118  is formed on first wall  102  adjacent the dispensing opening  116 . A resilient device  120  may be disposed within the package housing  100  to urge the product pieces  28  toward the dispensing opening  116 . The resilient device may include a compressible foam material or spring or other resilient element. A cover  122  may be positioned between the resilient device and product pieces  28  to permit the pieces to slide thereover. As in the previously described embodiments, in order to dispense the product pieces  28  a user may engage the product piece through the access aperture  118  and slide it out through the dispensing opening  116 . When the product piece is removed, another piece is moved into the dispensing position below the access aperture  118  and adjacent the dispensing opening  116  and is ready to be dispensed. 
     Having described the preferred embodiments herein, it should now be appreciated that variations may be made thereto without departing from the contemplated scope of the invention. Accordingly, the preferred embodiments described herein are deemed illustrative rather than limiting, the true scope of the invention being set forth in the claims appended hereto.