Patent Publication Number: US-2019168914-A1

Title: A tealight

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to a tealight. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A typical tealight comprises a cylindrical cup, usually made of metal (typically aluminum) or plastic, filled with a flammable mass (usually a paraffin mixture) within which a wick is positioned. A tealight of this type is disclosed, for example, in a European patent application EP2930421. 
     Tealights, as items of mass use, are usually sold in packages comprising between a few and a hundred of tealights. The tealights are typically arranged in stacks, and a plurality of stacks are surrounded by a foil envelope to form a single package. To unpack the package, the user makes a cut in the envelope to remove the tealight therefrom, which usually disrupts the arrangement of tealights within the envelope. As more and more tealights are removed from the envelope, it turns into a bag of loosely arranged tealights, which makes them prone to damage from the neighboring tealights, which reduces the appearance of their external surface—the outer surface of the cups may be contaminated with the flammable mass from the other tealights, and the outer surface of the flammable mass may be scratched by the cups of the other tealights. 
     A Polish patent PL202131 discloses a packaging made of a heat-shrink foil comprising a plurality of tealight stacks. The foil acts only as a container to store the tealights. 
     In typical tealights, the outer surface of a cylindrical wall of the cup has the colour of the cup material. This type of tealights does not provide any extra aesthetic values and does not allow the consumer to distinguish tealights of one provider from the others. So far, the aesthetic values of the tealights have been increased by for example coloring the flammable mass, to make the tealight more appealing to the consumer. 
     There is a need to provide an alternative way of providing a tealight with added aesthetic functionality. There is also a need to provide a way to provide an alternative tealight packaging. 
     SUMMARY 
     There is disclosed herein a tealight comprising a cup having a base and a sidewall, the cup being filled with a flammable mass in which a wick is positioned, wherein the outer surface of the sidewall of the cup is surrounded by a sleeve. 
     The sleeve can be made of plastic. 
     The sleeve can be made of heat-shrinkable plastic. 
     The sleeve may adhere directly to the outer surface of the sidewall of the cup. 
     The sleeve can be connected with the outer surface of the sidewall of the cup by a glue layer. 
     The sleeve may have an overprint layer. 
     The sleeve may have a height (h 1 ) equal to an outer height (H) of the cup. 
     The sleeve may have a height (h 1 ) smaller than an outer height (H) of the cup. 
     The height (h 1 ) of the sleeve can be not more than 50% of the height (H) of the cup. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES 
       The present invention is presented by means of example embodiment in a drawing, in which: 
         FIG. 1  presents a tealight in a perspective view; 
         FIG. 2  presents a first embodiment of the tealight (not in scale) in a cross-sectional view; 
         FIG. 3  presents a second embodiment of the tealight (not in scale) in a cross-sectional view; 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  shows an embodiment of a tealight. The tealight has a cup  110 , which may have a round base  111  and a cylindrical sidewall  112 . The cup  110  is filled with a flammable mass  120  in which a wick  130  is mounted. The distinguishing feature of that tealight is that the outer surface of the sidewall  112  of the cup  110  is surrounded by a plastic sleeve  140 . 
     The height h 1  of the sleeve  140  may be equal to the outer height H of the cup  110  or may be smaller. 
     Use of the sleeve  140  with the height h 1  which is smaller than the height H of the cup  110 , but preferably not more than 50% smaller, allows for manufacturing tolerance to produce tealights with high speeds, when the precise matching of the location of the sleeve location with respect to the can be difficult. 
     The sleeve  140  may be made of a heat-shrinkable plastic foil. To contact the sleeve  140  with the sidewall  112  of the cup  110 , the sleeve may be prepared having a diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the cup  110 , applied over the cup  110  and then heated to shrink and closely adhere to the outer surface of the sidewall  112  of the cup  110 . In such embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the sleeve  140  adheres directly to the outer wall  112  of the cup  110 . 
     In another embodiment, the sleeve  140  may be made of a plastic strip which is wrapped closely around the sidewall  112  of the cup  110  and its ends are connected (for example, glued or welded). 
     In yet another embodiment, the sleeve  140  may be made of a plastic strip which is wrapped closely around the sidewall  112  and is glued to the sidewall  112  of the cup. In such embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 3 , a layer of glue  142  is present between the sleeve  140  and the outer wall  112  of the cup  110 . 
     The perforations  143  may be made in the sleeve  140  before it is applied over the cup  110 , or after the sleeve is applied over the cup  110 . 
     In order to provide additional aesthetic value to the tealight, the sleeve  140  may be made of coloured plastic. The plastic foil may be dyed in mass. The sleeve  140  may also have an overprint layer  141 , with printed decorative elements. The overprint may be located on the one side or both sides of the sleeve  140 . If the sleeve  140  is made of a non-transparent material, the overprint  141  should be located at the external side of the sleeve  140 , i.e. the side opposite to the side contacting the sidewall  112  of the cup  110 . If the sleeve is made of a transparent material, the overprint  141  may be located both at the outside and at the inside of the sleeve  140 . The overprint may be made with various known printing technologies, such as inkjet printing, offset printing, etc. 
     As an additional advantage, the sleeve  140  reduces the thermal permeability of the cup, which makes it more convenient for the user to take a burning tealight in hand.