Patent Publication Number: US-2007095684-A1

Title: Protective structure of disc packaging

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
      I. Field of the Invention  
      This invention relating to the “protective structure of disc packaging” presents a simple form of disc protecting structure where placing the upper and lower layers of protection on the top and bottom of the discs with the added wrapping of the heat-shrinkable film and casing will prevent the deformation to the discs due to direct contact with the heat-shrinkable film.  
      II. Description of the Prior Art  
      There are an increasing number of consumer electronic products on the market that requires disc storage (such as CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R, DVD+R and DVD-RW, etc.); generally, a great quantity of blank discs are used either, by a computer disc burner or a VCD/DVD+R/RW recorder and the packaging of those blank discs are encased by some proper protective structures during the packaging and delivery processes. Nevertheless, sensing that the mounting hub manufactured for holding the disc media is 0.3 mm thicker than the burning area, there are gaps between every two discs when they are piled up together, to prevent the discs from scratching. Therefore, the disc packaging methods on the market presently are mostly done by piling up the discs, and then using a heat-shrinkable film to directly encase the discs, or by using other appropriate packing containers. Generally, there are two frequently used packing containers described below:  
      1) A cylindrical container, as shown in  FIG. 1 , comprises of a cap-like upper lid a and a base b. A shaft, b 1  is disposed extensively from the center of the base b upwards for stringing into a round hole c 1  of a disc c in the center, thereby enabling a pile of discs c to be positioned in a holding position. The base b sets a groove b 2  on the perimeter thereof corresponding to a buckle a 1  on the perimeter of the upper lid a. Upon using the container, the round holes c 1  in the center of the pile of the discs c, string through the shaft c 1  of the base b in sequence, and then the container is covered with the upper lid a and the buckle a 1  and the groove b 2  are wedged together, thereby enabling the pile of discs c to be under the most complete protection. Such form of packaging is made by way of plastic injection shaped with specific molding which increases the manufacturing costs, resulting in higher unit selling price. In turn such a packaging method incurs higher packaging costs to disc manufacturers.  
      2) A protective lid: As shown in  FIG. 2 , that the protective lid d is of the same size as the diameter of the disc c. In addition, the protective lid d has a side set with repeating rings d 1  in concentric circles, the plurality of ring portions d 1  radially connect a plurality of supporting ribs d 2 , thereon; the circle center of the protective lid sets a round hole d 3  corresponding to the round hole c 1  of the disc c in the center. Upon the packaging of the discs, flat surfaces on one side of the protective lid d are respectively placed on the top and bottom sides of the pile of discs c, and subsequently, a heat-shrinkable film encases both upper and lower sides of the protective lid d with the pile of the discs c together. Such a form of packaging is also made by the method of plastic injection, shaped with specific molding which increases the manufacturing costs thou may be a little bit lower in costs compared to the cylindrical container manufacturing methods. Nevertheless, such a packaging method enables the upper and the lower portions of the protective lid d that are made of harder material, to directly press on any uneven heat-shrinkable film on several discs c near to the protective lid d such that there is no space in-between the pile of discs c, so as to avoid any damage caused by friction between the discs c during transport.  
      With reference to  FIG. 3 , the packing containers in preceding paragraphs have its disadvantages and must be packed in additional boxes to avoid packing bodies e from being damaged as a result of disc collisions. At the same time to generally reduce the box packing process, the packing bodies e are fixed by a plurality of partition plates f made of corrugated paper, so that each packing body e is independently placed in the space formed by those partition plates f, so as to additionally manufacture each partition plates f for packing individual disc container, thus resulting in an increase of the disc packaging costs. In view of the above, the invention provides a disc protective structure that is composed of an upper lid, a lower lid and a casing being placed on the top and bottom sides of the perimeters on a pile of discs, and subsequently, a heat-shrinkable film is able to envelop the protective body and the pile of discs. The protective body is made of re-biodegradable corrugated paper and recyclable plastic corrugated sheet with simplified structure. The advantage of the invention includes easy-to-obtain materials at cheaper prices and convenient manufacturing processes without additional packing boxes required. In this way the invention is able to effectively reduce the disc packaging costs based on the requirements of environmental protection with the effect of completely protecting those manufactured discs.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a simplified protective structure with complete protection effect for retaining the disc quality during the disc packaging and transporting processes. In addition, this also meets the requirement of environmental protection and effectively reducing the disc packaging costs.  
      To achieve the above objective, the “protective structure of disc packaging” of the present invention primarily comprises of an upper lid, a lower lid and a casing, that are disposed on the top and bottom sides of the perimeters round the pile of discs. The upper lid and the lower lid are respectively composed of at least two interlaced disc-shaped plates, which possess wavy buffer portions that are made of corrugated paper or plastic corrugated sheet. When the upper and the lower disc-shaped plates are disposed, the undulating buffer portions of the disc-shaped plates are vertically stacked up, in addition, the sizes of the disc-shaped plates are larger than the sizes of the discs causing the casing to be shaped in a roll.  
      Upon the disc packaging, first of all, the invention enables the discs to be piled up, where the lower lid of the invention is placed on the bottom side of the pile of discs, and the casing sleeves over the perimeters of the discs as well as the upper lid being placed on the upper side of the discs. Subsequently, a heat-shrinkable film covers the upper lid perimeter, including the discs to the lower lid perimeter including the bottom of the discs for completion of the disc packaging. The buffered portions on the upper lid, the lower lid and the casing are able to absorb any unevenness in the heat-shrinkable film such that the discs contained within the upper lid, the lower lid and the casing are tightly packed to them without gaps in-between. Extra box packing process is not required, so as to reduce conventional use of packing boxes and partition plates where the discs contained within are not directly pressed by the force, resulting in the damage to those discs because of the space shrinking in-between the discs. Therefore, the invention is able to achieve the objective of retaining the disc quality during the disc packaging and delivery processes. Furthermore, the said protective body of the invention is made of biodegradable corrugated paper and recyclable plastic corrugated sheet with simplified structure. Accordingly, the advantages of the invention also include easily obtainable materials at cheaper prices and more convenient manufacturing processes, so that the invention is able to effectively reduce the disc packaging costs based on the requirement of environmental protection with the effect of completely protecting the manufactured discs. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1 a  three-dimensional view of a conventional cylindrical container;  
       FIG. 2 a  three-dimensional view of a conventional protective lid;  
       FIG. 3  is a three-dimensional view showing the use of a conventional partition plate in a packing box;  
       FIG. 4  is a cutaway view of the present invention;  
       FIG. 5  is a three-dimensional view of the assembly of the present invention;  
       FIG. 6  is a three-dimensional view showing the present invention after packaging; and  
       FIG. 7  is a perspective views showing the packaged invention under force. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      To enable a further understanding of the structural features and contents of the invention, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of a preferred embodiment.  
      With reference to  FIGS. 4, 5 ,  6  and  7 , a protective structure  10  is composed of an upper lid  11 , a lower lid  12  and a casing  13  placed on the top and the bottom sides and the perimeters of a pile of discs, wherein:  
      The upper and the lower lids  11  and  12  are respectively composed of at least two interlaced disc-shaped plates  11   a  and  12   a , which are made of corrugated paper  11   a   1  or plastic corrugated sheet  12   a   1 . When the upper and the lower disc-shaped plates  11   a  and  12   a  are disposed, the undulating buffer portions  11   a   1  and  12   a   1  are vertically stacked up, in addition, the sizes of the disc-shaped plates  11   a  and  12   a  are larger than those of the discs; moreover, the circle centers of said disc-shaped plates  11   a  and  12   a  set round holes each corresponding to the positions of the round holes  11   a   2  and  12   a   2  of the discs  2 ;  
      The casing  13  is made of corrugated paper with proper size, or plastic corrugated sheet sleeved like a roll, the center of which is able to place a pile of discs.  
      Moreover, the protective body  10  is made of a material that is easily absorbed by printing ink, thereby enabling the manufacturers to print out some advertising scripts and/or patterns relevant to said discs on the surfaces of the upper lid  11 , the lower lid  12  or the casing  13 .  
      Upon the disc packaging, first of all, the invention enables the 2 discs to be piled up, and then the lower lid  12  is disposed on the bottom side of the 2 piled discs, the casing  13  sleeves over the perimeters of the piled discs  2  and the upper lid  11  is disposed on the top of the 2 piled discs; moreover, a heat-shrinkable film  3  covers from the perimeter on top of the upper lid  11  and 2 discs to the perimeter on the bottom side of the lower lid  12  for completing the disc packaging. In addition, the wavy buffer portions  11   a   1  and  12   a   1  of the upper and the lower lids  11  and  12  and the casing  13  are able to absorb the force resulting from the deformation of the heat-shrinkable film  3 , so that the upper and the lower lids  11  and  12  and the casing  13  are tightly close to the top and bottom 2 discs without additional space formed in-between.  
      In conclusion, the “protective structure of disc packaging” of the invention presented herein is a simply constructed protective body; the materials are easily to be obtained with cheaper prices with complete protection effect. The invention is able to retain the disc quality during the disc packaging and delivery processes, in addition, effectively reduce the disc packaging costs based on the requirement of environmental protection.  
      Many changes and modifications in the above-described embodiment of the invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof in meeting environment friendliness requirements and lowering of the costs of packaging, achieving a “practical” and “advanced” invention; the invention has also made applications accordingly with the copyright law to the relevant patent office for patent rights of its design.