Scented tissue product and method of making scented tissue product

Abstract

[Object] A scented tissue product is provided that offers excellent tissue removability and that enables a scent to be felt continuously in a stable manner. [Solution] The object is achieved by a scented tissue product in which a fragrant film having a fragrance layer situated between a fragrance-permeable resin layer and a fragrance-impermeable resin layer is attached, separately from a film having a slit therein for covering a dispensing opening, to an area including at least part of an inner surface of the top face of a box member constituting a container box such that the fragrance-permeable resin layer faces a stack of tissues.

Claims

1. A method of making a scented carton blank for a tissue product, comprising: supplying a continuous film sheet and a continuous fragrant film sheet, arranged alongside each other, to a cutter, the continuous fragrant film sheet having a fragrance layer situated between a fragrance-permeable resin layer and a fragrance-impermeable resin layer; simultaneously cutting, with the cutter, a predetermined length of the continuous film sheet and a predetermined length of the continuous fragrant film sheet, to produce a severed film piece having a slit therein and a severed fragrant film piece; causing the severed film piece having a slit therein and the severed fragrant film piece to adhere by suction to a surface of a roller while being carried on the surface of the roller along with rotation of the roller; and transferring the severed film piece having a slit therein and the severed fragrant film piece simultaneously from the surface of the roller to a carton blank to cause the severed film piece having a slit therein and the severed fragrant film piece each separated from the roller to be fixedly attached on the carton blank, such that the slit is situated in an area enclosed by an opening-purpose perforation.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a diagonal perspective view of a tissue product according to an embodiment of the present invention.

(2) FIG. 2 is a diagonal perspective view for explaining the structure of the tissue product according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(3) FIG. 3 is a drawing of the development view of a container box, as viewed from the box's inner side, according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(4) FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the tissue product according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(5) FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a scented film according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(6) FIG. 6 is a development view of a container box illustrating an example of the manner in which a film is attached in a scented tissue product according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(7) FIG. 7 is a development view of a container box illustrating another example of the manner in which a film is attached in a scented tissue product according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(8) FIG. 8 is a development view of a container box illustrating a different example of the manner in which a film is attached in a scented tissue product according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(9) FIG. 9 is a development view of a container box illustrating a further different example of the manner in which a film is attached in a scented tissue product according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(10) FIG. 10 is a drawing illustrating a manner in which a scented film is glued according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(11) FIG. 11 is a drawing illustrating another manner in which a scented film is glued according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(12) FIG. 12 is a drawing illustrating the manner in which a film having a slit therein is attached to a carton blank.

(13) FIG. 13 is a drawing illustrating how a film having a slit therein and a scented film are attached according to the embodiment of the present invention.

EMBODIMENTS FOR CARRYING OUT INVENTION

(14) Embodiments of the present invention will be described by referring to FIG. 1 through FIG. 13. As illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a tissue product 100 according to the present embodiment has a tissue stack 2 comprised of tissues 2t folded and placed one over another, which is stored in a container box 1 that has a perforation in a top face 11 for opening purposes. A tissue 2t to be used is pulled out through a dispensing opening 20X formed by tearing an opening-purpose perforation 20.

(15) The container box 1 illustrated in the figure has a cuboid product appearance. The container box 1 includes a box member 10 having the opening-purpose perforation 20 for forming the dispensing opening 20X in the top face 11, and includes a film 30 having a slit therein that covers an area 20a enclosed by the opening-purpose perforation 20 from the inner side of the top face of the box member.

(16) The box member 10 constitutes the outer casing of the container box 1. The box member 10 has a size, an outer-appearance shape, a development-view shape, and the like that are adopted from the configuration of a known box member of the container box. The size of a typical container box has a long-side edge L1 of 110 to 320 mm, a short-side edge L2 of 70 to 200 mm, and a height L3 of 40 to 150 mm, more or less. The container box 1 of the present invention may also have this size. The box member may have an appropriate print on the inner faces or outer faces.

(17) The base material of the box member 10 may be known paper material or processed paper material that is made mainly from pulp varieties such as virgin pulp and recycled pulp. A preferred material of the box member 10 is clay coated newsback having a basis weight of 250 to 500 g/m.sup.2.

(18) As can be seen from FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the built-up structure of the illustrated box member 10 is made by gluing a bottom face 12 to one longitudinal lateral face 13 by use of a tab 12A to form a tube, followed by folding flaps F inwardly which extend from the bottom face 12 and the adjacent longitudinal lateral faces 13, and then gluing the contact faces of the flaps F together with a hot-melt adhesive or the like to form transverse lateral faces 14. It may be noted that the box member 10 of the present invention is not limited to this built-up structure.

(19) The opening-purpose perforation 20 formed in the top face of the box member 10 has an annular shape. The cut-tie ratio may be set as appropriate. The opening-purpose perforation 20 may be formed as an ordinary perforation, a double perforation, a zipper perforation, or the like. Only part of the opening-purpose perforation 20 may be made into a double perforation.

(20) The opening-purpose perforation 20 according to the present embodiment has long sides extending in the longitudinal direction of the paper box, and has short sides extending parallel to the short edges to connect between the ends of the long edges. The shape of the area 20a enclosed by the opening-purpose perforation 20 is longer in the longitudinal direction of the container box 1. In general, the opening-purpose perforation 20 may have an elongated beveled rectangular shape extending in the longitudinal direction of the container box 1, or may have an approximately elliptical shape that is formed by deforming each long side of the noted rectangular shape such that the midpoint thereof bulges outwards to form an arc shape. The illustrated configuration is an example of the former.

(21) The film 30 having a slit therein is larger than the area 20a enclosed by the opening-purpose perforation 20, with the shape thereof being rectangular or elliptical, for example. The film 30 having a slit therein is attached with an adhesive to an inner surface 11i of the box top face at the outside of the area 20a enclosed by the opening-purpose perforation 20 such as not to affect the tearing of the opening-purpose perforation 20. A slit 31 of the film 30 is situated to extend in the longitudinal direction in the area 20a enclosed by the opening-purpose perforation 20. As illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, thus, tearing and removing all or part of the area 20a enclosed by the opening-purpose perforation 20 along the opening-purpose perforation 20 results in the dispensing opening 20X being created in the top face 11 of the paper box. Further, the film 30 having a slit therein and the slit 31 are exposed through the dispensing opening 20X. The tissues 2t can thus be removed one by one through the slit 31.

(22) The container box 1 of the scented tissue product 100 according to the present invention characteristically has a fragrant film 32, which is separate from the film 30 having a slit therein, as illustrated in FIG. 1 through FIG. 3 and FIG. 6 through FIG. 9. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the fragrant film 32 has a structure in which a fragrance layer 32C is situated between a fragrance-permeable resin layer 32A and a fragrance-impermeable resin layer 32B. The fragrant film 32 is attached to the box member 10 at an area including the inner surface 11i of the top face 11 of the box member 10 such that the fragrance-permeable resin layer 32A faces the tissue stack 2. The fragrant film 32 is structured such that the fragrance layer 32C including fragrance is situated between the fragrance-permeable resin layer 32A exhibiting permeability with respect to the fragrance and the fragrance-impermeable resin layer 32B exhibiting impermeability or extremely low permeability with respect to the fragrance. With this arrangement, the fragrance contained in the fragrance layer 32C gradually volatilize through the fragrance-permeable resin layer 32A, thereby exhibiting a more sustained release effect than do configurations that use fragrance directly added to tissues or directly applied to a box inner face. Further, the fragrant film 32 is attached to an inner face of the box member 10 such that the fragrance-permeable resin layer 32A faces the tissue stack 2. Because of this, fragrance is unlikely to escape to the outside even when the box member 10 is made of a permeable material such as paper.

(23) Moreover, the scented tissue product 100 according to the present invention has the fragrant film 32 that is separate from the film 30 having a slit therein for removing the tissues 2t one by one. Because of this, the film 30 having a slit therein can be made of a conventional material that is inexpensive and flexible with a proper thickness, such as polyethylene or polypropylene. There is no need to sacrifice the removability of tissues, the productivity of a film, and production cost in exchange of providing the effect to impart a scent to tissues or to the ambient of the product, unlike the case in which the film 30 having a slit therein is implemented as a multilayered film having a fragrance layer. Further, the film 30 having a slit therein needs to have a decent size because of the need to cover the area 20a enclosed by the opening-purpose perforation 20 and to have the slit 31 formed therein that is sufficiently long to allow the tissues 2t to be removed without tearing. On the other hand, the fragrant film 32 does not need to have such a size from the viewpoint of imparting a scent. The use of a multilayered structure having a fragrance layer as the film 30 having a slit therein ends up using a film having a needlessly large size, resulting in a possible cost increase. The use of a separate film as in the present invention does not give rise to such a problem.

(24) As described above, the scented tissue product 100 according to the present invention uses the film 30 having a slit therein and the fragrant film 32 that are separate from each other, thereby allowing free design choice without compromising the respective effects of these films. That is, it is possible to use the fragrant film 32 having such a thickness or size that is difficult to be used for the film 30 having a slit therein. This allows use of such a design choice as to make the area of the fragrant film smaller than the film having a slit therein and to increase the thickness of the fragrance layer in proportion to the area reduction. In the scented tissue product 100 of the illustrated example according to the present embodiment, the area of the fragrant film 32 is smaller than the area of the film 30 having a slit therein, and the thickness of the fragrant film 32 is thicker than the thickness of the film 30 having a slit therein.

(25) The fragrant film 32 may preferably be attached in such a specific manner as in the example illustrated in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIGS. 6 to 8 in which the fragrant film 32 is attached to an area extending from the inner surface 11i of the top face 11 to an inner surface 13i of the longitudinal lateral face 13 of the box member 10 across a border edge 70 between these surfaces 11i and 13i. This arrangement causes heavier-than-air components contained in the fragrance layer to move downwards, as illustrated in FIG. 4 by dotted lines, along the inner surface 13i of the longitudinal lateral face 13 of the container box 1. As a result, these heavy components reliably come in contact with a face of the tissue stack 2 constituted by the folded edges of the stacked tissues. When this happens, it is expected that the fragrance also enter gaps between the tissues. As a result, a scent imparted by the heavy components is added to each of the tissues constituting the tissue stack 2, so that there is only a small difference in the strength of scent between the upper portion and lower portion of the tissue stack 2. Further, since the fragrant film 32 is situated at a long distance from the slit 31, lighter-than-air components of the fragrance are unlikely to escape through the slit 31, and are likely to stay inside the container box.

(26) As noted above, the manner of attaching may be such that the fragrant film 32 is attached to an area extending from the inner surface 11i of the top face 11 to the inner surface 13i of the longitudinal lateral face 13 of the box member 10 across the border edge 70 between these surfaces 11i and 13i. To this end, it is preferable to dispose an adhesive 60A continuously or at spaced intervals along the perimeter of the fragrant film 32 thereby to prevent the perimeter from peeling off from the box member 10 and also to use an adhesive 60B for gluing to the border edge 70, as illustrated in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11. If the fragrant film 32 is not glued to the border edge 70, the fragrant film 32 may have a slack that bulges toward the center of the container box, and comes in excessive contact with the tissue stack 2. This may increase the resistance that impedes the removal of the tissues 2t. It is preferable to attach the fragrant film 32 in a carton-blank state. With the carton-blank state in which the fragrant film 32 is not glued to the border edge 70, however, building the carton blank to form a tube shape causes the fragrant film 32 to corrugate, thereby creating a risk that a subsequent insertion of the tissue stack 2 may not be successful.

(27) A known adhesive that is the same as or similar to the one used for gluing the film 30 having a slit therein may be used as the adhesive for gluing the fragrant film.

(28) In the following, a description will be given of a specific configuration of the fragrant film 32 according to the present embodiment. The fragrance-permeable resin layer 30A is preferably a polyethylene film layer or a polypropylene film layer. The thickness of the fragrance-permeable resin layer 30A is preferably 10 to 100 μm, and more preferably 15 to 60 μm, in consideration of a strength of the sustained fragrance release effect and the cost and productivity of the fragrant film.

(29) A layer that is preferable as the fragrance-impermeable resin layer 32B may be a polyethylene terephthalate film layer, a polyvinylidene chloride film layer, an EVOH resin film layer (i.e., ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer film layer) such as EVAL produced by Kuraray Co. Ltd, or a film layer formed of an EVOH resin containing styrene elastomer. Especially, a polyethylene terephthalate film layer is preferable because of the low cost. The thickness of the fragrance-impermeable resin layer 32B is preferably 10 to 50 μm in consideration of the securement of a sufficient fragrance impermeability and the cost and productivity of the fragrant film.

(30) Examples of the fragrance layer 30C include a thin-film adhesive layer or thin-film pressure-sensitive adhesive layer containing fragrance and a resin film layer containing fragrance. In the case of the fragrance layer 30C being formed as an adhesive layer or the like, a usable material may be a natural-rubber, natural-rubber-latex, acrylic, hot-melt, or polyester adhesive or pressure-sensitive adhesive. Preferably, a polyester adhesive or an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive is used. In the case of a resin film containing fragrance, the base resin is preferably rubber block copolymer containing styrene block and diene block. Examples of such rubber block copolymer include styrene-butadiene copolymer, styrene-isoprene copolymer, styrene-butadiene-styrene copolymer, styrene-isoprene-styrene copolymer, styrene-isoprene-butylene-styrene copolymer, styrene-ethylene-propylene-styrene copolymer, and a hydrogen additive of these.

(31) As fragrance to be contained in the fragrance layer, natural or synthetic known fragrance is usable. The scented tissue product 100 according to the present invention can be particularly effective with the inclusion of heavier-than-air fragrance and lighter-than-air fragrance due to the positon at which the fragrant film 32 is attached. It is thus preferable that both of these components are included. Specific examples of the fragrance include natural fragrance such as lemon oil, grapefruit oil, rosemary oil, peppermint oil, mandarin oil, lime oil, yuzu oil, chamomile oil, lavender oil, rose oil, and spearmint oil and synthetic terpene fragrance such as alcohol, ketone, aldehyde, limonene, linalool, citronellol, menthol, and geraniol.

(32) Further, the fragrance layer 32C may contain, in addition to fragrance, deodorant for suppressing the pulp odor of the tissues 2t and chemical solution such as milder-proofing agent.

(33) The thickness of the fragrance layer 32C is preferably 5 to 80 μm, and is most preferably 15 to 35 μm. The amount of contained fragrance is preferably 0.5 to 15 g/m.sup.2, and is most preferably 1 to 6 g/m.sup.2.

(34) The fragrance-permeable resin layer 32A, the fragrance-impermeable resin layer 32B, and the fragrance layer 32C of the fragrant film 32 according to the present embodiment can be formed as laminated, integrated layers by use of the T-die co-extrusion method, the extrusion lamination method, or the dry lamination method. Each of the fragrance-permeable resin layer 32A, the fragrance-impermeable resin layer 32B, and the fragrance layer 32C is not necessarily a single layer, and may be multilayers as long as its intended function is not undermined. The fragrant film 32 according to the present embodiment may include one or more layers such as a layer for layer-bonding purposes.

(35) In order to manufacture the tissue product 100 for which the area of the annular opening-purpose perforation 20 is covered with the film 30 having a slit therein, a film sheet 30c is successively pulled out from an original roll 30x, as illustrated in FIG. 12, which is a roll of a film sheet that is subsequently turned into a film 30 having a slit therein. A slit cutter 52 makes a slit. A rotational cutter 50 having a cutter blade 50A extending in the width direction on the circumferential surface of the roll cuts the film sheet 30c into a sheet having an appropriate length. The sheet is transferred to, and further conveyed by, a roll 51 having a vacuum function and situated to face the rotational cutter 50. The sheet is bonded to a predetermined area of a carton blank 10x which is successively supplied without a film attached thereon and has glue in such a predetermined area, thereby producing a carton blank 10′ on which the film 30 having a slit therein is attached. Thereafter, the carton blank 10′ is built into a box, into which the tissue stack 2 is inserted, followed by sealing the flaps F.

(36) In order to avoid reduction in productivity and to ensure that the fragrant film 32 be easily and reliably attached to the intended area, the method of manufacturing the scented tissue product 100 according to the present invention is performed as follows. An apparatus for attaching the film 30 having a slit therein to the carton blank 10x is used to pull out the continuous fragrant film 32c from the original roll 32x that is a roll of the belt-shaped, continuous fragrant film 32c, as illustrated in FIG. 13 (in which the slit cutter is not shown). The rotational cutter 50 which cuts a film sheet 30c into a film having a slit therein receives the continuous fragrant film 32c at a different position in the width direction than the film sheet 30c for a film having a slit therein, and cuts the continuous fragrant film 32c simultaneously with the film having a slit therein. Thereafter, the fragrant film 32 is transferred to, and conveyed by, the roll 51 having the vacuum function, and is attached to the carton blank 10x simultaneously with the film 30 having a slit therein. This arrangement does not need the time and labor dedicated specifically for attaching the fragrant film 32, thereby avoiding reduction in the productivity of the tissue product 100. For the scented tissue product 100 manufactured by the noted production method, the film sheet 30c for the film 30 having a slit therein and the continuous fragrant film 32c for the fragrant film 32 are cut simultaneously by the rotational cutter 50. Because of this, the film 30 having a slit therein and the fragrant film 32 are attached to the carton blank 10x such that ends of these films on at least one side in the longitudinal direction of the container box are aligned with each other as illustrated in the example shown in. FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 as well as the examples shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 (the aligned positions shown by symbol P in FIGS. 3, 6, and 7).

(37) In other words, the configuration, in which the film 30 having a slit therein and the fragrant film 32 are attached such that ends of these films on at least one side in the longitudinal direction of the container box are aligned with each other, can be manufactured by the described method, thereby having a merit in terms of production.

(38) It may also be noted that the fragrant film 32 of the scented tissue product 100 according to the present invention is not limited to one sheet, but two or more sheets may be attached as illustrated in FIG. 6. In this case, the type of fragrance and configuration of these fragrant films do not have to be the same.

(39) A description will now be given of the tissue stack 2 contained in the container box 1 having the configuration described heretofore. The tissue stack 2 includes rectangular tissues 2t which are substantially folded in half, and are interfolded and stacked one over another such that the edges of a given tissue 2t are situated between the folded halves of the adjacent tissues 2t that are next higher and next lower, respectively. Here, the term “substantially” indicates the tolerance to a slight folding created at the edges inevitably by the manufacturing process.

(40) Pulling up one folded sheet situated at the top of the tissue stack 2 having the multilayer structure causes an adjacent folded sheet situated immediately below to be dragged and pulled upwards due to friction. The tissue stack 2 having such a structure is contained in the container box 1 such that the top face thereof faces the top face 11 of the container box 1 having the dispensing opening 20X. When a first pair (i.e., the pair situated at the top face) is pulled out through the dispensing opening 20X and through the slit 31 in particular, part of another pair situated immediately below is exposed. The number of stacked tissues 2t in the present invention is not limited to a particular number. The number of stacked tissues generally contained in this type of product is 120 to 240 pairs.

(41) The tissue stack 2 may be produced by a known multi-stand-type or rotary-type interfolder.

(42) The tissues 2t constituting the tissue stack 2 preferably have a multiple-ply structure in which two or three tissue paper layers are placed one over another.

(43) The raw-material pulp for tissue paper is a combination of NBKP and LBKP, and may contain recycled pulp as appropriate. From the viewpoint of texture, however, the use of only NBKP and LBKP is preferable. As a ratio of mixture, NBKP:LBKP is preferably 20:80 to 80:20. More preferably, NBKP:LBKP is 30:70 to 60:40.

(44) The basis weight of a tissue paper layer serving as each ply of the tissues 2t according to the present invention is preferably 9 to 25 g/m.sup.2, and is more preferably 10 to 15 g/m.sup.2. A basis weight lower than 9 g/m.sup.2 is preferable from the viewpoint of softness improvement, but presents difficulty in securing a sufficient strength required for use. Conversely, a basis weight exceeding 25 g/m.sup.2 results in every part of the sheet being hard, and, also, ends up creating hard, clumsy texture and giving an unpleasant tactile feel. It may be noted that the basis weight is measured by the method of measuring a basis weight as defined in JIS P 8124 (1998).

(45) The thickness of a 2-ply tissue according to the present invention is 100 to 160 μm, and is more preferably 120 to 140 μm. A paper thickness less than 100 μm is preferable from the viewpoint of softness improvement, but presents difficulty in securing a sufficient strength as a facial tissue. A paper thickness exceeding 160 μm ends up degrading the tactile feeling of the tissue and creating hard, clumsy texture that is felt when used.

(46) The thicknesses of paper, a film having a slit therein, and a fragrant film are measured by using the dial thickness gauge (i.e., thickness measurement device) “PEACOCK G” manufactured by OZAKI MFG. CO., LTD. under the condition defined by JIS P8111 (1998) after subjecting a test piece to sufficient humidity conditioning under the same condition as noted. The thickness of paper is measured under the same condition as in the product, i.e., measuring 2-ply tissue for a 2-ply product and 3-ply tissue for a 3-ply product. Specifically, a check is first made to make sure that neither dust nor speck is present between the plunger and the platform, and, then, the plunger is lowered to come in contact with the platform, followed by moving the scale of the dial thickness gauge to align the zero point. Thereafter, the plunger is moved up, and, a specimen is placed on the platform, followed by slowly lowering the plunger, and then reading the gauge. In so doing, the plunger is only placed on the specimen. The end of the plunger is a circular flat metal plane with a diameter of 10 mm, which is brought in contact with the tissue plane face-to-face. The load at the time of thickness measurement is approximately 70 gf in the case of 120 μm. The thicknesses of paper, a sheet material, and a film used as a film layer are obtained by taking an average of 10 measurements.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

(47) 100 . . . tissue product 2 . . . tissue stack 2t . . . tissues 11 . . . top face of container box (paper box) 20 . . . opening-purpose perforation 1 . . . container box 20a . . . area enclosed by opening-purpose perforation 20X . . . dispensing opening 30 . . . film having a slit therein 10 . . . box member 12 . . . bottom face of container box (paper box) 12A . . . tab 13 . . . longitudinal lateral face of container box (paper box) 14 . . . transverse lateral face of container box (paper box) F . . . flap 31 . . . slit 32 . . . fragrant film 32A . . . fragrance-permeable layer 32B . . . fragrance-impermeable layer 32C . . . fragrance layer L1 . . . long-side edge of container box L2 . . . short-side edge of container box L3 . . . height of container box 11i . . . inner surface of top face of container box (paper box) 13i . . . inner surface of longitudinal lateral face of container box (paper box) 70 . . . border edge 60A, 60B . . . adhesive 30x . . . original roll 30c . . . film sheet 50A . . . cutter blade 50 . . . rotational cutter 51 . . . roll having vacuum function 10x, 10′ . . . carton blank 32x . . . original roll 32c . . . continuous fragrant film P . . . position of alignment for fragrant film and film having slit therein