FUSION PACK CONTAINING BOTH A SHEET STACK AND CORRUGATED BOARD THAT ARE OVERWRAPPED BY PLASTIC FILM IN A SEAL TIGHT MANNER WITHOUT DAMAGE TO THE SHEET STACK

Abstract

A package of a sheet stack and a corrugated board all overwrapped with plastic film that is heat sealed. The sheet stack and the corrugated board are adjacent each other. The corrugated board is thicker and larger than each of the posterboard sheets to protect corner regions of the sheet stack from damage otherwise arising from bending and curling forces imposed from heat sealing the overwrapped plastic film. The sheet stack may have arranged one after the other either posterboard sheets or foam core board sheets or both.

Claims

1. A protective package, comprising: a sheet stack having a plurality of individual sheets arranged one after another, the individual sheets of the sheet stack being selected from a group consisting of posterboard sheets, foam core board sheets, and a combination of both; a corrugated board adjacent the sheet stack; and a plastic film overwrapping in a seal tight manner both the sheet stack and the corrugated board that remain adjacent each other, the sheet stack being free of curling damage even though the plastic film is overwrapping in the seal tight manner, whereby a presence of the corrugated board protects the sheet stack from the curling damage that otherwise arises from forces imposed by the overwrapped plastic film in attaining the seal tight manner of the overwrapped plastic film.

2. The protective package of claim 1, wherein the sheet stack is configured to experience the curling damage from forces imposed by the overwrapped plastic film as the overwrapped plastic film heat shrunk only about the sheet stack without the corrugated board being present within the overwrapped plastic film to attain the seal tight manner of the overwrapped plastic film.

3. The protective package of claim 1, wherein the overwrapped plastic film is heat sealed to attain the seal tight manner of the overwrapped plastic film.

4. The protective package of claim 1, wherein the corrugated board is at least a same areal size of each of the individual sheets and thicker than each of the individual sheets.

5. The protective package of claim 4, wherein the corrugated board is larger in size than each of the individual sheets, whereby edges of the individual sheets are further protected from damage as a consequence of the corrugated board being larger in size.

6. The protective package of claim 1, wherein the corrugated board is larger in size than each of the individual sheets, whereby edges of the individual sheets are further protected from damage as a consequence of the corrugated board being larger in size.

7. The protective package of claim 1, wherein corner regions of the sheet stack are free of the damage and portions of the overwrapped plastic film that overwrap the corner regions are heat sealed to attain the seal tight manner of the overwrapped plastic film.

8. A method of attaining a protective package, comprising: selecting individual sheets from the group consisting of posterboard sheets, foam core board sheets, and a combination of both; forming a sheet stack with the individual sheets arranged one after another; arranging the sheet stack and a corrugated board adjacent each other; and overwrapping the plastic film in a seal tight manner about both the sheet stack and the corrugated board that remain adjacent each other, the sheet stack being free of curling damage even though the plastic film is overwrapping in the seal tight manner, whereby a presence of the corrugated board protects the sheet stack from the curling damage that otherwise arises from forces imposed by the overwrapped plastic film in attaining the seal tight manner of the overwrapped plastic film.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the sheet stack is configured to experience curling damage from the forces imposed by the overwrapped plastic film in attaining the seal tight manner of the overwrapped plastic film without the corrugated board being present within the overwrapped plastic film.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising: heat shrinking the plastic film to attain the seal tight manner of the overwrapped plastic film.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the corrugated board is at least a same areal size of each of the individual sheets and thicker.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the corrugated board is larger in size than each of the individual sheets.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the corrugated board is larger in size than each of the individual sheets.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0017] For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following description and accompanying drawings, while the scope of the invention is set forth in the appended claims. The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.

[0018] FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a front, a top and a right side of a package in accordance with the invention.

[0019] FIG. 2 is a photograph showing the rear view of the package of FIG. 1 as the front of the package lays upon a floor in a horizontal orientation. A face of a corrugated board is visible through the transparent overwrap of the package from the rear.

[0020] FIG. 3 is a photograph of the front view of the package of FIG. 1 as the rear of the package lays upon the floor to remain in a horizontal orientation. A face of an end one of a stack of poster board sheets is visible through the transparent overwrap of the package from the front.

[0021] FIG. 4 is photograph of an isometric view of the top and front of the package of FIGS. 1 to 3. The bottom is symmetric to the top and is positioned upon the floor. The package remains standing upright in a vertical orientation by leaning against a corner edge of an open door corner.

[0022] FIG. 5 is a photograph showing an isometric view of the right side and rear of the package of FIGS. 1-4. The left side is symmetric to the right side and is positioned upon the floor. The package remains standing upright in a vertical orientation by leaning against the corner edge of the open door.

[0023] FIG. 6 is a photograph showing a top view of a conventional package containing posterboard sheets but which omits containing a corrugated board within.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0024] Turning to the drawing, a package is shown that includes a plastic film overwrapping both a corrugated board 10 and a sheet stack of posterboard sheets 12 that are arranged adjacent one another. The plastic film has a midway seam or crease 14 that extends about midway across the front of the package and extending to opposite sides. Although not shown in FIG. 1, but shown in FIGS. 2-5, an edge seam or crease 16 of the plastic film extends along the top, bottom and two sides. The midway crease terminates at the edge seam or crease 16. The package has the corrugated board 10 at one end and the rest of the package is filled with the set of posterboard sheets 12. The gap in the line drawing in the middle region of the posterboard sheets 12 merely constitutes a representation that any number of posterboard sheets may be present, whether the number of posterboard sheets total ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty or more.

[0025] The process of forming the package involves sheeting the posterboard in batches of various counts from rolls to form sheet stacks and then dropping in line onto each of the batches a sheet of corrugated board from a hopper. Thereafter, each batch of the sheet stacks with the corrugated board are overwrapped with the plastic film to form a pack then the pack is heat shrunk to seal the pack and then placed on a skid for subsequent delivery.

[0026] The essence of the invention is that the corrugated board is preferably thicker than an individual sheet of the sheet stack to strengthen the plastic film wrapped pack when being shipped. It is preferred that the areal size of the corrugated board be larger than the areal size of an individual sheet of the sheet stack to provide additional protection of the corners and edges of the sheet stack by virtue of being larger in size.

[0027] Nevertheless, the corrugated board could be the same areal size as an individual sheet of the sheet stack and still provide protection of the corners and edges of the sheet stack. While it is not preferred that the corrugated board be smaller than the areal size of an individual sheet of the sheet stack, such is still viable because its greater thickness would provide some degree of protection as a barrier against damage to the sheet stack during transit and might prevent some damage to the corners and edges of the sheet stack during heat shrink sealing especially if it were only slightly smaller in areal size. The corrugated board is sturdier than any of the individual sheets of the sheet stack and might even be sturdier than the entire sheet stack as a whole, depending upon the number of individual sheets in the stack.

[0028] Some benefits of the pack include that that the pack costs less to manufacture than providing and assembling an opaque box to contain the posterboards instead and that the color of the posterboard can be visually seen through the plastic film, unlike the case for the opaque box containing the posterboards instead that hides the color from view from outside the box.

[0029] The corrugation of the corrugated board is preferably in a flute direction that supports the long direction of the posterboard, although flute direction may instead be in the short direction of the corrugated board.

[0030] The plastic film that overwraps is preferably a strong heat shrink type plastic film, although the plastic film may alternatively be any other type—just that the strong heat type is considered the better choice. The plastic film of the pack is preferably heat shrunk to make the pack stronger and more protective, although the pack does not need to be heat shrunk to be useful.

[0031] The corrugated board protects the sheet stack from damage otherwise arising from bending or curling forces imposed as the overwrap plastic film is heat shrunk. Such damage 20 is to corner regions of the posterboard sheets as exemplified in FIG. 6, which arose because there is no corrugated board present within the overwrap of the sheet stack with the plastic film. The result of such damage 20 to the corner regions that arise during the heat sealing of the overwrapped plastic film is an unkempt appearance.

[0032] The previously discussed sheet stack of conventional posterboard sheets may be replaced by a stack of conventional foam core board sheets instead. A foam core board (or foam board) sheet is more rigid than a posterboard sheet. Alternatively, the stack could have both posterboards and foam core boards. That is, both a set of individual sheets of posterboard and a set of individual sheets of foam core board.

[0033] While the foregoing description and drawings represent the preferred embodiments of the present invention, various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.