Tape holding information cards and blister and an information card for use with such tape

Abstract

A tape for holding an information card (5) holding a blister (1) having a cavity for holding an item, where a hole (7) in the information card allows affixing of the blister such that the cavity of the blister remains accessible for instance by inserting the cavity of the blister in the hole so it protrudes through the information card. By affixing the information cards in a repetitive pattern along the tape (20) the assembled tape can be folded and individual blisters are no longer lost. An edge (6) for severing the tape allows the removal of a single information card-blister assembly from the assembled tape. Separating the information cards on the tape allows room for folding the tape. Ensuring that the holes cut in the tape do not overlap allows the distance between the information cards along the tape to be reduced and result in an efficient stacking of the blisters when the tape is folded.

Claims

1. A tape assembly comprising: an elongate tape having a longitudinal axis; a plurality of elongate-shaped information cards, each information card having edges and divided in two halves, a first half and a second half, with a hole arranged in the first half; and a plurality of blisters, each blister having a cavity holding an item, each blister affixed to a respective first half of an information card such that the cavity is in alignment with the hole and the hole allows access to the respective cavity of the blister; wherein the second half of each information card is provided with information relating to the item in the cavity of the blister affixed to the first half of the same information card, the second half of each information card being without a blister; wherein, in the longitudinal direction of the tape, the information cards are affixed to the tape in a repetitive pattern, wherein two adjacent information cards are always at a distance from each other, separated one from the other by a separation portion of the tape, so that each information card is bordered, at two opposite card edges, by the respective separation portion of the tape; wherein the tape is a folded tape such that: the blisters of the tape assembly are arranged in a stack; and each separation portion of the tape contains a fold, such that in respect to one information card, the two separation portions of the tape, one at each opposite card edge, are folded opposite from one another; and wherein, for a set of consecutive, adjacent first and second information cards, the first half of the first information cards is always aligned with the second half of the second information card, and the second half the first information card is always aligned with the first half of the second information card.

2. The tape assembly of claim 1, wherein the tape comprises holes aligned with the respective holes of the respective information cards.

3. The tape assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein the cavity of each blister protrudes through the respective hole of the tape.

4. The tape assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein all information cards are oriented with their longitudinal axes parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tape; wherein each cavity of each blister has a height from a bottom to a ton of the blister; and wherein, for those adjacent information cards that are positioned in the stack with respective blister tops directed towards each other, the distance between adjacent information cards is equal to or larger than the heights of the cavities of the blisters.

5. The tape assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein, for those adjacent information cards that are positioned in the stack with respective blister bottoms directed toward each other, the distance between adjacent information cards is smaller than the heights of the cavities of the blisters.

6. The tape assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein all information cards are oriented with their longitudinal axes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tape; wherein each cavity of each blister has a height from a bottom to a top of the blister; wherein adjacent information cards are rotated 180 degrees in the plane of the information cards; and wherein, for those adjacent information cards that are positioned in the stack with respective blister tops directed towards each other, the distance between adjacent information cards is equal to or larger than the heights of the cavities of the blisters.

7. The tape assembly as claimed in claim 6, wherein, for those adjacent information cards that are positioned in the stack with respective blister bottoms directed towards each other, the distance between adjacent information cards is smaller than the heights of the cavities of the blisters.

8. The tape assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of the edges of each information card is a cutting edge arranged for severing the tape.

9. The tape assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein the cutting edge of each information card is a toothed edge.

10. The tape assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein the cutting edge of each information card is a sharp edge.

11. The tape assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein the cutting edge of each information card is a serrated edge.

12. The tape assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information cards are affixed to the tape by one of glue, heat, or ultrasonic welding.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows a blister holding an item.

(2) FIG. 2 shows the assembly of a tape.

(3) FIG. 3 shows a tape having the information cards attached to one side and the blister attached to the other side.

(4) FIG. 4 shows a tape having the information cards and blisters attached to the same side of the tape.

(5) FIG. 5 shows the assembly of a tape with information cards having an edge for severing the tape.

(6) FIG. 6 shows an alternative layout of the information cards and blisters on the tape.

(7) FIG. 7 shows a folded tape resulting in a stack of information cards and blisters.

(8) FIG. 8 shows a holder for the folded tape.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(9) Although the description of the best mode for carrying out the invention uses two specific ways of assembling the tape assembly (blister affixed to top of information card affixed to top of tape, and information card affixed to top of tape and blister affixed to back of tape with cavity protruding through the hole) other stacking sequences than the ones shown are envisaged although they are less advantageous than the two stackings used in the FIGS. 3 and 4. For instance the blister can be affixed to the back of the information card (with the cavity of the blister protruding through the hole in the information card) and this information card-blister assembly can subsequently be affixed to the front or back of the tape. Although feasable the blister will create a small separation between the information card and the tape which might introduce difficulties when affixing the information card to the tape. Hence the best mode of stacking is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 but this should not be construed as a limitation to the present invention.

(10) FIG. 1 shows a blister for holding an item.

(11) The blister 1 comprises a cavity 2 in which an item such as a pharmaceutical dose is placed. A typical blister 1 is formed from two sheets 3, 4 of which a first sheet 3 is formed to form the cavity 2 and the second sheet 4 is applied to close the cavity 2. When pressure is applied to the top of the cavity 2, cavity 2 deforms and the item in the cavity 2 is pushed against the second sheet 4, leading to a rupturing of the second sheet. This allows the removal of the item from the blister 1. A typical material for the second sheet 4 is a metal foil but other material are also possible. Other blisters are opened by severing the connection between the first sheet 3 and the second sheet 4.

(12) Although the second sheet 4 is flat in the blister shown throughout this description, the invention can also be applied to other blisters, for instance a blister where both the first sheet 3 and the second sheet 4 form a cavity, i.e. where the second sheet is not flat as shown but also contributes to the volume of the cavity.

(13) The blister shown is a single item/dose blister. Many blisters have multiple cavities each holding a single dose. One of the steps of the repackaging consists of the cutting into single cavity sections of the multi cavity blisters as disclosed in FIGS. 1 and 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,403,212.

(14) FIG. 2 shows the assembly of a tape.

(15) The information cards 5 are placed on the tape, aligned with openings 21 in the tape 20. The information cards 5 are subsequently affixed to the tape 20. This can be achieved using glue or by heat or ultrasonic welding to fuse the information card and tape together.

(16) Instead of aligning the holes in the tape 20 with the holes of the information cards 5 the information cards 5 and tape 20 can also be produced without holes, simplifying the assembly process of the tape 20 as the holes are cut only when the information cards 5 are affixed to the tape. This ensures that there are no alignment problems and that the holes 7 are of identical size.

(17) It also saves a cutting step as the information cards 5 and the tape are no longer cut separately.

(18) As will become evident from FIGS. 3 and 4, the information card 5 can be placed on the front or the back of the tape 20. For the information on the information card 5 to remain readable when attached to the back of the tape 20, it is evident that the tape is to be at least partially transparent.

(19) Alternatively information on the information card 5 can be duplicated on the tape 20 in case the information on the information card 5 becomes in accessible because the tape 20 is not transparent. When the back of the information card 5 is affixed to the front of the tape 20 as shown in FIG. 3, the information remains readable.

(20) Although the blister is not shown in FIG. 2, it is also possible to affix the blister to the information card before affixing the information card to the tape instead of first affixing the information card 5 to the tape 20 and subsequently affixing the blister to tape 20 or information card 5.

(21) Having the information cards arranged as shown in FIG. 2 allows the tape to be folded between the information cards 5 and the cavity of the blister of the information card consequently becoming positioned adjacent to an area of the adjacent information card without protrusion of the cavity. By dividing the information card in two halves, one half having the hole for the protrusion of the cavity of the blister and the other half being suitable for the placement of information the spacing between the information cards is reduced, allowing more blisters to be stored in a given volume.

(22) As the blister can be affixed in two ways (on top of the information card or tape or from the back of the tape with the cavity protruding through the hole 7 in the tape and information card) only the intermediate tape assembly (tape plus information card affixed to it) is shown in FIG. 5.

(23) Furthermore the information cards and tape show holes before being assembled but it is evident from the description that the holes 7 can also be cut after the information cards 5 have been affixed to the tape 20. Also the hole in the tape is drawn larger than the hole in the information card but this is merely done to show both cuts in the drawing of the intermediate tape assembly and is not to be understood as a limitation in the choice of the size of the holes.

(24) FIG. 3 shows a tape having the information cards attached to one side and the blister attached to the other side.

(25) The cross section of the tape in the longitudinal direction shown in FIG. 3 shows the information card 5 affixed to the front of the tape 20. The information card 5 in this case is first affixed to the tape 20. In a preferred embodiment the holes are subsequently cut in the information card-tape assembly. In a final step the blister 1 is inserted from the back side of the tape 20 into the holes and affixed to the tape 20. As can be seen in FIG. 3 this results in the protrusion of the first sheet 3 (and thus of the cavity 2) of the blister 1 protruding through the hole, while the second sheet 4 of the blister 1 remaining fully accessible at the back of the tape 20. Thus the manufacturers text on the second sheet 4 of the blister 1 remains fully readable and the rupturing of this second sheet 4 when expelling the item from the cavity 2 is not hindered.

(26) The item can thus still be expelled from the blister 1 with the same technique and force as a blister that has not been attached to a tape according to the present invention. As the front of the information card 5 is not covered (only the back is covered by the tape 20) all information remains fully readable, or, if no information was present yet, the area is fully accessible to apply the information to after the affixing to the tape 20 o the information card 5.

(27) As the information card 5 and blister 1 are affixed to the tape 20 independently, the sequence of assembly of the tape 20 into the final product can be modified by first affixing the blister 1 to the tape 20 before affixing the information card 5 to the tape 20.

(28) As the information cards 5 are positioned as in FIG. 2, the tape assembly benefits from the same advantage when folding the tape as discussed for FIG. 2.

(29) FIG. 4 shows a tape having the information cards and blisters attached to the same side of the tape.

(30) Contrary to FIG. 3, the blister in FIG. 4 is affixed to the front of the information card 5. The final assembly of the tape 20 can be achieved in varies ways. It is possible to first affix the information card 5 to the front of the tape 20 and subsequently affixing the blister 1 to the front of the information card 5. This would allow the holes through the tape 20 and information card 5 to be cut after the information card 5 is affixed to the tape, benefiting from the advantageous mentioned in FIG. 2. Alternatively the blister can be first affixed to the front of the information card 5 and subsequently the information card 5 plus blister 1 can be affixed to the front of the tape 20. For this the hole in the information card 5 must be cut before the blister 1 is affixed and the hole in the tape can thus be cut only independently. The hole in the tape 20 and information card 5 ensure that the information on the second sheet 4 of the blister remains readable and that the mechanism of expelling the item trough the rupturing of the second sheet 4 of the blister 1 remains possible as the rupturing area of the blister 1 remains uncovered.

(31) As the information cards 5 are positioned as in FIG. 2, the tape assembly benefits from the same advantage when folding the tape as discussed for FIG. 2

(32) FIG. 5 shows the assembly of a tape with information cards having an edge for severing the tape.

(33) The edge 6 of the information card 5 is modified as to obtain an edge that allows the severing of the tape 20. The first sheet 3 of the blister 1 is made of a sturdier material than the second sheet 4 and can thus be provided with either a sharp edge or a profile allowing the severing of the tape 20. Such edges include crenate, toothed or serrated edges. The user can manually use the edge 6 instead of a tool to sever the tape 20 or a machine can use it instead of a build-in cutter.

(34) Such an information card 5 with an edge that allows the severing of the tape 20 can be used in all variations of the construction of the tape-information card-blister assembly as discussed in FIG. 3 or 4.

(35) Having the information cards arranged as shown in FIG. 5 allows the tape to be folded between the information cards 5 and the cavity of the blister of the information card consequently becoming positioned adjacent to an area of the adjacent information card without protrusion of the cavity. By dividing the information card in two halves, one half having the hole 7 for the protrusion of the cavity of the blister (or for allowing access to the rupturable surface of the blister when the blister is attached to the front of the information card) and the other half being suitable for the placement of information the spacing between the information cards 5 is reduced, allowing more blisters to be stored in a given volume. As the blister can be affixed in two ways (on top of the information card or tape or from the back of the tape with the cavity protruding through the hole 7 in the tape and information card) only the intermediate tape assembly (tape plus information card affixed to it) is shown in FIG. 5.

(36) Furthermore the information cards and tape show holes before being assembled but it is evident from the description that the holes 7 can also be cut after the information cards 5 have been affixed to the tape 20. Also the hole in the tape is drawn larger than the hole in the information card but this is merely done to show both cuts in the drawing of the intermediate tape assembly and is not to be understood as a limitation in the choice of the size of the holes.

(37) FIG. 6 shows an alternative layout of the information cards and blisters on the tape. Instead of arranging the information cards 5 with their longitudinal axis aligned along the longitudinal axis of the tape 20, the information cards can also be positioned with their longitudinal axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tape 20. Although it is possible to have all information cards 5 orientated identical, i.e. all cavities centered or towards the same side of the tape 20, having the information cards arranged as shown in FIG. 6 allows the tape to be folded between the information cards 5 and the cavity of the blister of the information card consequently becoming positioned adjacent to an area of the adjacent information card without protrusion of the cavity. By dividing the information card in two halves, one half having the hole for the protrusion of the cavity of the blister and the other half being suitable for the placement of information the spacing between the information cards is reduced, allowing more blisters to be stored in a given volume.

(38) FIG. 7 shows a folded tape resulting in a stack of information cards and blisters.

(39) In this FIG. 6 information cards 5 with blisters 1 have been affixed to the tape 20 and the tape 20 has been subsequently folded between the information cards 5. Because of the arrangement of the information cards 5 and blisters 1 either the back of the blisters face each other, resulting in no waste of space, or the top of a blister cavity 2 is facing an information area of an adjacent information card 5. By ensuring that after folding the tape 20 adjacent holes do not overlap, adjacent information cards and blisters need not be separated more than the height of the blister cavity 2 when measured from the information card 5. This way twice as many blisters can be stored compared to a situation where adjacent holes on the tape 20 do overlap.

(40) The arrangement of holes in FIG. 6 also ensures that adjacent holes do not overlap when the tape 20 is folded between the information cards 5.

(41) Alternative configurations that comply with this adjacent holes do not overlap rule can be envisaged.

(42) All figures in the present application show a uniform distance for ease of explanation but this must not be construed as a limitation because the distance between the information cards need not be uniform. As shown in FIG. 7 the distance needed for folding is smaller (as shown on the left side) when two adjacent blisters 1 end up with the back of the blisters 1 facing each other compared to when the top of a blister cavity 2 is facing an information area of an adjacent information card 5 and a greater distance must be bridged to allow a proper folding.

(43) This reduces the amount of tape needed, of course at the expense of uniform distances between the information cards. When using the tape in a machine the machine has to take the varying distances into consideration.

(44) FIG. 8 shows a holder for the folded tape.

(45) While FIG. 7 shows a limited stack of folded tape with 6 information cards and blisters, FIG. 8 shows a stack of 24 information cards and blisters 1 on a folded tape 20 inside a holder 80 for such a stack of folded tape 20. The holder 80 can be loaded through the opening 81 at the top of the holder, while at the bottom of the holder 80 an opening 82 is provided to pull the tape 20 from the holder 80.

(46) As can be seen from FIG. 8, when pulling at the tape 20 for removing the bottom information card and blister, tension is created between the end of the information card to be removed and the edge of the next information card and the tape is automatically cut at the end of the next information card.

(47) The opening 81 at the top of the holder allows the addition of more folded tape as needed while the current folded tape is being used up. This allows uninterrupted removal of information cards with blisters from the opening 82 at the bottom.