THERMAL AND/OR ACOUSTIC INSULATION PACKAGING

Abstract

A package of thermal and/or acoustic insulation material has a carrying handle secured to its enveloping film. The carrying handle comprises a handle film having at least one incision which separates an attachment portion of the handle film which is secured to a portion of the surface of the enveloping film from an integral grip portion of the handle film which is configured to allow a user's hand to be inserted between the grip portion and the enveloping film to grip the package.

Claims

1. A package of insulation material comprising: thermal and/or acoustic insulation material at least partially surrounded by an enveloping film and a carrying handle configured to facilitate manual handling of the package, wherein the carrying handle comprises a handle film having at least one incision which separates (i) an attachment portion of the handle film which is secured to a portion of the surface of the enveloping film from (ii) an integral grip portion of the handle film which is configured to allow fingers of a user to be inserted between the grip portion and the enveloping film to grip the package.

2. The package of insulation material according to claim 1, wherein the at least one incision comprises a rip stop at its ends.

3. The package of insulation material according to claim 1, wherein the attachment portion of the handle film forms the periphery of the handle film and the grip portion is positioned entirely within this periphery.

4. The package of insulation material according to claim 3, wherein the grip portion comprises an elongate portion of the interior area of the handle film separated from the peripheral attachment portion of the handle film by a pair of spaced incisions in the handle film.

5. The package of insulation material according to claim 1, wherein the width of the carrying handle is in the range of 10 cm to 14 cm and the length of the carrying handle is in the range of 16 cm to 30 cm.

6. The package of insulation material according to claim 1, wherein the package has a length in the range of 0.5 m to 1.3 m and a weight in the range of 5 kg to 10 kg.

7. The package of insulation material according to claim 1, wherein the insulation material is selected from glass wool and rock wool.

8. The package of insulation material according to claim 1, wherein the carrying handle extends only partially around the perimeter of the package.

9. The package of insulation material according to claim 1, wherein the package comprises: first and second axially aligned rolls of mineral wool insulation encased by a circumferential enveloping film, the circumferential enveloping film being provided with a circumferential weakness at an axial position corresponding to abutting ends of the axially aligned rolls; a first carrying handle attached to the external circumference of the package on the enveloping film at a first side of the circumferential weakness and at a position corresponding to a central position along the length of the first mineral wool roll; and a second carrying handle attached to the external circumference of the package on the enveloping film at a second side of the circumferential weakness and at a position corresponding to a central position along the length of the second mineral wool roll.

10. The package of insulation material according to claim 1, wherein the carrying handle is spaced around the perimeter of the package from an overlap portion of the enveloping film by at least 120.

11. A method of securing a carrying handle to a package of insulation material comprising thermal and/or acoustic insulation material, comprising the steps of: at least partially surrounding the insulation material with an enveloping film; and securing a carrying handle configured to facilitate manual handling of the package to a portion of the enveloping film, wherein the carrying handle is provided on a continuous roll of carrying handles and is fed through at least part of a label printer/label attachment mechanism as part of the process of securing the carrying handle to the package.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the roll of carrying handles is provided with a visual marker adapted to identify the position of individual label handles on the roll of carrying handles.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the roll of carrying handles comprises a carrier film comprising a release film supporting the carrying handles.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the combined thickness of the release film and the label handles is in the range of 120 m to 300 m.

15. A method of securing a carrying handle to a package of insulation material comprising thermal and/or acoustic insulation material, comprising the steps of: at least partially surrounding the insulation material with an enveloping film; and securing a carrying handle configured to facilitate manual handling of the package to a portion of the enveloping film, wherein the carrying handle is provided on a continuous roll of carrying handles and is fed through at least part of a label printer/label attachment mechanism as part of the process of securing the carrying handle to the package, and wherein the package is a package according to claim 1.

16. A method of securing a carrying handle to a package of insulation material comprising thermal and/or acoustic insulation material, comprising the steps of: at least partially surrounding the insulation material with an enveloping film; and securing a carrying handle configured to facilitate manual handling of the package to a portion of the enveloping film, wherein the carrying handle is provided on a continuous roll of carrying handles and is fed through at least part of a label printer/label attachment mechanism as part of the process of securing the carrying handle to the package, and wherein the package is a package according to claim 3.

17. A method of securing a carrying handle to a package of insulation material comprising thermal and/or acoustic insulation material, comprising the steps of: at least partially surrounding the insulation material with an enveloping film; and securing a carrying handle configured to facilitate manual handling of the package to a portion of the enveloping film, wherein the carrying handle is provided on a continuous roll of carrying handles and is fed through at least part of a label printer/label attachment mechanism as part of the process of securing the carrying handle to the package, and wherein the package is a package according to claim 4.

18. A method of securing a carrying handle to a package of insulation material comprising thermal and/or acoustic insulation material, comprising the steps of: at least partially surrounding the insulation material with an enveloping film; and securing a carrying handle configured to facilitate manual handling of the package to a portion of the enveloping film, wherein the carrying handle is provided on a continuous roll of carrying handles and is fed through at least part of a label printer/label attachment mechanism as part of the process of securing the carrying handle to the package, and wherein the package is a package according to claim 6.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the package has a length in the range of 0.5 m to 0.8 m.

20. A method of securing a carrying handle to a package of insulation material comprising thermal and/or acoustic insulation material, comprising the steps of: at least partially surrounding the insulation material with an enveloping film; and securing a carrying handle configured to facilitate manual handling of the package to a portion of the enveloping film, wherein the carrying handle is provided on a continuous roll of carrying handles and is fed through at least part of a label printer/label attachment mechanism as part of the process of securing the carrying handle to the package, and wherein the package is a package according to claim 7.

Description

[0034] Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

[0035] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a package in accordance with the invention comprising a roll of mineral wool insulation;

[0036] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a package in accordance with the invention comprising slabs of mineral wool insulation;

[0037] FIG. 3 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 showing an alternative orientation for the carrying handle;

[0038] FIG. 4 is a plan view of one form of carrying handle;

[0039] FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a roll of carrying handles;

[0040] FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are plan views of alternative forms of carrying handle; and

[0041] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment.

[0042] FIG. 1 shown a package 10 comprising a roll of mineral wool insulation 11 held in compression by an enveloping film 12 and provided with a single carrying handle 13. The carrying handle 13 is secured to the external surface of the enveloping film 12 by adhesive (not shown). The positioning of the carrying handle 13 substantially centrally along the axial length of the package proximate to the centre of gravity of the package facilitates balance and stability of the package when manually gripped using the handle. The enveloping film 12 entirely surrounds the circumferential perimeter of insulation roll 11 and partially covers each end face 14 of the roll 11.

[0043] In the arrangement shown in FIG. 2, the package 20 comprises a series of stacked slabs of insulation material 21 with a carrying handle 23 secured to the enveloping film 22 at a central position of one side face of the package.

[0044] In the FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 arrangements, a grip portion 15, 25 of the carrying handle 13, 23 comprises a strip which projects substantially along the axis of the package. FIG. 3 shows and alternative arrangement in which the grip portion 35 of the carrying handle 33 comprises a strip which projects at an angle of about 90 to the axis of the package. In other potentially advantageous arrangements (not illustrated) the grip portion may comprises a strip which projects at an angle of about 30, or 45 to the axis of the package.

[0045] The embodiment of a carrying handle 43 shown in FIG. 4 comprises a handle film 41 provided with a pair of spaced incisions 46, 47 which separate a central grip portion 45 of the handle film 41 from a peripheral attachment portion 44 of the handle film 41. Each incision 46, 47 is provided with a rip stop 48 at each of its ends to prevent undesired ripping of the handle film 41 when a package is gripped and handled using the grip portion 45. In this embodiment, the rip stops 48 are provided as continuations of the incisions 46, 47 taking the form of an arc which continues the incision so that it has a portion which projects away from the grip portion 45 and continues by double backing upon itself to project towards the grip portion 45, preferably towards a central position of the grip portion.

[0046] In this embodiment the handle film 41 is transparent and is provided with a visual indication 49 in the form of a printed message readable by the user.

[0047] The handle film 41 is provided with an adhesive layer over the entire surface intended to be secured to the enveloping film of the package, the adhesive at the position of the grip portion 45 being killed by a varnish coating applied to this portion. The total thickness (handle film+adhesive+varnish+ink) is about 170 m. The carrying handles are provided on a carrier film provided by a glassine backing paper liner (not shown) having a thickness of about 60 m. The total thickness of the carrying handles and the carrier film is thus less than 250 m.

[0048] The carrying handles may be provided in the form of a continuous roll 50 as illustrated schematically in FIG. 5. A machine readable black line (not shown) is provided across the width of the roll on the underside of the carrier film at a position corresponding to the separation 51 between adjacent carrying handles 53 on the roll; this is used to facilitate positioning and automatic application of the carrying handles 53 to a package of insulation.

[0049] In the embodiment of a carrying handle 63 shown in FIG. 6, the handle film is again provided with a pair of spaced incisions 66, 67 which define a central grip portion of the handle film spaced from a peripheral attachment portion. Each incision 66, 67 is provided with a rip stop 68 at each of its ends to prevent undesired ripping of the handle film. In this embodiment, the rip stops 68 are again provided as continuations of the incisions 66, 67 taking the form of an arc which continues the incision so that it has a portion which projects away from the grip portion and continues by double backing upon itself to project towards the grip portion, before again doubling back on itself to again project away from the grip portion. In the FIG. 7 embodiment, the rip stops 78 of the carrying handle 73 are again provided as continuations of the incisions 76, 77 which, in this case, take the form of an arc which continues the incision so that it has a portion which projects away from the grip portion and continues by double backing upon itself to project towards the grip portion and ending in a portion which projects towards the start of the arc of the rip stop. Each rip stop may take the form of a spiral or part of a spiral; spiral forms of rip stops may turn through an angle greater than 170, 180, 260, 270, 350 or 360 and/or an angle less than 540.

[0050] FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 also illustrate a portion of the carrying handle at which an adhesive provided on the handle film is deactivated with adhesive kill. This portion 62, 72 of the carrying handle may extend over the entire grip portion; it may extend slightly beyond the grip portion. This portion of the carrying handle may extend at least partially in to the rip stops. Where rips stops are provided as arcing continuations of the incisions, a tangent to the rip stop at the position at which the rip stop encounters a transition between an adhesive and a non-adhesive portions of the carrying handle is preferably offset or forms an angle, preferably an angle of between 10 and 80 with respect to a principle axis of the grip portion of the carrying handle.

[0051] FIG. 8 shows an embodiment in which the package 80 comprise two axially aligned rolls of mineral wool insulation 81, 82 encased by a circumferential enveloping film 83. A circumferential weakness 84, preferably provided by perforations, in the enveloping film 83 allows easy separation of the package 80 in to its two individual rolls 81,82. Individual first 91 and second 92 carrying handles are attached to the external circumference of the package 80 on the enveloping film, each at a position corresponding to a central position along the length of the respective first 81 and second 82 mineral wool rolls. As shown here, the individual first 91 and second 92 carrying handles may be axially aligned with each other.

[0052] FIG. 8 also illustrates a circumferential positioning of a carrying handle 91 spaced from and, in this case, substantially opposite an overlap portion 101 of the enveloping film 83. The overlap portion 101 is shown separated from the enveloping film 83 for illustrative purposes but in use will be bonded to the enveloping film 83. The carrying handle, or the central axis of the carrying handle, may be spaced from the overlap portion 101 by at least 90, or by at least 120 and preferably by about 180. This may help to avoid any strain from manipulation of the package using the carrying handle pulling on the overlap portion 101; such strain could create a risk of opening the package by undesired detachment of the overlap portion 101. In an alternative, non-illustrated arrangement, the carrying handle may straddle the overlap portion, preferably such that at least about a third of the carrying handle is attached to the enveloping film 83 at one side of the overlap portion 101 and at least about a third of the carrying handle is attached to the enveloping film 83 at the other side of the overlap portion 101. In this latter configuration, the carrying handle may assist in preventing undesired detachment of the overlap portion 101 from the enveloping film 83.

[0053] The FIG. 8 arrangement is particularly suitable for two compressed mineral wool insulation rolls each having a width of about 60 cm, 70 cm or 80 cm and the approximate illustrative dimensions shown in FIG. 8 are: w=60 cm; x=17.5 cm; Cx=25 cm; Cy=12 cm.