PACKAGING

Abstract

Wrapper-type packaging composed of a flexible plastics sheet material in the form of a sack or bag having a front wall and a rear wall, which are located opposite one another and are sealed by a side sealing seam to form a flexible sack-like or bag-like tube, of which the opening is covered by a closure flap which is formed by a projection of the rear wall and is folded onto the front wall at least as far as the opening and is closed by longitudinal sealing and, possibly, transverse sealing or adhesive bonding, the opening having an opening aid, wherein the flexible plastics sheet material is oriented at least uniaxially and optionally is embossed and has a tear-propagation resistance in the machine direction which differs by at least 30% from the tear propagation resistance in the direction transverse to the machine direction.

Claims

1: A wrapper-type packaging composed of a flexible polymeric film in the form of a sack or bag, having a front wall and a rear wall, which are opposite to one another and are sealed in each case by a side sealing seam to form a sack like or bag like tube, of which the opening is covered by a closure flap which is formed by a projection of the rear wall and is folded onto the front wall, and also closed by respectively longitudinal side sealing and optionally transverse sealing or adhesive bonding, and optionally having an opening aid, wherein the flexible polymeric film is comprised of to an extent of at least 50 wt % of polyolefins, has through monoaxially orientation a tear propagation resistance in machine direction which differs by at least 30% in relation to the tear propagation resistance in the direction transverse to the machine direction, measured according to DIN 53356-trouser leg, and the opening aid marks the direction of relatively low tear propagation resistance for opening the packaging without tearing one of the sealed seams.

2: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least longitudinally side sealed closure flap projects over the opening of the sack or bag and does not fully cover the front wall of the packaging and the packaging optionally has a marking in the opening direction in the form of a notch or of a barcode.

3: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein the closure flap does not fully cover the front wall of the packaging, and the lower edge region of the closure flap is transversely sealed with the longitudinal, unsealed edge region of the opening of the sack or bag in the form of a fin seam, and the fin seam has a notching, extending optionally perpendicular thereto, for marking the direction of opening.

4: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polymeric film has a draw ratio of at least 1:2 in machine direction.

5: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polymeric film is comprised to an extent of at least 70 wt % of polyolefins.

6: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polymeric film contains as polyolefins polyethylenes (PE), optionally LDPE, MDPE, LLDPE, HDPE, polypropylenes (PP) or a mixture of at least two of said polyethylenes.

7: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polymeric film has at least one layer, optionally at least two layers based on a mixture of polyolefins, at least one barrier layer, optionally at least a barrier layer against gasses, against fats and oils, against migration of low molecular mass organic compounds and/or against moisture.

8: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 7, wherein at least one layer of the polymeric film is based on heat-sealable polyolefins.

9: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 7, wherein the barrier layer of the polymeric film is based on ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymers, polyvinyl alcohols, polyamides, copolyamides, polyesters and/or a polyether/polyamide block copolymer.

10: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 9, wherein the barrier layer is based on an aliphatic polyamide or (partially) aromatic copolyamide, and optionally based on a copolyamide of -caprolactam, isophoronediamine and isophthalic acid units.

11: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polymeric film has at least a five-layer sequence of (a) a layer (a) based on a mixture of polyethylenes, and optionally further fillers and auxiliaries, (b) an adhesion promoter layer (b), (c) a barrier layer (c) based on a polyamide, or copolyamide, (d) a further adhesion promoter layer (d), and (e) a layer (e) based on a mixture of polyethylenes.

12: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polymeric film has a polymeric film with release effect.

13: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 12, wherein the release effect of the polymeric film is based on an at least partial embossment on at least the inside surface of the polymeric film facing the packaged product.

14: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 13, wherein the embossment of the polymeric film has an embossment elevation of 5 m, measured according to DIN 53 370 2006.

15: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 13, wherein the embossed polymeric film has a shrinkage of at least 50% lower than the shrinkage of a corresponding unembossed, polymeric film.

16: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 12, wherein the release effect of the polymeric film is based on a release coating on the inside surface of the polymeric film facing a packaged product.

17: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 13, wherein the polymeric film has neither an embossment nor a release coating in the regions of the longitudinal side sealing and of the transverse sealing respectively.

18: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polymeric film has a total thickness of 30 m.

19: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1 as individual packaging for an article packaged therein.

20: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1 as individual packaging for a self-adhesive article of any kind packaged therein.

21: A wrapper-type packaging as claimed in claim 1 as individual packaging for a self-adhesive hygiene article.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0077] FIG. 1 shows an inventive wrapper-type packing in plan view.

[0078] FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the wrapper-type packaging of FIG. 1 in the opened condition.

[0079] FIG. 3 shows a further embodiment of the inventive wrapper-type packaging in plan view.

[0080] FIG. 4 shows a plan view of the wrapper-type packaging of FIG. 3 in the opened condition.

[0081] FIG. 5 shows a further embodiment of the inventive wrapper-type packaging in plan view.

[0082] FIG. 6 shows a plan view of the wrapper-type packaging of FIG. 5 in the opened condition.

[0083] FIG. 7 shows a further embodiment of the inventive wrapper-type packaging in accordance with FIG. 1, without transverse sealing of the closure tab, in plan view.

[0084] FIG. 8 shows a plan view of the wrapper-type packaging of FIG. 7 in the opened condition.

[0085] FIG. 9 shows a further embodiment of the inventive wrapper-type packaging in accordance with FIG. 3, without transverse sealing of the closure tab, in plan view.

[0086] FIG. 10 shows a plan view of the FIG. 9 in the opened condition.

[0087] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the inventive wrapper-type packaging (1), produced from a single film web of the before described multilayer film used according to the invention. The wrapper-type packaging comprises a bag with an opening (7) from which the packaged product can be removed after opening. The bag is formed from a front wall (2) and a rear wall (3) by folding the film along the folding line (6). By means of a closure flap (8) which is formed by a projection of the rear wall (3) and which is folded at a distance from the opening (7) of the bag onto the front wall (2) along the folding line (12), the wrapper-type packaging is closed completely by means of the closure flap (8) by longitudinal sealing (9, 10) and transverse sealing (11) of the inner layer of the closure flap (8) against the outer layer of the front wall (2). For production-related reasons the transverse seal seam (11) is placed at a distance from the edge of the packaging flap.

[0088] Instead of the transverse seal seam (11), the closure flap (8) can also be bonded to the front wall (2) by means of a strip of an adhesive, which runs transversely on the inside of the closure flap, in which case the bond strength of the adhesive, should correspond to the seal strength of a seal seam that is ponding the parts, which is preferably greater than the tear propagation resistance of the inventive wrapper-type packaging in the direction of the marking for the opening of the packaging. Suitable commercial adhesives suitable are known to the person skilled in the art. An opening aid (13), shown as a notch, marks the direction of opening of the inventive packaging, in which the tear propagation resistance is lower than in the direction extending transversely thereto.

[0089] FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the inventive wrapper-type packaging in accordance with FIG. 1, in which a part (14) of the packaging, which is already torn away from the packaging to a predominant extent, starting from the notch (13), via the opening (7) with the packaged product (not shown). Furthermore, on the front wall (2) of the inventive packaging, the side seal seams (11) which extend longitudinally, and the seal seams placed transversely for the closing of the closure flap (8), can be seen to be intact, and so the packaged product can be removed without effort and destruction of the rest of the packaging.

[0090] FIG. 3 shows a further embodiment of the inventive wrapper-type packaging, which differs from the packaging shown in FIG. 1 in that the marking (13) of the direction of opening is located on the folding line (12) of the closure flap. This notch could also be replaced by a barcode (not shown) or could be located in the edge region of the closure flap (8) beneath the transverse seal seam (11) and at right angles to the seal seam (11).

[0091] FIG. 4 shows a plan view of the wrapper-type packaging according to FIG. 3 in the predominantly open condition, and without the packaged product, which has already been removed. Again, on the front wall of the wrapper-type packaging, the transverse seal seam (11) of the closure flap and also the seal seams extending at the sides longitudinally can be seen to be intact.

[0092] Shown in FIG. 5 is a further preferred embodiment of the inventive wrapper-type packaging. According to this packaging, the closure tab (8) is joined to the front wall (2) directly at the level of the opening (7) of the bag, with the edge region of the closure flap being connected to the opening edge region of the front wall by means of a transverse seal seam, formed as so called fin seam. This fin seam has a notch (13) for marking the direction of opening.

[0093] FIG. 6 shows a plan view of the inventive wrapper-type packaging as per FIG. 5, in the partly opened condition and after removal of the packaged product; again, the seal seams extending at the sides longitudinally, and the fin seam extending transversely can be seen to be intact, apart from the tearing along the notch.

[0094] FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 correspond to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, with the exception that the wrapper-type packaging has no transverse seal seam for the closing of the closure flap. Since, however, the seams (9) and (10) extending at the sides longitudinally are seal seams, and the packaging has a notch as opening aid, the consumer is able to remove the packaged product without effort and without any need for side seal seams to be torn open, in order to get to the packaged product. In spite of the effortless opening of the wrapper-type packaging according to FIG. 7, this wrapper-type packaging ensures a better security during transport and storage than corresponding packaging with less secure side seams for closure.

[0095] Since FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 correspond to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, with the exception of a transverse seal seam for closing the closure flap, for these embodiments of the invention the same explanations as mentioned in relation to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are of relevance.

[0096] Based on the difference in tear propagation resistance between the tear propagation resistance in machine direction and transverse to the machine direction, the inventive packagings, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 among others, can be opened easily, without the possibility of an unallowed access to the packaged product before the intended opening for removing the packaged product and the therefore partial destruction of the wrapper-type packaging takes place. In spite of this excellent security against manipulation of the packaged product, the inventive wrapper-type packaging is easy to open.

[0097] The inventive wrapper-type packaging can be produced according to known, conventional techniques; whereby during production the difference in tear propagation resistance of the film and the related opening behavior of the packaging produced therefrom, has to be taken into account.

[0098] The inventive wrapper-type packaging is especially suitable for the packaging of articles which are intended for single use, preferably hygiene articles intended for single use, more particularly sanitary towels, tampons, panty liners or incontinence articles that are intended for single use.

[0099] Furthermore, the inventive wrapper-type packaging is suitable as individual packaging for adhesive articles of any kind, more particularly as individual packaging for self-adhesive articles intended for single use, more preferably for self-adhesive hygiene articles intended for single use. Very preferably the inventive wrapper-type packaging is suitable for the packaging of self-adhesive panty liners, self-adhesive sanitary towels or self-adhesive incontinence articles which are intended for single use and are packaged preferably in the folded shape.