METHOD USING SHEETS AND SHEET
ROLLS OF WRAPPING MATERIAL HAVING
INFORMATION SELECTABLE BY CHOICE
BLOCKS
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED 5
APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 08/068,482, filed May 28, 1993, titled SHEETS AND SHEET ROLLS OF WRAPPING MATERIAL HAVING 10 INFORMATION SELECTABLE BY CHOICE BLOCKS, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,476 which is a continuation-in-part of application U.S. Ser. No. 07/979,510, filed Nov. 19, 1992, titled PLANT CARE TAG SYSTEM now abandoned and a continuation-in-part of application U.S. 15 Ser. No. 07/965,585, filed Oct. 23, 1992, titled WRAPPING A FLORAL GROUPING WITH SHEETS HAVING ADHESIVE OR COHESIVE MATERIAL APPLIED THERETO, now abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 07/893,586, filed Jun. 2, 1992, now issued as U.S. 20 Pat No. 5,181,364 which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 07/707,417, filed May 28,1991, now abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 07/502,358, filed Mar. 29, 1990, now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 249,761, filed Sep. 26, 1988, titled METHOD 25 FOR WRAPPING AN OBJECT WITH A MATERIAL HAVING PRESSURE SENSITIVE ADHESIVE THEREON, now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 219,083, filed Jul. 13,1988, titled ARTICLE FORMING SYSTEM, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,031, 30 issued Jan. 30,1990 to Weder, et al., which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 004,275, filed Jan. 5,1987, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,182, issued Sep. 27, 1988, to Weder, et al., which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 613,080, filed May 22, 1984, now abandoned. 35
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to sheet wrapping materials and particularly, but not by way of limitation, to 40 sheets and sheet rolls of wrapping material for wrapping floral groupings and for being formed into flower pots and flower pot covers.
2. Description of Related Art 45 Various wrappings for flowers and potted plants are
known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,271,922 and 3,508,372 disclose a flexible paper sheet designed to be formed into a protective sleeve around flowers. A potted plant package disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,725 has an 50 upper sleeve portion which is removable to display the plant after shipment.
In addition to packaging the product, a vendor typically wishes to display certain information related to the product. Such information may be directed at prospective customers 55 and may include eye-catching designs, illustrations, pricing, text descriptive of the item and instructional material. Other information, such as uniform product codes and bar codes used for pricing and inventory control, may be provided for processing the sale at the check-out counter. In the case of 60 a gift item, such as a plant or floral grouping, it is usually desirable to remove such information before presenting the item as a gift.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention comprises a sheet of material adapted for packaging an item and having a label area with
preprinted choice blocks for descriptive information. The label area is designed to be easily detached for display of the item or after the sale of the item.
One object of the present invention is to provide a single sheet of wrapping material which protects the wrapped items and displays choice blocks related to the source of the item and the description of the item.
Another object of the present invention is to provide easy removal of informational and protective portions of the wrapping material after the item has been sold.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet of material for forming into a flower pot or flower pot cover having a detachable label with choice blocks of descriptive information.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention are apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sheet of material constructed in accordance with the present invention and having a floral grouping disposed thereupon.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the floral grouping partially wrapped in the sheet of material of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the floral grouping completely wrapped in the sheet of material of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the floral grouping completely wrapped in the sheet of material of FIG. 1 after detachable portions of the sheet of material have been removed.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a floral grouping wrapped in the sheet of material of FIG. 1 in a cylindrical manner rather than the conical manner shown in FIGS. 1 through 4.
FIG. 6 is a plan view of a detachable label with a plurality of choice blocks of descriptive information.
FIG. 7 is a sheet roll of wrapping material constructed in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 8 is an alternate embodiment of a sheet roll of wrapping material constructed in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a partly diagrammatical view of a sheet roll constructed in accordance with the present invention and a knife for cutting the sheet roll into individual wrapping sheets.
FIG. 10 is a sheet of material constructed in accordance with the present invention for being formed into a flower pot or flower pot cover.
FIG. 11 is a partly diagrammatical side view of an apparatus for forming the sheet of material of FIG. 10 into a flower pot or flower pot cover.
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the sheet of material of FIG. 10 after being formed into a flower pot or flower pot cover.
FIG. 13 is an elevational view of a sleeve having a label area extending outwardly therefrom.
FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the sleeve of FIG. 13 shown disposed about a flower pot.
FIG. 15 is perspective view of a flower pot.
FIG. 16 is an elevational view of another embodiment of a sleeve having label area located at an interior portion of the sleeve.
FIG. 17 is an elevational view of another embodiment of a sleeve having a label area located at an interior portion of the sleeve adjacent to a skirt portion.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to the drawings in general, and to FIG. 1 in particular, shown therein and designated by the general reference numeral 10 is a sheet of material for wrapping an item such as a floral grouping 11 having a bloom portion 12 and a stem portion 13. The sheet of material 10 includes a wrapping area 14, a label area 16 and a sleeve area 18.
As used herein, "floral grouping" means cut, fresh flowers, artificial flowers, a single flower, other fresh and/or artificial plants or other floral materials. It should be appreciated that a floral grouping may include other secondary plants and/or ornamentation which add to the aesthetics of the overall floral grouping.
The sheet of material 10 includes a first end 20, a second 20 end 22, a first side 24 and a second side 26. The sheet of material 10 also includes an upper surface 28 and a lower surface 30. A closure bonding material 32 is disposed on the upper surface 28 of the sheet of material 10 in the wrapping area 14. As best shown in FIG. 1, the closure bonding 25 material 32 extends from the second end 22 of the sheet of material 10 to the sleeve area 18 generally adjacent to the label area 16.
The sheet of material 10 is constructed from any suitable material that is capable of being wrapped about an item as 30 described herein. Typically, the sheet of material 10 is constructed of a material selected from the group of materials consisting of paper (untreated or treated in any manner), cellophane, metal foil, cloth (natural or synthetic), denim, burlap, polymer films and combinations thereof. 35
As used herein, the term "polymer film" means any polymer film. For example, but not by way of limitation, one polymer film is a polypropylene film. Another example of a polymer film, but not by way of limitation, is cellophane.
The sheet of material 10 may be constructed of a single layer of material or a plurality of layers of the same or different types of materials. Any thickness of the material 10 may be utilized with the present invention as long as the material 10 is wrappable about an item. Typically, the sheet of material 10 has a thickness in a range from about 0.1 mils to about 5 mils. However, sheets of material 10 up to about 30 mils thick may be used.
Although the sheet of material 10 shown in FIG. 1 is rectangular, the sheet of material 10 may be any shape. For 5Q example, the sheet of material 10 may square, rectangular, circular or any other geometric shape. The shape of the sheet of material 10 may even have an irregular, capricious or decorative shape.
As used herein, the term "bonding material" means an 55 adhesive, typically a pressure sensitive adhesive, or a cohesive. Where the bonding material is a cohesive, a similar cohesive material must be placed on the adjacent surface for bondingly contacting and bondingly engaging with the cohesive material. It should be appreciated that the term 60 "bonding material" includes any type of material or thing which can be used to effect the bonding or connecting of the two adjacent portions of the material or sheet of material as described herein.
As illustrated by FIG. 1, the sleeve area 18 extends across 65 the first end 20 of the sheet of material 10. As indicated by dashed line 34, the sheet of material 10 is perforated from
the first side 24 to the second side 26 to make the sleeve area 18 readily detachable from the wrapping area 14 and the label area 16.
It should be appreciated that the sleeve area 18 may be made detachable in any suitable manner. For example, the sleeve area 18 may be made detachable by tear-notches, designated by reference numeral 35, at the intersection of the dashed line 34 with the first side 24 and/or second side 26. The sheet of material 10 may be partially cut or reduced in thickness along the dashed line 34 to facilitate tearing along the dashed line 34. With this construction, the tear notch or notches 35 may be used to start the tear. Then the partial cut or reduced thickness may guide the tear as the sleeve area 18 is torn from the remainder of the sheet of material 10.
The sleeve area 18 may also be made readily detachable with use of a bonding material. In utilizing a bonding material, the sleeve area 18 is a separate piece of material which is attached to the wrapping area 14 and the label area 16 by the bonding material along the dashed line 34. With this construction, the bonding material holding the sleeve area 18 to the rest of the sheet 10 should have sufficiently weak bonding strength to allow easy removal of the sleeve area 18.
In similar fashion, the label area 16 is also readily detachable, as indicated by dashed line 36 in FIG. 1. It should be appreciated that the label area 16 may be detachable by means of perforations or a tear notch 37 and tear line 36, similar to those described for the sleeve area 18. Moreover, the label area 16 may be a separate piece of material detachably connected to the wrapping area 14 and sleeve area 18 with a bonding material, as described for holding the sleeve area 18 to the rest of the sheet 10.
The label area 16 includes a plurality of choice blocks. One of the choice blocks is designated by reference numeral 38 and is generally representative of the plurality of choice blocks of the label area 16. Proximate to each choice block
38 is an area containing choice block information. One of the choice block information areas is designated by reference numeral 39 and is generally descriptive of the choice block information areas on the label area 16.
The choice blocks 38 and choice block information areas
39 of the label area 16 may appear on the upper surface 28 (as shown in FIG. 1) or on the lower surface 30 (as illustrated by FIGS. 3 and 5). If the choice blocks 38 and choice block information areas 39 are placed on the upper surface 28, the label area 16 may be bent back along the dashed line 36 to extend radially or angularly from the wrapping area 14 for visual display of the choice blocks 38 and choice block information areas 39.
If the choice blocks 38 and choice block information areas 39 are placed on the lower surface 30, it is desirable to maintain closure of the label area 16 against the wrapping area 14, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, to display the choice blocks 38 and choice block information areas 39. In order to effect this closure of the label area 16, a plurality of closure spots 40 are located on the upper surface 28 of the label area 16. A bonding material is disposed on each closure spot 40 to effect closure of the label area 16 against the wrapping area 14.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the closure spots 40 are spaced apart to provide non-closure areas between the closure spots 40. A pencil or one's fingers may be inserted with ease into the non-closure areas between the label area 16 and the wrapping area 14 to break the hold of the closure spots 40 and to detach the label area 16.
In addition, the bonding material of the closure spots 40 may have weaker bonding strength than the closure bonding
5
material 32 on the wrapping area 14. With this construction, the hold of the closure spots 40 may be broken and the label area 16 may be detached without disturbing the closure of the wrapping area 14 about the items or floral grouping 11.
The sheet of material 10 may also include one or more 5 handle areas 42 located in an interior portion of the wrapping area 14. The handle areas 42 may display additional information 44 of the type placed upon the label area 16. As indicated by dashed lines 46, the outline of the handle area 42 may be perforated to allow the handle area 42 to be 10 punched out or torn out from the sheet of material 10. Punching out the handle area 42 along the perforations 46 results in a carrying aperture 48, shown in FIG. 4, for grasping the wrapped floral grouping 11.
As illustrated by FIG. 5, two spaced apart handle areas 42 15 may be provided in the wrapping area 14 of the sheet of material 10. By punching out both handle areas 42, two carrying apertures 48 are made for grasping the wrapped sheet of material 10 between thumb and fingers.
To wrap a floral grouping 11 in the sheet of material 10, 20 the floral grouping 11 is placed on the upper surface 28 of the wrapping area 14 of the sheet of material 10, as shown in FIG. 1. The first side 24 of the sheet 10 is extended around the floral grouping 11 to form a substantially conical shape, as illustrated by FIG. 2. Then the second side 26 of the sheet 25
10 is brought around from the opposite side to complete the formation of the substantially conical wrapping, as depicted in FIG. 3.
After wrapping the sheet 10 around the floral grouping, the closure bonding material 32 is pressed into engagement 30 with a portion of the lower surface 30 of the wrapping area 14 to effect closure of the sheet of material 10 around the floral grouping 11. If desired, the label area 16 is also pressed into engagement with a portion of the lower surface 30 of the wrapping area 14. By doing so, the bonding 35 material of the closure spots 40 bonds with the lower surface 30 the wrapping area 14 to effect closure of the label area 16.
When the sheet 10 is wrapped around the floral grouping
11 as shown in FIG. 3, the sleeve area 18 defines a sleeve which supports and protects the bloom portion 12 of the 40 floral grouping 11. Wrapped by the sheet of material 10 in this manner, the floral grouping 11 is protected from damage during shipment, sales display and carrying by the customer.
As shown in FIG. 4, the sleeve area 18, the handle areas .,
45
42 and the label area 16 may be easily detached from the sheet of material 10 for displaying the floral grouping 11 or for presenting the floral grouping 11 as a gift. Of course, it is not necessary to remove the sleeve area 18, the handle areas 42 and the label area 16 at all. Moreover, the sleeve 5Q area 18, the handle areas 42 and the label area 16 may be detached at different times and for various reasons.
For example, one handle area 42 may be removed by sales personnel at the time of the sale to scan a uniform product code on the handle area 42 through a bar code reader. The 55 handle area 42 punched out by the sales clerk defines a first carrying aperture 48. The other handle area 42 may be punched out by the customer to provide a second carrying aperture 48 for grasping the wrapped material 10. Finally, the sleeve area 18 and label area 16 may be detached by the so customer immediately before presenting the floral grouping 11 as a gift.
As illustrated by FIG. 5, the sheet of material 10 may be wrapped around the floral grouping 11 in a substantially cylindrical manner instead of the generally conical shape 65 described hereinabove. It should be appreciated that the cylindrically wrapped sheet 10 possesses the same features
6
and benefits described hereinabove for the conically wrapped sheet 10.
An additional feature of the sheet of material 10 is shown in FIG. 5. The sleeve area 18 may be constructed from a substantially transparent material to allow viewing the bloom portion 12 of the floral grouping 11 through the sleeve area 18. It should be appreciated, however, that the wrapping area 14, the sleeve area 18, the handle areas 42 and the label area 16 may be made of materials which are completely or partially opaque or transparent. In addition, one or more of these areas may be uniform in color or may have many colors and decorative patterns or designs.
Referring now to FIG. 6, shown therein is the detachable label 16 with the choice blocks 38 and choice block information areas 39. In this particular example, the choice blocks 38 and choice block information areas 39 are designed to provide information about a floral grouping. It should be appreciated, however, that choice blocks 38 and choice block information areas 39 may be provided for whatever type of item is to be wrapped in the sheet of material.
The choice blocks 38 shown in FIG. 6 are divided into three sets. The upper set of choice blocks 38a lists possible growers 39a of the plant, the middle set of choice blocks 38b presents various varieties 39b of the plant and the lower set of choice blocks 38c displays several length groups 39c to which the plant may belong.
Sheets of material 10 with the label 16 may be utilized in several ways. Of course, appropriate choice blocks 38 may be selected on each sheet of material one by one. The desired choice blocks 38 may be selected by marking one of the choice blocks 38 in each set of choice blocks 38 with a marking instrument, by punching out the desired choice blocks 38 with a hole-punch, by notching the edge of the label 16 proximate to the appropriate choice blocks 38, or in any other suitable manner.
The selection of choice blocks 38 may be indicated in ways other than by punching or marking. For example, the choice blocks 38 may be treated with a light-activatable ink, which changes in color or shade when exposed to a certain type of light. The desired choice blocks 38 may then be indicated by exposing those choice blocks 38 only to the particular type of activating light.
Similarly, the choice blocks 38 may be treated with a heat-activatable ink, which changes in color or shade when exposed to heat. In using heat-activatable ink, the choice blocks 38 are selected by exposing only the desired choice blocks 38 to heat. Furthermore, a chemical-activatable ink and selective application of a chemical to the choice blocks 38 may be utilized.
It should be appreciated that any of these inks may be applied to the choice blocks 38 before, after or during the manufacture of the sheets of material 10. It should also be understood that such inks may be disposed upon the sheets of material 10 or incorporated into the material.
Besides selecting the choice blocks 38 on one sheet 10 at a time, choice blocks 38 for entire stacks of sheets 10 may be selected at one time with a conventional hole-punch machine (not shown). This method is advantageous, for example, where a quantity of sheets of material 10 are needed and all the sheets 10 should have choice blocks 38 selected to indicate one particular grower, plant variety and length group. A conventional multiple hole-punch machine may be set to punch holes through the desired choice blocks 38 of the sheets of material 10. In this manner, a quantity of sheets 10 may be punched out at one time and are available
|
