GB2442722A

GB2442722A - Agglomerations of a plurality of plastics sheets

Info

Publication number: GB2442722A
Application number: GB0615850A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Khandan Fadaii; Esrafil Fadaii
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-08-10
Filing date: 2006-08-10
Publication date: 2008-04-16
Anticipated expiration: 2026-08-10
Also published as: GB2442722B; GB0615850D0

Abstract

An agglomeration of folded plastics sheets comprises junction portions whereby individual single layer sheets are obtained by pulling and separating individual folded sheets 10 from the agglomeration. The agglomeration is produced from a continuous cylindrical plastics film which is longitudinally folded along fold lines 2, 3, 6, 7 8, 9 and a further central fold (Figs. 1D and 1E). Each sheet is further is slit such that the separated sheet 10 can be unfolded into a single layer sheet. At each junction there may be an aperture such that a separated sheet will have projections which can be knotted together to form a bag-like enclosure, e.g. to carry waste.

Description

AggLomerations of a Plurality of PLastic Sheets

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to agglomerations of a plurality of folded plastic sheets and methods of producing such agglomerations.

The plastic sheets may be employed for a wide range of uses such as protecting surfaces, water-proofing, collecting waste, serving as table cloths, for any do-it-yourself project, nappy changing, baby feeding, make-up and hair-dressing and any other appropriate use.

The scope of the invention is defined in the Claims at the end of the specification.

Background to the Invention

When preparing food such as peeling potatoes, a user might employ a cutting board which then requires cleaning. He might instead look at using a waste bag or a sheet of cling film.

Each of which are not ideal for the job. A waste bag incorporates vertical wall which are an obstacle for working on the potatoes. Cling film tends to stick to the work top rendering it difficult for the user to wrap around waste. It also tends to cling to itself rather than securely hold waste.

Furthermore in conventional domestic rolls of cling film, the single Layer of film is immediately wrapped around a roll so that any resulting sheet separated from the roll usually corresponds precisely to the width of the roll The Largest available domestic rolls of cling film which are limited by the average size of domestic kitchen drawers simply do not produce sheets of a sufficiently large width to be sufficiently practicaL The sheets are simply too narrow and using larger rolls would not be practical since they would not fit in the average domestic kitchen drawer. Cling film rolls also have the drawback of the user losing the end of the rolled material

Summary of the Invention

In a first broad independent aspect, the invention provides an agglomeration of a plurality of folded plastic sheets comprising junction portions holding adjacent sheets together; whereby the sheets can be individually successively separated from said agglomeration by pulling on an exposed sheet whilst an adjacent sheet is held back; and one or more fold lines formed in initially cylindrical sheets; the sheets being folded along said lines to reduce their width; characterised in that the sheets further comprise slits which extend between adjacent junction portions; whereby when a sheet is detached from an adjacent sheet said sheet may be unfolded into a sheet with a single layer.

This configuration is also particularly advantageous because it allows sheets of predetermined size to be detached from the agglomeration by simply pulling on an exposed sheet whilst an adjacent sheet is held back. It is also particularly advantageous because the agglomeration will have a reduced width as compared to the width of the unfoLded sheet. It would therefore allow sheets to be produced which can be straightforwardly obtained from a small storage space in a kitchen drawer and when unfolded potentially to cover a table for receiving potato waste and then disposing of the single sheet with the waste. The sheets produced by the invention are therefore ideal for a one-shot use.

In a subsidiary aspect in accordance with the invention's first broad independent aspect, the sheets are folded over said slits. This aspect is particularly advantageous because it reduces any risk of the folded sheets losing their shape when drawn from the agglomeration. There is also less risk of the sheets tearing when individual sheets are separated from the agglomeration.

In a subsidiasy aspect, the junction portions comprise a tear line without any layer of the folded sheets being sealed together. In this configuration, no sealing between layers of folded sheets is present. This allows a sheet to more readily unfold into a substantially flat single layer sheet.

In a second broad independent aspect, the invention provides a method of producing an agglomeration of a plurality of folded plastic sheets comprising the steps of: * Blow extruding a cylindrical film; * Folding said film in order to reduce its width; * Perforating said film at regular intervals to form tear lines separating individual sheets; * Slitting said film so that when the sheets are separated from said agglomeration they may be unfolded in a single layer of sheet.

This configuration is particularly advantageous because not only can the sheets which are separated from said agglomeration be unfolded in a single layer of sheet but the resulting agglomeration may be of reduced width as compared to an unfolded single layer sheet roll of cling film. It also produces sheets of similar size or at least of predetermined size in order to improve user access to multiple sheets of predetermined length which may be unfolded into a sheet with a single layer which may for example be then laid flat on top of a table for receiving potato skins and then disposed along with the potato skins.

In a further subsidiaiy aspect, the invention provides a method wherein the sheets are folded over said slits. This method is particularly advantageous because it would hide the slit which would limit any risk of the sheet deforming as it is separated from the rest of the agglomeration. It may also avoid a user inadvertently grabbing the sheet only by one side of the slit which could cause damage to the sheet even before using the sheet.

In a further subsidiary aspect, the method includes no step of sealing folded sheets together. This method allows sheets to be readily separated from one another without any adjacent single layers being seated together. The process of producing the agglomeration is therefore simplified by being shortened in length whilst being able to produce rolls with folded sheets which may be presented to the user in a similar fashion to the well-known rolls of bin liners.

In a third broad independent aspect, the invention provides an agglomeration of a plurality of plastic sheets comprising junction portions holding adjacent sheets together; whereby the sheets can be individually successively separated from said agglomeration by pulling on an exposed sheet whilst an adjacent sheet is held back; characterised in that the sheets comprise projections between adjacent sheets with one or more cut-outs provided between said projections; whereby said projections may be of sufficient Length in order to allow the operator to knot projections together.

This configuration is particularly advantageous because it combines the advantages of a conventional plastic bag in terms of secure closure around waste contents whilst achieving the advantage of producing a Large single layer sheet which may be Laid substantiaLly flat on a work surface to allow unrestricted waste disposal onto the increased surface area for receiving waste (when compared to a bag) prior to folding into a bag for disposal.

In a fourth broad independent aspect, the invention provides an agglomeration of a plurality of plastic sheets comprising junction portions holding adjacent sheets together; whereby the sheets can be individually successively separated from said agglomeration by pulling on an exposed sheet whilst an adjacent sheet is held back; characterised in that the sheets comprise a single layer of sheet with adjacent sheets and a sealed region which joins adjacent sheets whilst the sheets may be separated by tearing across or in the vicinity of said sealed region. -This configuration is particularly advantageous because it achieves again the advantages listed in the previous aspects of producing single layers of sheet of predetermined length.

The method used for producing said sheets may be simplified by simply cutting Lengths of sheets, overlapping said sheets and then sealing said sheets together at a junction portion in a sufficientLy weak manner to allow a user to straightforwardly tear the junction by pulling adjacent sheets apart.

Brief Description of the Figures

Figures 1A to iF show perspective views of the stages of production of a single layer sheet in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a roll of sheets with a first sheet drawn from a roll, the roll being in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of an agglomeration of sheets in a pack and two sheets drawn from the pack; the sheets being in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description of the Figures

is For clarity, the thickness of the folded sheets in particular in figure 1 B to 1 E has been deliberately exaggerated. It is understood that in reality the thickness would be far smaller to appear indeed as being entirely flat. The views shown are designed to show the principal of how the sheets are folded.

Figure lÀ shows a cylindrical film generally referenced 1 as would result from a blow extruding process which is welt known in the art. The views shown from figure lA to 1C are of sections only of film which may in practise be continuously produced. Air is blown through the inside of film 1 to contribute to its cooling process.

After this process folding machines which are also welt known in the art may for example flatten the film to produce two side fold lines 2 and 3 as shown in figure 1 B. Fold Lines 2 and 3 of the folded film may be drawn inwardly as shown by arrows 4 and 5 in order to result in the configuration shown in figure 1C. This method step further produces fold lines such as fold tines 6, 7, 8 and 9 depicted in figure 1C.

The upper face 10 of the film may then be slit to an appropriate Length.

Figure 1 D shows a slit 11 traversing lengthwise face 10. Arrows 12 and 13 indicate a further folding step where the film is folded over slit 11 so that slit 11 is located at the inner most portion of the resulting folded film shown in figure 1 E. In addition to the folding steps a step of cutting a tear line 14 is envisaged. The cuts of tear line 14 alLow each folded portion to be separated from adjacent folded portions of an adjacent sheet.

Figure 1 E shows only one folded sheet for simplicity.

The aggLomeration of sheets may be produced in a roll by simply rolling the configuration of figure 1 E. The method may also finally include a step of cutting a length of film transversely in order to separate out an agglomeration with a predetermined number of sheets.

The user then unrolls a predetermined sheet from a roll of material and draws on the unrolled material in order to tear a sheet from the roll Once the sheet has been separated it may have the appearance of the folded form shown in figure 1E. The sheet may be unfolded flat as shown in figure iF.

Figure 2 shows a roll of material 15 with a single layer of sheet 16. The junction portion between two sheets 16 and 17 is illustrated by tear line 18. The tear line comprises a plurality of staggered cuts in a line. A cut-out portion 19 is shown between two projecting portions 20 and 21. During use when the sheet 16 is separated from sheet 17 waste is accumulated at a central portion of the sheet and thereafter projection 20 may be knotted with projection 22 whilst projection 21 is knotted with projection 23 to form a bag-like enclosure. In this manner any waste carried by the sheet may be enclosed for disposaL Figure 3 shows pack 24 in the form of a box with a small window 25 on its upper face which allows a user to draw sheets from the pack. The sheets in the pack are folded about two fold lines such as fold Lines 26 and 27. The sheets are attached in this embodiment by a heat seal region 28 Located at a central Location along the width of the sheets. In this embodiment, there are no other means of joining separate sheets. The lateral portions 29 and 30 either side of heat seal 28 are loose. The plastic sheets of this embodiment may retain the fold lines 26 and 27 when unfolded out of the pack so that the sheet tends to resilient fold back along these Lines to wrap around any waste product placed for example on the central portion 30 of the sheet.

The material used for the sheets may for example be tow density polyethylene or any other suitable material which allows the sheets to be folded flat without weakening the sheets along the fold lines, It would also be preferable for the sheets to be of a non-cling type in order to readily unfold.

Claims

1. An agglomeration of a plurality of folded plastic sheets comprising junction portions s holding adjacent sheets together whereby the sheets can be individually successively separated from said agglomeration by putting on an exposed sheet whilst an adjacent sheet is held back; and one or more fold lines formed in initially cylindrical sheets; the sheets being folded along said lines to reduce their width; characterised in that the sheets further comprise slits which extend between adjacent junction portions; whereby when a sheet is detached from an adjacent sheet said sheet may be unfolded into a sheet with a single layer.

2. An agglomeration according to cLaim 1, wherein the sheets are folded over said slits.

3. An agglomeration according to either of the preceding claims, wherein the junction portions comprise a tear line without any layer of the folded sheets being sealed together.

4. A method of producing an agglomeration of a plurality of folded plastic sheets comprising the steps of: * Blow extruding a cylindrical film; * Folding said film in order to reduce its width; * Perforating said film at regular intervals to form tear lines separating individual sheets; and * Slitting said film so that when the sheets are separated from said agglomeration they may be unfolded in a single layer of sheet.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the sheets are folded over said slits.

6. A method according to either of the preceding claims, wherein the method includes no step of sealing folded sheets together.

7. An agglomeration of a plurality of plastic sheets comprising junction portions holding adjacent sheets together whereby the sheets can be Individually successively separated from said aggLomeration by pulling on an exposed sheet whilst an adjacent sheet is held back; characterised in that the sheets comprise projections between adjacent sheets with one or more cut-outs provided between said projections; whereby said projections may be of sufficient length in order to allow the operator to knot projections together.

S

8. A method of producing an agglomeration of a plurality of plastics sheets substantially as hereinbefore described and/or illustrated in any appropriate combination of the accompanying text and/or figures.

8. An agglomeration of a plurality of plastic sheets comprising junction portions holding adjacent sheets together; whereby the sheets can be individually successively separated from said agglomeration by pulling on an exposed sheet whilst an adjacent sheet is held back; characterised in that the sheets comprise a singLe Layer of sheet with adjacent sheets and a seaLed region which joins adjacent sheets whilst the sheets may be separated by tearing across or in the vicinity of said sealed region.

9. An agglomeration of a plurality of plastic sheets substantially as hereinbefore described and/or illustrated in any appropriate combination of the accompanying text and/or figures.

10. A method of producing an agglomeration of a plurality of plastic sheets substantially as hereinbefore described and/or iLlustrated in any appropriate combination of the accompanying text and/or figures.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows

1. An agglomeration of a plurality of folded pLastics sheets comprising junction portions holding adjacent sheets together; whereby the sheets can be individually successively separated from said agglomeration by pulling on an exposed sheet whilst an adjacent sheet is held back; and one or more fold lines formed in initially cylindrical sheets; the sheets being folded along said tines to reduce their width; characterised in that the sheets further comprise slits which extend between adjacent junction portions; whereby when a sheet is detached from an adjacent sheet said sheet may be unfolded into a sheet with a single layer.

4. A method of producing an aggLomeration of a plurality of folded plastics sheets comprising the steps of: * Blow extruding a cylindrical film; * Folding said film in order to reduce its width; * Perforating said film at regular intervals to form tear lines separating individual sheets; and * Slitting said film so that when the sheets are separated from said agglomeration they may be unfolded in a single layer of sheet.

7. An agglomeration of a plurality of plastics sheets substantially as hereinbefore described and/or illustrated in any appropriate combination of the accompanying text and/or figures.