Field of the invention

The invention relates to a blank and a package formed from the blank wherein the package formed from the blank will have improved strength and tear resistance.

Background

When packaging hazardous products, such as medicaments, syringes, needles, scalpels and razor blades it is important to keep the product safetly stored.

There are today many child resistant packages, especially child resistant pharmaceutical packages, which prevent a child from easy accessing a product. WO2006/068602 Al and US-A- 5 511 665 discloses two different kind of child resistant pharmaceutical packages. The design of these packages makes it very difficult for children to open it and makes it possible to safetly store the product before usage.

It is also important that the package is strong and able withstanding outer influences, such as tearing or other physical attempts to open the package in an unauthorized way. One example of a more tear resistant package is described in WO2005/049437 A which describes a polymer coated paperboard with excellent tear resistant properties suitable for child resistant packages.

However, there is still a need for a package with improved strength and tear resistance. Summary of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a strong package. Another object of the present invention is to provide a tear resistant package.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a strong and tear resistant package m an easy and cost efficient way.

These, as well as other objects are achieved by the present invention, which describes a blank and a package formed from the blank.

The invention relates to a blank comprising at least two panels, a first and a second panel, the first and second panels are being connected to each other, the blank further comprises at least one corner which is formed by the connection of two or more sides of the first or second panel or by two or more adjacent sides of the first and second panels wherein the at least one corner is provided with a round form.

The at least one corner which is provided with a round form is preferable lacking a single connection point. In this way the corner is rounded and the tear resistance of the blank is improved.

It is preferred that a majority of the corners of the blank is provided with a round form. In this way a more tear resistance blank is formed. It is preferred to round off all corners of the blank which is visible or exposed to the end user when the blank if folded and a package is formed. For some embodiments, it can be preferred to round off all corners of the blank.

The blank is preferably made of a cellulosic raw material, preferable a paper based material. It is advantageous to use paper based material since it is both a recyclable and a renewable raw material.

The blank according to the present invention comprises at least two panels. The blank may comprise three, four, five, six or more panels.

The invention further relates to a package formed by the blank describes above. By folding the blank provided with at least one corner with a round form, a more tear resistant package is formed. The strength of the package is also

increased due to the increased tear resistance.

The corners of the package being visible on the outside of the package are preferably provided with a round form. In this way the tear resistance is increased and it is significantly more difficult for a user to try to open the package by tearing . The package may also comprise a locking mechanism which makes it difficult unauthorized persons, such as children, to open the package.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 describes a blank of a package according to prior art.

Figure 2 describes one embodiment of a blank according to the present invention. Detailed description of the invention

It has been shown that by removing some of the normally sharp angled corner of a blank a much more tear resistant package can be produced.

By providing the corners of the blank, which forms a package, with a round form a package with improved strength and tear resistance is formed. Also, the durability of the package will be improved. A corner provided with a sharp angle provides the formed package with a naturally weak point that might work as an initiation point for the material to crack or tear. By reducing or eliminating these sharp angles the package will have fewer weak points and the tear resistance of the package will increase and thus also the strength.

A corner is a point where two or more sides of a panel or the sides of two or more adjacent panels are connected.

As can be seen from figure 1, the angles of the corners are sharp, i.e. the corners are formed by the connection of at least two lines at a single point. The at least two lines can each describe one side of a panel. The sides can either be located on the same panel or on adjacent panels of the blank. Thus, in order to form a sharp corner, the sides must be connected at a single point. The blank described m figure 1 has eleven panels (A-K) and several corners, some of them are marked (1-5) in figure 1, and they are all sharp. Also, the corners of the cut out (6) have sharp angles. Figure 2 describes a blank according to the invention. As can be seen from figure 2, the majority of the corners of the blank, are provided with a round form, i.e. they are lacking a single connection point. The blank described in figure 2 has eleven panels (A' -K' ) and several formed corners, some of them are marked (11-15) m figure 2, and they are all rounded. Also the corners of the cut-out (16) have been provided with a round form. The uppermost corners (17-20) of the panels B' and D' are not rounded since these panels (B' and D' ) are covered or enclosed by other panels when the blank is folded and the package formed. Therefore, there is no need to round off these corners (17-20), i.e. provide them with a round form, in order to increase the strength of the package. This is due to that these corners (17-20) will not be exposed to the tearing force of a user trying to get access to the content of the package.

The blank and or package is preferably produced by paper based material, such as paperboard. The paper based material may also be reinforced by coating of for example polymer film which also increases the strength and tear resistant of the package .

The package may comprise a sleeve and an insert wherein the insert is being slidable within the sleeve.

The package may also comprise a locking mechanism which makes is difficult for children to get easy access to the product within the package. Any conventional known locking mechanism may be used. If the package comprises a sleeve and an insert, the locking mechanism may prevent the insert from being withdrawn from the sleeve. By unlocking the locking mechanism in a correct manner, access to the product by sliding the insert out from the sleeve is made possible.

The package is preferably used for packaging

pharmaceutical, medicaments or other hazardous products which is advantageous to protect and restrict access to, especially to prevent children from getting access.

It is contemplated that there are numerous modifications of the embodiments described herein, which are still within the scope of the invention and defined by the appended claims.