US3342320A

US3342320A - U-board with thermoformed web

Info

Publication number: US3342320A
Application number: US299207A
Authority: US
Inventors: James S Stelzer
Original assignee: Eckrich Peter & Sons
Current assignee: PETER ECKRICH AND SONS Inc
Priority date: 1963-08-01
Filing date: 1963-08-01
Publication date: 1967-09-19
Anticipated expiration: 1984-09-19

Description

J. S. STELZER U-BOARD WITH THERMOFORMED WEB Filed Aug. 1, 1963 iel e77 @621,

INVENTOR 5 L/Zzmes United States Patent 3,342,320 U-BOARD WITH THERMOFORMED WEB James S. Stelzer, Fort Wayne, Ind., assignor to Peter Eckrich & Sons, line, a corporation of Indiana Filed Aug. 1, 1963, Ser. No. 299,207 Claims. (Cl. 20645.34)

This application is a continuation-impart of copending application, Serial No. 232,235, filed October 22, 1962, entitled Packaging Member, now Patent No. 3,214,333.

This invention relates to packing members and packages and especially such packaging members and packages for use in packaging food items.

The practice of packaging food items for storage and display has become more and more prevalent in recent years. Such items as sandwich meats, cheese, bacon, and the like are often packaged in plastic envelopes or similar containers for display of the contents through the container wall. Such containers permit self-service marketing of many items where an attendant was previously necessary while still permitting the consumer to visually examine the contents of the package without direct contact with such contents prior to their purchase.

Exemplary of the package which have been put to use for packaging purposes are the pouch-type packages which may be mounted on U-boards or other backing board or surrounding board members to give the package a degree of rigidity, and even protection. However, such packages are often wrinkled during assembly or become wrinkled thereafter. Also they do not stack neatly or to substantial heights without sliding from each other. Creation of a stacked display in a minimal space becomes at least very diflicult if not impossible.

Further, in display of such packages such as on a refrigerated counter or within a refrigerated well, the sliding of packages over each other as they handled by customers with resulting possible puncture can become a problem since removal of a package from a display may permit dislodgement of an adjacent package with resulting package sliding within the display.

The pouch-type enveloping members usually have a earn centrally between the top and bottom of this stack of products where two opposing flat webs are joined along at least a portion of the periphery thereof. The seam is usually horizontal and along the largest dimension of the package. Because of such a seam, where it is desired to package an article of reasonable thickness, it is impossible to secure seam portions under the end flaps of a U-board while still maintaining a relatively planar U- board, because the seam is centrally between the opposing pouch walls in the thickness dimension rather than being in the plane of one wall; and the U-board must be bent about halfway up the ends of the package for securing to the envelope seam. As higher and higher items, e.g., stacks of sandwich meat or the like, are packaged, the generally central seam portion is, of course, removed further from the opposing walls of the enclosure, a condition which would necessitate greater bending of the U-board; this not only tends to round the U- board bottom and promote package sliding, but it also may result in increased tension on the junction of U- board to package under the normal tendency of the U board to return toward a level position through resilience. Additionally, especially in higher stacks, the use of extra U-board material, i.e., longer U-boards, for partially surrounding the package is wasteful. Also, differences in article size disadvantageously require different widths and lengths of preformed envelopes with increased expense in the provision of such envelope sizes.

As a further disadvantage, the prior envelope and U- board assembly often requires the use of costly tough films on the bottom portion since the board does not adequately protect the envelope bottom web, especially adjacent side edges thereof. The extension of this web up to the central seam exposes the bottom web to wear, puncture, etc., and the U-board is not sufficiently close to the seam to protect the seam from flexing.

As another type of package, it has been proposed to laminate a skin-pack type package to a backing board. Where such lamination is by heat-sealing of the pack to the backing board, problems are encountered with respect to protection of the packaged contents from the heat sealing temperatures. Further, a large surface area is usually required for the sealing of the envelope to the backing board and actually a laminate of the entire surface or substantially the entire surface may be necessary. This, of course, necessitates the use of more adhesive. Packages which include envelopes sealed to backing boards over lesser surface areas are more easily destructible by pulling of the backing board from the enclosing envelope. Even where laminates over the entire surface are provided, package edges at the edges of the laminate may become frayed and unsightly. Also, such edges are very vulnerable to the initiation of tears.

A general object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved packaging member or structure as herein set out. It is also an object of this invention to overcome some of the abovementioned disadvantages.

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful package combination for edible foods such as sandwich meats, bacon, sliced cheese, etc., which is neat in appearance, capable of neat and compact stacking for display purposes, and wherein the packaged foodstuffs and the enveloping package are protected against undue damage from adjacent packages or the like during transportation, storage or display. 7 Another object is to provide a package in accordance with any of the above wherein items of any desired height, e.g., stacks of sandwich meat or the like, can be packaged with minimal adaptations for the various desired heights and without undue waste of packaging materials.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a new and useful package which includes a particular food enveloping portion with a particular backing portion.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a package combination which may be assembled while protecting the foodstuff being packaged from damage through the assembly operation.

As one feature of the present invention, there is provided as a package a new and useful combination of an envelope with a U-board in which the envelope comprises an unformed lower web and a formed upper web defining the envelope space with the webs joined in the plane of lowest stack surface within the envelope. In order to economize in the amount of U-board to be employed for each package, it is desirable to decrease the package dimension adjacent or facing the U board and in a form of the present invention this is accomplished by maintaining the U-board generally planar and by folding two opposing edges of the envelope under and assembling the combination with the folded under edges disposed between the U-board and the enveloping portion, as will be more clearly described hereinbelow.

As another feature of this invention, it has been found that when assembling the packages described in the above paragraph, it is desirable to have means provided for maintaining the edges folded under so that the edges may be first folded and the package may be moved by hand or by machinery to place the package on the backing member without holding the folds by way of hand or machinery in their folded under position.

Thus, it is still another object of this invention to provide a new and useful package which may more readily 3 be assembled with a backing board to provide the package combination.

Other objects of this invention will be apparent from the following descriptions and the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view of a form of package for illustration of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 illustrates a rigid backing member before folding to the configuration for use in a package such as shown in FIGURE 1',

FIGURE 3 is a view of the enveloping portion of the package of FIGURE 1 from the bottom thereof with respect to its illustration in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged section through a plastic film laminate used as the bottom wall of the plastic envelope of the package of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged section through a plastic film laminate used as a formed laminate used as the top portion of the plastic envelope of the package illustrated in FIGURE 1.

The present invention provides a new and useful enveloping portion and a new and useful package, advantages of which have been mentioned above. In one form of the present invention, there is provided as a package combination, a U-board secured to an envelope comprising a pair of webs joined together generally in the plane defining the bottom of the space within the envelope, i.e., the lowest plane of the package contents. In another aspect, the present invention provides a new and useful enveloping portion or package including the formed web and un formed web with one or more edges normally in the plane of juncture of the two webs folded under and especially where the folded edge or edges comprise a deadafold. The package may be assembled with a U-board as described above and preferably is comprised of formed and unformed webs. In a preferred form of the invention, a particular un formed web is used which will be more specifically described hereinbelow.

While the present invention is susceptible of embodiment in many dilIerent forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail a specific embodiment of the invention with modifications, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered to be an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to any illustrated form.

Referring first to FIGURES 1-3, there is provided a flexible envelope and a rigid member which is securable as a backing member to the flexible envelope.

More specifically referring to FIGURES 13, there is illustrated a form of the package which includes a rigid member, i.e., cardboard U-board 16, and a flexible plastic enclosure or envelope 11 which contains a stack of sliced sandwich meat 12.

U-board 10, best illustrated in FIGURE 2, includes inner flaps 13 and 14 which are foldable upward along

fold lines

15 and 16 respectively. Flaps 13 and 14 are coated on their upper surfaces with adhesive as indicated by reference numeral 17. U-board base or intermediate por tion 19 is defined by

fold lines

15 and 16. A portion or strip of the U board base 19 inside of each of

fold lines

15 and 16 is also coated with adhesive material shown generally by reference numeral 17. Peripherally from inner flaps 14 and 13 respectively are outer flaps 22 and 23 which also form a part of U-board 10. Between the outer flaps 22 and 23 and the inner flaps 14 and 13 are scored fold lines 24 and 25 respectively.

Enclosure 11 in the illustrated form is a sealed enclosure provided by a base portion such as unformed web and a covering portion such as formed web 31 interconnected around their periphery such as by a heat seal indicated generally by reference numeral 32. Other means for interconnecting envelope portions, such as adhesives, may be used, of course, in lieu of the heat seal or a continuous formed envelope may be provided. Opposite ends of enclosure 11, including ends of uniformed web 30 and formed web 31 and the peripheral heat seal between the unformed and formed webs, are sandwiched between flaps 13 and 14 and the adjacent interior portions of U-board 10 and are secured in place between the flaps by the adhcsive shown generally at reference numeral 17, holding both top and bottom surfaces of the envelope. Such securing of the end of the envelope between portions of the U-board eliminates the necessity of greater areas of adherence between the surfaces of web 30 of envelope 11 and the surface of U-board 10. Also, the flaps 13 and 14 in the finished package provide protection dor the heat sealed edges of webs 3t) and 31 which, when exposed, provide sites more vulnerable to fraying and tearing during handling. The outer flaps 22 and 23 are upstanding in the package combination and serve to protect against puncture of the envelope walls by corners or edges of adjacent packages or the like. Flaps 22 and 2-3 also serve to shield the package contents from heat of a heat sealing operation if the package is assembled by heat sealing the envelope to the U-board and flaps through adhesive areas 17. The secured ends of both unformed web 30 and formed web 31, i.e., the end edges of envelope 11 are spaced slightly inwardly from the folded

fold lines

15 and 16 which constitute opposing ends of the total package. The other two edges or lateral edges indicated generally at 33 and 34 of envelope 11 are folded under between envelope 11 and the intermediate portion 19 of U-board 10.

With respect to the construction of the envelope, any of the usual flexible packaging material may be used for either the base unformed portion and/or the covering formed portion. Examples of such suitable packaging materials are cellophane, polyethylene film, Mylar film, al uminum foil, paper, etc., which may be coated, if desired, with saran or other substances. Where it is desired to enclose the envelope by heat sealing, such readily heat sealable materials as polyethylene film are preferred. The usable packaging materials afford a wide range of applications wherein one or more portions of the envelope may be transparent or opaque as desired or may be colored or printed or otherwise marked. Laminated layers of different materials may also advantageously be used, e.'g., containing printed material, primes, colored inks, etc. between laminated layers. It is preferred that both the cov ering portion and the base portion have very low oxygen and water vapor permeability rates and have good durabil ity and have good machine workability.

As used herein, the term unformed we refers to a Web or material which is of a flat sheet-like structure while the term formed web is a web of material which has been deformed by stretching or other pressure to provide a pouch suitable for enclosing by peripheral bonding to an unformed web. The formed web may be formed separately or may be formed over the article to be packaged. Methods for forming such formed webs are well known.

As a more specific example of an envelope, the enclosure 11 of FIGURES 1 and 3 includes a base portion which is an unformed web 30 preferably including a vapor barrier material and a covering portion which is a formed web 31, preferably thermoplastic. The unformed web 30 and formed web 31 are peripherally heat sealed at 32. The illustrated unformed web (FIGURE 4) is a laminate of aluminum foil 37 between a transparent cellophane film 38 and an opaque pigmented, e.'g., White or yellow, flexible polyethylene film 39. Adhesive 40 is provided between foil 37 and cellophane 38 in a lami nate and adhesive 41 is, in like manner, provided between foil 37 and polyethylene film 39. Formed web 31 (FIG URE 5) includes a Mylar (a highly durable transparent film of polyethylene-terephthalate resin) or nylon film 42 having a saran coating 43. The coated surface of Mylar film 42 is laminated to one surface of a transparent polyethylene film 44 by adhesive 45. Thus, unformed web 30' is opaque and formed web 31 is a transparent web so that the contents of enclosure 30 may be viewed from the exterior. The other surface of film 44 faces a surface of film 39 for heat sealing or otherwise bonding

webs

30 and 31 together peripherally of the enclosure formed thereby.

In another advantageous combination of formed and unformed web in the envelope member, the formed web may have a saran-coated formed or formable plastic film and the unformed web may be polyethylene coated paper which is in turn coated with saran. The two surfaces of the webs which bear the saran coating are heat-sealed to each other to form the envelope and in each instance the saran coating may be an emulsion of saran which has been modified to improve the saran-to-saran heat seal properties. This structure is advantageous in that it employs less costly materials, eliminating the aluminum foil and the film thickness of polyethylene while still providing a vapor barrier surrounding the packaged product. Because the saran is disposed to the interior of the package on both webs, it is unnecessary to apply a polyethylene film to the saran coated surface to protect the surface from scratching. More specifically, the formed web may be saran-coated Mylar and the unformed web may be Thilmany Paper Co. polyethylene coated paper PV-ZC (about 30# per ream), with a 15 coating of emulsion saran deposited on one surface thereof.

Further, the particular arrangement of laminate layers in the unformed web as illustrated in FIGURE 4 is exemplary of an advantageous form of such web wherein a transparent layer is provided on the outer surface of the metal foil layer and an opaque layer is provided on the inner surface. Thus, when the package is opened by the consumer, the presence of the protective metal foil, considered generally to be a good vapor barrier and good food packaging material, may be observed by the con sumer from the bottom of the envelope while the opaque ness of the layer between the metal foil and packaged foodstuff assures the consumer that the metal foil has not been in direct contact with the packaged food.

As has been seen from the illustrated form exemplifying the present invention, there has been provided a package useful in containing an article. The package includes an enclosing member having a generally flat bottom and opposing ends generally in the plane of the flat bottom. A rigid backing member is secured to the flat bottom of the enveloping portion and end flaps on the rigid backing member are folded over upon the upper faces of the opposing ends of the enclosing member and are secured to such opposing ends. The enclosing member may be constructed of an unformed web corresponding to the flat bottom and a formed web extending over the article peripherally thereof and peripherally heat sealed to the unformed web. The peripherally heat sealed portion forms the opposing ends of the enveloping member which are secured between the flaps and backing member.

An advantageous enveloping member has also been provided constructed of the formed web peripherally sealed or secured to the unformed web with opposing heat sealed edges, providing an enclosure for the packaged article. In the advantageous package form, opposing heat sealed edges are folded under beneath the envelope member and against the unformed web forming the bottom of the enveloping member, the folded under portions being at about the lateral limits of the article contained within the package. Although the folded under edges could be secured to the unformed web on the bottom of the package, against the natural resiliency of the webs, by means of adhesives or permanently setting this material as by the application of temperatures and/ or pressure to exceed the limit of resiliency of the webs and form a crease, it is preferred that the unformed web include a material having dead-fold characteristics. Thus, the unformed web may be a generally non-resilient laminate including a metal foil such as aluminum foil, paper or the like as a layer of the laminate and the non-resiliency of the unformed web is sufficient to overcome any resiliency of the formed web or laminate of formed and unformed web in the peripherally secured or sealed area, i.e., along the fold line for the folded under portion.

In the advantageous form of the envelope, the folded under portions are secured, i.e., by dead-fold or by adhesives or the like, against the bottom of the package as described. This advantageous form of envelope permits more convenient assembly of the envelope with a backing member and preferably with a U-board. Accordingly, the article to be packaged is placed between the formed and unformed webs and the webs are peripherally secured to form the enveloping enclosure. Opposing edges of the envelope are then folded under and the package is thereafter conveyed to be placed upon the backing member. The securing of the folded under edges eliminates the necessity for providing equipment or manual operation for holding the folded edges against the envelope bottom against the usual normal tendency to spring away from folded position. Thus, for example, the envelope can be folded, placed on a surface, and readily removed from the surface by grasping the lateral portions thereof and lifted and placed on a U-board without holding the edges in folded under position. In the preferred form of package including the dead-fold material in one of the webs, preferably the unformed web, the step of applying adhesives or some other means such as permanently setting or the like to retain the folded under portions against the package bottom, is eliminated.

After placing the enveloping portion on the U-board flaps 13 and 14- are folded over the envelope ends and adhesive 17 may be used to secure the envelope ends between the flaps and backing member. In a preferred assembly, adhesive 17 is a heat seal adhesive and the heat for the sealing operation is applied from the outer surfaces of flaps 13 and 14 and portion 19. In such assembly, upstanding flaps 22 and 23 advantageously protect the thermoplastic web 31 and package contents from the heat of sealing. Flaps 22 and 23- in the finished package also serve as protective shields for the envelope against puncture. Flaps 13, 14, 22 and/ or 2-3 in the finished package may provide a printed or printable surface viewable from the top of the package. The printed material on the flaps may identify the contents, source, price, etc., as desired. 7

More particularly, referring to FIGURE 4, aluminum foil or other material capable of maintaining a dead-fold is included within the Web so that the

sides

33 and 34 of the enclosure 11 which are not secured by the flaps of the U-board may be folded under as shown in FIGURE 3. The aluminum foil in unformed web 30 is sufficient to overcome the memory or resiliency of the other plastic materials in both the unformed web and the formed web and thereby maintains the fold as a dead-fold Without the necessity of applying adhesives. The dead-fold may advantageously be used to maintain a fold in the envelope, where and if desired, while assembling the envelope and rigid member. However, in other embodiments of the invention such adhesives can be used in lieu of or in addition to the dead-fold. Additionally, other areas of the upper surface of U-board 10 may be coated with adhesive materials to secure unformed web 30 to the surface of U-board 10, although such adhesives are more usually unnecessary.

It will be apparent that the same size and configuration of U-board and unformed web can be used in a variety of package sizes having different enclosure heights. Thus, for example, sandwich meat slices can be packaged in any stack height using the same U-boards and unformed webs. Only the configuration of the formed web is changed to provide the differences in enclosure height for different height stacks or the like. The U-board may be maintained relatively fiat regardless of the package height and may be secured to the enveloping portion generally in the plane of the bottom of the enclosure.

The rigid member, e.g., U-board, and envelope may be supplied separately or partially assembled by a packaging material source to a packager and the packager may include the substance to be packaged within the envelope or between films from which the envelope is to be constructed and thereafter assemble or finish assembling the package. Thus, the present invention also provides an envelope or enclosure member, which may be a partially formed or partially closed envelope or one or more films adapted to be assemebled to form an envelope, and a rigid member, the envelope member and rigid member being adapted to be assembled with each other to form a package e.g., as described hereinabove.

It is apparent from the foregoing that there has been provided a useful package and packaging method, as well as an enveloping member for use in the same. The enveloping member may be readily and conveniently assembled with a backing member and because of the folded under peripheral portions requires less width in the backing member than may otherwise be necessary. The enveloping member in an assembled package with a U-board has its heat sealed web ends protected by the U-board flaps; also, the folded under lateral portions are disposed between the backing member and U-board, eliminating or greatly decreasing their exposure for possible rupture which can occur if such lateral edges are extended outward or if lapped over to the bottom surface of the backing member. Further, the combination of formed and unformed webs and U-board backing member, with the backing member and unformed web being relatively flat and being secured by its flaps over the envelope ends in approximately the plane of the bottom of the enclosing member, provides a neat appearing, unwrinkled and readily stackable package especially where the packaged article itself has an upper surface lending to stacking, e.g., as in sliced sandwich meat, cheese, aligned sausages, sliced bacon and like foodstuffs. Additionally, stacks of sliced sandwich meat, cheese or the like or even very tall articles can be packaged in the enveloping enclosure which can then be associated with a U-board as hereinabove described without changing the generally planar configuration of the U-board but while still using the U-board flaps to protect the package end.

I claim:

1. A package containing an article, which package comprises a stiff backing member having opposing end flaps, an unformed web disposed on said backing member, and a formed web peripherally secured to said unformed web to define an enclosure enclosing said article, said peripherally secured portions of said webs being normally generally in the plane of said unformed web, said end flaps being folded over opposing ends of said formed and unformed webs at the peripherally heat sealed portions thereof and securing the opposing peripherally sealed ends between said flaps and backing member, opposing peripherally secured edges of said formed and unformed webs being folded under between and against said unformed web and backing member with the ends of said folded under portions being secured between said flaps and said backing member.

2. A package including an article enclosed in a packaging envelope which comprises a generally flat flexible unformed web and a flexible transparent formed thermoplastic film, said unformed web providing a generally flat bottom surface of said envelope for supporting said article and comprising a laminate of a layer of metal foil be tween a layer of opaque thermoplastic film and a layer of transparent thermoplastic film, the opaque thermoplastic film facing and peripherally heat sealed to said formed film to form an enclosure for said article, said formed film being of a configuration in general conformity with the top and lateral surfaces of the article.

3. A package for enclosing foodstuffs and the like at least one wall of which package comprises a layer of aluminum foil, a layer of transparent plastic film laminated to the exterior surface of said aluminum foil whereby said aluminum foil is visible from the exterior of the package and a layer of non-transparent plastic film laminated to the interior surface of said aluminum foil whereby said aluminum foil is not visible from the interior of said package.

4. A packaging combination comprising a stiff member, a first stiff flap on one edge of said stiff member, a first fold line between said stiff member and said first stiff flap, a second stiff flap on an opposing edge of said stiff member, a second fold line between said second stiff flap and said stiff member, an envelope comprising a formed thermoplastic film of readily foldable gauge and an unformed thermoplastic web of readily foldable gauge joined at a sealed edge defining an enclosure and including first and second flange portions spaced from each other generally across the envelope, said unformed web and flange portions defining a generally flat surface of said envelope, said envelope being positioned upon said stiff member with the unformed web portion lying upon and backed by said stiff member, said flaps being folded upon said sealed edge, and means securing the envelope between the flaps and stiff member.

5. A packaging combination comprising an envelope including a formed thermoplastic film of readily foldable gauge and an unformed thermoplastic web of readily foldable gauge joined at a sealed edge defining an enclosure and including first and second flange portions spaced from each other generally across the envelope, said unformed web and flange portions being generally coplanar, a stiff backing member backing said flange portions and the unformed web extending therebetween, stiff flap means and fold-line means integral with said backing member, said flap means being folded and overlying the flange portions of the envelope, and means securing said flange portions between said flap means and backing member.

6. A package containing an article comprising a substantially wrinkle-free, flexible, transparent, thermally formed film of thermoplastic material, an unformed web of thermoplastic material, a rectangular line of heat seal joining said film and web facially in the form of an enclosing envelope, said unformed web defining a flexible flat side of the enclosing envelope, a flexible peripheral flange projecting outward from the envelope at the heat seal defined by the end edges of said film and web, a straight fold in said flange folding opposite edges of the envelope against the flat side of the envelope, a stiif backing board secured to said flat side and the folded envelope edges and securing the folded edges against the flat side, said backing board having flaps at each end extending over and enclosing and shielding the envelope edges at the unfolded portions of said flange and at the ends of the folded portions of said flange, and means securing the backing board flaps to the formed film face of the unfolded portions of said flange.

7. A package containing an article, which package comprises (=1) a wrinkle-free, transparent, flexible, readily foldable thermoplastic film cover formed to a shape closely receiving the article and having suflicient resiliency to resist dead-folding, and (2) a readily foldable unformed base as a generally flat side of the package and comprising (i) a thermoplastic film layer peripherally heat sealed to the formed film and (ii) a layer of pliable nonresilient material sufficient to overcome the resilience of both the cover and base, whereby the peripherally sealed portions :of said cover and base can be dead-folded against adjacent portions of said envelope and will remain in folded disposition.

S. The package of claim 7 wherein said peripherally heat sealed portion defines a peripheral flange extending said formed film and unformed base outward from the edge of the package generally in the extended plane of said generally flat unformed base.

9. The package of claim 8 including a dead-fold along each of two opposing sides of said package at the juncture of said flange with the remainder of the package.

10. A package including an article enclosed in the packaging envelope of claim 2, a backing member, and means securing said backing member to said unformed web.

11. The package of claim 3 including a backing member and means securing said backing member to said transparent film.

12. The packaging combination of claim 5 wherein said sealed edge includes third and fourth flange portions spaced from each other across the package and connecting said first and second flange portions at the ends thereof, said third and fourth flange portions being folded under against the unformed thermoplastic film.

13. A packaging combination comprising an envelope including a thermoplastic base web of readily foldable gauge and a thermoplastic cover web of readily foldable gauge joined at a heat sealed edge defining an enclosure and including first and second flange portions spaced from each other generally across the envelope, said base web and flange portions being generally co-planar, a stiff backing member backing said flange portions and said base web extending therebetween, stiff flap means and fold line means integral with said backing member, said flap means being folded and overlying the flange portions of the envelope with the envelope edge extending along the fold line means, and means securing said flange portions between said flap means and backing member.

14. A package containing an article, which package 3 comprises a stiff backing member having opposing end flaps, a first envelope web disposed on said backing member, a second envelope web peripherally secured to said first Web to define an enclosure enclosing said article, said peripherally secured portions of said Webs being normally generally in the plane of said first web, said end flaps being folded over opposing ends of said peripherally sealed webs at the peripherally sealed portions thereof and securing the opposing peripheral ends of the envelope between said flaps and backing member.

15. The packaging combination of claim 4 including an additional flap upstanding from each of said end flaps for protecting the opposing end Walls of the envelope.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,533,554 12/1950 Byerly.

2,621,129 12/1952 Ramsbottorn et a1. 20646 X 2,679,969 6/1954 Richter 2293.5 2,802,569 8/1957 Massey 20678 2,888,787 6/1959 Cloud 53-22 2,892,538 6/1959 Middleton 20778 3,011,629 12/1961 Rohdin 20645.31 3,029,149 4/1962 DeLOng.

3,061,091 10/1962 Wichman 20678 3,104,172 9/1963 Wizelman 20678 X 3,104,759 9/1963' Hansen 20678 3,183,100 5/1965 Bonini 99171 3,216,832 11/1965 King 99-171 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,209,082 9/ 1959 France.

831,550 3/1960 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Protective Packing of Frozen Foods, Refrigerating Engineering, February 1954, pp. 48, copy found in 99- 171.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner. M. L. RICE, Examiner.

Claims

14. A PACKAGE CONTAINING AN ARTICLE, WHICH PACKAGE COMPRISES A STIFF BACKING MEMBER HAVING OPPOSING END FLAPS, A FIRST ENVELOPE WEB DISPOSED ON SAID BACKING MEMBER, A SECOND ENVELOPE WEB PERIPHERALLY SECURED TO SAID FIRST WEB TO DEFINE AN ENCLOSURE ENCLOSING SAID ARTICLE, SAID PERIPHERALLY SECURED PORTIONS OF SAID WEBS BEING NOR-