Tamper resistant blister pack
Disclosed is a tamper resistant blister pack having a paperboard assembly attached to, and surrounding, at least a part of a flange on the blister (window element). An upper ply of the assembly is attached to an upper side of the flange. Additionally, although in some instances not necessary, a lower ply is attached to the lower side of the flange. The plies of the assembly have a paperboard layer, an upper film layer laminated to an upper side of the paperboard layer and a lower film layer laminated to a lower side of the paperboard layer. These layers and their attachment to the blister provide tear resistance without crisscrossing film orientation. Methods of making the pack are also disclosed.
1. A tamper resistant container comprising,
a tear resistant clear polymer window element comprising a viewing area and a window element flange,
a paperboard assembly sealed to, and surrounding, at least a part of the window element flange, the paperboard assembly comprising,
an upper ply sealed to an upper surface of the window element flange, the upper ply comprising a first paperboard layer, a first, upper layer of film laminated to an upper side of the first paperboard layer and a first, lower layer of film laminated to a lower side of the first paperboard layer, and
a lower ply sealed to a lower surface of the window element flange, the lower ply comprising a second paperboard layer, a second, upper layer of film laminated to an upper side of the second paperboard layer and a second, lower layer of film laminated to a lower side of the second paperboard layer, and
wherein the film is an oriented film, and the orientation of the upper layers of film is substantially the same as the orientation of the lower layers of film.
2. The container of claim 1 in which the lower layer of film of the upper ply is sealed to the upper surface of the window element flange.
3. The container of claim 2 in which the upper layer of film of the lower ply is sealed to a lower surface of the window element flange.
4. The container of claim 1 in which at least a peripheral portion of the lower film layer of the upper ply is sealed to at least a peripheral portion of the upper layer of film of the lower ply.
5. The container of claim 1 in which the paperboard assembly comprises a single card folded to form the upper ply and the lower ply, with at least the upper ply sealed to the window element flange.
6. The container of claim 1 in which the paperboard assembly comprises a first ply, sealed to the upper side of the window element flange and a second ply, separate from the first ply, sealed to the lower side of the window element flange and to the first ply.
7. The container of claim 1 comprising a product housed in and viewable through the window element.
8. The container of claim 1 in which the paperboard assembly comprises paperboard base stock.
9. The container of claim 8 in which of the paperboard base stock is between 0.006 and 0.040 inch thick.
10. The container of claim 1 in which the paperboard base stock is selected from the group consisting of solid bleached sulphate (SBS), solid unbleached sulphate (SUS), and clay coated news (CCN).
11. The container of claim 1 in which the film is selected from the group consisting of linear low density polyethylene, low density polyethylene, medium density polyethylene, high density polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate.
12. The container of claim 1 in which a single ply of the paperboard assembly has a machine direction tear resistance of at least 500, measured by TAPPI Test Method T414, Internal Tearing Resistance of Paper and expressed in units of gram force.
13. The container of claim 1 in which a single ply of the paperboard assembly has a preferred machine direction tear resistance of at least 600, measured by TAPPI Test Method T414, Internal Tearing Resistance of Paper and expressed in units of gram force.
14. The container of claim 1 in which a single ply of the paperboard assembly has a cross direction tear resistance of at least 600, measured by TAPPI Test Method T414, Internal Tearing Resistance of Paper and expressed in units of gram force.
15. The container of claim 1 in which a single ply of the paperboard assembly has a preferred cross direction tear resistance of at least 700, measured by TAPPI Test Method T414, Internal Tearing Resistance of Paper and expressed in units of gram force.
16. The container of claim 1 in which a two-ply of the paperboard assembly has a machine direction tear resistance of at least 1600, measured by TAPPI Test Method T414, Internal Tearing Resistance of Paper and expressed in units of gram force.
17. The container of claim 1 in which a two-ply of the paperboard assembly has a preferred machine direction tear resistance of at least 1700, measured by TAPPI Test Method T414, Internal Tearing Resistance of Paper and expressed in units of gram force.
18. The container of claim 1 in which a two-ply of the paperboard assembly has a cross direction tear resistance of at least 1700, measured by TAPPI Test Method T414, Internal Tearing Resistance of Paper and expressed in units of gram force.
19. The container of claim 1 in which a two-ply of the paperboard assembly has a preferred cross direction tear resistance of at least 1900, measured by TAPPI Test Method T414, Internal Tearing Resistance of Paper and expressed in units of gram force.
20. A method of producing the container of claim 1 comprising sealing the upper surface of the window element flange to the first, lower layer of film of the upper ply.
21. The method of claim 20 further comprising sealing the lower surface of the window element flange to the second, upper layer of film of the lower ply.
22. The method of claim 20 further comprising sealing at least a portion of the periphery of the first, lower layer of film of the upper ply to at least a portion of the second, upper layer of film of the lower ply.
23. A tamper resistant container comprising,
a tear resistant clear polymer window element comprising a viewing area and a window element flange,
a paperboard assembly sealed to, and surrounding, at least a part of the window element flange, the paperboard assembly comprising,
an upper ply sealed to an upper surface of the window element flange, the upper ply comprising a first paperboard layer, a first, upper layer of film laminated to an upper side of the first paperboard layer and a first, lower layer of film laminated to a lower side of the first paperboard layer, and
a lower ply sealed to a lower surface of the window element flange, the lower ply comprising a second paperboard layer, a second, upper layer of film laminated to an upper side of the second paperboard layer and a second, lower layer of film laminated to a lower side of the second paperboard layer, and
wherein the film is a non-oriented film with no fixed orientation.