PACKAGING FOR A WIPER BLADE OF A WINDSHIELD

Description

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a packaging for a wiper blade of a windshield wiper.

Units of packaging for wiper blades of windshields comprising a box and an insert are known in the prior art, wherein the insert is configured to receive a wiper blade and be inserted into the box.

In the prior art, these boxes are often configured to completely enclose the insert and the wiper blade when packaged.

Additionally, so-called blister packaging is known from the prior art, in which the wiper blade is completely surrounded by a transparent plastic material, for example. Alternatively, blister packaging is known where the back side of the packaging is made from cardboard material and the remaining sides of the packaging are made from transparent plastic material.

SUMMARY

The present invention proposes a packaging for a wiper blade of a windshield, wherein the windshield wiper may in particular be a windshield wiper for a vehicle window (e.g., for a rear windshield or a front windshield). For example, the wiper blade is for example composed of a spring rail, a wiper rubber, and possibly other components.

The packaging comprises a box with at least one viewing opening, at least one viewing window, and an insert (also referred to as a “tray”), wherein the viewing window is made of an at least partially transparent cellulose material and closes the viewing opening of the box. For this purpose, the viewing window is bonded to the box using an adhesive, for example.

A characteristic of the box's viewing opening is advantageously determined based on the required stiffness of the box and the desired visibility of the wiper blade through the viewing opening. The required stiffness is predetermined, for example, by a minimum stiffness of the box, which is necessary for assembly of the box in a machine and/or manual processing step.

It should be noted that the required stiffness of the box can be provided entirely by the box itself or in combination with the viewing window in the assembled state of the viewing window on the box.

The required stiffness of the box can be achieved, for example, by suitably determining an opening area and/or a shape and/or an arrangement position and/or a distance of the viewing opening from respective edges of the box.

The box is also configured as a support frame for the viewing window, so that the viewing window does not have to be self-supporting and can be flexible in terms of thickness and/or stiffness.

The insert has external dimensions that substantially correspond to an internal volume of the box. In addition, the insert is configured to receive the wiper blade by means of an internal shape corresponding to the wiper blade and to be inserted into the box together with the wiper blade.

The packaging according to the invention for a wiper blade of a windshield wiper offers the particular advantage that by using at least partially transparent cellulosic material for the viewing window, due to its biodegradability, a particularly environmentally friendly disposal of at least the viewing window is enabled, while simultaneously allowing a view of at least a part of the wiper blade accommodated in the packaging. Particularly advantageously, the entire packaging or at least a majority of the packaging can be made from biodegradable materials, providing a particularly environmentally friendly overall packaging for wiper blades.

By configuring the box as a support frame for the viewing window according to the invention, it offers a particularly high degree of flexibility in the design of the viewing window, which may have a lower stiffness due to being made from the cellulosic material. As a result, the viewing window itself may not contribute, or may contribute only to a lesser extent, to the overall stability of the packaging.

The box is particularly advantageously made of cardboard and/or based on natural fibers to enable environmentally friendly disposal of the packaging. In addition, the box is preferably designed as a folding box and/or made from a punching part with a provided adhesive tab. Furthermore, the box is preferably configured as a cuboid in its assembled state. The minimum stiffness of the box described above is of particular special importance in connection with the box's design as a folding box, as the minimum stiffness advantageously ensures that the box can be set into a cuboidal state, for example, sufficiently quickly during production and/or with the least possible deformation of the box. In other words, a suitable minimum stiffness of the box allows for reliable manual and/or automated unfolding of the folding box into the box's target state.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the distance between the viewing opening and the respective edges of the box is at least 0.5 cm, preferably 1 cm, and more preferably 1.5 cm. This ensures, among other things, the box's function as a support frame for the viewing window and/or the stiffness required for assembling the box.

In another advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the viewing opening comprises at least a first viewing opening and a second viewing opening arranged adjacent to the first viewing opening, wherein the two viewing openings are separated from each other by a web provided in the box. In this case, the web advantageously has a predefined minimum width, which is determined based on the required stiffness of the box and/or the packaging. The use of adjacent viewing windows allows for an overall better visibility of the windshield wiper within the package while maintaining the box's support frame function. It should be noted that in such a case, the viewing window may be a single viewing window that covers both viewing openings. Alternatively, it is also possible to close each viewing opening with an individually manufactured viewing window.

The width of the web between respective adjacent viewing openings is at least 0.5 cm, preferably at least 1 cm, and more preferably at least 1.5 cm. Furthermore, it is conceivable to additionally reinforce the web, preferably on an inner side of the box, using the box material and/or a different material.

Particularly preferably, the packaging is configured to package the wiper blade in a biased state of a spring rail of the wiper blade and/or to ensure by means of the stiffness of the box that forces acting on the box, in particular forces produced by the biased state of the spring rail, between 10 N and 20 N, preferably between 14 N and 18 N, substantially do not result in any outwardly visible deformation of the box. “Substantially do not result in any outwardly visible deformation” means that the box may experience minor deformations, e.g. protrusions of side surfaces, which do not affect the basic stability of the package and/or which affect optical requirements for the package only within an acceptable range and/or which do not adversely affect the stackability and/or transportability of the packaging. For example, an allowable deformation of the packaging may include a protrusion of one or more side surfaces up to 2 mm, preferably up to 1 mm, and more preferably up to 0.5 mm, without being limited to these values.

In a further advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the box and/or the viewing window and/or the insert and/or an adhesive for assembling the box and/or an adhesive for fixing the viewing window in the area of the viewing opening are made from biodegradable materials. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, all of the aforementioned components of the packaging are made of biodegradable materials, so that the packaging can be advantageously disposed of as a whole, such as by composting, without having to separate individual components in advance.

Advantageously, the length of the box is in the range of 55 cm to 100 cm, without being limited to such a length.

Further advantageously, a length of the viewing opening is between 5 cm and 30 cm, preferably between 10 cm and 25 cm, and more preferably between 18 cm and 22 cm. Alternatively or additionally, a width of the viewing opening is between 1 cm and 5 cm, preferably between 2 cm and 4 cm, and more preferably between 2.5 cm and 3.5 cm. The aforementioned values for the length and width of the viewing opening allow for a particularly advantageous overall stability of the packaging and a sufficient view of the packaged wiper blade.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, exemplary embodiment of the invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings show:

FIG. 1A first embodiment of a packaging according to the invention for a wiper blade of a windshield wiper;

FIG. 2A second embodiment of a packaging according to the invention for a wiper blade of a windshield wiper; and

FIG. 3 An embodiment of a box of the packaging according to the invention in conjunction with two viewing windows.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a packaging according to the invention for a wiper blade 10 of a windshield wiper, particularly a windshield wiper for a front windshield and/or a rear windshield of a vehicle, which is configured as a passenger vehicle or truck, for example.

The packaging comprises a cardboard box 20 with a viewing opening 22, a viewing window 30, and an insert 40, wherein the viewing window 30 is made of a transparent cellulose material and closes the viewing opening 22 of the cardboard box 20. For this purpose, the viewing window 30 is attached to the cardboard box 20 using an adhesive (not shown), wherein the adhesive is applied to the inner side of the cardboard box 20 around the viewing opening 22 during the manufacture of the package to attach the viewing window 30 to the inner side of the cardboard box 20.

The cardboard box 20, which is preferably designed as a folding box, is configured as a support frame for the viewing window 30, in that the distance of the viewing opening 22 from the respective edges of the cardboard box 20 is 1 cm in this embodiment, in order to ensure the stability and stiffness of the cardboard box 20 necessary for this.

A length of the viewing opening 22 corresponds to 20 cm here, while a width of the viewing opening 22 corresponds to 3 cm here. A length of the cardboard box 20 corresponds to 55 cm here.

The insert 40, which is made of a biofiber material here, has external dimensions that substantially correspond to an internal volume of the cardboard box 20. In addition, the insert 40 is configured to receive the wiper blade 10 by means of an internal shape corresponding to the wiper blade 10 and to be inserted into the cardboard box 20 together with the wiper blade 10.

Based on the configuration described above, the packaging for the wiper blade 10 is designed as a biodegradable packaging, which allows for particularly environmentally friendly disposal.

FIG. 2 shows a second exemplary embodiment of a packaging according to the invention for a wiper blade 10 of a windshield wiper.

Compared to the first exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the box 20, which is also configured here as a cardboard box, has a first viewing opening 22 and a second viewing opening 24 arranged adjacent to the first viewing opening 22, wherein the two viewing openings 22, 24 are separated by a web 26 provided in the box 20, which has an exemplary width of 1.5 cm.

The viewing openings 22, 24 are closed by means of a viewing window 30 formed continuously on the inside of the box 20, wherein the viewing window 30 is made of a transparent cellulose material.

Additionally, FIG. 2 shows a wiper blade 10, which is inserted into the box 20 by means of an insert (not shown). The wiper blade 10 has a spring rail, which is accommodated in the packaging in a biased state here. Since the wiper blade 10 is inserted laterally into the box 20, corresponding compressive forces 60 act on the insert and the box 20, which could cause lateral deformation of the box 20. However, this deformation is countered by maintaining the required stiffness of the box 20.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary embodiment of a box 20 of the packaging according to the invention in conjunction with two viewing windows 22, 24, into each of which separate windows 30 made of a transparent cellulose material are glued and which are separated by a web 26 of the box 20 to increase the stability of the box 20.

The box 20, which is designed as a folding box, is shown here in a state where the box 20 has been punched out of a cardboard sheet and is in an unassembled state.

Using an adhesive tab 50, opposite sides of the box 20 are subsequently glued together and the box 20 is unfolded into a cuboid-shaped solid body, in order to subsequently accommodate an insert 40 with an inserted wiper blade 10, as shown in FIG. 1.