Environment friendly dual use package and associated manufacturing business method

Abstract

Dual use plastic packages for prepackaged retail product are constructed to be recyclable, making the package environment friendly. The package also provides an in-the-package display of the packaged product, and allows for inclusion of advertising and promotional material. The basic package structure is formed of injection molded virgin clarified polypropylene material, a transparent material. In one embodiment a sheet of advertising material is held in a thin narrow sleeve formed on the outside surface of the package, allowing the paper sheet to be withdrawn during recycling operations. In another embodiment, the printed material is printed on the thin plastic sheet, which is clearly recyclable, although recovering a darkened plastic when recycled. A novel lock device is disclosed. Either or both those packages or any other retail packages may include the lock device to prevent the package from being opened in store. In this, the lock device includes a lock bar.

1 . A package product comprising: 
 a clamshell type case;    said clamshell type case including first and second clamshell sections and a spine; each of said clamshell sections defining a respective volume, and each said volume being open on one side; said clamshell sections being joined by respective living hinges to opposite side edges of said spine for pivotal movement about a respective living hinge, wherein said respective clamshell sections may be pivoted into frictional engagement closing said case and placing said open side of said respective volumes in confronting relationship to define a closed region adapted to receive and confine a product; and    a tear-away lock bar for locking said clamshell sections together to prevent said case from being opened, but which may be torn away from said clamshell sections to unlock said clamshell sections and permit access to any product confined therein, while producing visible evidence on said clamshell sections of the removal of said tear-away lock bar.    
   
   
       2 . The package for product as defined in  claim 1 , 
 wherein each of said first and second clamshell sections include a top edge wall, a bottom edge wall and a front edge wall;    wherein said front edge wall of each of said first and second clamshell sections includes a recessed edge wall portion formed therein, recessed from the remainder of said front edge wall;    wherein each of said recessed edge wall portions include a plurality of slots therethrough; and    wherein said lock bar includes a plurality of protruding barbs protruding from a bottom surface thereof, said protruding barbs being adapted to fit through said plurality of slots and grip the inner wall surface of at least one of said recessed wall portions to inhibit withdrawal of said lock bar.    
   
   
       3 . The package for product as defined in  claim 2 , 
 wherein said recessed edge wall portions of said first and second clamshell sections are positioned in alignment when said clamshell case is closed; and    wherein said lock bar is of a size to fit with said aligned recessed edge wall portions of said clamshell sections.    
   
   
       4 . The package for product as defined in  claim 2 , wherein said lock bar is of a size to fit into said recessed edge wall portions of said first and second clamshell sections;  
   
   
       5 . The package for product as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said lock bar includes a plurality of protruding barbs, said barbs being adapted to fit through a plurality of slots formed in an edge wall surface of said clamshell sections and grip an inner wall surface of said edge wall adjacent said slots to prevent withdrawal of said plurality of barbs from said plurality of slots and hold said lock bar against said edge wall.  
   
   
       6 . The package for product as defined in  claim 2 , wherein each said protruding barb comprises a forwardly directed tapered head supported at a distal end of a shaft attached to the underside of said lock bar and positioned normal thereto, wherein the side walls of said slots force said forwardly directed tapered head in one lateral direction from the normal as the lock bar is pressed into said recessed wall portion to flex the shaft aside and permit said barbs to pass through respective slots and wherein said flexible shaft snaps back to the normal position to move a flat surface on the rear of said tapered heads against the underside of the recessed edge wall portion adjacent to prevent withdrawal of said barbs from the respective slots, and, thereby hold said lock bar in engagement with said recessed edge wall portion.  
   
   
       7 . A reusable package and storage album for a product, comprising: 
 first and second housing sections, said first and second housing sections being adapted to mate to one another in frictional engagement to define a closed condition and an internal region within which to hold the product;    a spine; and    a pair of hinges;    said first and second housing sections, said spine and said pair of hinges being integrally formed in a unitary one piece structure of transparent plastic material;    said spine being attached to said first and second housing sections by respective ones of said pair of hinges for permitting said first and second housing sections to be repetitively pivoted into mating frictional engagement to place said housing sections in a closed condition to confine product and, alternately, pivoted out of mating frictional engagement to open said housing sections to permit withdrawal of said product;    a layer of transparent plastic material covering said back side surface of said open package sections and said spine, said covering layer having two opposed side ends attached to the underlying back side surface and another remaining two opposed side ends remaining unattached to thereby define a thin wide sleeve through said back side of said package that includes two open ends;    a paper sheet, said paper sheet including graphic and text print material on at least one of the front and back side of said paper sheet, and said paper sheet being located in said thin wide sleeve and covering said back side surface of said package.    
   
   
       8 . The reusable package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 7 , wherein said paper sheet is accessible for manual withdrawal from and insertion in said formed thin wide sleeve through an open end of said thin wide sleeve.  
   
   
       9 . A reusable package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 7 , wherein said paper sheet includes graphic and text print material on each of said front and back sides.  
   
   
       10 . The reusable package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 7 , wherein said paper sheet comprises C2S paper in a weight in the range of from 60 pounds through 100 pounds, said C2S designation representing paper that is coating on two sides.  
   
   
       11 . The reusable package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 7 , wherein said paper sheet comprises a point rating anywhere in the range of from 6 points through 24 points  
   
   
       12 . The reusable package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 7 , wherein said layer of plastic material consists of a sheet of virgin clarified polypropylene, and wherein said unitary one piece structure of transparent plastic material consists of injection molded virgin clarified polypropylene.  
   
   
       13 . The reusable package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 7 , wherein said unitary one piece structure of transparent plastic material further comprises injection molded virgin clarified polypropylene.  
   
   
       14 . The reusable package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 7 , wherein said paper sheet comprises a point rating anywhere in the range of from 6 points through 24 points and includes graphic and text print material on each of said front and back sides, wherein said layer of plastic material consists of a sheet of virgin clarified polypropylene, and wherein said unitary one piece structure of transparent plastic material consists of injection molded virgin clarified polypropylene.  
   
   
       15 . A reusable display package and storage album for a product, comprising: 
 first and second housing sections, said first and second housing sections being adapted to mate to one another in frictional engagement to define a closed condition and an internal region within which to hold the product;    a spine; and    a pair of hinges;    said first and second housing sections, said spine and said pair of hinges being integrally formed in a unitary one piece structure of transparent plastic material;    said spine being attached to said first and second housing sections by respective ones of said pair of hinges for permitting said first and second housing sections to be repetitively pivoted into mating frictional engagement to place said housing sections in a closed condition to confine product and, alternately, pivoted out of mating frictional engagement to open said housing sections to permit withdrawal of said product;    a sheet of thin bendable printable material having a top side and a bottom side and being opaque to light, said bottom side of said sheet being coupled to at least a surface of said first and second housing sections and covering said first and second housing sections and said spine;    said sheet of thin bendable printable material including a layer of ink on each of said top and bottom side at locations thereon overlying said first and second housing sections and said spine, said ink defining any of text and graphics symbols; and    said ink on said bottom side of said sheet of thin printable material being visible through said transparent plastic material of said housing sections and said spine.    
   
   
       16 . The reusable display package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 15 , wherein said sheet of thin bendable printable material comprises a sheet of virgin clarified polypropylene, and wherein said unitary one piece structure of transparent plastic material further comprises injection molded virgin clarified polypropylene.  
   
   
       17 . The reusable display package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 15 , wherein said sheet of thin bendable printable material consists of a sheet of virgin clarified polypropylene, and wherein said unitary one piece structure of transparent plastic material consists of injection molded virgin clarified polypropylene.  
   
   
       18 . The reusable display package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 15 , further comprising: 
 a tear-away lock bar for locking said housing sections together to prevent said housing sections from being opened, but which tear-away lock bar may be torn away from said housing sections to unlock said housing sections and permit access to any product confined therewithin, while leaving visible evidence of the removal of said tear-away lock bar on at least one of said housing sections.    
   
   
       19 . The reusable display package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 18 , wherein each of said first and second housing sections include a top edge wall, a bottom edge wall and a front edge wall; 
 wherein said front edge wall of each of said first and second housing sections includes a recessed edge wall portion formed therein, recessed from the remainder of said front edge wall;    wherein each of said recessed edge wall portions include a plurality of slots therethrough; and    wherein said lock bar includes a plurality of protruding barbs protruding from a bottom surface thereof, said protruding barbs being adapted to fit through said plurality of slots and grip the inner wall surface of at least one of said recessed wall portions to inhibit withdrawal of said lock bar.    
   
   
       20 . The reusable display package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 19 , wherein each of said recessed edge wall portions including a plurality of slots therein.  
   
   
       21 . The reusable display package for sale and storage of a product as defined in  claim 20 , wherein each said protruding barb comprises a forwardly directed tapered head supported at a distal end of a shaft attached to the underside of said lock bar and positioned normal thereto, wherein the side walls of said slots force said forwardly directed tapered head in one lateral direction from the normal as the lock bar is pressed into said recessed wall portion to flex the shaft aside and permit said barbs to pass through respective slots and wherein said flexible shaft snaps back to the normal position to move a flat surface on the rear of said tapered heads against the underside of the recessed edge wall portion adjacent to prevent withdrawal of said barbs from the respective slots, and, thereby hold said lock bar in engagement with said recessed edge wall portion.  
   
   
       22 . A reusable package and storage album for a product, comprising: 
 first and second housing sections, said first and second housing sections being adapted to mate to one another in frictional engagement to define a closed condition and an internal region within which to hold the product;    a spine; and    a pair of hinges;    said spine being attached to said first and second housing sections by respective ones of said pair of hinges for permitting said first and second housing sections to be repetitively pivoted into mating frictional engagement to place said housing sections in a closed condition to confine product and, alternately, pivoted out of mating frictional engagement to open said housing sections to permit withdrawal of said product;    said first and second housing sections, said spine and said pair of hinges being integrally formed in a unitary one piece structure of transparent plastic material;    a sheet of plastic material attached to and covering said back side surface of said housing sections; and    opaque printed material covering a major portion of the surface of said sheet of plastic material leaving at least one transparent portion uncovered to define a window whereby a portion of the interior of the package may be viewed from the exterior when the package is closed,    
   
   
       23 . The reusable package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 22 , wherein said opaque printed material covers a major portion of both sides of said sheet of plastic material leaving at least one transparent portion uncovered to define a window, said opaque printed material including text and/or graphic material on each of said front and back sides of said sheet of plastic material.  
   
   
       24 . The reusable display package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 22 , wherein said unitary one piece structure of transparent plastic material comprises injection molded virgin clarified polypropylene.  
   
   
       25 . The reusable display package and storage album for a product as defined in  claim 24 , wherein one of said housing sections includes a plurality of mounting pegs projecting from the base inside the respective housing section, said mounting pegs being adapted to mount a product carrier in said housing section; said product carrier for holding said product on the inside said package.  
   
   
       26 . A method for efficient production of reusable plastic packaging for product, comprising the steps of: 
 securing an order from a product vendor for a predetermined quantity of clam shell plastic packages for a product;    determining if said plastic package for said product is also useful for packaging a variety of different products or for like products of other vendors, and, if the determination is affirmative, continue with the steps that follow;    fabricating a quantity of clam shell package forms in a full open condition in a quantity greatly in excess of said predetermined quantity, said package forms being of a size and shape capable sufficient to confine any of a predetermined variety of additional product and free of any advertising text, information materials and graphics symbols specifically related to any one kind of product in said predetermined variety;    printing any of advertising text, information materials and/or graphics symbols particular to said vendor product on sheets of printable material to produce a printed sheets for inclusion with said package forms and/or products sufficient in number to cover the predetermined quantity of product;    coupling each printed sheet to a respective one of said package forms to produce open display packages that includes advertising text, information materials and/or graphics symbols particular to said vendor product;    filing said open display package with said vendor product; and    closing said display package and delivering the packaged vendor product to said vendor.    
   
   
       27 . The method for efficient production of reusable plastic packaging for product as defined in  claim 26 , including the additional step of locking said display package, following the step of closing said display package and before the step of delivering said packaged vendor product to said product vendor.  
   
   
       28 . The method for efficient production of reusable plastic packaging for product as defined in  claim 26 , wherein said printable material used in said step of printing any of advertising text, information materials and/or graphics symbols particular to said product on a sheet of printable material to produce a printed sheet for inclusion with said package form and/or product comprises any of a sheet of paperboard, a sheet of paper, and a sheet of plastic material.  
   
   
       29 . The method for efficient production of reusable plastic packaging for product as defined in  claim 26 , wherein said step of inclusion of said printed sheet with said package comprises the steps of placing said sheet of paper inside said package.  
   
   
       30 . The method for efficient production of reusable plastic packaging for product as defined in  claim 26 , wherein said step of inclusion of said printed sheet with said package comprises the steps of 
 fusing a sheet of transparent plastic material over the backside of an open clamshell package form to define with said backside of said clamshell package form a wide narrow sleeve; and    inserting said printed sheet inside said wide narrow sleeve.    
   
   
       31 . The method for efficient production of reusable plastic packaging for product as defined in  claim 26 , wherein said step of inclusion of said printed sheet with said package comprises the step of 
 fusing said printed sheet of plastic material to said clamshell package form.    
   
   
       32 . A method for efficient production of reusable plastic display packaging for a vendor's product, comprising the steps of: 
 securing an order from a product vendor for a predetermined quantity of clam shell plastic packages for a product;    determining if said plastic package for said product is also useful for packaging a variety of different products or for like products of other vendors, and, if the determination is affirmative, continue with the steps that follow;    fabricating a quantity of clam shell package forms in a full open condition in a quantity greatly in excess of said predetermined quantity, said package forms being of a size and shape capable sufficient to confine any of a predetermined variety of additional product and free of any advertising text, information materials and graphics symbols specifically related to any one kind of product in said predetermined variety;    printing any of advertising text, information materials and/or graphics symbols particular to said vendor product on sheets of printable material to produce a printed sheets for inclusion with said package forms and/or products sufficient in number to cover the predetermined quantity of product;    coupling each printed sheet to a respective one of said package forms to produce open display packages that includes advertising text, information materials and/or graphics symbols particular to said vendor product;    filing said open display package with said vendor product; and    closing said display package and delivering the packaged vendor product to said vendor;    placing in inventory the excess of said full open clam shell package forms not used in filling said order for said predetermined quantity to await a need for product packages;    searching for and locating at least one additional product vendor with a need for display packaging for product that falls within said predetermined variety of product for that product and securing a purchase agreement from at least that additional product vendor for packaging a second predetermined quantity of said additional product;    withdrawing a quantity of said full open package forms from said excess in inventory sufficient to fulfil said purchase agreement    printing any of advertising text, information materials and/or graphics symbols unique to said vendor product on sheets of printable material to produce printed sheets for inclusion with said package forms and/or products sufficient in number to cover said second predetermined quantity of product;    coupling each of said printed sheets to a respective package form in said excess to produce an open display package that includes advertising text, information materials and/or graphics symbols particular to said product;    filing said open display package with said product; and    closing said display package and delivering same to said second product vendor.    
   
   
       33 . A package product comprising: 
 a clamshell type case;    said clamshell type case including first and second clamshell sections; each of said clamshell sections defining a respective volume, and each said volume being open on one side; said clamshell sections being joined by a living hinge to said first and second clamshell sections, wherein said respective clamshell sections may be pivoted into frictional engagement closing said case and placing said open side of said respective volumes in confronting relationship to define a closed region adapted to receive and confine a product; and    a tear-away lock bar for locking said clamshell sections together to prevent said case from being opened, but which may be torn away from said clamshell sections to unlock said clamshell sections and permit access to any product confined therein, while producing visible evidence on said clamshell sections of the removal of said tear-away lock bar.