Display strip and package assembly

The invention relates to a display strip having sufficient punch hole strength for allowing a plurality of product-enclosed bags to be attached thereto for the purpose of arrangement and display, and package assembly.

Some products such as snack foods are generally packed in pillow packages (such as vertical pillow types and horizontal pillow types) and sold. In many cases, such product-enclosed bags are arranged on display racks in stores and sold. However, in such cases, each and every bag has to be placed on the racks by hand, and the display place for sale is restricted only to the given display racks.

A display method for product sale, called strip bag display, which requires no display rack, is known. As shown in FIG. 1, the strip bag display is a display form in which plurality of products are each attached to a tape material with a certain width, called a display strip, and hung. This display form needs no display rack and enables display and sale at any place such as a place beside a register in a store and a front desk area in a hotel.

In a conventional display strip form, for example, a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is fixed on the back side of a paper or resin tape that has preliminarily punched holes in certain positions, through which product-enclosed bags are each attached to the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape. In another form, for example, a paper or resin tape has resin hooks preliminarily fixed thereon in certain positions, and product-enclosed bags are each punched and hung on the hook through the punch hole. However, these display strip forms have difficulty in automating the process of attaching product-enclosed bags to the display strip. Thus, the strip bag display has not been widely used yet.

Against this problem, yet another display strip is proposed which has a heat sealing layer on one side such that product-enclosed bags can be directly bonded to the display strip by heat sealing (for example, see Patent Document 1 and the like). With this display strip, it is very easy to automate a continuous process including the steps of enclosing a product in a bag and attaching the product-enclosed bag to the display strip.

One end of such a display strip is hung on a hook provided on a rack and the like in order to display a plurality of the product-enclosed bags which are arranged and fixed on the display strip. For such display by hanging on the hook, a punch hole is generally formed at an end portion of the display strip. The hole punching process can easily be performed by punching using a punch and thus is preferably used for mass production at low cost. However, the display strip can often be broken at the punch hole portion, even though it is designed to have sufficient strength for use in a state where a specific number of product-enclosed bags are attached to it and even though it is designed to have a strength that enables it to withstand an impact when the displayed product-enclosed bag is pulled and peeled.

Problems which the Invention is to Solve

Under the circumstances, it is an object of the invention to provide a display strip having sufficient punch hole strength for allowing a plurality of product-enclosed bags to be attached thereto for the purpose of arrangement and display, and package assembly.

The invention is a display strip for allowing a plurality of product-enclosed bags to be attached thereto for the purpose of arrangement and display, which at least comprises a substrate layer containing a long fiber having a fiber length of not less than a width of the display strip and a sealant layer having heat-sealability, a punch hole being formed at an upper portion for hanging.

The invention is described in detail below.

The inventors have made investigations on a cause of the frequent breakage of the conventional display strip at the punch hole portion and finally found that the punch hole strength is extremely reduced when a notch-like incision is formed at the punch hole portion due to blunting of the edge of the knife for forming punch holes. Such a notch is inevitably formed as long as a hole punching process with a punch is performed. The inventors have made further investigations and finally found that if a substrate containing long fibers having not less than a predetermined fiber length is used, the extreme reduction in punch hole strength can be inhibited even when a notch is formed, so that the invention has been completed.

The display strip of the invention includes at least a substrate layer and a sealant layer. The substrate layer contains long fibers having a fiber length of not less than the width of the display strip. An extreme reduction in punch hole strength can be inhibited by the use of a substrate layer containing such long fibers, even when a notch is formed.

The substrate layer containing the long fibers is not particularly limited, but, for example, a substrate layer comprising a long fiber nonwoven fabric is preferable.

The long fiber nonwoven fabric is not particularly limited as long as the fabric is a long fiber nonwoven fabric containing long fibers having a fiber length of not less than the width of the display strip (usually, about 20 to 100 mm), but, for example, any one of a nonwoven fabric formed by melt blowing process, a nonwoven fabric formed by flash spinning process, and a nonwoven fabric formed by spunbond process, can be used. Among others, the nonwoven fabric formed by flash spinning process, and the nonwoven fabric formed by spunbond process are preferable.

The spunbond nonwoven fabric is a product formed into a nonwoven fabric which is obtained by forming a resin into the form of fibers from a spinning nozzle at the same time when the resin is deposited into a sheet form while the fibers are kept in a long fiber form, and then thermocompressing this deposited body between heating rolls. The fibers used therein may be core-sheath form composite fibers having a core of a high melting point resin and a sheath of a low melting point resin.

The flash spinning nonwoven fabric is a nonwoven fabric which is obtained by dissolving a polyolefin type polymer into a solvent such as a halogenated carbon at a high temperature under a high pressure, then giving a rapid pressure loss to the solution, thereby preparing a solution where phases are finely separated, discharging this phase-separated solution from a spinning nozzle, giving orientation to the polymer having the form of fibers and further forming a three-dimensional network structure, making this into a wave form with a conveyor and the like, and then compressing it with rolls.

For the display strip of the invention, there can be used a spunbond nonwoven fabric or a flash spinning nonwoven fabric produced by a conventionally known method.

The material of the long fibers is not particularly limited, and examples include polyolefin such as polypropylene, and polyethylene; polyester; and nylon. Among others, polyolefin and/or polyester are preferable.

The substrate layer may have a short fiber layer containing short fibers having a fiber length of not more than the width of the display strip besides the layer comprising a long fiber nonwoven fabric. When such a short fiber layer is laminated on the long fiber nonwoven fabric, obtained is an advantageous effect that the hardness of the display strip can be made higher if desired.

The short fiber layer is not particularly limited, and examples include a pulp layer and a paper layer.