Method for packaging a spectacle lens

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10994881-B2
Application number	US-201616061150-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2016
Priority date	Dec 10, 2015
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Grant date	May 4, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for packaging an optical lens including two faces and a peripheral edge, at least one of the faces having a convexity marked by a peak point, the method including the following steps: a step of depositing a protective strip made from a rigid material at least partially along the edge, the width of the strip extending beyond the peak point of the convex face of the lens; a step of inserting the lens into an envelope delimited by a wall; a step of positioning the lens in the envelope, such that the protective strip acts as a spacer in order to maintain a distance between the wall of the envelope and the convex face of the lens and thus preventing any contact between the wall and the face.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of packaging an optical lens including two faces and a peripheral circumferential edge, at least one convex face of said two faces having a convexity marked by a peak point, said method comprising:
depositing a rigid material protective strip along a totality of a length of said peripheral circumferential edge, a width of the strip extending beyond the peak point of the at least one convex face of the lens, two ends of the protective strip overlapping one another along the peripheral circumferential edge forming an overlap over at least 1 cm thereby providing greater mechanical strength of the strip at the overlap in relation to remaining portions of the strip other than the overlap, the protective strip being at least partially elastic, the protective strip being tensioned when the protective strip is deposited over the peripheral circumferential edge of the lens with a tension of approximately 10 kN, the two ends of the protective strip being fixed together while the protective strip is tensioned around the peripheral circumferential edge of the lens;
inserting the lens in an envelope delimited by a wall; and
placing said lens in said envelope so that the protective strip serves as a spacer in order to maintain a distance between the wall of the envelope and the at least one convex face of said lens and thus to prevent any contact between said wall and said at least one convex face.

2. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the lens is a finished lens that can configured to be mounted on a spectacle frame with no transformation other than machining a contour of the lens.

3. The packaging method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the lens includes, on the at least one convex face, one or more of a hydrophobic coating or an oleophobic coating, a protective layer for the hydrophobic coating or the oleophobic coating, and a non-permanent ink marking configured to be removable by rubbing.

4. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the lens includes, on the at least one convex face, one or more of a hydrophobic coating or an oleophobic coating, a protective layer for protecting the hydrophobic coating or the oleophobic coating, and a non-permanent ink marking configured to be removable by rubbing.

5. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the width of the protective strip in contact with the peripheral circumferential edge is less than 7 mm.

6. The packaging method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the lens is one of:
(i) a semi-finished lens configured to be reworked by machining a concave face of the two faces in order to impart a predetermined prescription and to form a finished lens, and
(ii) a finished lens having the peripheral edge that is thicker than 5 mm in which the protective strip is not in contact with all of a width of the peripheral circumferential edge.

7. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the protective strip includes, before deposition, a support film having an adhesive face and a second face, a peelable layer adhering to the adhesive face and being configured to be peeled off the adhesive face, the protective strip being deposited by application of the adhesive face to the lens, said peelable layer being removed at the time of deposition so that the overlap occurs directly between a portion of the adhesive face and the second face of the support film.

8. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the protective strip extends beyond the peak point by a distance of at least 1 mm.

9. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising marking the protective strip, the marking including information serving to characterize the lens.

10. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the envelope has two plane faces between which the lens is inserted so that each of said plane faces is located facing one of the two faces of said lens, a positioning of the protective strip and in relation to the lens preventing one of the plane faces of the envelope that is located facing the at least one convex face of the lens from coming into contact with said at least one convex face of the lens, even when a pressure of at least 500 g or at least 1 kg is applied to the one plane face of the envelope.

11. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a combined structure of the protective strip and the lens when the protective strip is deposited around the lens is configured to resist a load of at least 1 kg applied to a plane extending perpendicularly to a central axis of the lens.

12. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the width of the protective strip in contact with the peripheral circumferential edge is less than 5 mm.

13. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the two ends of the protective strip overlap forming the overlap over at least 2 cm.

14. The packaging method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the protective strip extends beyond the peak point by a distance within a range including 2 mm to 5 mm.

15. An optical lens package comprising:
a lens comprising two faces and a peripheral circumferential edge, at least one convex face of said two faces having a convexity marked by a peak point;
a rigid material protective strip deposited along a totality of a length of the peripheral circumferential edge of the lens, a width of the strip extending beyond the peak point of the at least one convex face of the lens, two ends of the protective strip overlapping one another along the peripheral circumferential edge forming an overlap over at least 1 cm thereby providing greater mechanical strength of the strip at the overlap in relation to remaining portions of the strip other than the overlap, the protective strip being at least partially elastic, the protective strip being tensioned with a tension of approximately 10 kN when deposited over the peripheral circumferential edge of the lens, the two ends of the protective strip being fixed together while the protective strip is tensioned around the peripheral circumferential edge of the lens; and
an envelope delimited by a wall and comprising the lens inserted therein,
wherein the lens is placed in said envelope so that the protective strip serves as a spacer in order to maintain a distance between the wall of the envelope and the at least one convex face of said lens to prevent any contact between said wall and said at least one convex face,
the lens is one of (i) finished with a finished thickness, and (ii) semi-finished with a greater thickness than the finished thickness, and
the protective strip is deposited along a totality of a width of the peripheral circumferential edge of the lens when the lens is finished and along only a portion of the width of the peripheral circumferential edge of the lens when the lens is semi-finished.

Assignees

• Essilor Int

Inventors

• Henry Patrick

Classifications

• A45C11/005

  Contact lens cases (A45C11/046 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65B25/00 Primary

  Packaging other articles presenting special problems (bundling B65B27/00) · CPC title

• B65D2585/545

  Contact lenses · CPC title

• B65B61/20

  for adding cards, coupons or other inserts to package contents (adding unpacking elements B65B61/18) · CPC title

• B65B61/22 Primary

  for placing protecting sheets, plugs, or wads over contents, e.g. cotton-wool in bottles of pills · CPC title