Tessellating blister packages for contact lenses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11684131-B2
Application number	US-202117548614-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 13, 2021
Priority date	Jan 22, 2019
Publication date	Jun 27, 2023
Grant date	Jun 27, 2023

Abstract

A blister package for a contact lens is provided that can be stacked with other blister packages of the same design. One example of the blister package has a body that includes a dome and a handle. A seal is attached to the top surface of the body and has a seal dome that seals a volume between the outer sidewall of the body dome and the inner sidewall of the seal dome. The handle has a through-hole and the through-hole that accommodates the outer sidewall of the seal dome. Another blister package provided has a handle and a bowl and the handle has a through-hole that accommodates the bowl outer surface. Stacks of blister packages are also provided as is secondary packaging for packaging stacks of tessellating blister packages.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A blister package for a contact lens, the blister package comprising:
a body comprising a handle and a body dome, the body having a top surface and a bottom surface, the body dome having an outer sidewall that intersects with the top surface at an intersection, the handle having a through-hole, and the through-hole having a through-hole diameter or other maximum dimension; and
a flexible seal comprising a seal dome, the flexible seal having a top surface and a bottom surface, the seal dome having an inner sidewall and an outer sidewall, the inner sidewall of the seal dome intersects with the bottom surface of the flexible seal at an intersection, wherein
the bottom surface of the flexible seal is connected to the top surface of the body such that the outer sidewall of the body dome is nested within the inner sidewall of the seal dome, and
the through-hole diameter or other maximum dimension of the through-hole is sized to at least partially accommodate the outer sidewall of the seal dome.

2. The blister package of claim 1 , further comprising a contact lens disposed in between the body dome and the seal dome, the contact lens having a concave surface resting on the body dome.

3. The blister package of claim 1 , wherein the through-hole diameter or other maximum dimension is at least as large as a diameter or other maximum dimension of the intersection at the inner sidewall of the seal dome and the bottom surface of the flexible seal.

4. The blister package of claim 1 , wherein the flexible seal is made of a foil material.

5. The blister package of claim 1 , wherein the body is made of a rigid material.

6. The blister package of claim 1 , wherein the body is made of a flexible material.

7. The blister package of claim 1 , wherein the bottom surface of the body surrounding the body dome is planar.

8. The blister package of claim 1 , wherein the bottom surface of the body is absent of protrusions that extend from the bottom surface in an opposing direction of the body dome.

9. The blister package of claim 1 , wherein the flexible seal further comprises a seal through-hole that is aligned with and a same size as the through-hole of the body.

10. The blister package of claim 1 , wherein the flexible seal comprises a double layer foil component, the double layer foil component comprises a sheet of material folded upon itself and defining a foil seal, a flap, and a fold, the foil seal and the seal flap intersecting at the fold, wherein the foil seal contacts the top surface of the body, forming a seal, the flap is configured to be pulled away from the foil seal to form a pull tab, and the pull tab is configured to be pulled so that the foil seal is separated from the top surface of the body to separate the inner sidewall of the seal dome from the outer sidewall of the body dome.

11. The blister package of claim 10 , wherein the foil seal is adhered to the top surface of the body and the fold contacts the top surface of the body between the body dome and a distal end of the handle.

12. A stack of blister packages, each blister package of the stack comprising a blister package of claim 1 , wherein the seal dome of a first blister package of the blister packages is placed in the through-hole of a second blister package of the blister packages, the second blister package being adjacent to the first blister package.

13. The stack of blister packages of claim 12 , wherein the seal dome of the first package is placed in the through-hole of the second blister package from the bottom surface of the body of the second blister package such that a top of the seal dome of the first package is disposed above the top surface of the body of the second blister package.

14. The stack of blister packages of claim 13 , wherein the seal dome of a third blister package of the blister packages is placed in the through-hole of the first blister package from the bottom surface of the body of the first blister package, the first blister package being in between the third blister package and the second blister package, and the outer sidewall of the seal dome of the third blister package is nested within an inner sidewall of the body dome of the second blister package.

15. The stack of blister packages of claim 12 , and a container, wherein each of the blister packages has an outer circumference, the outer circumferences all have the same profile, the container has an inner circumference having a profile, and the outer circumference profiles are complementary to the profile of the inner circumference.

16. The stack of blister packages of claim 12 , wherein adjacent blister packages of the stack are connected to one another along an edge of each such that the stack comprises a zig-zag configuration.

Assignees

• Coopervision Int Ltd

Inventors

• Almond Sarah
• Ortiz Carlos
• English Stephen
• Hunt Gary
• Nelson Mike
• Beard Russell
• Harkin Thomas
• Gavelle Pauline

Classifications

• B65D21/0209 Primary

  stackable or joined together one-upon-the-other in the upright or upside-down position (B65D21/0234, B65D21/0235 take precedence) · CPC title

• B65D75/366

  and forming one compartment · CPC title

• A45C11/005 Primary

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

• B65D75/326 Primary

  and forming one compartment · CPC title

• B65D2585/545

  Contact lenses · CPC title