Package with wrap-around frame

Abstract

A clear plastic enclosure for small articles of commerce has a front panel and a rear panel, each panel including a major planar surface with a shaped cavity therein, and a generally rectangular outer peripheral edge, and the panels having an engaged position wherein their planar surfaces touch and their corresponding cavities cooperate to form a single article-receiving cavity, and a wrap-around frame member for engaging and retaining the combined edges of the engaged panels. The frame member has four elongate frame elements, each one having beveled opposite ends, and connected to each other at their opposite ends by integrally formed hinges, except first and fourth frame elements having free ends that are securable to each other, whereby adjacent elements are rotatable to bring adjoining beveled ends into engagement to hold right angles and to form the frame member into a rectangle, and a longitudinally extending groove along the inner part of each element cooperates to form a continuous groove that receives and secures the peripheral edges of the co-engaged panels, and the frame having outer edges that are shaped to allow the enclosure to support itself upright on a flat surface.

1 . A plastic package for small articles of commerce, including;
 a) a generally rectangular front panel having a major planar wall and a perimeter edge;   b) a generally rectangular rear panel having a major planar wall and a perimeter edge; and   c) a wrap-around retainer member for said panels having a first, second, third and fourth elongate frame element, each said element having an outward side and an inward side, and connected to each other at their opposite ends by integrally formed hinges, except said first and forth elements having free ends adapted for connection to each other, whereby said elements can be formed into a rectangle, and groove means on the inward side of said elements for receiving and holding the outer edges of said front and rear panels, whereby said member is securable in its rectangular configuration to engage the perimeter edges of said panels in said groove means and hold said panels with their planar walls in parallel relationship and provide an article-receiving cavity between said panels.   
   
   
       2 . A package as defined in  claim 1  wherein said panel perimeter-engaging groove means comprises a single longitudinally extending groove in the inward side of each of said elements, and wherein at least one of said panels has a blister in its planar wall. 
   
   
       3 . A package as defined in  claim 2  wherein each of said panels has a blister, and said blisters cooperate to form a single article-receiving cavity. 
   
   
       4 . A package as defined in  claim 2  wherein said blister has a mouth, and including a generally rectangular card having a central opening and embraced by said front and rear panels with said central opening exposing said blister mouth. 
   
   
       5 . A package as defined in  claim 2  wherein the outward sides of said elements have a configuration adapted for supporting the package upright on a horizontal surface. 
   
   
       6 . A package as defined in  claim 1  wherein said panel-engaging means comprises a pair of longitudinally extending, spaced apart grooves in the inward side of said elements, the first of said pair adapted for engaging said front panel and the second for engaging said second panel whereby an article-receiving cavity is formed between the planar walls of said panels. 
   
   
       7 . A package as defined in  claim 6  wherein at least one of said panels has a blister in its planar wall. 
   
   
       8 . A package as defined in  claim 6  wherein the outward sides of said elements have a configuration adapted for supporting the package upright on a horizontal surface. 
   
   
       9 . A package as defined in  claim 2  wherein said front and rear panels are each constructed of a non-plastic material and have a central opening in said planar wall, and including a clear plastic blister piece having a flange, whereby said blister piece is mountable in said opening with said flange engaging said planar wall.