AU603127B2

AU603127B2 - Beverage container

Info

Publication number: AU603127B2
Application number: AU77302/87A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Tooru Ichikawa
Original assignee: Hosokawa Yoko KK
Current assignee: Hosokawa Yoko KK
Priority date: 1986-08-21
Filing date: 1987-08-21
Publication date: 1990-11-08
Anticipated expiration: 2007-08-21
Also published as: DE3727972C2; CN87106409A; CN1009725B; CN1045742A; KR880002727A; GB2229992A; GB2229992B; DE3727972A1; GB2194507A; GB2230510A; GB8719739D0; GB2230510B; MY100554A; GB9005938D0; GB9005939D0; GB2194507B; AU7730287A

Description

OUR REF: 35490 S&F CODE: 56061 A,D AMENDMENTS 2* 5845/2 i~ p7 S F Ref: 35490 FORM COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE: Class Int Class Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: I .4.

r a 'aC1 Priority: Related Art: '"a~~4g I'f 1 i LI ~i~ Name and Address of Applicant: *a Kabushiki Kaisha Hosokawa Yoko 11-5, 2ban-Cho Chiyoda-Ku Tokyo-To

JAPAN

603127 Address for Service: a Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys Level 33 St Martins Tower, 31 Market Street Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia SU. Complete Specification for the invention entitled: f SBeverage Container The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us 5845/3 IHL LUMMIbbIUNLK Ur- YAIltNlI

AUSTRALIA

SBR/as/235T ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A liquid container generally includes a main container body and a liquid delivery unit secured thereto. The main container body is formed of a flexible sheet and has an opening at its upper end to which the liquid delivery unit is sealingly secured. The liquid delivery unit includes a mouth portion positioned outside the main container body, and a joining portion positioned below the mouth portion, A conduit portion extends from the joining portion toward interior of the main container body, according to one embodiment. In S this embodiment, at least one hole is formed at the upper position of the conduit. According to another embodiment, at least two flanges are disposed above the S 15 joining portion, and at least two ribs positioned between the flanges. The ribs project in a direction perpendicular to front and rear surfaces of the main container body and extend in an axial direction of the mouth portion.

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S ~Zrr, BEVERAGE CONTAINER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a liquid container for containing therein beverage such as orange juice and 5 sport drink.

Known is a liquid container formed of flexible sheet in the bag shaped configuration provided with an upper opening, such container being available for containing beverage such as for example, orange juice. The beverage is filled in the container through the upper opening and then the opening is thermally sealed. A wall of the container is formed with a hole which is normally closed by an adhesive sheet. For drinking the beverage, the adhesive sheet is peeled from the wall and a sealing film at the hole is broken by the insertion of a straw into an interior of the container.

According to such type of the conventional container, the straw must be further provided. If the straw is not provided together with the container, or if a user loses 20 the straw, it would be difficult to enjoy drinking. For example, the user must try to open the sealed opening of the container which however, is rather troublesome if a cutter or knife is not available.

In order to overcome the above-described disadvantages, another type of liquid container has been developed which includes an upwardly open bag-shaped main body made of a flexible film and a beverage delivery unit secured to the upper opening. The beverage delivery unit is provided with a mouth portion and a conduit extending into an interior of the container body.

The liquid container of the latter type is light in weight and can be easily opened in comparison with other type of liquid containers such as cans and bottles, and therefore, it is used for containing various sauce for noodles, meats and the like as well as beverages.

The liquid container of the improved type can overcome the above described problem. However, since the liquid is filled through the mouth portion of the liquid delivery unit into the container, air in the container may remain at the upper portion thereof, so Sfee 15 that the liquid would not be sufficiently filled in the container.

0 Further, when the liquid in the container is poured into another liquid receptacle such as a cup through the delivery unit, part of the liquid in the container still remains therein, since the conduit portion of the delivery unit deeply extends into the container interior. That is, an open end of the conduit is Spositioned adjacent the container bottom, so that liquid in the container may be displaced toward the upper portion of the container at the inverse posture.

The content in the container still remains, which is unecconomical.

2 I i r i _J Furthermore, in the improved type container, two flanges are provided at the mouth portion. During injection of the liquid into a plurality of containers, flanges of the neighbouring container may be disadvantageously entered between the flanges of the first one of the container, to thereby degrade alignment of the containers. Therefore, continuous liquid injection to the successive containers may not be attainable.

In another aspect, the liquid containers have nonuniform cross-section and are incapable of selfo. standing, so that it would be rather difficult to pack a plurality of the containers in a box or a package. In reality, these containers are packed randomly in the 15 box. However, in this case, the corner portion of the container may be damaged due to their irregular packing during their transportation. Further, in order to inject beverage into a plurality of the liquid containers, these containers must be regularly aligned in a row so as to perform smooth and effective filling of the beverage into the containers. However, since thse containers do not provide self-standing function, it would be rather difficult to smoothly fill the beverage in successive containers at a beverage filling station.

Further, as mentioned above, the conventional container does not provide self-standability, so that

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the container is not available when the container is required to be set on a dining table.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore, an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks and disadvantages and to provide an improved liquid container.

Another object of the invention is to provide such liquid container capable of reducing air amount in the container during filling of the liquid and enhancing liquid filling amount in the container.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such container which can completely discharge liquid therefrom.

15 Still another object of the invention is to provide such container available for continuous liquid injection into a row of containers.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a combination in which a plurality of containers can be regularly packed in a packing box.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such combination capable of regularly juxtaposing the containers for a subsequent beverage filling step at a beverage filling station.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such combination capable of preventing the containers from being damaged during their transportation, yet c assembling large numbers of the containers in a packing box.

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Still another object of the present invention is to provide a beverage container having self-standing function which can maintain its upstanding position on a flat plane such as a dining table.

According to the present invention, there is provided a liquid container comprising: a container body formed of a flexible material and having an; opening therein, and a liquid delivery unit secured to said opening and arranged to allow a liquid within the container body to pass therethrough, said delivery unit comprising: a mouth portion positioned outside said main container body, a joining portion in sealing contact with said opening, and .4 *.an elongate conduit portion extending from said joining portion within said container body, said conduit portion having an open free end within the container body, and communicating at its other end with said joining portion, and wherein at least one hole is formed in said conduit portion, the or all of the said holes being positioned inside said container body adjacent to said opening such that there are no holes along the length of said conduit portion.

The hole(s) allows air in the container to discharge toward S atmosphere during liquid injection into the container, so that complete liquid injection results without substantial accumulation of air in the so container.

5 If the delivery unit is used as a straw to discharge the liquid from the container, the hole(s) is preferably closed by the container wall because of the flexibility thereof, so that the liquid can be effectively S. sucked. Further, when the liquid is poured from the container, the hole(s) S in the conduit serves as liquid discharge port, to thereby completely S oo discharge the liquid from the container.

According to still another embodiment, there is provided a combination of the above-mentioned liquid container and a container assembling member comprising a channel member having a substantially C-shaped cross-section, said channel member being formed with a lip portion engageable with the delivery unit of the or each said liquid container.

j. A'S With the structure, a plurality of the liquid containers can be engaged with the channel member in such a manner that these containers are oriented in the same direction, so that the containers are regularly juxtaposed with one another, to thus permit these containers to be effectively packed in a packing box. Further, such 2 HRF/400 regularly juxtaposed containers can be subjected to smooth injection of the beverage at the beverage filling station.

Pr-Te. rre.cA According to thoreke embodiments of the present invention, the envelope hped container body is folded in gusset type manner, so that the body is of flat thin shape prior to filling the beverage thereinto. The side wall portions of the container body is inwardly folded to provide w-shape in cross-section. The internally folded portion having inverted V-shape in the W-shape is deformed into a flat plane upon injection of the beverage. According to still another embodiment, the lower end portion of the side wall portion is improved so as to provide self-standing function of the liquid 15 container upon injection of the liquid thereinto. That is, the lower end corners of the container body is cut away, and the cut away edges are heat-sealed together.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings; Fig. 1 is a perspectie view, with a part broken away, of a liquid container according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view of a delivery unit in the first embodiment; Fig. 3 is a perspective view, with a part broken away of a liquid container according to a second embodiment d *c-iL^'i of the invention; I D nnuirc rcrr Fig. 4(a) is a side view of a delivery unit; Fig. 4(b) is a side view of the delivery unit in which a conduit portion is added to the unit shown in Fig. 4(a); Fig.5 is a front view of a part of the delivery unit; Fig. 6 is a side view of parts of the delivery units each moving along a guide member; Fig. 7 is a top view of a liquid container.

Fig. 8 shows a part of a flexible film used to make a liquid container body shown in Fig. 1; .i Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing a container assembling member, a channel member, and a plurality of liquid containers assembled thereto; Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional elevation showing an 15 engagement between the channel member and the container; Fig. 11 is a schematic view showing assemblies of the containers transferred just before a beverage filling station; Fig. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a container body; Fig. 13 is a front view of a container body according to another embodiment of the invention; 00 Fig. 14 is a side view of a container body in which folded portion is forcibly pulled open prior to liquid injection; and, Fig. 15 is a bottom view of the container body after beverage injection.

16. MMI 1111_~_~~ DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to accompanying drawings.

Referring first to Fig. 1, a container body 1 has an envelope shaped configuration and is formed with an opening la at its top. The container body 1 has a flexible structure and is made of laminated film 6 which includes, as shown in Fig. 8, a polyester film 2 having thickness of 12 aluminum foil 3 (9 stretched nylon film 4 and polyethylene film 5 (60-120/u).

A content delivery unit 7 is secured to the upper opening portion la of the container body 1. The content S. delivery unit 7 is integrally coupled to the container body 1 upon sealing the upper opening portion.

15 As shown in Fig. 2, the content delivery unit 7 includes a mouth portion 9 having a thread portion 8 and a conduit portion 10 provided integral with the mouth a portion 9. The mouth portion 9 is positioned outside the container body 1 when the content delivery unit 7 is fixedly secured to the open end la of the container body 1. A cap holding member 9a is formed near the mouth portion 9 so as to hold a lower end of a cap 16 threadingly engaged with the thread portion 8. The conduit portion 10 has an upper end portion provided with a joining portion 11 for joining the conduit to the mouth portion 9. The upper opening la is in close contact with an outer peripheral surface of the joining E. portion 11 when the upper opening la is thermally sealed. A hole 12 is formed at an upper portion of the conduit portion 10. The hole is formed by partially cutting the cylindrical wall of the conduit portion of the delivery unit. Upon assembly, the hole 12 is positioned inside the container body 1 and at immediately adjacent the joining portion 11 which construction is the primary feature of the first embodiment.

According to a second embodiment shown in Figs. 3 to 7 wherein like parts and components are designated by the same reference numerals and characters as those shown in the first embodiment, inventive feature resides in the construction of the delivery unit portion outside i 15 the container body.

In the second embodiment, two supporting flanges r" >14, 14 extend in the transverse direction of the conduit Sa.

10 and are positioned between the thead portion 8 of the mouth 9 and the joining portion 11. The flanges are spaced away from each other in the axial direction of the conduit 10, and each has generally octogonal shape.

The container body has a three dimensional shape upon injection of the beverage, and two sides of the octogonal flange are directed in parallel with the front and rear surfaces of the container, while two sides of the remaining six sides are directed in a direction perpendicular to the front and rear surfaces of the a

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Ribs 15,15 project from an outer peripheral surface of the mouth portion 9 in a direction perpendicular to the front and rear surfaces of the container body 1 and extend in the axial direction of the conduit 10. These ribs are positioned between the upper and lower flanges 14 and 14. As best shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the ribs extend to the free ends of the flanges 14 and lower end portions of the ribs 15 are cut away as shown in Fig. These ribs 15 are provided in order to prevent the flanges 14 of a resultant liquid container(A) from engaging the flanges 14 of a neighbouring liquid container(B) when these containers are moved along a guide member 17. A cap 16 is provided as shown in Fig.

1, which cap is threadingly engaged with the thread 8 of the mouth portion 9.

As shown in Fig. 4 the delivery unit is not provided with the conduit portion, and the delivery unit is supported by the upper opening la of the container body 1 at the joining portion 11. This construction can provide advantages similar to the first embodiment, since the residual liquid can be completely discharged out of the container because of the uppermost location of the hole of the mouth portion.

On the other hand, according to a modified structure shown in Fig. a conduit portion 10 extends from the joining portion 11 similar to the first embodiment.

At the conduit 10 and adjacent the joining portion 11 and inside the body, provided are a plurality of slots 12 and a pair of ribs 13 extending in axial direction of the conduit portion 10. The slots 12 are formed symmetrically relative to each other. The conduit portion 10 has a longitudinal length whose lower end is positioned in the vicinity of a bottom of the container body 1 when the content delivery unit 7 is fixedly secured to the open end of the container body 1. This 10 length also applies 'to the first embodiment.

Next, an operation mode of the first and second S. embodiments according to the present invention will be described.

When the content delivery unit 7 is used as a straw or sipper, the cap 16 is removed from the mouth portion 9 for holding the mouth portion 9 in a human mouth.

Upon sucking or sipping, the wall of the container body 1 is urged toward the hole 12(Fig. 2) or slots 12(Fig.

4(b))formed at the conduit portion 10 because of the flexibility of the container body, so that the hole or slots 12 are closed by the wall. As a result, a beverage is sucked from the lower end of the conduit poriton When the content delivery unit 7 is used as a pouring means, the user holds the main body 1 with a hand and inclines the same, so that the beverage can be discharged through the hole or slots 12 of the conduit 12 out of an opening of the mouth 9. Since the hole or slots 12 are positioned at the upper portion of the conduit 10, the beverage is completely discharged out of the container body 1 at the inverse posture of the container.

Turning to specific operation of the second embodiment shown in Figs. 3 to 7, for filling the container body with the beverage, the container bodies 1 are suspended by the guide member 17 of a beverage filling apparatus (not shown) through the supporting flanges 14. In this case, the ribs 15 formed between the flanges 14 prevents the flanges from being engaged with the flanges of the neighbouring liquid container, so that the container bodies can be aligned in a row wi hout disturbance during beverage injection thereinto.

Further, the hole at the lower end of the mouth @oo portion(Fig.4(a)) or the plurality of slots 12(Fig.4(b)) allow air in the container to discharge toward atmosphere therethrough during beverage injection, and therefore, sufficient amount of the beverage can be filled in the container.

The ribs 15 also prevent the delivery unit 7 from thermal contraction during its cooling at the process of injection molding of the delivery unit, to thus improve dimensional stability. Furthermore, according to the embodiment shown in Fig. 4(b),the ribs 12 are provided for reinforcing the portion at which the slots 12 are 13 c formed. It goes without saying that the container body in the second embodiment is formed of a material described above and with reference to Fig. 8.

As described above, according to the foregoing embodiments, beverage can be effectively filled into the container body by smooth discharge of air through the hole or slots, and beverage can be effectively discharged out of the container body. Further, engagement between neighbouring container bodies is obviated to thus provide regular alignment in a row during injection of the beverage.

Next, a combination of the beverage containers and a container assembling member will be described with reference to Figs. 9 through 11. The combination requires above mentioned two flanges 14 and 14. The flange portions 14 is engageable with a channel member 20 as shown in Fig. 9.

As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, a container assembling member, the channel member 20 has generally Cshape cross-section, and is formed with a linear lip poriton 22. The channel member 20 is mounted on a recess 25 of a support member 23 disposed in, for example, a packing box, so that the lip portion 22 is placed at the upper portion of the channel member The channel member 15 has an internal space whose vertical length h is sufficienty sized to permit the liquid container to be engaged with the channel member 14 S. i 5

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0* in its inverse position to smoothly slide therealong.

A portion between the two flanges 14 has a rectangular cross-section, whose width is smaller than a width w of the lip portion 22 to allow smooth engagement of the flanges with the lip portion. It goes without saying that an axial length between the flanges is larger than a plate thickness of the channel lip.

For the transportation of the plurality of the liquid containers, the liquid containers are inversely held, 10 and are successively inserted into the interior of the channel member 20 from its longitudinal open end 21, so that flanges 14 are slidingly engaged with the lip portion 22. In this case, the envelope shaped main bodies are aligned in one direction for juxtaposing the 15 containers, and as a result, the containers are regularly assembled to the channel member A plurality of channel members 20 can be mounted in parallel with one another on the support member 23 in a packaging box as shown in Fig. 10. In this case, one of the main bodies 1 assembled to one of the channel member 20 is partially sandwitched by the main bodies assembled to the other channel member as shown in Fig. 10, and therefore, compact packaging is attainable. That is, the container bodies are mutually staggered with respect to two rows of the containers. The support member 23 can be the bottom of a packaging box and a plurality of support members 23 may be disposed, in one box,

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separately from each other in the vertical direction.

Further, in case the containers are filled with a beverage, the channel member 20 serves as a guide for introducing the containers to a beverage filling station 24 as shown in Fig. 11. Therefore, it is unnecessary to conduct pre-alignment of the containers for the beverage injection thereinto.

As described above, according to the combination of the containers and the container assembling member, since the plurality of the containers having non selfstanding function prior to liquid injection can be regularly and juxtaposedly assembled to the channel member, large number of the containers can be packed into a package box. Therefore, effective packaging is attainable, and high yieldability of the containers results without deterioration of the corner portion thereof due to frictional contact therebetween and without wrinkle of flexible main bodies. The regularly juxtaposed containers are also available for successive injection of the beverage thereinto without any prealignment of the containers.

In the foregoing embodiments, the flexible container body 1 has a rectangular shape(see Fig. 3) prior to the liquid injection, and is folded as shown in Fig. 12 in a gusset type manner. According to a third embodiment of the present invention, lower rectangular corners are cut away as shown in Fig. 13 so as to provide self-

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S. S upstanding function after liquid injection. As is apparent from Figs. 12 and 14 there are four rectangular corners lb Ic id and le in the foregoing embodiments.

However, according to the third embodiment,the four bottom corners are cut away as shown in Fig. 13 and the cut away edge portions are thermally sealed together at in Fig. 13.

The container body 1 has four side sealing portions 31a 31b 31c and 31d, and a bottom seal portion 32. When 10 viewing the side wall portion of the container body 1 by opening the W-shaped folding portion to a direction shown by arrows Y in Fig. 12, the side wall portion has a shape shown in Fig. 14. (in the Figure, the solid line shows the structure according to the third embodiment, and broken line shows the conventional and foregoing embodiments.) In Fig. 14, length L is defined between an inner folded bottom end 33 and inner edgeline of the side sealing portion 31. The length L is also set between the inner edgeline (upper edgeline in Fig.14) of a lower end seal 34 and a inner edgeline of the side sealing portion 31 to determine the upper point 35. Then the upper point 35 and internally folded bottom end 33 are line-connected as shown by the lines 36, and thermal sealing 30 is effected along the lines 36. After the thermal sealing, the broken line portions are removed.

With this structure, when the folded container body is inflated by the liquid injection, the bottom portion 17

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of the body 1, i, the bottom portion area Z in Fig.

13 is folded so as to provide the rectangular shape when viewing from the bottom portion as shown in Fig. 15, so that the container becomes capable of self-standing because of the gravity or weight of the content in the container body. In the third embodiment, since the lower end corner portions are cut away, the lower end portions of the container body are easily bent, so that the container can maintain upstanding posture because of 0 10 the weight of the beverage.

While the invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

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Claims

1. A liquid container comprising: a container body formed of a flexible material and having an opening therein, and a liquid delivery unit secured to said opening and arranged to allow a liquid within the container body to pass therethrough, said delivery unit comprising: a mouth portion positioned outside said main container body, a joining portion in sealing contact with said opening, and an elongate conduit portion extending from said joining portion within said container body, said conduit portion having an open free end within the container body, and communicating at its other end with said :C.I joining portion, and wherein at least one hole is formed in said conduit portion, the or all of the said holes being positioned inside said 0 5 container body adjacent to said opening such that there are no holes along the length of said conduit portion. 0*

2. A liquid container as claimed in claim 1, wherein said conduit portion has a cylindrical wall, and further comprising a pair of ribs extending downwardly in parallel with each other from the positions adjacent to the opening, said pair of ribs being formed on said cylindrical wall, wherein a plurality of holes are formed in said conduit portion S adjacent said opening, said plurality of holes extending through the cylindrical wall of said conduit portion and being located between the ribs of said pair.

3. A liquid container as claimed in claim 2, wherein said plurality of holes are a plurality of slots positioned within said container body and adjacent said opening.

4. A liquid container as claimed in claim 3, wherein said pair of S ribs are positioned on the outer surface of said conduit portion, and extend in an axial direction of said conduit portion.

A liquid container as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said delivery unit further comprises at least two flanges arranged on said mouth portion outwardly of said container body relative to said joining portion, and at least two ribs positioned between said flanges and projecting in a direction substantially perpendicular to front and rear surfaces of said container body. -19- HRF/0400r i i l i-r;l*~~x.*iiipl

6. A liquid container as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said flexible material comprises laminated films.

7. A liquid container as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said container body is generally in the form of a bag, is made of one or more sheets of flexible material, and has said opening at an upper end thereof.

8. A liquid container as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said container body has a folded construction defining a pair of side walls which are substantially V-shaped in cross-section prior to filling the container body with liquid.

9. A liquid container as claimed in claim 8, wherein said container body has front and rear walls and said pair of side walls, said front and rear walls being thermally sealed with said side walls, and said front and S rear walls being thermally sealed together at their lower end portions, four lower end corners of said container body being cut away, and edge *e S lines of said cut away portions being thermally sealed.

10. A combination of at least one liquid container as claimed in any preceding claim, and a container assembling member, wherein said container assembling member comprises a channel member having a substantially C-shaped cross-section, said channel member being formed with a lip portion engageable with the delivery unit of the or each said liquid container.

11. A combination as claimed in claim 10, wherein the liquid o delivery unit of the or each said liquid container has a flange portion external of its container body and adjacent to said opening, the lip 25 portion of said channel member being engageable with the flange portion of the or each said liquid container whereby a plurality of liquid containers may be assembled relative to said channel member.

12. A combination as claimed in claim 11, further comprising a S packaging box for storing a plurality of said liquid containers, and a plurality of support members disposed in said packaging box for mounting thereon at least two said channel members.

13. A combination as claimed in claim 11 or 12, wherein each said flange portion of a liquid container comprises two flange members spaced relative to each other in an axial direction of said delivery unit, the lip portion of a said channel member being engageable between said two flange members. HRF/0400r r,

14. A liquid container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. A container assembling member in combination with a container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this TWENTY FOURTH day of JULY 1990 Kabushiki Kaisha Hosokawa Yoko Patent Attorneys for the Applicant SPRUSON FERGUSON 9.* *i 9 9 9 .99. 99 9 3 999 9 9 9 *9 4 30 -21- HRF/(