AU635221B2

AU635221B2 - A liquid package for pressurized contents

Info

Publication number: AU635221B2
Application number: AU42468/89A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Ingemar Ohlsson
Original assignee: Profor AB
Current assignee: Profor AB
Priority date: 1988-10-05
Filing date: 1989-10-04
Publication date: 1993-03-18
Anticipated expiration: 2009-10-04
Also published as: EP0362541B1; DE68908827T2; ES2045311T3; CA1333263C; SE8803525L; JP2604458Y2; RU1804428C; AU4246889A; EP0362541A1; JPH1193U; JPH02139332A; SE8803525D0; DE68908827D1; SE500075C2; ATE93800T1

Abstract

The invention relates to a liquid package for pressurized contents manufactured from thin metal foil laminated with plastic material and in the shape of a truncated cone where the ratio of the bottom radius R of the cone to the top radius r of the cone is r APPROX 0.4 R.

Description

A

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952-69 Form ION COMPLETE SPEC

(ORIGINAL)

Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: e 0 Priority: Related Art: '0 Published: Name of Applicant: o

A

Address of Applicant: AB PROFOR Ruben Rausings gata, S-221 86 Lund, Sweden Wctal Inventor: for Service Address for Service: INGEMAR OHLSSON M atermark Patent Trademark Attorneys 50 QUEEN STREET, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 3000.

Complete Specification for the invention entitled: A LIQUID PACKAGE FOR PRESSURIZED CONTENTS The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us us A LIQUID PACKAGE FOR PRESSURIZED CONTENTS The present invention relates to a liquid package for pressurized contents.

A demand has existed for a long time for inexpensive and ecologically beneficial packages for pressurized, carbonated beverages. The packages found on the market to-day are glass bottles, aluminium cans and plastic bottles. Each of these has some advantages and disadvantages.

Glass has good properties permitting a gas-tight package which withstands the inner pressure the contents exercise on the package and which does not affect the taste of the liquid contents. Glass bottles can be cleaned and refilled or crushed when the raw material is to be used anew for bottle manufacture.

To wash and refill may be considered advantageous but the washing process entails undesirable expense and an appreciable consumption of energy. Conventional glass bottles, moreover, are heavy and require a large volume in transport. The weight makes them also less attractive for the consumer.

The aluminium cans discussed in recent times, are also eminently suitable for recycling. The main disadvantage of aluminium as packing material, however, is the expensive and energy-demanding manufacture of aluminium, which also tends to become more expensive still with rising energy prices. A further disadvantage of this type of packages is that their inside are varnished and that this varnish contains solvents which negatively affect the taste of the liquid. Furthermore, empty packages which are transproted to the brewery cannot be stacked into one another, so that the transport becomes inefficient and expensive.

Plastic bottles which are also encountered on the market for carbonated beverages are expensive. The plastic raw material may be reused, however, for another manufacture, such as e.g.

insulating padding in clothing.

For a development of a wholly new packaging for pressurized contents all the abovementioned aspects have to be weighed up carefully. The packaging should be inexpensive and the manu- -2facture should not be too energy-demanding or require an expensive raw material. The package should be recoverable, Moreover, it should be light from a point of view of the consumer and of transport and, in particular, it should be stackable for a more efficient transport in empty state. The packing material should protect the product and it should not affect its taste and quality. The material also should be gastight and withstand the internal pressure which the liquid exercises on the package.

It is an object of the present invention to make possible the manufacture of a cheaper and ecologically more beneficial package for pressurized contents which possesses the properties enumerated above.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide 15 a package where the contents are in contact with a thermoplastic material which, differently- from varnish, does not affect the Squality of the liquid contents and in which the liquid is protected from light, which also contributes to the retention of the quality and taste of the liquid contents.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide the package with a characteristic and attractive appearance in a form which contributes to a good utilization of volume during distribution.

These and other objects have been achieved in accordance 25 with the invention in that a liquid package of the type described in the introduction has been given the characteristic that the package is in the shape of a truncated cone where the relationship between top radius and bottom radius can be expressed by the formula r a 0.4R, where r designates the radius of the top surface and R designates the radius of the bottom surface.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the attached drawings wherein Fig. 1 shows the packages as whole Fig.2 shows the relationship between the top radius and the bottom radius Fig. 3 shows a conceivable packing pattern as a distribution unit.

As is evident from Fig.1 the package 1 in accordance with the present invention is in the shape of a truncated cone, with a shell surface 2 manufactured from a thin'metal foil,e.g. thin sheet steel, laminated at least on one side with a thermoplastic material. The metal foil has good gas-tightness properties.

The thermoplastic material is chosen so that it has good welding characteristics, Moreover, it should have good adhesion capacity to metal and it should be ecologically beneficial. If a choice is made to manufacture the shell surface 2 of thin sheet steel, it is possible already from the start to make use in the e* manufacture of recycled scrap and thus make the manufacture less expensive. The sheet steel too may possibly be recovered.

The stamped out sheet is rolled round to a cone and the 15 thermoplastic material on its surface is welded with overlap to a longitudinal joint 3. The joint 3 coincides with a generatrix on the truncated cone.

The package 1 is provided with bottom 4 and top 5. The bottom 4, which may be manufactured of thermoplastics or sheet metal, may be wholly closed or it may comprise an opening device. The bottom 4 should be designed so that it can withstand the 'pressure from the enclosed liquid. If it is chosen to make the bottom 4 of sheet metal it should be covered at least on one side by means of lamination with, or application 25 of, a thermoplastic material and be welded together with the thermoplastic layer of the shell surface 2 by heating.

To the top 5 or bottom 4 an opening device 6 is fitted in a tight manner which on opening of the package 1 is intended to be torn off so that the enclosed liquid becomes accessible for consumption.

The truncated cone is characterized by the relationship between the radii of its top and bottom surfaces which can be expressed by the formula r (12 1) R, which corresponds to a 0.4R, where R designates the radius of the top surface 7 and R the radius of the bottom surfacj 8, which is illustrated in Fig.2.

-4- The bottom radius is chosen so that it fits the module used in the handling of distribution and transport. The top radius then can be calculated according to the aforementioned formula r (12 1)R. The height of the package, and with it also the cone angle, is determined by the volume, bearing in mind the product volume, head space, that is to say splash space, and bottom and top design. The height, and the cone angle connected therewith, are limited by practical considerations in respect of the ease of handling and the desire that the packages should 10 make the best possible use of the distribution units.

**irH The enclosed volume is calculated by the formula- 3--R 2 (3 12) where H represents the height and R the radius of the bottom S: area 8.

oo** Fig.3 shows a distribution unit 9 comprising 13 off packages 1,10. With different package dimensions, of course, a great number of other packing patterns may exist taking into consideration the transport and distribution modules.

Fig.3 demonstrates also that if a package 10 with an aforementioned relationship between the radii of top and bottom 20 surfaces is positioned upside down, that is to say reversed between 4 adjoining packages 1 positioned the right way up, the reversed package 10 will rest on its top surface 7, that is to say wholly on a level with the bottom surfaces 8 of the four packages 1 which are positioned the right way up. At the same time a tangential touch is obtained along four whole generatrices on the shell surface 2 of the reversed package and one whole generatrix on each shell surface 2 of the four packages 1 which are positioned the right way up. Thus a good utilization is obtained of the space which the packages 1 occupy.

in their distribution unit 9. The packing pattern is held together e.g. by being shrink-wrapped or enclosed, in some form, by the distribution unit. To hold the units 9 together the space can be utilized better, moreover, by turning every other unit 9 upside down. The units 9 can also be stacked in vertical direction, since their surfaces are wholly plane and the internal pressure of the packages 1 imparts to them great strength and endurance against the effect of external pressure.

As is evident from the above description, a liquid package is provided by the present invention which complies with the demands regarding gas tightness and strength for carbonated beverages and which is cheaper than the liquid packages for pressurized contents on the market at present. The liquid packages in accordance with the present invention, moreover, are ecologically more beneficial, since they can be manufactured mainly from recycled material which can be recovered again. The manufacture, moreover, is not as energy-demanding as e.g. that 10 of aluminium cans. By means of the present invention, moreover, a package is obtained which in an improved manner preserves the quality and taste of the enclosed beverage, as the enclosed beverage is in contact with a thermoplastic material and as it is protected against light by the metal foil.

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Claims

1. A distribution unit of packages, comprising: a plurality of truncated cone-shaped packages, each of said packages having a planar substantially circular top surface at one end thereof and a planar substantially circular bottom surface at the opposite end thereof, said plurality of packages including four first packages having their top surfaces lying substantially in a first plane and having their bottom surfaces lying substantially in a second plane, and a second package having its top surface lying substantially in a second plane and its bottom surface lying substantially in said first plane, the top surface of said first and second packages having the same radius and the bottom surface of said first and second packages having the same radius, and the ratio of the radius of the top surface of the first and second packages to the radius of the bottom surface of the first and second packages being substantial 0.4, whereby each of said four first packages contract two of said four first packages and said second package contract each of said four first packages along a line extending from the top surface of a respective package and the bottom surface thereof.

2. The distribution unit of packages according to claim 1, wherein S said second package is positioned in the center of said four first packages, and .o•.ei S said first packages are substantially equally spaced around the circumference of said second package.

3. The distribution unit of packages according to claim I or 2 wherein each of said first and second packages is fabricated from a metal foil laminated on at least one side with a thermoplastic material. THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. A liquid package for pressurized contents, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n t h a t the package is/in the shape of a truncated cone, where the relationship etween top radius and bottom radius can be expressed by th formula r 0.4R, where r designates the radius of the top/surface 7 and R designates the radius of the bottom surface 8 2. A liquid package 1 for pressurized co ents in accordance with claim 1, charact e r i z ed in t h a a package 10, placed in reversed position between four p ckages 1 which adjoin one another and are positioned the ight way up, touches along four generatrices of its shell surface 2, tangentially one generatrix on the shell sur aces 2 of each of the four packages positioned the right way p, and that the top surface 7 of the reversed package 10 wholly on a level with the bottom surfaces 8 of the fou packages 1 positioned the right way up. 3. A liquid pac ge 1 for pressurized contents in accordance 20 with claim 1, c h a r a c t/e r i z e d i n t h a t the shell surface 2 of the packag 1 is manufactured from thin metal foil, laminated at least o one side with a thermoplastic material, and that the packa is provided with top 5 and bottom 4.

4. A liquid package 1 for pressurized contents in accordance th claim 1, c h a rac t e r i z e d i n t ha t the top 5 or the bottom 4 of the package comprises an opening device 6 which is fitted in a tight manner to the package 1 and is intended to be torn -off w.holly Or partly. on opening of the package: 1. DATED this 3rd day of October 1989. AB PROFOR T -i WATERMARK PATENT TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS QUEEN STREET 44Ar MELBOURNE. VIC. 3000.