CA1143346A

CA1143346A - Self-dispensing spring biased thin film container

Info

Publication number: CA1143346A
Application number: CA000351937A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Glen C. Bull, Jr.
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-05-22
Filing date: 1980-05-14
Publication date: 1983-03-22
Also published as: DE3303443A1; AU559494B2; AU1237083A

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A plastic or equivalent thin film bag is rolled up inside a coiling spiral formed from a strip sheet constant force spring to squeeze out its contents completely and to produce dispensing force at all times. The coil spring strip may be of plastic, elastomer or fibrous materials and may form a wall of the bag so that the container may be made at very low cost for storage of bulk fluids including carbonated beverages for dispensing therefrom one serving at a time. Thus a packaging array for fluent materials comprises a thin flexible-walled container or bag having a common area with an uncoiled spiral constant force spring strip and positioned to coil up by rolling up a container bag tail inside the coil spring spiral as contents are dis-charged. The bag is placed in a container confining the fluid bag contents to occupy a position with a height corresponding to that of the constant force coil spring spiral diameter thereby to exert by the spiral a sub-stantially constant force aiding the discharge of the contents over the entire bag capacity. The spring carries a contents gage which shows the amount of materials left in the bag.

Description

~43346 SELP-DISPENSING SPRING BIASED
THIN FILM CONTAINER

Technical Field This invention relates to packaging of fluid and fluent 5 materials such as food products, carbonated beverages, and the like, and more particularly it relates to the confinement of materials in thin film bags and means for dispensing the~ there-from.
Background Art Containers for dispensing fluids such as wine, milk, carbon-- ated beverages in individual quantities such as to fill glasses often cost more than the contents themselves, such as in the case of beer cans. Furthermore the containers are difflcult to store and present disposal problems. In most cases they have a single resident discharge position ~or dispensing and cannot be used in both horizontal and vertical positions. There has been no suitable substitute low-cost bulk package for dispensing carbonated bever-ages, in part, becau~e the carbonation may be lost in storage upon partial emptying of the bulk containers.
Also other forms of bulk packaging such a~ the thin plastic film storage bags placed in corrugated cardboard cartons by various packagers for dispensing wine and milk are deficient for household use in home refrigerators because of the limited storage space therein and shape~ where such bulk packa~es depend on gravity flow to dispense not compatible with shelf dimensions. Not only can it be di~ficult to completely empty a thin plastic bag because of folds, creases and pocket~ but also the gravity dispensed package in aspect ratio need be tall or vertical to produce the necessary discharge gravlty welght. Also dispensing force varies as contents are used. Loss of expensive liquids such as wine because of incomplete discharge is a problem. Also the discharge force decreases as the contents are dlspensed creates conditions such that carbonation is lost when carbonated beverages are attempted to be dispensed by gravity methods.
~*
'.~

Accordingly it is an objective of thi:s invention to provide improved bulk low-cost packaging with thin film flexible bags correcting the foregoing and other prior art deficiencies, in-cluding variable dispensing pressure and inconvenient aspect ratios.
Some attempts have been made to provide bulk dispensing con-tainers with pressurized discharge by a collapsing elastic member providing discharge force for a bag-like container, or the like, as typified by U.S. Patents 4,077,543 - D. F. Kulikowski et al., Mar. 7, 1978; 4,121,737 - C. L. Kain, Oct. 24, 1978; and 4,098,434 - A. R. Uhlig, July 4, 1978. However, these collapsible elastic members provide varying pressure during discharge and need be packaged in expensive outer containers. Neither do these devices adapt themselves to large bulk amounts of stored materials, such as five or ten liters.
In order to get a more constant dispensing pressure over a large distance, coiled spiral constant force springs have been used to produce dispensing force, for example, in U.S. Patents 4,136,802 - C. T. Mascia et al., Jan. 30, 1979 and S.N. Hope,

2,298,884, Oct. 13, 1942. However, as proposed in the prior art, these springs have not been effectively combined with thin plastic film containers in such a way as to provide effective and inexpensive bulk storage dispensing containers.
Brief Disclosure of the Invention Accordingly this invention provides an improved packaging combination of a thin flexible-walled bag bulk storage container and a constant force wide strip spring biased to coil up into a spiral, wherein the contents of a filled bag will hold the spring uncoiled and as the bag is emptied the spring automatically rolls up with the bag thereinside to simultaneously squeeze out the con-tents thoroughly and with substantially constant pressure over the dispensing range of contents while completely eliminating voids, folds and pockets of accumulated air, effervescence gas, or stored materials.

L~l ~3-The bag is inexpensive and may be formed integrally with the constant force spring as a constituent wall of the bag.
Preferably it is contained in an outer carton of proper aspect ratio to fit on a home refrigerator shelf to dispense several liters of carbonated beverage, milk, wine, or the like, and thus provide low container cost, simple efficient storage and ready access for dispensing.
The invention particularly comprehends a packaging array for bulk dispensing of several servings of a beverage, including, a thin film non-self-supporting flexible walled bulk bag-like con-tainer containing multiple servings of a liquid and having a normally closed discharge outlet in communication with the liquid to discharge its contents without manual pxessure when the outlet is opened. The thin flexible-walled bag-like container having a selectively openable material discharge outlet at one end thereof to permit part or substantially all the liquid to flow thereout and be dispensed automatically without manual pressure when the outlet is opened and having a tail portion at the other end.
Spring means engage the tail with a force tending to coil it up and supply-a substantially constant discharge pressure against the liquid in the bag-like container with the liquid within the con-tainer supplying a counter force engaging the coil position to hold the tail portion of the container partly uncoiled and permit-ting the spring means to coil up to roll up the tail portion of the bag as the outlet is opened to remove from time to time the contents from the bag-like container automatically without manual pressure or repositioning substantially by the force of the spring means. Thus a discharge force is exerted by the coiled spring on the liquid to discharge the liquid rapidly and uniformly, to keep the liquid under pressure until it is substantially completely disaharged from the bag-like container without entrapment in folds or creases of the non-self-supporting film, to squeeze substantially all the contents from the container without residual waste, and to prevent entry of air or contamination into the con-tainer when multiple servings are dispensed.
D

.

Brief Description of the Drawings Further features, objects and advantages of the invention will be found throughout the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Figure 1 is a broken away view of a refrigerator shelf look-ing into the front view of a carton containing the dispensing container afforded by this invention;
Figure 2 is a side view in section of a carton containing a partly empty dispensing container as seen from lines 2-2 of Figure l;
Figure 3 is a further side view embodiment enlarged in section with the dispensing container filled, showing further features of the invention;
Figures 4A to D are various structural embodiments of the spring-thin film bag construction as afforded by the teachings of this invention; and Figure 5 is a side elevation view of a package with a gage showing the amount of contents remaining.
Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment In storage of fluent food products such as milk, carbonated beverages, wine, etc. it is desirable to provide packages with an aspect ratio compatible with standard home refrigerator shelving, as depicted in Figure 1 by carton 10 between shelves 11 and 12 adjacent refrigerator insulated wall 13. The contents may be discharged by way of flexible hose 14, which may be simply clamped in the clip 15, which serves as a simple valve. The hose may be pinched manually during dispensing to draw out neatly a glass of liquid from a several liter supply stored within carton 10.
Other fastening and valve arrangements may be used, as desired, including flow-control devices.
The container within the carton 10, shown with cardboard corrugations 16, is a flexible walled thin film bag 17 of plastic or an equivalent flexible thin wall material, as shown in this case partly full of a fluent material 18 to be dispensed. In ac-cordance with this invention the tail end 19 of the container bag17 opposite the discharge hose 14 is neatly rolled up within the spiral sheet strip spring 20 which retains a constant external D

spring pressure upon the remaini:ng contents 18 for urging them out the discharge opening at hose 14 throughout the dispensing cycle until bag 17 is completely emptied and the spring is coiled in its rightmost position against front wall 21 of carton 10.
As the flexible bag simultaneously rolls inside the strip spring coil 22 convolutions all remaining liquid in the tail section 19 is squeezed out into the residual reservoir portion of liquid 18 without any loss of liquid or accumulation of gas pockets as in the case of carbonated beverages.
Design data for constant force metal spiral springs is shown in a pamphlet from AMETEK, ltrade name), Hunter Spring Division, Hatfield, Pa. 19440. Constant force of the coil 22 is maintained upon the stored liquid material 18 tending to hold the effervescent carbonized state intact during long periods of storage, as constrasted with CO2 loss into gas pockets when any pockets or portions of the bag are depressurized such as if the contents were fed out solely by force of gravity. However, supplemental gravity force of discharge may be incorporated and amplified by means of the inserted wedge 23 which gives an in-clined surface toward spout hose 14 when the carton is on a re-frigerator shelf as shown in Figure 1.
When the container bag 17 is filled as in Figure 3, the coil 22 is positioned against the rear wall 25 of the carton 10 to have the materials 18 filling the bag 17 and exerting a counterforce toward rear wall 25 tending to unwind coil 22. Thus, the bag 17 may be preloaded and placed in carton 10 or the materials may be entered into hose 14 orifice at a pressure sufficient to unwind coil 22 when the container is emptied to refill. Carton 10 has sufficient strength to support and limit the filled bag 17 dimen-sions. On the other hand the carton-container assembly is in-expensive and can be a single use cardboard item thrown away after use. As such it can be crushed for trash disposal in a compactor or manually to take little disposal space.
The preferable materials for the container bag 17 are poly-ethylene and polyester (polyterepthalic acid) commonly referred ' ' :

-6~ 33~6 to as PET being the preferred bag material for eith~r a separate blow molded bag or sheet bag laminate of two layers or one layer and substrate as later will be described. Sealing of laminated bags is conventional by dielectric, laser, ultrasonic or cement sealing techniques. Methyl ethyl ketone can be used as a liquid adhesive, dnd is manufactured by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington, Delaware, 19898.
In accordance with this invention, wherein the bag 17 and coil spring 22 are rolled up together, it is desirable to hold the outer end 30 of the flat spring strip when uncoiled to affix ln place in the container. This may be done for easy manual removal and insertio~when the spring forces are compatible by a fabric to "Velcro'~Yinterface depicted by the micro-hook structure 31. One interface material is attached to the floor 32 of carton 10 near the front panel 21 and the other is attached to the bottom of the spring strip end 30, thereby to removably fasten the spring strip end 30 down in place by a simple insertion or removal step. This then lets the coil 22 wind up toward front face 21 of carton 10. Adhesives, bolts or clamps may also be used to perfor~ thls function.
On the other hand to assure complete rolling and squeezin~
of contents 18 out of the tall end 19 of the bag 17 it is pre-ferably attached to the inner end 33 of the spring strip when uncoiled by a similar removable "Velcro" holding strip 34 disposed laterally across the bag end 19 and spring strip end 33. It may be sufficient when separate bags and springs are used simply to wind up a longer tail section 19 into the coils of the spring to retain the bag frictionally in place.
Thus as the coil 22 winds up it squeezes out the materials at gap 35 to avoid loss of material while maintaining the optimum spring force pressure of the coil 22 against the bag 17 and contents 18 to urge discharge from spout 14. In the case of carbonated beverages stored at 40F a pressure of at least 10 psi (70 kPaj is usually sufficient to prevent loss of CO2 in gas pockets.

1.'13~3~6 - --7~

Also as seen in Figure 3, the arrangement of spout 14 and weight of materials 18 in the container bag 17 will tend to keep spring strip end 30 in place, particularly with a grommet like holder built into hose 14 to mate with a carton aperture 37 and hold the bag 17 at the bottom of front panel 21.
The coil spring assembly is preferably one of a low-cost plastic or fibrous laminated construction of the nature shown for example in U.S. Patent 2,826,523 to H. Blaszkowski et al., March 11, 1958. Thus, the spring strip has two contiguous layers one 40 cross sectioned for plastic such as a polyester and the other 41 not cross sectioned to represent a variety of base material laminates serving with layer 40 to provide a spring coiling bias of the nature required to dispense the materials.
The spring force and size is selected to provide the desired dispensing pressure and to conform with the packaging dimensions.
It is noted however that the strip spring used in this invention has primary utility when the packaging aspect ratio desired is a deep but low profile. Thus, the depth of a box along the length of the coiling strip is considerable and the maximum outer diameter of the coiled spring can be small so that the height need not be great. Thus, as shown in Figure 1 this container combination is well suited for containers to be stored on refrig-erator shelves. The width of the spring strip and thus the container is variable but may be relatively large since the spring strip is preferably in the form of a sheet of 25 to 50 cm in order to have a single economical package with the packaging cost per serving low.
The various construction forms for which this techni~ue is suitable are shown in Figures 4~ to D. Thus, in Figure 4A, the spring strip comprises contiguous layers 40 and 41 of a plastic or fibrous material as for example in U.S. Patent 2,826,523, supra. It is critical when the constant force spiral spring strip or sheet is used for dispensing bulk materials from a package, that the spring layers 40 and 41 are compatible with the need to expand a thin film bag with considerable volume so that it can be rolled up together with the spring to exert the dispensing 1:~

- ~ . .
~. :

3 3 ':~ 6 force on the materials stored therein. Thus, a two layer spring as in Figure 4A has the layers 40, 41 bonded together over their entire surface. At the inner end 50 the tail end 19 of bag 17 is affixed or frictionally held within the spiral coil layers.
The bag 17 is not cross hatched but shown simply by lines to indicate its thin film quality, and has upper and lower layers 51, 52. This is the configuration as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3.
As seen from Figure 4B, the coil spring strip 53 may be metallic. This is preferable generally only when optimum forces are required or when reusable cartons are provided for refilling or replacing container bags 17.
The version of Figure 4C is the least expensive unit having the layer 40 of the coil spring strip comprising the lower layer 52A of the bag 17'. Thus, the upper layer 51A comprises a further plastic film attached or sealed about the junction 50 and edges Inot shown) to form a unitary bag-spring assembly. The plastic film may be replaced by an equivalent such as a thin flexible aluminum film for example in some applications.
It is important that the bag layer 17' is not coextensive with the constant force spring area, otherwise the required container storage capacity shown in Figures 2 and 3 would not be available. Thus the two spring layers, if there are two, are bonded together over their entire surface area, and a bag is attached to the spring external to the two bonded layers. Also it is critical that the layer 17' be wound up into the coil over the entire strip or sheet of the two layer spring ~or one layer metal alternative if used). Although it is conceivable that some of the surface area of the coil spring strip or sheet may be deleted, it would not then serve the purpose of preventing loss of contents in pockets as the container is emptied.
In Figure 4D the dispensing and coiling forces may be increased by joining two spring strips to conjointly coil wherein the spring strip layers 40A and 40 constitute the container bag walls. This might be desirable for example in dispensing semi-fluid fluent materials such as batter. In general this version would have limited volume capacity because of the requirement .D

~. ~

~L1433~
g that the coil springs wind up to~ether and would therefore need be somewhat coextensive in area.
As may be seen in Figure 5, there is shown a simple gage for showing the remaining materials in storage. Because of the constant force discharge, there is in this type of package no "feel" for the amount of material remaining, and the contents gage helps determine when a replacement need be reordered.
Thus the constant force spring sheet 50 which is wrapping up t~e tail end 51 of bag 52 in the spiral 53 is wound about a center spool 54. This spool has an extending finger riding in the slot 55 at one side of the box container 56 to show the - spiral position and thus the contents of the bag 52. Preferably ~ a matchinq slot is on the opposlte carton side, and the marker 54 is a shaft extending through the coil spring 53 to ride in the slots 55 on both sides.
Accordingly there is provided a self-dispensing container incorporating a thin film flexible bag and a constant force spiral spring provides a low-cost readily manufactured bulk container for fluent materials substantially reducing container cost per serving. The aspect ratios of the contalner provide convenient and efficient storage of bulk quantities in household refrigerator shelves. The package is especlally suitable for storing carbonated beverages so that they can be partially dispensed without losing carbonization.
Having therefore advanced the state of the art with improved container features, those features of novelty believed repre-sentative of the spirit and nature of the invention are defined with particularity in the claims.
.

' '

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A packaging array for bulk dispensing of several serv-ings of a beverage, comprising in combination, a thin film non-self-supporting flexible walled bulk bag-like container containing multiple servings of a liquid and having a normally closed dis-charge outlet in communication with the liquid to discharge its contents without manual pressure when the outlet is opened, said thin flexible-walled bag-like container having a selectively open-able material discharge outlet at one end thereof to permit part or substantially all the liquid to flow thereout and be dispensed automatically without manual pressure when the outlet is opened and having a tail portion at the other end, spring means for en-gaging the tail with a force tending to coil it up and supply a substantially constant discharge pressure against the liquid in said bag-like container with the liquid within the container sup-plying a counter force engaging the coil position to hold the tail portion of the container partly uncoiled and permitting the spring means to coil up to roll up the tail portion of the bag as the outlet is opened to remove from time to time the contents from the bag-like container automatically without manual pressure or reposi-tioning substantially by the force of the spring means, whereby a discharge force is exerted by the coiled spring on the liquid to discharge said liquid rapidly and uniformly, to keep the liquid under pressure until it is substantially completely discharged from the bag-like container without entrapment in folds or creases of the non-self-supporting film, to squeeze substantially all the contents from the container without residual waste, and to prevent entry of air or contamination into the container when multiple servings are dispensed.

2. A packaging array as defined in claim 1 with means positioning said bag-like container comprising an outer carton which contains the bag-like container to occupy substantially a position with a height corresponding to that of the spring coil spiral diameter.

3. The array defined in claim 2 wherein the structure positioning the container comprises an outer carton encompassing the spring means and thin flexible-walled container.

4. The array defined in claim 3 wherein the carton is dimensioned to have a short height relative to width and length, thereby to fit into a household refrigerator shelf.

5. The array defined in claim 3 wherein the carton has a bottom surface for holding the spring means and container inclined from back to front to increase the flow of liquid out of the discharge orifice under the influence of gravity and the container has said discharge orifice extending through the container front.

6. The array defined in claim 3 wherein the spring means comprises a plastic non-metallic material which forms an internal wall of said container.

7. The array defined in claim 6 wherein the thin film container consists of two layers fastened together about the edges and one layer comprises said spring means.

8. The array defined in claim 3 wherein the spring means holds said bag-like container tail and comprises a strip spring external to said container.

9. The array defined in claim 1 wherein the container discharge outlet includes means holding the outer end of the spring affixed adjacent said exit spout.

10. The array defined in claim 4 wherein the container and spring means are substantially coextensive, means positioning the container comprising a carton having a bottom substantially coextensive with the spring means when uncoiled, with the spring means positioned in the carton adjacent the bottom with the container thereabove and a spout formed at one end of the container near the outer end of the spring when coiled extending through a front panel of the carton, wherein the spring means coils with a diameter which substantially fills the height of the carton.

11. The array of claim 1 wherein the flexible bag-like container has two opposite walls, and comprises one wall attached to said spring means and the other wall being the spring means.

12. A packaging array as defined in claim 1 wherein the liquid is a carbonated beverage and wherein the force of said spring means as the container is being discharged and stored in partly empty condition keeps a pressure upon the beverage reducing any tendency of the beverage to decarbonize.

13. The package array of claim 3, 4 or 10 wherein said carton includes gage means for showing the amount of material in said container.