CA1179993A - Expandible package for dispensing containers - Google Patents
Expandible package for dispensing containersInfo
- Publication number
- CA1179993A CA1179993A CA000419202A CA419202A CA1179993A CA 1179993 A CA1179993 A CA 1179993A CA 000419202 A CA000419202 A CA 000419202A CA 419202 A CA419202 A CA 419202A CA 1179993 A CA1179993 A CA 1179993A
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- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- package
- pockets
- sealed
- tape member
- sheet member
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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Abstract
IMPROVED EXPANDIBLE PACKAGE
FOR DISPENSING CONTAINERS
ABSTRACT
A sealed package for pressurizing the contents of dispensing containers. The package con-tains chemicals which react to develop gas pressure to expand the package when in the dispensing container.
A series of sequentially rupturable pockets add further increments of internal pressure as dispensing proceeds.
These pockets, and additional pockets containing chemi-cals for initiating package pressurization, are formed in an outer film heat-sealed to a second outer film to define the package. The rupturable pockets are covered with a tape to maintain the chemicals isolated until rupture is effected by progressive lift-off of the tape as the package expands.
FOR DISPENSING CONTAINERS
ABSTRACT
A sealed package for pressurizing the contents of dispensing containers. The package con-tains chemicals which react to develop gas pressure to expand the package when in the dispensing container.
A series of sequentially rupturable pockets add further increments of internal pressure as dispensing proceeds.
These pockets, and additional pockets containing chemi-cals for initiating package pressurization, are formed in an outer film heat-sealed to a second outer film to define the package. The rupturable pockets are covered with a tape to maintain the chemicals isolated until rupture is effected by progressive lift-off of the tape as the package expands.
Description
~7~3 IMPROVED EXPANDIBLE PACKAGE
FOR DISPENSING CONTAINERS
This invention relates to product dispens-ing containers wherein the container contents are forced out by internal pressure, usually under control of a valve at the top of the container. More particularly, this invention relates to a sealed package to be in-serted in such a container to develop the dispensing pressure.
U.S. Patent No. 3,718,236 discloses a system for generating pressure within a dispensing container by mechanically combining two or more reactive chemicals in a sealed bag-like structure free-floating within the container. In one disclosed arrangement, the bag includes a number of sealed compartments containing sodium bicar-bonate which are ruptured to combine that chemical with a mixture of citric acid and water so as to develop gas pressure within the bag. The rupturing of these compart-ments is carried out sequentially as the dispensing operation proceeds, in order to develop successive in-crements of additional pressurized gas as required to
FOR DISPENSING CONTAINERS
This invention relates to product dispens-ing containers wherein the container contents are forced out by internal pressure, usually under control of a valve at the top of the container. More particularly, this invention relates to a sealed package to be in-serted in such a container to develop the dispensing pressure.
U.S. Patent No. 3,718,236 discloses a system for generating pressure within a dispensing container by mechanically combining two or more reactive chemicals in a sealed bag-like structure free-floating within the container. In one disclosed arrangement, the bag includes a number of sealed compartments containing sodium bicar-bonate which are ruptured to combine that chemical with a mixture of citric acid and water so as to develop gas pressure within the bag. The rupturing of these compart-ments is carried out sequentially as the dispensing operation proceeds, in order to develop successive in-crements of additional pressurized gas as required to
2~ maintain an approximately constant pressure within the container as the contents are dispensed.
The bag-like structures shown in United States Patent
The bag-like structures shown in United States Patent
3,718,236 are relatively complex and difficult to manufacture by conventional processes. ~lthou~h the basic structure can be sub-divided into simpler components for separate manufacture, that approach requires processing by at least two different types of machines to make the complete assembly, thus resulting in undesi-rably high cost.
The present invention provides in a package to be inser-ted in a container to develop pressure for dispensing the con-tainer contents, the package being of the type comprising a sealed enclosure formed by flexible sheet material and containingtherewithin a set of chemicals to be reacted together to form an initial gas pressure, the sealed enclosure further containing a plurality of individually sealed cells containing additional reactant chemicals and arranged to be ruptured sequentially as the package expands during a dispensing operation to effect reaction between the additional chemicals and one or more of the set of chemicals to produce additional increments of gas pressure within the sealed enclosure; that improvement in such a package wherein;
the sealed enclosure comprises a first outer sheet member formed with a plurality of pockets opening into the interior of the enclosure; at least one of the pockets containing a first chemical component of the set of chemicals; at least another of the pockets containing a second chemical component OL the set of chemcials and capable of reacting with the first chemical component to develop an initial dispensing gas pressure; the plurality of pockets in the first outer sheet member further comprising a set of pockets containing additional chemical material capable of reacting with at least one of the chemical components to develop further dispensing pressure; the sealed enclosure including a second outer sheet member seal.ed peripherally to the first outer sheet member to form therewith the sealed enclosure encompassing all of the pockets; a tape member between the first and second outer sheet members and positioned over the openings of the set of pockets, the tape member being sealed around the peripheries of the openings to prevent the chemical material therein from coming into contact with the chemical components; the tape member being secured to the second outer sheet member to provide for progressive lift-off of the tape member from the first outer sheet member to open the peripheral sealsaround the set of pockets in se~uence as the two outer sheet members separate during a dispensing operation, thereby permitting reactive contact between the additional chemical material and at least one of the chemical components to develop additional increments of gas pressure within the package.
The present invention also provides a package to be inserted in a conta.iner for developing expansive pressure to force out and dispense the contents of the container, comprising: a first outer sheet member formed with a plurality of pockets; at least one of the pockets containing a first chemical component;
at least another of the pockets contai.ning a second component capable of reacting with the first chemical component to develop an initial dispensing gas pressure; the plurality of pockets further comprising a set of pockets containing additional chemical material capable of reacting with at least one of the chemical components to develop further dispensing pressure; a second outer sheet member sealed peripherally to the first outer sheet member to form therewith a sealed enclosure encompassing all of the pockets; a tape member between the outer sheet members and positioned over the openings of the set of pockets, the tape member initially being sealed around the peripheries of the openings to prevent the chemical material from coming into contact with either of the chemical components; and the tape member being secured to the second sheet member to provide for progressively opening the peripheral seals around the set of pockets as the two sheet members separate during a dispensing operation, thereby permitting reactive contact between the chemical material and at least one of the chemical components to develop additional gas pressure within the package.
The present invention also provides a method of making a sealed package for developing expansive pressure within a dispensing container, comprisi.ng the steps of: forming a first sheet member with at least first and second separate pockets and an additional set of pockets; depositing in the first and second pockets first and second chemical components which are capable of reacting together to produce gas pressure; depositing into the additional set of pockets a chemical material capable of reacting with one of the chemical components to develop gas pressure;
positioning a tape member over the openings of the additional set of pockets; sealing a second sheet member to the first sheet member with a peripheral seal to establish a sealed enclosure encompassing all of the pockets and the tape member; and securinq the second sheet member to ~he tape member to provide for progressive lift-off of the tape member from the set of pockets - 3a -when the two sheet members separate as the package expands during a dispensing operation.
Other objects, aspects and advantages of the invention will in part be pointed out in, and in part apparent from, the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, considered together with the accompanying drawings.
FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the initial forming station for forming the bottom sheet of the package with pockets;
FIGURE 2 shows the formed bottom sheet of the package with a tape member sealed thereto over certain of the pocketsi FIGURE 3 shows the formed bottom sheet with a top sheet sealed thereto and to a part of the tape member;
FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal section taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3;
FIÇU~E 5 is a longitudinal section taken along line 5-5 of Figure 3;
FIGURE 6 is a cross-section taken alon~ line 6-6 of Figure 3;
FIGURE 7 is a perspective vi~w of the complete package ready for insertion into a container to be pressurized; and - 3b -FIGURE 8 is a plan view of another embodi-ment of this invention.
Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a sheet of flexible plastic packaging material 20 which is transported (from left to right) to a forming station 22 ~y conventional conveying means (not shown). This sheet may for example be a 2-layer film or web com-prising polyethylene/polypropylene, with the polyethylene facing upwards. In the station 22, thermoforming operations are carried out in accordance with known processes to form the sheet 20 with a number of pockets generally indicated at 24, 26 and 28, and adapted to receive chemicals to be reacted together for developing gas pressure.
In typical machine operations, such thermo-forming of the sheet 20 preferably is carried out in multiple across the width of the plastic film 20, for example, four abreast, as shown in Figure 1 between the machine frames 29. However, to simplify the presenta-tion, only one of the four identical formed sections will be described in detail hereinafter.
Returning now to the detailed description, the first of the formed pockets 24 may be circular in plan view, and provides a cell for holding one or more '~`
117~g~3 tablets or capsules containing citric acid in solid form. The second of the pockets 26 is developed in - this embodiment as three distinct but inter-communicating rectangular cells for holding a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and water. The remaining set of pockets 28 provides a number (seven in this case) of separate but closely adjacent cells for holding citric acid in the form of a solution. The pockets 24-2B are filled with chemical materials as set forth above (not shown in the drawings), in any convenient way, at the station 22 or at a subsequent station.
Thereafter, the formed and filled sheet member 20 is transported to another station 30 (Figure 2) where a rectangular tape 32 is positioned over the set of pockets 28 and is heat-sealed to the sheet member 20 around the peripheries of the individual cells, e.g. closely adjacent the open mouths of the pockets, as illustrated by the shading at 34. The tape 32 is a strip-like member of flexible plastic material.
This tape is heat-sealed uniformly but lightly to the upper surface of the bottom sheet 20 in such a way that it can be pulled away with relatively low force, e.g.
300 to 1000 grams per inch of width. The tape may for example be a 3-layer film comprising polyethylene/
~ 5~
11'~9~
polyester/polypropylene, with the polypropylene being the bottom layer sealed to the polyethylene layer of the bottom sheet member 20 and advantageously providing the light-force peelability as described. Peelability in this case means that the pull force should be suffi-ciently light that the two films can readily be separated without resulting in any tearing of the films.
With the tape 32 sealed in place as des-cribed, the bottom sheet 20 is moved forward to a sub-sequent station 38 (Figure 3) where a second sheet offlexible plastic packaging material 40 is applied over the first sheet 20 and the tape 32, as with the aid of a laydown roller 41. This second sheet is heat-sealed in peripheral fashion around the first sheet, as in-dicated by the shading 42, to form a strongly sealedenclosure encompassing all of the pockets 24-28 as well as the tape 32. This top sheet 40 also is secured to the tape 32, as by heat-sealing the two together along a narrow line 44 adjacent the pockets 28.~ This seal, like seal 42, is a strong seal capable of holding the films together during normal operation of the pack-age, capable of resisting a force orders of magnitude greater than the force needed to open the peelable seal 34. Thus the seals 42 and 44 effectively serve as welds, 1:~'7~3 whereby application of a sufficiently large force would tear the film material rather than open the seal. Figures 4-6 further illustrate the sealing con-figuration, with certain aspects of the interfilm spac-ing somewhat exaggerated to clarify the relationshipsinvolved. See also Figure 7 for an overall perspective view of the final package.
The top sheet 40 may for example be a 2-layered film or web consisting of polypropylene/poly-ethylene, with the polyethylene on the lower (inner)side, facing downwards towards the tape 32. This combination of materials provides for a very strong seal between the top sheet and the tape at 44, and be-tween the top and bottom sheets at 42, because both are polyethylene-to-polyethylene seals.
It may be noted that if the heat applied in making the seal 44 also produces unintended sealing be-tween the tape 32 and the bottom sheet 20, it will be a weak polypropylene-to-polyethylene seal, using the types of sheet and tape materials suggested above, and will not interfere with the pulling of the tape up from the bottom web with only a light pulling force. When making the seal 44, the amount of heat reaching the interface be-tween the tape 32 and the bottom sheet 20 will be signi-~17~
ficantly less than that producing the seal 34, whenusing comparable heat sealing devices for both seals ~ 34 and 44, so if an inadvertent seal develops along line 44 between the tape and the bottom sheet it will be of even less strength than the light-force seal between the tape and the bottom sheet at the seal line 34. It will of course readily be understood by those skilled in the art that other techniques can be used for establishing a strong secure seal between the top sheet member 40 and the tape 32 along line 44 while assuring that the tape can readily be peeled up away from the bottom sheet member with only a small force.
The completed package thereafter is cut from the forming webs and is ready for use. When the package is tilted, the water and sodium bicarbonate mixture in the cells 26 will flow to the tablets or capsule in cell 24, thus starting gas production within the sealed package. Gas production will normally be slow enough to allow time to load the package into a dispensing con-tainer, particularly if known means are employed to slowdown the reaction.
As a dispensing operation proceeds, the package expands to fill the space left by the dispensed contents. Thus the two sheet members 20 and 40 are 1~9~
gradually forced apart, especially in the central region adjacent the seal line 44. This expansion thus also lifts up the tape 32 in a progressive fashion, starting at the inner edge of the tape which runs parallel to the seal line 44, and moving outwardly towards the side edge of the package, across the set of pockets 28. Since these pockets are staggered, the progressive lift-up of the tape causes the individual cells to be opened sequen-tially, thus developing successive additional increments of gas pressure to tend to maintain the internal container pressure approximately constant.
Figure 8 shows an alternative package design embodying the same basic invention described above, and formed using the same method sequences. In this alterna-tive design, the bottom sheet 20 is first formed with anumber of pockets including a generally rectangular pocket 50 at one end of the package. This pocket may be filled with a liquid reactant chemical such as bicarbonate of soda and water. A second pocket 52 of generally oval shape also is formed in the bottom sheet 20 at the same time, in a more central region adjacent one side of the sheet. This pocket may for example receive a solid re-actant che~ical such as one or mote capsules or tablets containing acetic acid crystals, capable of reacting 9~
with the bicarbonate of soda in the first pocket 50 to start the initial gas formation.
~ The bottom sheet 20 of the Figure 8 design also is formed at the same time with a number of indivi-dual cells 54 and filled, for example, with dilute citric acid in liquid form. The openings of these cells then are covered by a single tape member 32 as described above, laid down on the bottom sheet 20, as by a machine opera-tion at the forming station or a subsequent station, and sealed around the cell openings as at 34 to prevent con-tact between the liquid therein and the remainder of the reactant chemicals placed in the other two pockets. The tape member is secured to the bottom sheet with a rela-tively weak seal, as described hereinabove, to permit the tape member readily to be pulled up away from the bottom sheet 20 by relatively small force, to open up the cells 54 progressively as the package expands during a dispens-ing operation.
A top sheet 40 is then applied over the bottom sheet 20, and is sealed to the bottom sheet around the periphery thereof as shown at 42, to form a strongly sealed enclosure encompassing the pockets 50, 52, 54 and the tape member 32. The top sheet also is sealed to the tape member alon~ a centrally located line 44. This 1~L7~
also is a strong seal, to hold those two films together during expansion of the package, thereby to effect lift-off of the tape member 32 from around the cells 54, just as in the fi st embodiment described. The materials of the top and bottom sheets and the tape member preferably are selected to assure that any unintended sealing ef-fected between the tape member and the bottom sheet, oc-curring during sealing of the top sheet to the tape mem-ber, will be so weak as to be easily broken as force is applied to lift the tape member up from the bottom sheet during expansion of the package. Examples of such film materials are described above with reference to the Figures 1-7 embodiment, although other materials can be suitable for these purposes.
The functioning of this alternative package design is the same as in the first embodiment of Figures l-7, in that the reaction of the material in the two larger pockets 50 and 52 pro~ides an initial gas pressuri-zation after the package has been tilted to bring the chemicals together. Thereafter the package is inserted into a dispensing container to apply force to the contents to effect dispensing thereof. The expansion of the pack-age during dispensing pushes apart the bottom and top sheets 20 and 40 thereby lifting up the tape member 32 1~9~ ~
progressively from the cells 54, to add successive in-crements of reactant chemical sequentially from those cells to the chemical material which already is producing pressurized gas, thereby to tend to augment the pressur-izing gas so as to maintain roughly constant the levelof pressurization within the container throughout a complete dispensing operation.
Although preferred embodiments of the inven-tion have been described in detail, it is desired to stress that this is for the purpose of illustrating the principles of the invention, and should not be con-strued as limiting of the invention since it is apparent that those skilled in this art can make modifications to the disclosed package and packaging methods without departing from the true scope of the invention.
The present invention provides in a package to be inser-ted in a container to develop pressure for dispensing the con-tainer contents, the package being of the type comprising a sealed enclosure formed by flexible sheet material and containingtherewithin a set of chemicals to be reacted together to form an initial gas pressure, the sealed enclosure further containing a plurality of individually sealed cells containing additional reactant chemicals and arranged to be ruptured sequentially as the package expands during a dispensing operation to effect reaction between the additional chemicals and one or more of the set of chemicals to produce additional increments of gas pressure within the sealed enclosure; that improvement in such a package wherein;
the sealed enclosure comprises a first outer sheet member formed with a plurality of pockets opening into the interior of the enclosure; at least one of the pockets containing a first chemical component of the set of chemicals; at least another of the pockets containing a second chemical component OL the set of chemcials and capable of reacting with the first chemical component to develop an initial dispensing gas pressure; the plurality of pockets in the first outer sheet member further comprising a set of pockets containing additional chemical material capable of reacting with at least one of the chemical components to develop further dispensing pressure; the sealed enclosure including a second outer sheet member seal.ed peripherally to the first outer sheet member to form therewith the sealed enclosure encompassing all of the pockets; a tape member between the first and second outer sheet members and positioned over the openings of the set of pockets, the tape member being sealed around the peripheries of the openings to prevent the chemical material therein from coming into contact with the chemical components; the tape member being secured to the second outer sheet member to provide for progressive lift-off of the tape member from the first outer sheet member to open the peripheral sealsaround the set of pockets in se~uence as the two outer sheet members separate during a dispensing operation, thereby permitting reactive contact between the additional chemical material and at least one of the chemical components to develop additional increments of gas pressure within the package.
The present invention also provides a package to be inserted in a conta.iner for developing expansive pressure to force out and dispense the contents of the container, comprising: a first outer sheet member formed with a plurality of pockets; at least one of the pockets containing a first chemical component;
at least another of the pockets contai.ning a second component capable of reacting with the first chemical component to develop an initial dispensing gas pressure; the plurality of pockets further comprising a set of pockets containing additional chemical material capable of reacting with at least one of the chemical components to develop further dispensing pressure; a second outer sheet member sealed peripherally to the first outer sheet member to form therewith a sealed enclosure encompassing all of the pockets; a tape member between the outer sheet members and positioned over the openings of the set of pockets, the tape member initially being sealed around the peripheries of the openings to prevent the chemical material from coming into contact with either of the chemical components; and the tape member being secured to the second sheet member to provide for progressively opening the peripheral seals around the set of pockets as the two sheet members separate during a dispensing operation, thereby permitting reactive contact between the chemical material and at least one of the chemical components to develop additional gas pressure within the package.
The present invention also provides a method of making a sealed package for developing expansive pressure within a dispensing container, comprisi.ng the steps of: forming a first sheet member with at least first and second separate pockets and an additional set of pockets; depositing in the first and second pockets first and second chemical components which are capable of reacting together to produce gas pressure; depositing into the additional set of pockets a chemical material capable of reacting with one of the chemical components to develop gas pressure;
positioning a tape member over the openings of the additional set of pockets; sealing a second sheet member to the first sheet member with a peripheral seal to establish a sealed enclosure encompassing all of the pockets and the tape member; and securinq the second sheet member to ~he tape member to provide for progressive lift-off of the tape member from the set of pockets - 3a -when the two sheet members separate as the package expands during a dispensing operation.
Other objects, aspects and advantages of the invention will in part be pointed out in, and in part apparent from, the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, considered together with the accompanying drawings.
FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the initial forming station for forming the bottom sheet of the package with pockets;
FIGURE 2 shows the formed bottom sheet of the package with a tape member sealed thereto over certain of the pocketsi FIGURE 3 shows the formed bottom sheet with a top sheet sealed thereto and to a part of the tape member;
FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal section taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3;
FIÇU~E 5 is a longitudinal section taken along line 5-5 of Figure 3;
FIGURE 6 is a cross-section taken alon~ line 6-6 of Figure 3;
FIGURE 7 is a perspective vi~w of the complete package ready for insertion into a container to be pressurized; and - 3b -FIGURE 8 is a plan view of another embodi-ment of this invention.
Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a sheet of flexible plastic packaging material 20 which is transported (from left to right) to a forming station 22 ~y conventional conveying means (not shown). This sheet may for example be a 2-layer film or web com-prising polyethylene/polypropylene, with the polyethylene facing upwards. In the station 22, thermoforming operations are carried out in accordance with known processes to form the sheet 20 with a number of pockets generally indicated at 24, 26 and 28, and adapted to receive chemicals to be reacted together for developing gas pressure.
In typical machine operations, such thermo-forming of the sheet 20 preferably is carried out in multiple across the width of the plastic film 20, for example, four abreast, as shown in Figure 1 between the machine frames 29. However, to simplify the presenta-tion, only one of the four identical formed sections will be described in detail hereinafter.
Returning now to the detailed description, the first of the formed pockets 24 may be circular in plan view, and provides a cell for holding one or more '~`
117~g~3 tablets or capsules containing citric acid in solid form. The second of the pockets 26 is developed in - this embodiment as three distinct but inter-communicating rectangular cells for holding a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and water. The remaining set of pockets 28 provides a number (seven in this case) of separate but closely adjacent cells for holding citric acid in the form of a solution. The pockets 24-2B are filled with chemical materials as set forth above (not shown in the drawings), in any convenient way, at the station 22 or at a subsequent station.
Thereafter, the formed and filled sheet member 20 is transported to another station 30 (Figure 2) where a rectangular tape 32 is positioned over the set of pockets 28 and is heat-sealed to the sheet member 20 around the peripheries of the individual cells, e.g. closely adjacent the open mouths of the pockets, as illustrated by the shading at 34. The tape 32 is a strip-like member of flexible plastic material.
This tape is heat-sealed uniformly but lightly to the upper surface of the bottom sheet 20 in such a way that it can be pulled away with relatively low force, e.g.
300 to 1000 grams per inch of width. The tape may for example be a 3-layer film comprising polyethylene/
~ 5~
11'~9~
polyester/polypropylene, with the polypropylene being the bottom layer sealed to the polyethylene layer of the bottom sheet member 20 and advantageously providing the light-force peelability as described. Peelability in this case means that the pull force should be suffi-ciently light that the two films can readily be separated without resulting in any tearing of the films.
With the tape 32 sealed in place as des-cribed, the bottom sheet 20 is moved forward to a sub-sequent station 38 (Figure 3) where a second sheet offlexible plastic packaging material 40 is applied over the first sheet 20 and the tape 32, as with the aid of a laydown roller 41. This second sheet is heat-sealed in peripheral fashion around the first sheet, as in-dicated by the shading 42, to form a strongly sealedenclosure encompassing all of the pockets 24-28 as well as the tape 32. This top sheet 40 also is secured to the tape 32, as by heat-sealing the two together along a narrow line 44 adjacent the pockets 28.~ This seal, like seal 42, is a strong seal capable of holding the films together during normal operation of the pack-age, capable of resisting a force orders of magnitude greater than the force needed to open the peelable seal 34. Thus the seals 42 and 44 effectively serve as welds, 1:~'7~3 whereby application of a sufficiently large force would tear the film material rather than open the seal. Figures 4-6 further illustrate the sealing con-figuration, with certain aspects of the interfilm spac-ing somewhat exaggerated to clarify the relationshipsinvolved. See also Figure 7 for an overall perspective view of the final package.
The top sheet 40 may for example be a 2-layered film or web consisting of polypropylene/poly-ethylene, with the polyethylene on the lower (inner)side, facing downwards towards the tape 32. This combination of materials provides for a very strong seal between the top sheet and the tape at 44, and be-tween the top and bottom sheets at 42, because both are polyethylene-to-polyethylene seals.
It may be noted that if the heat applied in making the seal 44 also produces unintended sealing be-tween the tape 32 and the bottom sheet 20, it will be a weak polypropylene-to-polyethylene seal, using the types of sheet and tape materials suggested above, and will not interfere with the pulling of the tape up from the bottom web with only a light pulling force. When making the seal 44, the amount of heat reaching the interface be-tween the tape 32 and the bottom sheet 20 will be signi-~17~
ficantly less than that producing the seal 34, whenusing comparable heat sealing devices for both seals ~ 34 and 44, so if an inadvertent seal develops along line 44 between the tape and the bottom sheet it will be of even less strength than the light-force seal between the tape and the bottom sheet at the seal line 34. It will of course readily be understood by those skilled in the art that other techniques can be used for establishing a strong secure seal between the top sheet member 40 and the tape 32 along line 44 while assuring that the tape can readily be peeled up away from the bottom sheet member with only a small force.
The completed package thereafter is cut from the forming webs and is ready for use. When the package is tilted, the water and sodium bicarbonate mixture in the cells 26 will flow to the tablets or capsule in cell 24, thus starting gas production within the sealed package. Gas production will normally be slow enough to allow time to load the package into a dispensing con-tainer, particularly if known means are employed to slowdown the reaction.
As a dispensing operation proceeds, the package expands to fill the space left by the dispensed contents. Thus the two sheet members 20 and 40 are 1~9~
gradually forced apart, especially in the central region adjacent the seal line 44. This expansion thus also lifts up the tape 32 in a progressive fashion, starting at the inner edge of the tape which runs parallel to the seal line 44, and moving outwardly towards the side edge of the package, across the set of pockets 28. Since these pockets are staggered, the progressive lift-up of the tape causes the individual cells to be opened sequen-tially, thus developing successive additional increments of gas pressure to tend to maintain the internal container pressure approximately constant.
Figure 8 shows an alternative package design embodying the same basic invention described above, and formed using the same method sequences. In this alterna-tive design, the bottom sheet 20 is first formed with anumber of pockets including a generally rectangular pocket 50 at one end of the package. This pocket may be filled with a liquid reactant chemical such as bicarbonate of soda and water. A second pocket 52 of generally oval shape also is formed in the bottom sheet 20 at the same time, in a more central region adjacent one side of the sheet. This pocket may for example receive a solid re-actant che~ical such as one or mote capsules or tablets containing acetic acid crystals, capable of reacting 9~
with the bicarbonate of soda in the first pocket 50 to start the initial gas formation.
~ The bottom sheet 20 of the Figure 8 design also is formed at the same time with a number of indivi-dual cells 54 and filled, for example, with dilute citric acid in liquid form. The openings of these cells then are covered by a single tape member 32 as described above, laid down on the bottom sheet 20, as by a machine opera-tion at the forming station or a subsequent station, and sealed around the cell openings as at 34 to prevent con-tact between the liquid therein and the remainder of the reactant chemicals placed in the other two pockets. The tape member is secured to the bottom sheet with a rela-tively weak seal, as described hereinabove, to permit the tape member readily to be pulled up away from the bottom sheet 20 by relatively small force, to open up the cells 54 progressively as the package expands during a dispens-ing operation.
A top sheet 40 is then applied over the bottom sheet 20, and is sealed to the bottom sheet around the periphery thereof as shown at 42, to form a strongly sealed enclosure encompassing the pockets 50, 52, 54 and the tape member 32. The top sheet also is sealed to the tape member alon~ a centrally located line 44. This 1~L7~
also is a strong seal, to hold those two films together during expansion of the package, thereby to effect lift-off of the tape member 32 from around the cells 54, just as in the fi st embodiment described. The materials of the top and bottom sheets and the tape member preferably are selected to assure that any unintended sealing ef-fected between the tape member and the bottom sheet, oc-curring during sealing of the top sheet to the tape mem-ber, will be so weak as to be easily broken as force is applied to lift the tape member up from the bottom sheet during expansion of the package. Examples of such film materials are described above with reference to the Figures 1-7 embodiment, although other materials can be suitable for these purposes.
The functioning of this alternative package design is the same as in the first embodiment of Figures l-7, in that the reaction of the material in the two larger pockets 50 and 52 pro~ides an initial gas pressuri-zation after the package has been tilted to bring the chemicals together. Thereafter the package is inserted into a dispensing container to apply force to the contents to effect dispensing thereof. The expansion of the pack-age during dispensing pushes apart the bottom and top sheets 20 and 40 thereby lifting up the tape member 32 1~9~ ~
progressively from the cells 54, to add successive in-crements of reactant chemical sequentially from those cells to the chemical material which already is producing pressurized gas, thereby to tend to augment the pressur-izing gas so as to maintain roughly constant the levelof pressurization within the container throughout a complete dispensing operation.
Although preferred embodiments of the inven-tion have been described in detail, it is desired to stress that this is for the purpose of illustrating the principles of the invention, and should not be con-strued as limiting of the invention since it is apparent that those skilled in this art can make modifications to the disclosed package and packaging methods without departing from the true scope of the invention.
Claims (16)
1. In a package to be inserted in a container to develop pressure for dispensing the con-tainer contents, said package being of the type com-prising a sealed enclosure formed by flexible sheet material and containing therewithin a set of chemicals to be reacted together to form an initial gas pressure, said sealed enclosure further containing a plurality of individually sealed cells containing additional reactant chemicals and arranged to be ruptured sequentially as the package expands during a dispensing operation to effect reaction between said additional chemicals and one or more of said set of chemicals to produce additional increments of gas pressure within the sealed enclosure;
that improvement in such a package wherein;
said sealed enclosure comprises a first outer sheet member formed with a plurality of pockets opening into the interior of the enclosure;
at least one of said pockets containing a first chemical component of said set of chemicals;
at least another of said pockets containing a second chemical component of said set of chemicals and capable of reacting with said first chemical component to develop an initial dispensing gas pressure;
said plurality of pockets in said first outer sheet member further comprising a set of pockets containing additional chemical material capable of reacting with at least one of said chemical components to develop further dispensing pressure;
said sealed enclosure including a second outer sheet member sealed peripherally to said first outer sheet member to form therewith said sealed en-closure encompassing all of said pockets;
a tape member between said first and second outer sheet members and positioned over the openings of said set of pockets, said tape member being sealed around the peripheries of said openings to prevent said chemical material therein from coming into contact with said chemical components;
said tape member being secured to said second outer sheet member to provide for progressive lift-off of said tape member from said first outer sheet member to open the peripheral seals around said set of pockets in sequence as the two outer sheet members separate during a dispensing operation, thereby permitting re-active contact between said additional chemical material and at least one of said chemical components to develop additional increments of gas pressure within said package.
that improvement in such a package wherein;
said sealed enclosure comprises a first outer sheet member formed with a plurality of pockets opening into the interior of the enclosure;
at least one of said pockets containing a first chemical component of said set of chemicals;
at least another of said pockets containing a second chemical component of said set of chemicals and capable of reacting with said first chemical component to develop an initial dispensing gas pressure;
said plurality of pockets in said first outer sheet member further comprising a set of pockets containing additional chemical material capable of reacting with at least one of said chemical components to develop further dispensing pressure;
said sealed enclosure including a second outer sheet member sealed peripherally to said first outer sheet member to form therewith said sealed en-closure encompassing all of said pockets;
a tape member between said first and second outer sheet members and positioned over the openings of said set of pockets, said tape member being sealed around the peripheries of said openings to prevent said chemical material therein from coming into contact with said chemical components;
said tape member being secured to said second outer sheet member to provide for progressive lift-off of said tape member from said first outer sheet member to open the peripheral seals around said set of pockets in sequence as the two outer sheet members separate during a dispensing operation, thereby permitting re-active contact between said additional chemical material and at least one of said chemical components to develop additional increments of gas pressure within said package.
2. A package as claimed in Claim 1 formed in a generally rectangular plan configuration;
said first pocket being located at one end of said package;
said second pocket being located approxi-mately centrally between the ends of said package.
said first pocket being located at one end of said package;
said second pocket being located approxi-mately centrally between the ends of said package.
3. A package as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said second pocket is located close to one long side of the package configuration;
said set of pockets being located adjacent said second pocket, and along the other long side of said package configuration.
said set of pockets being located adjacent said second pocket, and along the other long side of said package configuration.
4. A package as claimed in Claim 3, wherein said tape member is sealed to said second outer sheet member along a line located centrally between said two long sides, and at least approximately parallel thereto.
5. A package as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said second pocket comprises a plurality of separate sections formed to allow liquid communication therebetween.
6. A package to be inserted in a container for developing expansive pressure to force out and dispense the contents of the container, comprising:
(A) a first outer sheet member formed with a plurality of pockets;
at least one of said pockets containing a first chemical component;
at least another of said pockets containing a second component capable of reacting with said first chemical component to develop an initial dispensing gas pressure;
said plurality of pockets further comprising a set of pockets containing additional chemical material capable of reacting with at least one of said chemical components to develop further dispensing pressure;
(B) a second outer sheet member sealed peri-pherally to said first outer sheet member to form there-with a sealed enclosure encompassing all of said pockets;
(C) a tape member between said outer sheet mem-bers and positioned over the openings of said set of pockets, said tape member initially being sealed around the peripheries of said openings to prevent said chemical material from coming into contact with either of said chemical components; and (D) said tape member being secured to said second sheet member to provide for progressively opening the peripheral seals around said set of pockets as the two sheet members separate during a dispensing operation, thereby permitting reactive contact between said chemical material and at least one of said chemical components to develop additional gas pressure within said package.
(A) a first outer sheet member formed with a plurality of pockets;
at least one of said pockets containing a first chemical component;
at least another of said pockets containing a second component capable of reacting with said first chemical component to develop an initial dispensing gas pressure;
said plurality of pockets further comprising a set of pockets containing additional chemical material capable of reacting with at least one of said chemical components to develop further dispensing pressure;
(B) a second outer sheet member sealed peri-pherally to said first outer sheet member to form there-with a sealed enclosure encompassing all of said pockets;
(C) a tape member between said outer sheet mem-bers and positioned over the openings of said set of pockets, said tape member initially being sealed around the peripheries of said openings to prevent said chemical material from coming into contact with either of said chemical components; and (D) said tape member being secured to said second sheet member to provide for progressively opening the peripheral seals around said set of pockets as the two sheet members separate during a dispensing operation, thereby permitting reactive contact between said chemical material and at least one of said chemical components to develop additional gas pressure within said package.
7. A package as in Claim 6 arranged in rectangular format;
said one pocket being located near one end of the rectangular configuration;
said another pocket being located between said one pocket and the other end of said rectangular configuration.
said one pocket being located near one end of the rectangular configuration;
said another pocket being located between said one pocket and the other end of said rectangular configuration.
8. A package as in Claim 7, wherein said another pocket is located close to one long side of the rectangle;
said set of pockets being located close to the other side of the rectangle.
said set of pockets being located close to the other side of the rectangle.
9. A package as in Claim 8, wherein said tape member is secured to said second outer sheet member by a seal line running parallel to the long sides of said rectangle.
10. A package as in Claim 6, wherein said sheet members and said tape member are secured together by heat sealing, the materials of said sheet members and said tape member being selected to provide a strong peripheral seal between said sheet members, a strong seal between said second sheet member and said tape member, and a weak seal between said tape member and said first sheet member.
11. A package as in Claim 10, wherein said materials are selected to provide a polypropylene-to-polyethylene seal between said tape member and said first sheet member.
12. A package as in Claim 11, wherein said materials are selected to provide a polyethylene-to-polyethylene seal between said second sheet member and said tape member.
13. A package as in Claim 12, wherein said two sheet members are polyethylene/polypropylene films with the polyethylene facing inwardly;
said tape member being a polyethylene/
polyester/polypropylene film, with the polypropylene facing said first sheet member to develop a light-pulling-force seal therewith.
said tape member being a polyethylene/
polyester/polypropylene film, with the polypropylene facing said first sheet member to develop a light-pulling-force seal therewith.
14. The method of making a sealed package for developing expansive pressure within a dispensing container, comprising the steps of:
forming a first sheet member with at least first and second separate pockets and an additional set of pockets;
depositing in said first and second pockets first and second chemical components which are capable of reacting together to produce gas pressure;
depositing into said additional set of pockets a chemical material capable of reacting with one of said chemical components to develop gas pressure;
positioning a tape member over the openings of said additional set of pockets;
sealing a second sheet member to said first sheet member with a peripheral seal to establish a sealed enclosure encompassing all of said pockets and said tape member; and securing said second sheet member to said tape member to provide for progressive lift-off of said tape member from said set of pockets when the two sheet members separate as the package expands during a dis-pensing operation.
forming a first sheet member with at least first and second separate pockets and an additional set of pockets;
depositing in said first and second pockets first and second chemical components which are capable of reacting together to produce gas pressure;
depositing into said additional set of pockets a chemical material capable of reacting with one of said chemical components to develop gas pressure;
positioning a tape member over the openings of said additional set of pockets;
sealing a second sheet member to said first sheet member with a peripheral seal to establish a sealed enclosure encompassing all of said pockets and said tape member; and securing said second sheet member to said tape member to provide for progressive lift-off of said tape member from said set of pockets when the two sheet members separate as the package expands during a dis-pensing operation.
15. The method of Claim 14, wherein said package is formed with a rectangular plan outline;
said first pocket being formed near one end of the rectangle;
said second pocket being formed between said first pocket and the other end of the rectangle.
said first pocket being formed near one end of the rectangle;
said second pocket being formed between said first pocket and the other end of the rectangle.
16. The method of Claim 15, wherein said second pocket is formed adjacent one long side of the rectangle;
said set of pockets being formed adjacent the other long side of the rectangle.
said set of pockets being formed adjacent the other long side of the rectangle.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000419202A CA1179993A (en) | 1983-01-11 | 1983-01-11 | Expandible package for dispensing containers |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000419202A CA1179993A (en) | 1983-01-11 | 1983-01-11 | Expandible package for dispensing containers |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1179993A true CA1179993A (en) | 1984-12-27 |
Family
ID=4124307
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000419202A Expired CA1179993A (en) | 1983-01-11 | 1983-01-11 | Expandible package for dispensing containers |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1179993A (en) |
-
1983
- 1983-01-11 CA CA000419202A patent/CA1179993A/en not_active Expired
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| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEC | Expiry (correction) | ||
| MKEX | Expiry |