CA2122314A1 - Pleated wrapper - Google Patents

Abstract

A receptacle for various objects including food stuff is formed from a pleated sheet folded over itself to form a pouch with a mouth. The volume of the pouch may be expanded by pulling its corners apart, urging the sides of the pouch mouth together. In another variation, the pouch is formed of one section and a folded pleated section is deployed about the first section to form a cap.

Description

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INPROVED PLEATED WRAPPER

RELATED APPLICATION8:
The subject matter of this application is related to U.S. Patent No. 4,795,648 as well as the following applications:

U.S. Serial Number: 687,381, filed on April 18, 1991 titled PLBATED PACRAGING WRAPPBR FOR OBJECT8, now U.S. Patent No. 5,125,564 issued June 30, 1992;
U.S. Serial Number: 687,384, filed on April 18, 1991 titled CO~.~1NUOU8 8HEET PLEATING DEVICB FOR
HARING OVERLAPPING PLEAT8 AND ARRANGEMENT8, now U.S. Patent No. 5,188,265 issued February 23, 1993;
U.S. Serial Number: 702,265, filed on May 17, 1991 titled IMPROVED PLEATED P~CR~TNG WRAPPER AND
METHOD OF WRAPPING OBJECT8 U8ING THE 8ANE, now U.S.
Patent No. 5,131,586 issued July 21, 1992;
U.S. Serial Number: 752,866, filed on August 30, 1991 titled A PROCES8 AND APPARATU8 FOR ~RTt'- A
WRAPPING FROM A THIN PLEATED 8HEET, now U.S. Patent No. 5,201,697 issued April 13, 1993.

BACRGROUND OF THE lNv~.,lON

FIELD OF THB lNv~..lON
This invention pertains to an improved pleated wrapper, and more particularly to a wrapper made of a pleated or partially thin sheet of material folded on itself.

U.S. Patent No. 4,795,648 describes a wrapper for various complex objects, formed of a thin pleated sheet of material. The wrapper can be deployed around an object to form a self-closing package. In the other applications mentioned above, improvements to this wrapper and devices for making the pleated sheet are described. One problem with the wrappers so far has been that they are more suited for objects having stable or relatively fixed outlines, but are unsuited for several objects or food stuff arranged in a random configuration, such as for example, french fries or chicken nuggets. In application S.N. 702,265 an attempt has been made to alleviate this problem by suggesting a wrapper formed of a thin pleated sheet attached to an unpleated sheet made of a rigid, 212231~

thicker material. Of course, this wrapper is made difficult to make and handle since it is made of two different types of materials.

OB~Jh~ v ~:8 AND 8~MMARY OF T~13 lNV~:NllON
s In view of the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a wrapper made suitable for one or more objects, particularly food-stuff, having an indeterminate shape.
A further objective is to provide a wrapper made of a thin, flexible and inexpensive sheet.
Yet another objective is to provide a wrapper having a mouth which closes naturally as the wrapper is expanded to provide thermal protection.
Other objectives and advantages of the invention shall become apparent from the following description.
A wrapper made in accordance with this invention is formed of a thin sheet of pleated material which is folded over itself transversely with respect to the pleats to form a pouch, with the pleatings extending longitudinally along the pouch sidewalls.
After the pouch is filled with objects, such as french fries, chicken nuggets, etc., the two lower corners may be extended to form a closed container.

In an alternate embodiment, a pleated portion of the sheet deployed is around a pouch.

BRIE~F DE8CRIPTION OF THE DRaWING8 Figure 1 shows an isometric view of a pouch constructed in accordance with this invention.
Figure lA shows cross-sectional view of a pleated sheet used in the subject invention;
Figure 2 shows an isometric view of another embodiment of the pouch of Figure l;
Figure 2A shows a cross-sectional view of the pouch of Figure 2;
Figure 3 shows the pouch of Figure l in a closed configuration;
Figure 4 shows an alternate closed configuration for the pouch of Figure l;
~-- Figures 5 and 6 show the pouch of Figure 1 filled with french fries in the open and closed configurations;
Figures 6A and 6B show another method of opening the pouch of Figure 2 to form a serving basket;
Figures 7, 8 and 9 show another embodiment of the invention in the pleated and closed configuration and opened configuration after use;
Figure 10 shows yet another embodiment of the invention in the open configuration;

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Figures 11 and 12 show yet another embodiment of the invention in the opened and closed configurations;
Figures 13 and 14 show yet another embodiment of the invention in the open and closed configurations and Figure 15 show another embodiment suitable for popcorn;
Figure 16 shows the embodiment of Figure 15 after the popcorn has been popped; and Figure 17 show the bag of Figure 16 as it is opened.

DETAILBD DB8CRIPTION OF THE l~.v~.~lON

The subject invention pertains to a receptacle or container formed of a pleated sheet, said pleated sheet being formed by unsymmetrical pleats defined by preferably parallel folds. As shown in Figure lA, a typical pleated sheet 100 is formed of two sections, 100A, 100B, having widths A and B, respectively, with width A being larger than width B. The two edges of the sheet perpendicular to the pleats are fixed, by using an adhesive material or tape. This type of pleated sheet is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,795,648. In U.S. Patent No.

4,79S,648, a wrapper is made from a simple thin sheet having a planar rectangular shape.
In the first embodiment of the Figure 1, a pleated sheet 101 similar to sheet 100 in Figure lA
is used which has been folded over itself along a fold 1 perpendicular to the pleats 3. The two opposed edges 4, 5 of the sheet are then glued, soldered or otherwise affixed to each other to form a pouch with two sides, a closed base 8 and an open mouth 10. Along the open mouth 10, the pleats 3 have a fixation zone 7 for fixing the pleats as described above.
Sheet 101 may be formed for example, from paper coated with a plastic material such as polyethylene. Importantly, the pouch of Figure 1 could be deployed into one of two configurations.
In one configuration the two corners 9 can be pulled apart to expand base 8 to form a roughly semicircular shape as shown. Importantly, the sidewalls of the pouch are urged together to close mouth 10, as shown in Figure 3. Therefore the pouch may be placed on a straight surface on its side without spilling its contents. Moreover, the interior of the pouch will be substantially closed to insure that its contents do not cool off.
However, sufficient space remains between the 2~223~4 sidewalls to allow some ventilation. Figures 5 and 6 indicate the use of this pouch, such as for storing french fries. Importantly, the french fries are first introduced through the mouth 10.
During this step, the fingers of the operator are protected from by being burned (if the french fries are too hot) by the sidewalls of the pouch. The thickness of the sidewalls depends on the ratio A/B. If this ratio is less than 2, then the pouch sidewalls consists of between one and three layers.
If this ratio is greater than 2, then the several pleats overlap so that the walls consists of three to five layers.
Once the pouch is filled, its two corners 9 may be pulled apart causing the pleats 3 to expand along the bottom 8. The ~pAn~ion of the pleats increases the volume of the pouch allowing the french fries to settle inside, as shown in Figure 6. The mouth of the pouch also closes for heat protection.
The ratio A/B also controls the size and shape of the pouch in the open configuration. If A/B >
2, the interior angle between sides 4 and 5 is less than 180.
If the ratio A/B is smaller, for example 1.5, and if the width and length of the pouch (29, 30) 2122~4 remain approximately equal, then the angle between sides and 4 and 5 as the pouch is deployed, increased exceeds 180 substantially, as shown in Figure 4. However, the mouth 10 remains closed by the biasing of the pouch sides thereby insuring the contents of the pouch do not spill. Of course, a consumer can easily insert his fingers through opening 10 and retract to withdraw the french fries at will.
Figure 2 shows a pouch similar to the one in Figure 1, except that its bottom 2 is formed by folding sheet 101 three times as shown at lA, lB
and lC to form a gusseted flap 8A. The advantage of this embodiment is that when corners 9 are extended or pulled sideways to close the pouch, the flap 8A comes out and forms a relatively straight bottom surface for holding the pouch in upright position (as seen in Figure 4). In this configuration, the pouch with its contents remains stable. For consumption, the pouch may be opened slightly, by ripping the sidewalls if necessary to provide an easier opening. Obviously, the pouch of Figures l and 2 may be formed in other ways as well. In Figure 6A an alternate method of opening the pouch of Figure 2 is shown. For this method, the pleats 3A are fixed in zone 7A by a weak adhesive. The pleats are also fixed at the bottom along pleating zone 8A. The pouch is filled up and closed in the same manner as shown in Figures 5 and 6. However, prior to consumption, the pouch is opened up by pulling the upper corners 9A apart.
This action causes the pleats to open in zone 7A
thereby allowing the pouch to open and form a serving basket.
In the embodiment shown in Figure 7 a sheet is shown having a pleated and an unpleated section (13, 14). The sheet is folded in two along a line perpendicular to the pleats 3, and the edges 15 of the unpleated section is fixed to form a partial pouch.
A product is placed in the partial pouch and the pleated section is then deployed around the partial pouch. The shape of the pleated section again depends on height 17, and length of the pleated section as well as ratio A/B. If desired, the height 16 of unpleated section 13 may be different then height 17. One advantage of this configuration is that in order to consume the product within the pouch, the pleated section need be opened only partially, as indicated in Figure 9.
In a variation shown in Figure 10, both edges 19, 20 of an unpleated section 18 are fixed to form 212'~31~

a pouch which is then covered at will by the pleated section 21.
In another variation of the invention shown in Figure 11, non-pleated section 14 of Figure 7 is replaced by a pleated section 22, having pleats fixed along one side 24 along one side 25A, and along bottom 25. Pleated section 23 is attached to section 22 as shown. The two sections 22, 23 may be made of different materials. For example, section 24 may be made for example of a thermally insulated material, set into a pouch-shaped formed by one or more fixation lines 25. Alternatively, pleated section 22 may be made with more overlapping pleats then section 23 to provide more thermal insulation. In this manner, an opened and closed pouch may be forced as shown in Figures 11 and 12 which is thermally insulated.
In the embodiment of Figures 11 and 12, pleats of section 22 are fixed both at the top and bottom so that they do not open as the section 23 is deployed around section 22.
In the embodiment of Figures 13 and 14, section 26 is formed in such a manner that the pleats can be opened at least partially to form a double based package as shown in Figure 14. Advantageously, the border 27 of section 26 is formed at an angle to allow the section 28 to be wrapped around section 26 more tightly.
In Figures 15-17 an embodiment of the invention is shown which is suitable for microwave pop-corn.
S In this embodiment, a pouch 120 similar to the pouch in Figure 1 is provided. This pouch is provided with an adhesive strip 112 at mouth 111 of the pouch along one or both inner surfaces of sidewalls 118, 119. Under this adhesive strip, sidewalls 118, 119 are provided with a plurality of partial cuts 113 extending in line in a parallel with edge 121.
The pouch 120 is used as follows. First, special corn kernels 110 are placed into pouch 120 as shown in Figure 15, after which the pouch is sealed with adhesive strip 112. The pouch filled with the corn kernels are then shipped to stores for sale to customers.
For consumption, a customer takes a pouch with the corn and places it into a microwave oven so that the corn kernels can be subjected to heat for popping. During this process the popped corn forces the pouch to expand by opening its pleats as shown in Figure 16. After the pouch is removed from the microwave oven, it is opened by separating its top 122 along the cuts 113 as shown in Figure 17.
Obviously numerous modifications may be made to this invention without departing from its scope as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (15)

1. A receptacle comprising:
a thin pleated sheet made of flexible material and having a first set of opposed edges and a second set of opposed edges defined by a plurality of unsymmetrical folds forming pleats, said pleats being fixed along set first set of edges, said sheet being folded along an imaginary line intersecting said pleats with said second set of edges being fixed to form a pouch.

2. The receptacle of claim 1 wherein said pouch has two corners and a bottom made of a gusset which gusset forms a resting surface when said corners are separated.

3. The receptacle of claim 1 further comprising two corners, and sidewalls, said sidewalls defining an opening, said sidewalls cooperating to close said opening when said corners are pulled in opposite directions.

4. The receptacle of claim 1 wherein said pleats are weakly fixed to allow said pouch to open into a basket.

5. The receptacle of claim 1 wherein said pouch has a mouth, further comprising sealing means for sealing said pouch along said mouth.

6. The receptacle of claim 5 further comprising a plurality of partial cuts formed on said pouch wherein a portion of said pouch can be separated along said partial cuts to open said pouch after sealing.

7. A receptacle comprising:
a first section forming a pouch for objects and having a first section side; and a second section formed of a pleated sheet having generally parallel pleats folded over itself and having a second section side fixed to said first section side, said second section being arranged and constructed to form a closure for said pouch when said pleats are opened.

6. The receptacle of claim 5 wherein said second section is deployed around said first section to form a generally circular cap.

7. The receptacle of claim 5 wherein said first section is formed of a first section sheet folded over itself and having a closed side.

8. The receptacle of claim 6 wherein said first section sheet is pleated.

9. The receptacle of claim 6 wherein said first section sheet is unpleated.

10. The receptacle of claim 6 wherein said first section sheet has two closed sides.

11. The receptacle of claim 6 wherein said receptacle has an open side affixed to said second section.

12. The receptacle of claim 6 wherein said first section sheet is formed with pleats and a bottom, said pleats being fixed at said bottom.

13. A method of forming a receptacle comprising the steps of:
providing a pleated sheet formed of pleats fixed along two edges of the sheet;
folding said pleated sheet along an imaginary line traversing said pleats to form a folded sheet with corners; and]

fixing the sides of said folded sheet; wherein said receptacle may be expanded by separating said corners.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said pleated sheet is folded several times to form a gusseted bottom.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said gusseted bottom forms a resting surface when said corners are separated.