EP0038111B1 - Disposable plastics containers - Google Patents

Disposable plastics containers Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0038111B1
EP0038111B1 EP81300466A EP81300466A EP0038111B1 EP 0038111 B1 EP0038111 B1 EP 0038111B1 EP 81300466 A EP81300466 A EP 81300466A EP 81300466 A EP81300466 A EP 81300466A EP 0038111 B1 EP0038111 B1 EP 0038111B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
band
cup member
foamed
plastics
container
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.)
Expired
Application number
EP81300466A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0038111A1 (en
Inventor
Paul Woolman
Martin David Austin
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Mars Ltd
Original Assignee
Mars Ltd
Priority date (The priority date 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 date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Mars Ltd filed Critical Mars Ltd
Publication of EP0038111A1 publication Critical patent/EP0038111A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0038111B1 publication Critical patent/EP0038111B1/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
    • B65D1/00—Rigid or semi-rigid containers having bodies formed in one piece, e.g. by casting metallic material, by moulding plastics, by blowing vitreous material, by throwing ceramic material, by moulding pulped fibrous material or by deep-drawing operations performed on sheet material
    • B65D1/22—Boxes or like containers with side walls of substantial depth for enclosing contents
    • B65D1/26—Thin-walled containers, e.g. formed by deep-drawing operations
    • B65D1/265—Drinking cups

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to disposable plastics containers, especially disposable plastics drinking cups.
  • the conventional disposable plastics cup is of thin-walled construction in order to keep to a minimum the amount of plastics used and thereby reduce the cost of the cup. Because of its thinness the wall of the container has poor insulating properties and when the cup contains a hot beverage the cup is uncomfortable if not impossible to hold in the unprotected hand.
  • Such cups are normally of a uniform wall thickness (such as is produced by thermo-forming) and it has been proposed to provide the side- wall of such cups with ribs or ridges whereby the area of contact between the cup and the fingers of the user is reduced in order to make the cup more comfortable to hold.
  • Cups formed of an insulating material are difficult to handle mechanically and have also received adverse consumer reaction.
  • Another proposal for overcoming the problem of providing satisfactory insulation in disposable cups is to apply over a region of the side-wall an additional layer of foamed plastics material which increases the effective thickness of the wall in the region where the cup is gripped.
  • the material normally proposed for such additional layers is expanded polystyrene.
  • Expanded polystyrene is however a fairly rigid and brittle material.
  • the region of the walls to which it is applied are usually frusto-conical and in order to achieve a satisfactory fit it is necessary either to mould the expanded polystyrene sleeve as a frusto-conical sleeves or to cut an arcuate strip from a sheet of plastics material and fix it with adhesive to the cup. In either case the manufacturing process is expensive and complicated.
  • An example of such a process is disclosed in US-A-3 126 139 (Schechter).
  • US-A-3 126.139 also discloses a process for forming an insulating band on a cup in which the band and the cup are formed simultaneously during the moulding procedure, the area in which the band is to be formed being supplied with a stream of plastics material containing a foaming agent which causes the band to foam during extrusion of the tube or parison. This also involves a complex manufacturing process.
  • a disposable plastics container comprises a single-walled cup member with a bottom wall and a side wall diverging generally from the bottom wall towards its rim and a stretched band of an elastic foamed plastics material disposed around a portion of the side wall of the cup member, the band when in an unstressed condition before it is applied to the cup having substantially equal lengths around its upper and lower edge, but the material being sufficiently elastic that it is a close fit on a non-cylindrical part of the side wall when fitted on the cup member.
  • foam polyethylene is a suitable material for the band, although other resilient foamed plastics materials may be employed.
  • the band may be formed by cutting a length from a cylindrical tube of the foamed material and telescoping it over the cup member.
  • the band may be a straight sided length of material cut, for example, from a roll of foam plastics material and adhered to the wall of the cup member with adhesive or double sided adhesive tape or by welding.
  • the invention enables the band to be made by cutting lengths from stock material and to be applied to the cup by a relatively simple operation.
  • the band of material may be located in an annular recess around the cup.
  • the method of forming a disposable plastics container comprises providing a disposable plastics cup member having a bottom wall and a side wall diverging generally upwardly from the bottom wall towards its rim, and applying a band of stretchable foam plastics material to a non-cylindrical portion of the side wall of the container, the band having upper and lower edges of the same length in the unstressed condition before the band is applied to the cup member.
  • a thermo-formed thin-walled plastics.cup member 10 comprises a bottom wall 11 and a side wall 12 diverging generally upwardlly from the bottom wall to its rim 13.
  • a broad annular groove or recess 14 formed by the side wall being displaced inwardly relative to the adjacent parts of the side wall above and below the groove.
  • a band 15 of foam polyethylene is placed in the groove and provides in the region of the groove 14 an area of increased effective wall thickness where the user can grip the cup with comfort when the container is holding a hot liquid.
  • the band 15 has upper and lower edges of equal length when the band is in the unstressed condition before it is applied to the cup.
  • the foam polyethylene is however sufficiently elastic to stretch to fit smoothly without rucks on the side wall 12 even though the side wall in the region where it forms the bottom of the groove 14 is of frusto-conical shape.
  • a typical type of foamed polyethylene we have employed has 1.5 mm thickness.
  • Fig. 3 shows one method applying the band to the cup member.
  • a length of foamed polyethylene tape 16 with straight sides is cut from a roll to the length of the periphery of the cup member 10 at the lower side of the groove 14.
  • the cup member is placed on a mandrel 17 and the mandrel is rotated with the cup member.
  • the tape 16 is glued to the cup member in the groove as it is wound around the cup member. At the same time the upper edge of the tape is stretched in order to fit around the wider end of the groove 14.
  • Fig. 4 shows an alternative arrangement for applying the band to the cup member 10 in which a short tube 18 of foamed polyethylene material is cut from a longer tubular length of material and, carried by fingers 19, is telescoped over the cup member 10 whilst the cup member is on the forming mandrel 17.
  • a detent (not shown) retains the tube 18 whilst the fingers 1 9 are withdrawn to the left as seen in Fig. 4.
  • the tube 18 which is of uniform diameter along its axial length in the unstressed condition prior to application to the cup member 10, is stretched at its end nearest the rim 13 in order to.fit the frusto-conical side wall of the cup member in the region of the groove 14.
  • the foamed band may be overlaid with a non-foamed plastics sheet material, for example a reverse-printed stretch or shrinkable plastics film.
  • a non-foamed plastics sheet material for example a reverse-printed stretch or shrinkable plastics film.
  • the stretch or shrinkable plastics film can retain the foamed plastics band in the groove 14 and act as a laminate, although it is not essential actually to bond the plastics film to the foamed plastics band.
  • the plastics sheet may be wider than the foamed plastics band and extend over onto the sidewall of the cup member for a small distance, beyond the edge of groove 14. This enables the plastics sheet to prevent dust settling on the formed band.
  • such a container may be formed by a method similar to that shown in Figure 3, by merging a tape of the foamed polyethylene with a slightly wider tape of stretchable plastics sheet material. The two are then heat- bonded together at their edges and the laminate applied to the sidewall of the cup member with the foamed material fitting snugly within groove 14 and the stretchable material lying thereover and extending beyond the two side edges of the groove 14. Reverse-printing of the plastics sheet enables advertising material and other indicia to be displayed.
  • a typical example of such plastics material is heat-shrinkable PVC.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Ceramic Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Details Of Rigid Or Semi-Rigid Containers (AREA)
  • Packages (AREA)
EP81300466A 1980-02-11 1981-02-04 Disposable plastics containers Expired EP0038111B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8004435 1980-02-11
GB8004435 1980-02-11

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0038111A1 EP0038111A1 (en) 1981-10-21
EP0038111B1 true EP0038111B1 (en) 1985-01-02

Family

ID=10511246

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP81300466A Expired EP0038111B1 (en) 1980-02-11 1981-02-04 Disposable plastics containers

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0038111B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (1) JPS56123253A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE3167993D1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2016123423A1 (en) * 2015-01-30 2016-08-04 The Coca-Cola Company Reusable bottle with defined scuffing band

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS63144438U (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) * 1988-01-22 1988-09-22
JPH0630679Y2 (ja) * 1990-09-14 1994-08-17 長谷川ゴム株式会社 発泡樹脂製コンテナ容器
JP2824895B2 (ja) * 1993-12-22 1998-11-18 株式会社日本デキシー 断熱性紙製容器及びその製造方法
ITRM20130192U1 (it) 2013-11-14 2015-05-15 Seda Suisse A G Contenitore a coppa perfezionato
KR102754218B1 (ko) * 2022-02-25 2025-01-14 주식회사 대성실리콘 밴드 부착형 음료용기

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR973911A (fr) * 1948-10-22 1951-02-16 Dispositif de protection des emballages en matière fragile
US3126139A (en) * 1964-03-24 Partially insulated plastic container
US3203611A (en) * 1962-07-10 1965-08-31 Haveg Industries Inc Insulated nestable container and method of making the same

Family Cites Families (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1406234A (en) * 1971-08-06 1975-09-17 Rheem Blagden Ltd Labelling

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3126139A (en) * 1964-03-24 Partially insulated plastic container
FR973911A (fr) * 1948-10-22 1951-02-16 Dispositif de protection des emballages en matière fragile
US3203611A (en) * 1962-07-10 1965-08-31 Haveg Industries Inc Insulated nestable container and method of making the same

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2016123423A1 (en) * 2015-01-30 2016-08-04 The Coca-Cola Company Reusable bottle with defined scuffing band

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0038111A1 (en) 1981-10-21
JPS56123253A (en) 1981-09-28
DE3167993D1 (en) 1985-02-14
JPH026690B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1990-02-13

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