EP0432344B1 - Package for flowable material having a continuous peripheral seam - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a package for flowable filling material with a tube-forming side walls, with a bottom and an upper wall having a hole suitable for pouring and / or for receiving a closing device, all parts of the package being made of deformable plastic, preferably a thermoplastic, one from the side walls of the pack protruding seam is formed from two welded webs that lie around the pack lying in a plane that is parallel to the longitudinal central axis of the tube, and that is arranged in a depression in the area of the bottom, the pack in Area of the bottom and the top wall is delimited by planes, the seam in the area of the top wall runs in such a way that it is interrupted by the hole, and the hole in the top floor is surrounded by a substantially vertically upstanding, part-cylinder-shaped edge.

Numerous types of packs are known for liquids, but in which, to a large extent, at least the side walls forming a tube consist of paper coated with plastic.

A pack of the type described in the opening paragraph is known from GB-A-928448. Due to the bottle shape of this known package, an upper part which narrows conically upwards extends from the main body of the package to the edge leaving a hole free. This edge closes outwards and upwards by an edge through which one can lay a plane that is perpendicular to the plane in which the welded webs of the seam are arranged. Such a bottle-shaped pack is difficult to stack.

Also known from GB-A-1,129,877 are packs in which the bottom is designed in cross-section V-shaped with parts raised upwards towards the center, which are inclined similarly to the inclined partial walls of the upper wall. As a result, the weight of the respective pack rests on two outer edges of the base, which are thereby excessively stressed. Furthermore, the packs cannot be stacked well, so that the transport options are unfavorable. Although the inclined inclination of the wall halves of the floor and top wall at the same angle, the shell halves should be able to be plugged into one another prior to their connection to form the pack, in order to improve the manufacturing process, the final pack as a product has disadvantages, such as poor stackability, especially of the finished and filled ones Packing, and overloading of the load-bearing edges in the floor area.

The object of the present invention is to redesign the known package in such a way that it can be stacked on top of one another and yet does not miss the other advantages of other types of package, such as tightness, easy opening and environmental friendliness.

According to the invention this object is achieved in that the height of the edge surrounding the hole is equal to the height of the horizontally adjacent seam, that the seam and the edge are arranged in a recess and that the hole occupies the smaller part of the top wall.

The possibilities of using a hole in the top wall are greater in that the hole is surrounded by the edge mentioned. If, according to the invention, its height is now designed to be the same height as the height of the adjacent seam, these upper edges lie in a plane parallel to the boundary plane of the floor. These surfaces can be used as support and standing surfaces so that a package according to the invention can be stacked essentially vertically on top of the other directly or via intermediate pieces. In addition, the hole occupies less than half the area of the top wall, so that parts of the top wall at the level of the boundary plane mentioned contribute to further support and stacking of packs arranged one above the other. Due to the recess in which the circumferential seam and the edge are arranged on the hole, no device parts required for the opening and casting function protrude beyond the delimitation plane mentioned. This is a perfect stackability of the guaranteed new pack.

Thanks to the new structure with tube and seam, the pack is stiffened and at the same time liquid-tight and therefore easy to manufacture as a mass product. The parts of the pack are preferably made of plastic material, which allows environmentally friendly waste disposal after using and emptying the pack according to the invention.

The tube of the pack which represents the side walls can be round or oval in cross section, but the pack is preferably cuboid.

It is also expedient according to the invention if the side walls form a tube with a square cross section, which preferably has rounded edges, and if the seam runs along the diagonals of the top wall. The hole is also located in a recess in the top wall, in the vicinity of the outer edge of the top wall. In the case of a square tube, the cross section of which is, for example, a square or a rectangle, the seam runs diagonally through this packing in such a way that the top wall is preferably divided into two halves, and the seam also runs across the hole. For emptying, it is important that the contents can be poured out undisturbed after opening, and therefore the package is designed so that the seam does not continue across the hole, but only runs outside of it on the top wall, in the area of the So Loches is interrupted. Preferably the seam is a short distance of e.g. each 1 mm to 10 mm and preferably 3 to 7 mm from the respective outer edge of the hole to the outside with a lower height, e.g. shortened or compressed by 1% to 30%, preferably 10% to 20% of the height of the remaining seam, so that the manufacturer has enough space to take suitable measures for a practical closure of the hole and attachment of a pouring device. An opening piece is described below, which is sealed to form the pouring device at the edge of the hole in the top wall, and for this the seam is interrupted in the area of the entire pouring device. The edge around the hole in the top wall stiffens the package where the seam is interrupted - i.e. not present. The seam practically starts at this edge of the hole in the top wall, preferably on both sides of the hole in the top wall, so that the top wall also has excellent rigidity in the region of the pouring device.

Despite the square cross-section of the packing tube, its edges can be regarded as rounded, so that the packing gains an attractive appearance and for space-saving transport and better stacking of the filled packing in collecting containers Seam does not bother, which runs parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tube on two opposite side walls. If the seam is only as high as the roundness of the tube edge is dimensioned on the side walls, then the seam is picked up on two opposite edges of the side wall tube in this space which has been cleared by the rounding. If such a square tube were to have geometrically large levels in the outer surface of the four side walls, then the seam would not protrude beyond the space spanned by these four levels. However, this allows perfectly stackable and space-saving arrangements of the packs according to the invention.

Cold-deformable and hot-deformable plastic materials are known, all of which are suitable for producing the package according to the invention. Preferably, the plastic material of the package according to the invention should be thermoformable, in particular a thermoplastic, such as e.g. Polypropene. PVC can also serve as the thermoplastic, for example, and polypropene is largely known in the art as polypropylene. The package according to the invention then consists of perfectly reprocessable parts and materials (in contrast to composite materials). In a particularly preferred embodiment, the plastic material, e.g. the polypropene, also fill, the fillers here being chalk, mica, talc, gypsum or the like. In practice, filling levels of around 70% have proven to be favorable. It has been shown that such filled plastic materials are easily rotten on the one hand, can of course also be easily reprocessed or recycled using simple methods and, on the other hand, do not impair the properties of a plastic, so that such filled plastic materials are particularly deep-drawable and also sealable.

It is also advantageous according to the invention if at least two side walls each have a depression as a recessed grip that projects into the volume. Such a trough can be produced relatively easily with a thermoplastic, either by cold working or by the usual deep-drawing process. The recessed grips replace a handle attached to the outside of the pack. As a result, the outer contour of the pack can be made stack-friendly. In addition, the trough can be shaped such that the volume of the container itself is not significantly impaired or reduced. If the recessed grips are intended for a pack with a rectangular tube, it is best to arrange them on both sides of a longitudinal edge between two side walls, which is parallel to the longitudinal center line of the pack and runs through the plane with the seam. Towards the "back" the recessed grips then end gently tapering in the described longitudinal edge and are located approximately in the upper half of a pack; for packages with a smaller volume of, for example, 1/2 liter or 1/4 liter approximately in the middle of the side wall in terms of its height. Towards the "front", where the hole with the pouring device is arranged, the respective recessed grip ends (of course at a considerable distance from the pouring device) approximately in the area of a longitudinal side edge of the tube, which could be called the "middle longitudinal side edge" because it is not the is the front longitudinal side edge, which lies below the pouring edge next to the pouring device, and is also not the rear longitudinal side edge, which was described above. By two of these middle longitudinal side edges one could imagine a plane again, and then this plane would be perpendicular to the plane mentioned above, which runs through the seam.

The invention is furthermore expediently designed in such a way that the hole in the top wall can be closed by a pouring device which has a separate opening piece made of deformable plastic which is inserted into the hole in the top wall and welded in the top wall. The production of such a package is then particularly simple, since the tube with the bottom and top wall made of the deformable plastic then only needs to be formed with a hole in the top wall, into which a correspondingly designed opening piece is welded as a pouring device. This opening piece can be prefabricated separately and inserted with high performance (number of pieces per unit of time) into the hole in the top wall of the pack and welded there.

It is particularly advantageous if the opening piece of the pouring device has a lower part and a closure part connected to it by a hinge. Such a configuration simplifies the opening piece in a special way. Functional parts connected via a hinge can be easily manufactured and assembled. This is even possible with a wide variety of materials, plastic which is preferably deformable according to the invention as the material for the opening piece. The lower part is then welded into the hole in the top wall of the package in the manner described, and the closure part is connected on the one hand via the hinge to the lower part and on the other hand via a welding line to the latter.

According to the invention, it is provided that the lower part is sealed to the closure part along a weld line which defines the pouring opening and that the opening piece has a cup-shaped depression which receives the pouring opening. By said welding line, the lower part is thus connected to the closure part in such a way that when the pack is finished, filled and not yet opened, both parts of the opening piece, namely the lower part and the closure part, close the hole in the top wall of the pack like a piece and, if necessary, liquid-tight keep closed. Both the lower part and the closure part have the cup-shaped depression mentioned, so that in addition to the Adhesive or sealing force between the edge of the hole in the upper wall of the pack and the lower part also gives a certain positive connection between the upper wall and the opening piece. If you now tear up the closure part to open it, the tear force is introduced into the welding line in such a way that the tear piece lying within the welding line adheres to the closure part and is torn out of the lower part in such a way that - determined by the course of the welding line - the Pour opening results. This creates a clearly defined opening that is easy to manufacture and can even be closed by the end user after the first opening.

It is also advantageous according to the invention if the opening piece is welded along the edge of the hole in the top wall. This is the measure already indicated above for the practical fastening of the prefabricated opening piece after it has been inserted into the hole in the upper wall.

In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the closure part has a plate with gripping tip covering the casting surface of the lower part. In other words, the opening piece is designed such that its lower part has a pouring surface which surrounds the pouring opening and which advantageously functions as a pouring edge at the foremost tip or edge. This pouring surface, which is generally flat, should - not least also for hygienic reasons - be covered after reclosing until the second or third pouring process. This cover is provided by the plate of the closure part, which, like the casting surface, engages around the cup-shaped depression of the opening piece. The plate has a tip in the direction of the pouring jet, that is to say toward the front longitudinal side edge of the pack, which the end user can use to grip the closure part and tear it up. This tip can also be understood as a gripping aid.

Figur 1

perspektivisch die Packung mit dem Loch in der Oberwand mit hochstehendem Rand, wobei der Betrachter auf die mittlere Längsseitenkante blickt, die hintere Längsseitenkante rechts und die vordere Längsseitenkante links sieht,

Figur 2

ebenfalls perspektivisch die Packung, jedoch mit eingesetzter und geöffneter Ausgießeinrichtung, die in der Oberwand der Packung vorn angeordnet ist, vorzugsweise als Packung mit einem Volumen von 2 Liter,

Figur 3

die Draufsicht auf die Packung gemäß Figur 1,

Figur 4

die Seitenansicht der Packung nach dem Öffnen im Zustand der Figur 2,

Figur 5

eine Rückansicht der Packung, wenn man in Figur 1 von der hinteren Längsseitenkante nach vorn in Richtung Ausgießeinrichtung blickt,

Figur 6

eine Draufsicht auf die Packung mit geschlossenem Öffnungsstück, wobei der Betrachter im vorderen Bereich der Oberwand, auf welche er blickt, die Greifspitze sieht,

Figur 7

eine Querschnittsansicht entlang der Linie VII-VII der Figur 3,

Figur 8

eine abgebrochene Querschnittsansicht entlang der Linie VIII-VIII der Figur 3, allerdings nur vom oberen Teil der Packung, wie dies auch in Figur 7 gezeigt ist,

Figur 9

eine Ansicht entlang der Linie IX-IX der Figur 6,

Figur 10

eine Einzelansicht gemäß dem strichpunktierten Kreis in Figur 9,

Figur 11

eine ähnliche vergrößerte Einzelansicht wie in Figur 10, jedoch nach dem Aufreißen des Verschlußteiles, und

Figur 12

eine schematische Seitenansicht des geöffneten Öffnungsstückes, wobei das Verschlußteil um das Scharnier um 90° herumgeschwenkt ist und vertikal aus der Oberwand der Packung heraussteht, wenn das Unterteil als horizontal in der Packungsoberwand liegend angenommen wird.

Further advantages, advantageous features and possible uses of the present invention result from the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments in conjunction with the drawings. Show it:

Figure 1

perspective the pack with the hole in the top wall with a raised edge, the viewer looking at the middle long edge, the rear long edge on the right and the front long edge on the left,

Figure 2

likewise the package in perspective, but with the pouring device inserted and opened, which is arranged in the front wall of the package, preferably as a package with a volume of 2 liters,

Figure 3

the top view of the package according to Figure 1,

Figure 4

the side view of the package after opening in the state of Figure 2,

Figure 5

2 shows a rear view of the pack when looking in FIG. 1 from the rear longitudinal side edge towards the pouring device,

Figure 6

3 shows a plan view of the package with the opening piece closed, the viewer seeing the gripping tip in the front region of the top wall, to which he is looking,

Figure 7

3 shows a cross-sectional view along the line VII-VII in FIG. 3,

Figure 8

3 shows a broken cross-sectional view along the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 3, but only from the upper part of the package, as is also shown in FIG. 7,

Figure 9

6 shows a view along the line IX-IX of FIG. 6,

Figure 10

2 shows a single view according to the dash-dotted circle in FIG. 9,

Figure 11

a similar enlarged detail view as in Figure 10, but after tearing the closure member, and

Figure 12

is a schematic side view of the opened opening piece, wherein the closure part is pivoted around the hinge by 90 ° and protrudes vertically from the top wall of the pack when the lower part is assumed to be horizontal in the top wall of the pack.

The package used in the preferred embodiments described here is for milk, juices, or the like.

The respective package consists of a tube 1 with a quadrangular cross section and four side walls 2, 3, 4, because the fourth side wall is not shown in any drawing. But you can imagine the side wall 3 diametrically opposite. The four side walls 2 to 4 are separated from one another by longitudinal side edges, all of which lie parallel to the longitudinal center line 5 of the pack. These are the front longitudinal side edge 6, the rear longitudinal side edge 7 and the two central longitudinal side edges 8, which are diametrically opposite one another between the front 6 and the rear longitudinal side edge 7. In Figure 4, the middle longitudinal side edges are indicated by a line, but in reality all the longitudinal side edges are rounded, which is why no sharp line 8 can be seen, particularly in the perspective representations. However, the reader readily understands that four flat side walls 2 to 4 are surrounded by four - preferably rounded - edges 6-8 or are separated from one another by them. The tube is delimited on its underside by a floor (not designated in more detail) and on its top by the top wall 9, the bottom and top wall each lying in one plane.

In the first embodiment of the liquid pack, the level of the top wall 9 can be clearly seen, simply because the hole 13 according to FIGS. 1 and 3 and also the pouring device 10 occupies only a small part, preferably less than half, of the top wall 9, for example an area of 5 to 30%, preferably 10 to 20%.

All parts 1 to 10 of the pack are made of thermoformed plastic. 5 shows the outer contour, which is essentially cuboid with a flat top wall 9. So that no parts protrude significantly from the outer contour and thus good stackability and repackaging is possible, groove-shaped depressions 11 are provided in both the bottom and the top wall 9, in which a seam 12 runs, which extends essentially perpendicularly from the plane of the top wall 9 or the floor protrudes. This seam 12 surrounds the entire cuboid or tube 1 of the pack, that is, it continues along the front 6 and rear longitudinal side edge 7 in such a way that the double-walled seam 12, as can be seen particularly clearly from FIG. 8, shows (two seam parts 12 'and 12 '') - a level can be laid, which in the embodiments shown here exactly halves the cuboid of the pack. In the perspective representation of FIGS. 1 and 2, just as in the side view of FIG. 4, one looks vertically at this plane, in which the seam 12 is arranged like a frame which also stiffens the pack, while in FIG. 5 in the direction of this plane and thus also looks at the edge of the seam 12. Seen from the top wall 9, the seam 12 runs from one corner to the opposite along the diagonal - as is also the case with the bottom - in the case of the top wall 9, however, interrupted by the hole 13 or the pouring device 10. Along the front and rear longitudinal side edges 6 and 7, the seam 12 can protrude vertically, without being folded over and tacked onto the outer surface, without protruding beyond the outer contour of the cuboid, because the longitudinal side edges 6 to 8 of the tube 1 are rounded, and in this space created by the rounding, the seam 12 runs through the rounding of the longitudinal side edges 6 to 8 on the one hand and through the groove-shaped depressions 11 in the bottom and in the top wall of the pack, on the other hand, the seam 12 runs within the outer contour of the pack.

It can be seen particularly clearly from FIG. 3 that the seam 12 is interrupted by the hole 13 in the top wall 9. In other words, the seam 12, which runs in a straight line over the top wall 9, ends in front of the edge 14 of the hole 13, is omitted in the region of the hole because there is no material here, and continues again on the opposite side behind the hole 13. In areas next to the hole, which can be seen in FIGS. 7 and 9 and are designated by 15, the height of the seam 12 is reduced by 5 to 30%, preferably by 10 to 15%, of the total height of the seam 12. As a result, an opening piece 16 covering the hole 13 can be inserted, attached and arranged so that the pouring device 10 having the opening piece 16 does not protrude beyond the outer contour of the package.

For this purpose, an enlarged part 17 of the otherwise groove-like recess 11 is provided in the upper wall 9, in which the pouring device 10 is located, this part 17 of the recess 11 being widened so that it not only the hole 13 but also the one there used and attached pouring device 10 surrounds. In other words, the pouring device 10 is arranged with its opening piece 16 such that it is recessed in this part 17 and does not protrude beyond the outer surface of the upper wall 9.

1 and 2 clearly show a further recess 18 designed as a recessed grip. Such a recessed grip is also to be thought of in the second embodiment according to FIGS. 13 to 18, although it is not expressly shown there.

In the case of a pack with a volume of, for example, 2 liters, the recess 18 defining the recessed grip is arranged in the upper half of the respective rear side wall 3 or 4, as a result of which the end user supports the pack quite close to the center of gravity, so that the pouring out becomes very convenient and light.

The surface surrounding the recess 18 (recessed grip) on the side wall 3 and also that on the adjacent side wall 4 connected to it can be provided for printing.

The pouring device 10 is a separate opening piece 16 inserted into the hole 10 in the top wall 9 and welded along the edge 14 of the hole 13 in the top wall 9. In order to describe this in more detail, FIGS. 3 and 7 are best considered first. From these one can see the seam 12 interrupted by the hole 13 in the top wall 9, which (according to a particularly clear illustration in FIG. 8) consists of the two webs 12 ′, 12 ″ welded together and in the recess 11 or the widened one Well 17 runs.

To form the pouring device 10, as it is designed in principle in both of the embodiments shown here, it is best to consider FIGS. 6, 9 and 12. The pouring device thus consists of the opening piece 16 welded into the hole 13 along its annular edge 14. FIG 9 clearly shows the ring-shaped welding region 19, illustrated by a thicker line, between the opening piece 16 and the hole 13. The part-cylinder-shaped ring 14, which is the edge of the hole 13, forms one Part of this welding surface 19, because the latter continues on top wall 9 and recesses 15 on top of seam 12.

This opening piece 16, which is welded into the hole 13 of the top wall 9 along the surface 19, in turn consists of a lower part 20 and a closure part 21 connected to it via a hinge 22. For a clearer representation of the hinge 22, it is best to take a look at FIG. 12.

The opening piece 16, i.e. Both the lower part 20 and the closure part 21 have a cup-shaped recess 23, as can be seen clearly in the cross-sectional view of FIGS. 9 and 12. In the "bottom of this cup" there runs a welding line 25 which specifies the ultimately desired pouring opening 24.

If you look at the closed pouring device 10 according to FIG. 6, then you can see there in dashed lines the welding line 25 which is actually equipped with a tip 26 towards the front tip of the pouring device 10, in order to concentrate the tear-off forces described below on a point on the welding line and thereby bring the initiation of the tear force into the right place. A part of the welding line 25 can be seen in cross-section through the individual view X in FIG. 9, which is more clearly shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. Before tearing, the welding line 25 surrounds the tear-out piece 27, which sticks to the closure part 21 after the tear-open and thereby defines the pouring opening 24 in the lower part 20.

A top view of the closed package according to FIG. 6 shows in the region of the enlarged part 17 of the recess 11 in the top wall 9 from the pouring device, generally designated 10, to the outer surface of the closure part 21 with the cup-shaped recess 23, which is the approximately circular cup-shaped recess Recess 23 surrounding field of the closure part 21 is formed as a flat plate 28 which is provided at the front with a gripping tip 29. For the first embodiment, FIG. 9 clearly shows that this gripping tip 29 of the plate 28 projects over the so-called casting surface 30 with a casting edge 31.

In operation, the end user finds the package shown in FIGS. 6 and 9 with the pouring device 10 closed. To open it, he grips the gripping tip 29 of the closure part 21 and pulls it up in the direction of the curved arrow 32 (FIGS. 10 and 12). The welding line 25 concentrates the tensile force on the tip 26, which is why the welding line 25 also becomes the tear line which, after the tear, ultimately becomes the pouring opening 24 releases. The tear along this welding line 25 takes place in the manner shown schematically in FIG. 4 in such a way that the tear-out piece 27 is torn off the lower part 20 and is torn up over the remaining part of the welding line 25 on the closure part 21. Here, the closure part folds according to the illustration in FIG. 12 when it moves in the direction of the curved arrow 32 around the hinge 22 into the upright position, for example. In this, the pouring opening 24 is exposed, because the tear-out piece 27 hangs on the closure part 21. The pouring process can begin. The state according to FIG. 2 is reached for both embodiments. When the package is tilted, the filling material flows over the pouring surface 30 and detaches along the pouring edge 31 in a clearly definable jet.

To reclose, the closure part 21 only has to be folded down again in the direction opposite the curved arrow 32 (FIG. 12).

Claims (9)

1. A pack for flowable contents, having side walls (2-4) which form a tube, and having a top wall (9) which has a hole (13) which is suitable for pouring out and/or receiving a closure device, wherein all parts (1-9) of the pack are made of a deformable plastics material, preferably a thermoplastics material, a seam (12) which projects from the side walls (2-4) of the pack is formed from two bar portions (12', 12'') welded together, the seam embracing the pack in a plane which is arranged parallel to the longitudinal central axis (5) of the tube (1), and which is arranged so that it extends in the region of the bottom in a depression (11), wherein the pack is delimited in the region of the bottom and top wall (9) by planes, the seam (12) extends in the region of the top wall (9) in such a way that it is interrupted by the hole (13), and the hole (13) in the top wall (9) is embraced by a substantially vertically projecting part cylindrical casing-like edge (14), characterised in that the height of the edge (14) which embraces the hole (13) is equal to the height of the horizontally bordering seam (12), that the seam (12) and the edge (14) are arranged in a depression (12, 17), and that the hole (13) occupies the smaller part of the top wall (9).
2. A pack according to claim 1, characterised in that the side walls (2-4) form a tube (1) which is quadrangular in cross-section, and which preferably has rounded edges (6-8), and that the seam (12) extends along the diagonals of the top wall (9).
3. A pack according to one of Claims 1 to 2, characterised in that two side walls (3, 4) at least each have a depression (18) forming a handle mould projecting into the space.
4. A pack according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the hole (13) in the top wall (9) is closed by a pouring device (10) which has a separate opening piece (16) of deformable plastics material, the opening piece being inserted into the hole (13) in the top wall (9) and welded (at 19) in the top wall (9).
5. A pack according to Claim 4, characterised in that the opening piece (16) of the pouring device (10) has a bottom part (20) and a closure part (21) which is joined to the bottom part by a hinge (22) (Figures 9 to 12).
6. A pack according to one of Claims 4 or 5, characterised in that the bottom part (20) is sealed to the closure part (21) along a weld line (25) giving the pouring opening (24), and the opening piece (16) has a cup-shaped depression (23) for receiving the pouring opening (24) (Figures 9, 12).
7. A pack according to one of Claims 4 to 6, characterised in that the opening piece (16) is welded along the edge (14) (and along the surface 19) of the hole (13) in the top wall (9) (Figure 9).
8. A pack according to one of Claims 5 to 7, characterised in that the closure part (21) has a plate (28) with a tip (29) for gripping, which plate covers the pouring surface (30) of the bottom part (20).
9. A pack according to Claims 1 to 8, characterised in that the depression (11) is groove-like in cross-section and that a widened part (17) of this groove-like depression (11) embraces the hole (13) in the top wall (9).

Images