EP0925232B1 - Container for a pressurized beverage - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to beverage containers for Drinks under gas pressure.

The drinks can be non-carbonated, act low carbon or carbonated drinks. So If possible, beer should be opened and poured into a glass deliver beautiful, stable foam crown. The drinks include though also others, e.g. non-alcoholic carbonated drinks, with or without a foam crown, for example so-called "soft drinks", such as cola, carbonated lemonades and the like or also carbonated drinks in the container under one of air various gas are to be kept, for example in order to to prevent the oxidation of ingredients (e.g. apple or Orange juice, mixed milk drinks, tea, coffee). It is common desired, but not mandatory (see apple juice example), that in the container filled with the drink compared to the Ambient pressure there is increased pressure.

There are a variety of drink container proposals to provide the type mentioned with an inner container, the during the filling process with gaseous or liquid Nitrogen or another gas can be filled, whereby the inner container when filling the beverage completely or can partially fill with liquid, which then after Closing the container with part of the existing gas or LPG volume can be displaced again. On such container is hereinafter referred to as "gas container" be referred to, even if it is both liquid and gas may contain. Such gas containers are made of, for example the international patent applications with the publication numbers 95/08493, WO 91/07326, WO 95/00416 and WO 95/00415 known.

It has both been proposed to put the gas container on or in to provide the liquid floating as well as him in the tank to lock. For example, WO 91/07326 suggests that the gas container has flexible arms with flanges that over a press fit the gas container at a predetermined position fix an upper or middle area of the container.

The disadvantage of this is that the proposed press fit is none allows secure adhesion, since containers made of metal or Plastic depending on the condition of the manufacturing tool slightly varying inner diameter or depending on Internal pressure differently "inflated" side walls exhibit. Therefore, it is mentioned above. additionally suggested that the side wall of the container after inserting the gas container is arched inward above the attachment point in order to to lock the gas container.

However, this requires an additional deformation step the container itself, which only after inserting the gas container can be done and thus only extremely cumbersome to implement is.

In WO 95/08493 it is proposed to use the gas inner container Attach to the bottom of the container using an adhesive. It is preferred that the gas container is open at the bottom and has a flange which is substantially in shape Part of the bottom wall follows and on this over the adhesive is attached. However, in these cases there is a High-performance adhesive required to withstand high pressures can. In an alternative embodiment, it is the gas container around a closed container with a flat one Bottom, which in its middle part on the inside of the top of the attached bottom part is glued. For such Embodiment is an inexpensive, less pressure-resistant adhesive sufficient. However, the Adhesive on the outside of the glue joint is uneven because of the gap between the bottom and the gas tank is getting bigger. In addition, the adhesive comes into contact with the drink, so that only food-grade approved adhesives are used can.

From WO 91/13006 it is known to be an inner container open container without bottom via a snap connection on the bottom to attach the beverage container. The snap connection comes in that the inner container one in the bottom snaps around the gutter from the outside. Here is the Interface between the inner container and the bottom of the Beverage container relatively small, as only an annular outer Area of the container bottom covered by the inner container on the Snap connection is involved. The tight fit of this Construction is therefore delicate because there is a risk that the Inner container can be pushed out of the connection if a pressure drop occurs by opening the can.

The object of the present invention is the above to avoid disadvantages described and a beverage container provide with a gas container, the gas container is extremely simple and inexpensive to manufacture and at the same time the attachment of the gas container in the beverage container and that Filling the container with gas and drink is relatively easy are feasible.

This task is solved by the provision of a container according to claim 1, which is a gas pressure can contain or contain standing drink and one Has gas container attached to the inside of the container bottom, the one bottom part made of an elastic material and a Has upper part, the bottom part over a Snap connection is connected to the bottom of the container.

The container itself can be made from a conventional beverage container Material. It can be, for example Beverage can or a corresponding barrel made of aluminum or Trade steel sheet; but it can also be one Beverage containers made of a plastic material such as Polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene or one other plastic compatible with beverages. Also Glass containers are included in the invention. The containers can be made in the usual way. So can for example 2-part or 3-part beverage cans for Get involved.

The word "gas container" is intended to mean that the so-called Inner container when the beverage container is filled should at least partially contain gas. Mostly it contains partly also liquid: Usually the filling takes place of beverage containers of the type of interest here in that gas is poured into the inner container, then the Container is filled with drink and finally closed becomes. Depending on the design of the inner container, during or after sealing by pressure equalization liquid in inflow the gas tank, which is discussed in more detail below will be explained.

The gas container of the present invention is located on Tank bottom. Therefore, it is in the filled state of the container surrounded by liquid. The inside of the gas container stands with this liquid in such a way that in the state of filled, closed can the gas in the gas container cannot escape into the surrounding liquid. For that there there are a number of proposals in the prior art. So it can can be caused, for example, by reversible closed openings are present in the gas container, whereby due to the sudden drop in pressure in the liquid when opening the can or closures is or will be destroyed and the gas can escape into the surrounding liquid. Alternatively the gas container e.g. at least one and in particular two Openings with only a small diameter, which is dimensioned so that in the state of the filled and closed container Surface tension of the liquid prevents gas bubbles can exit. This effect is known as "Gas bubble point effect" known.

Is the gas container except for the openings mentioned closed hollow body, it is hereinafter referred to as "one essentially forming a closed cavity ".

At least the bottom part of the gas container should consist of one elastic material, such as plastic or Metal. Bottom part and top part can be integral with each other connected, but they can also come from different Parts are manufactured and then connected to each other, for example welded (e.g. friction welded), glued or be connected via a snap lock. The top can but does not have to be made of the same material as the base part consist.

Since the gas container is at the bottom of the beverage container, it is not absolutely necessary that he himself in the forms an essentially closed cavity. The gas container can instead be open at the bottom, provided that the connection to The floor around the opening is so tight that it covers the criteria of the "gas bubble point effect" described above enough.

In the dependent claims, further refinements of the specified container according to the invention.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to figures explained. The individual, with a figure explained features not on the combination with the other features specifically shown in this figure his.

The embodiment of Figure 1 does not fill the claims.

Figure 1 shows the lower part of a container 1 for a drink of the type mentioned. One recognizes the lower part of the side wall 17 and the container bottom 10, which is strongly arched. The curvature has an inner section 6, which is dome-shaped in this embodiment, but could also be flat. This is followed by a first annular section 7, which has a relatively large diameter. A second annular section 8, which is arranged closer to the bottom, has a smaller diameter than the first section, so that the container bottom is retracted at this point. Then the bottom widens outwards again down to another ring-shaped section 18, with which the container stands on the ground.

The gas container 11 has a bottom part 4 and an upper part Part 5, which form an integral unit in this example. There are two openings 19, 20 with a very small diameter provided, one in the upper area and the other in one deep part of the side area. These openings should have such a small diameter that the Surface tension of the liquid surrounding the gas container prevents gas from entering the container when the can is closed Environment can leak.

The bottom part 4 of the gas container is centered in this example open in a circle, so that the dome-shaped section 6 of the Bottom of the container closes the interior of the gas container. The Opening is not limited to the shape shown. Could also the gas container, of course, essentially one include closed cavity. The connection between the Bottom part 4 of the gas container and the container bottom 10 is thereby causes the bottom part 4 an annular Section 3, the contour of a part of the dome-shaped section 6 and the annular section 7 the container bottom 10 is adapted and section 7 completely embraces. Due to the flexibility of the bottom part 4 a snapping, sealing connection is created.

Figure 2 shows an embodiment of the gas container 11 in a container 1, which is designed as in Figure 1. The gas container here consists of an upper part 5 and a bottom part 4, which were formed from two parts and then joined together. The connection 2 shown is intended to illustrate an example of a snap lock or an adhesive connection. The bottom part 4 is closed, so that the gas container as such forms a substantially closed cavity, with the exception of the openings with a small diameter, through which the gas chamber communicates with the liquid chamber.

The section 3 of the base part 4 can have an annular shape, so that the outer part of the base part 4 corresponds to the configuration described in FIG. 1. The section 3 can, however, also be present in the form of legs or feet which grip around the section 7 of the container bottom. The number of feet is variable: if the snap connection is very strong, two or three of these encompassing structures can be sufficient; but four or five or even more - then usually rather thinner - legs or feet can also be provided. A top view from below of the base part 4 in an embodiment with five feet is shown in FIG .

It should be clear that the choice of the shape of the Section 3 of the bottom part 4 of the gas container ("leg-like" or annular configuration) is free as long as one Adequate sealing of the gas container is guaranteed.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the invention, in which the container bottom 10 has a smaller bulge 13 in the center. It can be seen that the smaller arch 13 has a first, annular section 7 with a somewhat larger diameter and a second, annular section 8 with a smaller diameter, which is arranged closer to the ground. (The figure is not necessarily to be understood to scale; the proportions of the arch 13 are rather exaggerated.) This creates a neck that gives the arch 13 a mushroom-shaped shape. As a result, the section 3 of the base part 4 of the gas container 11 can snap around it. The section 3 of the base part 4 can be both a plurality of legs or feet (for example three relatively wide feet or five or six thinner legs or feet), but it can also be an annular structure which covers the section 7 of the container bottom 10 completely embraces.

The two embodiments shown schematically in FIGS. 5b and 5c in the top view of the floor both provide an arrangement in section AA or A'-A ', as shown in FIG. 5a : FIG. 5b shows a series of smaller indentations 13 which are circular are arranged on the bottom of the container. Each of these domes is snapped around by a section 3 of the bottom part 4. FIG. 5c shows an annular, groove-shaped arch 14, which is encompassed by an annular section 3 of the base part 4. In the embodiment with several smaller bulges 13, a different number of bulges and / or other arrangements of the bulges (for example with a bulge in the middle) are of course also possible.

FIG. 6 shows a further embodiment of the invention, in which the container base 10 has a strong bulge, which in turn has a mushroom-shaped bulge 15 in the center. A mushroom-like or button-like section 3 of the base part 4 of the gas container 11 snaps into this bulge.

Instead of the centrally arranged bulge 15 as in FIG. 6 shown, several smaller bulges 15 in the Container bottom can be provided, for example as in Figure 5b can be arranged. Alternatively, analog to Design as shown in Figure 5c also a trough-shaped bulge 16 may be present, in which a ring-shaped, mushroom-shaped in cross-section Engage section 3 of the bottom part 4 of the gas container 11 can.

Instead of the snap connection of the bottom part of the gas container with the bottom of the container is also one with a corresponding structure of the Container side wall possible.

The combinations of the different shown in the figures Characteristics of the gas tank bottom part and tank bottom are if compatible, to be understood as interchangeable. For example, the bottom 4 of the gas container as shown in FIG Figure 5a is shown, of course, also down have an opening if the by the reference numerals 13,14 indicated snap connection is sufficiently sealing. Also all gas containers can be made in one or more parts his.

The present invention includes beverage containers both before Filling as well as after filling with the corresponding Drink and therefore both unlocked as well locked. The invention also includes the gas containers as such.

The beverage container is preferably filled as follows: First the container contents are flushed with gas or with LPG filled. The gas can be chosen as required become; however, nitrogen is often used. If the Gas containers as such are essentially closed Void forms, the gas, preferably partially in liquid State in which one or one of its openings is filled be while he's already on the snap connection is attached to the bottom of the container or before you put it snaps into the bottom of the container. Then will the container is filled with liquid. Preference is given to rinsing of a gas space above the liquid level another drop of liquid gas is added before the can is closed. If it is turned upside down afterwards, can in the preferred embodiments in which the Gas container two openings with a small diameter has, part of the gas from the gas container in the Beverage containers escape while liquid is in the gas tank penetrates until the corresponding pressure equalization is completed. If the can, now again with the closed opening upwards, opened, so can by the Suddenly occurring pressure drop in the drink and with it itself building pressure difference between the inside of the gas container and escape gas from the drink at high speed, whereby the desired gas bubbles and possibly appetizing foam be generated.

Claims (8)

1. Container (1) for a pressurised drink, having

   a container base (10), which has at least one arch (6, 7, 8) which has a neck- like constriction,

   and

   a gas container (11) attached internally to the container base (10) and which has a base part (4) consisting of an elastic material and an upper part (5), wherein the base part (4) and the upper part (5) form an essentially closed cavity and the base part (4) has a section (3) which forms a snap connection (9) with the neck-like constriction of the container base - engaging around it or engaging in it.
2. Container according to claim 1, characterised in that the arch of the container base is an inward arch.
3. Container according to claim 1, characterised in that the arch of the container base is an outward arch (15).
4. Container according to one of the above claims, wherein the arch of the container base is an annular, trough-like arch, which has in cross-section the neck-like constriction.
5. Container according to claim 2, characterised in that the oute r section (3) of the base part (4) has the form of small legs or small feet, which engage around the neck-like constriction of the container base.
6. Container according to one of the above claims, wherein the said container parts (4, 5) of the gas container are connected to one another via a click closure.
7. Container according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the said container parts (4, 5) of the gas container are connected integrally to one another.
8. Gas container (11) for a drinks container according to one of claims 1 to 7.

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