EP1165246B1 - Pouch and packaging and distribution unit - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a pouch that is provided with a deformable flexible wall and designed to contain a liquid/pasty product that is distributed by a manual recirculating metering jet pump disposed on an opening zone of said-pouch and able to be fitted in such a way that it cooperates with the latter to ensure that the product thus contained can be permanently stored without contact with the air. The pouch is equipped with a pump and can be introduced into and protected by an outer casing in order to form a packaging and distribution unit for said product. The pouch ( 1 ) has at least one rigid area in the vicinity of the opening thereof. Said area is created by a thickening of said wall and comprises fixing means ( 6, 7, 8; 10 ) in addition to means ( 13 ) that can be borne by the pump or by an element that is associated with the latter in the unit when in a mounted state and/or by said outer casing ( 12 ) when it is present or by one of the parts of said casing.

Description

The present invention relates to the packaging and dispensing of products of liquid to pasty consistency, such as cosmetics and toothpastes.

Such products are generally distributed in the form of doses by manual pumps arranged on the mouth of the tanks containing these products, these pumps being actuated by push buttons operated in alternative translation by the finger of the user to cause the ejection the dose of the product. These pumps are axial piston driven by the nozzle and can extract the desired dose of product by the depression that the rise of the piston creates in its internal chamber before its descent does not push the dose to the outside.

It is increasingly desired that the products remain constantly protected from the air to prevent their deterioration; the reservoir of the product is then constituted by a flexible pouch sheltered inside a covering or outer casing, said casing being sealingly connected most often to a centering ring of the pump body, inserted into the opening of dressing.

The corresponding pumps are advantageously pumps without air intake, so that the product remains completely safe from air even during the distribution of doses. Very many pumps of this type and improvements made to these are proposed; these include, for example, pumps according to international application WO 95/27569.

The inner pockets must be very flexible to ensure proper operation of the distribution. They are therefore made of a thin-walled flexible material. Under these conditions, they are put in place by being threaded by their neck portion on the ring or the like which is part of the pump system. Once threaded, they are then sealed by bonding or by at least one weld line.

These donning and gluing or welding operations are very inconvenient in industrial manufacturing. Furthermore, the ring receiving at its lower part the neck of the deformable bag must be long enough so that the pump body is not located opposite said neck, because, mounting, the parts of said pump body may be deformed during these threading, gluing or welding operations.

The present invention aims to overcome these disadvantages. For this purpose, it is expected that the deformable bag is made with a reinforced upper part, which allows a fixing of the bag to the device carrying the pump by said rigid part, so much easier way. The invention also offers the additional advantage that the pocket can also, by its rigid part, be made easily and directly integral with the outer covering, in particular a protective pouch pocket, a protective cover can advantageously cooperate with the rigid portion of said pocket.

The invention thus allows significant savings in the manufacture of these dispensers with inner pockets.

The present invention therefore firstly relates to a method for the manufacture of a pouch provided with a flexible, deformable wall intended to enclose a product of liquid to pasty consistency, which is intended to be dispensed by a metering manual pump ejection type of those without air intake, to be arranged on an opening zone of said pocket and to be arranged, in cooperation with the latter, to ensure that the product it contains is maintained permanently protected from the air or substantially protected from the air, said pocket equipped with its pump can also be introduced and protected in an outer covering to form a package for packaging and dispensing said product, said pocket having, in the vicinity of its opening, at least one zone made rigid by a thickening of its wall, and comprising complementary fixing means means that can be carried by said pump or by an element associated with the latter in the set when mounted and / or by said outer covering when it is present or by one or more parts of said covering, characterized in that said pocket has come from extrusion blow molding of a multilayer parison having a variable wall thickness depending on the profile sought for said pocket.

The thickness of the pocket in the flexible part is such that it allows its retraction when used in combination with the pump without air intake.

As stated above, the pump without air intake offers the best guarantee of preservation and preservation of the content, particularly advantageous when the latter must be kept sterile. The invention thus applies with interest to the distribution of sterile soap for hospital, or the like.

An additional advantage achieved by the pocket of the invention lies in the possibility of obtaining a distribution of the contents in the reverse position of the pocket, that is to say the opening area thereof at the bottom. This feature makes it easier to distribute the content on a complex relief surface or facing upwards, in that it allows this distribution by bringing the dispensing orifice closer to the surface.

According to the invention, the use of said outer covering is optional. When this outer covering is absent, the outer surface of the pocket itself can be decorated.

Said pouch comes from extrusion blow molding of a parison having a variable wall thickness depending on the desired profile for said pocket. US-A-3,865,528 and US-A-4,217,635 disclose apparatus that can be used to form such parisons. These are then adapted in a suitable mold in which compressed air can be injected to make apply the parison that expands against the wall of the mold cavity and form the desired pocket.

Said pouch comprises in particular means for fixing the pump or an element associated with the latter, by crimping, latching, screwing, gluing or ultrasonic welding, and fixing means of the covering or one or more parts of it, by snapping, screwing, gluing or ultrasonic welding.

In the case of the presence of an external covering, some of the modes of fixing it to the pocket, such as snapping, screwing, allow, after the bag has been emptied of its contents, a separation of the pocket and dressing. The latter is likely to be recovered, which can lead to a deposit system, already implemented in the recovery of some glass bottles, for example. This can result in savings in the overall cost of production and a gain in terms of environmental protection.

According to a particular embodiment of the bag according to the invention, the latter consists of a body having a side wall closed at one end by a bottom and connected, at its opposite end, via a shoulder. , at a neck, the thickness of the wall of said pocket being increased in the region of said neck, said shoulder and a portion of said adjacent side wall of said shoulder.

The neck of the bag may carry a continuous outer circumferential bead, under which is intended to be hooked, in particular by crimping or snapping, at least one holding element in place of the metering pump product distribution. This holding element is in particular a metal crimping cup, or a plastic cup attaching by snapping or screwing.

As for the rigid portion of the side wall of the bag, it may comprise externally at least one snap ring intended to cooperate with a groove carried internally by the side wall of a case in which the bag is intended to be introduced by its bottom or its upper part and which is part of the protective exterior of the pocket.

Moreover, the pocket may advantageously be arranged to form with the free edge of the case in the mounting position thereof, an annular groove for snapping the lower part of a protective cover forming part of the casing. outside.

According to a particular feature of the bag according to the invention, the side wall thereof comprises a fold which is arranged in a transverse plane of the pocket, and whose profile is in particular V-shaped, said fold being disposed of to separate the rigid portion and the flexible portion of said pocket. In this way, the rigid portion of the pocket is maintained as the flexible portion of the pocket retracts during use.

The pouch according to the invention is made of a multilayer material. As multilayer material, mention may be made of three-layer materials comprising an outer anhydrous barrier layer, for example polyamide or ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH), a binder intermediate layer and an inner layer, for example polypropylene.

The outer covering can be made in any desired shape, with any desired material such as glass or plastic or metal such as aluminum and tinplate.

The subject of the present invention is also an assembly for the packaging and dispensing of a product of liquid to pasty consistency, contained in a pouch provided with a flexible, deformable wall protected by an external covering, a manual dosing pump of ejection of said product, of the type of those without air intake, being disposed on an opening zone of said pocket and being arranged, in cooperation with the latter, to ensure that the product it contains is kept safe air or substantially in the absence of air, characterized in that said pocket is as defined above.

To better illustrate the object of the present invention, will be described hereinafter several particular embodiments, with reference to the drawings attached.

• la figure 1 est une vue en coupe axiale d'une poche conforme à un mode de réalisation de la présente invention ;
• la figure 2 est une vue en coupe axiale de la poche de la figure 1 introduite dans et rendue solidaire d'avec l'étui d'un habillage extérieur pour constituer un ensemble de conditionnement et de distribution selon l'invention après qu'une pompe sans reprise d'air ait été montée sur la sortie de ladite poche et qu'un capot de protection soit venu coiffer l'ensemble ; et
• la figure 3 est une vue partielle en coupe axiale d'une poche conforme à l'invention, associée à un habillage extérieur selon un mode de réalisation particulièrement intéressant.

On these drawings:

• Figure 1 is an axial sectional view of a pocket according to an embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 2 is a view in axial section of the pocket of FIG. 1 inserted in and made integral with the case of an outer covering to form a packaging and dispensing assembly according to the invention after a pump without air intake was mounted on the output of said pocket and a protective cover came to cap all; and
• Figure 3 is a partial view in axial section of a pocket according to the invention, associated with an outer casing according to a particularly interesting embodiment.

Referring to Figure 1, it can be seen that 1 has designated a pocket for containing a product of liquid to pasty consistency, such as a beauty cream or a toothpaste.

This pocket 1 is made of ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (anhydrous outer barrier layer) / binder / polypropylene intermediate layer (inner layer). It is molded by extrusion blow molding of a parison whose thickness has been varied along its wall to obtain, for said pocket 1, a rigid upper part because of its greater thickness, the rest of the pocket being with flexible wall.

The bag 1 comprises a cylindrical body 2 having a side wall 2 is closed at one end by a base 2 b and connected, at its end opposite the base 2 b, via a shoulder 3, a neck 4.

The vicinity of its end opposite the bottom 2b, the side wall 2 a of the body 2 has a bend 5 which is arranged in a radial plane and which, in axial longitudinal section as shown in Figure 1, has the form of a V whose tip is directed radially inwards. This fold 5, which is formed in the thin portion of the wall 2 has the role of maintaining the rigidity of the upper part of the bag 1 when in use, it is caused to retract moreover in addition to the distribution of the product it contains.

The rigid portion of the wall 2 a between the fold 5 and the shoulder 3 carries externally, going from the fold 5 to the shoulder 3, snap rings 6, a bead 7 of substantially square section, then a recess 8 outward, which household, with the upper annular surface of the bead 7, a groove 9, whose role is indicated below.

As for the neck 4, it carries externally, in the vicinity of its upper edge, an annular bead 10 and on its upper edge, an inner annular boss 11.

In the package for packaging and dispensing the product which comprises the bag which has just been described, a sealing washer is applied to the upper edge of the neck 4 cooperating with the annular boss 11. The maintenance of the washer is then performed for example by a metal crimping cup which has in its center an orifice for the passage of the body of a pump called "without air intake", which is fixed in a sealed manner. The crimping cup cooperates by its lower edge with the bead 10. The axial output tube of the pump which is part of the piston of this pump and which projects out of the aforementioned cup, cooperates with a push button which comprises a nozzle product distribution. Such an arrangement is well known, and there are others, which are functionally equivalent.

In Figure 2, it can be seen that the bag 1 is shown in place in the case 12 constituting the body of an outer casing.

The case 12, molded from a rigid plastics material, has a cylindrical side wall 12 is connected to a flat bottom 12 b. In the vicinity of its upper free edge, the side wall 12 has grooves 13 intended to cooperate with the snap rings 6 carried by the rigid upper portion of the pocket 1. Above the grooves 13, the wall 12 has has an internal annular recess 14, intended to be applied, in mounting position, against the annular lower edge of the bead 7 of the pocket 1. In this position, the upper free edge of the case 12 is located in the same radial plane as the upper edge of the bead 7.

A protective cover of the assembly can hook into the groove 9, its outer wall being able to be located in the extension of the outer wall of the case 12.

The pocket and outer covering shown in Figure 3 differ from those of Figure 2.

The attachment of a pump "without air intake", not shown, to the bag 1, will be simply obtained by depression and snap and possibly crimping the pump on the neck 4, provided for this purpose with a peripheral protrusion 15 with a rectangular triangle section.

The body 2 of the bag 1 is not here cylindrical but substantially ovoid.

The case 12 is here aluminum. It is distinguished by the fact that its upper edge has an extra thickness 16 obtained by folding the material towards the inside of the cylinder, in known manner, by means of sets of wheels. Prior to this operation, the hollow cylinder is formed, for example, by stamping in a manner also known.

The pocket 1 has a bead 17 forming with the bead 7 a groove 18.

The fastening of the case 12 to the pocket 1 is made by snapping, obtained with positioning of the extra thickness 16 inside the groove 18, the beads 7 and 17 constituting stops for the extra thickness 16, once this positioning is achieved. .

The bottom of the groove 18 has beads 19 whose small size, is chosen so that the extra thickness 16 is supported on the beads 19 with the desired pressure.

This embodiment is of a particularly simple implementation and its industrial implementation is also interesting from an economic point of view.

It is understood that the embodiments of the present invention which have been described above have been given for information only and not limitation and that modifications can be made without departing for both of the scope of the present invention. Thus, in particular, the pocket 1, and in particular its flexible and retractable lower part, could have any desired shape, not necessarily cylindrical or ovoid, that the mounting system of the pump on the outlet mouth of the pocket 1 could be a system other than that described above, and that the case 12 could have any desired shape and be made of different materials, such as glass or a metal other than aluminum.

On the other hand, it should also be mentioned as a particularly advantageous variant of the invention, an assembly for the packaging and dispensing of a product of liquid to pasty consistency, obtained by mixing at least two components contained in distinct pockets provided with a flexible wall, deformable, protected by an outer covering, a manual dosing pump for ejection of said product, of the type of those without air intake, being disposed on an opening zone of each of the pockets and being arranged, in cooperation with the latter, to ensure that said component they contain is kept away from the air or substantially protected from the air, characterized in that each of said pockets is such that as defined above. The characteristic according to which the metering manual pump is arranged on an opening zone of each of the pockets refers to the fact that the inside volume of the pockets communicates with any device able to pump the components of the product of liquid paste consistency and then mix them together. under pressure and in appropriate proportions; in some cases, this device may include separate pumping means for the various components.

Claims (9)

1. Method for manufacturing a pouch (1) provided with a flexible deformable wall intended to contain a product of liquid-to-pasty consistency, which product is intended to be dispensed by a manual metering ejection pump of the airless type, to be positioned on an open region of the said pouch (1) and to be arranged, in collaboration therewith, to ensure that the product it contains is kept permanently out of contact with the air or more or less out of contact with the air, it also being possible for the said pouch (1) equipped with its pump to be introduced into and protected by an outer covering (12) to form a unit for packaging and dispensing the said product, the said pouch (1) exhibiting, near its opening, at least one region rendered rigid by a thickening of its wall, and which comprises complementary means (10, 15; 6, 7, 17, 18, 19) for fixing, which means can be borne by the said pump or by an element associated therewith in the unit once assembled and/or (13, 14, 16) by the said outer covering (12) when there is one or by one or more part(s) of the said covering, characterized in that the said pouch (1) is formed by extrusion blow-moulding a multilayer parison, the wall thickness of which can vary according to the desired profile of the said pouch (1).
2. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that the said pouch (1) comprises means (10, 15) for fixing the pump or an element associated therewith by crimping, clip-fastening, screw-fastening, adhesive bonding or ultrasound welding, and means (6, 7, 17, 18, 19) for fixing the covering (12) or one or more part(s) thereof by clip-fastening, screw-fastening, adhesive bonding or ultrasound welding.
3. Method according to one of Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the said pouch (1) consists of a body (2) comprising a sidewall (2a) closed at one end by a bottom (2b) and connected, at its opposite end, via a shoulder (3) to a neck (4), the wall thickness of the said pouch (1) being increased in the region of the said neck (4), of the said shoulder (3) and of part of the said sidewall (2a) near the said shoulder (3).
4. Method according to Claim 3, characterized in that the neck (4) of the said pouch (1) bears a continuous external peripheral bulge (10) under which at least one element for holding in place the metering pump that dispenses the product is intended to catch, particularly by crimping or by clip-fastening.
5. Method according to one of Claims 3 and 4, characterized in that the rigid part of the sidewall (2a) of the said pouch (1) externally comprises at least one clip-fastening ring (6) intended to collaborate with a groove (13) on the inside of the sidewall (12a) of a case (12) into which the pouch (1) is intended to be introduced via its bottom or via its top, and which forms part of the external covering that protects the pouch.
6. Method according to Claim 5, characterized in that the said pouch (1) is arranged in such a way as to form, with the free edge of the case (12) when the latter is in the assembled position, an annular groove (9) for the clip-fastening of the lower part of a protective cap forming part of the outer covering.
7. Method according to one of Claims 3 to 6, characterized in that its sidewall (2a) of the said pouch (1) comprises a fold (5) which is positioned in a transverse plane of the pouch, and the profile of which is for example V-shaped, the said fold (5) being arranged in such a way as to separate the rigid part from the flexible part of the said pouch (1).
8. Unit for packaging and dispensing a product of liquid-to-pasty consistency contained in a pouch provided with a flexible deformable wall, protected by an outer covering, an airless type of manual metering pump for ejecting the said product being positioned on an open region of the said pouch and being arranged, in collaboration with the latter, in such a way as to ensure that the product it contains is kept out of contact with the air or more or less out of contact with the air, characterized in that the said pouch (1) is obtained by the method according to one of Claims 1 to 7.
9. Unit for packaging and dispensing a product of liquid-to-pasty consistency obtained by mixing at least two components contained in separate pouches both provided with a flexible deformable wall and protected by an outer covering, an airless type of manual metering pump for ejecting the said product being positioned on an open region of each of the pouches and arranged, in collaboration therewith, in such a way as to ensure that the said component they contain is kept out of contact with the air or more or less out of contact with the air, characterized in that each of the said pouches (1) is obtained by the method according to one of Claims 1 to 7.

Images