EP1272801B1

EP1272801B1 - Sealed packages for liquid to be frozen

Info

Publication number: EP1272801B1
Application number: EP01936302A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Annita Brugnera
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-04-13
Filing date: 2001-04-11
Publication date: 2003-09-10
Anticipated expiration: 2021-04-11
Also published as: ATE249606T1; DE60100755D1; AU2001262245A1; WO2001079769A1; EP1272801A1; ITTV20000019U1; IT251473Y1

Abstract

In a package of frozen liquid which is closed by a sealing film (30), the bottom wall (12) of the container (10) has a lower thickness than the lateral walls (14, 16, 18, 20) and is provided with at least two relieves (22, 24) separated by at least one recess (26) parallel thereto.

Description

The present invention relates to packages for one or more predetermined amounts of liquid to be frozen.
In WO-A-00/34720, packages suitable for containing liquids to be frozen (in particular alimentary liquids) were described and illustrated in the figures, said packages consisting essentially of a rigid but elastic sheet of plastic material (especially for foods) which is so shaped to form at least one container to be filled with a liquid, said container being sealed by means of a film which is applied on the upper edge of the container and made to adhere to said edge. Obviously, there can be any number of containers and in any case a number much greater than one.
The packages proved to work fairly successfully, however there remained one outstanding problem associated with a possible excessive adhesion of the frozen mass to the walls of the containers, sometimes resulting in the need for forced and therefore difficult extraction - with the risk of an inadequate level of hygiene - of the frozen mass housed in the container.
One first possible solution to eliminate the above mentioned drawback would be to remove the packages to be used from a freezer and to leave said packages exposed to room temperature for a sufficient amount of time to cause surface melting of the frozen mass so as to allow its detaching from the walls of the container. However, this measure, where the only cost involved is that of the waiting time, may be of limited effectiveness for at least two reasons:

1) the room temperature may not always be high enough to cause the desired surface melting;
2) there may not always be enough time to wait for the above mentioned surface melting, as is the case for example in particularly busy refreshment outlets where the staff have a particularly limited amount of time to serve all the customers.

To remedy the above mentioned drawbacks, one could think of heating the packages, for example by holding them in the hand, with the aim of accelerating the necessary surface melting, but this is not always possible because:

a) the staff may not be obliged to perform an operation which in the long term can be tedious and increasingly inefficient when the number of packages to be thawed superficially increases;
b) prolonged touching of the packages of frozen liquid with one's hands risks adversely affecting those hygienic conditions which the packages ought to guarantee.

A covered ice tray is known from US-A-5 393 032 which comprises a plurality of more or less cubic cavities obtained from a moulded sheet of plastic material. Each cavity has a number of embossments at the bottom wall which have a rather small height with respect to the overall height and have the side walls tapered downward as minimal as possible. This construction entails that, for the release of an ice cube, the user "pinches" a cavity where an cube has been formed thus causing the bottom wall to fold upwards when squeezed between the thumb and the forefinger. Such a pinching action requires a relatively big effort by the user, independently from the thickness and the plastic material of the cavity walls, in consideration of the whole dimension of the said bottom wall. It can then be concluded, in a language appreciated by today's consumers, that such an ice tray has a scarce fitness for use.
Therefore the need arises for frozen liquid packages in which the extraction of a frozen mass contained therein without undue excessive effort and without waiting times for surface thawing - be it assisted or spontaneous - is facilitated. In other terms, the main object of the present invention is to improve the fitness for use of the above discussed packages or containers.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by sealed packages as defined in claim 1.
The following detailed description of a particular example of an embodiment of the invention, accompanied by the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a horizontal view, from below, of a container implementing the improvement to sealed packages according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a side elevation view, from a first side, of the same container shown in Figure 1; and
Figure 3 is a side elevation view, from a side adjacent to the first, of the container shown in the two preceding figures,

Let us now consider the above mentioned figures showing a container 10 according to the present invention.
The container 10 has an essentially parallelepiped form, being slightly tapered towards a bottom wall 12 which is thinner than side walls 14, 16, 18 and 20, shown in the figures. The bottom wall 12 has a first linear relief 22, which is parallel to the side wall 14, a second linear relief 24, which is parallel to the side wall 16, where the two relieves 22 and 24 are separated by a linear saddle-like recess 26 parallel thereto. A rim 28 is integrally formed at the top of the container 10 to which there adheres a film 30 which is joined in any manner and which seals said container 10, once it has been filled with liquid to be frozen.
A container according to the present invention functions in the following way:
When a container 10 is filled with a mass of frozen liquid and the frozen mass is to be extracted therefrom, it is sufficient to press with a finger against any of the relieves 22 or 24 which being formed in the thin bottom wall 12, deforms at the point where it is pressed, so as to cause a first detaching of the frozen mass from the underlying relief This is due to the fact that, while the relief 22 or 24 deforms under the pressure of the finger, the underlying frozen mass, being particularly rigid, remains intact, and a detaching of the frozen mass from the bottom wall 12 begins. Once this detaching has begun, it spreads to the rest of the frozen mass which, being rigid, acts as a lever causing a greater detaching of the frozen mass from the side walls 14, 16, 18 and 20 of the container 10, until the entire frozen mass comes off from the container 10.
The sealing film 30 which closes the container 10 can be either sufficiently thin as to be broken by the frozen mass when it comes off from the container 10 or it can be of the type that can be removed by means of a projecting separation lug, for example the tab (16) shown in the above mentioned patent application, so that the container 10 does actually open any time the frozen mass contained therein is to be detached from its walls.

Claims

Sealed packages for liquid to be frozen, consisting of more than one container (10), having a substantially parallelepiped form, with a bottom wall (12) which is thinned and provided with linear relieves (22, 24) which are parallel to two sides of the container (10) and separated from one another by saddle-like recesses (26) which are parallel to the relieves wherein the containers (10) are formed from a sheet of plastic material having sufficient elasticity and rigidity to permit the containers (10) to be deformed in the regions where the relieves (22, 24) and the recesses (26) are provided so as to allow one of the relieves (22, 24) to be squeezed through simple pressure of an operator's finger, in order to facilitate extraction of said frozen liquid.
Sealed packages according to Claim 1, characterized in that the plastic material of the sheet is of a grade compatible with foodstuffs.
Sealed packages according to the Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the containers (10), formed from the sheet of plastic material, are filled with a liquid to be frozen in order to prepare masses of frozen liquid.
Sealed packages according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the containers (10), once filled, are closed and sealed by a sheet of film (30) which is made to adhere to the upper rims of each container.