EP2138409B1

EP2138409B1 - Container for packing and transporting fruit and vegetable products

Info

Publication number: EP2138409B1
Application number: EP09162739A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Riccardo Pianesani
Original assignee: Ilpa Srl
Current assignee: Ilpa Srl
Priority date: 2008-06-27
Filing date: 2009-06-15
Publication date: 2012-02-22
Anticipated expiration: 2029-06-15
Also published as: ITMO20080181A1; EP2138409A1; ES2382943T3; ATE546368T1

Abstract

The container (1) for packing and transporting fruit and vegetable products (7,8,9) comprises a plastic tray, the bottom thereof being shaped to define at least a base foot (4a,4b) for resting the tray on a support surface (5), and at least a seat (6) substantially spherical for housing a fruit and vegetable product (7,8,9) at least in part substantially spherical, the base foot (4a,4b) and the seat (6) being substantially distinct and the one from the other.

Description

The present invention relates to a container for packing and transporting fruit and vegetable products.
Containers are known made of synthetic polymer materials, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), polylactide (PLA) or the like, commonly used to package and transport fruit and vegetable products such as apples, pears, oranges, peaches, tomatoes or the like.
Such containers are generally made by thermoforming starting with a sheet of thermoplastic material to form an open-top tray, generally with a rectangular shape.
The bottom of these trays is shaped to define a series of housings for the fruit and vegetable products.
Such housings have a more or less spherical shape except for the bottom which is completely flat.
In this respect, it must be specified that in the traditional trays the bottom of the housing seats also acts as a footrest for the container to allow resting the tray on shelves, tables, cupboards or other supporting surfaces.
Consequently, the bottom walls of all the housing seats have a flat shape and are arranged coplanar the one to the other.
These containers of known type have a number of drawbacks, including the fact that the flat shape of the housing seats contributes to damaging the surface of the fruit and vegetable products.
In this respect, it should be noted that, during the filling of the trays, the fruit and vegetable products are rested on the housing seats manually or by means of automated distribution grilles.
In both cases however, the contact between the fruit and vegetable product and the flat bottom of the housing seats determines a slight deformation of the surfaces of the fruit and vegetable product which in some cases can consist of a real and true bruise.
Besides this, it must be considered that, during transport, the trays are continuously moved, causing slight movements of the fruit and vegetable products inside the housing seats which contribute to damaging their surfaces due to the contact with the flat bottom.
Furthermore, when the traditional trays are raised from a supporting surface, under the weight of the fruit and vegetable products, the flat bottom of the housing seats undergoes small or large deformations before it flattens again once the trays have again been rested on a supporting surface.
The deformations of the flat bottom obviously also affect the fruit and vegetable products, with the concrete risk of their quality considerably worsening before they are distributed to the public.
In this respect, it must be underlined that the deterioration of the surface of the fruit and vegetable products, besides making them less appealing from an aesthetic viewpoint, can also result in their losing part of their organoleptic properties.
To overcome some of the above drawbacks, trays have been made in which the spherical housing seats of the fruit and vegetable products have reinforcement ribbing with the aim of stiffening the seats and preventing them from becoming deformed.
Despite this, this solution makes the surface of housing seats not perfectly spherical and with steps, sharp-edges, protruding or re-entering parts which favour the bruising of the fruit and vegetable products.
In another type of tray, the flat bottom of the housing seats is obtained slightly lowered with respect to the remainder of the seats and defines a flattened base plinth for resting on the surface.
The working surface of the housing seat appears therefore like a substantially round cup which on the bottom has a circular opening from which the base plinth extends downwards.
This type of tray also has drawbacks however.
While in fact, fruit and vegetable products of certain dimensions are able to correctly rest on the round surface of the housing seats without coming into direct contact with the flattened base plinth, some of the fruit and vegetable products of smaller gauge risk falling through the circular opening of the housing seats, and putting their weight on the edge of the opening or even on the flat bottom of the base plinth.
Inconveniently, therefore, these trays behave differently according to the gauge of the fruit and vegetable products housed inside them.
To try and overcome the above drawbacks, the solution is known of filling the traditional containers with pluriballs or other cushioning films so as to obviate the deficiencies and the defects of the trays of known type.
This system, though effective, is however not very practical and easy and involves costs that are considerably higher and which, unfortunately, affect the end price of the fruit and vegetable products.
Some kinds of the above mentioned trays are disclosed in the patent documents DE 70 33 763U , WO 99/32372 , FR 1 196 162 .
Besides, other kinds of trays are disclosed in the documents US 2007/138177 and US 4,012,530 , having a plurality of base feet for resting the tray on a support surface and a plurality of seats for housing the fruit and vegetable products, the feet and the seats being substantially distinct and separated the one from the other.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a container for packing and transporting fruit and vegetable products which allows preserving in a practical, easy and functional way the quality of the fruit and vegetable products contained in it, whatever their gauge, and in any storage and transport condition, avoiding inappropriate bruising which could worsen their aesthetic and organoleptic properties.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a container for packing and transporting fruit and vegetable products which allows overcoming the mentioned drawbacks of the background art in the ambit of a simple, rational, easy, effective to use and low cost solution.
The above objects are achieved by the present container for packing and transporting fruit and vegetable products according to claim 1.
Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more evident from the description of a preferred, but not sole, embodiment of a container for packing and transporting fruit and vegetable products, illustrated purely as an example but not limited to the annexed drawings in which:

figure 1 is an axonometric view of the container according to the invention;
figure 2 is a plan view of the container according to the invention;
figure 3 is a section view of the container according to the invention along the III - III track plane of figure 2;
figure 4 is a section view of the container according to the invention along the IV - IV track plane of figure 2;
figure 5 is a broken view, on an enlarged scale, of a detail of figure 1.

With particular reference to such figures, by 1 is globally indicated a container for packing and transporting fruit and vegetable products.
The container 1 consists of a plastic tray with an upper open edge 2 closable with a lid, or with stretch film, by means of heat sealing, or again by means of net and/or film with flow-pack type packaging, not shown in detail in the illustrations.
The tray 1 is for example made starting with a single sheet of thermoplastic material by means of a thermoforming process; the use of different processes cannot however be ruled out for manufacturing the container 1 which envisage, for example, one or more moulding or injection forming phases.
The side perimeter of the tray 1 is substantially rectangular, meaning it is defined by four sides at right angles the one to the other, and more in detail is square, inasmuch as the four sides are identical; other embodiments of the present invention cannot however be ruled out in which the perimeter of the tray 1 has different shapes and dimensions (circular, oval, etc ...)
On the four sides of the tray 1 are four containment walls 3 that extend between the upper open edge 2 and the bottom of the tray 1.
The bottom is shaped to define a plurality of base feet 4a, 4b which allow stably resting the container 1 on a generic horizontal supporting surface 5, like a shelf, a table, a cupboard or the like.
In particular, on each side of the perimeter of the tray 1 is defined a base foot 4a which is shaped substantially elongated along the side itself.
Another base foot 4b, on the other hand, is arranged substantially at the centre of the tray 1 and has a substantially circular shape.
The bottom of the tray 1, furthermore, is shaped to define a plurality of substantially spherical seats 6 for housing fruit and vegetable products 7, 8, 9 at least in part substantially spherical.
Usefully, the seats 6 are substantially distinct and separated by the base feet 4a, 4b.
In fact, while the base feet 4a are arranged along the perimeter of the bottom of the tray 1 and the base foot 4b is central, the seats 6 are arranged close to the four corners of the tray 1 and, approximately, are obtained in the spaces between the central base foot 4b and the two contiguous perimeter base feet 4a.
Advantageously, the seats 6 are substantially suspended.
In this respect, it is specified that in the present pamphlet, to say the seats 6 are suspended means they are supported by the base feet 4a, 4b so they are distanced from the support surface 5.
When the container 1 is rested on the support surface 5 (shown in the figures 3 and 4), in fact, the tray 1 only comes into contact with the support surface 5 by means of the base feet 4a, 4b, while the bottom of the seats 6 remains slightly raised up.
This solution permits ensuring the bottom of the seats 6 never comes into contact with the support surface 5 and is not subject to inopportune deformations or crushing, maintaining its spherical shape in all conditions of use.
Each seat 6 is defined by three segments 10a, 10b, 10c of substantially spherical surface which are joined together without interruption.
In this respect, it is specified that in the present pamphlet, the expression "without interruption" means the segments 10a, 10b, 10c do not have steps, sharp edges, protruding or re-entering parts, and, consequently, the fruit and vegetable product 7, 8, 9 housed inside it rests on a perfectly smooth and spherical surface.
In detail, for each seat 6 a segment 10a is obtained at a corner of the perimeter of the tray 1 which extends between two containment walls 3.
The remaining segments 10b, 10c, on the other hand, are obtained on the side of corresponding protuberances 11 which rise up from the bottom of the tray 1. Altogether, the container 1 has a plurality of protuberances 11 which are distributed with constant pitch around the central base foot 4b and which separate one seat 6 from another adjacent one.
The tray 1 according to the invention is suitable for housing the substantially spherical fruit and vegetable products 7, 8 such as apples, oranges, peaches, tomatoes and the like, including of considerably different gauges.
As can be clearly seen in the figures from 2 to 4, in fact, in the tray 1 are shown, by way of example only, two substantially spherical fruit and vegetable products 7, 8 of very different dimensions which, however, once housed in two corresponding seats 6, both rest comfortably on the spherical surfaces defined by the segments 10a, 10b, 10c, which ensures their perfect preservation without any damage whatsoever.
It must however be pointed out that the tray 1 according to the invention is also particularly appropriate for the packing and the transport of fruit and vegetable products 9 with an elongated and/or ovoid shape and which are only partially spherical, such as pears, kiwis, potatoes, aubergines and the like.
Shown in figure 2, for example, is a fruit and vegetable product 9 of the type of a pear, which can easily be housed in the tray 1, including in recumbent position, resting its substantially spherical-shaped widened bottom inside the seat 6 and placing its extremity with stalk between a protuberance 11 and an adj acent containment wall 3, or between two contiguous protuberances 11.
This particular arrangement of the pear 9 is obtainable thanks to the fact that the seats 6 are defined by just three segments 10a, 10b, 10c, which make it possible to stably withhold the spherical part of the pear 9 and which at the same time are separated the one from the other by enough space to allow placing the pear 9 in recumbent position.
Alternative embodiments of the present invention cannot however be ruled out in which the seats 6 have, at least in part, an elongated shape to obtain an only partial substantial spherical shape to allow horizontally laying down and extending the fruit and vegetable products such as pears, kiwis, potatoes, aubergines and the like.
It has in point of fact been ascertained how the described invention achieves the proposed objects.
The invention thus conceived is susceptible to numerous modifications and variations, all of which falling within the scope of the inventive concept. Furthermore all the details can be replaced with others that are technically equivalent.
In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to requirements without because of this moving outside the protection scope of the following claims.

Claims

Container for packing and transporting fruit and vegetable products, comprising at least a plastic tray (1), the bottom thereof being shaped to define at least a base foot (4a, 4b) for resting said tray (1) on a support surface (5) and at least a seat (6) being at least in part substantially spherical for housing at least a fruit and vegetable product (7, 8, 9) being at least in part substantially spherical, said base foot (4a, 4b) and said seat (6) being substantially distinct and separated the one from the other, characterized by the fact that said seat (6) is substantially suspended and supported by said base foot (4a, 4b) such that it is distanced from said support surface (5) when said container (1) is rested on said support surface (5), whereby said tray (1) comes into contact with said support surface (5) only by means of said base foot (4a, 4b), while the bottom of said seat (6) remains slightly raised up.
Container according to claim 1, characterised in that the perimeter of said tray (1) is substantially rectangular.
Container according to the claim 2, characterised in that the perimeter of said tray (1) is substantially square.
Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said seat (6) is defined by at least three segments (10a, 10b, 10c) of substantially spherical surface.
Container according to claim 4, characterised in that said segments (10a, 10b, 10c) are joined together without interruption.
Container according to claim 4 or 5, characterised in that at least one (10a) of said segments is obtained at a corner of the perimeter of said tray (1).
Container according to claim 4, 5 or 6, characterised in that at least one (10b, 10c) of said segments is obtained on the side of at least a protuberance (11) which rises up from the bottom of said tray (1).
Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that it comprises at least one between:
- a plurality of said seats (6);

- a plurality of said protuberances (11);

- a plurality of said base feet (4a, 4b).
Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that at least one (4a) of said base feet is arranged substantially on the perimeter of said tray (1).
Container according to the claim 9, characterised in that said base foot (4a) arranged substantially on the perimeter of said tray (1) is substantially elongated along a side of said perimeter.
Container according to the claim 9, characterised in that base feet are arranged along each side of the perimeter of said tray (1).
Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that at least one (4b) of said base feet is arranged substantially at the centre of said tray (1).
Container according to the claim 12, characterised in that said base foot (4b) arranged substantially at the centre of said tray (1) is substantially circular.
Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said tray (1) is made by thermoforming.