GB2240960A

GB2240960A - Carbonated beverage container

Info

Publication number: GB2240960A
Application number: GB9003440A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alexander Bruce; Robert Purdham; Richard Paul Harbutt; David Gerald Seguin Ma Osborne; Stephen Knowles
Original assignee: Guinness Brewing Worldwide Ltd
Current assignee: Guinness Brewing Worldwide Ltd
Priority date: 1990-02-15
Filing date: 1990-02-15
Publication date: 1991-08-21
Also published as: IE910432A1; AU7017191A; EP0448200A1; JPH0542976A; GB9003440D0; CA2036282A1

Description

2 t2t A 0 e E, CO 1 TITLE "A beveraae package and a method of 'oackaqinq a

beverage containing gas in solution"

TECHNICAL FIELD & BACKGROUND ART

The Dresent invention relates to a beverage packace and a method of packaqinq a beveraae containing cas in solution and is particularly concerned with an improvement to the beveraae packaae and method of packaqinq disclosed in our British Patent No. 2,183,592.

In our British Patent No. 2,183,592 there is disclosed a sealed container forming a primary chamber and within which is contained beverage (which may be alcoholic or non alcoholic) havinq,qas in solution therewith and formina a primary headsiDace comprising cas at a pressure greater than atmospheric. Located within the primary chamber, conveniently on a base portion of the container, is a hollow insert which forms a secondary chamber havina a volume less than that of the primary chamber and which secondary chamber communicates with the beverage in the primary chamber throuch a restricted ori f ice. The secondary chamber contains beverace derived from the primary chamber and has a secondary headspace comprisina qas at a pressure areater than atmospheric so that the qas pressures within the primary and secondary headspaces are substantially at equilibrium. When the sealed container is opened to open the primary headsiDace to atmospheric pressure, the secondary chamber of the insert is arranged so that the pressure differential caused by the decrease in pressure at the primary headspace causes beverage and/or gas (preferably beverage) in the secondary chamber to be ejected by way of the restricted orifice into the beverage of the primary chamber and said ejection causes gas in the solution to be evolved and form, or assist in the formation of, a head of froth on. the beverace. In a preferred embodiment of this proposal the hollow insert is in the 2 form of a plastics moulded pod which is inserted into the container prior to the container beina charced with beverage. The pod is retained in position within the primary chamber, typical1v on or adjacent to the base of the container, by flexible luas or tabs on the pod frictionally engaaing a side wall of the container. Following such location of the pod, the primary chamber is charaed with the beveraqe containina aas in solution and the container sealed as discussed in our aforementioned Patent.

Beveraae packages manufactured in accordance with our British Patent No. 2,183,592 have Proved a considerable success commercially. However, disadvantaqes have been found in the use of discrete hollow pods with flexible retaining tabs as mentioned above. In narticular, expensive ecruir)ment is reauired to Press and locate the Dods in successive containers on a high speed fillina line prior to charc[ina the containers with beveraae. It has also been found that, occasionally, the flexible tabs do not Provide sufficient arip with the side wall of the container and durinq rough handlinq the pod may break loose to float on the beverage in the Primary chamber or possibly become filled with beverage (thereby losina the secondary headspace) so that a sub-standard, or no, head of froth develops when the container is opened. It is an object of the Present invention to provide a beveraqe packaae and a method of packaqincr a beverage containing gas in solution by which the aforementioned disadvantages may be alleviated.

STATEMENTS OF INVENTION & ADVANTAGES

According to the Present invention there is Provided a beverage package comprising a sealed container having a primary chamber containincr beveraqe havina qas in solution therewith and forminq a primary headspace comprising aas at a pressure greater than atmospheric; an insert located in i 3 the primary chamber and havina a secondary chamber with a volume less than that of the Primary chamber and a restricted orifice trouch which the secondary chamber communicates with the beverace in the primary chamber, said secondary chamber containina beveraae derived from the primary chamber and havina a secondary headspace therein is comprisina gas at a pressure areater than atmospheric so that the pressures within the primary and secondary chambers are substantially at equilibrium, said packac[e beina openable to open the 1Drimary headspace to atmospheric Pressure and the secondary chamber beina arranaed' so that on said openinc the pressure differential caused by the decrease in Pressure at the primary headspace causes at least one of beverac[e or aas (preferably beveraqe) in the secondary chamber to be ejected by way of the restricted orifice into the beverace of the nrimarv chamber and said election causes qas in the solution to be evolVed and form, or assist in the formation of, a head of froth on the beveraqe, and wherein said insert is retained maanetically at a predetermined location in the primary ch.amber of the container.

Further according to the present invention there is Provided a method of packaaing a beverage havina aas in solution therewith which comorises Providina a container with a primary chamber; locating in said primary chamber a hollow insert having a secondary chamber the volume of which is less than that of the primary chamber and a restricted orifice through which the secondary chamber communicates with the primary chamber, and retaininci said insert magnetically at a Predetermined location in the Primary chamber; charginc and sealing the primary chamber with the beverac[e containing gas in solution to form a primary headspace in the primary chamber, and charqinq the secondary chamber with beverage derived from the Primary chamber by way of said restricted orifice to form a 4 secondary headspace in the secondary chamber whereby the pressures in both the primary and secondary chambers are at equilibrium and qaseous pressures in both the primary and secondary headspaces ar-e at a pressure qreater than 5 atmospheric.

The hollow insert in the beveraqe packaqe of the present invention serves exactly the same ourpose in f ormincr or assistina in the formation of a head of froth on the beverage whon the packaqe is opened as the hollow insert disclosed in our British Patent No. 2,183,592 and as such that purpose is not discussed herein in detail. However, the maqnetic retention of the hollow insert as proposed by the present invention can provide considerable advantaaes over the frictionally retained insert of our prior proposal. In particular the insert may be simply dropped into the primary chamber throuah an or)en to-o of the container so that the insert falls under aravity and is macnetically attracted to be retained, usually on the base of the primary chamber in the container. This alleviates the requirement for eauipment which loads the-inserts into the containers from enterincr those containers and thereby may permit a container fillinq line to run at a higher speed. Furthermore, by use of appropriately sized permanent maqnets, the maqnetic attraction by which the inserts are retained in position can be selected to ensure that the inserts will not break free from their desired location except under severe adverse conditions which are unlikely to be encountered during normal handling or transport of the beveraqe package. As mentioned above, the insert will usually be located and maqnetically retained in the primary chamber on the base of the container but it will be realised that alternative locations are possible, for example on a side wall of the container.

Preferably the insert carries a permanent magnet so that it is retained at its desired location by attraction to a compatible metallic material on or in the container. This metallic material may be an integral part of the container, for example in -the base or a side wall thereof, or may be secured to the container for the purpose of retaininq the insert. Similarly to the proposal in our aforementioned British Patent, the hollow insert may be in the form of a plastics moulded pod and desirably the magnet is encapsulated within the plastics of the pod to be sealed from the beverage in the packaae.

The container may be of any appropriate form uch as a alass or plastics bottle, a can or a carton all of which are well known i.n the art. The invention was however primarily developed for use with glass bottle containers.

The recycling of glass is to be encouraaed and is now conventional practice in many countries. Durina such recycling alass bottles are crushed and metal parts are magnetically removed from the crushed material; with the preferred arrangement mentioned above where the hollow plastics insert carries a permanent magnet, sugh magnet and insert may readily be removed magnetically from a crushed class container.

In another embodiment the container carries a permanent magnet to which a compatible metallic material on or in the hollow insert is attracted to retain the insert at its desired location. For example, a permanent magnet may be secured to or otherwise retained on the underside of the base of the container. This proposal may be less desirable than the insert carrying the maqnet because during handling of the containers preparatory to them receiving the inserts in a filling line, it is possible for magnets on the containers to pick up stray metallic elements and this could require additional cleaning of the containers. However, it is also possible that maanets carried by the containers could additionally serve for 6 automatically controllinq movement, handling or stocktakina of the containers. Where the maanet (or macnetic material) is located on the container it can be provided with a protective cover which may serve to retain it or the magnetic material on the container. It is also possible for a permanent magnet (or maqnetic material) to be encapsulated in the material of the container during the mouldina thereof.

If required 'the hollow insert can be retained in the container by magnetic attraction between a magnet carried by the insert and a magnet carried by the container.

DRAWINGS Embodiments of the present invention as ar).plied to a beveraae package having a bottle container will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accomiDanyinq illustrative drawinas, in which:- Figure 1 shows a first embodiment of thle beverage package in which a glass bottle is shown in -part section to illustrate the hollow insert therein with. the insert carrying a permanent magnet by which it is retained on the base of the bottle, and Figure 2 shows the bottom portion of a plastics moulded bottle in which the insert therein is retained by magnetic attraction to a permanent mac[net carried on the exterior of the plastics bottle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The beverage package shown in Ficure 1 comprises a conventional wide mouthed Cass bottle 1 having a domed base 2 extending upwardly from which is a cylindrical side wall 3 with a neck 4 having an open top 4A and provided with an external screw thread 5 to which is to be fitted and sealed a screw closure cap indicated at 6. The base 2 provides an externally concave surface 7 to which is adhesively secured a ferro-metallic strip or foil 8.

The bottle 1 forms a Primary chamber 9 and is conveyed 7 in an upstanding condition aloncr a beverage fillinq line during which, and prior to beinq charc[ed with beveraqe, a hollow insert in the form of a plastics pod 10 is deposited into the primary chamber, The pod 10 is dimensioned to pass through the open top and neck 4 of the bottle and is deposited in the primary chamber simply by beinq dropped through the bottle mouth so that it falls directly (or substantially so) onto the convex surface 11 presented by the interior of the domed base 2.

The hollow pod 10 is conveniently profiled as a cylindrical-disc shape with a bottom wall 12, a cylindrical side wall 13 and a top wall 14. Encapsulated within the plastics of the bottom wall 12 is a small permanent magnet 15. Typically, the pod 10 will be formed from two complementary injection moulded plastics shells which are spin welded or otherwise secured tocether alonc a s-olit line indicated at 16 to form a secondary chamber 17. The magnet 15 is encapsulated within the plastics of the shell having the bottom wall 12 during the moulding thereof.

Formed within the bottom wall 12 (either simultaneously with or subsequent to the mouldinq thereof) is a restricted aperture 18 which communicates between the primary chamber 9 and the secondary chamber 17. As the pod 10 falls into the primary chamber 9, the maanet 15 is attracted to the metallic strip 8 and this attraction serves to centralise the pod on the base 2 and to retain the pod firmly in abutment with the base 2. It will be appreciated that the magnet 15 will be selected so that its attraction to the strip 8 will firmly retain the pod in position at its desired location on the base 2 throughout the handling to which the bottle and package is likely to be subjected during subsequent processing, transport and storage.

With the pod 10 deposited in the primary chamber 9, the bottle is conveyed to a filling station where it is charged with appropriate beverage 19 containinq qas in 8 solution and thereafter to a sealing station where the screw cap 6 is fitted.

Subsequent to beina charged with beveraae and sealed, the effect within the primary and secondary chambers of the bottle 1 and pod 10 is substantially the same as in those chambers of the beverage. can package discussed in the preferred embodiment of our British Patent No. 2,183,592. Consequently beverage flows from the primary chamber 9 by way of the restricted orifice 18 into the secondary chamber 17 so that when the contents of the bottle are in ecruilibrium the beverage in the primary chamber forms a primary headspace 20 and that in the secondary chamber 17 forms a secondary headspace 21. The pressure in the headspaces 20 and 21 is areater than atmospheric and u1Don removal of the cap 6 for consumption or dispensing of the beverage 19, the primary headspace 20 is opened to atmosphere and the pressure differential created by qas in the secondary headspace 21 ejects beveraqe from the secondary chamber 17 by way of the restricted orif ice 18 and into beverace in the primary chamber 9. The so ejected beverage is subjected to cavitation causinc cras in solution to be liberated therefrom - this. seeds" the beverage in the primary chamber causinc further gas in solution to be liberated and form a head of froth on the beverage in an identical manner to that discussed in our aforementioned British Patent.

It is to be realised that the pod 10 is shown with a simple profile for convenience of description. In practice it is likely that the profiie will differ, for example its bottom wall 12 may be shaped to present a substantially complementary fit to the base 7 of the bottle; its profile may be shaped to ensure that, irrespective of the orientation of the bottle when charged with beverage and sealed, a secondary headspace will always be maintained within-the secondary chamber (with this in j 1 9 mind it is also possible that the position of the restricted orifice 18 will differ from that shown).

In the embodiment of Figure 2 the bottom portion of a bottle packaqe is shown-comprising a plastics bottle 1A having a substantially hemispherical base 2A. Located within the primary chamber 9 of the plastics bottle is the hollow plastics pod 10 which is conveniently shown with a different profile to seat in substantially complementary manner on the base 2A but serves the same purpose as the pod in the Figure 1 embodiment. A permanent magnet is omitted from the pod 10 in Fiqure 2 but encapsulated within the plastics of the bottom wall of the pod is a ferrometallic bar, strip or foil 8A. The bar 8A and thereby the pod is attracted to and retained on the bottom 2A of the plastics bottle by a permanent macnet 25 secured to the underside of the base 2A. The macnet 25 may be adhesively secured to the base 2A or retained thereon by a plastics cover or base cup 26 which may form a stand for the bottle 1A. The base cup 26 has a circular rim 27 secured to the cylindrical wall of the bottle 1A, conveniently by weldinc, adhesive or mechanical snap enaagement.

Claims

1. A beveraqe package comprising a sealed container having a primary chamber containing beveraae havinc gas in solution therewith and forminq a primary headspace comprising gas at a pressure creater than atmospheric; an insert located in the primary chamber and havina a secondary chamber with a volume less than that of the primary chamber and a restricted orifice throuah which the secondary chamber communicates with the beverace in the primary chamber,!said secondary chamber containing beverage derived from the primary chamber and havina a secondary headspace therein comprising gas at a Pressure areater than atmospheric so that the pressures within the primary and secondary chambers are substantially at ec[uilibrium, said Package beina openable to open the primary headspace to atmospheric pressure and the secondary chamber beinq arranged so that on said openinq the Pressure differential caused by the decrease in pressure at the Drimary headspace causes at least one of beveraqe or cas (preferably beverage) in the secondary chamber to be ejected by way of the restricted orifice into the beverage of'the primary chamber and said ejection causes cas in the slution to be evolved and form, or assist in the formation of, a head of froth on the beverage, and wherein said insert is retained magnetically at a Predetermined location in the primary chamber of the container.

2. A packace as claimed in claim 1 in which the container has an openable top and the insert is dimensioned to pass through said top when open.

3. A package as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2 in which the insert comprises a hollow plastics moulded pod.

4. A packaqe as claimed in claim 3 in which the hollow pod is formed by two injection moulded complementary shells welded together.

5. A Package as claimed in any one of the precedinq i j _w i i i 11 i claims in which the insert carries a maqnetic material by which it is magnetically retained at said predetermined location.

6. A packaqe as claimed in claim 5 when appendant to 5 either claim 3 or claim 4 in which the magnetic material is secured to the pod by the moulding of the plastics thereto.

7. A package as claimed in either claim 5 or claim 6 in which the maanetic material is encapsulated within the material of the i.nsert.

8. A package as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 7 in which the magnetic material carried by the insert is a permanent magnet.

9. A package as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the container carries a reqion of macnetic material to which magnetic material carried by the insert is attracted to retain the insert at said predetermined location.

10. A package as claimed in claim 9 in which the region of metallic material is encapsulated within the material of the container.

11. A package as claimed in claim 9 in which the reqion of magnetic material carried by the container is located on the exterior of the container.

12. A package as claimed in claim 11 in which a protective 25 cover is provided over the magnetic material on the exterior of the container.

13. A package as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 12 in which the region of maqnetic material carried by the container is a permanent magnet.

14. A package as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the container is substantially of glass or plastics material.

15. A method of packaging a beveraqe having cas in solution therewith which comprises providing a container with a primary chamber; locatina in said primary chamber a 12 hollow insert having a secondary chamber the volume of which is less than that of the primary chamber and a restricted orifice through which the secondary chamber communicates with the primary chamber, and retaining said insert maQnetically at a predetermined location in the primary chamber; charging and sealing the primary chamber with the beverace containinq qas in solution to form a primary headspace in the primary chamber, and charqing the secondary chamber with beverage derived from the primary chamber by way of said restricted orifice to form a secondary headspace in the secondary chamber whereby the pressures in both the primary and secondary chambers are at equilibrium and qaseous pressures in both the primary and secondary headspaces are at a pressure areater than atmospheric.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15 in which the container has an open top and which comprises demositing-the insert in the primary chamber by dropDina the insert throuah said open top and permitting the insert to fall under gravity onto a base of the container where it is Taqnetically retained.

17. A beveraqe package substantially as herein described with reference to Figure 1 or Figure 2 of the accompanyinc illustrative drawinqs.

18. A method of r)ackaqing a beverage containina gas in solution as claimed in claim 15 and substantially as herein described.

Published 1991 at The Patent Office. State House. 66171 High Halborn. London WC1R4TP. Further copies may be obtained from Sales Branch. Unit 6. Nine Mile Point CwmfeUnfach. Cross Keys, Newport. NPI 7HZ. Printed by Multiplex techniques ltd. St Mary Cray. Kent.

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