GB2292928A

GB2292928A - Packing for edible ice

Info

Publication number: GB2292928A
Application number: GB9518095A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Torben Bodtker
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1994-09-06
Filing date: 1995-09-05
Publication date: 1996-03-13
Anticipated expiration: 2015-09-05
Also published as: FR2724155B3; DE29514234U1; FR2724155A3; SE9503025L; SE9503025D0; DK9400340U3; GB2292928B; GB9518095D0; SE513048C2

Abstract

A packing for edible ice, such as ice lollies, comprises a flexible container part 10 having an opening at one end surrounded by a substantially plane, outwardly extending flange 11 which is preferably stiffer than the container part. The container is closed by a closure foil or film fastened to the flange, e.g. by heat sealing, so that it may be torn off. A consumer applies pressure to the lower part of the container part so that the frozen content is pushed upwardly through the opening. The container may be made by deep drawing a sheet of plastics material. A plurality of containers may be arranged in rows and closed by a common film or foil provided with weakening lines between the containers. The flange 11 prevents melted ice from flowing downwardly along the outer surface of the container part. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a packing for edible ice, especially of the type being sold in a liquid condition and being frozen by the customers, and comprising a flexible container.

Edible ice, especially of the type made from water with varying flavouring additives, is marketed in a non-frozen condition in the form of sealed plastic bags made from plastic film. The consumer may then place such bags with their contents in a freezer to freeze the content of the bags. When the frozen edible ice is to be consumed, the bags are removed from the freezer, and the bag is opened at one end. The frozen ice body may gradually be pushed out through the opening formed in the bag-shaped packing as the ice is being consumed by compressing the closed end of the packing.

In the known packings the upper edge of the packing defining the opening therein is usually in abutting engagement with the ice body. This means that melted ice from the ice body part protruding through the opening may flow downwardly along the outer surface of the packing. Thus, the melted ice which is rather sticky due to its sugar content rather likely comes into contact with the hand holding the packing. In an attempt to prevent the melted ice from coming into contact with the hand, the consumer may be inclined to suck not only the protruding part of the ice body, but also the adjacent outer surface of the packing.

The packing according to the present invention is characterized in that at one end the container defines an opening which is surrounded by a substantially plane, outwardly extending flange, which is preferably more stiff than the wall of the flexible container. This flange is adapted to guide the melted ice down into the inner space of the container and thus prevents the melted ice from flowing downwardly along the outer surface of the container and from coming into contact with the hand of the consumer gripping the lower closed end of the container. Furthermore, the flange of the container defines an abutting surface securing that the user or consumer may suck the protruding part of the ice body only and not the outer surface of the packing.

When the packing is sold to the final consumer or user the container is usually filled by a liquid edible ice mixture and, therefore, the packing must be sealed. As an example, the container opening may be closed by means of a sealing closure foil or film which is removably fastened to the flange of the container in a manner known per se. When the content of the container has been frozen and the ice body is to be consumed the packing may easily be opened by tearing off the closure foil. The consumer or user may then compress the lower closed end portion of the container and thereby push the frozen ice body out of the container and upwardly above the container flange so that it may be consumed.

Each packing may comprise a single container. In the preferred embodiment, however, the packing according to the invention comprises two or more containers which are closed by means of a common closure foil or film. This common closure foil or film may then serve to keep the containers of the packing together in a common unit.

In this case the containers may be arranged in any desired arrangement, for example in concentric circles or in a single row. In the preferred embodiment, however, the containers forming part of a single packing are arranged in more rows, such as three rows each comprising four containers. In this case the contour of each container flange may be a polygon, preferably a rectangle, and the sides of the polygons may be arranged adjacent to each other so that the adjacent container flanges form a substantially uninterrupted layer of material on one side of the closure foil or film. In such packings the container flanges may by mutually separated, or adjacent container flanges may be interconnected by weakening lines so that they may easily be separated.Similarly, the common closure foil or film may be provided with weakening lines or score lines so that a single container and the corresponding part of the closure foil or film may be broken or torn from the remaining part of the packing.

Preferably, each container may form a pocket protruding from the container flange and having a cross-sectional area decreasing towards the closed end of the container. Because of the tapered shape of the container compression of the closed free end of the container causes the frozen ice body to be expelled through the container opening when the closure foil or film has been removed.

The container or containers forming part of the packing may be made in any suitable manner, as an example the upper edge of a bag shaped pocket made from plastic film may be heat sealed to an annular flanged part made from a relatively stiff sheet material. However, the container or containers may advantageously be made by deep drawing from a sheet of plastic material, an annular part of the sheet surrounding the deep drawn container forming the container flange. A plurality of containers may then simultaneously be deep drawn from a single sheet, and single containers or single packings comprising a plurality of containers may then be stamped or cut from the deep drawn sheet.When the containers have been filled with the liquid edible ice mixture and closed by means of a common closure foil or film, the flanges of the individual containers may be mutually separated by throughgoing cuts or by the formation of weakening lines. It should be understood that such formation of weakening lines may also be made prior to filling and closing the containers by means of the closure foil. As mentioned above, the container walls may be made from a flexible plastic film. However, preferably the flexible container walls are made sufficiently stiff to maintain their desired shape also when they are empty or filled with a liquid content. When each of the containers has such a stability of shape it may be secured that the frozen ice bodies obtain the shape desired and are not deformed in case the container walls are exposed to accidental pressures during freezing.

The container or containers are usually made from plastic material, preferably polystyrene. The closure foil or film may be made from any suitable material, such as plastic films, plastic laminate or laminates from paper and plastic.

However, the plastic foil preferably comprises a metal foil, such as an aluminum foil. The metal foil may possibly be part of a laminate. The closure foil may be hermetically sealed to the container flange in any known manner rendering it possible to open each single container while tearing off the closure foil therefrom.

The invention will now be further described with reference to the drawings, wherein fig. 1 shows an embodiment of the packing according to the invention consisting of a single container which is about to be opened, fig. 2 is a perspective view of another embodiment according to the invention in a reduced scale and comprising twelve containers positioned so that the container flanges are downwardly directed, and fig. 3 is the same as in fig. 2, the container flanges being oriented in an upward direction.

Fig. 1 shows a packing consisting of a container part 10 having flexible walls and being closed at one end and open at its opposite other end. The open end of the container part is surrounded by an outwardly directed, substantially plane, relatively stiff flange 11, and the container part is closed by means of a closure foil 12, which is fastened to the surface of the flange 11 so as to form a liquid tight seal.

This closure foil or seal may relatively easily be torn off so as to open the container.

In order to facilitate compression of the container part 10 having flexible walls, such container part preferably has and oblong cross-section. As shown in the drawings this crosssection may be polygon shaped and may, for example, be in the form of an octagon. Furthermore, the cross-section of the container part 10 preferably increases in the direction towards the open end of the container part being surrounded by the flange 11. As shown in the drawings the closed end part 13 of the container part 10 may be specially tapered.

The packing shown in figs. 2 and 3 comprises a plurality twelve in the present embodiment - of the type of containers 10, 11 shown in fig. 1. These containers are arranged in rows such that the sides or edges of the rectangular flanges 11 of the containers are located closely adjacent such that the flanges 11 are positioned substantially in the same plane.

All containers of the packing are closed by means of a common rectangular closure foil 14. The closure foil may, for example, consist of or comprise an aluminum foil fastened to the adjacent surfaces of the flanges 11 by means of a suitable sealing lacquer.

Prior to shipment of the packing to the final consumer the container parts 10 are filled with a liquid mixture which may be converted into edible ice when being frozen, and thereafter the containers 10, 11 are sealed liquid tightly by the closure foil 12 or 14. The liquid mixture being filled into the packing may be ice cream or of the type which by freezing may be converted into an ice lolly. In the first mentioned case where the content of the packing is perishable goods, the dealer or distributer may store the filled packings in a freezer so that the product is sold to the consumer in a frozen condition. When the liquid mixture is not perishable the filled packings may be sold with the content in a nonfrozen condition, and the content of the packings may then be frozen when the customer or consumer places the packings in a home freezer.

As indicated in fig. 3 the closure foil 12 may be provided with weakening lines 15. When the consumer wants to eat the ice product the closure foil 12 is torn off from the embodiment shown in fig. 1 which may be broken off from the packing shown in figs. 2 and 3 along the weakening lines 15. Alterna tively, when the closure foil 14 does not have weakening lines one of the containers 10, 11 may be removed from the common closure foil 14 of the embodiment shown in figs. 2 and 3. Thereafter, the consumer applies a pressure to the tapered end portion 13 of the container by his fingers whereby the frozen ice body is pressed out from the open end of the container part 10 so as to extend above the flange 11.The consumer may now suck or bite from the exposed end of the ice body, and the flange 11 prevents possible melted ice from flowing downwardly along the outer surface of the container part 10. Furthermore, the flange prevents the consumer from unintentionally sucking the outer surface of the container part 10 when the consumer is sucking or biting the ice body.

The walls 10 of the container part should have such a flexibility that the consumer may easily press the ice body outwardly through the open end of the container part. On the other hand, the walls should have a sufficient stiffness to maintain a stable form or shape of the container part IC so that the container part or parts 10 and the ice bodies formed therein are not being deformed during freezing.

The container parts shown may advantageously be produced by deep drawing of a plastic sheet or a thick plastic film. As an example, the containers 10, 11 may be produced by deep drawing a sheet or plate of polystyrene having a thickness of about 1 mm. The flanges 11 may then be formed by non-drawn parts of the plate or sheet while the container part 10 is deep drawn to such an extent that the walls thereof become flexible and compressible, but form stable.

It will of course be understood that the present invention has been described above purely by way of example, and modifications of detail can be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A packing for edible ice comprising a flexible container, characterized in that at one end the container defines an opening which is surrounded by a substantially plane, outwardly extending flange.

2. A packing according to claim 1, wherein the flange is more stiff than the wall of the flexible container.

3. A packing for edible ice according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the container opening is closed by means of closure film or foil fastened to the container flange so as to be tearable therefrom.

4. A packing according to claim 3, wherein two or more containers are closed by means of a common closure film or foil.

5. A packing according to claim 4, wherein the containers are arranged in rows, that the outline of each container flange is shaped as a polygon, the sides of the polygon shaped container flanges being arranged closely adjacent to each other.

6. A packing according to claim 5, wherein each container flange is shaped as a rectangle.

7. A packing according to any of the claims 1-6, wherein each container is shaped as a pocket extending from the container flange and having a cross-sectional area decreasing towards the closed end of the container.

8. A packing according to any of the claims 1-7, wherein each container is made from a sheet of plastic material by deep drawing, the part of said sheet surrounding the deep drawn container forming the container flange.

9. A packing according to any of the claims 1-8, wherein each of the containers is substantially self-supporting in an empty condition.

10. A packing according to any of the claims 1-9, wherein the container or containers is/are made from polystyrene.

11. A packing according to any of the claims 1-10, wherein the closure foil comprises a metal foil.

12. A packing according to claim 11, wherein the metal foil is an aluminium foil.

13. A packing according to any of the claims 1-12, wherein the container or containers contain(s) an edible ice mixture in a liquid or frozen condition.

14. A packing for edible ice substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.