GB2299324A

GB2299324A - Expansible containers

Info

Publication number: GB2299324A
Application number: GB9506114A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Robert John Sykes
Original assignee: FACE TO FACE Ltd; SGS Ltd
Current assignee: FACE TO FACE Ltd; SGS Ltd
Priority date: 1995-03-25
Filing date: 1995-03-25
Publication date: 1996-10-02
Also published as: GB9506114D0; GB9512514D0; GB2300410B; GB2300410A

Abstract

An expansible container e.g. for soluble powders comprises a skeleton of stiff material having two walls hinged together so as to be movable between a flattened position in which the container can be sold or dispensed and an expanded position in which the volume of the container has been increased sufficiently to permit liquid to be introduced into the container to dissolve the contents or act as a vehicle for them. The container has a membrane 22 which expands on opening the two walls to form a fluid tight receptacle into which liquid may be introduced through an aperture 20.

Description

Expansible Containers This invention relates to expansible containers which are intended to be sold containing only dry ingredients and very little air, if any, and which are able to be expanded after purchase by opening a sealed opening to admit first air, followed by the water or other liquid for mixing with the dry ingredients.

In their 'as-sold' condition the containers are basically in a flattened or collapsed condition. After the opening has been unsealed, a tag may be pulled to cause the walls of the container to unfold and come to an expanded state in which they form a chamber of significant volume.

The container preferably comprises a relatively-strong and stiff skeleton of plastics or fibrous card, to which is secured strong and flexible film material forming a fluid-tight vessel.

The present invention aims at providing a container having a chamber of small volume, enough to hold only a specified volume of dry solids or powders, and able to expanded after purchase to form a chamber big enough to hold as much liquid as is needed to dissoive or become mixed with the solids.

Accordingly the present invention provides an expansible container as claimed in the appended claims.

The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an isometric view of one form of container of the present invention in its minimum-volume or 'as sold' condition; Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 of the container after air has been allowed to enter its interior and it has been partially expanded; Figure 3 is a view of the container shown in Figures 1 and 2 in its fullyexpanded condition; Figure 4 is a view, similar to Figure 1, of another embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 is a view, similar to Figure 2 of the container shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 3 of the container of Figure 4 in its fully-expanded condition; Figure 7 is an isometric view of a skeleton used in one or more embodiments of the present invention, in its partially-open position;; Figure 8 is a view of the skeleton of Figure 7 in its fully-open position; Figure 9 is a plan view of the skeleton of Figure 7 and 8 in its developed state, that is prior to its being folded out of its flat position; Figure 10 is a diagrammatic cross-section of the skeleton of Figure 9 along the plane X-X; Figure 11 is a plan view of the developed form of a member intended to act as a handle for the container when in its fully-open position; Figure 12 is an isometric view of a basic container of the present invention in its collapsed position with a partially-projecting tab; Figure 13 is a plan view of a member intended to be attached to the skeleton of Figures 1-3 to form the complete container; Figure 14 is a plan view, on a larger scale than the preceding figures, of a pull tab in its developed state, that is before being attached to the container;; Figure 15 is an isometric view of the tab of Figure 14 in position on a container and after it has been pulled by the intending user to allow air to enter the interior of the container, and Figure 16 is an isometric view of the container of Figure 15 after it has been moved to its fully-open position with the component which previously encircled the tab proper functioning as a handle.

In the accompanying drawings and description, those components which are the same in different figures are given the same references.

As shown more clearly in Figure 2, the basic container of the present invention comprises a basic skeleton 10 of relatively-stiff material having bonded to it a membrane 4 of flexible film. The skeleton 10 takes the form basically of two sheets 6 of stiff and fluid-impermeable material integral with each other or bonded so as to form a hinge 8. The sheets may have advertising and/or explanatory text printed or otherwise applied to them, or such material may be applied to the wrapping of a pack of, say, five or more containers of the present invention when in their collapsed condition.

Prior to the membrane 4 having its borders bonded to respective internal borders of skeleton 10, a quantity of a dry powder or other solid (or even a paste or concentrated liquid) is inserted to the interior of the chamber defined by the skeleton 10 and membrane 4.

By means which do not form part of the subject-matter of this invention, and which therefore are not described in any further detail in this specification, after the powder has been inserted in the container the air in the interior is sucked out of the container without extracting any of the powder, and the bonding of membrane 4 to the skeleton completed to form what is known as a 'va,cuum-packed' container as shown is Fig 1. In practice the two sheets 6 are not able to be moved about their fold axis 8 to a position in which they are in contact with each other because of the intervening powder. However, as the powder can be distributed evenly in the interior of the container, it allows the container to be substantially flat, that is without any significant lumps.Thus the collapsed container may be stacked with several similar containers to form a stack substantially in the shape of a parallelepiped. This enables as many containers as desired to be sold in a pack, or for a stack to be inserted in a machine for dispensing each container separately.

As shown in Fig 3, the skeleton 10 is preferably provided with integral means for latching it in the fully-open position once the wall 12 has become flattened to make the container of triangular cross-section. This is preferably done by forming the skeleton 10 with a latch member which is capable of being folded to a flattened condition and which, when the container is moved to its fully-expanded condition, forms a type of toggle joint which prevents the wall 12 of the membrane 4 from leaving its fullyflattened position it is forced to attain when the container is at its maximum volume. The design and manner of operation of the latching member 10 do not form part of the subject-matter of th is invention, and so will not be described herein in any further detail.

That embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 4-6 is similar to the previous embodiment with the exception that a pull tab 14 projects from the container in its collapsed position, and in that a handle 16 is intended to project from the folding wall of the container when in its fully-open position. As shown in Fig 6, one of the substantially-triangular portions 13 of the membrane 4 has in it an opening 20 which, after the powder or other material has been inserted into the container, and the container 'vacuum-packed', is closed by a separate tab (not shown) which is secured to the periphery of the opening 20 so as to seal it. That part of tab 14 (Fig 4) which projects from the collapsed container may be grasped by an intending user and pulled away from the membrane 4 to allow air to enter the interior of the container through the opening 20.

As shown in Figures 5 and 6, the wall 12 of the skeleton, or a rectangular area of the membrane 4 which is bonded to it, has a handle 16 bonded to it.

The handle has two end flanges 24 which are hinged about the rest of the handle and which are intended to be bonded to wall 12 or area 22 of the membrane so that they lie one on each side of the line of fold. The portion of the handle between the flanges 24 is itself folded so as to enable the handle and wall 12 to come into a common flattened position in which their combined thickness is virtually little more than the thickness of the individual plies of material. In similar fashion to the embodiment shown in Figure 3, the container of Figures 4-6 may be provided with a latch for holding it in its fully-open position.

Although the two embodiments of the present invention are shown in the drawings as being of the same size, in practice the second embodiment would be significantly larger, so that whereas the embodiment of Figure 1 might form a container of cup size, the second embodiment is intended to be more in the nature of a jug, being intended to dispense several cups-full of a drink after the original powder has been dissolved.

Figure 7 shows one form of latch which may be added to the skeleton 10 or form a part of it.

Figure 8 is a view of a more-sophisticated form of latch forming part of the skeleton, which is made from a single sheet of embossed plastics material, such as PVC and polyethylene laminate. The skeleton 10 has several embossed panels to give its respective major faces stiffness.

Three contiguous cuts are made through the thickness of the skeleton 10 to form a rectangular tongue 28. The end face 30 of this tongue is intended to come into latching engagement with the valley between two ribs 32 to hold the tongue in place against the respective sheet of the skeleton to prevent it from moving to a position in which the centre wall 12 of the skeleton is moved out of its flattened condition.

In accordance with the present invention, and as shown in Fig. 13, the container of the present invention uses a flexible membrane of fluidimpermeable film, such as of a polyester and polyethylene laminate, which permits the sheets 6 to be moved about their common border 8 between the fully-flattened and the fully-open conditions. In the former condition, the membrane 4 acts to stop the unintended ingress of air into the interior of the container, thus retaining it in its flattened condition and preserving the contents of the container from degradation by atmospheric moisture etc.In its developed form, the membrane has a central area 22 intended to be bonded to the folding wall 12 of the skeleton; two side panels 26 each intended to have its borders bonded to a sheet 6 in a fluidtight manner, and two triangular portions 18, in one of which is provided an opening (not shown in Fig 13, but shown as opening 20 in Fig 6). The rectangles 19 shown in broken lines in Fig. 13 represent those areas to which flanges 24 of a handle 16 are to be bonded in the jug embodiment of Figures 4-6.

In the embodiment of Figures 15 and 16, an opening 20 is provided in a different part of one of the triangular components 18 of the diaphragm 4.

This opening is overlain by a tab 14 such as is shown in Fig 14. An end flange 17 of tab 14 is bonded to panel 22 of membrane 4, orto the equivalent panel 12 of skeleton 10, and is folded or otherwise positioned so that part 15 of tab 14 is bonded to the periphery of opening 20 to keep the interior of the container fluid-tight. Part 17 of tab 14 circumscribing part 15 projects slightly from between the edges of the sheets 6 when the container in its as-sold condition, such as is shown in Fig 12. When the projecting part of the tab is gripped and rotated so as to separate the borders of the tab from the seal portion thereof, the seal is partly lifted from the underlying surfaces of the container so as to break the vacuum and allow air to enter through opening 20.Further folding movementofthetab brings the respective parts thereof to lie in the position shown in Fig 16, in which it comes to function as a pull by means of which the wall 12 can be pulled out of its folded position into its flattened position. Once the two parts of the tab have become fully detached from each other, as shown in Fig 16, the user may grip the seal portion 15 and remove it completely from opening 20 to allow a liquid solvent or vehicle to be introduced into the interior of the container.

It will thus be seen that the present invention provides an expansible container of simple construction which occupies minimum volume in its assold condition, and which can readily be expanded by the user to permit water or other liquid to be added to the contents of the container after it has been allowed to move to its fully-open position, to allow subsequent drinking or decanting of the resultant solution or paste.

It will be appreciated that the container may be used to sell any dry or liquid material, preferably in powdered form when it is solid so as to allow the main surfaces of the container to come very close together after air has been removed from the interior of the container before it is vacuum-sealed. The obvious constraint is that the material of the skeleton 2 and of the membrane 4, and any other materials exposed to the interior of the container, should be inert to the contents of the container, either in their dry or wet form.

Claims

1. An expansible container comprising two relatively-rigid walls hinged together at a common linear boundary and connected in a fluid-tight manner to a third wall of foldable material integral with both a base portion sealed to other boundaries of the two rigid walls, and a closure portion similarly sealed to the two walls, the closure portion having in it an opening intended to be sealed by a removable strip of material to prevent the unintended ingress of air or other fluid into the interior of the container.

2. A container as claimed in Claim 1, in which the third wall is formed from a sheet of fluid-impermeable plastics material forming a rectangular panel intended to function as the third wall, and two substantiallytriangular flaps of which one is to form the base portion and the other is to form the closure portion.

3. A container as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, in which the removable strip of material is intended to have a portion thereof projecting beyond the boundaries of the stiff walls when the container is in its fully-collapsed condition.

4. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the skeleton is formed with a latch which is adapted to prevent the central wall frown reverting to its folded state after it has reached its substantially-flat state.

4. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, including a latch which preserves the fluid-tightness of the container and which is adapted to prevent the third wall from reverting to its folded state after it has reached its substantially-flat state.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. An expansible container comprising a skeleton having a central folded wall to which two relatively-rigid walls are hinged, and a membrane sealed to the two skeleton to form triangular closure surfaces, the container having in it an opening intended to be sealed by a removable strip of material to prevent the unintended ingress of air or other fluid into the interior of the container, the skeleton being movable between a flattened, minimum-volume, state and an expanded state in which the skeleton is of substantially-triangular cross-section.

2. A container as claimed in Claim 1, in which the membrane is formed from a sheet of fluld-impermeable plastics material forming a rectangular panel intended to be bonded to the folding wall, and integral with twc substantially-triangular flaps of which one has the said opening in it.

3. A container as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, in which the removable strip of material is intended to have a portion thereof projecting beyond tlH boundaries of the skeleton when the container is in its flattened condition.