JPH0542976A - Drink packaging container and method for packaging same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a beverage container and that containing dissolved gas in which a hollow pod is quickly, easily, and effectively contained in a package container, and to also provide a method of producing the container. CONSTITUTION: Beverage from a first chamber 9 enters a second chamber 17 by way of an orifice 18, and when the beverage is in equilibrium a secondary headspace 21 is formed in an insert 10. Upon opening a bottle 1, the pressure differential between the secondary headspaces 20 and 21 ejects beverage from the insert 10 through the orifice 18 to develop foam on the beverage. The insert 10 may carry a permanent magnet 15 which is encapsulated within the plastics, the magnet 15 being attracted to a metallic strip 8 on the bottle base. The insert 10 is dimensioned to drop into position on the bottle base through the bottle mouth, and in an alternative arrangement, the permanent magnet is carried on the bottle base to attract a metallic strip carried by the insert 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beverage packaging container and a method for packaging a beverage containing a gas in a dissolved state, and more particularly to British Patent No. 2,183,592 owned by the present applicant. Beverage packaging container and packaging method disclosed herein.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In British Patent 2,183,592, a first chamber is formed in which an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage containing a gas in a dissolved state is stored and the pressure is higher than atmospheric pressure. There is disclosed a sealed container body forming a first upper space made of gas having a pressure of. In the first room,
Conveniently at the bottom of the container body, it forms a second chamber having a smaller volume than the volume of the first chamber, and the second chamber circulates the beverage in the first chamber through a small hole. Such a hollow insert is arranged. This second chamber is the same as the first
It has a second upper space which stores the beverage flowing from the chamber and which is made of a gas having a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure so as to be substantially in equilibrium with the gas pressure in the first upper space. When the sealed container body is opened and the first upper space is opened to the atmospheric pressure, the pressure difference caused by the pressure drop in the first upper space causes the beverage and / or the gas ( (Preferably a beverage) through the small holes to the first
A second chamber of the insert is configured to squirt into the beverage in the chamber, and the squirt releases gas in a dissolved state to form a foam on the surface of the beverage or to promote foam formation. There is.

In the preferred embodiment described in this British patent, the hollow insert is in the form of a plastic molded pod which is inserted into the container body prior to filling the container body with a beverage. Eggplant The pod is held in place in the first chamber, usually on or near the bottom of the container body, by a flexible projection or tab on the pod frictionally engaging the sidewall of the container body. It After arranging the pods in this way, the beverage containing the dissolved gas is filled into the first chamber and the container body is sealed as described in the aforementioned British patent specification.

[0004]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention British Patent No. 2,18
The beverage packaging produced by No. 3,592 has had considerable commercial success. However, the use of individual hollow pods with flexible retaining tabs as described above has been disadvantageous. In particular, expensive equipment is required to push and place the pod in a continuous container body on a high speed filling line before filling the container body with beverage. Also, in some cases, the flexible tab does not fully engage the side wall of the container body, and the pod may be dislodged due to rough handling.
The bubbles generated when the container body is opened are below the standard or no bubbles are generated due to floating on the surface of the beverage in the room or disappearing of the second upper space when the beverage is completely filled. It turns out that there are cases where it does not.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned inconvenience and to provide a beverage package container as disclosed in British Patent No. 2,183,592 (limited to such a package container). And a method for packaging a beverage containing a gas in a dissolved state, wherein a hollow pod for (not) is able to be quickly, easily and efficiently placed within the container body of the packaging container. It is in.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a sealed container body having a first chamber for storing a beverage containing a gas in a dissolved state and forming a first upper space made of a gas having a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure. And a second chamber arranged in the first chamber and having a volume smaller than that of the first chamber, and an insert having a small hole for allowing the beverage in the first chamber to flow through the second chamber. A container, wherein the second chamber is the first chamber
The package container includes a gas having a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure so that the pressures in the chamber and the second chamber are substantially in equilibrium, and the package container is openable to open the first upper space to the atmospheric pressure, and At the time of the opening, the pressure difference caused by the decrease in the pressure in the first upper space is such that at least one of the beverage and the gas in the second chamber preferably passes through the small holes to the inside of the beverage in the first chamber. The second chamber is arranged so that the gas in a dissolved state is released by this ejection to form bubbles on the surface of the beverage, or the formation of bubbles is promoted, and the insert is A beverage package container is provided, which is adapted to be held by a magnetic force in a predetermined position of the container body in the first chamber.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for packaging a beverage containing a gas in a dissolved state, the method comprising: providing a first chamber in a container body; Placing a hollow insert having a chamber and a small hole communicating the second chamber with the first chamber in the first chamber and magnetically holding the insert at a predetermined position in the first chamber And filling and sealing the beverage containing the dissolved gas into the first chamber so that a first upper space is formed in the first chamber, and the internal pressure of both the first chamber and the second chamber. Is in an equilibrium state and the gas pressures in the first chamber and the second chamber are higher than atmospheric pressure, and the second chamber is filled with a pressurized gas. A beverage packaging method is provided.

In the second chamber, the first upper space is formed in the second chamber so that the gas pressure in the first chamber and the gas pressure in the second chamber are in equilibrium. It is expedient to store the beverage that flows in from the chamber through the small holes. In this latter embodiment, the hollow insert in the beverage packaging container of the present invention forms or promotes foam formation on the surface of the beverage when the packaging container is opened. Although detailed description is omitted in the description, the same purpose as that of the hollow insert disclosed in British Patent No. 2,183,592 can be achieved. However, the magnetic retentive force of the hollow insert provided by the present invention provides significant advantages over the prior art of frictionally retaining the insert.

In particular, the insert can be simply dropped through the open top of the container body into the first chamber, and the insert falls by attractive force and is usually magnetically acted on the bottom of the first chamber of the container body. It is attracted and held up. This alleviates the requirement to have equipment for loading the insert into the container body, which allows the container filling line to operate at higher speeds.

Further, by using a permanent magnet having an appropriate size, the magnetic force for holding the insert body at a predetermined position is
The insert can be selected so that it does not leave its desired position, except under severe adverse conditions that are unlikely to occur during normal handling and shipping of the beverage packaging container. As mentioned above, the insert is usually located on the bottom of the first chamber of the container body and is magnetically held, but it is understood that it may be in another position, for example on the side wall of the container body. ..

Advantageously, the insert has a permanent magnet so that it is held in a desired position by magnetic forces on a compatible metallic material on or in the container body.
This metallic material can be provided, for example, as an integral part of the bottom or side wall of the container body, or it can be affixed to the container body for the purpose of holding the insert.
Similar to the British patent mentioned above, the hollow insert can be formed as a plastic molded pod, conveniently embedded in the plastic material of the pod to be sealed from the beverage in the packaging container. is there.

The container body may be of any suitable form, such as glass or plastic bottles, cans or waxed paper boxes well known to those skilled in the art. However, the present invention is primarily intended for use with containers consisting of glass bottles. Glass reuse is encouraged and is now common in many countries. When crushing such recycled glass bottles, the metal parts are magnetically removed from the crushed material. In the preferred construction described above in which the hollow plastic insert has permanent magnets, such magnets and inserts are easily magnetically removed from the shredded glass container.

In another embodiment, the container body has a permanent magnet that attracts a compatible metallic material on and within the hollow insert to hold the insert in its desired position. For example, the permanent magnet may be secured to the underside of the bottom of the container body and otherwise retained. This variant is less preferred compared to the case where the insert has a magnet, but it is due to the handling of the container body before receiving the insert in the filling line, because the magnet on the container body is There is a risk of picking up metal elements, which necessitates further cleaning of the container body. However, it is conceivable that the magnet of the container body can have a function of automatically controlling movement, handling, or inventory of the container body. When the magnet or the magnetic material is arranged on the container body, a protective cover having a function of holding the magnet or the magnetic material on the container body can be provided.
It is also possible to embed a permanent magnet or magnetic material in the material of the container body when molding it.

If desired, the hollow insert can be held in the container body by the magnetic force generated between the magnet of the insert and the magnet of the body. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The beverage package container shown in FIG. 1 comprises a conventional wide-mouth glass bottle 1 having a hemispherical dome-shaped bottom 2, which has an open top 4A from the bottom 2 upwards and an outer side. A cylindrical side wall 3 having a neck 4 provided with a threaded portion 5 is extended, and a threaded plug indicated by reference numeral 6 is screwed onto the threaded portion 5 so as to seal. A concave surface 7 is provided on the outer side of the bottom portion 2, and an iron-based metal piece or metal foil 8 is fixed thereto by adhesion.

The bottle 1 forms a first chamber 9 and is transported upright along the beverage filling line, in the form of a hollow insert in the form of a plastic pod 10 before being filled with the beverage. Are arranged in the first chamber. Pod 1
0 is configured to be shaped and dimensioned to pass through the open top of neck 1 and neck 4 and to fall directly (or substantially directly) onto a convex surface 11 provided by the inner surface of hemispherical bottom 2. , Is placed in the first chamber 9 by simply dropping it from the mouth of the bottle 1.

The hollow pod 10 is conveniently formed in the shape of a short cylinder disk having a bottom wall 12, a cylindrical side wall 13 and an upper wall 14. A small permanent magnet 15 is embedded in the plastic material of the bottom wall 12. Usually pod 10
Are two complementary shaped injection molded plastics that are integrally secured together by spin welding or otherwise along the bond line indicated by 16 to form the second chamber 17. Formed with a shell. The magnet 15 is embedded in the plastic material of the shell having the bottom wall 12 during its molding. In the bottom wall 12, a small hole 18 that communicates between the first chamber 9 and the second chamber 17 is formed (simultaneously with or after the molding of the bottom wall 12).

When the pod 10 falls into the first chamber, the magnet 15 is attracted to the metal piece 8 and the magnetic force holds the pod 10 at the center of the bottom portion 2 and securely held in contact with the bottom portion 2. .. A magnet 15 firmly holds the pod 10 in the desired position on the bottom 2 due to its magnetic force on the metal piece 8 for handling that the bin and packaging will undergo during subsequent processing, shipping and storage. It is easily understood that the choice is made to hold at.

With the pod 10 arranged in the first chamber 9, the bottle 1 is transported to a filling station, which is filled with a suitable beverage 19 containing dissolved gas, and is subsequently fitted with a screw-in stopper 6. It is sent to the sealing station.

The effect inside the first chamber 9 and the second chamber 17 of the bottle 1 and the pod 10 after filling and sealing the beverage is described with reference to the preferred embodiment of GB 2,183,592. It is substantially the same as the first chamber and the second chamber of the beverage can container. As a result, the beverage flows from the first chamber 9 into the second chamber 17 through the small holes 18,
When the contents of the bottle 1 reach an equilibrium state, the beverage in the first chamber 9 forms the first upper space 20, and the beverage in the second chamber 17 becomes
The upper space 21 is formed.

The pressure in the upper spaces 20 and 21 is higher than the atmospheric pressure, and when the stopper 6 is removed to use the beverage 19 for drinking, the first upper space 20 is opened to the atmospheric pressure and the second upper space 21 is opened. Pressure difference caused by the gas in the second
It is ejected from the chamber 17 through the small holes 18 into the beverage in the first chamber 9. The beverage thus ejected is subjected to the effect of cavitation to release a gas in a dissolved state, and this "core" is the first
Further dissolved gas is released from the beverage in the chamber 9 and bubbles are formed on the surface of the beverage in the same manner as described in the above-mentioned British patent specification.

It will be readily understood that the pod 10 is shown as having a simple form for convenience of description. In practice, the pods 10 may differ in shape, for example the bottom wall 12 may be shaped to substantially complement the bottom 2 of the bin 1. Its shape, regardless of the orientation of the bottle 1 when filling and sealing the beverage,
The shape may be such that the second upper space is always maintained in the second chamber. (Keeping this point in mind, the position of the small hole 18 can be provided differently from the position shown.)

The embodiment of FIG. 2 shows the bottom of a bottle container consisting of a plastic bottle 1A having a substantially hemispherical bottom 2A. First of plastic bottle 1A
Inside the chamber 9 is expediently shown as having a different configuration which sits on the bottom 2A in a substantially complementary manner and is made of a plastic hollow which achieves the same purpose as the pod 10 of the embodiment of FIG. Pod 10 is arranged.

Although the permanent magnet is omitted from the pod 10 in FIG. 2, an iron-based metal rod, metal piece or metal foil 8A is embedded in the plastic material formed by the bottom wall of the pod 10. Metal rod 8A and thereby pod 1
0 is attracted and held on the bottom 2A of the plastic bottle 1A by the permanent magnet 25 fixed to the lower surface of the bottom 2A. The magnet 25 has a plastic cover or lower cup 26 that forms the stand of the bottle 1A.
It is adhesively fixed to or held on the bottom 2A. The lower cup 26 has a circular rim 27 that is suitably secured to the cylindrical wall of the bottle 1A by welding, gluing or mechanical snap engagement.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, by simply dropping the hollow insert from the open upper portion of the container body, the hollow insert can be magnetically arranged at a predetermined position in the first chamber and securely held. it can. This eliminates the risk of inadvertent removal of the insert during normal handling of the beverage packaging container, which may interfere with foam formation. Further, the beverage filling process becomes simpler and the facility cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional front view of a first embodiment of the beverage packaging container of the present invention with a hollow insert having a permanent magnet for being held at the bottom of the bottle, and a partial cross-sectional view showing the hollow insert. ..

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a lower portion of a plastic-molded bottle in which an insert is held by a magnetic force of a permanent magnet carried on the outside of the plastic bottle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Glass Bottle 1A Plastic Bottle 2, 2A Bottom 3 Sidewall 4 Neck 4A Open Top 5 Threaded Part 6 Screw Stopper 7 Concave 8 Metal Piece 8A Metal Rod 9 First Chamber 10 Plastic Pod, Hollow Insert 11 Convex 12 Bottom Wall 13 Side Wall 14 Upper Wall 15 Permanent Magnet 16 Joining Line 17 Second Chamber 18 Small Hole 19 Beverage 20 First Upper Space 21 Second Upper Space 25 Permanent Magnet 26 Lower Cup 27 Rim

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Alexander Bruce Heartford Ayr 9 UK 7 HAT Hatfield Yield Brutskmanspark Colder Avenir 29 (72) Inventor Robert Purdam Middlesetsk UK U-Bee 10 8 Tee Eikenham Melvyl Roth 16 (72) Inventor Lichyard Paul Harbatto Sallie GU, UK 5 9 Els E-Gum-Shaler Abinger Cottage (72) Inventor David Gérard-Sagin Matz Kintotsushi Yu Osborne United Kingdom Bedford Aude MK 40 4 BH Biddenham Isonklos 15 (72) Invention Suteibun Knowles UK West York shear-doubling Yuefu 14 9 Eruei Mir field West Lloyd suberythemal user 47

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. A sealed container body having a first chamber for storing a beverage containing a gas in a dissolved state and forming a first upper space made of a gas having a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure, and arranged in the first chamber, A beverage package container comprising: a second chamber having a smaller volume than the first chamber; and an insert having a small hole for allowing the beverage in the first chamber to circulate in the second chamber, wherein the second chamber is A package containing a gas having a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure so that the pressures in the first chamber and the second chamber are substantially in equilibrium, and the package container can be opened to open the first upper space to the atmospheric pressure. And at the time of opening,
A pressure difference caused by a decrease in pressure in the first upper space causes preferably at least one of a beverage and a gas in the second chamber to be jetted into the beverage in the first chamber through the small hole, And the second chamber is arranged so that the gas in the dissolved state is released by this ejection to form bubbles on the surface of the beverage, or the second chamber is arranged so as to promote the formation of bubbles, and the insert body is the container body. A beverage package container, characterized in that it is held at a predetermined position in the first chamber by magnetic force. 2. The container body according to claim 1, wherein the container body has an openable upper portion, and the insert is sized to pass through the upper portion when the upper portion is opened. Beverage package container. 3. A beverage packaging container according to claim 1, wherein the insert comprises a plastic molded hollow pod. 4. The beverage packaging container according to claim 3, wherein the hollow pot is formed by two complementary shaped injection molded shell members that are integrally joined. 5. The beverage package according to claim 1, wherein the insert has a magnetic material and is thereby magnetically held in the predetermined position. container. 6. The beverage packaging container according to claim 5, wherein the magnetic material is fixed to the pod according to claim 3 or 4 by molding the pod with a plastic material. 7. Beverage packaging container according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the magnetic material is embedded in the material of the insert. 8. The beverage package container according to claim 5, wherein the magnetic material of the insert is a permanent magnet. 9. The container body has a region of magnetic material against which the magnetic material of the insert is attracted to hold the insert in the predetermined position. The beverage package container according to any one of claims 1 to 8. 10. The region of magnetic material is embedded within the material of the container body.
Beverage packaging container according to. 11. The beverage package container according to claim 9, wherein the region of the magnetic material that the container body has is disposed on the outer surface of the container body. 12. The beverage package container according to claim 11, wherein a protective cover is provided on the magnetic material on the outer surface of the container body. 13. The beverage package container according to claim 9, wherein the region of the magnetic material included in the container body is a permanent magnet. 14. The container body is substantially made of glass or plastic material.
The beverage package container according to any one of claims 1 to 13. 15. The beverage package container according to claim 1, wherein the second chamber stores the beverage flowing in from the first chamber and has a second upper space therein. .. 16. A method for packaging a beverage containing dissolved gas, comprising the steps of providing a first chamber in a container body, a second chamber having a volume smaller than the volume of the first chamber, Arranging a hollow insert having two small chambers communicating with the first chamber in the first chamber and magnetically holding the insert at a predetermined position in the first chamber; The first chamber is filled with and sealed with the beverage containing a dissolved gas so that a first upper space is formed in the chamber, and the internal pressures of both the first chamber and the second chamber are in an equilibrium state, and Filling the second chamber with a pressurized gas so that the gas pressure in both the first chamber and the second chamber is higher than atmospheric pressure. 17. The beverage in the first chamber through the small hole so that a second upper space having a pressure in equilibrium with the pressure in the first upper space is formed in the second chamber. 17. The beverage packaging method of claim 16, further comprising filling the second chamber with. 18. The container body has an open top and drops the insert through the open top, and the insert falls by attraction onto the bottom of the container body to be magnetically retained. 18. The method of claim 16 or 17, including the step of placing the insert in the first chamber by doing so.