PT1197439E - Lid for flexible or semi-rigid containers, particularly for granular or powder products - Google Patents

Abstract

A lid is described for flexible or semi-rigid containers, particularly for granular or powder products, of the type having a substantially parallelepiped shape, with a top aperture (3) defined by a reinforcing frame structure (6), said lid being of plastic material, of the stopper or hinged type, with a substantially flat upper plate (7), a skirt (8) engaging with the outer top edge of the container (1) and an inner skirt (9), continuous or discontinuous, running parallel to the outer skirt (8) and engaging with said frame (6). <IMAGE>

Claims (3)

A combination of a flexible or semi-rigid container (1) and a lid (4), particularly for granular or powdered products, said container being of the type having a substantially parallelepipedic shape, with an aperture (3) at the top defining a peripheral frame (5) beneath which is placed a reinforcing frame (6) with a rectangular structure, said cap (4) being made of plastic material and having a substantially flat top plate (7), a flap (8) which is engageable in the upper outer edge of the container (1) and a continuous or discontinuous inner flap (9) which is engageable in said reinforcing frame (6), whereby the inner flap (9) has a tooth (10) capable of engaging the inner edge of the reinforcing frame (6) prior to opening the container (1), said top opening (3) being sealed by a detachable membrane (2) and the cover positioned slightly high relativament and to the container at least for a distance equal to the length of said flap (9), the container (1), after being opened for the first time and, thus, the detachable membrane (2) being withdrawn, rendering the container (4) thereon by lowering it until said tooth (10) of the inner flap (9) engages the inner edge of the reinforcing frame (6). A cover according to claim 1, characterized in that said upper plate (7) is integral with said flaps (8, 9), so as to form a closure cap which can be press-fitted in said container (1) ). Advantageously, written characters and / or illustrations are used, for example, to customize the lid 4 without printing directly onto the lid, a fact which has obvious advantages. On the other hand, said rectangular plastic sheet 12 is advantageously recovered from the waste by piercing the opening 3 of the container during the manufacture thereof from a plastic film. In the described embodiment, said suitably printed adhesive sheet 12 may be applied to the inner face of the plate 7, thereby acting, for example, as a shopping carton. From what has been described, the advantages of the invention are obvious in that they completely solve the prior art problems described above. Obviously, the invention is not limited to the particular embodiment previously described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but may be subject to numerous modifications of detail within the reach of those skilled in the art and should be understood to fall within the scope defined by the appended claims . The inner flap 9, or in any case, the small walls protruding downwards from the cap 4, has a tooth 10 able to engage the pressure at the inner edge of the frame 6. When the container 1 is sealed, prior to opening, the cap 4 is positioned slightly raised relative to the container 1 by at least a distance equal to the length of said flap 9, so that said flap does not interfere with the membrane 2 that closes the container as shown in Figure 4. Once the container 1 is opened for the first time and, thus, the detachable membrane 2 is withdrawn, the container can be closed again, placing the lid 4 on the container by lowering it until the tooth 10 of the inner flap 9 engages the inner edge of the frame 6, as shown in Figure 5. In this state, in addition to the firm attachment, an excellent seal is secured between the lid and container, also through the presence of the double flap 8, 9 surrounding the frame 6. The lid 4, after being applied to the container 1, as can be seen, for example, in Figure 5, forms a minimum volume at the edge of said container, at the same time, the initial dimension, thereby ensuring an aligned arrangement of several containers side by side. Once the contents of the container 1 have been consumed, the closure 4 may be used to close a new container which will thus be sold without the catch 4, but only with the membrane 2 detachable and possibly with a protective cover. A depression or cavity 11 is formed in the top wall 7 of the cap, rectangular in shape and with the perimeter parallel to the outer perimeter of the cap, so as to accommodate a plastic sheet 12 of the same size as is glued or hot-welded in 4. Said sheet 12 is of a Figure 1 with the lid raised; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-m of Figure 2; Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the top portion of Figure 3, in which the cap is shown applied to the sealed container prior to the opening; Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view similar to Figure 4, in which the cap applied back to the container after the first opening is shown. With reference to Figures 1 to 5, 1 generally designates a semi-rigid type container, for example of the type described in EP-A-0522326, particularly to contain granular or powdered products such as coffee and the like . According to the invention, the container 1 has a parallelepipedic shape, with a large aperture 3 at the top (see, in particular, Figure 1), sealed with an easy opening type releasable membrane 2 (Figures 3, 4) which is withdrawn when the container is opened, which can be closed by means of the cap, designated in its entirety by the reference numeral 4. As can be seen in Figure 1, said aperture 3 defines, in the top wall of the container 1, a peripheral frame 5, below which a reinforcing frame 6 is advantageously placed in plastic material. The lid 4, advantageously made of plastic material, is closure type, and has a substantially flat upper base 7 and a peripheral flap 8. Within said peripheral flap 8 a second continuous or discontinuous flap 9 is provided away from the outer flap 8 by a distance approximately equal to the width of the frame 6. The flap according to the invention is made of plastic material and is of the type which is fitted to the pressure in the mouth of the container according to the invention and is withdrawn in each use thereof. When the container is sealed and prior to opening, the closure cap is applied thereto in a slightly raised position so that the opening of the container is closed by a membrane or detachable layer of easy-welded hot-welded material along the perimeter of the container rectangular frame, said layer being withdrawn prior to first use. To re-close the container, the closure cap is lowered thereon so that its internal protrusion attaches to the inside edge of the frame, thereby ensuring excellent sealing. The cover according to the invention also has, on its upper surface, a slightly recessed seat, intended to receive a sheet of plastic, possibly with printed characters or drawings, serving to customize the cover, without having to intervene directly therein, as is the case with prior art caps. The plastic sheet to be applied to the lid is advantageously recovered in the process of manufacturing the container by piercing its opening with material which has hitherto been waste. Other features of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description, with reference to an embodiment thereof, by way of example and not limiting, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an exploded axonometric view showing a container and a cap according to the invention; Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the container in the It has, however, been found that this cap had drawbacks due, for example, to the presence of notches in the carton blank forming the cap, which tended to give rise to projections protruding from the side profiles of the container, which , besides being ugly, did not allow the maintenance of exact dimensions when the containers were placed side by side. In addition, the sealing of these containers was sometimes unsatisfactory. Other containers of parallelepipedic shape provided with a cap are disclosed, for example, by the documents CH 463986A and EP-A-0658481. In particular, CH 463986 discloses a container and a lid wherein the container is of the type having a substantially parallelepipedal shape with an aperture at the top defining a peripheral frame and a reinforcing frame having a rectangular structure. The lid is made of plastic material and has a substantially flat top plate, an outer peripheral flap and a continuous inner flap which is engageable in the reinforcing structure. The inner flap has a tooth capable of engaging the inner edge of the reinforcing frame. Prior to opening the container, the top aperture is sealed by a peelable membrane. The object of the invention is to eliminate the drawbacks illustrated by providing a cap, particularly for semi-rigid containers of the above-mentioned type, which is simple and inexpensive in terms of manufacture, to ensure a leaktight seal of the product and to make the container have an appearance perfectly uniform exterior. These objects are achieved by the combination according to the invention, which has the features of appended independent claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims. 2