US1713348A - Food-preserving container - Google Patents

Description

D. J.O

May 1.4, 1929. y

Filed Dec. 16. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l NN .NN MN .um NW Patented May 14, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT vorrlclz.

DAVID J'. OBRIEN, 0F MANHATTAN BEACH, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 THERMOPAK'. COMPANY, .INC., F NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF -NEW YORK.

FOOD-PRESERVING CONTAINER.

Application led December 16, 192'5. Serial No. 75,814.

This invention .relates to improvements in l the art of preserving food products, and more particularly to containers of the type adapted for heat insulation. 1

Among the objects in view is the inexpensive and effective preservation of food products, such as ice-cream, Water'ices, and the like, by retention thereof in a chilled condition for relatively prolonged periods with the use of but a minimum amount of heat absorbing media or with no chilling agent whatever.

A further object is the maintenance of the lower temperatures for those portions of the chilled food products first to be served in instances where no chilling medium is employed.

With these and further objects in view as will in part hereinafter become apparent and in part be stated, the invention comprises certain novel constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts as subsequently speciiied and claimed. e

In the accompanying drawings;-

Figure 1 is a longitudinal, vertical central section through a package embodying the features of the present invention, the parts being seen in closed condition in full lines and in a partly open position in dotted lines.

Figure 2 is a top plan of the parts seen in Figure 1 with the outer covering shown in the position seen in dotted lines in Fi re 1.

Figure 3 is a greatly enlarged, detai frag-, mentary section through a part of the wall of the shipping container forming the closed bottom thereo intermediate portions being broken away for the saving of Space.

Figurea'41s a view similar to Figure 2 with the top in the ope-n position outstanding horizontally, a position assumed during the course of being .fully opened. i

Figure 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary section through the upper portion of the container taken on substantially the same scale as Figure 3, the parts-being seen in exaggerated size, and intermediate parts being broken away for the saving of space. v

Referring to the drawings by numerals, 1 indicates a can, such as ordinarily employed for containing ice-cream and the like, which can is provided with the usual removable cover 2 having the operating `handle 3 'outstanding from the cover preferably in the form of a loop. The can 1 is placed in an inverted condition within the shipping contamer 4. The walls of the shipping container are given the contour for snugly receiving the can 1, and are preferably formed of heatlnsulating material, such as that illustrated in the U. S. Letters Patent to Linzy Hicks, No.

1,334,302, dated March 23rd, 1920. The' shipping container 4 may have its body and bottom formed integral or the container may be in the form of a cylinder having its closed end 5 formed separately and secured in place by adhesive after the manner shown in the said Hicks patent. The separate formation gf 6ghe closed end 5 is indicated by the lines The opposite end of the container 4 or top is preferably close'd by a cap or closure` 7, similar in general construction and arrangement to the bottom closure 5, but differing in detail and constructed to be removably located in position for closing the upper or outer end of the shipping container 4. The fibrous corrugated material (preferably paper) making u the main portion of the walls of the contamer 4 may be, when liable to hard usage, completely surrounded by a covering 8, which is preferably of fabric, such as waterproof canvas or leather or the like, but may be of wood or metal or other waterproof material. This covering 8 is usually employed for receptacles of the character being described, which are to be utilized for distance shipment, or otherwise, such as in the wholesale handling of icecream, and while susceptible of use for containers of small capacity, such as employed by individual consumers, need not be so employed, especially on the inexpensive containers designedparticularly for one-time use. When covering 8 is employed, the closure or cap 7 is overlaid by a sheet 9 of preferably the same or similar material to covering v8. At one place along theedge of the material 9, the material is stitched lto covering 8 or yotherwise hinged thereto', as indicated at 17,

for forming a flexible connection for the cap or closure 7 to the container 4, so that the cap -may be opened after the manner indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1, `and thrown back out of the way without being liable to be lost.

`In order to securethe cap or closure 7 firmly in place against accidental dislocation:

while closed, a strap 13 is preferably fixed to the upper portion of the cap and adapted to engage an appropriate buckle' 14 carried by a strap 15 fixed to the side portion of the shipping container.

Resting on the upper face of cap 7 when closed, is a bail-like, open, clamping spring wire 18 pivoted to the cap at the point dia- Amctrically opposite hinge 17, as will be hereinafter described. The free ends of wire 18 are free to spring apart to allow them to pass the cylindrical sides of container 4 when the cap 7 is hinged downward in its fully opened position. Wire 18 must, of course, be directed manually into place, and while embracing container 4 will effectively retain cap 7 against apping about and becoming injured. The clamping wire 18 may be pivoted to cap 7 in any appropriate and desirable manner. That shown consists merely in passing the wire beneath a portion of strap 13 between lines of stitching connecting the strap to the cap 7. Also, as shown, it is preferable to slit or slot the engaged portion of the strap 13, and to extend therethrough a projection (such as a return fold of the wire) from clamp 18, as at 18, so as to prevent longitudinal dislocation of the clamp. 1

When the cojvering 8 isutilized, the corru-- gated paper, or other insulating bottom 5, is backed or reenforced by a supplemental, rigid bottom plate 20, preferably of wood, and the covering 8 is extended downward past the circular edge of plate 20 and folded back up and caused to overlie a portion of the inner or upper face of plate 20 to which the overlying material of the covering 8 is tacked or otherwise fastened. The circular edge of the plate 20 is thus enclosed in a return fold 21 of the covering 8. i

The entire shipping'container, includin" the covering 8 and bottom plate 20, is pre erably disposed in a wrapper 10 of sufficient length and size to allow its upper or open end portion to be brought together and closed, as indicated at 11,by an appropriate draw-string 12, or other desirable` securing means. 'To afford access to the closure or cap 7, the upper end portion of the wrapper 1() is preferably opened by releasing the draw-string 12, and folded back down to the position indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1. While Vwrapper 10 has been shown in the drawings as not contacting with the side walls of the container, in order to show a degree of looseness enabling ready movement of the upper portion of wrapper 10 to and from the dotted line position of igure 1, it is to be understood that wrapper 10 suiliciently snugly lits the covering 8 to have sullicient frictional contact therewith to remain in position on the container and not to fall olf under ordinary rough handling while the shipping container is being stored or returned in the empty condition.

Since the shipping container is liable to be subjected to considerable rough handling during use, both While lilled'and while empty, the wrapper 1() is preferably of especially sturdy material, and the bottom of the wrapper 10 enclosing the plate 20 is protected by an externally located, preferably metallic band or ferrule 22 which is fixed to plate 20 by nails or other appropriate fastening means 28 extending through band 22, the material of wrapper 10, the return fold 2l, and into bottom plate 20. Band 22 is formed with a beaded, inwardly-extending, annular flange 24 extending beneath and engaging the under face of the bottom of wrapper 10 and clamping the same against the under face of plate 20.

As shown in Figures 3 and 5, and as above stated, the walls of the shipping container are preferably of heat insulating material, such as corrugated paper 16, arranged after the manner shown in the Hicks patent above identied, and the bottom or closed end 5 is formed with a recess 19 designed to receive the handle 3. The said recess may be formed of a contour to just snugly receive the handle, but is preferablyparti-globular, as shown, for enabling the can 1 to be introduced with the handle 3 in any angular position, and to be easily and readily snugly received by the said recess 19.

The structure thus far described is especially well designed for use without the assistance of any refrigerant other than the reduced temperature of the food products themselves, and is capable of use forl comparatively short-time shipments ranging up to ten hours or perhaps longer under favorable conditions, that is low surrounding temperatures, and less under unfavorable conditions, that is conditions of high surrounding temperatures. Where longer shipments, say for twenty-five or thirty hours, areto be lnade, it is preferable to utilize a supplementing refrigerant, for which purpose special rovision is made as will hereinafter be descri ed in detail.

In carrying out the art as contemplated by the present invention, the can 1, filled with its chilled food products, is introduced with the removable closure thereof or cover 2 inward, and, when the can is fully seated Within the shipping container 4, the cap or closure 7 is fastened down by the strap 13 and buckle 14, and the wrapper 10 is then rolled up from the dotted line position seen in Figure 1 to an upstandino position, and then has its open end closed by the drawing of the draw-string 12. The package is then .ready for shipment or other handling.

When the package is delivered to the retailer, or other consumer, the upper end parts are released, the cap 7 hinged back out of the way, and clamp 18 positioned to hold the cap 7 in the open position, and then the package is inverted and the can 1 is allowed to slide out of the shipping container4 into the refrigerating apparatus usually provided' for receiving such cans. The cap 2 of the can 1 may now be removed and the contents are ready for consumption. ,4

For purposes of long shipments or storage under conditions of high surrounding temperatures, or other especially difficult conditions tending to increase the internal temperatuie of the container, it is desirable to supplement the reduced teniperatureof the food products contained by additional refrigerant. Under any condition, whether the additionalrefrigerant is employed or not, it is preferable, before the insertion of the can 1 filled with ice-cream or other food products, to chill the container 4 thoroughly, and under the especially trying conditions just stated, it some times becomes desirable to continue the chilling action by the provision of heat-absorbing substance applied in a manner to absorb heat units within the container 4. To this end, I preferably especially construct the cover 7 with a recess or recesses adapted to receive such supplemental refrigerant, and I preferably use what has come to be known commercially as dry ice, that is, carbon dioxide (CO2) in its solidified form. I t is unnecessary to advert to the known conditions of protection and use of the so-called dry ice, except to call attention to the fact that the melting or gasification occurs very slowly, especially since the gas thrown ofi' by virtue of surrounding heat absorbs the heat units so rapidly as to chill the gas nearer the solid block and reduce it to solid form. Thus the escape of gas is very slow, comparatively speaking, and the chilling action is relatively great and especially effective in shipping containers of the character described. owever, since the container is otherwise sealed as an aid to heat insulation, and since the .gas thrown off by the dry ice must escape without allowing access of exterior temperatures to the interior of the container, special provision is made. To this end, the cover is formed with pockets or recesses 25 extending upwardly within the body of the cover 7 and opening through the under face thereof when the cover is closed. It should be understood, of course, that a single pocket 25 may be utilized and its size varied according to the requirements of the shipment, and the s ize ofthe cake of dry ice to be utilized, which must be determined by taking into consideration a number of factors, such as the conditions of the shipment, the extent of exposure to heat, the climatic conditions under which the shipment is undertaken, and such other elements as control the likelihood of rising temperatures within the container 4. I have for purposes of illustration, shown one of the larger containers, that is a container for say five gallons of ice-cream. In such containers, I preferably utilizefour of the pockets 25. Obviously, similar pockets may be utilized of relatively reduced dimensions in the proportionately reduced sizes of containers, but I find that effective results are obtained 1n the smaller sizes by a less number of pockets, even to the use of a single pocket,

ice to gradually penetrate the material of the cap by passing through the interstices of the' fibers or cells making up the material of the cap 7. In Figures 3 and 5, the showing has been exaggerated even to a magnification of the material commonly utilized, and the adhesive employed for securing the covering 8 to the outer sheet of material forming the container 4 is shown at 27. This is, of course, an exaggeration even` though the parts are magnified, since, in fact, the layer of adhesive 27 is j ust as thin as is possible to be employed while effectively causing the covering 8 to adhere to the container 4, and inactual pra tice a large portion of the adhesive penetrates the material of the container 4 and the material of covering 8, so that the showing in Figure l is more nearly in exact accord with actual structure, but the showing in Figure 5 is given in the exaggerated form for the purpose of displaying the presence of the adhesive 27, and for the fui-ther purpose of indicating the termination thereof. It will be seen that the coating of adhesive 27 not only extends about the container 4, but about the outer parts of the upper surface of the cap or cover 7. The middle or intermediate portion of said cap or cover is, however, left without acoating of adhesive 27, so that the sheet 9 is shown with a space 28 between it and the top sheet of cap or cover 7 for those portions not provided with the adhesive 27. 0f course, the space 28 is exaggerated, since, under ordinary conditions, the covering 9 would rest against the topmost sheet of the material of cap 7, but the spacing 28 clearly shows the absence of the-adhesive 27 which lis desirable to allow gases rising from the pockets 2-5 to escape. Since the coating of adhesive 27 tends to' seal and render the walls of the container impervious, the space 28 assures the ready escape of the gas to a point in contact with the under face of the cover sheet 9. If that cover sheet be of canvas, or other woven fabric, no special provision need be made for the further escape of the gas, but if the sheet 9 be of leather, rubber, or other impervious material, openings 29, 29, are preferably provided, so that the rising gases may escape through vthe cover sheet 9 and will then either escape through the interstices of the wrapper or out through the openings unavoidably present incident to the puckered portion 11.

A tube 30 preferably extends through the cap 7 at the center thereof, and is flanged at its ends, as at 31 and 32, to produce the effect of riveting so as to hold the parts in place. Swiveled to the lower end portion of the tube 30 and supported by the flange 32 is a disc 33, preferably of substantially the same or slightless diameter than that of the inner end of t e cap 7, and held snugly against such inner end by the flange 32. The disc 33 is formed with apertures 34, 34, each of the same diameter as one of the pockets 25, and the several apertures 34 are spaced apart and located radially to correspond to the spacing and location of the several pockets 25, so that, when the disc 33 is rotated on its pivotal axis formed of the tube 30, the apertures 34 may be brought into register with the pockets 25, so that-cakes of dry ice, or other acceptable and suitable refrigerant, may be inserted into the pockets 25, and the disc 33 may then be shifted angularly, that is turned on its pivot, sufficiently to bring it to the position indiT cated in Figure 4, .whereupon a substantial web or portion of the disc 33 extends across the open end of each of the pockets 25 and rovides a support for the refrigerant with- 1n the respective pocket. The introduction of the refrigerant is preferably done when the parts are in the position seen in Figure 4 in which thel cap 7 is held manually or otherwise by outside agencies in the outstanding, inverted position.

The tube 30 is provided near its lower end with a valve seat 35 on which normally rests a check valve 36 retained in position on the seat by an appropriate spring 37 surrounding a plunger 38 which carries the valve 36 and extends into a cap-like guide 39 supported by an appropriate spider 40 fixed ytoV the surrounding walls of tube`30. The tube 30 is filled with cork, mineral wool, or other appropriate heat insulating material, as indi- ,cated at 41, from the spider 40 and cap 39 upwardly to the upper or outer end, and at the outer end is provided with a reticulated or other strainer plate 42 for retaining the insulation 41 in place.

The tube 30, valve 36 and coo erating parts are utilized more especially or emergency purposes. It is, of course, well understood that carbonic acid gas is heavier than air and will, therefore, under ordinary conditions, descend if opportunity is afforded. However, since the can 1 snugly fits within' the container 4, only a comparativel. small amount of the gas can find its way a out the interiorwalls of the container 4. Of course, the space 19 will be filled, and a certain amount of gas will remain about the can '1,

but since the interior walls of container 4l are preferably sized or otherwise rendered' substantially impervious only a comparatively small amount of the gas will escape through such walls. Hence, a certain amount of gas pressure will be set up bythe continued discharge of gas incident to the slow disintegration of the cakes of dry ice. When the pressure of the gas has raised sufficiently, the gas will gradually work its way through the material of cap 4 above the several pockets 25 and out through the openings 29. This will ordinarily be ample for the escape ofgas under all normal conditions. It is possible, however, that under some special circumstances a receptacle may be placed in an unusually hot position, so that disintegration of the dr ice may occur more rapidly than under or inary conditions. When the gas thrown oli by the cakes of dry ice under such extraordinary conditions reaches a pressure which might otherwise tend 4to blow the cap 7 out of place, a dangerous condition might follow, but before any such dangerously high pressure is attained, the valve 36 will open under the stress of such pressure and allow the excess gas to escape up through the tube 30, it being understood, of course, that the insulating material 41 is packed in the tube sufficiently loosely to facilitate the easy esplape of gas, while preventing entrance of eat.

This application presents subject matter involving improvements on the subject matter disclosed and claimed in myco-pending application filed November/18, 1925, and designated by Serial No. 69,908. In this case the inverted position of the inner container and the features of construction facilitating such arrangement as well as the process involved therein are not covered by claims in this application except when limited to the presence of the supplemental refrigerant recess or recesses, as such subject matter independently of such recess or recesses is claimed in my above-identified co-pending application.

What is claimed is:

1. A heat-insulating package for temperature-protected products consists of a heat-insulating container of fibrous material having a recess in its fibrous wall for receiving and containing temperature-varying means.

2. A heat-insulating package for food products comprising a heat-insulating conimpregnated surface of the fibrous material,

and the fibrous material being elsewhere waterlproof. 4. food preserving receptacle comprising an insulating container, and a cover therefor of insulating material having means within the insulating material of the cover for receiving temperature-varying means.

5. A food preserving container comprising an insulating receptacle, and a cover therefor having an inwardly opening pocket for receiving refrigerant.

6. A food preserving container comprising an insulating receptacle, a cover therefor having an inwardly opening ocket for receiving refrigerant, and a movalble closure for the pocket.

-cover therefor having a pocket at its inner face opening into the receptacle and adapted to contain refrigerant, and a closure for said pocket.

9. A food preserving container comprising an insulating receptacle designed to receive a food containing can in an inverted position, and a cover for the receptacle having refrigerant-receiving means.

l0. A foodv preserving container comprising an insulating receptacle, an insulating cover therefor having a recess opening into the receptacle, and a shiftable plate adapted to be moved to and from a position across the recess.

1l. A food preserving container comprising a cylindrical insulating receptacle open at one end, an insulating cover for the receptacle having a recess opening into the receptacle and adapted to contain refrigerant, and a disc pivoted to the inner face of the cover to swing to and from a position across the recess.

. 12. A food preserving container comprising an insulating receptacle havinga plurality of refrigerant receiving pockets in one of its walls, a disc pivoted to-said wall and adapted to extend'across the open ends of said pockets and formed with apertures corresponding to the pockets, said disc being adapted to be moved on its pivot to and from a position with the' apertures registering with said pockets.

13. A food preserving container comprising a receptacle having walls of insulating material and the insulating material being formed with a pocket opening into the receptacle and sealed from the exterior of the receptacle, said pocket being adapted to receive temperature-varying means for the interior of the receptacle.

14. A food preserving container comprising an insulating receptacle, and an insulating cover therefor having a pocket closed "at its outer end and open-at its inner end to the outer portion of the area enclosed by the receptacle.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature.

DAVID J. OBRIEN.

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