US2358547A - Sterile package - Google Patents

Description

Sept' F. WATERS I ZT STERILB PAcKAGE original Fuga June 4, 1940 Y 2 Sheets-Sheet. 1

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STERILE PACKAGE Original Filed June` 4,-' 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l I INVENTOR. HHRRY'EWHTERS BYv M4 ATTORNEY ing, these collapsible v for holding the material the packaging indust Patented Sept. l19, l l' Vs'rERlLE PACKAGE Harry F. Waters, New York, N.`Y.

Original application Ju 338,709. Divided ne 4, 1940. Serial No.` and thk application Novemr ber 29, 1940, Serial No. 367,735

3 Claims. (Cl. 22S- 14) The presentinvention relates to the packagl ing art, and, more particularly, `to the'art of packaging materials, including solid and liquid foodstuifs, in a sanitary and sterile manner.

As those skilled in the art know, collapsible packages and containers made of paper and of similar exible materials were used to an ever increasing extent in the past. Generallyspeakcontainers comprised a bag to bel packaged. This bag or envelope was frequently inserted into -a carton to further reinforce the same and to impart a generally rectangular form thereto. This type of packaging offered great advantages, particularly ywhen it was desired to package materials -in such a manner as to hermetically seal them against the effect of external inuences. In this case, generally, a fluid-tight and fusible liner was employed for making ,the inner container and bag and this liner was h ermetically sealed by means of heat fusion of the fusible material or layer thereof. It has been found that containers of this type can be successfully employed even for packaging liquids.

'Ihe principal advantages of these fluid-tight containers resided in their low price, great strength and attractive appearance. In addition, this type of container could be shipped in a knock-down or collapsible form, whereby a very substantial saving in shipping space and cost could be obtained. While these fluid-tight c llapsible containers practically revolutionized some diiliculty was experienced when packaging certainv food-stuffs which have to be maintained in the condition of extreme purity. Such was the case particu- Alarly in packaging milk where it is imperative to maintain the milk in sterile condition. As is known. milk is an ideal breeding ground for micro-organisms ofthe most varied type and contamination of the milk causes great danger to the health of the consumer, including children and low resistance to infectious diseases. This problem was relatively simple to solve in the case of conventional milk .bottles which could be sterilized :before llingat high temperatures.

By careful control of the manufacturing process, it was possible to obtain the .initial purity and sterility of collapsible containers; there was no guarantee, however, against the introduction of germs, micro-organisms and other deleterious agents of an organic. or the interior oi' the container during the time interval which elapsed' between manufacturing inorganic character into a completely pure and infants, having a relatively y shown in Fig. `1, havi the container and filling the same. Due to the fact that the laws regulating the distribution and salle ofmilk and similar commodities are extremely severe, a serious problem existed in the packaging art iti-connection with the manufacture and use of collapsible milk containers.

positively prevents the entrance of deleterious organic or inorganic impurities into the interior of the container intended for shipping and distributing milk and similar commodities.

. It is a, further object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved method oi 'aseptical packaging which involves hermetically sealing the packaging medium immediately after it is manufactured, maintaining such seal until such time as the package is filled with the.

commodity to be distributed, and thereafter resealing such package.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a novel and improved collapsible container which may be readily and hermetically sealed during its manufacture and which may be readily opened to perform the filling and resealing operation whereby said container is maintained in the time interval between its manufacture and ultimate use in a sterile and hermetically sealed condition.

The invention also contemplates a novel collapsible container for the purpose of aseptical packaging of foodstuffs, therapeutic agents,` surgical cotton, and the like, which is simple in structure and which may be readily manufactured on a practical and commercial scale at a low price.

Other and further objects and advantages of v purpose of manufacturing a container embodying the principles .oi the present invention; .lig.V '2 depicts asimilar view of the blank g a. liner adhesively sccured thereto;

v Fig. 3 shows a top elevational view of a coner embodying the vinvention during one of posed its preliminary steps of manufacture in which the twohalves of the carton blank and layer are folded together and the resulting envelope is heat-sealed;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of thecontainer of` Fig. 7 shows a perspective view of the con' tainer with the top marginal portions of the inner bag bent upwards for the purpose of hermetically sealing the content thereof;

Fig. 8 is a similar view of the container after the heat-sealing operation Yshowing the resulting tabs folded towards each other, the flaps of the carton being illustrated in their opened condition for reasons of clarity.

Broadly stated, according to the principles of the present invention, the entrance of microorganisms into the interior of a collapsible container is positively prevented by hermetically sealing the filling opening ofthe container during or immediately after its manufacture and maintaining the container in such hermetically sealed condition until the time it is to be filled. Due to the presence of such hermetic seal, the

least the top surface thereof is adhesively secured. The carton blank and the liner are so constructed and arranged that manipulating and folding the carton along predetermined score lines will cause folding of the liner into a position in which it may "ne heat-sealed while it is still resting on the carton blank. While in prior practice this folded liner was heat-sealed'along only two of its edges to retain a filling opening,

entrance of deleterious matter of any description 1 is rendered impossible because even though such matter might be of a microscopic character, the hermetic seal will offer an effective obstacle against its entrance. Thus, while in prior practice the interior of collapsible containers was exto germs, and the like, during shipment and storage, such contamination of the container is rendered impossible by my invention.

My invention may take various forms in accordance with the type of container contemplated, Thus, in the simplest case where the collapsible container is of the heat-sealed envelope type, I prefer to employ a flexible sheet which is fluid-tight and fusible on at least one face thereof and is folded over along a medial line` to bring its edges into registering position. This' operation leaves three open edges which may be individually heat-sealed by applying heat and pressure along a narrow marginal strip thereof. In most cases, however, it is preferred to apply this heat-seal simultaneously to all of these three marginal portions in the shape of a. continuous and U-shaped heat-seal which hermetically seals the interior of the envelope against external influences. In this condition the envelope may be preserved in a sterile and unaected condition, indefinitely. When it is desired to fill this envelope with material of any description, a restricted opening may be made therein or for example, a narrow strip including one of the heatsealed seams may be cut off to provide a filling opening. Through this filling opening the contents may be introduced and then the envelope may be resealed. As a rule, it will be preferred to employ an envelope or bag in combination with an outer supporting carton which imparts additional strength to the inner bag or envelope. In my application, Serial No. 329,254, nled April 12, 1940, I have described collapsible containers of this type, all of which are adapted for hermetically packaging various commodities, including milk. Generally, a carton blank of suitable character is provided to which a liner fusible on at Vin accordance with the present invention the folded lineris completely sealed along all three edges whereby a completely and hermetically sealed structure is provided. In order to permit removal of a portion of this inner bag or envelope of completely sealed character and still retain a suflicient marginal portion for resealing, it is desirable to have the liner extend slightly longer than this was necessary or customary in prior practice. On the other hand, since for simplicity of manufacture it is desirable to heat-seal the liner while resting on the carton blank of the container the upper flaps associated with the blank have to be slightly extended corresponding tothe extension of the liner. This makes it posf sible to cutoff a strip of the finished and co1- lapsed carton and liner in a single operation and thereby to prepare the container for filling, as this will be explained more fully as the description proceeds.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a preferred embodiment of the invention will be explained. Fig. 1 illustrates a plan view of a carton blank I0, having a plurality of score lines vdefining main panels II and I2 and end panels I3 and I4. Flaps I5 and I6 are hingedly connected with main panels II and I2, respectively. Flaps lI1 and I8 are provided at the ends of end panel I3 and similar flaps I9 and 20 are provided at the ends of end panel I4. It will be noted in Fig. 1 that main panels II Aand I2 are connected by means of a bottom panell 2| of special character having a medial score line 2Ia permitting the carton blank to be folded so as to bring the main panels into a substantially registering position. Main panel I2 has glue flaps 22 and 23 at the two lateral edges thereof. End panels I3 and I4 have medial score lines 24 and 25 respectively. A carton blank of this general type is disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 255,030, flled on Feb. 7, 1939, so that no detailed description of its operation will be necessary. It will be suilicient to state that by bringing the main panels into superposed registering position andiby folding back the portions of the end panels beyond medial lines 2l and' 25, such portions of the end panel may be glued to glue naps 22 and 23 of main panel I2 whereby a attened six sided box is obtained capable of being'converted or squared-up into a rectangular package. It is to be observed that top flaps I5, I1 and I9 are considerably longer than the corresponding flaps I8, 20 and 2|. The object of the accentuated length of these flaps is to provide a backing surface of a liner of likewise accentusuch blank and to multaneously folded along score line exposed so that they are accessible to sealing device of appropriate character. To-

-panels along their medial er has been filled and sealed.

thereof. The lliner has such ons as to extend from the region of score line 2in of carton blank III substantially up to the top edge of the opposite direction. Laterally the liner extends across about end panels I3 and I4 and beyond medial lines 24 and 25. 'After this liner` has been secured-to the carton blank in the proper position, the carton blank and the liner attached thereto. are siby providing the structure depicted in Fig. 3. This operation will fold 'the liner along its transverse medial line and will bring its edges into registering position.V At the same time main panels I i and I 2 will likewise bebrought into a superposed registering position and will have the folded liner therebetween. It is of great importance that in this position of the carton blank and liner, the marginal portions of the liner are a. heatmaintain the sterile character of the folded liner, heat-seal the liner at this stage of manufacture and thereby positively prevent the admittance of deleterious agents to the interior surface thereof.

2 la thereextend the same distance in three-fournis or the width of tainer is removed by cutting the container along l a line 3i indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4. This the top marginal portions of both the inner envelope and of the external carton. This will have the result of admitting air into the interior of the envelope and at the same time removing the excess portionsof top flaps I5, il and I9 which will now have the same length as the correspondingvbottom ilaps I 8, 2d 'Ihe flattened container may now be i, squared-up and assumes the shape illustrated in Fig. 5. It will be opened envelope noted'that the squared-up and has two lateral iins 32 'and 33 which are flattened in the direction-of the end panels I3 and I4. The material to be'packaged,

This hermetical seal may be accomplished for example by applying heat and pressure in separate operations along each of the exposed marginal strips of the foldedliner. Asa rule, however, I prefer to apply a continuous U-shaped seam to these marginal portions by means oi' a special U-shaped heat-sealing member so that a continuous hermetical seal 28 will be obtained. This seal converts the folded liner sheet 2S into a completely sealed envelope into which the access of any external substance, including that of atmospheric air, isprevented. End panels i3 and I are now folded along their medial score lines 2d and 25 and their inner surface is adhesively secured to glue naps 22 and 23 of main panel I2. It will be noted that-folding of the end score lines will cause folding of the sealed envelope about the edges of glue flaps 22 and 23 so that a fold will be introduced into the portion of the envelope before the seam. This will protect the seam from the effect of internal pressure after the contain- The finished container in its collapsed form,

s it is shipped and stored, is shown in Fig. 4. Due to the fact that in this condition the inner envelope is completely sealed, the container may be preserved in A further interesting result of` this completely sealed structure is that the external atmospheric .pressure prevents squaring-up the collapsible fact that no air is admitcontainer due to the ted thereto and squaring-up would create a vacuum therein. In other the invention will be automatically maintained in a completely attened condition which is an important advantagein that it reduces the space required for shipping and storage of the containers to a minimum.

When it is desired to use and to ll the container, it is necessary to provide a filling opening therein through which mitted into the interior, permitting squaring-up of the container and subsequently the lling operation may. be performed and the lled container may be resealed. The filling opening may be provided in various ways, such as by punching a small opening or by cutting off one of the edges of the container, as this is indicated by dotted the sterile condition indefinitely. v55

words, the containers oi" first air may be adsuch as, milk, cream, or some other commodity, may now-be introduced through a filling spout 8d connected with a storage tank and with a suitable measuring device which introduces a predetermined unitary amount ofthematerial to be packaged. l

I have found that in orderto provide a hermetical seal of the package and to positively prevent leakage from such sealed package, it is critically important to provide aseal of such character in which only two layers of material down the resulting flattened are placed into a face to face relation and from -which intervening' layers, re-entrant folds and 35 similar danger points of leakage are positively eliminated. Therefore, in order to obtain the desired hermetical seal and the face to face relationship of only two layers of -material in the mouth portions of the envelope, a special procedure has to be used. This consists in bringingl together the flattened mouth portions of the envelopeinto a face to face relation and folding mouth portions into the plane defined by the hinge lines of the top ilaps. Attention is directed to the circumstance` that this folding down of the flattened marginal portions is, possible only in the direction in-which fins 32 and 83 are pointing due to the fact that these ns act much in the same manner' as reinforcing ribs which areY almost completely rigid-ln other directions.. I'his operation provides the structure depicted in Fig. 6. Of course, the top marginal strip 35 of the package embodying the invention may be heat-sealed already in this position by means of a heat-sealing device of suitable character. Generally, I prefer, however, to fold this region 3B to be heat-sealed vertically upwards, (Fig. 7), whereby it is more readily accessible to a heat-sealing member and backing member of standard type. It will also be noted that regin 35 represents a completely fiat seal'area in which even the terminal portions lof fins 32 and 33 are straightened out in the direcu tion of the mouth walls of the envelope whereby the critically important completely fiat seam the invention makes it possible for the first time in the history of the art to maintain the originally sterile condition of a collapsible container until the filling operation and to positively `prevent the contamination of th'e interior of the container by micro-organisma. Oi course, this is' of extreme importance particularly when it is desired to method is applicable to practically any type of collapsible container formed by means of ordinary adhesive or with fusible and reactivable adhesives, I have also disclosed certain specific and preferred forms of containers which are especially adapted for carrying the principles of my invention into practice.

Moreover,- the special sterile containers disclosed herein are extremely simple in character and may be manufactured, sold and used on a practical and commercial scale at a very low price. I

-,Although the present invention has been de. scribed in connection with a few preferred embodiments thereof, variations and modifications may be resorted to by those skilled in the art without departing from the principles of the present inven ion. I consider all of thesevariations and modification as within the -true spirit and scope of the present invention, as disclosed in the foregoing description, anddened by the appended claims.

The present application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 338,709, filed June 4, 1940, and which has resulted in Patent No.

2,223,754 granted Dec. 3, 1940.

lclaim:

l. A sterile p ckaging unit which comprises a fourfwalled carton blank having medial score lines in two oppositely disposed walls thereof, a substantially rectangular liner secured to said blank having at least its top surface fluid-tight and fusible, folded, over along one of said medial score lines together with said blank to bring the edges of said liner position, a heat-sealed seam hermetically sealing' said liner and positively preventing the admit- 'tance of deleterious matter' thereinto, and an adhesive bond securing the ends of said carton blank together, the blank being so constructed and arranged as to provide a supporting surface for the top terminal portions of the liner during the heat-sealing operation, said hermetically sealed liner being adapted to be preserved indefinitely in its original collapsed and sterile condition and capable of being opened by cutting off a marginalstrip thereof together with a corresponding strip of said carton and of beingsquared-up, filled and y reseaied.

2. A paperboard container, which 4comprises a flat-folded sheet. of flexible material folded in and secured by a carton blank having a common fold line, said carton blank back wall .panels in register and side wall panels, eachvof these said panels being adhered to the liner sheet,.the said carton having top closure tabs extending from the side wall panels and the main wall panels, the liner sheet having its marginai edges in register and sealed, and the top or mouth portion of the envelope formed having excess material, the marginal edge of the oversize mouth section being sealed thereacross to seal off the interior of the envelope, the side wall panels being folded over and secured to form aflat-folded container, and the top seal of the envelope being adapted to be removed and permit filling of the container and resealing of. the mouth of the envelope.

3. A paperboard container, which comprises a fiat-,folded sheet of flexible material having at least its inner surface with marginal heat-seaiable portions and folded in and secured by a carton blank having a common fold line, saidcarton into substantially registering 45 iiap portions of said carton ou blank having front and back folded container, and

wali panels in register and side wall panels, cach ci these said panels being adhered to the liner sheet, the said carton having top closure tabs extending from the side wall panels and the main wall panels, the liner sheet having its marginal edges in reg ister and heat-sealed, and the top or mouth portion of the envelope formed having excess material, the marginal edge of the oversize mouth section being heat-sealed thereacross to seal on the interior of the envelope, the side wall panels being folded over and secured to form a iiatthe top seal of the envelope being adapted .to be removed and permit lling of the container and' resealing of the mouth of the envelope.

HARRY F. WATERS.

having front and

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