US2775079A - Processes of packaging water and other commodities and apparatus useful in the practice of such processes - Google Patents

Description

G. M. J. SAROFEEN ZJWMW OF PACKAGING WATER AND OTHER COMMODITI S USEFUL IN THE PRACTICE OF SUCH PROCE EA SR 3m 6CP9 5 m Al 9 P 1 5 5 w 2 F u d w w. i D F ES AND SSES 5 Shasta-Sheet l INVENTOR.

M! Q M flTTORA/EP Dec. .25, 1956 G. M. J. ROFEEN 2mm? PROCESSES OF PACKA G WA A ND OTHER COMMODITIES AND APPARATUS USEFUL THE PRACTICE OF SUCH P ESSES Filed Feb. 5, 1951 Sheets-Sheet 2 yiIINV?ITOR. fiibfi ATTOAA/V Dec. 25, 1956 2 J. SAROFEEN G. M. PROCESSES 0F PACKAGING WATER AND OTHER COMMODITIES A ND APPARATUS USEFUL IN Filed Feb. 5, 1951 THE PRACTICE OF SUCH PROCESSES IN V EN TOR..

Wm? M United States Patent PROCESSES OF PACKAGING WATER AND OTHER COMMODITIES AND APPARATUS USEFUL IN THE PRACTICE OF SUCH PROCESSES George M. J. Sarofeen, Dorchester, Mass. Application February 5, 1951, Serial No. 209,458

16 Claims. (Cl. 53-25) This invention relates to air-free packaging of commodities and, more particularly, to air-free packaging of commodities such as foodstuffs, beverages, water, etc. in hermetically sealed containers.

The invention has particular application to the packaging of water for drinking purposes, since it is adapted to meet specific requirements for water packaged for this purpose. However, as will be hereinafter described, the

invention is broadly applicable to the packaging of a solid, liquid or gas, especially in the presence of another fluid, where absence of air is either essential, as in the case of drinking water, or desirable.

Industry has, for long periods of time, been concerned with problems arising from the presence of air, even in minute residual quantities, in hermetically sealed packages. In the canning industry, vacuum packaging has been widely resorted to but, as is well known, the mere drawing of a vacuum cannot remove all air and, in the case of many products, leaves air residues sufiicient quantity to affect the contents of the can detrimentally. If the can is unlined, air will support corrosive action.

On the other hand, lined cans having applied to the inner walls either an enamel or a wax or other type of commonly used coating, are subject to lining rupture at temperature extremes, i. e. either when sterilized or frozen, whereupon the residual air, particularly in the presence of water in the can, supports corrosion, leading to pin holes, which in turn lead to flavor-affecting galvanic action. Pin holes have long been a headache to the canning industry. Also, where it is desirable or necessary to sterilize the can after sealing, lined cans are not favored because of the danger of imparting adverse flavors to the contents from the lining as a consequence of the sterilizing heat.

As specifically applied to canning water, therefore, if air is present, either entrained in the packaged water, occluded in the can when filled, or existing as a residue in a vacuum, an unlined can is unsatisfactory because of danger of corrosion and development of an unpleasant flavor; whereas a lined can is not Wholly suitable because of the danger of adverse reactions as a result of retorting or freezing. If, in order to avoid damage to a lining by the application of conventional sterilization temperatures,

one resorts merely to pasteurization of the canned water after sealing, experience has shown that bacterial growth is not satisfactorily inhibited particularly over extreme lengths of time, and freezing damage is still likely.

As a result of the above and further dilficulties which have been encountered in attempts to hermetically seal water for drinking purposes, so far as I am aware, the only commercial method of canning water presently available, requires the pulling of an extremely high vacuum with the result that the strength requirements for the container, in order to prevent collapse, are so extremely high as to render the product unduly expensive and weighty. Standard cans cannot be used; special design is required incorporating high strength, including circular 2,775,079 Patented Dec. 25, 1956 cross-section with the attendant disadvantage of increased pack volume.

It should be pointed out that in the canning of drinking water, particularly for the armed. forces, capacity to float is specified. Where, due to the presence of a highly attenuated vacuum, the container is easily dented, capacity to float can too easily be destroyed. Once the geometry of the can is altered, even by a small dent, the atmosphere will gradually, because of the high internal vacuum, complete the collapse of the can to the point where head space no longer exists and the capacity to float is lost.

In orderto avoid all the objections to vacuum packing, regardless of the degree of the vacuum, the present in vention has as a main object, non-vacuum, air-free packaging of commodities, solids with fluids, liquids with liquids, liquids with gases. In its broad aspect, the invention deals generally with the air-free packaging of foodstufis, beverages, fruit juices, or any other industrial or commercial commodity which requires or benefits from packaging in an air-free container.

In the case of water and other foodstuffs, it is also an object of the invention to provide such a packaging wherein the contents of the package have been boiled to inhibit bacterial growth.

In the case of liquids such as water, air-free, nonvacuum packaging is accomplished by utilizing in the filling operation, containers which have been freed of occluded air, and filling liquid which has not only been deaerated but also has been freed of condensable vapors. The invention, therefore, has as further objects, the creation, maintenance and replenishment of a body of deaerated filling liquid which is free of condensable vapors; and the provision of a method for introducing into said body of deaerated liquid, containers freed of occluded gas.

' A further object of the invention is the packaging of liquids under aseptic conditions.

The invention also has for an object the provision of apparatus for carrying out the methods of the invention and including, .in particular, a method of sealing containers in inverted position immersed in a deaerated liquid.

Head space in the container, where desired in the case of a liquid or solid pack, is provided by the introduction into the container prior to sealing of an inert gas, for example, nitrogen. Such head space may be made sufficient in volume so that the container will float or at least, so that, in freezing, the contents will not rupture the container. With respect to such freezing, I have found a head space at atmospheric pressure or slightly above to be, an advantage over vacuum packaging. The latter I doesnot always prevent rupture by freezing. Apparently,

rupture is caused mainly by a jet-like action of an internal last-to-approach-freezing temperature portion of the contents which impinges on the can. With vacuum head space, little or no resistance is ofiered such a jet compared with that offered by a head space at atmospheric pressure.

The method of this invention in a preferred [form and as applied to the canning of water, as a specific form of liquid, with nitrogen head space, as a specific form of gas, comprises boiling the water to deaerate it, filling a container, the interior of which is free of occluded air, with the boiling water under conditions that prevent entrance of air, then cooling the water in the can to condense steam vapor, or replacing it with cooler deaerated, steam-vapor free water, introducing nitrogen into the container to make a head space by displacing part of the water, and sealing the container still under conditions that prevent entrance of air.

For preventing entnauce of air during the operation,

for example, immiscible liquids of less density'thanthewater, such as oils, waxes, greases, or inert gases such.

as nitrogen.

lhe step of having the water in the container cool before it is sealed is dictated by the undesiralbility,ofseaiing .a boilingliquid because, upon cooling, sealed enclosed vapor will condense and create avacuum. In accordance with the methods of this invention, such a vacuum is unnecessary and undesirable from the standpoint of container-resistance to collapse, damage or destruction and to rupture in'freezing.

Methods of this invention may be carried out by the use of automatic apparatus, forms of which are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figs. 1 and 1(a) are schematic representations of one form of such an apparatus, part of which is shown in cross-section and .part broken away to indicate extent;

Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of a seconditorm of :such apparatus, part of which is shown in cross-section;

Fig. 3 is a schematic representation of a further modified form ofapparatus;

Fig.-4i's a similar representation of still another form of apparatus, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of Figs. 1 and 1(a) showing a sol-id pack.

The apparatus of Fig. '1 comprises a tank 12 which is connected by an elongated inclined duct 14 to a second tank 16 the top of which is covered with a conical wall '18 terminating at its top in a pipe outlet 20 containing a valve 22;

The entire apparatus is adapted to be filled with a liquid such as water with the liquid exposed. to the air only in the tank 12 when the valve 22 is-clo'sed. In effect,.there is one zone of liquid in tank 12 and a secone zoneof liquidin tank 16 connected by the liquid in duct 14." 1

For the purpose of maintaining the liquid at a constant level in the tank 12,. a submerged inlet 30 is provided containing a valve 32 operated by a float 34. The tank 12 is provided near its bottom with heating means such as steam pipes 36 as is the tank 16. In addition, the

tank 16-is provided with cooling means such as a separate series of refrigerant pipes 38 to cool the liquid in the second zone, i. e. in tank 16.-

These refrigerant pipes 38' are also supplied in the.

duct-1 4. Any other suitable means, either internal or external, forheat-ing the zones of liquid in the tank '16, duct 14 and tank,12 to the boiling point'may be utilized, as-well as any other suitable means, eitherinternal or external, for cooling liquid in the zones of duct 14 and tank 1 6. The lengthof duct 14 is such as to give the most eflicient operation at the temperatures for a contemplated operation- The head of liquid in tank 16 raises to some degree the boiling point of liquid'near its bottom,-depending upon the height of the water level. in -tank"12. 1

Sealed within the tank 16 is an automatic can sealer'40, part of which may, if desired, be on .the outside of the tank with only the operative sealing parts 42 extending.

stance such as nitrogen, .from a source of supplythereot.

under pressure :44, through a pipe inlet and. nozzle-,46. The introductioniof such a substance is controlledbyan intermittently operated valve 48 in a manner as will be hereinafter described.

The apparatus of Figs. 1 and 1(a) also illustrates two endless conveyors. The first of these 50 is provided with a series of suitable clamps for gripping and carrying conventional rectangular cans A of standard proportions either empty or having solids C already inserted therein (Fig. The second conveyor 60 is provided with meansfor gripping conventional can covers B, one closure for each can. The conveyors 50 and 60 carry the can and covers down into the zone of liquid in tank 12 beneath the surface of the liquid contained therein through the duct-14 into the zone of liquid in tank 1 6. The contain them thus.

veyors there go around sprockets mounted about axis 62 so that the cans are inverted. During their lower return flight, they pass over the nozzle 46 before they reach the sealing operative parts 42. Suitable mechanism is provided for burping a measured quantity of a substance. such as nitrogen through the nozzle 46 while a can is super: posed .thereover, the nozzle being bent in over the path of the covers, if necessary. One :such mechanism is diagrammatically illustrated in the drawing and includes a finger '70 which lies in the path of the can and is connected by a lever 72 with a spring-pressed latch 74 which is disengaged from a valve-operating member 7-6 whenever a can engages the finger 70 during its passage along the lower flight. A cam 80, operated in timed relation with the conveyor mechanism 50, operates the valve 48 to deliver a measured quantity of nitrogen provided that the finger 70 has been operated by a can to unlatch the latch '72. Thus, the gas will not be delivered if, 'for some reason, a can is omitted from a clamp on the conveyor 60.

After the individual covers have been sealed on the cans by the sealing operative parts 42, the sealed cans are returned through the duct 14, through the liquid in the tank 12, out of the tank and to a position where they may be hand or otherwise transferred onto a delivery conveyor-82.

The conveyors may be driven continuously or inter-. mittently, depending upon the nature of the can sealer, and it will be understood that proper transfer mechanism (not shown) is provided in order to release the covers at the sealing machine.

In order to operate this apparatus properly, prior to any can or cover loading, the entire tank is filled with water, treated, if desired, with any of the usual preservative agents, to the level determined by the float valve 34 with. the valve 22 open. Steam is then supplied to theheating pipes and the liquid in the entire apparatus is boiled for a suflicient length of time to drive all air out of the water. Thereupon, the valve 22 is closed andv the, refrigerant turned on to cool the zone of liquid in..the tank 16 to a temperature well below boiling e. g. F., so as to condense steam vapor contained therein and create in tank. 16, a zone of non-boiling water. Meanwhile, the zone of water in. tank 12 is maintained boilingand it is maintained boiling throughout the canningoperation so that air will not be absorbed at the surface 85 and so that water, introduced through the inlet pipe 30, whether previously deaerated or otherwise treated, or. not, will become or remain deaerated. Preferably, water added through pipe 30 is pre-heatedto boiling. The zone of boiling liquid in the tank 12 acts both to deaerate the water and as a seal toprevent air from being absorbed into the zone of non-boiling, temperate water in the lower portions of the tank.

The containers are placed on the conveyor 50 with their open ends up so that, as they pass through the boiling water in the tank 12, they will become filled with boiling water, which not only will be deaerated but also will free the cans and covers of occluded gas, or if they have previously been freed of occluded gas, will main- The filled cans then proceed through the duct.14 and as they advance into the non-boiling zone Oftank 16,.being immersed as they arein cooler-water;

their contents will cool to below the boiling point and the steam vapor contained therein will condense, or else they will be partially or wholly replaced due to turbulence or temperature ditferentials by the surrounding cooler water. Each immersed filled can is inverted after it has been freed of occluded gas, in which inverted position it passes over the nozzle 46. As shown in the drawing, this inversion takes place in the tank 16. A burp of a metered quantity of gas released from the nozzle 46 then displaces a portion, for example, 10% by volume, of the water in the inverted can, as it passes over the nozzle 46. The can is then sealed and it then passes up again through the tank 12 and out of the apparatus.

So long as the water in tank 12 remains boiling, I find that a sterile flavor-persistent drinking water hermetically packaged with a head space of nitrogen at not less than atmospheric pressure results. Depending upon the amount of nitrogen burped, the can will float. The contents of the can both water and head space are air-free and sterile. They are protected from contami nation by the after-effects of atomic explosions. They can be frozen without package rupture to use as a refrigerant and they comply in every other way with the specifications set up by the armed services for drinking water packages. Additionally, they can be rectangular in shape and of conventional strength.

The apparatus shown in Fig. 2 differs only in that I have shown a separate outlet for the sealed cans and an open topped tank 16a. In this case,it is necessary, in order to insure against absorption of air from the surfaces 90 and 91, that they be provided with an adequate air seal.

With respect to the outlet 92, this may be done by maintaining the water contained therein in a boiling con dition or, if it is not desired to boil the cans after sealing, as they pass up this column, the water may, after initial deaeration by boiling, be at a lower temperature if it is provided with a surface air-seal, gaseous or liquid, for example, in the form of a layer of oil, grease, wax or other air-sealing material. Where retorting is not contemplated, the nitrogen should be sterile and introduced aseptically. On the other hand, since the water in the tank 16 must be below boiling temperature, the surface 90 must be sealed by some such sealing means if it is not provided with a cover such as shown in the apparatus of Fig. 1.

As shown in Fig. 2, the cans are loaded at station C in an inverted position so that as they are carried into the tank 12 they are brought to upright position. Also, here, although the conveyor 50a goes out through outlet 92, the cover conveyor 60:: returns through the tank 12.

The other parts of the apparatus of Fig. 2 are essentially identical with the apparatus of Figs. 1 and 1(a), being similarly numbered.

In Fig. 3, I have shown a modification wherein the tank 16 contains, instead of a deaerated liquid, an airfree gas. For this purpose, the duct 14a includes a water trap 98. The conveyor system, sealing means and nozzle have been omitted from this view since they can be substantially identical with those shown in Fig. 1 except for mechanical modifications of the conveyorto follow the contour of the duct 14a. Here, the tank 16 is provided with a valved outlet 100 and the trap with a valved outlet 101. A valve 102 is also shown at the top of the trap 98. In order to prepare this apparatus for proper operation, it is first completely filled with water with the valves 22 and 102 open, valves 100 and 101 closed and with the water in tank 12 at level 103. The entire liquid contents are then boiled to free the apparatus of-occluded gas and entrapped air. Values 22 and 102 are then closed while valves 104, connected to a supply of pure air-free gas under pressure, are opened, as are drain valves 100 and 101, until the water in the tank 12 gets down to its operating level at and until the water in tank 16 in at a low level as shown at 106, so that the sealing is done above this level. The rest of the tank 16 is replaced with a pure gas. Such a gas may, for instance, be carbon dioxide where the containers are, for example, to be wholly or partially filled from a nozzle like 46 of Fig. 1 with a lighter gas such as helium. In this case, the water in the zone of tank 12 is maintained boiling to serve, as in Fig. 1, as an air seal and the containers A pass up through cooled nonboiling water in the second zone provided by right-hand leg of the trap in a position so that after they emerge from the surface of the Water, they empty their contents into leg 98, and are replaced by the CO2. In returning, they are, of course, already sealed. The valves 104 may be reducing valves which remain open in order to replenish tank 16 with CO2 if any of it is removed inside the sealed containers and the tank 16 and trap 98 may have a relief valve 107 to bleed CO2 if the introduction of helium raises the pressure of C02 in the tank excessively.

In Fig. 4, I have illustrated an apparatus useful in carrying out the methods of this invention wherein the containers are sealed in an upright, rather than an inverted, position. In this instance, the tank 12b is connected by a generally horizontal duct 1% with a tank 16b.

As in the case of the previous apparatus, the tank 16b is provided with a conical upper portion terminating in the valve 22 and the duct 14b may have inclined upper walls 110 to aid in freeing the apparatus: of entrained air.

A valved drain outlet 112 extends from the tank 16b and the source of supply 114 of gas under pressure, for example, pure nitrogen, communicates with the upper portion of the tank 16b through a reducing valve 116. As in the previous apparatus, the tank 12b is provided with heating means and the tank 16b and duct 14b are provided with both heating and refrigerating means. In this case, however, the conveyors are arranged to carry the containers through the tank 16b and duct 14b into the upper portion of tank 16b and to tilt them before they reach the sealing machine 4011.

In operation of this device, the apparatus is initially filled with water or other filling liquid to the level 118 in tank 12b, with the valve 22 open and the drain 112 closed to deaerate the water. The valve 22 is then closed and drain 112 opened and the water level dropped to the level 120; simultaneously, the gas is introduced into the upper portion of tank 16b. Again, the water in tank 12b below the level 120 is kept boiling as the water in duct 14b and tank 16b is cooled.

After the containers emerge from the surface of the water in tank 16b at level 120, they are tipped to a certain degree to spill a portion of the water out of the containers which is replaced with the surrounding air-free nitrogen. They then pass through the sealing machine 40b and may be returned by the conveyor as in the apparatus of Fig. 1 through the tank 1211.

Where, in the descriptions of the above apparatus the liquid is referred to as water, it should be: understood that the liquid may be any other filling liquid which is not commercially ruined by boiling. Similarly, the substance introduced through the nozzle 46 may be either a gas, a liquid or even a solid so long as it is lighter than the fluid in the tank, so that it will displace fluid from the inverted unsealed container.

The method and apparatus are also adapted to the packaging of solid materials C (Fig. 5) in syrup or other liquid, since, by suitable re-arrangement of the conveyor system, the covers can be carried close enough to prevent loss of the solids in the inverted position, and in such manner that one cover is carried in register with its can from the time the can is inverted until it is sealed. In this case, the nozzle 46 may be very thin so that the can and closely spaced cover can pass on opposite sides thereof. In fact, the nozzle can be a needle-like jet. Thus, such substances as whole fruits, for example, pears, limes, etc.,

7 couldbe packaged in a sugar syrup in this manner; or pea nuts in'a vegetable oil.

Nor is the method confined to the packaging of foodstuffs, since it is possible to package any commodity in this manner, it being understood that, if desired, the substance introduced through the nozzle 46 can displace substantially all, or even all, the fluid in the container.

It is also within the contemplation of the invention that two nozzles 46 may be provided for a simultaneous or successive introduction of different materials, for example, one a liquid and one a gas, such a modification being sypical of those that can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. The method of packaging commodities which comprisessealing a confined body of an air-free fluid from the air with a body of boiling liquid, passing a container through said boiling liquid into said body of air-free fluid, and hermetically sealing a commodity in said container while the container is immersed in said body of air-free fluid.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the airfree fluid is cleaerated water at a temperature below its boiling point.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the airfree fluid is an inert gas.

4. The method of packaging commodities which comprises sealing a confined body of an air-free fluid from the air with a body of boiling liquid, passing a container through said boiling liquid into said body of air-free liquid, and hermetically sealingthe commodity while it is in a deaerated condition in said. container immersed in saidair-freefluid.

5.. The method of filling containers with deaerated liquids comprising immersing a container in a body of fillingliquid having a boiling zone for deaerating the liquid and .a more temperate non-boiling zone, passing the container through the boiling zone in a position. to fill the container and replace occluded gas with said boiling liquid, advancing the immersed container into the nonboiling zone to cool the liquid in the container and condense any vapors entrained therein during its passage through said boiling zone and hermetically sealing the cooled liquid in the container while the container is im-.- mersed in the liquid of. the non-boiling zone.

6; The method of filling containers with liquids as claimed in claim 5, wherein the body of filling liquid is in contact with the air only in said boiling zone.

7. The method of filling containers withv deaerated water comprising immersing a container .in a body of water having a boiling zone for deaerating the water and a more temperate non-boiling zone, passing the container through the boiling zone in a position to fill the container and replace occluded gas with boiling water, advancing the immersed container into the-non-boiling zone to cool the water in the container and condense any steam vapor entrained therein during its passage through said boiling zone, and hermetically sealing the cooled water in said container while the container is immersed in the water of the non-boiling zone.

8. The methodof creating a body of deaerated steam vapor-free water for use in filling containers which comprises confining a body of water with a surface thereof exposed to :aifiboiling said water to deaerate the water, cooling the :water inan underlying zone of the'water,

body to condense entrained steam vapor contained in the,

water in said zone.Whilemaintainingthe water insaid underlying zonedeaerated by continuing boiling the water in the zone adjacent the surface ofthe water body exposed to air.

9. The method of replenishing a body of deaerated steam. vapor-free water which comprises overlying said.

body of water with boiling water, the surface of which is exposed to air, periodically withdrawing a portion of said deaeratedwater from'said underlying zone and add-. ing water. to the boiling zone and cooling the Water as.

it passesfrom saidboiling zone to replace the water withdrawn from said underlying zone.

10. The method of packagingcommodities as claimed in claim 5, wherein prior to sealing, a substance is in.-

troduced into said container to displace at least some of the liquid in the. container.

11. The methodof packaging commodities as claimedin claim 5, wherein the filling liquid is water and the airfree fluid is deaerated-water and wherein, prior to sealing the container, nitrogen is introduced into the container to displace at least some of the water.

tank adapted to hold asingle body of liquid, a heating system adapted to heat one zone and a cooling system adapted to;cool a secondzone of such a single liquid body held in said tank, a conveyor system for advancing a container through such liquid body contained in said tank fromsaid onezone to the other zone, and closure-sealingv means immersed in the liquid of said second zone of said tankfor sealing a closure on said container after the conveyor system has advanced said container from said one l zone to said second zone.

' tion before the containers reach said closure-sealing means.

15., Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the conveyor. system includes container-holding means for successively'advancing containers in upright position in said one zone, and means for inverting said containers before they reach said closure means.

16. The method of packaging commodities as claimed in claim 10 wherein said substance is lighter than said fluid and is introduced into said immersed container while.

it is in an inverted position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 747,509 Thurmond Dec. 22, 1903 2,185,191 Gray et a1. Jan. 2, 1940 2,188,306 Murch Jan. 30, 1940 2,380,984 Moeller Aug. 7, 1945 2,392,395 Lehman Jan. 8, 1946 12. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a

Images