US2969902A - Unitary sectionable containers - Google Patents

Description

Uited States Patent UNITARY SECTIONABLE CONTAINERS James Cage, Valley Stream, N.Y., assgnor to Reynolds Metals Company, Richmond, Va., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 17, 1957, Ser. No. 659,997

1 Claim. (Cl. 229-45) This invention relates to containers for materials, wherein each container holds a continuous body of material but has a plurality of sections which are separately replurality of separate containers, which are assembled in a larger package, by nesting or otherwise. Such packaging is expensive, and it is not always convenient to extract the product from the separate containers; e.g., in the'case of shortening and ice cream. ln the case of containers for grease, the suggestion has been made in Fisher Patent No. 1,560,681 that the grease be wrapped in a spirally wound tube of paperboard, with circumferential perforations to facilitate tearing away successive sections of the tube in order to expose successive portions of the grease for ready removal. That form of packaging is open to the serious objection, in the case of perishable foodstulfs and the like, that perforations would destroy the hermetic integrity of the tube, and consequently a better means of providing a satisfactory sectionable container for food products and the like has continued to be sought.

In accordance with the present invention, food products and other materials are conveniently packaged in containers which have substantially rigid wall sections, and a flexible sheet of impermeable material to hold the walls together in unitary, sealed relation. When a portion of the contents is to be removed from the container, the connecting layer of impermeable material is cut through around the joint between adjacent wall sections, which releases one or more of the wall sections so that the portion of the contents within the detached section 0r sections may conveniently be removed therefrom. A strong container is thus provided which has hermetically sealed side walls, and yet is readily severable into separate sections containing measured amounts of the packaged product. The invention further provides end closures to complete the package, and one or both of the end closures is replaceable on the next section after the preceding section has been removed. The recapped container is useful for storing the remaining balance of the contents, and visibly indicates how much of the contents remains.

The embodiments of the invention suitable for particular purposes are varied, and for a better understanding of the invention reference is now made to the present preferred embodiments thereof which are shown, for purposes of illustration only, in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

Fig. l shows a semi-diagrammatic section taken through the axis of a container embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 shows an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view, in reduced scale, of the container shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to Fig. l, but showing the cap and upper section detached from each other, from '2,969,902 Patented Jan. 31, 1961 'ice the balance of the container, and from the Whole body of material packaged in the container;

Fig. 5 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3, after the upper section has been removed andthe cap has been replaced;

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, and initially to the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1-5, a single body of material 10 (e.g., shortening) is poured into a container 14, which preferably has a loose liner 12 (e.g., foil or paper). The side wall of the container 14 is composed of a series of inner cylindrical rings 16 of substantially rigid material (e.g., paperboard), arranged in abutting end-to-end relationship to form a cylindrical inner wall, and a series of like outer cylindrical rings 18 similarly arranged to form a cylindrical outer wall. The inner and outer rings can be of different materials, but are preferably of the same materials, and are relatively slidable against each other. The joints where the inner rings 16 abut each other are offset relative to the corresponding joints between the outer rings 18, and each of the inner rings 16 is adhesively secured to one of the rings 18, so that a series of telescoping nesting sec- 1 tions 20, each consisting of an inner ring 16 and an outer ring 18 (Fig. 4), are created. The assembled sections 20 are secured together by a sheet of ilexible impermeable material adhesively secured around the outside of the rings 18. Such sheet could be applied also, or alternatively, around the inside of the rings A16. The said sheet is preferably on the outside and in the form of a label 22 consisting of printed aluminum foil 24 laminated to a paper backing 26 (Fig. 2). The outer circular edges of the rings 18 are preferably beveled to create grooves 28 around the joints where the outer rings 18 abut. The label 22 is preferably pressed at least partly into said grooves 28 in order to indicate Where the label should be cut to sever the sections 20 from the container.

Metal or like plates 30 and 31 close the opposite ends of container 14. The top plate 30, which is preferably recessed, is tightly crimped around the upper end of a top ring 18 of the same diameter as the rings 18. When the plate 30 is in closed position, the ring 18 abuts the top edge of the adjacent ring 18 therebelow, and the lower surface of the flat central area of the plate 30 abuts the top edge of the adjacent ring 16. The plate 30 and ring 1S together form a removable and replaceable cap 32 for the container 14. The bottom plate 31 is preferably of the same shape as the plate 30, and is crimped around the lower ends of a like bottom ring 18". A bottom ring 16 is secured to the bottom ring 18" and has its lower edge abutting the inner recessed surface of the plate 31. The ring 16 is preferably of the same diameter and length as the rings 16, and the ring 18" is of such lesser length that the upper edges of the rings 16 and 18 are positioned to abut the lower edges of the rings 16 and 18 Anext above. The label 22 extends around the whole outside surfaces of the rings 18 and 18", and the plates 30 and 31 overlap and crimp around the label 22 to form sealed closures at the ends of the container.

When the material 10 is to be consumed, the label 22 is slit around the grooves 28 between the cap 32 and the next section 20, and between that section and the section immediately below it. The cap 32 and the uppermost section 20 are then detached from each other and from the balance of the container, as shown in Fig. 4, leaving the upper end of the body of the material 10 with its liner 12 exposed. The liner 12 is then pulled away from the material 10, and severed by drawing it against the upper edge of the adjacent ring 16. A length of exposed material 10 is thus presented for convenient removal, as by a blade drawn across the upper edge of the adjacent ring 16. In that manner, a measured amount of the material 10 is obtained for consumption, and the remaining body of material in the container has its upper Surface ilushwith ,the upper. edge. of the said adjacent Yring. 16, so that the said remaining material will be engaged by the plate 30, without anlintervening air space, when the: 0211132. isreplaced The liner. 12` is .no tessential,` but it is useful in preventingtheapand-pontaineLsee; tionsl from brushing against-material110'during open-ing alaridos.ine.` When more material vvis required, the cap :32; is; ,gainvremoved the next section `2 0 is -liftedwavi/.ay-,- the liner 12ais again torn awayr against' the upperwedge of the next ringV lo, the exposed material is again removed, in a rneasnred amount determined by the vertical length of the rings; 16, and the cap 3;2 is replaced toagain close the container. The ycontainer thus diminishes in contents in measured amounts, and at the same time diminishes in outward appearance, so that the consumer can tellat a glance when the supplyof material has been reduced to a ,point where `additional material should be obtained.

The containers of thel inventiony have the advantage of indicating to therconsumer howamuchrof the packaged product remainsin the package, androf saving the space in crowded refrigerators, freezers and other storage places, whichis wasted' bypartially-filledcontainersof conventional construction.

While I have illustrated and described present preferred embodiments of the invention, and methodsof practicing the same, it will be recognizedfthat theinvention may. be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope` of the lfollowing claim.

I claim:

A sectionableV container` comprising' a bottom plate; a.bottom Wall section includinga bottom outerringex-` tendingupwardyirom said bottom plate, and a bottom inner ring having the lower portion of its outer. surface adhesivelyfsecured to the inner surface of saidbottom outer ring, said bottom inner ring extending for a substantial distance above the upper edge ofy said bottom outer ring; a plurality of: intermediate `Wall sections telef scopingly superposedtabove saidbottom wall section in the shape of a tube, each.said intermediate wall section including aninner ring having `the lower partfofits outer surface adhesively securedto .the upper part of the inner surfaceofan outer ring, each said inner ring having an outer diameter substantially equal to the inner diameter of the outer ring, each said intermediate outer ring having its lower part surrounding the upper part of an inner ring next below in slidable telescoping engagement; a cap closing the upper end ofthe cpntainer, said cap including a top plate and a top outer ring extending downwardly from theedseeofsaid 19p plate, Seidel-Iter top riashavif an inner diameter substantially equalto the outer diameter of saidxintermediate inner rings, said top outer ring surrounding the upper Vpart of the inner ring-ofthe intermediate wall section located next below, said outer rings having abutting edgesand being` beveled ,around their outer edges to form grooves jat the joints where the outer rings abut; and, a substantially impermeable sheet adhesively secured to the outer surfaces of said top, intermediate, and bottom outer rings, said sheet extending integrally acrosssaid joint between said outer rings, said sheet being indentedlinto said grooves to provide externallyfvisiblgmarkings.at saidjoints, saidsheet initially for1r-ring al,substantially-impermeable barrier and a con-` nectineelementzamund .the Cantaiar, but beine Severble around.; 'd-;.ieints.bet-Yv.en adjacent Sectio@ t0. Permit them te, separated .fram each lother..

Relerenes Cited in theI Ifile of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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