Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D33/00—Details of, or accessories for, sacks or bags
  • B65D33/01—Ventilation or drainage of bags
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D85/00—Containers, packaging elements or packages, specially adapted for particular articles or materials
  • B65D85/70—Containers, packaging elements or packages, specially adapted for particular articles or materials for materials not otherwise provided for
  • B65D85/804—Disposable containers or packages with contents which are mixed, infused or dissolved in situ, i.e. without having been previously removed from the package
  • B65D85/8043—Packages adapted to allow liquid to pass through the contents
  • B65D85/8052—Details of the outlet

Definitions

• the present invention relates to beverage dispensing and in particular to packages which provide, from a dispensing machine, a beverage when mixed with water provided from the machine.
• Prior art beverage dispensing systems which utilise packages of beverage- producing material used in association with a complementary hot water providing machine are well know.
• the machine includes a reservoir of hot water communicating with a water injector in the form of a hollow needle.
• the beverage-producing packages consist of generally planar sachets. The user inserts such a sachet into the machine, and the injector of the latter pierces a plastics nozzle carried in the top seam of the sachet. Hot water under pressure is introduced into the sachet.
• the beverage is dispensed through the bottom of the sachet.
• the base seam of the latter is secured by a pressure-sensitive adhesive and is forced open under the pressure of fluid in the sachet.
• the beverage itself is formed by the hot water mixing with the beverage- producing material held in the sachet.
• Such a system has been commercially marketed by us under the Registered Trade Mark “Flavia”.
• the sachets are described, for example, in EP-B-0179641 and the machines in GB-B-2122881.
• the dispensing of beverages such as instant drinks or hot chocolate do not require a filter material in the sachet and have their own problems. Taking hot chocolate as an example, this is simply held in the sachet and is forced out into the receptacle with the hot water. There are three criteria one hopes to achieve: cleanout (where all the chocolate powder is washed out of the sachet), dispersion (where all the powder is successfully dispersed with the hot water in the receptacle), and clean dispensing (all of the powder and liquid dropping cleanly into the receptacle). With the Flavia sachets, one can achieve any two of these three criteria easily, but to achieve all three all of the time is difficult.
• the reason for this difficulty is the lack of predictability in the opening of the base seam, particularly in the absence of a filter material - as with hot chocolate. The moment a small section of the base seam opens, chocolate powder is sprayed through the opening with hot water and the pressure within the sachet rapidly falls. Thereafter, the base seam may or may not open to a greater degree and can pucker and twist. This can cause any one of the three above criteria not being achieved.
• the present invention is concerned with a solution to this problem.
• the invention employs at least one reinforcing flexible strip in the base seam of the sachet extending across the portion that opens under the action of the pressurised water. It has been found that the presence of such a strip reduces puckering and twisting and the opening rapidly tends to form the shape, in cross-section, of an oval with tapered ends. Such an opening is downwardly directed and enables the three criteria mentioned above to be achieved more easily.
• a single reinforcing strip of a plastics material is sandwiched between the two sheets of flexible material forming the sachet.
• the material forming the sachet is preferably two face-to-face sheets of laminate, each having an outer plastics layer, an intermediate metal foil layer, and an inner plastics layer.
• the inner layers are heat bonded together around their edges to form the sachet, except in the region of the openable portion where the reinforcing strip is sandwiched between the two layers.
• the strip which may be of the same plastics material as each inner layer, is heat bonded to one inner plastics layer. It is heat bonded to the other plastics layer except in the openable portion, where it is bonded with a pressure-sensitive adhesive.
• the reinforced strip and one laminate forms one side of the opening and is relatively stiff.
• the other side is formed by the other laminate - to which it had been bonded with pressure-sensitive adhesive.
• the invention is primarily designed for beverages such as hot chocolate, which does not dictate the need for a filter material in the sachet, the invention contemplates the possibility of its use with sachets containing filter material supporting, say, ground coffee or leaf tea.
• Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a sachet according to the invention.
• Figure 2 is a side cross-section of the lower portion of the sachet of Figure 1, along line A- A, and
• Figure 3 is a perspective view of the openable portion of the sachet of Figures 1 and 2, after opening.
• the sachet 2 - which is designed to contain chocolate powder so as to provide a hot chocolate beverage - is formed of two face-to-face laminates 4,6.
• Each laminate consists of an outer polyeester layer (12 ⁇ m thickness), an intermediate aluminium layer (9 ⁇ m) and an inner polypropylene layer (55 ⁇ m).
• the laminates are heat bonded together, polypropylene to polypropylene at the edge 8 except at the bottom seam 10 where a strip 12 of polypropylene (150-300 ⁇ m thickness) is sandwiched.
• the strip 12 is heat bonded to the polypropylene layer of one laminate, 4, at 14 and is heat bonded to the polypropylene layer of the other laminate, 6, except in an openable portion 16. In this latter portion it is bonded by pressure-sensitive adhesive 18.
• an openable nozzle 20 In the top edge of the sachet is provided an openable nozzle 20 to receive a hollow needle water injector when a beverage is to be produced.
• the sachet In operation, the sachet is inserted into a suitable dispensing machine, hot water under pressure is introduced into the sachet, and ultimately the pressurised water causes the sachet to open in the openable portion 16.
• the reinforcing strip 12 and laminate 4 form one edge of the opening, whereas the laminate 6 forms the other edge of the opening.
• the openable portion tends to form the oval-shaped opening shown in Figure 3 with much more tendency and regularity than when the reinforcing strip 12 is omitted.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Packages (AREA)
• Packging For Living Organisms, Food Or Medicinal Products That Are Sensitive To Environmental Conditiond (AREA)
• Apparatus For Making Beverages (AREA)
• Bag Frames (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=10816598

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Cited By (12)

Families Citing this family (44)

Citations (8)

• 1997
  • 1997-07-28 GB GBGB9715921.4A patent/GB9715921D0/en active Pending
• 1998
  • 1998-07-28 EP EP98936518A patent/EP0999984B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1998-07-28 US US09/463,360 patent/US6358545B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1998-07-28 JP JP2000504049A patent/JP2001510767A/ja not_active Ceased
  • 1998-07-28 DE DE69803464T patent/DE69803464T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1998-07-28 WO PCT/GB1998/002246 patent/WO1999005036A1/en not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (9)

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