WO1999067142A1

WO1999067142A1 - A multiple compartment gas-tight receptacle

Info

Publication number: WO1999067142A1
Application number: PCT/NZ1999/000096
Authority: WO
Inventors: William Siddall
Original assignee: William Siddall
Priority date: 1998-06-24
Filing date: 1999-06-24
Publication date: 1999-12-29
Also published as: AU4806599A

Abstract

A receptacle (1) for holding at least one fluid, the receptacle including: at least one partition (2), at least one releasable sealing element (4), the partition (2) extending from one end of the receptacle to the releasable sealing element (4), at least one selector (3, 4), the receptacle (1) characterised in that the partition (2) is configured to form gas-tight compartments (A, B, C, D) within the receptacle (1), wherein the compartments are accessible by at least one releasable sealing element (4), and the selector (3, 4) allows access to at least one compartment.

Description

A MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT GAS-TIGHT RECEPTACLE TECHNICAL ΥTΕαr

This invention relates to improvements to receptacles.

In particular the present invention relates to receptacles used to hold fluid and in particular gassed or carbonated fluids. Reference to fluids and carbonated fluids should not be seen to be limiting the scope of the present invention's manufacture or use, as the principles of the present invention may be applied to receptacles of other types.

BACKGROUND ART

Gassed or carbonated sodas and beverages are very popular. The market for these drinks is therefore significant, and consequently there are a wide range of these 'fizzy' drinks available for consumption - including champagne, beer, Methode Traditionale, lemonade, alcoholic sodas, cola, tonic and the like.

Commonly, these drinks are stored in bottles and cans made of glass, plastic or aluminium.

One problem that exists with these receptacles is that once the seal is broken on the receptacle whether it be by tearing a tap, breaking a twist top seal, or flipping a bottle cap, the gases that are present in the fluid are liberated because of the exposure to atmospheric pressure.

As the gas is liberated, the beverage will lose its fizz and go flat. The appeal of the beverage is then lost, and the beverage may be discarded.

SUBSTTTUE SHEET (Rule 26) This can mean that beverages with fizzy characteristics are consumed more rapidly by consumers than still beverages, as the consumer wishes to avail themselves of the fizzy sensation.

If the circumstances of consumption do not lend themselves to a ready consumption of the beverage, then the effect of the beverage may be lost.

Likewise, if the beverage is alcoholic such as the alcoholic sodas now available, and as well as beer and pre-mixed drinks, fast consumption of the beverage can be unhealthy or even harmful.

Similarly, beverages are often mixed. With current receptacles there is usually only one separate beverage or beverage mix per receptacle. Therefore, one must open an entire receptacle to avail themselves of the beverage.

If only a proportion of the beverage is required, or another beverage is required for mixing, an entire bottle must be opened in order to do this. This can lead to the rest of the unused beverage either going flat or losing its consumptive quality.

New Zealand Patent No. 231412 discloses a container with divided compartments, however these individual compartments are not gas tight, and the specification is directed towards increasing the strength of the bottle.

Some receptacles are used to dispense fluids such as fresh water. These receptacles house the fluid for some time.

Build-ups of bacterial, and mineral deposits can make the receptacle unhygienic and taint the fluid being dispensed. Therefore the receptacles need to be regularly cleaned.

SUB The labour and time cost for maintaining and cleaning can be significant, as the receptacle must be removed and the interior physically cleaned. The poor access to the interior of the receptacle can increase the time and labour needed to get the receptacle clean.

It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.

Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a receptacle for holding at least one fluid, the receptacle including,

at least one partition,

at least one releasable sealing element,

the partition extending from one end of the receptacle towards the releasable sealing element,

at least one selector,

the receptacle characterised in that

the partition is configured to form fluid-tight compartments within the receptacle, and

the compartments are accessible by at least one releasable sealing element, and

the selector allows access to at least one compartment.

SUBSTIT The fluid may be water-based, hydrocarbon based and so forth. The fluid may also include resins, curing agents, epoxy resins, chemicals and so forth.

In preferred embodiments, the fluid may be a beverage. The term beverage may be taken to mean consumable fluids such as soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, coffees and teas, water, mineral water, flavoured water and so forth.

In preferred embodiments, the fluid may be carbonated soft drinks. This reference to carbonated soft drinks should not be seen to be limiting the scope of the present invention's manufacture or use, as the principles of the present invention may be applied with other beverages and other fluids.

The carbonated soft drink will hereafter be referred to as 'fizzy' drink. The carbonated drink may have been carbonated artificially or it may be carbonated by a natural process such as brewing. Hence, the term fizzy drink should not be seen to be limited to soft drinks, but may include all beverages that are gassed or carbonated, including beer, Methode Traditionale, wine, champagne and pre-mixed alco-pops.

Reference to the at least one partition, may be taken to mean any element capable of separating one area of space from another. For example this may include a solid wall, a semi-permeable membrane, a boxed section, a spherical or semi-spherical section, a partition of a curved nature and so forth.

In preferred embodiments, the partition may be a substantially rigid structure, which is substantially gas impermeable.

In further preferred embodiments, the partition may be manufactured from plastic, but this should not be seen to be limiting as other materials such as aluminium, glass, ceramics, or other material may be used.

SUBSTITUE SHE In preferred embodiments, the receptacle may be made of a substance that is capable of being gas tight. For example this may include aluminium or other metals, plastic (blow moulded, die cast, or moulded), glass, ceramics, and so forth.

In preferred embodiments the present invention may be manufactured from plastic, but may in other embodiments be manufactured from glass or aluminium.

The above definitions should not be seen to be limiting in any way.

The compartments may be configured to be gas-tight.

The receptacle may contain fluids that are carbonated, and require a gas tight seal in order to maintain the equilibrium within the gas tight compartment necessary to retain the gas properties. If the seal is broken or ruptured, then the introduction of atmospheric pressure will cause the fluid to liberate the gas, and the fluid will lose its fizz.

The partitions may preferably interact with the other partitions, and the walls of the receptacle so as to form a gas tight compartment, into which an aforementioned fluid with gaseous or other properties may be introduced without compromising the gaseous nature of the fluid.

Reference to the at least one releasable sealing element, may be taken to mean any device that can form a gas tight seal in the pouring or opening aperture in the compartment formed by the partition interacting with the receptacle.

For example this may be a foil seal, a tearable tab, a plastic plug, a threaded screw arrangement, a cork, a breakable glass seal, and so forth.

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SUBSTITUE SHEET The essential feature of the sealing element is that it is releasable in terms of enabling a consumer to break the gas tight seal over the aperture should they desire access to the compartment formed by the partition and the receptacle.

Reference to the partitions extending from one end of the receptacle to the releasable sealing element may refer to a number of embodiments.

For example if the particular partition forms a compartment that is not accessible from the pouring mouth of the receptacle, then this will still fall within the scope of the present invention.

All that is required is that the access point of the compartment, being the releasable sealing element covering the aperture in the compartment is extended to by the partition.

Reference to the at least one selector may be taken to mean a device that enables a consumer to select the compartment that they wish to obtain the fluid from.

In some preferred embodiments, this may be a multiple plastic tab whose tab corresponds with the releasable sealing element over the access point to the compartment.

In alternative embodiments, this may be a rotatable cap with an aperture in its surface that may be rotated to correspond to the releasable sealing element that corresponds to the compartment that a consumer wishes to access.

In some embodiments, the releasable sealing element may be the same device as the selector.

SUBSTITUE SHE For example the selector may directly engage the aperture in the compartment, forming the gas tight seal over the aperture. Again, tabs or some other means of breaking the seal and providing access to the compartment may be provided.

The present invention provides a receptacle that has a plurality of gas tight compartments. The compartments are capable of holding a gaseous or otherwise fluid. The individual compartments and hence the individual fluid contained within those compartments are individually accessible via the selector and/or the breaking of the releasable sealing element.

Preferably, the partitions forming the compartments may extend from the base of the receptacle to the pouring end of the receptacle.

In some embodiments the side-on outline perspective of the partitions may form a spiral.

In some embodiments, the partitions may be formed by a deformable receptacle, that may be introduced to the main receptacle.

For example, this may be plastic liner.

The plastic liner may be multi-compatmented.

This has advantages in that the main receptacle may then be re-used or recycled, which results in a positive impact on resources and the environment.

Reference to a plastic liner should not be seen to be limiting in any way.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of adapting a receptacle to form a receptacle as substantially described herein.

SUBSTITUE SHEET Rule 2 The present invention has a number of advantages and applications over previous receptacles.

For the sake of exemplifying the advantages, the following description of the applications and advantages will be applied to various commonly used receptacles, but should not be seen to be limited to these.

In terms of the consumption of a carbonated soda such as Coca-Cola®, Pepsi- Cola®, Sprite ®, 7-Up®, Fanta ® and so forth, the bottles and cans used to contain these beverages for consumption, comprise largely one compartment.

These compartments are substantially gas tight, otherwise the beverage will lose its fizzy qualities and although still consumable, the appeal to the consumer may be lost.

The size of the compartments vary with the size of the receptacle. Different sized serving portions are available in different sized bottles and cans.

On an economy of scale, the larger soft drink bottles are more cost effective in terms of the volume of beverage purchased per dollar value.

However, the consumer is currently forced to purchase a smaller, less cost effective bottle or can of the beverage if they are only wanting a smaller serving size than is available in a large bottle.

If a large bottle is purchased and only a portion of the bottle is drunk and then the bottle is stored, the remaining fluid, due to the break in the seal will inevitably continue to lose its carbonated qualities every time the receptacle is opened for consumption.

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SUB The present invention overcomes these aforementioned problems by enabling a consumer to select the proportion of beverage they wish to consume from the receptacle, while the rest of the beverage purchased remains in sealed compartments, still fresh for consumption.

Alternatively, the consumer may wish to purchase more than one beverage, but may not have the desire or the ability to store the numerous bottles or cans required to be purchased. The present invention overcomes this problem by providing a device whereby different fizzy beverages may be stored in the various compartments, and kept separate and gas tight from each other. The consumer may select the beverage they desire while keeping the others fresh and gas tight, and saving on storage space.

This may be particularly appealing to parents with small children who have small appetites.

The present invention may also have an advantage in terms of alcoholic beverage consumption. For example, once a can or bottle of beer is opened, the beverage will then begin to lose its fizzy quality. This fizzy quality is particularly appealing to beer drinkers. Other fizzy alcoholic beverages such as the pre-mixed mixes or the recent alco-pops can also be benefited by the following advantages.

Because of the poor quality taste of flat alcoholic beverages that are designed to have a fizzy quality, once a bottle or can containing an alcoholic beverage is opened, it is preferable to consume the entire quantity of the receptacle.

In some instances, this may not be desirable in terms of host responsibility, drink driving and so forth, as the consumer may feel pressured to finish their beverage rapidly to avail themselves of the fizzy quality. It can also be perceived as a waste of money to purchase a beverage of an alcoholic nature

9 and then having it go flat.

The present invention overcomes or minimises these disadvantages, by allowing a portion of the beverage to be consumed while not compromising the fizzy characteristics of the rest of the volume of the beverage purchased.

The present invention also allows the mixing of various alcoholic beverages to form different flavours by storing the flavours or beverages in different compartments. The consumer may access the particular compartments in order to achieve a desired flavour.

The present invention also provides for different gas pressures to be stored in the various compartments, which may give rise to decorative, and appealing effects once opened. For example, a beverage may be produced that upon opening takes advantage of the different pressure values in the compartments to produce a pleasant visual effect which may be marketable. This may be particularly applicable to the hospitality industry.

Alternatively, the difference in pressures may cause the walls to deform, which could be exploited to produce aesthetically pleasing effects.

New Zealand Patent No. 231412 disclosed a container with divided compartments, however these individual compartments are not gas tight, and the specification is directed towards increasing the strength of the bottle. The apparatus disclosed in that specification would not be applicable in the applications described above and would not give the corresponding advantages of the present invention.

This provides a significant potential saving for labour and time costs.

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SUB BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Further aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1A shows a side view of one preferred embodiment, and

Figure IB shows a plan view of the preferred embodiment shown in figure 1A, and

Figure 2a & 2B shows a further preferred embodiment.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

With reference to Figure 1 there is a receptacle hereafter referred to as a bottle in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. The bottle 1 has partitions 2 which divide the receptacle 1 into four compartments A, B, C, D, which can be seen in the plan view in Figure IB. These compartments are gas tight with respect to the other compartments and the atmosphere.

Only four compartments are shown however it should be appreciated that the number of partitions 2 will depend on the application to which the present invention lends itself. For example any number of partitions may be provided to produce the desired number of compartments.

In the embodiments shown in Figures 1A and IB, there is shown a non- rotatable plastic cap 3. The plastic cap 3 includes tearable tabs 4. The tabs 4 correspond to the particular compartment that a consumer wishes to access. For example if compartment A is desired to be accessed by a consumer, then the tap in the bottom left pie section of the cap may be torn to expose the fluid contained in compartment A. The other compartments B, C and D remain

11 sealed.

With reference to Figure 2A and 2B there is shown an alternative embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2A and 2B shows a plan view of a receptacle 20 that in most aspects is similar to that shown in Figure 1A, except the cap arrangement at the top is different.

In this embodiment, there is shown a rotatable cap 21 with an aperture 22 in the cap. The aperture 22 may be sealable with a tearable tap or not.

The cap is rotatable in the direction shown by the rotation direction arrows. The cap 21 may be rotated so that the aperture 21 aligns with the compartment desired to be accessed by the consumer. Figure 2B shows the same embodiment with the cap 21 removed.

It can be seen that there is a sealing cover 23 adhered to the openings of the compartments. These may be manufactured from a substance that is capable of retaining the gas tight seal of the compartments A, B, C and D.

There may be perforated pie section 24 corresponding with the particular compartment the seal 23 covers.

The cap 21 may then be rotated so the opening or tap 22 corresponds to the particular compartment a consumer wishes to access. If the tap is present on aperture 22 then that may be torn off and the seal 23 corresponding to that compartment may be broken, allowing access to the particular compartments. The other compartments remain sealed.

When a consumer desires access to another compartment and fluid therein, the cap may be rotated so the opening corresponds to that compartment and the seal broken once again.

12 It should be appreciated that the embodiments shown above refer to bottles, however the principles of the present invention may apply equally well to cans, jars and other receptacles, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention have been described by way of example only and it should be appreciated that modifications and additions may be made thereto without departing from the scope thereof as defined in the appended claims.

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Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE:

1. A receptacle for holding at least one fluid, the receptacle including,

at least one partition,

at least one releasable sealing element,

the partition extending from one end of the receptacle to the releasable sealing element,

at least one selector,

the receptacle characterised in that

the partition is configured to form gas-tight compartments within the receptacle

wherein the compartments are accessible by at least one releasable sealing element, and the selector allows access to at least one compartment.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the partition is substantially rigid.

3. Apparatus as claimed in either of claims 1 or 2 wherein the partition is substantially gas impermeable.

4. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the partition is manufactured from plastic.

5. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the receptacle is substantially made from plastic.

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SUBSTIT

6. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the partitions within the receptacle form pouring apertures for the compartments.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein the releasable sealing element seals the pouring apertures.

8. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the selector is configured to enable selection of a compartment.

9. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the selector is the releasable sealing element.

10. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein the partitions extend from the base of the receptacle to a pouring end of the compartment.

11. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein the partitions form a spiral.

12. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 wherein the partition is formed by a deformable receptacle.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claims 12 wherein the deformable receptacle is a multi-compartmented plastic liner.

14. A method of adapting a receptacle to form an apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13.

15. Apparatus as substantially herein described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

16. Method as substantially described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

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