Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47J—KITCHEN EQUIPMENT; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; APPARATUS FOR MAKING BEVERAGES
  • A47J47/00—Kitchen containers, stands or the like, not provided for in other groups of this subclass; Cutting-boards, e.g. for bread
  • A47J47/01—Kitchen containers, stands or the like, not provided for in other groups of this subclass; Cutting-boards, e.g. for bread with dispensing devices
• • 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
  • B65D83/00—Containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents
  • B65D83/02—Containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents for dispensing rod-shaped articles, e.g. needles
• • 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
  • B65D85/20—Containers, packaging elements or packages, specially adapted for particular articles or materials for incompressible or rigid rod-shaped or tubular articles
  • B65D85/22—Containers, packaging elements or packages, specially adapted for particular articles or materials for incompressible or rigid rod-shaped or tubular articles for macaroni, spaghetti or like flour products

Definitions

• the invention relates to a container provided with a facility for dispensing or dosing a prescribed amount of spaghetti, solid or hollow strings of pasta and other elongate items from said container.
• a substantial quantity of spaghetti is traded in containers, paper or carton box, respectively.
• containers are known from FR 2688201 disclosing a container in form of a box made of relatively hard paper.
• This box has an end formed by several layers of paper folded onto each other.
• the outer layer of paper is provided with a tear line defining an aperture to be opened by tearing the paper at the end of the box. Once this aperture has been opened, the box can not be closed or sealed and its contents are exposed to air including also dust and other contaminants.
• Another problem with this known container is that the dosed amount of spaghetti can not be selected to meet individual demands depending both on the number of persons for whom a meal should be served and the recipe of the food to be served and prescribing a specific amount of spaghetti or other pasta product to be cooked or otherwise prepared.
• the aim of the invention is to provide a box-like container having a top and a bottom and at least one side wall for interconnecting said top and bottom, a facility on said top (or bottom) for dispensing a portion or a prescribed amount of spaghetti, solid or hollow strings of pasta and other elongate items from said container.
• Said container is of prismatic shape including cylinders and various non-circular cylinders and provided with an aperture on the top of allowing to dose said prescribed amount of pasta, which aperture can be safely closed once the pasta has been dosed.
• Further aim of the invention is to provide a container of the above kind allowing selecting the amount to be dosed by said facility.
• Still a further aim of the invention is to provide a container of the above kind having a relatively rigid bottom and/or top provided with said dosing facility and a relatively flexible side wall.
• Fig. 1 shows a cardboard container for spaghetti with dosing features at its four corners for dosing four different amounts of spaghetti
• Fig. 2 shows another variant of the dosing feature adapted for cardboard containers
• Fig. 3 shows a corner of the cardboard container of Fig. 1 with the dosing feature in dosing position
• Fig. 4 shows the container og Fig. 2 with the dosing feature in opened position and with a bunch of spaghetti partly pulled out position
• Fig. 5 sematically shows another structure for closing the aperture of the dosing feature of Fig. 2;
• Fig. 1 shows a cardboard container for spaghetti with dosing features at its four corners for dosing four different amounts of spaghetti
• Fig. 2 shows another variant of the dosing feature adapted for cardboard containers
• Fig. 3 shows a corner of the cardboard container of Fig. 1 with the dosing feature in dosing position
• Fig. 4 shows the container og Fig. 2 with the dosing feature in opened position and with a bunch
• FIG. 6 shows the top portion of a cardboard container for spaghetti having a guiding rail at its upper edge adapted to cooperate with a slideable lid for opening and closig an aperture formed on the top of the container;
• Fig. 7 Shows the arrangenment of the guiding rail of Fig 6 at the upper edge of the cardboard container;
• Fig. 8 shows another variant of the guiding rail of Fig 6 at the upper edge of the cardboard container and having a guiding groove for cooperating with a slideable lid;
• Fig. 9 shows another variant of the guiding rail of Fig. 6 at the upper edge of the cardboard container providig stiffness for the edge of the cardboard;
• Fig. 7 Shows the arrangenment of the guiding rail of Fig 6 at the upper edge of the cardboard container;
• Fig. 8 shows another variant of the guiding rail of Fig 6 at the upper edge of the cardboard container and having a guiding groove for cooperating with a slideable lid;
• Fig. 9 shows another variant of the guiding rail of Fig. 6
• Fig. 10 shows a variant of the guiding rail of Fig 6 at the upper edge of the cardboard container formed by foldig back of the edge of the cardboard at two opposite sides of the aperture;
• Fig. 11 shows a cylindrical variant of the container made of metall or transparent hard synthetic material and provided with a rotatable lid as a dosing feature adapted for selectively dosing three different amounts of spaghetti;
• Fig. 12 shows a variant of the cylindrical container of Fig. 11 provided with a rotatable lid as a dosing feature adapted for dosing an adjustable amount of spaghetti;
• Fig. 13 shows a parallelepiped shaped container provided with a slideably guided lid as a dosing feature adapted for dosing an adjustable amount of spaghetti;
• Fig. 11 shows a cylindrical variant of the container made of metall or transparent hard synthetic material and provided with a rotatable lid as a dosing feature adapted for selectively dosing three different amounts of spaghetti;
• Fig. 12 shows a variant of
• Fig. 14 shows a decoratively designed variant of the container of Fig. 13 provided with a slideable lid at the top of the container
• Fig. 15 shows a non-circular cylindric variant of the container of Fig. 13 provided with a slideable lid at the top of the container.
• a container 1 which is constructed to hold and dispense or dose a prescribed amount of items having elongate form with a substantially uniform profile and length, e.g. of spaghetti, macaroni, noodle or other pasta products comprising pieces of solid or hollow lengths or strings of pasta.
• Said container is a box 2 made of cardboard or similar materials, e.g. plastic or laminated composite material.
• Said container 1 has a top 20 (left in the drawing) and a bottom 30 (right in the drawing). There is a distance between said top and said bottom exceeding the length of items, such as spaghetti held inside said container.
• Said top and bottom is interconnected by four walls 40 .
• Said top 20 has two opposite longer and two opposite shorter sides. At each of the shorter sides there are incisions 7 in the material of the box. These incisions extend on two sides and on the top of the box and are less deep than the thickness of the material and represent tearing lines, along which the cardboard can easily be torn. These incisions can be replaced by perforated lines.
• a flap is formed at the respective corner which is connecting by a hinge 8 to the top.
• the hinge is formed by a fold line made by embossing a straight line into the material of the box.
• Each hinged flap is provided with an extension 6.
• These extensions have an appropriate fixing element 9 e.g. in form of a pressure sensitive adhesive applied onto the inner suface of the extension facing the top. Thereby an openable and reclosable aperture can be made at each corner of the box and at one side of said top by tearing a respective tear line.
• Other known fixing structures, such as snap-in cooperating elements are also feasible.
• Said extension of the flaps represents a closing device adapted for closing said aperture after one or more of said prescribed amount of spaghetti has been passed through the aperture.
• Fig. 2 shows a flap structure 15 made as a separate element or cap 14 adhered to the box 2 either at its manufacture or by the user.
• This cap 14 has cut lines 17 extending along three consecutive straight lines and a hinge line 18 abridging the free ends of two opposite ones of said straight lines.
• a snap-in closing structure 16 is provided for fixing the flap in closed position. If the cap in adhered to the box at the manufacture the corresponding corner of the box can be cut away at the manufacture for providing an aperture for dosing spaghetti.
• the corner of the box can be torn open along a tearing line made e.g. by perforation or incision.
• the corner of the box can also be glued to the flap and opening the flap causes tearing along this line at the same time. In both cases the container remains safely sealed and intact until this tearing occurs.
• the corner of the container can be cut away also by the user before dispensing. To allow a wanted amount to be dosed an accordingly sized cut line can be marked by printing at the respective corner.
• Fig. 3 shows a moment of dosing a predetermined amount of spaghetti 10 at which pasta pieces having passed by gravity through the aperture 11 abut an inner surface of the flap 5.
• the strings of pasta should be gathered at the side of the box where the aperture is located.
• the box should be tilted in a position where the aperture is at the lowest position on the top of the box and the strings of pasta get stacked in relatively uniformly aligned longitudinally at the lowest side of the box, adjacent the aperture. This can be done with the aperture either closed or opened. With the aperture opened lifting the other end of the box will cause a dose or bunch of spaghetti to slide out of the opening. While a bunch of pasta gets partly out of the box the box should be tilted back until its orientation prevents the pasta from further sliding out of the box. At this point the free length of this bunch can be grasped by hand and pulled out entirely of the box.
• Fig. 4 illustrates the overall sectional area of a bunch of spaghetti 10 corresponding to a prescribed amount of pasta.
• Fig. 5 shows two different snap-in closing structures. One of them comprises two spaced openings 20 for receiving two correspondingly spaced protrusions of the cap arranged at the area where the flap 15 abuts the corresponding surface of the cap 14. Here also a central opening 19 is shown, which is adapted for receiving a central protrusion of the cap.
• Fig. 6 shows the top of a box 2 provided with a slideable lid 51.
• the top wall of the box or container is made such a way that it can be easily removed. This can be made e.g. by a contiguous tearing line running along the perimeter of the top wall.
• the lid has a length corresponding the size of the longer size of the top.
• There are two rim formations 52 extending longitudinally along the length of the lid 51 and adapted to engage the rails.
• the lid is made of a relatively strong material e. g. of plastic or a correspondingly bent thin metal sheet. As shown at Fig.
• Fig 8. shows rail 54 attached to the edge of the side walls 40 of the box and each comprising a guiding groove 58 for guiding a generally flat or planar lid 55.
• Fig 9. shows a more rigid rail 57 for giuding the lid 56 provided with two opposite rim formations 52.
• Fig. 10 shows a version of the rail 59 made by folding back at least once the corresponding sidewall of the box.
• the embodiments demonstated by Figs 6 to 10 can be complemented by a scale 41 shown at Fig. 6 only. This scale 41 shows the the amont dispensable through said aperture at a spcific position of the lid 51.
• the amount can be indicated in weight units, such as grams, or number of portions of meal which can be prepared of the dispensed amount of pasta.
• Fig. 11 shows a cylindrical version of the container 2 having a cylindrical sidewall 60 and a circular top 70.
• This kind of container 2 can be prepared similarly as a can of e.g beverages.
• the top 70 of the container 2 is provided with a lid 61 having a rim 68 and rotatably attached thereto.
• the lid 61 is pivoted by a pin 62, however, a cooperating annular groove on the sidewall 60 and an engaging inward protrusion of the rim 68 is also a feasible structure allowing relative rotation while preventing the lid 61 lid getting loose of the container 2.
• the container 2 has a circular bottom, which cam be made removable for allowing pasta to be easily filled into the container 2.
• apertures 63, 64 and 65 on said lid 61 having different sizes for dosing different amounts of spaghetti 10.
• On the top 70 of the container covered by the lid there is an aperture (encircling a bunch of spaghetti 10), having a size larger than the aperture on the lid with a medium size. Aligning one of the apertures 63, 64 and 65 on the lid 61 with the aperture on the top 70 of the container allows dosing of a corresponding amount of spaghetti 10.
• Fig. 12 shows another version of the cylindrical container having a top 63 partly covered by a rotatable lid 66. Rotating the lid causes a part of an aperture 69 on the top of the container covered or uncovered. The uncovered part of aperture on the top of the container allows an amount of spaghetti to pass. This amount is defined by the uncovered area of the aperture and shown at a scale 80 provided on the periphery if the container. This scale can indicate e.g. the weight of a dose in grams or the number of persons ( lp, 3p, 5p) for whom a portion of specific meal according to a given recipe can be prepared from the amount of pasta dispensed.
• Fig 13. shows a container of parallelepiped shape having a top 84 provided with an aperture 85 partly covered by a slideable lid 82guided in a rail 83 or grove of the top. Sliding the lid causes a part of an aperture on the top of the container uncovered.
• Other features including a scale 81 are similar to the version sown at Fig. 12.
• Figs. 14 and 15 show various forms of a container having a top 90 provided with an aperture 91 partly covered by a slideable arcuate lid 92 guided in a grove (not shown) of the top defining a corresponding arcuate sliding path.
• the sidewalls and the bottom of the invented container can be made from a relatively flexible material allowing its volume to decrease with the decrease of pasta or other items stored therein.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Noodles (AREA)
• Cartons (AREA)
• Packaging Of Annular Or Rod-Shaped Articles, Wearing Apparel, Cassettes, Or The Like (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=89980536

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Cited By (7)

Citations (7)

• 2002
  • 2002-06-19 HU HU0202037A patent/HU0202037D0/hu unknown
• 2003
  • 2003-06-19 AU AU2003240146A patent/AU2003240146A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-06-19 WO PCT/HU2003/000048 patent/WO2004000687A1/en not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (7)

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