WO2007088436A1

WO2007088436A1 - Package for beverages

Info

Publication number: WO2007088436A1
Application number: PCT/IB2007/000171
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giuseppe Terrasi
Original assignee: Soremartec S.A.; Ferrero S.P.A.; Ferrero Offene Handelsgesellschaft M.B.H.
Priority date: 2006-02-02
Filing date: 2007-01-18
Publication date: 2007-08-09
Also published as: ITTO20060070A1

Abstract

A package for beverages comprising a beaker body (12) to contain a beverage (B) and a sealing foil (14) that closes and seals the mouth part (12a) of the beaker body (12). The sealing foil (14) is provided with a facilitated tear line (22) that extends between two end points of a portion of the contour of the mouth part (12a) of the beaker body so as to outline, together with said contour portion, an opening for the delivery of the beverage (B). The sealing foil (14), in correspondence with one of said end points, is provided with a tongue (26) capable of being subjected to traction so as to: -- trigger the tearing of the sealing foil (14), and -- cause the tear to continue along the facilitated tear line (22) with corresponding removal of the part of sealing foil (14) included between the facilitated tear line (22) and said contour portion of the mouth part (12a), so as to open the opening for the delivery of the beverage (B).

Description

"Package for beverages" * * *

The present invention relates to packages for beverages and in particular concerns a package for beverages according to the preamble of claim 1.

Packages of this type are currently used for the sale of beverages as is shown, for example, by the package that has been used for many years for the sale of the beverage Estathe® by companies of the Ferrero group.

Somewhat similar packages are known also from US-A- 4 187 954, JP-3289441, US-A-3 977 562. Also the container disclosed in US-A-3 687 352 is of some interest for the invention. In producing packages of this type, various requirements must be combined.

For example, above all when packaging beverages such as tea, it is important that the package has characteristics of absolute hygiene: for example, in the case of the beverage Estathe®, packaging comes about under a sterile cycle.

Consumption of the beverage must be easy, both with regard to opening the package, and with regard to drinking the beverage. Furthermore, the packages in question are frequently also utilised in particular conditions, for example while the consumer is walking or is engaged in a sports activity, or while the consumer is on board a moving vehicle.

For this reason, for packages of the type described, consumption based on the use of a drinking straw has up until now been privileged: the consumer perforates the sealing foil of the package with one extremity of a drinking straw and drinks the beverage by sucking it through the straw itself. This solution tends not to be preferred by some consumers and/or in specific conditions of use.

For example, in the presence of high external temperatures, the consumer may desire to drink the beverage very rapidly, so as to enjoy the full benefit of the refreshing effect of the beverage; this does not come about when the beverage is consumed by sucking it through a drinking straw.

At least in principle, this requirement might be met by providing the consumer with the possibility of completely removing the sealing foil from the beaker part of the package, so as to completely free the mouth part of the beaker.

This solution however meets with various difficulties and/or drawbacks.

Firstly, the fact of making the sealing foil easily removable entails weakening the seal between the foil and the body of the beaker, prejudicing the characteristics of hygiene (sterility) of the package. Furthermore, the operation of removing the entire sealing foil usually requires the beaker body to be grasped in a relatively solid and strong manner. This beaker is generally comprised of thin plastic material that is easily deformed. The risk therefore exists that the consumer ends up by compressing the package in an undesired manner, causing the beverage to splash out of the .beaker through the mouth part of the already open beaker.

Again, in various conditions of possible use among those mentioned above (consider, for example, the consumer who is walking or performing sports activity) , the fact that the whole of the mouth part of the beaker is open may involve the risk of undesired dispersion of the beverage because the quantity of beverage that can come out of such a large opening instantaneously is excessive .

Lastly, a further aspect to be taken into consideration consists in the fact that, in using

5 packages of the type described, it is desirable to avoid so far as possible that the user must place his or her mouth in contact with parts of the package that have remained exposed to the external environment with

^■the risk of an accumulation of dirt or, in general, of

10 contamination.

Thus the need exists to provide a perfected package capable of overcoming the disadvantages and drawbacks described above.

The present invention aims to respond to that need. 15 According to the presence invention, this purpose is achieved thanks to a package having the characteristics described specifically in the attached claims . The claims form an integral part of the disclosure of the invention as provided herein. 20_. The embodiment of the invention at present preferred thus consists of a package for beverages comprising :

— a beaker body to contain said beverage, said beaker body presenting a mouth part, and

25 — a sealing foil that closes and seals said mouth part of said beaker body, characterised in that: said sealing foil is provided with a facilitated tear line that extends between two extreme points of a 30 portion of the contour of said mouth part of the beaker body such as to describe, together with said contour portion, an opening for the supply of said beverage, and said sealing foil is provided, in correspondence 5 with one of said two end-points of the facilitated tear line, with a tongue capable of being subjected to traction in order:

-- to trigger the tearing of the sealing foil, and to cause said tear to continue along said facilitated tear line with corresponding removal of the part of the sealing foil situated between said facilitated tear line and said portion of the contour of said mouth part, such as to open said opening for the supply of said beverage. The invention will now the described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

-- figure 1 is a general perspective view of a package according to the invention, -- figure 2 is a plan view, reproduced at an enlarged scale, of the portion of the package indicated with the arrow II-II in figure 1,

- figure 3 is a section along the line III-III in figure 2, and -- figure 4 illustrates, in diagram form, the opening modality of the package described here, in view of the consumption of the beverage contained inside it. In the attached drawings, reference number 10 indicates overall a package for beverages of the type described in the preliminary to this description.

According to criteria of themselves known, the package 10 essentially comprises two parts:

- a beaker body 12, generally of moulded plastic material, that receives inside it a fill of beverage B, and

- a sealing foil 14 applied so as to hermetically seal the mouth part 12a of the beaker body 12.

In the embodiment illustrated here, which is an example, the beaker body 12 presents an overall truncated-cone shape with a lower ribbed part and an upper smooth part, whereas the mouth part' 12a and, in consequence, the sealing foil 14, present an overall circular contour.

It is clear that these characteristics should in no way be interpreted in a limiting sense with regard to the scope of the invention, which is applicable to packages of any shape and structure.

As will be more easily appreciated in the section view in figure 3 and following (limited to this aspect alone) characteristics in themselves known to technology, the foil 14 in general presents a stratified structure with a core layer 16 of aluminium or other material coated (or, according to widely-used terminology in the sector, "coupled") with a layer of heat-weldable plastic material such as polyethylene 18 destined to face towards the beaker part 12.

For preference, the material of the layer 18 is chosen in such a way as to be identical or similar to that comprising the body 12 (or at least the mouth part 12a, of a general flange shape) so as to make possible an intimate connection of the sealing foil 14 to the beaker body 12. This connection may, for example, be obtained through heat welding or ultrasound welding.

A further layer 20 of plastic material comprising, for example, polyester, is bonded onto the opposite side with respect to the layer 18, whose contour is welded to the mouth part 12a of the beaker body 12.

Like the layer 18, the layer 20 also usually extends to cover the layer 16 for the entire extension of the sealing foil 14. However, all of this with the difference given by the fact that the layer 20 presents a facilitated (that is preferential) tear line (that is break line) 22 that extends according to a trajectory that approximately forms a chord with regard to the circular development of the mouth part 12a of the container 12.

Naturally, the expression "chord" should properly be applied to the case in which, as occurs in the embodiment illustrated here, the mouth part 12a extends following a circular trajectory and the line 22 follows a straight trajectory.

As may better be understood below, the solution described here is however also applicable to facilitated tear lines 22 that extend following different trajectories than the straight trajectory in regard to mouth parts of containers that extend following a different trajectory than a circular trajectory. However, reasoning in more general terms, it may be said that the facilitated tear line 22 extends across the foil 14 to ideally connect two end-points of an arc comprised in the contour of the mouth part 12a of the beaker body 12. All of this so as to define, within the foil 14, a removable portion. When removed (as will be described more clearly below) said portion is capable of defining a mouth through which the beverage B contained inside the container 12 can be poured.

This pouring mouth, in the form of a circular segment in the example illustrated here, presents dimensions that approximately correspond to the rest dimensions of the human mouth. For example, in the case of the application to containers with mouth part 12a of a circular shape with a diameter in the order of 6.5 mm, the line 22 follows a straight trajectory whose central point, corresponding to the point of maximum distance from the contour of the mouth part, is situated at approximately 14-15 mm from the contour of the mouth part 12a itself. According to criteria that are fully known to the technology of packaging food products, the facilitated tear line 22 may be produced in the form of a continuous line or in the form of a dotted or dashed line.

The solution described here (at present preferred) entails that the line 22 extends through the layer of material 20 that is on the external side or flank of the foil 14. However, the line 22 might also be provided for elsewhere. For example (also or exclusively) through the layer 16 or, in a less preferred manner, (also or exclusively) through the layer 18: this latter solution is less preferred since it affects the surface continuity -- and thus the sealing effect -- of the face of the layer 20 directed towards the cavity that receives the beverage B.

Of course, depending on the location of the facilitated tear line 22 that (as was expressed above by the use of the word "also") may be provided in one or more of the layers comprising the foil 14, it is possible if desired to do without one or more of these layers .

In any case, the solution illustrated here (with the line 22 that extends -- only — through the layer 20 situated on the outside -of the package 10) constitutes at present the preferred choice.

With regard to production of the facilitated tear line 22, different solutions may be employed, known in themselves, that range from mechanical incision of the layer 20 (through a punch tool or similar) to local incision with a laser beam.

In an external position with respect to the sealing foil 14, above the layer 20 another protective foil 24 is applied comprising, for example, a uniform layer of polyester or PET. The foil 24 extends with complete continuity on the mouth part of the container 12, if necessary with an outer edge that is at least slightly turned over onto the outer margin of the flange comprising the mouth part 12a of the container 12. Reference number 26 indicates a tongue to be gripped and pulled obtained in the foil 14.

As an example, it will be supposed here that the tongue 26 is obtained in all three layers 16, 18 and 20 that in the example illustrated here comprise the foil 14. However, this choice is preferential but not imperative, since the tongue 26 may also be obtained only in some of the layers comprising the foil 14 provided that its function, described in more detail below, is ensured. Tongues like the tongue 26 are in fairly current use in packages of the type illustrated here in order to enable the sealing foil to be removed from the beaker body. In these known solutions, the tongue extends however in a generally radial direction, that is orthogonal to the contour portion of the mouth part from which the tongue 26 extends.

In the solution described here, the tongue 26 is on the contrary obtained in such a manner as to form -- with regard to the contour of the mouth part 12a substantially in correspondence with one of the two extremities of the preferential break line 22 -- a sharp angle (thus having a cusp) and for preference an acute angle, indicated with α.

Experiments performed by the Applicant show that a choice for the value of the angle α in the range between 10° and 60° constitutes a preferential choice, particularly preferred values being around 45°.

The presence of the angle α between one side of the tongue 26 (generally the external side with regard to ^' the profile of the tongue 26 itself) and one of the extremities of the preferential tear or break line 22 means that, when the user pulls the tongue 26, in correspondence with the vertex of that angle a very concentrated shear force is developed that causes triggering of the tearing of the layers 18, 16 and 20

(and not of the layer 24, which lies above the line

22) .

All of this with the consequence arising from the fact that, as illustrated in diagram form in figure 4, the portion of the foil 14 defined jointly by the break line 22 and the arc of the contour of the mouth part 12a subtended to it is removed from the mouth part of the container, thus creating an opening through which the consumer can drink the beverage B that is contained inside the package 10.

The foil 24 is on the contrary removed overall and only at the moment of consumption does it uncover the sheet 20; this sheet 20 was hitherto protected from all danger of contamination from the external environment by the sheet 24 applied over it.

In drinking the beverage, the consumer thus rests his or her mouth on parts of the contour of the pouring opening that have only just been uncovered by effect of the removal of the foil 24, thus avoiding all risk of contamination.

The behaviour described is facilitated by the fact that the tongue 26 is situated, with regard to the facilitated tear line 22, on the side of the line corresponding to the portion of sealing foil 14 that is removed from the package.

Of course, without prejudice to the underlying principle of the invention, production details and embodiments may be widely varied with regard to what is described and illustrated, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention, as defined by the attached claims. In particular, it will be appreciated that the solution described here lends itself to a situation in which the sealing foil 14 is in any case provided with an area of facilitated perforation to introduce a drinking straw into the package 10 so as to enable the beverage to be sucked according to traditional usage.

Claims

1. Package for beverages, comprising:

-- a beaker body (12) to contain a beverage (B), said beaker body presenting a mouth part (12a), and

-- a sealing foil (14) that closes and seals said mouth part (12a) of said beaker body (12), characterised in that: said sealing foil (14) is provided with a facilitated tear line (22) that extends between two end points of a portion of the contour of said mouth part (12a) of the beaker body such as to outline, together with said contour portion, an opening for the delivery of said beverage (B) , and — said sealing foil (14) is provided, in correspondence with one of said two end points of the facilitated tear line (22), with a tongue (26) capable of being subjected to traction so as to:

— trigger the tearing of the sealing foil (14), and cause the tear to continue along said facilitated tear line (22) with corresponding removal of the part of the sealing foil (14) included between said facilitated tear line (22) and said contour portion of said mouth part (12a), so as to open said opening for the delivery of said beverage (B) .

2. Package according to claim 1, characterised in that a protective sheet (24) capable of being pulled by said traction tongue (26) is superimposed over said sealing foil (14) in such a manner as to uncover the underlying sealing foil (14) and enable the user to drink said beverage (B) through said supply opening, with the consumer's mouth resting on parts of said sealing foil (14) hitherto protected by said protective sheet (24) .

3. Package according to claim 2, characterised in that said protective sheet (24) is of plastic material, preferably transparent.

4. Package according to claim 2 or claim 3, characterised in that said protective sheet (24) is of polyester, PET or similar.

5. Package according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that:

-- said sealing foil (14) comprises at least two layers (16, 18, 20) with one layer (20) situated, in the sphere of a stratified structure of said sealing foil (14), towards the outside of the package (10), and

— said facilitated tear line (22) is provided in said external layer (20) .

6. Package according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that said sealing foil (14) comprises a core layer of metallic material (16), such as aluminium, coupled, on the side facing toward said beaker body (12), to a layer of weldable material (18) welded to said beaker body (12) in correspondence with said mouth part (12a) .

7. Package according to claim 6, characterised in that said weldable material (18) is identical or similar to the material constituting said mouth part (12a) of said beaker body (12) .

8. Package according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that said facilitated tear line (22) has a substantially straight pathway.

9. Package according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that said facilitated tear line (22) extends in a substantially chord-like direction with regard to the contour of the mouth part (12a) of said beaker body (12) .

10. Package according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that said facilitated tear line (22) is a continuous line.

11. Package according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that said facilitated tear line (22) is a line of weakened material, preferably obtained through application of a laser beam.

12. Package according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that said tongue (26) is situated, with regard to said facilitated tear line (22), on the side of the line (22) corresponding to the portion of the sealing foil (14) that is removed from the package.

13. Package according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that said tongue- (26) forms, in correspondence with said one . of said two end points of the facilitated tear line (22), a sharp angle (α) with the adjacent part of the edge of said sealing foil (14) .

14. Package according to claim 13, characterised in that said sharp angle (a) is an acute angle.

15. Package according to claim 14, characterised in that said acute angle (α) has a value included between approximately 10° and 60°, preferably of around 45°.