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
  • B65D1/00—Containers having bodies formed in one piece, e.g. by casting metallic material, by moulding plastics, by blowing vitreous material, by throwing ceramic material, by moulding pulped fibrous material, by deep-drawing operations performed on sheet material
  • B65D1/02—Bottles or similar containers with necks or like restricted apertures, designed for pouring contents
  • B65D1/0223—Bottles or similar containers with necks or like restricted apertures, designed for pouring contents characterised by shape
  • B65D1/0292—Foldable bottles
• • 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
  • B65D83/0094—Containers having an external wall formed as, or with, a diaphragm or the like which is deformed to expel the contents

Definitions

• the present invention concerns a collapsible lightweight container, in particular a container suitable for packing and dispensing non flowable food products.
• non-flowable products it is meant products which do not flow, or hardly flow under their own weight.
• dairy semi-liquid or pasty products for instance yogurts with or without fruit pieces and the like. It should be however understood that the present invention applies to all non flowable food products.
• collapsible containers exist, they are most of the time directed to large volumes, and therefore not applicable in the case of small food portions.
• collapsible containers their internal volume cannot be sufficiently reduced by collapsing the container body, so as to allow forcing the remaining of a small food portion out of the container.
• the present invention provides a container suitable for packing and dispensing a non flowable viscous food product, said container comprising a collapsible container body and a container neck with a dispensing opening, said container body having an internal volume V1 when said body is in fully compressed configuration and an internal volume V2 when said body is in a fully expanded configuration, characterized in that said container is manufactured by injection- blowing process out of a thermoplastic material chosen from the list comprising: polyethyleneterephtalate (PET), polyethylenenaphtalate (PEN), polyethyleneterephtalateglycol (PETG), polypropylene (PP), or a combination thereof, said body walls have a thickness not higher than 100 ⁇ m, and the ratio V1/V2 is lower than, or equal to, 0.05.
• a thermoplastic material chosen from the list comprising: polyethyleneterephtalate (PET), polyethylenenaphtalate (PEN), polyethyleneterephtalateglycol (PETG), polypropylene (
• said container body comprises two halves, the lower half being so flexible and shaped as to be foldable upwards into the upper half, in order to collapse entirely said container body.
• the said lower half of the container body comprises at least one helical groove and/or at least one helical ridge extending at least once around the whole circumference of said container body.
• said container body comprises a plurality of flexible bellows that allow collapsing of the container body along an axis that is substantially coaxial with the longitudinal axis of the container.
• Said non flowable food product can have a viscosity index of 1000 to 50000 centipoises, preferably 3000 to 35000 centipoises, measured by the Brookfield measurement method.
• the said non flowable food product is a chilled, a frozen or shelf-stable dairy product, or an ice-cream, soft ice cream, or culinary food product.
• Figure 1 is a schematic profile view of a first embodiment of the invention
• Figure 2 is a schematic profile view of a second embodiment of the invention ;
• Figure 3 is a bottom view of the container shown in figure 2 ;
• Figure 4 is a schematic profile, partially cut, view of the container shown in figure 2, said container being in a collapsed configuration.
• the present invention concerns a container 1 suitable for packing and dispensing a non flowable viscous dairy product like a yogurt with fruit pieces, which has a viscosity index of about 10000 to 35000 centipoises.
• the container 1 comprises a collapsible container body 2 and a container neck 3 with a dispensing opening 4.
• the whole container is manufactured by blowing in a mould an injected preform that is made out of polyethyleneterephtalate (PET).
• PET polyethyleneterephtalate
• the container 1 can be set in a first configuration wherein the said container body 2 is fully expanded and has an internal volume V2.
• the container body 2 can be collapsed.
• the container body 2 has an internal volume V1.
• the container walls have a thickness not higher than 100 ⁇ m, so that the whole container has a particularly low weight. Also, according to the invention, the ratio of the internal volumes of the container body between the fully collapsed and fully expanded configuration, V1A/2, is about 0.03.
• the whole container body profile has a generally frusto-conical shape and a series of bellows
• figure 2 that illustrates a second embodiment of the invention, it can be seen that the lower half of the container body 2 has symmetrically the same cross section - up to the functional play - than the upper half, so that said lower half can be turned outside in, to exactly fit the upper half of said container body, as illustrated in figure 4.
• the lower half of the container body comprises one helical ridge 6 extending all around the whole circumference of said container body from the flat bottom part 7 of the container body 2, up to the top part 8 of the lower half of said container body, as shown in figure 3.
• the said container body comprises two halves, the lower half being so flexible as to be foldable upwards into the upper half, in order to collapse entirely said container body.
• the said container is meant to be formed, then filled in its fully expanded configuration, and then closed, for instance by means of a screw cap that is screwed onto the neck.
• the consumer unscrews the cap to open the container, and then consume the contents by pressure on the container, collapsing the container body by applying a small pressure onto the container top and lower ends, so that the internal volume of the container body that is left is just sufficient to contain the rest of the product. Then the container can be closed again until the next use.
• the consumer can use the collapsing effect to reduce as a minimum the internal volume of the container body and therefore force the viscous product remaining inside the container out. Due to the minimal volume inside the body when the container is fully collapsed, the consumer can be sure that almost the entire amount of product as labelled is dispensed and consumable. Basically, one can consider that the internal volume of the container that cannot be collapsed, corresponds to the volume of the neck. This maximises the appearance of the container and indicates to the amount of product remaining in the container to the consumer.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Ceramic Engineering (AREA)
• Containers Having Bodies Formed In One Piece (AREA)
• Packages (AREA)
• Packging For Living Organisms, Food Or Medicinal Products That Are Sensitive To Environmental Conditiond (AREA)
• Containers And Packaging Bodies Having A Special Means To Remove Contents (AREA)
• Tubes (AREA)
• Vehicle Step Arrangements And Article Storage (AREA)
• Lighting Device Outwards From Vehicle And Optical Signal (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (10)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (18)

Citations (3)

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• 2007
  • 2007-02-06 ES ES07101790T patent/ES2341298T3/es active Active
  • 2007-02-06 DE DE602007005595T patent/DE602007005595D1/de active Active
  • 2007-02-06 PT PT07101790T patent/PT1955954E/pt unknown
  • 2007-02-06 AT AT07101790T patent/ATE462655T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2007-02-06 EP EP07101790A patent/EP1955954B1/en not_active Not-in-force
• 2008
  • 2008-01-31 AU AU2008213001A patent/AU2008213001B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2008-01-31 MX MX2009008112A patent/MX2009008112A/es active IP Right Grant
  • 2008-01-31 EP EP08708479A patent/EP2109568A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2008-01-31 WO PCT/EP2008/051165 patent/WO2008095849A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2008-01-31 BR BRPI0807129-2A2A patent/BRPI0807129A2/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2008-01-31 US US12/525,924 patent/US20100140294A1/en not_active Abandoned

Patent Citations (3)

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