WO2009064232A1

WO2009064232A1 - A liquid receptacle of 'bag-in-box'-type

Info

Publication number: WO2009064232A1
Application number: PCT/SE2007/050852
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anders HÖÖGS
Original assignee: Sca Packaging Sweden Ab; Lundh, Camilla; Wernersson, Lennart; Petersson, Per-Olof; Flensmo, Stellan
Priority date: 2007-11-15
Filing date: 2007-11-15
Publication date: 2009-05-22

Abstract

The present invention relates to a liquid receptacle (1) of type 'Bag-in-Box', including an inner, air-tight container (2) of flexible material disposed in an outer container (3) of a relatively stiff material, and having a tap (4) for delivering liquid from said inner container, said outer container having an opening in a lower part thereof through which said tap can be brought out of the outer container when liquid is to be delivered for the first time. According to the invention a level indicator (11, 6) is arranged on the liquid receptacle (1).

Description

A liquid receptacle of "Bag-in-Box"-type.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a liquid receptacle of type "Bag-in-Box", including an inner, air-tight container of flexible material disposed in an outer container of a stiff material having a top wall, a bottom wall and vertical side walls, a tap for delivering liquid from said inner container being affixed to a front wall of said inner container, said outer container having a pre-cut opening in a lower part thereof through which said tap can be brought out of the outer container when liquid is to be delivered for the first time.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In receptacles of "Bag-in-Box" type, the outer container is usually made of cardboard or corrugated cardboard and the inner container of a flexible material. Thereby the outer container can be given an attractive appearance and the inner container having a less attractive appearance is not visible for the user. However, this invisibility of the inner container means also that there is no visual indication of how much liquid there is left in the inner container after a certain use of the receptacle. The liquid left in the receptacle can be estimated by lifting the receptacle up and determine by the weight thereof how much liquid is left. Such a determination is very inaccurate. If an accurate determination is to be made the outer container has to be opened and the inner container must be taken out of the outer container. This is a rather troublesome operation and after such an accurate determination of the liquid left in the inner container, the attractive appearance of the receptacle is at least to some extent destroyed. There is thus a need for a liquid receptacle of "Bag-in-Box" type in which the liquid level in the inner container can be determined with adequate accuracy without having to open the outer container and take out the inner container therefrom.

The objective of the present invention is to fulfil this need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This objective is accomplished by liquid receptacle of type "Bag-in-Box", including an inner, air-tight container of flexible material disposed in an outer container of a stiff material having a top wall, a bottom wall and vertical side walls, a tap for delivering liquid from said inner container being affixed to a front wall of said inner container, said outer container having a pre-cut opening in a lower part thereof through which said tap can be brought out of the outer container when liquid is to be delivered for the first time, characterised in that a level indicator is arranged in the liquid receptacle.

According to a preferred embodiment a planar sheet is affixed to the upper wall of the inner container and an oblong, vertical pre-cut opening is present in a side wall of the outer container. Preferably, said vertical pre-cut opening is present in a side wall of the outer container being different from the wall having the pre-cut opening for the tap.

The planar sheet has a shape corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the outer container and a recess is preferably made therein in the side thereof facing the side of the inner container from which the tap protrude out of the opening in the outer container when the receptacle is made ready for use. Furthermore, the planar sheet is dimensioned and affixed to the inner container in such a way that the edges of said sheet is distanced from the walls of the outer container and each edge of said planar sheet is preferablydistanced from an adjacent wall of the outer container by a distance of 1-10 mm.

The planar sheet is preferably adhesively bonded to the upper wall of the inner container. Alternatively, the planar sheet can be affixed to the upper wall of the inner container by heat welding if made of a weldable material.

In a second preferred embodiment, the planar sheet has the shape of a frame extending along the edge portions of the upper wall of said inner container.

Said oblong opening is to advantage closed by an easily openable piece of material before use of the level indicator. Said piece of material closing said oblong opening can in a variant be hinged to side wall of the outer container containing said opening.

Said oblong hole can be covered by a transparent film, and a scale can extend along said oblong opening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the enclosed figures, of which;

fig. 1 schematically discloses a perspective view of an inner container of a receptacle of "Bag-in-Box" type provided with a first element of a level indicator according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, fig. 2 schematically discloses a perspective view of an outer container of a receptacle of "Bag-in-Box" type provided with a second element of a level indicator according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, and

fig. 3 schematically discloses a perspective view of the receptacle after dispensing of liquid from the inner container and with a part of the outer container being cut.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In figures 1-3, a liquid receptacle 1 of a so called "Bag-in-Box" type according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is schematically shown. The receptacle 1 includes an inner container 2, se especially figure 1 , and an outer container 3, see especially figure 2, both container having the shape of a parallelepiped, the inner container 2 fitting into the outer container 3.

As is known for this type of receptacle, a tap 4 for dispensing of liquid from the inner container 2 is disposed thereon and protrude from near the lower edge of a front wall of the inner container. The outer container 3 is provided with a pre-cut opening (not shown in the figures) through which the tap 4 can be brought out of the outer container. Before use of the receptacle 1 , this opening is closed by a piece of material which easily can be removed by the user when liquid is to be delivered from the receptacle. The wall of the inner container from which the tap protrude and the wall of the outer container provided with said opening for the tap 4 is in the present application denominated the front wall of the inner container and outer container, respectively. A handle 5 is provided on the outer container 3 and projects from the upper wall thereof.

The inner container 2 is in the disclosed embodiment made of a plastic film or the like flexible material and is air-tight and the outer container is made of cardboard or corrugated cardboard.

The receptacle 1 so far described corresponds to known receptacles of the "Bag-in-Box" type and the function thereof and how such receptacles are to be handled is well known and need not be described further.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention a planar sheet 6 of a stiff material is affixed to the upper wall 7 of the inner container 2. Preferably, the sheet 6 is made of cardboard or corrugated cardboard but other materials having a stiffness equal with or greater than cardboard can be used. The sheet 6 has a size and general shape corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the outer container 3 but can be somewhat smaller. A recess 8 is present in the sheet 6. Said recess 8 is facing the front wall 9 of the inner container 2 and disposed so that its deepest portion will intersect a vertical plane perpendicular to the front and rear walls of the inner container 2 passing through the tap 4. Furthermore, all corners of the sheet 6 are bevelled and two recesses 15,16 extend in the part of sheet 6 opposite to the part including the recess 8 from the opposite corners in a direction towards each other. These recesses functions to accommodate a flap from a short side of the outer container affixed to the inner side of the rear wall 10 of the outer container 3 independently of how the sheet 6 is turned.

In figures 2 and 3, the receptacle 1 is shown with its rear side 10 facing the viewer. A vertical, oblong opening 11, see figure 3, is pre-cut in the rear wall 10 of the outer container 3 with the aid of an interrupted cutting line 14. The oblong opening 11 constitutes together with the planar sheet 6 a level indicator enabling a viewer to observe the upper edge of the inner container 2 through the opening 11 when this opening is opened. In figure 3, the piece of material 12 closing the oblong opening 11 in the state shown in figure 2 has been removed. Due to the inner container 2 being air-tight, the inner volume of the inner container 2 will be reduced by the volume of the liquid that has been dispensed from the container. The position of the upper wall 7 of the inner container thereby indicates the amount of liquid remaining in the inner container 2. In the disclosed embodiment, the sheet 6 holds the upper wall 7 of the inner container 2 in an outstretched condition during the dispensing of the liquid therein. Thereby, it is ensured that the reduction of inner volume of the inner container due to dispensing of liquid will occur by bellow folds in the side walls of the inner container, as indicated in the rear wall 13 of the inner container seen in the oblong opening 11 in figure 3. The position of said sheet 6 which is easily observed through the opened oblong opening 11 , whereby an accurate measure of the amount of liquid remaining in the inner container 2 is given by the level indicator constituted by the opening 11 and the sheet 6. In order to make the visual determination of the amount of liquid remaining in the inner container 2 more easy, a scale (not shown) can be present in the wall 10 extending along the oblong opening 11. The stiffness of sheet 6 ensures that the sheet 6 will remain planar during dispensing of liquid from the inner container 2, whereby a very accurate determination of the position of the upper wall of the inner container 2 is possible.

The recess 8 in sheet 6 is needed for enabling the front wall 9 of the inner container 2 to deform freely without obstruction of the sheet 6 in the area around the tap 4, the area in which the tap is affixed to the front wall being stiff er than the rest of the front wall. As is evident from figures 2 and 3, the vertical oblong pre-cut opening 11 is extended over a large part of the height of the receptacle 1. Suitably, the length of the opening 11 could be between 50-70% of the height of the receptacle, the upper limit depending on the strength of the material of the outer container 3. The loads acting on the receptacle 1 are largest during transport and storage so it is an advantage to have the piece of material 12 closing the opening 11 during transport and storing.

It is of course possible to cut out the opening 11 already during manufacture of the receptacle and let a separate piece of material close the opening during transport and storing. Such a piece of material can have a higher strength than the material in the walls of the outer container, thereby enabling the oblong opening to have a length even grater than 70% of the height of the receptacle. Such a piece of material can have the form of a frame permanently affixed to the wall of the outer container or being hinged to said wall. A transparent film affixed to the wall of the outer container or to such a separate frame can cover the opening.

Since the function of the planar sheet 6 of stiff material is primarily to hold the upper wall 7 stretched out during the collapsing of the inner container 2 due to dispensing of liquid, it is of importance that it is affixed to the upper wall 7 along at least the edges of sheet 6. The affixing is preferably made by a layer of adhesive, preferably covering the whole area of sheet 6. However, other ways of affixing the sheet 6 can be used as long as the air-tightness of the inner container 2 is not jeopardized, for example heat welding if the sheet 6 is made of plastic material or other weldable materials or combination of materials. The planar sheet 6 is preferably dimensioned and affixed to the upper wall 7 of the inner container 2 in such a way that the edges of sheet 6 are distanced from the inner walls of the outer container 3. Thereby, there is no risk that the sheet 6 will continuously frictionally engage the inner walls of the outer container 3 and obstruct the downward movement of the upper wall 7 of the inner container 2 during dispensing of the liquid from the inner container 2. Neither is there a risk that friction forces will delaminate sheet 6 from the upper wall 7 of the inner container 2. For these reasons, each edge of said sheet 6 of stiff material is preferably distanced from an adjacent inner wall of the outer container 3 by a distance of 1 - 10 mm.

The sheet 6 is in the described embodiment affixed to the inner container 2 after this container have been filled with liquid. One way of affixing the sheet is the following. The outer container 3 is placed upside down with opened bottom wall and the sheet 6 is inserted into the empty outer container with a hot-melt adhesive coated on the underside thereof (which is turned upward since the outer container is upside down). The inner container 2 filled with liquid is then inserted into the outer container with its upper wall 7 turned down. Thereafter, the bottom wall of the outer container is closed and sealed. The weight of the liquid in the inner container 2 will press the upper wall 7 of this container onto the sheet 6 during hardening of the adhesive coated on the underside thereof.

It is of course also possible to place the sheet 6 coated with a layer of adhesive upon the upper wall 7 of the inner container after this container has been inserted into the outer container 3. The upper wall of the outer container 3 is then closed and sealed and the receptacle 1 then formed is turned upside down so that the weight of the liquid will act on the sheet 6 during hardening of the adhesive coating thereon. The sheet can of course be affixed to the inner container in other ways than described above. If the sheet, for example, is to be welded to the inner container this can be done before filling liquid into the inner container. In such a case the lower side of the inner container is closed after the filling of liquid into the container.

The disclosed embodiment can be modified in several ways without leaving the scope of invention, for example can the tap in the inner container and the hole therefore in the outer container be disposed on a short side of the parallelepipedic inner and outer containers instead of a long side thereof. The oblong opening in the rear wall of the outer container can be disposed in the front wall instead of the rear wall. In such a case, the oblong opening should preferably be located laterally offset from this hole in an area laterally offset of the recess located in the front portion of said sheet. The oblong opening can of course be located in any of the vertical side walls of the outer container. The receptacle and consequently the inner and outer container and the sheet can have other cross-sectional shapes than a generally rectangular shape, for example other polygonal shapes or even round or oval shapes. The piece of material covering the oblong opening before use of the level indicator constituted by this opening need not to be taken away but can remain hinged to the wall of the outer container and could in such case be swung back to cover the oblong opening after a visual determination of the amount of liquid remaining in the inner container. A scale can be arranged on the inside of such a swingable covering of the oblong opening instead of on the outside of the outer container. The sheet of stiff material need not cover the upper wall of the inner container, said sheet can for example have the shape of a frame. Furthermore, other materials that cardboard or corrugated cardboard can be used for the outer container. The materials of outer and inner container can also be a laminate of different materials. The scope of invention shall therefore only be restricted by the wording of the enclosed patent claims.

Claims

1. A liquid receptacle (1) of type "Bag-in-Box", including an inner, air-tight container (2) of flexible material disposed in an outer container (3) of a stiff material having a top wall, a bottom wall and vertical side walls, a tap (4) for delivering liquid from said inner container being affixed to a front wall of said inner container, said outer container having a pre-cut opening in a lower part thereof through which said tap can be brought out of the outer container when liquid is to be delivered for the first time, characterised in that a level indicator (11,6) is arranged in the liquid receptacle (1).

2. The receptacle (1) according to claim 1, wherein a planar sheet (6) is affixed to the upper wall (7) of the inner container and an oblong, vertical pre-cut opening (11) is present in a side wall (10) of the outer container.

3. The receptacle (1) according to claim 2, wherein said vertical pre-cut opening (11) is present in a side wall (10) of the outer container (3) being different from the wall having the pre-cut opening for the tap (4).

4. The receptacle (1) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the planar sheet (6) has a shape corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the outer container (3) and wherein a recess (8) is made therein in the side thereof facing the side (9) of the inner container (2) from which the tap (4) protrude out of the opening in the outer container (3) when the receptacle is made ready for use.

5. The receptacle (1) according to claim 4, wherein the planar sheet (6) is dimensioned and affixed to the inner container (2) in such a way that the edges of said sheet is distanced from the walls of the outer container (3).

6. The receptacle (1) according to claim 5, wherein each edge of said planar sheet (6) is distanced from an adjacent wall of the outer container (3) by a distance of 1 - 10 mm.

7. The receptacle (1) according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein the planar sheet (6) is adhesively bonded to the upper wall (7) of the inner container (2).

8. The receptacle (1) according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein the planar sheet (6) is affixed to the upper wall (7) of the inner container (2) by heat welding.

9. The receptacle according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein the planar sheet has the shape of a frame extending along the edge portions of the upper wall of said inner container.

10. The receptacle (1) according to any one of claims 1-9, wherein said oblong opening (11) is closed by an easily openable piece (12) of material before use of the level indicator (11,6).

11. The receptacle according to claim 10, wherein said piece of material closing said oblong opening is hinged to side wall of the outer container containing said opening.

12. The receptacle according to any one of claims 1-11, wherein said oblong hole is covered by a transparent film.

13. The receptacle according to any one of claims 1-12, wherein a scale extend along said oblong opening.