EP0428891B1 - Package, for free-flowing goods, whose parts consist of plastic - Google Patents

Abstract

A package for free-flowing goods is described which has tubular side walls (1, 1'), a bottom and a top wall (6, 6') and a closable pouring device (7), all the parts of the package consisting of plastic. <??>For inexpensive manufacture, good stackability and a reliably tight and easy-to-open closure, provision is made according to the invention for two shell-type parts (I, II), forming in each case a whole side wall (3') of two opposite and adjacent half side wall parts (1') in each case, half a bottom part and half a top wall part (6') with half a pouring device (7-9), to be sealed in each case individually with a plastic film, resting on the edge (13) and projecting outwards in the form of a ridge (15), and bonded together, for the cylinder edge (8) of the pouring device (7) to extend beyond the web (15) of the plastic film (14) onto both shell-type parts (I, II), and for the thickness of the plastic film to be 0.01 to 0.5 times, preferably about 0.1 times, the thickness of the shell-type parts. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a package for flowable filling material with a tube-forming side walls, bottom and top wall and with a closable pouring device, all parts of the package being made of plastic and each of two shell-shaped parts each having a whole side wall, two respectively opposing adjacent fractional side wall parts forms a fragmentary bottom part and a fragmentary upper wall part and is provided with a flange-like edge on the outer circumference of the shell-shaped part and wherein both shell-shaped parts are connected to one another.

Packings for liquids, e.g. Milk packs are commercially available. In general, you need complex processes and energy for your production if the function should also be reliable for the end user. The consumption of plastic is often considerable, so that such packages are reluctant to use as disposable items or single-use packaging. With exceptions, for example when granular solids are to be packaged, simpler pouring devices and closures can be used to reduce manufacturing costs and material consumption. Then, however, liquids cannot be filled and packaged, so that the scope of such packs is too limited. Still other packs have lids specially designed by injection molding, deep-drawing or other known manufacturing processes for the processing of plastics, which are production-related and exclude a good possibility of stacking.

From DE-A-1 536 099 a pack of the type mentioned at the outset is known, provided that the known pack is tilted by 90 °. Nevertheless, the known package would not be stable even when it was tipped. The wall parts forming the bottom of such a tilted package should have a different inclination. The flange-like edge surrounding the outer circumference of the respective shell-shaped part is particularly disruptive with regard to the installation of the known pack in the tilted state. Tilting and correspondingly changing the known container therefore certainly requires imagination for the average specialist, which is probably due to concerns among the vast number of experts is outweighed. However, if you ignore this, the expert will recognize the difficulties of stacking, because both the filling and pouring device protrude beyond the outer contour of the pack, because they are at least a little way beyond the level of the wall in question. In the known solution, the conversion located in the adjacent pack has deep-drawn recesses into which the protruding parts of the pouring and filling device protrude. If you fill the well-known pack through the narrow filler neck, it will obviously take a relatively long time.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the known package of the type mentioned at the outset in such a way that it can be filled more quickly and, while maintaining a reliably tight seal and easy opening, there is better use of space when stacking, with the production of minimal material can be made cheaper.

To achieve this object, it is provided according to the invention that each shell-shaped part on the fractional top wall part has a fraction, an approximately cylindrical pouring device, and is sealed on the edge with a plastic film resting on the edge in the form of a web, projecting over parts of the container forest the approximately cylindrical-shaped closing edge of the pouring device extends to both bowl-shaped parts, that the web does not extend into the bottom, and that the thickness of the plastic film is 0.01 to 0.5 times, preferably about 0.1 times the thickness of is bowl-shaped parts. By closing the shell-shaped parts by the plastic film lying on them, the filling can take place before the two shell-shaped parts are brought together to form the packing unit, with the advantage that the filling time can be shortened considerably. The correspondingly designed pouring device can thereby be manufactured more simply and more cheaply in such a way that the stackability is improved and reliably sealed closing devices can be provided which are easy to open. The material thickness of the packing walls can be kept low, because the protruding edge in connection with the plastic film placed through it runs through the center of the packing like a stiffening frame. With the measures according to the invention, the task can be solved completely, and it is possible to process suitable plastic material with justifiable low manufacturing costs as well as a correspondingly favorable design, which can be made easy to stack even with a reliably sealing and easy-to-open pouring device.

If we speak of two parts in the shape of a bowl (bowl-shaped), then here is the one In the form of a tub, a mug, a pot or a pan, it is only important that a vessel or container is created with which essential parts of the package are formed. It may be preferred to connect two approximately evenly shaped bowl-shaped parts with each other, so that each shell part ultimately makes up about half of the package, but you can also move the dividing line between the two shell-shaped parts so that one part is a third and that other part makes up two thirds of the package volume and the like. For this reason we speak of "fractional" side wall parts, bottom parts and the like. Each shell-shaped part thus forms an entire side wall, adjoining two opposite side wall parts, a bottom part and an upper wall part, only part of the pouring device being formed on the respective upper wall part, for example by deep drawing or injection molding and for example half a pouring device on a half upper wall part. As with an essentially quadrangular shell, the bottom of this shell forms the entire side wall, while the four edges of this shell are formed by the bottom part and the opposite upper wall part on the one hand and by a fractional (e.g. half) adjacent side wall part and the opposite fractional side wall part.

A person skilled in the art can well imagine that when two shell-shaped parts of this type are joined together, an overall space can be created which is then closed on all sides. The connection of the two shell-shaped parts sealed by the plastic film results in the complete package. The fragmented side wall parts complete the relevant other side walls; the fragmentary bottom parts complement each other to the bottom of the pack; and the fragmentary top wall parts complement the top wall of the pack.

In terms of production technology, it is particularly advantageous if the shell-shaped parts are sealed together before they are connected to one another, preferably in a liquid-tight manner, for example by welding. Especially when deep-drawable plastic material is used for the production of the package, it has a certain thickness, without which deep-drawing is not possible. On the other hand, welding a relatively thick plastic sheet is extremely difficult to carry out because a quite large volume of plastic material has to be heated through and through. Known packs made from shell halves therefore required excessive effort to combine and manufacture the entire pack. According to the invention, the respective shell-shaped part is surprisingly closed individually in the manner described above by a plastic film, which is welded onto the edges of the bowl-shaped part, for example. The thickness of the plastic film can be considerably smaller than that of the bowl-shaped part, so that the passage of heat onto the edge of the bowl-shaped part is possible with little effort and, consequently, the production is considerably cheaper.

In particular, liquid packs are filled as much as possible during manufacture, and so far it has seemed impossible to a person skilled in the art to seal shell-shaped parts first with a plastic film, because he believed that afterwards the pack had to be opened again with particular effort and then closed again.

However, if, as is taught above according to the invention, the cylinder edge of the pouring device is arranged in such a way that it extends over the web of the plastic film onto both shell-shaped parts, then simple and quick opening and subsequent reclosure is possible. On each side of the plastic film there is therefore a part of the pouring device which, viewed from one side in the direction of the main plane of the plastic film, can be easily opened and subsequently closed again.

The finished pouring device consists in any case of, for example, an externally threaded cylinder rim, which is formed on the top wall or connected to it in such a way that the inner volume of the shell-shaped part - on each side of the plastic film - is filled by this cylinder rim, which is open to the outside, and can be emptied. The cylinder edge thus has a pouring opening towards the outside and is connected towards the inside with the respective volume of the shell-shaped part without the plastic film running between them having a functional breakdown. For closing the pouring opening can be used in a conventional manner, a screw cap or the like.

It is also expedient according to the invention if the web of the plastic film projecting beyond the edge of the shell-shaped part is cut off together with the said edge in the region of the pouring device and is otherwise laid twice and folded over onto the surface of the package. Since each bowl-shaped part is sealed liquid-tight by a plastic film and thus the plastic film protrudes over at least some edges of the bowl-shaped part, the result is a double-layered edge plus film web when connecting both bowl-shaped parts, but this can be folded over onto the surface of the package without difficulty . This not only makes the pack more stackable and more practical to use, it also gives it a more appealing look. In the area of the pouring device, the edge and the applied web of the plastic film are cut off, e.g. such that the entire outer surface of the cylinder rim is free without a web, e.g. to apply a cap or other sealing part in a sealing manner.

Due to the different thicknesses of the materials for the shell-shaped parts with the pouring device on the one hand and the plastic film on the other hand, all welding and cutting processes in connection with the plastic film or its webs are without technical problems.

The manufacture is further simplified by the fact that the edge of the shell-shaped part and the web of the plastic film projecting thereon move the surface of the pack in a U-shape from one side wall over the top wall to the opposite side wall in the middle and in each case at the edge between the side wall and Bottom folded over on itself. It is useful, for example, the floor without one to leave such plastic film web flat, because then the production of both shell-shaped parts in one piece is possible in such a way that the two parts are and remain hinged together via the respective base part. It is then sufficient, for example, to place a single overall plastic film over both shell-shaped parts during manufacture and to weld it in a sealing manner without its edge (that would be a web of the plastic film) protruding from the bottom in the region of the base. In this particularly preferred embodiment, the web of the plastic film and the thicker edge do not run around the package completely, for example over 360 ° or over all four sides of the package, if this is intended to be cut in the plane of the plastic film, but rather in a U-shape only on three sides, where the web forms a U and is arranged protruding over the edge of each shell-shaped part. The long legs of the U can then be compared to the opposite side walls and the short web of the U connecting these long legs to the top wall.

In an advantageous further embodiment of the invention, the pouring device is arranged deep in a recess opposite the top wall. Whether the plastic material, which without e.g. Cardboard or paper forms the actual wall of the entire package, is deep-drawn or injection-molded, in any case, the pouring device can be accommodated in the recess in the area of the top wall in such a way that even the most outstanding cap, a handle, a hinge or the like does not have the overall outer contour of the pack and in particular does not protrude beyond the outermost surface of the top wall. This makes the pack stackable and easy to handle when repackaging.

According to the invention, it is also advantageous if both shell-shaped parts are covered, closed by a single plastic film, and are connected in an articulated manner via an edge, which acts as a hinge, between the fractional base parts of the base. As a result, the packaging is easier to fill, the filling process being carried out before the plastic film is finally sealed onto the edge of the shell-shaped parts, preferably in a considerably shorter time than if the filling were to be carried out through a small filling opening. Furthermore, the fastening of the plastic film on the edge of the two shell-shaped parts stiffens the subsequent pack because both filled and sealed shell-shaped parts that are sealed to the outside are folded together along the edge acting as a hinge and combined to form the pack. The plastic film reinforces the supporting effect of the edge, which moves the pack in a U-shape like a stiffening frame. This U is open in the area of the edge acting as a hinge.

The invention is expediently further designed in that the bottom of the bottom toward the edge increasingly deeper recesses having. In the finished pack, the outer contour of the base is nevertheless flat, in order to give the pack a good footprint. This level is interrupted by the recesses mentioned, which can be notch-like depressions, for example. This in no way suffers the stability of the pack, but on the other hand, the tool can be made more stable, particularly in the preferred embodiment in which the pack is formed from two approximately equally sized shell-shaped parts which are connected in the area of the base in a hinge-like manner described above - are coupled with each other and are therefore processed at the same time in the production essentially and with the same measures.

For convenient handling by the end user, it is expedient if at least two opposite side walls each have a gripping recess. This creates a practical handle that is comfortable for the hand in the form of a recess, without the handle exceeding the outer contour of the package and therefore interfering with repackaging.

Furthermore, it is expedient according to the invention if the plastic material of the pack is thermoformable, preferably a thermoplastic, especially polypropene. PVC can serve as a thermoplastic, for example, and polypropene is also widely known in the art as polypropylene.

When using such plastic materials, at least one and preferably both shell-shaped parts can be deep-drawn. Such plastic materials are processed in the form of foils, sheets or sheets. The new package then consists of perfectly reusable parts (in contrast to composite materials).

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the polypropene can also be filled, with chalk, mica, talc, gypsum or the like being intended as fillers here. In practice, filling levels of around 60% have proven to be favorable. Furthermore, it has been shown that such filled plastic materials are deep-drawable and also sealable.

Figur 1

perspektivisch die Ansicht von der Seite schräg von oben und hinten mit weiter vorn angeordneter Ausgießeinrichtung,

Figur 2

eine Darstellung der beiden schalenförmigen Teile nach dem Verschließen mit der Kunststoffolie und vor dem Verbinden miteinander, während die Ausgießeinrichtung dem Betrachter zugewandt ist,

Figur 3

bei Betrachter abgewandter Ausgießeinrichtung eine ähnliche Darstellung wie in Figur 2, wobei die beiden schalenförmigen Teile scharnierartig am Boden miteinander verbunden sind und zwar durch die Kunststoffolie flüssigkeitsdicht verschlossen, noch nicht aber miteinander verbunden sind,

Figur 4

eine Ansicht der noch auseinandergeklappt gezeigten schalenförmigen Teile von der Bodenseite her, welcher kerbartige Vertiefungen zeigt,

Figur 5

die vollständig in eine Ebene auseinandergeklappten beiden schalenförmigen Teile, die mit der Kunststoffolie flüssigkeitsdicht verschlossen sind,

Figur 6

eine ähnliche Darstellung wie Figur 5, jedoch von der anderen, nämlich äußeren Seite der Packung,

Figur 7

perspektivisch die Draufsicht auf eine anders geformte aber ähnliche Flüssigkeitspackung,

Figur 8

eine abgebrochene und schematische Perspektive auf einen schalenförmigen Teil oben mit Ausgießeinrichtung und

Figur 9

eine Schnittansicht entlang der Linie IX-IX der Figur 7.

Further advantages, advantageous features and possible uses of the present invention result from the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments in conjunction with the drawings. Show it:

Figure 1

perspective the view from the side obliquely from above and behind with pouring device arranged further forward,

Figure 2

a representation of the two shell-shaped parts after closing with the plastic film and before connecting to each other while the pouring device is facing the viewer,

Figure 3

a view similar to that shown in FIG. 2 when the pouring device is turned away, the two shell-shaped parts being connected to one another in a hinge-like manner on the bottom, specifically by the plastic film, but not yet connected to one another,

Figure 4

2 shows a view of the shell-shaped parts which are still unfolded from the bottom, showing notch-like depressions,

Figure 5

the two shell-shaped parts which are completely unfolded into one plane and are sealed liquid-tight with the plastic film,

Figure 6

a representation similar to Figure 5, but from the other, namely the outer side of the pack,

Figure 7

perspective the top view of a different shape but similar liquid pack,

Figure 8

a broken and schematic perspective of a bowl-shaped part above with pouring device and

Figure 9

a sectional view taken along the line IX-IX of Figure 7.

The in the individual figures in different embodiments and partially still unfinished pack has four tubular side walls, namely the below and next to the pouring device arranged front narrow side wall 1, which is composed of the two front half side wall parts 1 '; the rear narrow side wall 2, which is composed of the rear half side wall parts 2 '; a large side wall 3 and opposite a large side wall 4; the bottom 5, which is composed of two half floor parts 5 '; and the top wall 6 with the pouring device generally designated 7, the top wall also being composed of two halves of the top wall 6 '.

The pouring device 7 essentially consists of a cylinder rim 8, which is freely connected to the inside of the package as shown in FIG. 8 and has a pouring opening 9 to the outside as shown in FIG. 7, which has a cap after filling and complete or partial emptying 10 is closed, which can be closed, for example, via a thread 11. In the section of FIG. 9, part of the thread 11 can be seen inside the cap 10 and at the top an annular seal 12, with the aid of which the closure cap 10 is able to close the pouring opening 9 in a liquid-tight manner.

When studying the figures, the viewer recognizes that the entire package is composed of two shell-shaped parts I and II, which have approximately the same volume, so that in the case of a liquid package with the volume of one liter, half a liter of liquid can be accommodated in each bowl-shaped part.

The unfilled and open bowl-shaped part I or II is not shown here, but the viewer and reader can well imagine how each part is provided with an edge 13 on the upper outer circumference, which in the illustration in FIG. 8 is shown as a circumferential, flange-like one Edge of the same material thickness or thickness is shown as the shell-shaped part I or II is made. A plastic film 14 is welded onto this flange-like and circumferentially U-shaped edge 13 of the shell-shaped part I or II in such a way that it lies flat on the edge 13 of the respective shell-shaped part I or II in the form of a web 15. As a result, the entire shell-shaped part I or II is liquid-tightly closed, namely welded, because the plastic film 14, for example, which is thinner by an order of magnitude, can be very easily sealed onto the thicker flange-like edge 13 of the shell-shaped part I or II. This creates a web 15 through the combination of edge 13 and plastic film 14. After the joining of FIG. 3 to the state of FIG. 2 and finally to the state of the finished package according to FIG Pack folded. In the embodiment described here, the surface is the narrow side wall 1, the cover 6 and the opposite narrow side wall 2.

While the gripping recesses 16 in the opposite large side walls 3 and 4 on the one hand and also the top wall recess 17 for the lower-lying arrangement of the pouring device 7 are of secondary importance according to the invention, a special consideration of FIGS. 7 to 9 is recommended. although this one Abstracted embodiment other than that of Figure 1, the viewer recognizes the cut strip 15 in the region of the pouring device 7, which ends in particular in front of and behind the cylinder edge 8.

The cylinder edge 8 itself has a weld seam 18 in line with the web 15 of the plastic film 14 because it is composed of two half-ring parts.

In FIG. 8, such a half ring for forming the cylinder edge 8 is shown in dashed lines behind the plastic film 14 and is shown closed with a semicircular plate 19. FIG. 8 thus clearly shows the edge 20 of the shell-shaped part II, represented by a double dashed line, which merges into the U-shaped attachment edge 21 in the region of the later pouring opening 7. The entire space, including the semi-cylindrical projection 22 in FIG. 8, which later results in the pouring device 7 or the cylinder rim 8, can be filled with filling material and closed by the plastic film 14.

In the transition from the state of Figure 8 to that of Figure 9, i.e. to complete the package, only the semicircular plate 19 needs to be removed, so that the pouring opening 9 results, which is in no way impaired by the foils 14 ultimately crossing the cylinder edge 8, not even with regard to the function.

It can be seen particularly clearly from FIG. 5 that both shell-shaped parts I and II are covered by a single plastic film 4, so that when folded over the state of FIG. 4 according to FIG. 3 according to FIG. 2 and ultimately for the finished pack of FIG. 1, both parts like a hinge along the edge 23 of the bottom 5 between the bottom parts 5 'are articulated. The floor 5 receives the flat overall shape only after the two shell-shaped parts I and II have been connected to one another, so that the pack has a flat standing surface. Nevertheless, the base 5 does not actually have to be flat, without exception, but in a preferred embodiment it can have notch-like depressions or recesses 25 from the central edge 23 of the base 5 outwards to its respective end edge 24.

It is particularly favorable if the two shell-shaped parts I and II are connected to one another along the edges 13 and 15 via holes or notches because, in addition to the adhesive effect, they also provide a positive connection between the two shell-shaped parts I, II.

Claims (8)

1. Package for flowable contents with a side wall (1-4), base (5) and top (6) forming a tube shape and with a closeable pouring apparatus (7), wherein all parts (1-7) of the package are made from plastics material and each of two dish-shaped parts (I, II) respectively forms one complete side wall (3; 4), two opposite, adjacent partial side wall parts (1', 2') a partial base part (5') and a partial top part (6'), and is provided with a flange-like rim (13) on the external periphery of the dish-shaped part (I, II) and wherein the two dish-shaped parts (I, II) are connected to one another, characterised in that each dish-shaped part (I, II) is provided with a part of an approximately cylindrical pouring apparatus (7-9) on the partial top part (6'), and is closed with plastics foil (14) lying on the rim (13), projecting outwards over parts of the container wall, in the form of a tab (15), that the approximately cylindrical closure rim (8) of the pouring apparatus (7) extends into both dish-shaped parts (I, II), that the tab (15) does not extend into the base (5) and that the thickness of the plastics foil (14) is 0.01 to 0.5 times, preferably 0.1 times the thickness of the dish-shaped part (I, II).
2. Package according to claim 1, characterised in that the tab (15) of the plastics foil (14) lying on the rim (13) of the dish-shaped part (I, II) is cut off together with the rim (13) in the area of the pouring apparatus (7) and otherwise is doubled and is laid on the surface (1, 6, 2) of the package.
3. Package according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the rim (13) of the dish-shaped part (I, II) and the tab (15) of the plastics foil (14) lying thereon follows the surface (1, 6, 2) of the package centrally in a U-shape from one side wall (1) via the top (6) to the opposite side wall (2) and finishes, folded around itself, on the edge (24) between side wall (1, 2) and base (5).
4. Package according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the pouring apparatus (7) is arranged to lie more deeply, in a recess, than the top (6).
5. Package according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that both dish-shaped parts (I, II) are covered in a closed manner by a single piece of plastics foil (14) and are connected together in an articulated manner by means of an edge (23) between the parts (5') of the base (5) acting as a hinge.
6. Package according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the base (5) is provided with recesses (25) which become deeper towards the edge (24).
7. Package according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that at least two opposite side walls (3, 4) are provided with a grip recess (16).
8. Package according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the plastics material of the package can be deep-drawn, and is preferably a thermoplastic material, particularly polypropylene.

Images