US2600069A - Food package - Google Patents

Description

June 10, 1952 w. MORRISON FOOD PACKAGE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jun 25, 1949 llllllllillllllllllllnl. D

sa. a x.

fnvenlor -127i] z'oZ L. Mor'P/son June 10, 1952 K WJ.. MORRISON FooD PACKAGE 3 Sheets-'Sheet 2 Filed Jun 25, 1949 June 1.0, 1952 w. L. MoRRxsoN FOOD PACKAGE Patented June 10, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FOOD PACKAGE Willard L. Morrison, Lake Forest, Ill.

Applicationl June 25, 1949, Serial No. 101,454

1 claim. 1

My invention relates to food containers and method of packing food and the like and has for one object to provide a package wherein evaporation and desiccation cannot take place.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for hermetically sealing food within a metal foil container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a means of packaging food that assures a uniform temperature throughout.

Another object is to provide a means of packaging food whereby refrigeration applied at one point of the group of packages will be transmitted throughout the group.

Other objects will appear from time to time in the course of the specification and claim.

My invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through the assembled containers and tote box;

Figure 2 is a section through an individual container and support therefor;

Figure 3 is a section similar to Figure 3, the individual container being partially closed;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a section through a package including a plurality of assembled tote boxes.

Like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the specification and drawings.

In the packaging and shipment of frozen food it is imperative that the package be vapor tight` My co-pending patent application Serial No. 59,352, discloses the idea of using aluminum or metal foil, sealing it at a distance from the body of material in the container, the seal being then folded back on the package or container. This sealing and folding takes place along the long side and on the two ends.

In the present application, I propose to apply this same sealing method to the individual food containers and to the outer containers or tote boxes. Referring to Figure 2, I illustrate a support I for the foil container 2 after one end is sealed. The charge can then be inserted in space 4 and the other end 5 sealed at a point 6 away from the charge. After the seal 6 is secure the end is folded down against the package as shown in Figure 3. The individual food packages are then packed together as shown in Figure 1, the folded ends may be alternately arranged. The group of individual packages is then encompassed in a large foil package or tote box 'l with the ends 8 sealed and folded back in a similar manner to the individual package.

If. desired, agroup QiY the individual containers 2,01) tote boxes 1 as shown in Figure 5 may be groupedv together in any convenient arrangement, perhaps with folded ends alternately adjacent. The, entire group may then be wrapped in insulating material 9' withDry Ice I0 included. This is a convenient methodl of carrying frozen food to the country in. an automobile.

By metal foil I' means a sheet of metal having the following characteristics: (1) it can be easily bent, folded, formed or shaped without the use of any tools other" than the unaided hands of the operator; (2) it has no noticeable tendency to spring back or to resume its original shape but will when bent, remain in the shape and form inV which it was left by thehand of the operator; (3)' it may be easily cut by the use of simple tools such as a pair of ordinary household scissors or a pen knife. All three of these characteristics are essential to my invention, because the foil must be susceptible of the same type of manipulation and use in a bag or package as is paper. The foil container adds the vapor and waterproof characteristics of metal, added strength and permanence and is a good conductor of heat.

In effect, therefore, I propose to pack the food or other material, frozen if desired, in a metal rather than a paper bag. I thus obtain all the desirable qualities of paper, and add to them the desirable qualities of a metal container.

I have packed a plurality of paper food packages in a metal tote box, however, when this is done excessive care must be used in opening the tinplate tote box to avoid damaging the individual paper containers, and even with the greatest care it is impossible to avoid the destruction of an occasional package. This requires the use of special tools at best, the highest degree of skill and takes time and money that could be better spent elsewhere. Another disadvantage to the tinplate tote box is that when it is opened it is hard to dispose of, whereas the foil wrapper or tote box may be easily baled and disposed of, almost like paper.

It is interesting to note that the problem of opening the tote box andthe individual package is much the same. The contents are usually frozen and hard if not impossible to cut with a knife, but when the end of the bag is unrolled exposing the seal, the two layers between the seal and the bag contents can be easily severed and the bag opened and its contents discharged as desired. Referring to the tote box the same condition prevails, the seal can be unrolled at one or both ends, and a cut may be made without any danger of interfering or mutilating or damaging any of the inner packages and they may be withdrawn as desired, or the side seal may be then unrolled and the wrapper cut between the side seal and the contents and the foil may be removed leaving the assembly of packages intact.

In freezing or shipping and storing, the outer foil of the tote box in intimate contact as it is with the foil of the inner packages, and the foil of the interior packages in intimate contact with each other results in providing a heat conductive path or plurality of heat conductive paths throughout the entire mass to promote freezing in the first instance and to maintain a uniform temperature in the entire mass in storage and shipping.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

In the packaging of food to be frozen it is advantageous to use a method that will eliminate evaporation, this requires a vapor tight seal. The aluminum foil is sealed with a sealing binder which makes such a closing. This is accomplished at a point suciently far from the food that the seal does not contact the food. The foil is then folded flat against the package.

The sealing heat thus does; not affect the contents of the container, and when the package, be it individual container or tote box is to be opened all that is necessary is to unroll the sealed end and cut the foil with a knife between the seal and the contents. This makes it possible to easily open the package without interference with the contents.

I claim:

A package for the shipment and storage of food and the like comprising a plurality of separate rectangular metallic foil covered bodies, the metallic foil being sealed along opposed adjacent edges at points far removed from the package and then folded down against the package so that each package comprises a longitudinal folded seam and a transverse folded seam at each end, said packages -being assembled side by side and end to end, the folded seams on one package lying adjacent the folded seam on the other package whereby the space between end abutting packages equals only the thickness of the folded seam of a single package, a one-piece foil wrapper enclosing all of the assembled first-named packages, the wrapper having its abutting edges sealed along a line removed from the final contour of the package and being then folded against the package along one side and both ends thereof.

WILLARD L. MORRISON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 471,609 Haines Mar. 29, 1892 1,638,759 Whelan Aug. 23, 1927 1,782,526 Beardsley Nov. 25, 1930 2,115,738 Metzger May 17, 1938 2,298,545 Waters Oct. 13, 1942 2,304,591 Pape et al. Dec. 8, 1942 OTHER REFERENCES Good Wrapping Materials Not Expensive When Properly Used, Winter, reprint from Locker Operator, August 1946.

Images