WO1998018689A1

WO1998018689A1 - Multi-compartment container

Info

Publication number: WO1998018689A1
Application number: PCT/GB1997/002994
Authority: WO
Inventors: James Nelson Dockerty
Original assignee: ANSON PACKAGING Ltd
Current assignee: ANSON PACKAGING Ltd
Priority date: 1996-10-31
Filing date: 1997-10-31
Publication date: 1998-05-07
Anticipated expiration: 1999-04-30
Also published as: AU4789497A; AU7321596A; WO1998018688A1

Abstract

A multi-compartment container (1) having two compartments (2, 3), the compartments being removably attached to one another, and the contents of the two compartments being separated by a membrane (4) which may be peeled away, allowing the contents of the two compartments to mix before the container is opened.

Description

TITLE: MULTI-COMPARTMENT CONTAINER

DESCRIPTION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to packaging and more particularly to multi-compartment containers.

BACKGROUND ART

It is known to provide multi-compartment packages for use in containing ingredients which cannot or should not be mixed or contacted together before use, for one reason or another (i.e. to prolong shelf life or to prevent a chemical reaction) . An example of such a container, used in retail food packaging, has two compartments, one compartment intended to contain yoghurt and the other to contain fruit. The container is designed such that the yoghurt and the fruit are mixed together only after the consumer opens the package. It is also known to provide a flexible package in the form of a two-compartment sachet. The compartments of the sachet are separated by a rupturable membrane, whereby a user can manipulate the sachet to rupture the membrane and mix together the contents of the two compartments before the sachet is opened.

Another multi-compartment container, U.S. Patent No. 5,213,256, is known to provide an assembly comprising a container having two sections, the first section having a bottom wall, sidewalls and end walls, the second section being adapted to lie over the open top of the first section and an insert means separating the contents of the first section from the contents of the second section. The insert is removable from the container while the container is still in a closed position, with the second section over the first. The container assembly is intended to maintain the hot/cold or moist/dry components of a food product separate until just prior to consumption, at which time the inset is removed and the components of the food product are combined. The insert is removable while the container is closed so that the components of the food product can be combined without necessitating handling by the consumer.

GB-A-2285791 describes a rigid multi-compartment container assembly having two opposed top to top containers defining the compartments, an internal partitioning membrane closing and separating the compartments, and a manually operable tab connected to the membrane and extending externally of the assembly. While the assembly is closed, the tab may be pulled, causing the membrane to either rupture or be displaced, allowing communication between the compartments. The compartments may be defined by thermoformed plastics trays, while the membrane is sealed around the mouth of a tray by adhesive or heat sealing. The pull tab may be formed by either folding the membrane back on itself, or by a cord or tape fixed to the membrane. The compartments may contain foods to be mixed together (i.e. cereals, dairy products and fruit or salads and dressing) or chemicals.

One disadvantage of the container assembly described in GB-A-2285791 is that when the tab is pulled to displace the membrane, the pulling force applied to the tab is distributed across a relatively wide area of contact between the membrane and the mouth of a tray. Due to the distribution of force, the pressure acting to detach the membrane from the tray is relatively low as compared to the force which is being applied to the tab. The larger the container, the greater the area of distribution, and the lower the resulting pressure at any given point along the area of contact between the membrane and the container (Pressure = Force/Area) . Therefore, a relatively large force must be applied to the tab before a sufficient pressure is reached to detach the membrane from the container.

Having to apply a large force on the tab in order to reach a sufficient pulling pressure to detach the membrane from the container leads to several problems with the container assembly of GB-A-2285791. First, the force applied may cause the container assembly to deform before the membrane starts to detach from the mouth of the container. Secondly, the tab itself may break while the user attempts to open the container.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved multi-compartment container.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The present invention is an improvement over the container described in GB-A-2285791. It is a package having two opposed compartments, each compartment having a mouth. The mouths of the two compartments face one another, and are separated by a membrane attached to the rim of either one or both of the mouths. A manually operable means is connected to the membrane and extends to the outside of the package. When pulled, the manually operable means displaces the membrane to allow communication between the compartments. The manually operable means can be an extension of the membrane which is folded to overlie the membrane so that it is free and forms a tab extending from a side of the package opposite to the fold.

When the free end of the tab is grasped and pulled, it causes the seal between the membrane and the associated compartment of the package to give way so that the membrane can be peeled back from the compartment.

The container itself is characterised by a member at the junction between the mouths of the two compartments, the member having a face with an opening for communicating between the compartments, the membrane being sealed to the face of the member to close the opening, the seal defining an endless band extending round the opening and having a corner portion and characterised in that the corner portion is arranged adjacent to or in the same vicinity as the fold.

The object of the corner portion of the band of seal is to define an area of low peel resistance, by presenting a relatively small portion of the seal adjacent to the fold, from which position the membrane seal is first broken prior to the opening of the packaging. To reduce the effort required to break the seal, the corner focuses the pulling force applied to the pulling means onto the small area portion of the seal, resulting in an efficient application of force to detach the membrane from the container. Once the membrane detaches from the compartment at the area of low peel resistance, the remaining portion of the membrane peels off also with little effort. Preferably the opening in the member defines the mouth of a cavity forming a compartment in the package. The opening defining the cavity mouth may be generally elliptical although alternatively it may be circular. The mouth of the compartment may also be shaped with a corner portion. Alternatively again the mouth may be generally diamond shaped, with the fold disposed at one of the acute corners thereof. The seal may closely follow the shape of the mouth. The member may be flat and may be integral with one of the compartments, e.g. to form a flange extending round the rim of the compartment.

The package may be rigid and may be thermoformed from sheet plastics material such as PVC and the membrane may also be of sheet plastics or plastics film (e.g. lidding film) .

It is envisaged that in circumstances where the contents of one of the compartments is solid and the contents of the other compartment is liquid or semi-solid it will be sufficient that the compartment containing the liquid or semi-solid contents will be sealed with a membrane. With this arrangement, the compartment containing the solid component may be closed by being attached to the compartment containing the liquid or semi- solid. The two compartments may be attached with the aid of peripheral interengaging flanges on the pair of compartments in a manner generally known. One of the interengaging flanges may be formed with a projection or bulged portion extending towards the other flange to improve the seal between the compartments. When the packaging is particularly stiff, as may be the case with circular packaging, it may be desirable to relieve the projection locally to allow air to vent. It might be desirable, where both compartments contain a liquid or semi-solid material, for each compartment to be sealed with its own membrane, in which case they will both require means for rupturing or displacing the membranes as aforesaid to allow mixing of the contents of the two compartments .

Alternatively, the manually operable means may comprise a cord or tape fixed to the membrane and folded to overlap the membrane to rupture and/or pull back the membrane when its free end is grasped and pulled. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is diagrammatically illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a perspective view of multi-compartment container packaging according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the packaging of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional side elevation on the line A-A of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a partial cross-sectional side view to an enlarged scale and showing a detail of the cross-section of

Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a partial perspective view of the packaging of Figure 1 to an enlarged scale; Figure 6 is a cross-sectional side view generally similar to that of Figure 3, and additional showing the membrane;

Figure 7 is a partial cross-sectional side view to an enlarged scale of a detail of Figure 6; Figure 8 is a partial cross-sectional side view to an enlarged scale of a further detail of Figure 6;

Figure 9 is a diagrammatic representation of a step in the manufacture of the packaging of Figure 1; Figure 10 is a side view of the package of Figure 1 during use;

Figure 11 is a plan view of part of the packaging of Figure 1; Figure 12 is a partly sectioned perspective view of a second embodiment of multi-compartment container packaging, and

Figure 13 is a partly sectioned perspective view of a third embodiment of multi-compartment container packaging. BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In Figures 1 to 11 of the drawings there is shown multi-compartment container packaging generally of the kind described in GB-A-2285791 consisting of a rigid container assembly (1) formed by thermo orming sheet plastics material and having an opposed pair of generally tray-like bodies (6,7) defining opposed compartments (2,3) separated by an internal partitioning membrane (4) having a manually operable tab (5) extending externally of the bodies (6,7), the tab (5) being adapted to be pulled to displace the membrane (4) and allow communication between the compartments (2,3) before the container assembly is opened.

In the embodiment of Figures 1 to 11, the container assembly (1) comprises a first generally rectangular dished body (6) defining a compartment (2) and having a mouth (22) defined by a peripheral rim (8) defined by an integral inverted generally U-shaped flange (9), the inwardly facing wall (10) of which flange is bulged inwards to form a sealing surface (11). The container assembly also comprises a second generally rectangular dished body (7) formed as a lid for closing the first body (6) and having a peripheral rim (13) terminated by a flange (12) adapted to engage with the corresponding flange (9) of the first body (6) to seal the first and second bodies together to form a closed vessel.

The second body (7) comprises a generally centrally disposed dished portion (14) which defines the compartment (3) and which, in plan view, is shaped as a regular six- sided body having opposed pointed end portions (15), the dished portion (14) of the body (7) being spaced from the peripheral flange (12) by a substantially flat plate-like member (16) defining a downwardly directed face (17) surrounding the mouth (23) of the compartment (3) . The peripheral rim (13) of the second body (7) is arranged for sealing engagement with the bulged sealing surface (11) of the peripheral flange (9) of the first said body (6), with the bulge (11) acting to increase the sealing effect between the respective rims (8,13) of the two bodies (6,7) .

As shown in Figure 5, the bulge (11) in the wall (10) of the peripheral flange (9) of the first body (6) may be locally relieved at (18) to form a vent for releasing trapped air to facilitate assembly together of the two bodies (6,7) of the container assembly.

Figures 6 to 10 illustrate the positioning of the membrane (4) which consist of plastics film, e.g. lidding film, between the compartments (2,3) defined by the respective first and second bodies (6,7) in the manner generally described in GB-A-2285791. In the present case the membrane (4) is shaped to be substantially co-extensive with the second body (7) defining the lid. The membrane (4) is sealed to the planar face (17) of the plate-like portion (16) of the lid in a narrow endless line or band

(19) closely circumscribing the compartment (3) in the body

(7) by heat sealing or by means of adhesive or the like so that the line or band of seal has a shape corresponding to that of the compartment (3). The membrane (4) is then folded back on itself as indicated by arrow X in Figure 9 so that its free end (20) forms the tab (5) as shown in Figure 11. The fold (21) in the membrane (4) is thus disposed on a side of the body (7) opposite to the side from which the tab extends.

The fold (21) in the membrane (4) is arranged to be located at a position adjacent to a pointed end portion (15) of the mouth (23) of the compartment (3) whereby on pulling the tab (5) to release and peel back the membrane (4), an area of relatively low peel resistance defined by the pointed end (15) is first presented. In this way the peeling is relatively easily established, to prevent the need for too great a force to be applied to the tab (5) which might inadvertently break the tab or distort the container assembly (1) .

The embodiment of container assembly (1) of Figure 12 is generally very similar to that of Figures 1 to 11, the major difference being that in the present embodiment the two dished bodies (6 ',7') are circular in shape instead of being generally rectangular and define respectively a circular cavity (2') and a cavity (3') which is generally similar in shape to that of the embodiment of Figures 1 to 11. As illustrated in Figure 12, the container assembly (1) is shown inverted as compared to Figure 1 and shows the membrane (4) partly peeled back from the mouth (23) of the compartment (3') due to pulling on the tab (5). Also Figure 12 shows the area of low peel resistance (shown shaded at (24)) of the seal (19) extending round the face (17).

The embodiment of container assembly shown in Figure 13 is very similar to that of Figure 12 but in this case both compartments (2", 3") and their respective mouths (22,23), are generally circular in shape. Nevertheless the curved area of the face (17) opposite to the tab (5) provides an area (24), shown shaded, of low peel resistance for the seal (19) to facilitate the initiation of the peeling of the membrane (4) from the face (17) . INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

Due to the generally pointed or curved shape of the portion of the line of seal (19) adjacent to the fold (21), relatively low resistance is required to break the seal (19) when the tab (5) is pulled in the direction of arrow B, as shown in Figure 10, as compared to a case in which the seal (19) presents a straight line extending parallel to the fold. By this arrangement the seal can be made to be secure in operation and yet easily broken when required.

Claims

1. A container assembly (1) comprising: first and second containers (6,7), each container comprising at least one compartment (2,3), and a mouth (23) with a peripheral rim (16) having an area (24) of low peel resistance, said first container (6) facing the mouth (23) of said second container (7); a membrane (4) attached to said peripheral rim (16) of at least one of said containers to seal the mouth thereof, said membrane including pull means (5) for peeling said membrane laterally from at least one said container beyond said rim opposite said area (24) of low peel resistance.

2. The container assembly according to claim 1, wherein the area of low peel resistance is defined by a corner (15) of the rim (16) .

3. The container according to claim 2, wherein said membrane (4) is attached to the rim (16) by an adhesive.

4. The container assembly according to claim 2, wherein said membrane (4) is attached to the rim by thermal sealing.

5. The container assembly according to claim 1, wherein said first container (6) is removably attached to said second container (7) by interengaging flanges (9,12).

6. A multi-compartment container assembly (1) having two opposed compartments (2,3) the mouths (22,23) of which are closed and separated by an internal membrane sealed around the mouth of one of the compartments, and manually operable means (5) connected to the membrane and extending externally of the package for displacing the membrane to allow communication between the compartments, the manually operable means comprising an extension of the membrane which is folded to overlie the membrane so that its free end forms a tab extending from a side of the package opposite to a fold (21) thus formed, characterised by a member (16) at the junction between the mouths (22,23) of the two compartments, the member having a face (17) having an opening therethrough for communicating between the compartments, in that the membrane (4) is sealed to the face (17) of the member to close the opening, a seal (19) between the face and the membrane defining an endless band extending round the opening and having a portion (24) of relatively low peel resistance arranged adjacent to the said fold (21) .

7. A container according to claim 6, wherein the member (16) is substantially flat.

8. A container according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the member (16) is integral with one of the compartments.

9. A container according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the member (16) defines a flange extending round the mouth (23) of one of the compartments (3).

10. A container according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the opening in the member (16) defines the mouth (23) of a compartment (3) .

11. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the opening (23) is generally elliptical in shape.

12. A container according to any one of claims 6 to 11, wherein the compartments (2,3) are rigid.

13. A container according to any one of claims 6 to 12, wherein the container assembly (1) is thermoformed from sheet plastics material.

14. A container according to any one of claims 6 to 13, wherein the membrane (4) is of plastics sheet or film.

15. A container according to any one of claims 6 to 14, wherein the extension (5) is integral with the membrane (4).