AN ARRANGEMENT IN CONTAINERS

Abstract: An arrangement in containers, consisting in that the bottom (10) of the container is formed with a number of very narrow channel-shaped grooves (13) which open into the container and have such a small width that they act as capillaries.

Description: AN ARRANGEMENT IN CONTAINERS The present invention relates to an arrangement in containers, such as a trough or a pot, with bottom and side walls. The packing of pieces of meat for sale in super¬ markets often takes place in small trays which are .then wrapped in plastics foil so that the package is well closed and can be handled and felt without being damaged, in order to meet the hygienic requirements. The tray, which is generally made of plastics, gives stability to the packing. When the meat lies in the packing, it may tend to bleed and if the juice can then * run around in the packing this will get an unaesthetic appearance while at the same time there is a risk that the juice may ooze out of the packing. It is therefore usual to dispose some absorbent material, for example a sheet of porous paper (cellulose) at the bottom of the tray, this material being stuck on to the bottom so as always to be correctly located when the trays are delivered. The application of the absorbent material involves an appreciable additional expense for the packing, and this applied to a still greater extent to a more elaborate embodiment wherein the absorbent material is located between an outer and an inner tray secured to¬ gether, the inner one of which has a perforated bottom. With the object of binding any meat juice which may occur, in the finished packing, it is proposed, according to the invention, to arrange a container of the kind referred to above in the manner appearing from the characterizing clause of claim 1. This arrangement of a container, provided primarily for the trays which are used in self-service packings for meat, also opens up the possibility of another use. While the channel -shaped grooves arranged as capillaries O PI P suck away liquid at the bottom of the container when the container is included in such a packing, it is conceivable in other cases that these capillaries might be used to suck liquid in the other direction, which presupposes that their boundary wall is perforated. This function is conceivable in connection with plastics flowerpots which stand in a nutrient solution, in order that the root system shall suck up nutrient therefrom. To illustrate the invention this will be described in more detail below, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tray which is constructed according to the invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view, taken trans- versely of the channel -shaped grooves arranged at the bottom of the tray, and FIG. 3 is an axial cross-sectional view of a flowerpot which is constructed according to the invention and stands in a tray in which a nutrient solution circulates. . The tray shown in the drawing in FIGS. 1 and 2 is made of thin plastics foil, for example 0.25 mm thick, and comprises a bottom 10 and side walls 11, an encirc¬ ling brim 12 being formed on the side walls at an angle of about 15°. The tray is rectangular, and arranged in parallel to the short sides thereof are a number of channel -shaped grooves 13 which open into the container and are closed at the bottom and at the ends. The grooves are very narrow - their internal width may be of the order of 0.3 - 0.5 mm - in order that the grooves shall act as capillaries. Their depth can be between 5 and 10 mm while the spacing between them is about 5 mm. At the top, the channels widen out towards the mouth thereof in that they form a portion 14 which has side walls diverging towards the mouth. When the tray described is used in a meat packing of the kind described above, meat juice, which originates from the packed piece of meat, runs down, at the bottom 10 of the tray, into the widened portions 14 of the channel-shaped grooves 13 to be sucked down in the grooves by capillary action therein. Because of the widened portions 14 of the channel -shaped grooves and the capillary action exerted by the grooves, the meat juice will be drawn completely down into the capillary portion of the grooves from the widened portion 14 and thus will be scarcely visible at the top side of the bottom. A large number'of channel- -shaped grooves provide a large volume for sucking up the meat juice. The grooves also cause a stiffening of the tray, so that this obtains the necessary stability even if it is made of ve ry thin plastics foil. This stiffening effect can be further increased by the fact that the grooves are not .made straight, as shown, but instead wavy, for example sinusoidal. The tray described can easily be produced by hot- -forming of a thin plastics foil over a positive mould. The flowerpot shown in FIG. 3 is made in the same manner as the tray of FIGS. 1 and 2, but in this case the side walls of the channel-shaped grooves 13 are perforated- as indicated at 15. The pot stands in a channel 16 in which nutrient solution 17 is circulated and as a result of the fact that the perforations 15 are in the nutrient solution the channel -shaped grooves can suck up nutrient solution by capillary action, so that this nutrient solution is supplied to an absorbent bed 18 in which a plant can be planted. In this manner a controlled supply of nutrient solution to the plant can easily be arranged. 'BUREAT / - OMPI *- WiPO ,Λ The invention is not restricted to the embodiments illustrated and described. The container can be given another shape than that shown here and so far as the channel-shaped grooves are concerned, these can be varied in shape, number, size, and spacing.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. An arrangement in containers, such as a tray or a pot, with bottom (10) and side walls (11), c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the bottom (10) is formed with a number of very narrow channel-shaped grooves (13) with capillary action, which open into the container. 2. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the grooves (13) have an internal width of the order of some tenths of a mm. 3. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the "channels (13) have a widened mouth portion (14). 4. An arrangement as claimed in claim 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the mouth portion (14) has side walls diverging towards the mouth. 5. An arrangement as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, c h a r a c t e i z e d in that the grooves (13) have a depth of 5 to 10 mm. 6. An arrangement as claimed in one of claims 1 to 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that perforations (15) are provided in the boundary walls of the grooves (13). 7. An arrangement as claimed in claim 6, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the perforations (15) are provided in the side walls of the grooves (13) near the bottom of the grooves. 8. An arrangement as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, c a r a c t e r i z e d in that the grooves (13) consist of straight grooves. 9. An arrangement as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the grooves (13) consist of wavy grooves.

Inventors: JOELNER J
Applicants: JOELNER J
Application year: 1979
Main classification: B65D81
IPC codes: A01G27, B65D81