POWDER PROOF RECLOSABLE CONTAINER

Abstract: A powder proof, reclosable container, for instance a container which is liquid and gas proof before being opened and which, after having been opened, is adapted for being reclosed under at least powder proof or preferably steam proof conditions, and comprising an outer container (1) of a supporting material, an inner bag (2) or an inner layer of for instance a liquid or gas tight material and a reclosable lid means (3) comprising a lid frame (11) and a closing lid (12) which may be hinge connected to said lid frame, and in which the inner bag (2) or the inner layer is sealingly connected to the lid frame (11). The lid frame is round the frame opening (15) formed with an even bottom surface (10) of such width that the inner bag (2) or a sealing foil can be sealingly connected to said edge (10), and the lid frame (11) and the closing lid (12) can be formed with cooperating means, for instance bevelled edges, for providing at least a powder proof or a steam proof reclosing of the container.

Description: The present invention relates to a reclosable container which is liquid and gas proof before being opened and which, after having been opened, is adapted for being reclosed to become steam proof, and comprising an outer container sleeve of a supporting material, an inner bag of a liquid or gas tight material and a reclosable lid means comprising a lid frame adapted to be connected to the container sleeve and a reclosing lid arranged to be connected to the lid frame under steam proof conditions. Packages or containers of this general type are known for instance from the Swiss patent No 440.098, which patent discloses a container in which the inner bag is connected to the inner surface of the carboard outer container and is formed with an end closure foil, and in which a reclosable lid means is formed with a lid-frame-channel in which the evenly cut upper edges of the outer container and the inner bag are introduced and secured. The Swiss patent No 626.852 discloses a similar type of container in which the inner liquid and gas proof bag is likewise connected to the cardboard outer container adjacent the upper edges thereof, and whereby the container is arranged for being provided with a separate reclosing lid. Both types of containers are disadvantageous in that the containers in practice get an unsufficient tightness after having been opened, and in that the content of the containers, which may be a liquid, a powder or a granular material etc. may penetrate into the area between the inner bag and the reclosable lid means, in certain containers even between the inner bag and the cardboard outer container. For a reclosable container it can be required that the container is liquid and gas proof before the container has been opened, and that the container can be reclosed at least so as to be powder proof, so that no gas-way appears between the outer container, which is generally untight, and the inner bag, and so that the content of the container can not enter any possible spaces between the inner bag and the reclosable lid means and, above all, not between the inner bag and the outer container. This is especially important for goods which may be destroyed depending on the action of the oxygen of the air, for instance food stuffs like coffee, tea and many other products. The object of the invention therefore has been to solve the problem of providing a container which is liquid and gas proof before being opened, and which, after having been opened, can be reclosed by means of a reclosable lid means which is separate or hinge connected to the container, so that the container becomes powder proof and relatively gas proof, in the following referred to as "steam proof", and which comprises a container sleeve having an inner bag or an inner layer of a steam or gas tight material, and a reclosable lid means consisting of a lid frame, which is applied to the container sleeve, and a separate or hinge-connected reclosing lid which can be connected to the lid frame, and in which the inner bag or layer of the container sleeve is steam or gas tightly connected to said lid frame, and in which the lid can be reconnected to the lid frame under at least powder proof and preferably steam proof conditions after the container has been opened. For this purpose it is required firstly that the inner bag is liquid and gas proof; secondly that the reclosable lid means has a reasonably good sealing property; and thirdly that the reclosable lid means seals against the inner bag. The invention is characterized in that the inner bag is completely or partly free from the outer container, and in that the lid frame is, round the frame opening, formed with an even bottom surface over which the inner bag is steam and gas tightly connected to the lid frame. In addition to the advantage of obtaining a container which is liquid and gas proof before being opened and a reclosable container which is steam proof after having been opened the advantage is obtained that the edge frame and the inner bag, which at least partly consist of resin and metal, can be separated from the outer container, which can be made completely of cardboard or any other easily combustible, mouldable or re-usable material. The connection can be made by means of glue, but preferably it is made by welding, for instance high frequency welding. For opening of the container the reclosing lid is folded up, and the closing foil is cut or torn open, for instance by means of any known type of tear-open means, whereby the edge frame still remains connected to the container tube. Modern reclosing lids having edge frames, for instance of a plastic material, can be formed so tight that they, upon reclosing, become not only powder tight but even steam tight, whereby the container as a whole becomes steam proof. Further characteristics of the invention will be evident from the following detailed description in which reference will be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating some embodiments of the invention. It is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention which are shown in the drawings and which are to be described in the following are only illustrative examples, and that many alternative solutions can be presented within the scope of the appended claims. In the drawings figure 1 is a perspective view of the upper part of a container according to the invention with the lid folded up to an open position. Figure 2 shows, similarly, the container with the reclosable lid means and the liquid and gas proof inner bag partly extracted from the outer container. Figure 3 is a side view of an embodiment of a reclosable lid means for a container according to the invention with the lid and the edge frame folded away from each other, and figure 4 is a plan view from underneath of the lid of figure 3. Figure 5 shows an enlarged cross section view of a part of the container of figure 1 with the lid folded down, and seen mainly along line V-V, and figure 6 shows similarly a slightly varied embodiment of a reclosable lid means for the container. The container shown in figures 1 and 2 generally comprises a supporting outer container 1 of a relatively stable material, an inner bag 2, which is preferably liquid and gas proof, and a reclosable lid means 3. The outer container mainly is intended to support the inner bag 2 and the reclosable lid means 3, and it can be made of any relatively stable material like cardboard or a plastic material. As usual the outer container is closed in the bottom (not shown), whereas it is open at the top 4, as best shown in figure 2. The outer container preferably is made of cardboard from a plain punched container blank, which is joined to a tube along one side or preferably along a corner, and for making it possible to close the container at the bottom it is, as known per se, formed with bottom closing flaps which are folded inwardly and connected to each other. For strengthening the upper edge 4 of the outer container a little part adjacent the said upper edge can be double folded as shown at 5 i figure 5. The inner bag 2 can be made of an easily flexible material that is formed to a bag having a bottom, sides 8 and an open top. The bag can be made of any known suitable material like a plastic material, a plastic-aluminum laminate or any other liquid or gas proof material. The bottom of the bag is preferably plain and formed without any seams, and this can be made in that the bag is double folded and is joined along the two opposite side edges 8 and is formed with an even bottom having a suitable cross section form, for instance a rectangular cross section form as shown in the drawings. Each of the triangular ears 9 thereby formed adjacent the bottom 6 of the bag is fold up to the short adjacent side. The bottom 6 of the bag is intended to provide the top of the ready container, and as known per se the bag is filled and closed from its top, that is from the bottom of the ready container. In order to provide a leak proof end reclosing means it is important that the liquid and gas proof inner bag 2 is sealingly connected to the reclosable lid means 3, but it can at least to the greater part thereof preferably be separate from the outer container 1, or it can be point-glued to the outer container, for instance at or close to the bottom of the container. To that end the reclosable lid means is formed with an even bottom surface against which the bag 2 is connected. The reclosable lid means 3 comprises a lid frame or edge frame 11 and a reclosing lid 12 which is connected to the lid frame 11 over a hinge 13. The lid frame is formed with a cavity 14 which at the bottom thereof is ended by a downwards conically tapering sealing edge 15, which at the bottom of the lid frame provides the above mentioned even bottom surface 10 which is of such width that the even bottom (upper side) of the bag can obtain a tight and strong joint in relation to the lid frame. The closing lid 12 is similarly formed with a cavity 16 and from the bottom of said cavity a downwards directed sealing rib 17, which is matched to seal against the sealing edge 15 of the lid frame. The cavity 16 of the closing lid provides a tight lid plane 18 at the upper edges of the sealing rib 17. As best shown in figure 5 the sealing edge 15 of the lid frame 11 and the sealing rib 17 of the closing lid 12 can be formed with cooperating means 19, for instance conical shoulders, for improving the tightness between the lid frame 11 and the sealing lid 12 and at the same time for providing a snap lock between the frame and the lid. The edge frame may, at the upper part of the neck, be formed with an all around extending sealing lip adapted to resiliently and sealingly engage the outside of the lid neck in an inwards-downwards curved form. A gas pressure from inside the container tends to press the sealing lip still stronger and still tighter to the lid neck. Further, the lid frame 11 can be formed with an inversely U-shaped groove 20 in which the upper edge of the outer container can be introduced and secured, for instance by means of glue, wax or any other suitable means. It is, however, quite possible to join the outer container 1 with the reclosable lid means 3 together with the inner bag 2 attached thereto only against the outwards facing side edge of the lid frame 11. Figure 6 shows an alternative embodiment of a reclosing lid means which differs from the lid means of figure 5 mainly only in that the closing lid is adapted to seal and lock against the lid frame close to the upper edge thereof. For this purpose the sealing edge 15' of the lid frame has been provided close to the upper edge, and correspondingly the sealing rib 17' of the closing lid is provided on level with the lid plane 18. As indicated above the outer container blank is formed to an open outer container tube 1, and then the reclosable lid means 3 is connected to the upper edge 4 of the outer container, and the liquid and gas proof bag 2 is folded and is joined along its sides and is formed to the intended cross section form and is introduced in the outer container 1 and is attached, for instance welded, to the bottom surface 10 of the lid frame 11. Thereafter the container is turned up side down and is filled from the bottom side, and the inner bag 2 is sealed and the bottom flaps of the outer container 1 are folded inwardly and are attached to the each other. If found suitable the bag can be attached by points to the outer container, for instance by being point-glued or string-welded to the outer container at or adjacent the bottom thereof, so that the bag is maintained in a predetermined position in the outer container. The packed goods are hermetically enclosed in the bag, and the bag is opened in that the part of the bag bottom (top) 6 located inside of the sealing edge 15 of the lid frame is opened, for instance by being cut through or by pulling open a tear open means. Depending on the sealed connection of the bag top 6 to the bottom surface of the lid frame the packed goods have no possibility of penetrating between the bag and the reclosable lid means or between the bag and the outer container, and when the closing lid has been closed a container is obtained which is reclosable. Reference numerals 1 outer container 2 inner bag 3 reclosable lid means 4 top (of 1) 5 double folded part 6 bottom (of 2) 7 side (2) 8 seam (2) 9 ear (2) 10 even bottom surface (3) 11 lid frame 12 closing lid 13 hinge 14 lowered part (11) 15 sealing edge (11) 16 lowered part (12) 17 sealing rib (12) 18 lid plane 19 sealing / locking means 20 groove

Claims: A reclosable container which is liquid and gas proof before being opened and which, after having been opened, is adapted for being reclosed to become steam proof, and comprising an outer container sleeve (1) of a supporting material, an inner bag (2) of a liquid or gas tight material and a reclosable lid means (3) comprising a lid frame (11) adapted to be connected to the container sleeve (1) and a reclosing lid (12) arranged to be connected to the lid frame (11) under steam proof conditions, characterized in that the inner bag (2) is completely or partly free from the outer container (1), and in that the lid frame (11) is, round the frame opening (15), formed with an even bottom surface (10) over which the inner bag (2) is steam and gas tightly connected to the lid frame (11). Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the lid frame (11) and the reclosing lid (12) are formed with cooperating means (15, 17) for making it possible to reclose the inner bag (2), after having once become cut open, under steam proof conditions comprising a lowered portion (14) having a sealing edge (15) at the bottom of the lid frame (11) and a correspondingly formed lowered portion (16) with a downwardly projecting sealing rib (17) of the reclosing lid (12) adapted to cooperate with the sealing edge (15) of the lid frame (11) when the sealing lid (12) is closed thereby providing a steam proof reclosing of the container, whereby the sealing edge (15) of the lid frame (11) and the sealing rib (17) of the reclosing lid (12) are preferably formed with sealing and locking means (19), for instance bevelled edges, for improving the sealing property and at the same time providing a kind of snap lock between the two parts. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the edge frame is formed with an inwardly facing sealing lip adapated to resiliently and sealingly engage a downwardly projecting neck of the lid when the lid is closed, and in that the lid, which may be separate from the edge frame or hingedly connected thereto, is adapted to be secured to the edge frame when the lid is closed.

Inventors: CHRISTENSSON, LARS
Applicants: AKERLUND & RAUSING LICENS AKTIEBOLAG
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B65D5
IPC codes: B65D5, B65D77, B65D81