A PACKING CONTAINER PROVIDED WITH OPENING ARRANGEMENT

Abstract: An opening arrangement of the reclosable type on a packing container (2) comprising a double strip or a doubled strip (5) applied to the outside of the container, the two overlapping strip portions (5a and 5b) covering in an openable manner an emptying opening (4) incorporated beforehand in the container. A reclosing of the container after opening is made possible in that the bottom strip portion (5b) comprises one or more protruding parts (14) which to this end can engage detachably in corresponding seats (15) formed in the upper strip portion (5a).

Description: The present invention relates to a packing container provided with a reclosable opening arrangement of the type which comprises a double strip applied to the outside of the container, whose two overlapping strip portions are adapted so that they close in an openable manner an opening incorporated beforehand in the container. Conventional, so-called non-returnable, packages for liquid foodstuffs are manufactured at present in most cases with the help of modern packing machines of the type which both form, fill and close finished packages from either a web or from prefabricated blanks of a laminated packing material, generally plastic-coated paper. Packages are manufactured, for example, from a web in that the two longitudinal edges of the web are combined with one another in an overlap joint so as to form a tube which thereafter is filled with the intended contents and is divided into filled, cushionlike packing units by repeated transverse sealing of the advancing tube below the contents level of the tube. The sealed packing units are separated from one another by cuts in the transverse seals and are given the desired final geometric shape, usually parallelepipedic, by means of a subsequent shaping and sealing operation during which the triangular, double-walled corner lugs of the separated packing units are folded in against, and sealed to, the outside of the packages. For the convenience of the user the packages are provided in most cases with some type of opening arrangement, with the help of which the packages easily can be broken into without the use of scissors or similar tools. A further demand made on an opening arrangement functioning well is that it should provide the package with good pouring properties which means, among other things, that it should be possible to pour out the contents of the package conveniently in a coherent and well-directed jet. Conventional packages provided with an opening arrangement of the type described in the introduction as a rule meet the consumer demands raised in respect of openability and good pouring properties but, as far as is known, none of these opening arrangements up to now has provided a satisfactory solution to the further consumer requirement, which is that the package should also be functionally reclosable so as to give, after only a partial emptying,at least a physical protection to the remaining contents until the next occasion of an emptying. Among a number of earlier suggestions one has based on providing at least one, preferably the bottom one, of the two strip portions with a thin layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive, with the help of which the two strip portions could be recombined with good adhesion after each opening. Another suggestion was to provide the opening arrangement with a mechanical reclosing arrangement of the type, for example, which is described in EP-A-0 216 239, and according to which the upper strip portion possesses a gripping strip applied separately to its underside which, on reclosure of the container, is adapted to hook mechanically onto the free end of the bottom strip portion serving as a pouring edge. The problem with an opening arrangement in accordance with the firstmentioned suggestion is that the adhesive layer, which is freely exposed after the opening of the container, is sensitive to dust and similar dirt occurring in the surroundings of the container which easily fastens onto, and "neutralizes" the adhesiveness of this layer necessary for the reclosing. The contents of the package too, which during the pouring come into contact with the underlying, preferably adhesive-coated, strip portion tend to adhere to, and wet, the sticky surface of the adhesive layer which contributes further to the impairing of the reclosing capacity of the opening arrangement. The problem with the mechanical suggestion described is that it has been found to be much too difficult in practice, on reclosing of the container, to apply the upper strip portion provided with the gripping strip in the required correct position in relation to the pouring edge of the bottom strip portion in order to retain effectively the upper strip portion by an engagement between the gripping strip and the pouring edge . A packing container according to the opening part of claim 1 has been described in EP-A 004 932. The protruding part is a part of the cover of the container which part is attached to the upper strip portion of the double strip. Therefore, the protruding part fills out the pouring opening in the closed position. However, this closing does not function very well in many cases because the protruding part deforms if it is prepared of paper or paper board as soon as the filling goods come in contact with it. It is an objective of the present invention to find a better and relatively durable reclosing by simple means. The invention is characterized in claim 1 and preferred embodiments are claimed in subclaims. The invention functions very well as far as the opening and pouring as well as the reclosing is concerned. The reclosing is independent from the kind of material of the container or its cover comprising the pouring opening. During the reclosing the double strip can be pressed into the closing position in which the upper strip portion well seats onto the bottom strip portion. In the following the invention will be described in greater detail with special reference to the attached drawings, wherein Figure 1 shows schematically the upper part of a conventional packing container provided with an opening arrangement in accordance with the invention, Figure 2 is an enlarged section along line II-II in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a further enlargement of the ringed area in Figure 2, Figure 4 shows a corresponding cross-section of the packing container in accordance with Figure 1 with the opening arrangement in open position, Figure 5 shows schematically the upper part of a conventional packing container provided with an opening arrangement in accordance with another embodiment of the invention, Figure 6 is an enlarged section along line VI-VI in Figure 5, Figure 7 shows the upper part of a conventional packing container provided with an opening arrangement in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, and Figure 8 is a section along line VIII-VIII in Figure 7. In Figure 1 is shown thus the upper part of a conventional, so-called non-returnable, package 2 provided with an opening arrangement 1 in accordance with the invention which has an opening 4 incorporated in the substantially plane, rectangular top side 3 of the package. The design and the placing of the opening 4, through which the contents of the package are to be emptied, may vary and is of no real significance for the invention itself, although for practical reasons it has been found to be most appropriate to give the opening the placing as shown in Figure 1 close to one of the corner areas of the upper side 3. As is evident from Figure 2, the opening arrangement 1 comprises a doubled strip 5 applied to the outside of the container which is so dimensioned and placed that the two overlapping portions 5a and 5b of the strip wholly cover the opening 4 incorporated in the container side 3. The bottom strip portion 5b is attached firmly to the outside of the package and has a hole 6 of an appropriate shape incorporated in the region of the package opening 4. The bottom strip portion 5b, moreover, is placed so that its front or free end reaches up to, or slightly projects over, an adjacent boundary line 7 on the package side 3 in order to form a pouring edge 8. The upper, forwards folded strip portion 5a covers the package opening 4 as well as the hole 6 in the bottom strip portion 5b and is slightly longer than the underlying strip portion in order to form a pull-tab 9. The pull-tab 9 is folded down around the pouring edge 8 and is joined detachably to the outside of the adjacent vertical side wall 10 of the package. The package 2, as mentioned earlier, can be manufactured from a web of a laminated material comprising, for example, a carrier layer of paper 11 and outer coatings 12 and 13 of thermoplastics, preferably of polythene, which on the one hand give the package the necessary tightness qualities against liquid and on the other hand make it possible for the package to be made permanent in its desired final shape by means of so-called heat-sealing. In such a packing material the opening 4 preferably is constituted of a hole punched out solely in the paper layer 11 of the material, which from the inside is covered by the unbroken inner thermoplastic coating 12 for protection of the absorbent, cut edge of the punched-out hole. The doubled strip 5 preferably consists of a heat-sealable material, e.g. polythene, which makes it possible to seal the bottom strip portion 5b firmly to the outer thermoplastic coating of the package by heat-sealing 13 and which makes possible, moreover, to join, likewise by heat-sealing, the upper strip portion 5a to the inner thermoplastic coating 12 forming a cover from underneath within the region of the opening 4. In order to retain the upper strip portion 5a securely in the forwards folded position on the liquid-tight sealed package shown in Figure 2, the two overlapping strip portions preferably are attached to one another by a sealing joint which out to be sufficiently strong to resist external stresses to which the package is exposed in normal transport and handling, but which, at the same time, should be sufficiently weak so as not to make difficult the opening of the package. Such an optimum sealing joint between the strip portions 5a and 5b is achieved by coating, for example, one of the strip portions with a so-called protective varnish or other suitable seal-weakening material prior to the doubling and heat-sealing of the strip. When the package 2 is to be opened, the pull-tab 9 is grasped and the upper strip portion 5a is pulled upwards, backwards towards the open position shown in Figure 4, the weakened seal joint between the strip portions successively letting go along the sealing region at the same time as the inner thermoplastic coating 12 covering the opening 4 from underneath, which is sealed with strong adhesion to the upper strip portion 5a, is stretched and torn off towards the lower cut edge of the hole around the whole opening contour to expose a corresponding pouring opening through the overlapping or coinciding holes 4 and 6 in the paper layer 11 and the bottom strip portion 5b respectively. The contents of the package thereafter are poured through the pouring opening formed along the bottom strip portion 5b and leave the pouring edge 8 of the package in a well-coherent and easily directed jet. After the emptying required, the package 2 is reclosed in that the backwards folded, upper strip portion 5a is folded forwards again until it lies flat against the bottom strip portion 5b so as to cover the existing emptying opening in order to protect the remaining contents of the package until the next emptying process. To make possible such a reclosing of the package the strip 5 is provided with a protruding part or projection 14 which is adapted to engage positively in a corresponding seat or hole 15 formed in the upper strip portion, as is evident from Figure 3 and 4. The projection 14 is dimensioned so that it can be taken up with a sufficiently good positive fit in the hole 15 in the upper strip portion so as to retain detachably the upper strip portion 5a folded forward again to its flat reclosure position. The projection 14 constitutes an integral part of the strip 5 and can be produced advantageously by swaging, preferably through the hole 15 produced previously in the upper strip portion. Figure 5 illustrates the upper part of a conventional, non-returnable, package which has been provided with an opening arrangement in accordance with another embodiment of the invention. In order to facilitate a comparison between this opening arrangement and the one described earlier the same references have been used in Figures 5 and 6 as in Figures 1-3 for identical or similar parts, but with the addition of a prime sign. The opening arrangement 1' differs from the earlier one in that, as is evident from Figure 6, it has a double strip 5' in the form of two separate strip portions 5'a and 5'b joined detachably to one another, whose rear overlapping ends are inserted and sealed firmly in an overlap joint 16 formed during the manufacture of the package, the inner thermoplastic coating 12' of the package being joined directly to the top side of the upper strip portion 5'a, whereas the outer thermoplastic coating 13' of the package is joined directly to the underside of the bottom strip portion 5'b within the region of the overlap joint 16. The package 2' is opened in that the front end 9' of the upper strip portion 5'a, serving as a pull-tab, is grasped and is drawn backwards, upwards to an opening position corresponding to that shown in Figure 4 during successive breaking up of the seal between the two strip portions 5'a and 5'b and tearing off of the inner thermoplastic coating 12' attached firmly to the upper strip portion 5'a within the region of the package opening 4' to expose an emptying opening formed by the opening 4' in the upper side of the package and a corresponding hole 6' formed appropriately in the bottom strip portion 5'b. On reclosing, the upper strip portion 5'a opened is refolded until it rests flat against the bottom strip portion 5'b, and in order to retain the upper strip portion 5'a securely in this folded down reclosure position the bottom strip portion has a, preferably swaged, protruding part or projection 14', which is adapted so that it can engage detachably with a good fit in a corresponding seat or hole 15' incorporated in the upper strip portion 5'a. Figures 7 and 8 finally show how an opening arrangement in accordance with a further embodiment can be formed on a package 2'' of the same type as previously. For the sake of clarity the same reference designations are used here as previously for identical or corresponding parts, but with the addition of a double prime sign. The opening arrangement 1'' differs from the opening arrangement 1' essentially only in that the double strip 5'', which also comprises two separate strip portions 5''a and 5''b joined detachably to one another, has two, preferably swaged, protruding parts or projections 14'' formed in the bottom strip portion 5''b and, correspondingly, two seats or punched holes 15'' formed in the upper strip portion 5'', and that the projections 14'' and holes 15'' are located in a strip region in front of the opening 4'' in the intended direction of pouring. So as not to be an obstacle to the emptying of the package, the projections 14'' ought to be located as near as possible to the respective strip edges so as to give the maximum possible troublefree passage for the contents. It ought to be pointed out especially that the expression seats does not, of course, refer exclusively to through-holes, as shown in the drawings, but they may also be cavities formed by means of corresponding swaging such as that used in connection with the bottom strip portion for the formation of the protruding parts. The protruding part in the bottom strip portion then is intended to engage positively in the protruding part formed by swaging in the upper strip portion. Preferably the cavity and the protruding part are formed by simultaneous swaging of the two strip portions. Thus, in accordance with the present invention a packing container is provided with an opening arrangement which meets well the consumer demand concerning openability and pouring properties and which, moreover, makes the container functionally reclosable.

Claims: Packing container (2; 2'; 2'') provided with a reclosable opening arrangement in respect to a pouring opening (4; 4'; 4'') formed in the top side (3; 3'; 3'') of the container, the arrangement comprising a double strip (5; 5'; 5'') having a bottom strip portion (5b; 5'b; 5b'') which is firmly attached to said top side of the container and provided with a hole (6; 6') which is in alignment with said pouring opening and an upper strip portion (5a; 5'a; 5a'') overlying the bottom strip portion; at least one protruding part (14; 14'; 14'') attached to said double strip (5; 5'; 5'') for a seated positive engagement in a hole (15; 15'; 15'') to thereby cover the hole (15; 15'; 15'') and to close the pouring opening in the top side of the container (2; 2'; 2''), characterized in that said protruding part (14; 14'; 14'') is integrally formed with said bottom strip portion (5b; 5b'; 5b'') and provided at an offset location with respect to said pouring opening (4; 4'; 4'') so as to not interfere with the emptying of the container (2; 2'; 2'') and that at least one hole (15; 15'; 15'') is disposed in said upper strip portion (5a; 5a'; 5a'') at a location corresponding with said protruding part (14; 14'; 14'') of said bottom strip portion (5b; 5b'; 5b'') for said seated positive engagement therewith in such a manner that said upper strip portion (5a; 5a'; 5a'') of the double strip is retained on its bottom strip portion (5b; 5b'; 5b''). Packing container as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said double strip (5; 5'; 5'') is integrally formed in such a manner that said upper strip portion (5a; 5a'; 5a'') is backfolded with regard to said bottom strip portion (5b; 5b'; 5b''). Packing container according to claim 1, characterized in that said upper strip portion (5a; 5a'; 5a'') and said bottom strip portion (5b; 5b'; 5b'') are sealed together in a detachable manner. Packing container according to one of the preceeding claims, characterized in that said double strip (5; 5'; 5'') consists of polythene. Packing container according to any of the preceeding claims, characterized in that said bottom strip portion (5b; 5b'; 5b'') is attached to the top side (3; 3'; 3'') of the container by heat-sealing. Packing container according to any of the preceeding claims, characterized in that said bottom strip portion (5b; 5b'; 5b'') has a pouring edge (8; 8'; 8'') projecting slightly beyond a boundary line (7; 7'; 7'') of the container side wall (10; 10') and wherein said upper strip portion (5a; 5a'; 5a'') has a pull-tab (9; 9'; 9'') folded around said pouring edge and attachably joined to the container.

Inventors: JOENSSON, TOMMY, JÖNSSON, Tommy
Applicants: TETRA ALFA HOLDINGS S.A.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B65D5
IPC codes: B65D5