IMPROVEMENT TO SEALED PACKAGES OF FROZEN LIQUIDS

Abstract: In a package of frozen liquid which is closed by a sealing film (30), the bottom wall (12) of the container (10) has a lower thickness than the lateral walls (14, 16, 18, 20) and is provided with at least two relieves (22, 24) separated by at least one recess (26) parallel thereto.

Description: IMPROVEMENT TO SEALED PACKAGES OF FROZEN LIQUIDS. * *** * The present invention relates to an improvement to packages for one or more predetermined amounts of liquid to be frozen, which are described and claimed in the patent application WO 00/34720 in the name of the present applicant. In the above mentioned application, packages suitable for containing liquids to be frozen (in particular alimentary liquids) were described and illustrated in the figures, said packages consisting essentially of a rigid but elastic sheet of plastic material (especially for foods) which is so shaped to form at least one container to be filled with a liquid, said container being sealed by means of a film which is applied on the upper edge of the container and made to adhere to said edge. Obviously, there can be any number of containers and in any case a number much greater than one. The packages proved to work fairly successfully, however there remained one outstanding problem associated with a possible excessive adhesion of the frozen mass to the walls of the containers, sometimes resulting in the need for forced and therefore difficult extraction - with the risk of an inadequate level of hygiene - of the frozen mass housed in the container. One first possible solution to eliminate the above mentioned drawback would be to remove the packages to be used from a freezer and to leave said packages exposed to room temperature for a sufficient amount of time to cause surface melting of the frozen mass so as to allow its detaching from the walls of the container. However, this measure, where the only cost involved is that of the waiting time, may be of limited effectiveness for at least two reasons: 1) the room temperature may not always be high enough to cause the desired surface melting; 2) there may not always be enough time to wait for the above mentioned surface melting, as is the case for example in particularly busy refreshment outlets where the staff have a particularly limited amount of time to serve all the customers. To remedy the above mentioned drawbacks, one could think of heating the packages, for example by holding them in the hand, with the aim of accelerating the necessary surface melting, but this is not always possible because: a) the staff may not be obliged to perform an operation which in the long term can be tedious and increasingly inefficient when the number of packages to be thawed superficially increases; b) prolonged touching of the packages of frozen liquid with one's hands risks adversely affecting those hygienic conditions which the packages ought to guarantee. Therefore the need arises for frozen liquid packages in which the extraction of a frozen mass contained therein without undue excessive effort and without waiting times for surface thawing - be it assisted or spontaneous - is facilitated. To satisfy the above mentioned need, improved packages according to the present invention consist of at least one container, having a substantially parallelepiped form, with a thinned bottom wall provided with linear relieves which are separated by a saddle-like recesses. In a preferred embodiment, the at least two linear relieves provided at the said bottom wall are parallel to two sides of the container and the at least one saddle-like recess is parallel to the relieves. Preferably, the containers are more than one in number and are formed by shaping from a sheet of plastic material having sufficient elasticity and rigidity to form the containers with a particular deformability in the regions thereof where the relieves and the separating recess are provided so as to allow one of the relieves to be squeezed by means of the simple pressure of an operator's finger. More preferably, the plastic material of the sheet is of a grade compatible with foodstuffs. In addition, the containers formed from the sheet of plastic material are filled with a liquid to be frozen so as to prepare frozen masses of the type already mentioned in the above mentioned patent application. Obviously, the above mentioned containers, once filled, are closed and sealed by a sheet of film which is made to adhere to the upper rims of each container. The characteristic features of the invention will be highlighted in particular in the claims which form the concluding part of the present description. However, other characteristic features and advantages will emerge particularly clearly from the following detailed description of a particular example of embodiment thereof, accompanied by the attached drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a horizontal view, from below, of a container implementing the improvement to sealed packages according to the present invention; - Figure 2 is a side elevation view, from a first side, of the same container shown in Figure 1; and - Figure 3 is a side elevation view, from a side adjacent to the first, of the container shown in the two preceding figures. Let us now consider the above mentioned figures showing a container 10 according to the present invention. The container 10 has an essentially parallelepiped form, being slightly tapered towards a bottom wall 12 which is thinner than side walls 14, 16, 18 and 20, shown in the figures. The bottom wall 12 has a first linear relief 22, which is parallel to the side wall 14, a second linear relief 24, which is parallel to the side wall 16, where the two relieves 22 and 24 are separated by a linear saddle-like recess 26 parallel thereto. A rim 28 is integrally formed at the top of the container 10 to which there adheres a film 30 which is joined in any manner and which seals said container 10, once it has been filled with liquid to be frozen. A container according to the present invention functions in the following way: When a container 10 is filled with a mass of frozen liquid and the frozen mass is to be extracted therefrom, it is sufficient to press with a finger against any of the relieves 22 or 24 which being formed in the thin bottom wall 12, deforms at the point where it is pressed, so as to cause a first detaching of the frozen mass from the underlying relief. This is due to the fact that, while the relief 22 or 24 deforms under the pressure of the finger, the underlying frozen mass, being particularly rigid, remains intact, and a detaching of the frozen mass from the bottom wall 12 begins. Once this detaching has begun, it spreads to the rest of the frozen mass which, being rigid, acts as a lever causing a greater detaching of the frozen mass from the side walls 14, 16, 18 and 20 of the container 10, until the entire frozen mass comes off from the container 10. The sealing film 30 which closes the container 10 can be either sufficiently thin as to be broken by the frozen mass when it comes off from the container 10 or it can be of the type that can be removed by means of a projecting separation lug, for example the tab (16) shown in the above mentioned patent application, so that the container 10 does actually open any time the frozen mass contained therein is to be detached from its walls. Finally, it is clear that variants and modifications, which are obvious to every expert in this particular technical field after reading of the above description, may be made to the package according to the present invention, without thereby departing from the protective scope thereof, as defined by the following claims.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Sealed packages consisting of at least one container (10), having a substantially parallelepiped form, with a bottom wall (12), characterized in that the bottom wall (12) is thinned and provided with linear relieves (22, 24) which are separated by saddle-like recesses (26). 2. Sealed packages according to Claim 1, characterized in that the at least two linear relieves (22, 24) provided at the said bottom wall (12) are parallel to two sides of the container (10) and the at least one saddle-like recess (26) is parallel to the relieves (22, 24). 3. Sealed packages according to Claim 1, characterized in that the containers (10) are more than one in number and formed from a sheet of plastic material having sufficient elasticity and rigidity to form the containers with a particular deformability in the regions where the relieves (22, 24) and the recesses (26) are provided so as to allow one of the relieves (22, 24) to be squeezed through simple pressure of an operator's finger. 4. Sealed packages according to Claim 3, characterized in that the plastic material of the sheet is of a grade compatible with foodstuffs. 5. Sealed packages according to the Claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the containers (10), formed from the sheet of plastic material, are filled with a liquid to be frozen in order to prepare masses of frozen liquid. 6. Sealed packages according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the containers (10), once filled, are closed and sealed by a sheet of film (30) which is made to adhere to the upper rims of each container.

Inventors: BRUGNERA ANNITA, BRUGNERA, ANNITA
Applicants: BRUGNERA ANNITA, BRUGNERA, ANNITA
Application year: 2001
Main classification: F25C1
IPC codes: B65D77, F25C1