Patent GB-640283-A (GB)
Title: Package
IPC: B65D81/07
Filed: 1947-08-18
Abstract: 640,283. Packing. WINGFOOT CORPORATION. Aug. 18, 1947, No. 22912. Convention date, Aug. 27, 1946. [Class 94(i)] A package for one or more objects 1( such as soft fruits eggs and other fragile articles, comprises a frame 14 (Fig. 4) and a flexible sheet or film 12 which extends across an open end of the frame and sup ports the bottom of each object with the edges of the film supported from the upper edge of the frame. In one example a shock absorbing support for an object 10 is provided by two sheets 11, 12 of heatstretchable material such as rubber hydrochloride which are heated, stretched around the article, sealed together at 13 and supported from the edges of an open ended cylindrical or cubical frame 14. To unite the films at 13 a sealing device such as two plungers with heated heads may be used, one of which comes down around the top of the article and the other of which comes up through the frame and presses against the bottom of the film. A second frame 15 may be placed on top of the first and the edges of the film may be secured to the frames by adhesive and folded back as shown or both folded against one half of the container, the two parts of which are held together, e.g. by rubber bands. In a modification (Figs. 5 and 6, not shown) the edges of the container are mortised so as to grip the film without an adhesive. In another example (Fig. 7) an object 30 is supported between a flexible film 33 moulded or stretched around its base and supported by a frame 32, and a second film 34 stretched across the top of an open ended frame 31. In further examples, a number of articles may be supported together in a single elongated pocket (Figs. 8 and 9, not shown) or a number of separate pockets may be formed between two films which are supported at the edges by a box or frame divided by partitions into a number of separate compartments (Fig. 12, not shown). The partitions may be of the same height as the walls of the surrounding frame or if desired the partitions in the bottom of a package may be taller and those in the top shorter so that when top and bottom are brought together, the partitions meet. Wire partitions may also be used. In Fig. 11 several layers of objects 53 packaged between films are supported by means of intermediate frames 51 which have partitions 52 and are positioned between top and bottom frames 50. The frames may be of cardboard, corrugated board or plastic, and films such as rubber hydrochloride, polyvinyl, a copolymer of vinyl and vinylidene halide, or rubber and wax film may be used. The film material may be moisture tight and impermeable to gases or it may be permeable to gases and merely dust tight. Alternatively it may be perforated before or after packaging to provide for the escape of gases, e.g. CO2 from freshly picked fruit. The film may be transparent or opaque, coloured or colourless. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 comprises also the use of paper, regenerated cellulose and cloth as the flexible packaging material and it may be coated on both sides with a heat-sealable coating. A tuck formed in the middle of the sheet may be opened up at the centre to receive the object and the sheet folded or moulded around the object by hand, the sheet being heated to cause overlapping surfaces to adhere to one another. Films of latex or natural or synthetic rubber or a polyethylene film may also be used. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.