Patent Publication Number: US-2007107447-A1

Title: Sealed water-filled container with ice cube features

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      This invention relates to water containers, and more particularly to ice making.  
     BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Ice is often used to chill beverages. However, the quality of the ice is only as good as the quality of the water from which it is made. Tap water needed for home or commercial ice making in many areas has unwanted aromas, flavors, and chemicals. In some regions, tap water is unsafe to drink, especially for visitors unaccustomed to biological impurities. Ice maker machines make the process convenient, but must rely on local tap water, with in-line filtration having only a limited effect.  
      Some “clear ice” making machines provide a purifying process inherent to the process of making ice by flowing a sheet of water over a chilled plate. However, these provide ice that is only just at the freezing point, and which melts in the hopper from which the ice is dispensed. Thus, it melts more readily in a drink that ice formed in a conventional freezer, which would normally be well below the freezing point of water.  
      Even where source water is reasonably good (including the option of using bottled water as a source), filling ice trays is very inconvenient and messy. In addition, trays used for ice making may affect the taste of the ice, by absorbing aromas from foods stored in the freezer, or from the scents used in dishwashing agents.  
      Moreover, there are instances where it is desirable to have water of a quality better than or different from that of ordinary good tap water. Many people value bottled water from certain sources, especially for drinking in conjunction with fine dining, or for mixing with fine spirits. Such water may offer distinct flavor or ingredients, or a higher level of purity, with different consumers having different preferences. However, there is no practical option to provide such qualities in the ice that is used in drinks, and whose flavor or qualities may affect the enjoyment of the drink. In addition, plain ice dilutes the flavor of many beverages.  
      Further, even where source water is good, or bottled water is used to create ice in special instances, a consumer in a retail setting must trust the retailer to be honest in identifying the source water used to make ice. This creates an opportunity for abuse, as the differences in flavor are subtle, and there are no appreciable differences in appearance.  
      The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art by providing a fluid-filled container having a tray with a number of recesses. The tray has an upper rim, and the receptacles contain a freezable fluid. A closure film is removably sealed to the rim to contain the fluid. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a top view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a sectional side view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  taken along line  2 - 2 .  
       FIG. 3  is a side view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  in a folded and stacked configuration.  
       FIG. 4  is a fragmentary top view of an alternative embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a fragmentary top view of an alternative embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 6  is a fragmentary top view of an alternative embodiment of the invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       FIGS. 1 and 2  show a water-filled container  10  in the form of a tray for making ice cubes. The container has a tray  12  defining an array of recesses  14 , and a sheet  16  that overlays the tray to enclose and seal the recesses, which are filled with water  20  or any of a wide range of freezable fluids including other beverages and food ingredients.  
      The tray  12  is formed of a transparent plastic sheet, which is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a recyclable plastic that provides structural solidity with flexibility. PET is a typical material used for bottled water in personal consumption quantities, and provides an attractive clear appearance, and may be tinted to a light blue or other color to enhance appearance. The PET material or other equivalent may be formed into the tray shape by, molding, blow-molding, vacuum forming, thermoforming, or any other suitable process.  
      The tray has an upper planar frame  22  having a rectangularly shaped periphery  23 , although any range of alternative shapes may be used. Essentially, the entire tray occupies the plane of the periphery, except for the recesses  14 . The recesses are all of a common shape, nearly cubic in the illustrated embodiment, with side walls  24  that are nearly perpendicular to the plane of the frame  22 , except for a slight draft angle to facilitate manufacturing of the tray, as well as extraction of ice cubes. Each recess has a flat floor  26  (in the instance in which cubical ice shapes are desired), all occupying a common plane parallel to that plane of the frame. This enables stacking as will be discussed below.  
      The tray further defines perforations  30  along a fold line  32 . The perforations are spaced away from the nearest recesses, so that a flat flange surface intervenes. The perforations provide for adequate but limited material connecting respective halves of the tray, providing a low-resistance fold line, with a string connection between the halves. In alternative embodiments, the perforations may be configured to all the tray to be torn into sub-sections, such as by cutting sharper notches at the tray periphery along the fold line.  
      In the preferred embodiment, the tray has a thickness of 0.005-0.025 inches, with at least 0.010 inch being preferred at the frame for overall rigidity, and lesser thickness in the recess walls being acceptable and inherent to the manufacturing processes that tend to stretch a sheet of material to form the shapes. In the preferred embodiment, a frame thickness (the thickness of the sheet from which the tray is formed) of 0.020 inch and a recess wall thickness of 0.010 inch is preferred. A relatively thin and flexible wall is tolerable, because when the tray is filled and sealed, the contained water provides a supportive turgidity.  
      The periphery  23  of the frame includes a flat peripheral flange that encompasses each group of recesses on each side of the fold line  32 . In the preferred embodiment, the flange is between ¼ and ½ inch wide. Between the recesses within each groups, flat paths  34  defining a grid also occupy the plane of the frame.  
      The cover sheet  16  is a flexible plastic film that is impermeable to water. The sheet is coextensive with the periphery of the tray, and is sealed to the flanges of the tray to entirely enclose the recesses. The sheet may be sealed by any conventional means, including heat sealing at weld lines  36  indicated with diagonal hatching. The sheet may be a single plastic film material, or a layered composite of different materials with different qualities providing strength, impermeability to fluid and odors, printability, adhesive or welding (thermal or solvent) compatibility and appearance. As an alternative to welding, the sheet may be adhered to the tray by any conventional adhesive means. The sheet does not need to have perforations that need to be registered with the perforations  30  of the tray, because the film is intended to be very flexible, and to present minimal resistance to bending at the hinge line.  
      In alternative embodiments, the sheet may be metallic, or include a metallic foil layer. The sealing method selected is preferably one that is non-resealable, so that opening of the tray or a segment of the tray provides visible evidence of opening on tampering. This ensures that a customer does not receive a tampered-with package that may have been reused, or refilled with tap water instead of a preferred brand of water or other fluid that is promised by the labeling on the container. This especially important for visitors to regions with unsafe water supplies.  
      Sealing of the container may be by a process or adhesive material that provides a stronger seal at room temperature, to protect against inadvertent opening, and a weaker seal when chilled or frozen, to facilitate opening. Such is provided by certain conventional adhesives. The sheet used to seal the tray may be of any of a wide range of sheets. It need not be flat, as will be discussed in a clamshell version below, in which one part is considered a “tray” and the other is considered the “sheet.” The sheet need not be a simple film or foil, but may have an edge feature such as used for plastic zip closures or a flange and mating groove feature employed for plastic “Tupperware”® type food containers, for example.  
      In the preferred embodiment, the tray is filled with water (or other fluid) before the sheet is sealed to the tray. The filling is preferably as full as possible, so that there are no or minimal bubbles or gas spaces in the enclosed chambers. Unlike packaging with compartments and a seal film used for containing snacks with different components such as cheese and crackers, the chambers are intended to be filled as full as possible to displace as much gas as possible. Moreover, the ingredient used for filling is a fluid, and one which is of a type intended to be served after it is frozen.  
      Filling may occur before any sealing occurs, or the sheet may be partially sealed, before the tray is filled through an unsealed location, which is subsequently sealed. For embodiments in which water is selected as the contents for ice production, the water is preferably pre-treated to enable it to freeze with a clear appearance, even in a conventional household freezer. The water pre-treatment may include subjecting the water to any suitable combination of heating, vacuum, or filtration, and may further include packaging in a controlled gas environment so that any ullage gas or bubbles remaining in any sealed chamber is not a type of gas that readily dissolves into the contained water (which would result in cloudy ice).  
      Production is intended to occur on a massive scale, with multitudes of containers being filled and sealed at a factory, and packaged for widespread distribution to retailers, hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, and any other outlet where bottled water and/or ice are distributed. Then, the containers are either sold to a consumer, who freezes them in a home freezer, or are frozen near the point of sale and consumption, such as in a bar or restaurant. In any event, the commercial transportation and storage of these containers may, unlike commercial ice, occur at uncontrolled temperatures. The containers remain sealed until after the contents are frozen. Typically, the end consumer will unseal the package for use. However, in some instances, the package may be opened in the presence of a consumer in the custom of wine service, to assure authenticity of contents. In some instances in which the container has more than one separately sealed segment, as in the illustrated embodiment, only one or less than all of the containers may be opened, so that the remaining unopened containers may be returned to a freezer for later usage.  
      The folding feature of the container  10  is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . With the recesses being laid out symmetrically about the fold line  32  as a mirror image about the line, the peripheries of the tray, and the paths  34  between the recesses stack atop each other, so that the load of other containers  10 ′ stored above is transmitted and carried by the vertical walls of the recesses, and not by the seal sheet  16 . In the illustrated embodiment with flat-bottomed recesses, stacking each unit film up might not be a problem. Other embodiments may allow a staggered loading of trays into a box, so that the bottoms of the recesses rest on the paths between the recesses of the next container below. However, when the recess shape does not have a flat bottom, the force concentration on the film of the next container below can cause damage or rupture. Thus, protecting the film by folding it into the protected interior of the package avoids the risks of damage presented by overloading and mis-packing. Moreover, the film is protected against damage from sharp objects (including the corners of other similar ice water containers) that may be found in a consumer&#39;s grocery cart or grocery bag. IN conjunction with the folding feature, a latch feature (not shown) may be provided at the free edges of the trays, away from the hinge. This latch may be a tab and slot, or any other conventional design used in plastic sheet packaging.  
       FIG. 4  shows an alternative embodiment container tray  100  with recesses  102  having indicia, in this case a capital letter “B”. The indicia may be any two or three dimension form, including letters, numerals, logos, symbols, and sculptural shapes, as long as they meet the constraints of positive draft angles without undercuts, to readily allow manufacturing of the trays, and demolding of the ice.  FIG. 5  shows a further alternative tray  104  with recesses  106  of an alternative shape, in this instance a hexagon. This is an example of recess layout that is not on an orthogonal grid, to facilitate increased capacity for a given overall package volume. Any other shape may be employed, with shapes not being limited to the essentially cylindrical forms having a nearly constant cross section from the floor to the rim of the recess (tapered only a limited amount for needed draft angle). Such shapes may include domes, pyramids (point at bottom) cones, and molded forms with details, such as fruit, golf balls, animals, and holiday symbols, for example. Shapes having an undercut that would render demolding impossible may be provided by a tray formed of an elastomeric material, or by a material that adequately holds its form during transit to the freezer, but which may deform permanently (as opposed to elastically) upon extraction of the ice elements.  
       FIG. 5  shows an embodiment of the container  110  in which the weld lines are not limited to the periphery of the container, but separate each recess from the others, to allow the package to be partially opened for removal of only a selected number of cubes while keeping the rest sealed. In variations on this, the cubes may be separated from each other in subsets that are segregated from other subsets. In further alternatives, the perforations may extend between individual recess, or between subsets, so that a single or limited number of sealed cubes may be served, while the remainder remain frozen.  
      One advantage of the invention is the ability to freeze quality clear ice to low temperatures. Commercial ice machines freeze ice by flowing a stream across a chilled plate, and releasing and segmenting the resulting sheet of ice by heat. Such machines provide ice that is at the freezing point, so that such ice melts as it begins to chill a beverage, causing often unwanted dilution. While such ice may be deep frozen, it is inconvenient, subject to clumping, and prone to absorbing freezer odors. On the other hand, the preferred embodiment provides clear ice that may be deep frozen to provide initial chilling without dilution.  
      In addition to the delivery of water for freezing into segments, the container may be filled with juices, flavored beverages, and the like. Cooking ingredients such as tomato paste, chicken broth and the like may be packaged for use in small quantities to avoid spoilage of remaining product. For beverage applications, the ice itself may be a flavorant that enhances a beverage, or avoid dilution. Beer may be frozen in the container for addition to a glass of beer needing chilling without diluting it. Wine may be similarly chilled. A vermouth solution frozen in the container may be used both to chill a martini and to add flavor. Margarita mix may be frozen for blending with spirits to create a blended drink without the addition of other ingredients. A drink may be flavored by an increasing degree, such that it gets sweeter (or tarter, or more colorful, for example) as it is consumed. The receptacles may further include edible or decorative objects, such as lemon twists, lime wedges, olives, cocktail cherries, and the like. Aromatics such as lemon oil may also be included, to enhance a beverage.  
       FIGS. 7 and 8  show an alternative embodiment freezable fluid container  200  useful for forming ice cubes with contoured shapes on two sides, instead of with a flat face corresponding to the film surface. In this instance, the container is a clamshell form with two halves  202 .  204  each having recesses  206 ,  210  that depart from a medial parting line plane  212  of the container. In the illustrated embodiment, the two halves are joined by a hinge  214 , with the other three edges being sealed at weld lines  216 . In an alternative embodiment, the halves of the clamshell need not be hinged, but may be separate, and sealed at all 4 sides, about the entire periphery. Similarly, even a hinged version may be sealed on all sides to provide additional sealing at the hinge side. Essentially, one side of the clamshell serves as the tray, while the other serves as the closure element.  
      The recesses  206  are show as spherical (such as to form novelty golf-ball shaped ice cubes). However, in alternative embodiments, these may be of virtually any shape that can be formed in a two-part mold, and the halves for each recess need not be symmetrical across the medial plane.  
      The container  200  has edge passages  220 ,  222  on opposite ends, each communicating from beyond the periphery to an end recess. Intermediate passages  224  provide fluid communication between each recess and the adjacent recesses. The passages facilitate filling. To avoid the challenge of filling and sealing while under water, the filling process preferably proceeds as follows. First, the container is sealed about the periphery, except at the edge passages  220 . Then, fluid (such as clarity-treated water) is injected into one passage while air is evacuated from the other (the container being oriented so that the evacuation passage is at the highest point). The intermediate passages  224  provide fluid flow throughout the container so that all recessed are filled. A vacuum or suction is applied to the other edge aperture to facilitate evacuation. Then, the edge apertures are sealed by heat welding at weld locations  226 ,  230 , or other process including adhesives or plugging.  
      The filling process may be facilitated by the pressure of injected fluid, which will tend to bulge the halves apart under the fluid pressure, so that fluid may flow between the flat portions  232  of each half. This allows faster filling, and ensures that any trapped air quickly reaches the outlet edge passage. Further suction may be applied after air evacuation, to draw excess fluid out, so that the flat portions are against each other, to provide uniform cubes without ice flanges or flash in between the faces of the halves. This may also be achieved by mechanical pressure to compress the halves together.  
      While the above is discussed in terms of preferred and alternative embodiments, the invention is not intended to be so limited.