Patent Abstract:
A package, particularly suited for containing viscous foodstuff, comprising a wide-mouth generally rectangular container and a dispensing closure. The closure seals onto the container with a push-on motion and includes a resealable flip-up hinged lid. The container is originally sealed, after being filled, with a seal membrane applied to the container mouth. The closure is configured to permit the seal membrane to be conveniently removed from the container mouth while the closure remains assembled on the container.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to packaging for consumable products, such as foodstuff and, in particular, to an improved container and closure combination. 
     PRIOR ART 
     Viscous food products and other similar goods have traditionally been packaged in round jars with screw-on closures. Such packaging has become mundane, largely because of its ubiquity and, therefore, easily overlooked by a consumer on a retail shelf. Moreover, known containers do not lend themselves to high density shipping or high density display on store shelves. Further, traditional jar and twist-on cap packages are inconvenient to use because of the motions required to unscrew the cap, remove a freshness seal, and later to install the cap. Still further, since the cap typically must be removed from the container to dispense its contents, extra attention must be given to setting the cap aside while the product is dispensed and then reinstalling it. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention provides a container and closure package that affords increased convenience to the consumer or user. Additionally, the package, with a quasi-rectangular shape, affords greater packaging density and stackability features important to the manufacture of the product contained in the disclosed package and to the distributor and marketer of the package. The package, which is particularly suited for viscous foodstuffs, has a seal membrane across the mouth of the container which ensures that the desired original sealing integrity is obtained. The closure has two mating parts, a base and a lid, preferably tethered together by a strap-like hinge. The closure is assembled on the container with a push-on motion. It its assembled condition, the closure enables the user to open the lid and easily remove the seal membrane. The disclosed closure construction thus avoids the necessity of taking the base off the container to remove the seal membrane. The closure base creates a moisture and oxygen-resistant mechanical seal with the container and the lid is similarly resealable with the base. A wide opening character of the closure as well as the mouth of the container enables the user to readily scoop or spoon out substantially all of the contents of a container without difficulty. If desired, when the container is emptied, the base of the closure can be removed from the container to enable these components to be scrubbed clean and the package to be re-used by the consumer. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a package constructed in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the package with a lid open and a seal membrane exposed; 
     FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the package taken in the plane  3 — 3  in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the package taken in the plane  4 — 4  in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified form of a closure base of the package; and 
     FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of another modified form of a closure base of the package. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a package  10  comprising a container  11  and a closure  12 . The container or bottle  11  is preferably injection blow-molded of a suitable thermoplastic material such as polyethylene terephthalate. In the following description, the various orientations of parts are in reference to the package  10  being upright as shown in the drawings. As shown, the container  11  is somewhat box-shaped having opposed generally flat vertical main faces  16  and opposed somewhat cylindrical end faces  17 . In plan view and in horizontal section, the container  11  and closure  12  have generally rectangular profiles with straight sides and somewhat rounded ends. 
     As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a mouth  21  at an upper face or end of the container  11  has a neck finish that is substantially uniform, in vertical cross-section, along its periphery. As is customary in the art, the mouth or neck finish  21  can be injection molded and the remainder of the container  11  can be blow molded. The mouth or neck finish  21  includes an upstanding generally vertical wall  22  with an upper lip surface  23  that, ideally, is relatively flat across a major part of the thickness of the wall and lies in a flat plane across the mouth of the container. Parallel with and outward of the mouth vertical wall  22  is a closure support in the form of an upstanding wall  24  and a generally horizontal web  26  joining these walls. In the illustrated arrangement, an upper end  27  of the support wall  24  is somewhat lower than or recessed below the lip  23  of the mouth vertical wall  22 . Below the horizontal web  26  of the neck finish, the container  11  has a peripheral shoulder  28  that flares outwardly to the main and end faces  16 ,  17  of the container. The container  11  has a bottom integral with the lower edges of the faces or sides  16 ,  17 . 
     A seal membrane, known in the art, of suitable material such as plastic, metal or paper or a combination of the same is releasably sealed on the lip  23  of the container  11  with an adhesive, application of heat, or like known technique. The membrane  31  is cut with a profile that closely matches the contour of the outer margin of the lip  23 . The membrane  31 , preferably, includes an integral pull tab  32  that is folded back over the main body of the membrane. 
     The illustrated closure  12  comprises a base  36  and a lid  37  that preferably are unitary with one another and are joined with a flexible strap-like hinge  38 . Preferably, the closure  12  is injection molded of suitable thermoplastic material such as flexible polyethylene. The base  36  has an annular configuration in plan view like that of the mouth  21  of the container  11 . The shape can be characterized as a rectangle with rounded short ends. The base  36  has a somewhat irregular, stepped cross-section in a vertical plane that is substantially uniform around its full perimeter. The base  36  has a lower generally vertically depending skirt  39 . A bottom area  41  of the skirt  39  flares slightly outwardly and at an edge or bottom lip  42  has an outer surface area  43  substantially flush with the adjacent outer surface of the container  11 . The area above the container shoulder  28  is adapted to receive the bottom area  41  of the skirt  39  to enable a substantially flush fit of the skirt  39  with the faces  16 ,  17  of the container  11 . The depending skirt  39  is thickened at its mid-section to produce an inwardly projecting hook or catch  44 . 
     The base  36  includes a depending inner skirt or wall  46  joined to the outer skirt or wall  39  by a web  47 . The skirts  39  and  46  are proportioned and spaced from one another so that their respective inner and outer surfaces are adapted to securely engage the upstanding support wall  24  and effect a moisture and oxygen-excluding mechanical squeeze seal with the same. Above the web  47  and inner skirt  46 , the base  36  includes an offset flange area  51  that extends upwardly and inwardly to an inner peripheral wall  52 . The wall  52  is generally vertical but with a slight outward flare. The wall  52  is preferably arranged such that when the base  36  is installed on the container neck, it overlies the neck wall  22  and is substantially coplanar with this wall. Additionally, it will be seen that with the base  36  installed, an annular gap  53  exists between the neck wall  22  and web  26  on the container and the inner skirt  46  and flange  51  on the base  36  of the closure  12 . The gap  53  includes a vertical space  54  between the neck seal lip  23  and seal membrane  31  and the flange  51  at the base of the upstanding wall  52 . The gap  53  further includes a space  55  between a lower end of the inner skirt  46  and the web  26 . 
     The base  36  forms a central aperture  60  that is generally coextensive with the container mouth opening formed by the wall  22 . FIG. 5 illustrates a form of a scraping bar  56   a  wherein an arched wall area  58  is formed to facilitate scraping of the hollow of an inverted spoon. A free edge  59  of the arched wall area  58  lies in a common vertical plane with adjacent free edge areas of the main part of the bar so that flat or spoon utensils can be scraped by raising the same in a vertical plane against these edge areas. FIG. 6 illustrates a second construction of a scraping bar  56   b . The bar  56   b  includes a flat projection in the horizontal plane of its main portion. The projection  63  extends inward towards the center of the base  36  and has an arcuate edge  64  when viewed from above. The projection  63  permits a spoon to be scraped against it to deposit excess product back into the container. As suggested in FIGS. 5 and 6, the scraping bars  56   a ,  56   b  are spaced above the seal membrane  31 . 
     As mentioned above, the lid  37  is integrally molded with the base  36  through a flexible hinge or strap  38 . The lid  37  has a profile or plan view similar to the closure base and the neck  21  of the container  11 . A major central area  71  of the lid  37  serves to close the mouth  21  of the container  11  and a periphery  72  of the lid  37  serves to mechanically seal with the base  36  to exclude moisture and oxygen. The lid periphery  72  has an inverted J-shaped cross-section forming a pocket or groove  73  for receiving the upstanding wall  52  of the base. Opposed surfaces  76 ,  77  forming the pocket  73  engage opposite sides of the wall  52  to ensure a positive squeeze seal with the base  36 . A slightly outward flare of the wall  52  and a snug fit of the lid  37  to the wall assures that the lid will close on the base  36  with a positive grip or snap action. An outer wall  79  depends below the plane of the central area  71  so that when the lid is closed this wall or skirt shrouds the wall  52  and flange  51  of the base. 
     The lid  37  has its upper surface configured to receive and stabilize the bottom of a container identical to the one shown for stacking purposes. A tab  81  projects horizontally outwardly from the peripheral lid wall  79  along the side opposite the hinge  38 . The tab  81  enables the lid  37  to be opened with an upward force applied thereto at the right or left of the container, considering the face of the container away from the hinge  38  to be its front. 
     The package  10  is suitable for containing a variety of product including foodstuffs and is especially useful for containing viscous spreadable foods. Once the container  11  is filled with product, the seal membrane  31  is applied and sealed to the lip  23 . With the pull tab  32  folded back over the main body of the seal membrane  31 , the closure  12  is assembled to the container  11  with a push-on motion. This is most conveniently done with the lid  37  having been previously closed on the base  36 . The outwardly flared area  41  of the base skirt  39  facilitates alignment of the base  36  to the container mouth  21 . The hook  44  on this skirt  39  snaps under the juncture of the container neck wall  24  and web  26  to securely retain the base  36  on the container neck  21 . A consumer or user of the package  10  opens the package by first prying the lid  37  from the base  36  by pushing the horizontal tab  81  upwardly and causing the lid to flip up on the hinge  38 . With the lid  37  open, the pull tab  32  is pulled to cause the seal membrane  31  to peel off the lip  23 . It will be understood that the gap  53  including the portion  54  prevents any accidental pinching of the seal membrane between the lid  37  and base  36  which might otherwise occur even where the seal membrane is oversized or imperfectly registered with the lip  23 . The retention of the base  36  to the neck  21  is substantially greater than that between the lid  37  and the base so that the lid opening forces cannot cause the base to be accidentally displaced from the container. Typically only a portion of the whole of the product contained in the container is spooned out at a given time. When sufficient product has been removed, the lid  37  is pressed back down and snapped closed onto the base. When the container  11  is emptied of its original product contents, the base  36  can be removed from the container to enable the container to be cleaned and re-used. Finger recesses  86  molded into the end walls  17  enable a person to pry the base  36  off the container  11  by grasping the depending skirt  39  of the base at these locations. 
     It should be evident that this disclosure is by way of example and that various changes may be made by adding, modifying or eliminating details without departing from the fair scope of the teaching contained in this disclosure. The invention is therefore not limited to particular details of this disclosure except to the extent that the following claims are necessarily so limited.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1