Abstract:
A container label defining one or more windows to be associated with one or more windows of a container on which the label is intended to be affixed. The one or more label windows provide a prospective customer with greater visibility of the product within the container and eliminate the possibility of damage to the label portion that would otherwise cover the container windows.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates generally to a labeled container; particularly to a windowed label for use with a container comprising window panel such that the label window is registered with the container window.  
           [0003]    2. Background  
           [0004]    Labels have long been employed on containers used to deliver a product from a manufacturer to a customer. Labels were used to provide the customer with data about the product within the container or the manufacturer of the product. Labels were also used as a marketing tool for attracting customer attention to the product while it rested on a store shelf. Additionally, the label was often employed as a promotional medium such as by providing coupons. When required, labels were also used to impart other information about the product as required by prevailing government regulations.  
           [0005]    Allowing a prospective customer to view the product itself has also long been considered an effective marketing tool. This has been accomplished, for instance, by constructing the product container to be clear or translucent. However, labels configured to accommodate all of the required data and desired marketing information have often been large enough to cover a majority of the container to which it is configured to be attached. Thus, while the customer was exposed to the information and messages of the label, the visibility of the product was significantly obstructed. The labels therefore detracted from the presentation of the product to prospective customers.  
           [0006]    On particular container configurations, labels have also detracted from product presentation in other ways as well. One such container configuration was rigid, or semi-rigid, containers for hot-filled food products such as those made of polymers. The hot-filling process of packaging food products entails elevating the product temperature to a level at which all undesirable organisms will perish, placing the food product within the container, sealing the container while at the elevated temperature and allowing the container and food product to cool to ambient temperature. This process insures a sterilized food product. However, the food product, an any air in the sealed container, shrank during cooling and created a substantial internal vacuum. Rigid and semi-rigid hot-fill containers were, therefore, typically provided with structural features designed to allow the container to withstand this vacuum without substantial deformation. By way of example only, long, flat sidewalls of hot-fill bottles were the most susceptible to indentation due to internal vacuum as will be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art. The sidewalls of hot-fill bottles were, therefore, often provided with ribs extending annularly about its circumference or strategically located indentations referred to as “windows,” “panels” or “vacuum panels” which added to the structural rigidity of the sidewall to limit the indentation caused by the vacuum.  
           [0007]    Portions of a label placed over the vacuum panels would typically become damaged by the time it reached the store shelves to be viewed by the prospective customer. Damage resulted from the label being depressed into the recess of the vacuum panel. The label could become wrinkled or even punctured from normal handling of the container that was required to get it from the manufacturer to the store shelves. Labels in this wrinkled or punctured state detracted from the desired presentation of the product reducing the effectiveness of the label as a marketing tool.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    The present invention provides a container label defining one or more windows therein to be associated with one or more windows of a container on which the label is intended to be affixed. The one or more label windows can provide a prospective customer with greater visibility of the product within the container. The one or more label windows can also eliminate the possibility of damage to the label portion that would otherwise cover the container windows.  
           [0009]    One objective of the present invention is to provide a labeled container facilitating visibility of the product within the container.  
           [0010]    Another objective of the present invention is to provide a labeled container to limit potential damage to the label.  
           [0011]    It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a windowed label for a container to facilitate visibility of the product within the container.  
           [0012]    It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a windowed label for a windowed container to facilitate association of one or more label windows with one or more container windows to limit potential damage to the label.  
           [0013]    Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a container having one or more windows and a label having one or more windows associated with the container windows.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 is an elevational view of one embodiment of a label susceptible of use with the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a container susceptible of use with the present invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the label of FIG. 1 positioned on the container of FIG. 2.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 3B is an elevational view of the label-container combination of FIG. 3A.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 4A is an elevational view depicting the container of FIG. 2 with another embodiment of the label of the present invention.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4B is an elevational view depicting the container of FIG. 2 with yet another embodiment of the label of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0020]    One embodiment of the label of the present invention is depicted as label  10  in FIG. 1. The label  10  has an upper edge  12 , a lower edge  14 , a left edge  16  and a right edge  18  defining a body  20  of the label  10 . The label body  20  defines one or more apertures  22  referred to herein as “windows.” In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, the label body  20  comprises four windows  22 . However, the present invention contemplates that the label body  20  may have any number of windows  22  regardless of the configuration of the container with which it will be associated, as discussed in more detail below. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, each window  22  is of like shape and size defining a perimeter  23  comprising an upper edge  24 , a lower edge  26 , a left edge  28  and a right edge  30 . It is not necessary, however, that each label window  22  be of like shape or size when the label body  20  comprised multiple windows.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 depicts one embodiment of the container of the present invention as container  32 . The depicted container  32  comprises a finish  34 , a rounded shoulder  36 , a label panel  38  and a base  40 . An upper bevel  42  and a lower bevel  44  connect the label panel  38  to the rounded shoulder  36  and the base  40  respectively. The bevels  42 ,  44  recess the label panel  38  from the rounded shoulder  36  and the base  40 , respectively, to protect the label panel  38 , and any label placed thereon, from contacting an adjacent container of like configuration when located side-by-side such as when boxed for shipping. The container  32  comprises four sides of like configuration and forms a rounded square. Each side of the container comprises a vacuum panel  46  in the label panel area  38 . The vacuum panels  46  may be referred to herein as “windows. ” The present invention contemplates containers have any number of sides of like configuration or a cylindrical configuration. Moreover, the present invention contemplates a container having less vacuum panels than sides so that some container sides comprise a vacuum panel while one or more others do not. Multiple vacuum panels on a side are also contemplated. The container windows  46  of the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2 define a container window perimeter  47  comprising and upper edge  48 , a lower edge  50 , a left edge  52  and a right edge  54 . The container windows  46  recess from the label panel area  38  of the container  32 . Other configurations of the container windows  46  are contemplated and the windows may differ in configuration one from the others without departing from the scope of the present invention. The container  32  may be constructed from any material including, but not limited to, glass, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, or multilayer polymeric constructions.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIGS. 3A and 3B depict the container  32  of FIG. 2 adorned with the label  10  of FIG. 1. The label  10  is located on the container label panel  38  and, consistent with the present invention, each label window  22  is positioned to frame an associated container window  46 . In other words, each label window perimeter  23  is positioned adjacent to an associated container window perimeter  47 . The configuration of the label  10 , as best seen in FIGS. 3A and 3B, comprises the label window perimeters  23  slightly larger than the container window perimeters  47  and of like configuration so that the label windows  22  frame the container windows  46  leaving a small gap  56  therebetween which exposes the container label panel  38 . Alternatively, the label window perimeter  23  could be of identical size to, and run coextensive with, the container window perimeter  47  to eliminate the gap  56 . The size of the gap  56  may vary without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is also within the scope of the present invention to vary the configuration of the label window perimeter from the configuration of the container window perimeter so that the gap therebetween will vary thereabout, as discussed in further detail below with regard to the alternate embodiments of the present invention depicted in FIGS. 4A and 4B. As with the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4B, the label window perimeter  23  may even encroach upon, and cover, portions of the container window perimeter  47 . Moreover, although the embodiment of the label  10  depicted in FIGS. 1, 3A and  3 B each comprise a number of windows  22  equal to the number of container windows  46 , it is contemplated that the label  10  may have fewer windows  22  than the container  32  leaving some container windows  46  covered while exposing others. Furthermore, it is contemplated that the label  10  of the present invention may have more windows  22  than the container  32 . For example, the depicted label  10  could be employed with a container comprising only two windows  46  so that the two container windows would be exposed and portions of the label panel  38  would be exposed on the sides of the container  32  not having one of the windows  46 . This would allow for uniformity of labels, if, for example, the four window label  10  of FIG. 1 was a standard, while providing customers with more product visibility than if the non-windowed sides of the label panel  38  were completely covered.  
         [0023]    The label  10  may applied to the container  32  by any method known to one of ordinary skill in the art. The gap  56  between the label window perimeter  23  and the container window perimeter  47  provides some room for error with regard to the registration of the label windows  22  with the container windows  46 . Registration of the label windows  22  and the container windows  46  can be accomplished by any method known to one of ordinary skill in the art. It is also contemplated that registration may effectively be accomplished by employing a heat transfer label as the label  10  and applying the heat transfer label  10  to the container label panel  38  using a heat transfer or thermal label application method as are all well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. As is know to those of ordinary skill in the art, the heat transfer method will apply label only to the label panel  38  without applying any label into or over the recessed container windows  46 . Alternatively, the invention could be accomplished by applying a windowless label to the container  32  and subsequently excising portions of the label to create the label windows  22 .  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 4A depicts the container  32  of FIG. 2 adorned with a label  58  of an alternative configuration. The label  58  comprises a first window perimeter  60  simulating the outer contour of a food item related to the product within the container  32 . For example, the first label window perimeter  60  simulates the outer contour of a bunch of grapes and could be associated with a container  32  for holding a food product such as, by way of example only, grape jellies or jams. The first label window perimeter  60  need not match that of the associated container window perimeter  47 . The first label window perimeter  60  exposes label panel  38  in a gap  62  between the first label window perimeter  60  and the container window perimeter  47 . The label  58  also comprises three second label window perimeters  64  (only two depicted) framing the associated container window perimeters  47  in the manner of the label  10  depicted in FIGS. 1, 3A and  3 B. The first label window perimeter  60  may be duplicated for any of the other label windows of the label  58 .  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 4B depicts the container  32  of FIG. 2 adorned with a label  66  of another alternative configuration. The label  66  comprises two first label windows  68  having a first window perimeter configuration  70 . The window perimeter exposes only a portion of the container window  46  while covering the remainder of the window with an overlay portion  72  of the label  66 . The depicted embodiment of label  66  provides each first window perimeter configuration  70  with a series of perforations  74  about the perimeter of the overlay  72  to facilitate easy removal thereof. The overlay could comprise, for example, a coupon or recipe suggestions. The label  66  further comprises two windows  76  (one depicted) having a second window perimeter  78  framing the associated container window perimeters  47  in the manner of label  10  depicted in FIGS. 1, 3A and  3 B.  
         [0026]    Combinations of the label window perimeters depicted in FIGS.  1 - 4 B, as well as other label window perimeters not depicted, are contemplated.  
         [0027]    The label  10  is constructed of any standard label material known to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the label  10  may be constructed of a paper or polymer film imprinted with the desired product and manufacturer information as well as other information dictated by government regulation.  
         [0028]    From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that the present invention has a number of advantages, some of which have been described above and others of which are inherent in the present invention. Also, it will be understood that modifications can be made to the present invention without departing from the teachings of the invention. Accordingly the scope of the invention is only to be limited as necessitated by the accompanying claims.