U.S. patent application number 12/757818 was filed with the patent office on 2010-08-05 for tubular bag provided with a cover.
This patent application is currently assigned to Huhtamaki Ronsberg, Zweigniederlassung der Huhtamaki Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG. Invention is credited to Maurice HABRAM, Andreas MICHALSKY.
Application Number | 20100195940 12/757818 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36148754 |
Filed Date | 2010-08-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100195940 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
MICHALSKY; Andreas ; et
al. |
August 5, 2010 |
TUBULAR BAG PROVIDED WITH A COVER
Abstract
The invention relates to a tubular pouch (10) having a tubular
pouch body (20) and a lid piece (30) and, optionally, a base,
especially a standing base or stand-up base, the tubular pouch body
(20) having, in a lid-piece region (35), a sloped and/or angled
peripheral rim (40) suitable for attachment of a lid piece
(30).
Inventors: |
MICHALSKY; Andreas;
(Memmingerberg, DE) ; HABRAM; Maurice; (Kempten,
DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
KNOBBE MARTENS OLSON & BEAR LLP
2040 MAIN STREET, FOURTEENTH FLOOR
IRVINE
CA
92614
US
|
Assignee: |
Huhtamaki Ronsberg,
Zweigniederlassung der Huhtamaki Deutschland GmbH & Co.
KG
Ronsberg/Allgaeu
DE
|
Family ID: |
36148754 |
Appl. No.: |
12/757818 |
Filed: |
April 9, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11817786 |
Mar 11, 2008 |
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PCT/EP06/01777 |
Feb 27, 2006 |
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12757818 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
383/200 ;
383/104; 383/116; 383/80 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 2577/205 20130101;
B65D 2577/2091 20130101; B65D 75/008 20130101; B65D 75/58
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
383/200 ;
383/104; 383/80; 383/116 |
International
Class: |
B65D 33/00 20060101
B65D033/00; B65D 30/16 20060101 B65D030/16; B65D 33/16 20060101
B65D033/16; B65D 30/08 20060101 B65D030/08 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 1, 2005 |
DE |
10 2005 009 378.7 |
Jun 10, 2005 |
DE |
10 2005 026 905.2 |
Claims
1.-15. (canceled)
16. A tubular pouch, comprising: a tubular pouch body including a
lid-piece region; and a lid piece adapted to be attached to the
tubular pouch body at the lid-piece region; wherein the tubular
pouch body has, in the lid-piece region, a peripheral rim adapted
for attachment of the lid piece, the rim being selected from the
group consisting of a sloped rim, an angled rim, and a sloped and
angled rim; and wherein the lid piece is mounted on an outer side
of the peripheral rim.
17. The tubular pouch of claim 16, wherein the pouch further
comprises a base.
18. The tubular pouch of claim 17, wherein the base is selected
from the group consisting of a standing base and a stand-up
base.
19. The tubular pouch of claim 16, wherein the peripheral rim is in
the form of an annular angle profile.
20. The tubular pouch of claim 19, wherein the angle profile is
substantially right-angled.
21. The tubular pouch of claim 19, wherein the lid piece is joined
to the angle profile by means of a connection selected from the
group consisting of an adhesive connection, a sealing connection,
and an adhesive and sealing connection.
22. The tubular pouch of claim 16, wherein the lid piece is of a
planar construction.
23. The tubular pouch of claim 16, wherein the lid piece has at
least one pulling device selected from the group consisting of a
tab, and a ring.
24. The tubular pouch of claim 16, wherein the lid piece includes
at least one predetermined breaking location, along which the
tubular pouch is adapted to be at least partially opened.
25. The tubular pouch of claim 24, wherein the breaking location
comprises a predetermined tearing line.
26. The tubular pouch of claim 16, wherein the angle profile is
mounted on the tubular pouch body by means of a connection selected
from the group consisting of an adhesive connection, a sealing
connection, and an adhesive and sealing connection.
27. The tubular pouch of claim 26, wherein the angle profile is
mounted on an inside location of the tubular pouch body
28. The tubular pouch of claim 17, wherein part(s) selected from
the group consisting of the tubular pouch body, the lid piece, the
base, any two thereof, and all three thereof is/are of relatively
rigid construction.
29. The tubular pouch of claim 16, wherein the tubular pouch body
is formed by means selected from the group consisting of a
fin-seal, a lap-seal, a fin-seal and a lap-seal, and extrusion in
the form of a tube.
30. The tubular pouch of claim 16, wherein the tubular pouch body
is made from a laminate having at least one sealing layer.
31. The tubular pouch of claim 30, wherein the laminate comprises
an aluminum laminate.
32. The tubular pouch of claim 30, wherein the laminate further
comprises a layer selected from the group consisting of a barrier
layer, an SiO.sub.2 barrier layer, an AlO.sub.x barrier layer, an
ethyl vinyl alcohol barrier layer, and a metal foil barrier
layer.
33. The tubular pouch of claim 17, wherein at least one of the lid
piece and the base is made of substantially the same material as
the tubular pouch body.
34. The tubular pouch of claim 17, wherein part(s) selected from
the group consisting of the lid piece, the base, the tubular pouch
body, any two thereof, and all three thereof have a thickness
selected from the group consisting of a thickness in the range from
about 50 .mu.m to about 1000 .mu.m, a thickness in the range from
about 80 .mu.m to about 500 .mu.m, and a thickness in the range
from about 100 .mu.m to about 350 .mu.m.
35. The tubular pouch of claim 16, wherein at least one of the lid
piece, the tubular pouch body and the base is adapted to be
sterilized.
Description
[0001] The invention relates to a tubular pouch in accordance with
the preamble of patent claim 1.
[0002] Tubular pouches of the kind in question herein are generally
known and are used for conserving, storing and transporting liquid,
paste-form, powdered, pourable and solid contents as well as for
bringing such contents into commercial availability; such tubular
pouches and packagings produced therefrom have proved to be
extremely advantageous inter alia on account of their being
lightweight and easily shapeable and printable. A further advantage
of such tubular pouches is their ease of disposal.
[0003] The opening behaviour of such tubular pouches or tubular
pouch packagings has proved to be problematic, however. Such
packagings are usually opened by tearing open the packaging, it
being usual to provide a notch in a lateral sealing seam by means
of which further tearing of a foil forming the tubular pouch,
generally of two side wall foils, is initiated.
[0004] A further possible way of opening such a tubular pouch
packaging is to pull apart two side faces forming the tubular pouch
in the region of a seal, the seal breaking open.
[0005] Those two variants of opening have the serious
disadvantages, however, that when the packaging is torn into or
torn open, the foil forming the tubular pouch tears in an
undirected and uncontrolled way, so that the contents of the
packaging are spilled, resulting in loss of the packaged goods.
[0006] Furthermore, after such tearing-open, the interior of the
tubular pouch is often poorly accessible, because torn or residual
portions of the packaging make it difficult to gain access to the
interior of the tubular pouch, for example with the hand or a
spoon. Intentionally pouring out the contents of the packaging is
also often impeded by residual portions of the packaging, so that
the contents of the packaging on the one hand also come into
contact with outer parts of the packaging, with the result that
firstly the contents of the tubular pouch can be contaminated on
being poured out and on the other hand can be dispensed only in an
uncontrolled way.
[0007] Finally, a further variant of opening comprises the use of a
pair of scissors by means of which an upper portion of the closed
tubular pouch is cut off and removed, so that the interior volume
of the tubular pouch is then freely accessible. Although that
variant enables a tubular pouch portion that closes the tubular
pouch to be cleanly separated, it creates the problem firstly that
it is necessary always to have a pair of scissors to hand and
secondly, if the scissors used are dirty, there is a risk that both
the cut edges and the contents of the tubular pouch will be
contaminated, with the result that the contents may become
unusable.
[0008] The problem underlying the invention is to provide a tubular
pouch of the kind mentioned at the beginning which can be opened
hygienically, simply and without aids, so that the interior of the
tubular pouch is accessible without problems.
[0009] That problem is solved by a tubular pouch according to
patent claim 1.
[0010] The problem is solved, in particular, by a tubular pouch
having a tubular pouch body and a lid piece and, optionally, a
base, especially a standing base or stand-up base, the tubular
pouch body having, in a lid-piece region, a sloped and/or angled
peripheral rim suitable for attachment of a lid piece.
[0011] The peripheral rim is in the form of an annular angle
profile which preferably forms substantially a right angle.
[0012] The angle profile is attached to the tubular pouch body,
preferably by means of an adhesive connection and/or sealing
connection, so that one limb of the angle profile extends slightly,
for example from 1 mm to 10 mm starting from the rim of the tubular
pouch body, over the opening of the tubular pouch body. For that
purpose, the angle profile can be either sealed or adhesively
bonded, preferably to the inside of the tubular pouch body. In a
second alternative, the limb of the angle profile that does not
extend over the opening of the tubular pouch body is sealed and/or
adhesively bonded to the tubular pouch body on the outside.
[0013] An important concept of the invention is that on the tubular
pouch body there is provided a portion which extends substantially
in a direction spanning the opening of the tubular pouch body, on
which the lid piece can be joined to the angle profile, and thereby
to the tubular pouch body, by means of an adhesive connection
and/or sealing connection which is especially at least partially
releasable.
[0014] When the angle profile is mounted on the inside of the
tubular pouch body, the lid piece is mounted on the inner side of a
limb of the angle profile. The inner side of the angle profile in
the context of this invention is to be understood as being that
side of the angle profile that includes the smaller angle,
especially the 90.degree. internal angle. The outer side of the
angle profile is to be understood as being the side opposite from
the inner side of the angle profile, which outer side, when the
inner side has a 90.degree. angle, then in turn describes a
270.degree. external angle.
[0015] In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention,
the lid piece is accordingly mounted on the outer side, in
accordance with the definition, of a limb of the angle profile,
which outer side in this case faces away from the tubular pouch
body.
[0016] Advantageously, the lid piece of the tubular pouch according
to the invention is of planar construction and has at least one tab
or ring which serves as a pulling device for opening the tubular
pouch.
[0017] The tubular pouch is opened by gripping the tubular pouch
body with one hand, or by fixing the tubular pouch body in some
other way, while using the other hand to grip the tab of the lid
piece or the ring attached to the lid piece. By pulling on the ring
or the tab, the lid piece is then detached from the angle profile
which, during closure of the tubular pouch, has been joined to the
lid piece by means of an adhesive or by means of a sealing
connection which is arranged to be at least partially
releasable.
[0018] Depending upon the adhesive used, the tubular pouch can be
reclosable by renewed pressing of the lid piece onto the adhesive
surface of the angle profile.
[0019] Furthermore, according to a preferred embodiment the lid
piece has at least one predetermined breaking location, especially
a predetermined tearing line, along which the tubular pouch can be
at least partially opened. By means of such a predetermined tearing
line it is possible in the first instance to remove only a portion
of the lid piece, which is particularly advantageous in the case of
liquid contents in order to avoid spillage of the contents. With
such a predetermined tearing line it is also possible to optimise
the opening behaviour of the tubular pouch, a preferential breakage
edge being formed along the predetermined tearing line when the
tubular pouch is opened.
[0020] It should be emphasised at this point that the scope of this
invention also includes multiple-chamber pouches the compartments
of which are each individually openable using afore-mentioned
predetermined tearing lines in the lid piece.
[0021] Otherwise, the tubular pouch body itself and, where
applicable, the lid piece and/or the base of the tubular pouch
is/are of relatively rigid construction. This is particularly
advantageous when the tubular pouch contains liquid or paste-form
contents. When the contents are solid, they can themselves impart a
certain stability to the tubular pouch body.
[0022] A considerable advantage of a tubular pouch according to the
invention is that substantially the entire cross-sectional opening
of the tubular pouch body can be opened, so that optimum access is
gained to the interior volume of the tubular pouch, including, for
example, with a spoon, a fork or some other utensil.
[0023] Furthermore, when the contents are liquid, spillage thereof
over the rim of the tubular pouch body can be avoided according to
the invention by configuring the limb of the annular angle profile
that extends slightly over the opening of the tubular pouch body so
that in the first instance the liquid laps against the underside of
that limb portion but cannot spill over the rim of the tubular
pouch body. The length of that limb portion can be adapted as
necessary; that is to say, it can be made shorter or longer.
[0024] In accordance with one embodiment, the tubular pouch body is
formed by means of fin-seal and/or lap-seal sealing or,
alternatively, is extruded, especially seamlessly, in the form of a
tube.
[0025] Furthermore, the tubular pouch body is preferably made from
a laminate, especially an aluminium laminate, having at least one
sealing layer and optionally at least one barrier layer. The
barrier layer preferably consists of SiO.sub.2, AlO.sub.x, ethyl
vinyl alcohol (EVOH) or a metal foil, for example an aluminium
foil.
[0026] Moreover, the lid piece and/or the base are made
substantially of the same materials as the tubular pouch body. As a
result, the tubular pouch can be produced very cost-effectively,
because both the lid piece and the base are made of the same foil
or the same laminate as the tubular pouch body itself. For that
purpose, it is possible to use either the foil forming the future
tubular pouch body, prior to formation of the tubular pouch body,
or a length of extruded tube, which are in each case detached for
forming the lid piece and the base.
[0027] For example, it is possible for such a short length of tube
simply to be sealed on one side to form the base and then
incorporated into the tubular pouch body, with the latter
optionally being stretched, and joined sealingly thereto, that is
to say sealed or adhesively bonded thereto.
[0028] Both the lid piece and the base and/or the tubular pouch
body have a thickness in the range of from 50 .mu.m to 1000 .mu.m,
preferably from 80 .mu.m to 500 .mu.m, and especially from 100
.mu.m to 350 .mu.m. Adhering to those dimensions on the one hand
ensures that the tubular pouch is lightweight and has sufficient
durability and stability, including for carbonic-acid-containing
pouch contents. Furthermore, the lid piece, the base and the
tubular pouch body itself is sterilisable, so that foods, beverages
and stimulants can also be introduced into the tubular pouch and
packaged hygienically therein.
[0029] Further embodiments of the invention will be found in the
subsidiary claims.
[0030] The invention is described below on the basis of exemplary
embodiments which are explained in greater detail with reference to
the Figures.
[0031] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of a tubular
pouch according to the invention in which the lid piece has been
mounted on the outer side of the angle profile;
[0032] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of a tubular
pouch according to the invention in which the lid piece has been
mounted on the inner side of the angle profile; and
[0033] FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of a tubular
pouch according to FIG. 2, wherein the lid piece has been slightly
opened.
[0034] In the description which follows, parts that are the same or
have the same action have been given the same reference
numerals.
[0035] FIG. 1 shows a tubular pouch 10, consisting of a tubular
pouch body 20 and a lid piece 30. The lid piece 30 has been sealed
onto an angle profile 45. The angle profile 45 is sealed by its
shorter limb, which extends in the direction towards the base of
the tubular pouch 10, to the outside of the tubular pouch body 20.
The longer limb of the angle profile 45, which extends over the
opening of the tubular pouch body 20, serves for attachment of the
lid piece 30. The inner side 47 of the angle profile faces the
interior of the tubular pouch, while the lid piece 30 is arranged
on the outer side 49 of the angle profile 45. The lid piece 30 has
a tab 50. The dotted line indicates the angle profile extending
around the rear peripheral rim of the tubular pouch body 20.
[0036] FIG. 2 shows a further embodiment of a tubular pouch
according to the invention in which the angle profile 45 is
attached to the inside 25 of the tubular pouch body. In this
variant, the outer side 49 of the angle profile 45 faces in the
direction towards the interior of the tubular pouch, while the lid
piece 30 is attached to the inner side 27 of the angle profile. The
angle profile 45 itself is welded or sealed by its short limb in
FIG. 2 to the rim of the tubular pouch body in the lid-piece region
35 thereof.
[0037] FIG. 3 shows an embodiment according to the invention of a
tubular pouch 10 in which the tubular pouch according to FIG. 2 is
shown except that, by pulling on the tab 50, the lid piece 30 has
been opened slightly and detached from the inner side 47 of the
angle profile 45.
[0038] It should be pointed out here that all the above-described
parts, considered alone and in any combination, especially the
details shown in the drawings, are claimed as being important to
the invention. Modifications thereof will be familiar to the person
skilled in the art.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
[0039] 10 tubular pouch [0040] 20 tubular pouch body [0041] 25
inside of tubular pouch body [0042] 30 lid piece [0043] 35
lid-piece region [0044] 40 peripheral rim [0045] 45 angle profile
[0046] 47 inner side [0047] 49 outer side [0048] 50 pulling device,
tab/ring
* * * * *