U.S. patent application number 13/120581 was filed with the patent office on 2012-02-09 for process for producing bicoloured aluminium containers.
This patent application is currently assigned to NESTEC S.A.. Invention is credited to Gilles Gerber, Matthieu Ozanne.
Application Number | 20120031794 13/120581 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40342733 |
Filed Date | 2012-02-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120031794 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ozanne; Matthieu ; et
al. |
February 9, 2012 |
PROCESS FOR PRODUCING BICOLOURED ALUMINIUM CONTAINERS
Abstract
The invention concerns an aluminium container (1) issued from
the process of deep drawing an aluminium foil (6) to form a
container body (7), cutting the edges of the container body,
curling said edges on the exterior side of the container body in
order to form a curled edge (2) and closing the container body by a
foil/lid/membrane (3) wherein the colour of the curled edge is
different from the natural colour of the aluminium foil.
Inventors: |
Ozanne; Matthieu;
(Champanges, FR) ; Gerber; Gilles; (Lutry,
CH) |
Assignee: |
NESTEC S.A.
Vevey
CH
|
Family ID: |
40342733 |
Appl. No.: |
13/120581 |
Filed: |
September 17, 2009 |
PCT Filed: |
September 17, 2009 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP09/62050 |
371 Date: |
April 19, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
206/459.5 ;
220/660; 53/456; 72/46 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B21D 51/18 20130101;
B65B 29/022 20170801; B65D 2203/12 20130101; B65D 85/8043
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
206/459.5 ;
72/46; 53/456; 220/660 |
International
Class: |
B65D 1/16 20060101
B65D001/16; B65D 85/804 20060101 B65D085/804; B65B 43/08 20060101
B65B043/08 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Sep 23, 2008 |
EP |
08164893.3 |
Claims
1. Process for producing an aluminium container comprising the
steps of: cutting an aluminium foil to produce a piece of aluminium
corresponding to the dimensions of the container; deep drawing the
piece of aluminium to form a container body and rolling the edges
of the container body on the exterior side of the deep drawn
container in order to form a curled edge; and each of the faces of
the starting aluminium foil presents a color treatment of different
color than the other face.
2. Process according to claim 1 wherein at least one color
treatment is achieved with a food compatible paint composition.
3. Process according to claim 2 wherein the piece of aluminium is
deep drawn so that an inside of the container body presents the
color treatment that is achieved with a food compatible pigment and
lacquer.
4. Process according to claim 1 comprising filling the container
body and closing the container body using a lid.
5. Aluminium container produced by deep drawing an aluminium foil
to form a container body and rolling edges of the container body on
an exterior face of the container body in order to form a curled
edge wherein the color of the curled edge is different from the
natural color of the aluminium foil.
6. Aluminium container according to claim 5 wherein the color of
the exterior side of the container body is different from the
natural color of the aluminium foil.
7. Aluminium container according to claim 5 wherein a lid is
attached to a flange-like rim between the container body and the
curled edge.
8. Aluminium container according to claim 5 comprising an edible
product.
9. Aluminium container according to claim 5 that is designed to
contain at least a beverage ingredient designed for insertion in a
beverage production device in which a liquid enters the container
in order to interact with the ingredient in the container and to
drain a beverage from the container.
Description
[0001] The present invention relates to aluminium containers and in
particular to beverage aluminium capsules.
[0002] Containers made of aluminium foils are very current and have
been known for a long time. These containers are very often used in
the field of food industry for storing and dispensing food
ingredients.
[0003] Such aluminium containers are particularly used in the field
of production of beverages: they can present the form of a capsule
containing beverage ingredients designed for insertion in a
beverage production device in which a liquid enters the capsule in
order to interact with ingredients in the capsule and to drain a
beverage from the capsule. The capsules can contain different types
of beverage ingredients in order to produce different types of
beverages. Usually the exterior side of the capsules present
different colours according to the nature of the beverage
ingredients stored in the capsule.
[0004] These aluminium containers or capsules are commonly produced
by implementing the following steps: [0005] cutting an aluminium
foil to fit the dimensions of the container, [0006] deep drawing
the precut aluminium foil to preform a body and simultaneously
rolling the edges which usually present a torn and sharp aspect,
[0007] filling the container body with the ingredients to be stored
inside, and [0008] closing the stamped container by a cover.
[0009] To get containers or capsules of different outside colours,
a face of the starting aluminium foil is coloured so that when it
is deep drawn, the exterior face of the container appears with the
colour.
[0010] In the nowadays systems implementing a beverage production
machine associated with a range of specific capsules, an increase
number of different capsules containing different beverage-type
ingredients is implemented so as to propose to customers a large
panel of different beverages and to continuously provide the
customers with new beverages. It can lead to the production of
aluminium containers with a high number of different colours to
differentiate each new beverage from the others and it can be
difficult for the customers to memorise the colour corresponding to
each beverage.
[0011] A solution could be to provide beverage information on the
cover closing the capsule body, yet such a solution would imply the
production of specific covers for each existing beverage and
consequently a more complicated and expansive production of the
capsules. Besides, this solution would not enable a rapid and
direct knowledge of the beverage inside the capsule without
manipulating, orienting the capsule and reading the information
written on the cover. A problem is that, when a high number of
beverage capsules exists, it should be possible for the customer to
select the right beverage and capsule by a simple glance. The fact
or writing information on the cover is not satisfying since the
capsules are often stored with the cover oriented downside or
randomly placed in a box.
[0012] Another solution could be to associate a second colour to
the first one on the exterior face of the body of the capsule for
example by deep drawing an aluminium foil painted on one of his
face with two colours e.g. in the form of an alternation of lines
of two different colours. Yet due to the deformation of the
aluminium surface during the deep drawing, the resulting aspect of
the capsule could not be perfectly controlled and may present an
irregular aspect from one capsule to another. Besides, some trials
showed that it was not easy for customers to rapidly differentiate
containers of different colours combinations when containers had
been randomly mixed.
[0013] It is neither a solution to imagine colouring the outside of
the capsule once it has been deep drawn on account of production
steps optimization and production costs, the number of produced
beverage capsules being huge. Actually today some plants can
produce up to millions capsules per day and it impossible to apply
a coloured treatment on a part of the capsule.
[0014] The present invention aims at solving the problem of
providing aluminium foil made containers, in particular beverage
capsules, presenting an outside aspect enabling the differentiation
of containers according to their contents, especially according to
content variations, and that can be produced in a huge amount
without complicating the known production process and increasing
its cost.
[0015] Another problem is to solve the problem of increasing the
number of different colours for aluminium foil made containers
without complicating the known production process.
[0016] According to a first aspect, the invention concerns a
process for producing an aluminium container, said process
comprising the steps of : [0017] cutting an aluminium foil to
produce a piece of aluminium fitting the dimensions of the
container, [0018] deep drawing the piece of aluminium foil to form
a container body and rolling the edges of the container body on the
exterior side of the deep drawn container in order to form a curled
edge, wherein each of the faces of the starting aluminium foil
presents a colour treatment of different colour than the other
face.
[0019] The process usually comprises a subsequent step of filling
the container body and a step of closing the container body by a
lid.
[0020] Concerning the starting aluminium foil, colour treatments of
the faces of said foil are usually realised by application of a
paint composition comprising at least a pigment and a lacquer. This
application is usually made by roller coatings on each side of the
foil.
[0021] According to the invention, the paint compositions for each
face of the starting aluminium foil differ by the nature of the
pigment so that the faces finally present different colours.
Usually, the paint composition that is applied on the face of the
starting aluminium foil intended to form the interior face of the
aluminium container comprises also a welding lacquer, usually a
heat seal lacquer. This lacquer enables the welding of the lid on
the edges of the opening of the container body, preferably on the
flange-like rim of the container. Welding is usually realised by
heating. Such welding lacquers are well known products usually
implemented for the production of aluminium containers.
[0022] In the case where the aluminium container is produced as a
container for storing an edible product, it is preferable that at
least one of the colour treatments is realised with a food agreed
paint composition. Effectively since the starting aluminium foil is
treated on its both faces by a colour treatment, one of the faces
is in contact with the edible product stored in the container and
said face must be designed for a safe food contact. Then for this
use the aluminium foil must be deep drawn so that the inside of the
container body presents the colour treatment that is realised with
food agreed lacquers and pigments.
[0023] According to a second aspect, the invention concerns an
aluminium container issued from the process of deep drawing the
aluminium foil to form a container body and rolling the edges of
the container body on the exterior face of the container body in
order to form a curled edge wherein the colour of the curled edge
is different from the natural colour of the aluminium foil.
[0024] The container of the present invention is prepared starting
from an aluminium foil which is first cut to provide a piece of
aluminium fitting the dimensions of the final container to be
obtained. This step results in the production of sharp and torn
edges around the container body. This piece of aluminium foil is
deep drawn according to known deep drawing process in either one or
several deep drawing steps; during the at least one deep drawing
step, the edges of the aluminium foil piece are rolled to provide a
nice and secure aspect to the edge of the container body. The
rolling operation is realised by rolling the edges on themselves in
direction of the exterior face of the container body. Then it is
the same aluminium foil face that is inside the body container that
becomes apparent at the exterior of the curled edge. According to
the invention, the colour of the curled edge is different from the
natural colour of the aluminium foil, and preferably the colour of
the exterior side of the container body is different from the
natural colour of the aluminium foil too. "Natural colour of
aluminium" means the colour of aluminium which is not altered by
any colour treatment. Then view from the exterior the aluminium
container of the present invention can present two parts of
different colours, each being different from the natural colour of
the aluminium foil: one part is the exterior face of the container
body presenting one coloured face of the starting aluminium foil
and the other part is the curled edge presenting the colour of the
other face of the starting aluminium foil from which the container
is made.
[0025] Finally the opening of the container of the present
invention can be closed by a lid or cover like a foil or a
membrane. Usually the lid is attached to a flange-like rim between
the container body and the curled edge, this flange can be produced
during deep drawing step.
[0026] The aluminium container of the present invention preferably
contains an edible product. According to the preferred embodiment
of the present invention, the aluminium container is a capsule
containing at least one beverage ingredient designed for insertion
in a beverage production device in which a liquid enters the
capsule in order to interact with the ingredient in the capsule and
to drain a beverage from the capsule.
[0027] The present invention presents the advantage of enabling the
production of capsules with a high number of different colour
combinations of the container body exterior face and the curled
edge without complicating the known production process of aluminium
containers. Then the fact of producing coloured capsules does not
decrease the capsule production rate, which is the most important
advantage of the present invention.
[0028] The way the capsules are coloured on the container body
exterior face and the curled edge enables a rapid selection of the
desired container by a simple glance even if a high number of
different coloured containers are present. This property is helpful
for the consumer in face of the final container filled with product
and laying other its lid. It is also helpful for the container
producer during the step of storage of unfilled containers since
the containers can be piled up while the colours of the edge of the
containers staying apparent. Moreover it has also be surprisingly
noticed that the fact of having only a thin touch of colour on the
curled edge of the capsule is sufficient for the customer to
identify the capsule he is searching for, which was not prima facie
obvious.
[0029] The way the containers are coloured is particularly adapted
for the presentation of the containers by range or variety
according to the products stored inside. In particular for the use
of the containers as beverage capsules, it is possible to create
different ranges based on different basic beverages like tea,
coffee and chocolate by applying the same colour on the container
body exterior face and to differentiate inside each range different
beverage specialities by applying different colours on the curled
edges, for example in the tea range to differentiate green, black,
red, herbal tea, in the coffee range to differentiate several
origins, etc . . . .
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0030] The characteristics and advantages of the invention will be
better understood in relation to the figures which follow:
[0031] FIG. 1 is a cross section view of an aluminium
container,
[0032] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an aluminium container,
[0033] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the different steps of
production of the container according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0034] FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the type of aluminium containers to
which the present invention refers. The aluminium container 1 is
made of an aluminium foil that has been stamped in order to form a
container body 7. The extremity of the container body presents a
flange-like rim 4 and a curled edge 2. The opening of the container
is closed by a lid 3 welded on the flange-like rim 4. The product
stored in the container 1 has not been represented. According to
the invention, the aluminium foil from which the container is made
presents two faces 61, 62 presenting different colour treatments.
Due to this difference of treatment, the container presents a
curled edge 2 of different colour from the container body 7 and the
flange-like rim 4, said colour being represented in a stipple
fashion in FIGS. 1 and 2.
[0035] FIG. 3 illustrates a process for producing the containers of
the present invention. In steps a) and b), a piece of aluminium
foil 6 is preformed by deep drawing means 8. The starting piece of
aluminium foil 6 presents two faces 61, 62 with different colour
treatments. For the use of the container in food applications, it
is preferable that the face 62 is treated with food agreed pigment
and lacquer. In step c), the walls of the container body 7 created
by deep drawing are folded to create flange-like rims. In step d),
the edges of the container are rolled. Yet the steps b), c) and d)
can be simultaneously realised during the deep drawing step. In
step e) the container is filled with the product 5 to be stored
inside and said product is eventually tamped down. Finally in step
f) the container is closed by welding a lid on the flange-like rim
4.
* * * * *