U.S. patent application number 13/791117 was filed with the patent office on 2014-05-15 for damage resistant package.
This patent application is currently assigned to WINPAK LTD.. The applicant listed for this patent is WINPAK LTD.. Invention is credited to Brian Hodge.
Application Number | 20140134302 13/791117 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 50681939 |
Filed Date | 2014-05-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140134302 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hodge; Brian |
May 15, 2014 |
Damage Resistant Package
Abstract
A package has inner and outer layers of formed web material. The
outer layer has a bottom wall portion, and has a side wall portion
projecting upward from the bottom wall portion. A flange portion of
the outer layer projects outward from an upper end of the side wall
portion. The inner layer has bottom and side wall portions defining
a cavity for containing a product. The inner layer further has a
flange portion that is sealed to the flange portion of the outer
layer fully around the upper end of the cavity. The bottom and side
wall portions of the inner layer are nested within the bottom and
side wall portions of the outer layer, and are unattached to the
bottom and side wall portions of the outer layer.
Inventors: |
Hodge; Brian; (Winnipeg,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
WINPAK LTD. |
Winnipeg |
|
CA |
|
|
Assignee: |
WINPAK LTD.
Winnipeg
CA
|
Family ID: |
50681939 |
Appl. No.: |
13/791117 |
Filed: |
March 8, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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61763701 |
Feb 12, 2013 |
|
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61725813 |
Nov 13, 2012 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
426/127 ;
220/62.11; 426/106; 426/129 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B32B 27/34 20130101;
B32B 27/32 20130101; B32B 2439/70 20130101; B65D 77/2024 20130101;
B65B 9/04 20130101; Y02W 30/806 20150501; B65D 1/40 20130101; B32B
1/02 20130101; B32B 2307/7244 20130101; B32B 27/36 20130101; B65D
1/28 20130101; B65D 2565/387 20130101; B32B 27/325 20130101; B32B
2439/40 20130101; Y02W 30/80 20150501; B65D 1/34 20130101; B32B
27/08 20130101; B65D 25/00 20130101; B65B 25/065 20130101; B65D
2565/388 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
426/127 ;
220/62.11; 426/106; 426/129 |
International
Class: |
B65D 25/00 20060101
B65D025/00 |
Claims
1. A package comprising: an outer layer of formed web material
having a bottom wall portion, a side wall portion projecting upward
from the bottom wall portion, and a flange portion projecting
outward from an upper end of the side wall portion; and an inner
layer of formed web material having bottom and side wall portions
defining a cavity for containing a product, and having a flange
portion projecting outward from an upper end of the cavity, with
the flange portion of the inner layer sealed to the flange portion
of the outer layer fully around the upper end of the cavity;
wherein the bottom and side wall portions of the inner layer are
nested within the bottom and side wall portions of the outer layer,
and are unattached to the bottom and side wall portions of the
outer layer.
2. A package as defined in claim 1 wherein the bottom and side wall
portions of the inner layer are nested within the bottom and side
wall portions of the outer layer in overlying contact.
3. A package as defined in claim 1 further comprising an
intermediate layer of formed web material having bottom and side
wall portions nested between the bottom and side wall portions of
the inner and outer layers, and having a flange portion projecting
outward between the flange portions of the inner and outer layers,
with the flange portion of the intermediate layer sealed to the
flange portions of the inner and outer layers fully around the
upper end of the cavity, and with the bottom and side wall portions
of the intermediate layer unattached to the bottom and side wall
portions of the inner and outer layers.
4. A package as defined in claim 1 further comprising a plurality
of intermediate layers of formed web material, each of which has
bottom and side wall portions nested between the bottom and side
wall portions of the inner and outer layers, and each of which has
a flange portion projecting outward between the flange portions of
the inner and outer layers, with the flange portion of each
intermediate layer sealed to the flange portions of the inner and
outer layers fully around the upper end of the cavity, and with the
bottom and side wall portions of each intermediate layer unattached
to the bottom and side wall portions of the inner and outer
layers.
5. A package as defined in claim 1 wherein the formed web material
is vacuum formed web material.
6. A package as defined in claim 1 wherein the outer layer is
shaped as a rectangular tray.
7. A package comprising: an outer layer of formed web material
having a bottom wall portion, a side wall portion projecting upward
from the bottom wall portion, and a flange portion projecting
outward from an upper end of the side wall portion; an inner layer
of formed web material having bottom and side wall portions
defining a cavity for containing a food product, and having a
flange portion projecting outward from an upper end of the cavity;
a food product in the cavity; and a lid layer of web material
reaching over the upper end of the cavity, projecting outward over
the flange portions of the inner and outer layers, and sealed to
the flange portions of the inner and outer layers fully around the
upper end of the cavity; wherein the bottom and side wall portions
of the inner layer are nested within the bottom and side wall
portions of the outer layer, and are unattached to the bottom and
side wall portions of the outer layer.
8. A package as defined in claim 7 wherein the food product is
movable within the cavity, and the bottom and side wall portions of
the inner layer are nested within the bottom and side wall portions
of the outer layer in overlying contact that accommodates movement
of the inner layer relative to the outer layer under the influence
of the food product.
9. A package as defined in claim 7 wherein the food product is
movable within the cavity, and the bottom and side wall portions of
the inner layer are nested within the bottom and side wall portions
of the outer layer in overlying contact that resists movement of
the inner layer relative to the outer layer under the influence of
the food product.
10. A package as defined in claim 7 wherein the food product is
movable within the cavity, and the bottom and side wall portions of
the inner layer are nested within the bottom and side wall portions
of the outer layer in overlying contact that blocks movement of the
inner layer relative to the outer layer under the influence of the
food product.
11. A package as defined in claim 7 further comprising an
intermediate layer of formed web material having bottom and side
wall portions nested between the bottom and side wall portions of
the inner and outer layers, and having a flange portion projecting
outward between the flange portions of the inner and outer layers,
with the flange portion of the intermediate layer sealed to the
flange portions of the inner and outer layers fully around the
upper end of the cavity, and with the bottom and side wall portions
of the intermediate layer unattached to the bottom and side wall
portions of the inner and outer layers.
12. A package as defined in claim 7 further comprising a plurality
of intermediate layers of formed web material, each of which has
bottom and side wall portions nested between the bottom and side
wall portions of the inner and outer layers, and each of which has
a flange portion projecting outward between the flange portions of
the inner and outer layers, with the flange portion of each
intermediate layer sealed to the flange portions of the inner and
outer layers fully around the upper end of the cavity, and with the
bottom and side wall portions of each intermediate layer unattached
to the bottom and side wall portions of the inner and outer
layers.
13. A package as defined in claim 7 wherein the formed web material
is vacuum formed web material.
14. A package as defined in claim 7 wherein the outer layer is
shaped as a rectangular tray.
15. A package as defined in claim 7 wherein the food product
comprises bone-in meat.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to provisional U.S. Patent
Application 61/763,701, filed Feb. 12, 2013, and to provisional
U.S. Patent Application 61/725,813, filed Nov. 13, 2012, both of
which are incorporated by reference
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] This technology includes packages for containing products
with parts that could damage the package.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Packaging items with sharp edges or containing hard
protruding parts to protect them during handling at manufacturing,
shipping, handling onto store shelves and at home has long been a
challenge to the packaging industry. Particularly damaging is the
abrasion caused by these sharp edges or hard protruding parts
during shipment over long distances.
[0004] To prevent the sharp edges or hard protruding parts from
puncturing the package and thus compromising the package integrity,
it is typical for the industry to either use very thick and
puncture resistant materials, or to add separators between the
object containing the sharp edges and the package, such as foamed
plastics, loose expanded Styrofoam, additional layers of cardboard
or so-called pads of various constitutions.
[0005] However, such practice can prove either impracticable in
certain situations or cost prohibitive. Such a case is constituted
by the packaging of so-called bone-in meat in formed, vacuumed,
plastic containers whereby the abrasion caused by protruding bones
from meat parts during handling and shipping in vacuum packs causes
significant amounts of leakers, i.e., bones puncturing their way
during handling and shipping through the packaging material.
Initial attempts in adding bulk to the package material to
theoretically increase the force or abrasion required to puncture
the thicker material have proven ineffective in reducing the amount
of leakers, thus only increasing cost and environmental burden.
[0006] Adding padding in form of foamed pads into the formed
package to prevent damage to the walls of the package is cost
prohibitive, adds significant complexity to the packing process,
reducing product visibility, not to mention its unappealing
appearance to consumers. The current practice adds so-called pads
or reinforcement parts to packages in order to prevent sharp edges
or protruding parts from puncturing the outside wall of the
packages. Such packages are typically pouches into which pads are
added and fixed through various means to the walls or parts of said
pouches. Another type of pouch using the addition of pads is a
so-called heat-shrinkable pouch.
[0007] Furthermore, in order to overcome the puncturing of the pads
and/or the outer pouch, various multilayered structures use various
tough resins such as polyamide, metallocene catalyzed polyethylene
etc. in order to improve the toughness of the materials used.
[0008] When used in a heat-shrink application or when used in a
vacuum or modified atmosphere package applications, the added
protection in the pack has to be designed and added in such a
manner as to allow vacuum to be drawn between the added protective
material and the outer package material, thus the added protection
can't necessarily cover the entire surface of the package, but has
to be precisely placed in a strategic location where most of the
sharp objects are located.
[0009] In the absence of additional padding material, when using a
thermoformed container in order to vacuum pack products, such
thermoformed part is either a single layer material (if no
particular requirements to gas barrier, mechanical performance etc.
are required) or made out of multilayered materials in order to
engineer barrier protection for instance against oxygen and
moisture loss, potentially adding UV-light protection and offering
a heat sealable layer for a permanently fused or peelable lid to
close the package after applying vacuum on it. State of the art in
such packages is to ascertain that all the layers properly adhere
firmly to each other, such as to prevent the pack from so-called
delamination and maintaining product protection. Such packages have
limited puncture and abrasion resistance to sharp objects or to
hard protruding parts such as bones in a piece of meat.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] A package has inner and outer layers of formed web material.
The outer layer has a bottom wall portion, and has a side wall
portion projecting upward from the bottom wall portion. A flange
portion of the outer layer projects outward from an upper end of
the side wall portion.
[0011] The inner layer has bottom and side wall portions defining a
cavity for containing a product. The inner layer further has a
flange portion that is sealed to the flange portion of the outer
layer fully around the upper end of the cavity. The bottom and side
wall portions of the inner layer are nested within the bottom and
side wall portions of the outer layer, and are unattached to the
bottom and side wall portions of the outer layer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] FIG. 1 is perspective view of a damage resistant
package.
[0013] FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the package of FIG. 1.
[0014] FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.
[0015] FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2, showing an alternative
package.
[0016] FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an apparatus for constructing
a damage resistant package.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] The apparatus shown in the drawings has parts that are
examples of the elements recited in the claims. The illustrated
apparatus thus includes examples of how a person of ordinary skill
in the art can make and use the claimed invention. It is described
here to meet the enablement and best mode requirements of the
patent statute without imposing limitations that are not recited in
the claims.
[0018] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a package 10 includes a
container 12 and a sealed lid 14. The container 12 defines a cavity
17 for containing one or more products, and is constructed to
resist abrasion, puncturing, and other damage that could be caused
by the products pressing or moving against the container 12.
Accordingly, the container 12 is especially well suited to securely
contain a food product having hard, sharp or protruding parts such
as, for example, a bone-in meat product 20 (shown
schematically).
[0019] As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the container 12 is
constructed with multiple layers of formed plastic web material.
These include an outer layer 30 and an inner layer 32. The lid 14
reaches over the cavity 17, and is sealed to both layers 30 and 32
of the container 12 at the top of the package 10. The thickness of
the layers 30, 32 and the lid 14 is exaggerated in the drawings for
clarity of illustration.
[0020] The outer layer 30 of the container 12 has a flat bottom
wall portion 36 defining the bottom of the container 12. A side
wall portion 38 of the outer layer 30 has four sections 40
projecting upward from the bottom wall portion 36 to provide the
container 12 with the shape of a rectangular tray. A flange portion
42 of the outer layer 30 projects outward from the upper end of the
side wall portion 38.
[0021] The inner layer 32 of the container 12 also has flat bottom
wall portion 46 and an upwardly projecting side wall portion 48.
The bottom wall portion 46 of the inner layer 32 defines the bottom
of the cavity 17. The side wall portion 48 has four sections 50
defining the sides of the cavity 17 in a rectangular peripheral
shape substantially the same as the outer peripheral shape of the
container 12. A flange portion 52 of the inner layer 32 projects
outward from the upper end of the side wall portion 48, and reaches
over the flange portion 42 of the outer layer 30 in overlying
contact. An outer edge portion 54 of the lid 14 likewise overlies
the flange portion 52 of the inner layer 32. A thermal weld 56
seals the edge portion 54 of the lid 14 and the flange portions 42
and 52 of the two layers 30 and 32 together to close the cavity 17
fully around the top of the package 10.
[0022] As further shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the bottom and side wall
portions 46 and 48 of the inner layer 32 are nested within the
bottom and side wall 36 and 38 portions of the outer layer 30 in
overlying contact. However, the bottom and side wall portions 46
and 48 of the inner layer 32 are not attached to the bottom and
side wall 36 and 38 portions of the outer layer 30. More
specifically, the layers 30 and 32 are closely fitted together to
adjoin in the nested arrangement fully about the bottom and sides
of the cavity 17. The close fit can accommodate movement of the
inner layer 32 relative to the outer layer 30 when the food product
20 presses or moves against the inner layer 32 or, alternatively,
can resist or block such movement even though the layers 30 and 32
are not bonded, adhered, welded, or otherwise fastened together at
the bottom or sides of the cavity 17. This adjoining but unattached
arrangement is found to provide the container 12 with superior
resistance to being abraded or punctured by sharp or protruding
portions of the food product 20 in the cavity 17.
[0023] The lid 14 and each layer 30 and 32 of the container 12 may
be formed of any suitable material or combination of materials
known in the art. Preferred examples of materials for the outer
layer 30 include Surlyn, polyamide, polyolefin, and polyester
materials and copolymers thereof. Examples of preferred materials
for the inner layer 32 include Surlyn and tough, resilient
polyolefin materials such as low density polyethylene, ultra-low
density polyethylene, and ethylenevinylacetate type materials, and
polyamides and copolymers thereof. Either or both of the layers 30
and 32 may further comprise a barrier layer to block oxygen from
easily migrating through the container 12. Examples of preferred
barrier layer materials include ethylenevinylalcohol (EVOH),
polyvinylalcohol (PVOH), and derivatives thereof, as well as
cycloolefincopolymer (COC) as a moisture barrier or stiffness
agent. The lid 14 preferably has a so-called peelable weld to
facilitate the user's access to the food product 20 in the package
10.
[0024] A package 100 comprising a second embodiment of the
invention is shown in FIG. 4. This package 100 has a container 112
that differs from the container 12 in the package 10 described
above. Specifically, the container 112 in the second embodiment has
an intermediate layer 120 of formed plastic web material interposed
between the inner and outer layers 30 and 32.
[0025] The intermediate layer 120 has bottom and side wall portions
122 and 124 nested between the bottom and side wall portions of the
inner and outer layers 30 and 32. The intermediate layer 120
further has a flange portion 126 projecting outward between the
flange portions of the inner and outer layers 30 and 32. A thermal
weld 128 seals the flange portion 126 of the intermediate layer 120
to the flange portions of the inner and outer layers 30 and 32
fully about the upper end of the cavity 17.
[0026] The bottom and side wall portions 122 and 124 of the
intermediate layer 120 are fitted closely to adjoin the
corresponding portions of the inner and outer layers 30 and 32 at
the bottom and sides of the cavity 17, but are unattached to the
inner and outer layers 30 and 32 at the bottom and sides of the
cavity 17. Like the inner and outer layers 30 and 32, the
intermediate layer 120 can be formed of any suitable material or
combination of materials known in the art, and other embodiments
can include multiple intermediate layers in the same configuration
and closely fitted, unattached arrangement. In each case, this
provides the container 112 with more greatly enhanced resistance to
abrasion and puncturing under contact with the food product 20.
[0027] An example of an apparatus 200 for constructing the package
10, the package 100, or another alternative embodiment as described
above, is shown schematically in FIG. 5. The apparatus 200 includes
a wound roll 202 of plastic material in the form of a web 204. The
web 204 has layers to provide the outer layer 30, the inner layer
32, and any intermediate layers 120 of the container 12, 112, etc.
to be constructed. Alternatively, layers of web material can be
withdrawn from multiple rolls and fed through one or more roller
nips to provide a complete web 204 that includes all of the desired
container layers.
[0028] The web 204 is advanced past a preheating station 206 at
which it is preheated for vacuum forming at a thermoforming station
208. The thermoforming station 208 includes a mold cavity 211 in
which successive sections 212 of the heated web 204 are vacuum
formed into the shape of the container. The food products 20 are
placed in the cavities 17 in the succession of formed container
sections 212 as the web 204 is advanced through a loading area 214.
Another web 216 is withdrawn from a wound roll 220 of lid material,
and is fed to a sealing station 222 at which successive sections
224 of the lid web 216 are thermally welded onto the formed
sections 212 of the container web 204. An optional printing station
226 follows the sealing station 222, and the individual packages
10, 100, etc. are severed from the welded webs 204 and 216 at a
cutting station 228.
[0029] This written description sets forth the best mode of
carrying out the invention, and describes the invention so as to
enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the invention,
by presenting examples of the elements recited in the claims. The
patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may
include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. For
example, a container and/or package constructed in accordance with
the invention can have a circular or other nonrectangular
peripheral shape. Other examples of suitable forming processes
include cold vacuum forming, impact forming, and plug-assisted
vacuum forming. Such other examples, which may be available either
before or after the application filing date, are intended to be
within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements
that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if
they have equivalent structural elements with insubstantial
difference from the literal language of the claims.
* * * * *