Angular Container, In Particular An Eating Bowl, Of Flexible Foil Material

Abstract

A dish, particularly one for the reception of food, wherein both dish and cover are made from thin, flexible material and are of polygonal plan shape. At least two opposed sides of the dish are provided with flanges whose width increases from the ends of each thereof toward the longitudinal midpoint thereof. The walls of the dish may remain rectilinear or they may curve inwardly along the edge of said flanges.

Description

This invention relates to a polygonal container, in particular a food packaging receptacle, or eating bowl, of flexible foil material having upper edge flanges, for example beaded edge shoulders, on the side walls thereof, and particularly to a type thereof in which at least some of such side walls tend to arch outwardly to a greater or lesser degree depending on the length of the shoulder in question, as a result of the filling material introduced thereinto or when stacking filled containers.

Containers of the type above mentioned, in particular eating bowls, are at present often manufactured of thin aluminum foil and must have specific dimensions which are allowed to deviate only within narrow tolerance limits due to the requirements of the systems of transport, closing, thawing, heating and packing which are conventionally used at the present time. These tolerance limits, however, can be exceeded due to the above-mentioned outward arching caused by the filling material and such makes it difficult or impossible to sealingly close the container by means of a cover associated therewith. Furthermore, there is an urgent economic demand for stable containers due to the present attempts to rationalize the treatment and manipulation of containers, for example during transport, heat treatment and packing.

The mechanical strength of the beaded edge shoulders is very important in this context. Previous attempts to satisfy this economic demand were made by using harder and thicker foils. The use of harder foils, however, led to technical problems and the use of thicker foils led to cost problems which could only be solved by compromises up to now.

The invention is primarily directed toward the developing of a container of the type above-mentioned which can be manufactured at a minimum cost and manipulated with conventional devices without technical problems and which will assure optimum stability. This is accomplished in accordance with the invention by designing at least these beaded edge shoulders of the side walls which tend to arch outwardly to have a width which increases from each end of a given shoulder toward the midpoint of the shoulder.

By this simple design, which merely requires the corresponding development of the tools for manufacturing the container, at least those portions of the side walls which are located at the most endangered region of the wall, namely the middle wall region, and which tend most strongly to outward arching due to the pressure of the filling material and, alternatively, to inward arching due to forces exerted from the outside, have the greatest resistance to loads exerted both from inside as well as from outside and if desired even from the top. The container provides in this way the economic objective of optimum stability. This also facilitates closing of the container by means of a pre-fabricated cover. In the case of manual or semi-automatic closing operations, a cover with suitable pre-bent edges is applied to the container and is secured by further bending the edge of the cover under the beaded edge shoulders. The previously conventional beaded edge shoulders of relatively small, uniform width were very often bent in by the operators when closing the containers manually and resulted in the disadvantages described above. These disadvantages were eliminated by designing the shoulders to be wider, since they are not only more resistant to bending but also offer a larger surface for applying the covers manually.

It is further advantageous if each of the widened beaded edge shoulders is curved toward the middle of the container. Where the sidewall of the container follows the inner edge of the flange, this construction will reduce the volume of the container by a small amount which can be disregarded in practice, but the outer dimensions of the container remain unaffected and this is essential for further manipulation of the containers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One embodiment of the present invention will now be more fully described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation of a container of the type hereinbefore cited;

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan elevation of an area of the container in accordance with FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section on line III--III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section similar to FIG. 3 and showing a modification.

There is shown in the drawing a rectangular container, for example an eating bowl 1, of flexible foil material, for example aluminum foil, with side walls 2 to 5 which diverge slightly from the base of the container toward the container opening. The side walls are each provided with an upper beaded edge shoulder 2a to 5a which projects outwardly. The container 1 can be closed by a cover foil 6, for example aluminum foil as well, which is laid on the beaded edge shoulders 2a to 5a and bent around the same until it comes to rest on the under surfaces of the shoulder.

As can be seen, in particular in FIG. 2, the beaded edge shoulders 2a to 5a are each designed to have a width which increases from both ends of the shoulder toward the central zone thereof and in the illustrated embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3 is curved in the direction of the container middle. This causes the side walls 2 to 5 of the container to have a substantial resistance not only against an outward arching of the container due to the filling material; but also against further inward arching and, if needed, even against forces exerted transversely to the plane of the container cover 6 or the container base. The outer edge, however, of each shoulder 2a to 5a extends in a straight line as previously.

The sidewalls of the container may follow any of several constructions consistent with the flange construction thus far described. For example, among other possibilities, said side walls may follow more or less closely along one edge of the flange i.e., bead edge shoulder, as the inner edge as shown in FIG. 3. Thus, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, with a container having a base with straight edges, a sidewall which is substantially planar adjacent its lower edge juncture with the corresponding base edge, is thereby nonplanar adjacent its upper edge juncture with the nonlinear inner edge of the corresponding bead edge shoulder. Alternatively, said sidewalls may remain, as previously, parallel with the outer edge of the flange (FIG. 4).

The invention is not limited to the embodiment illustrated in the formal drawings. For example, it would also be possible to design the container with more or less than four side walls and/or to design the latter with such differing lengths that they tend to form an outward arch due to the filling material to a greater or lesser degree depending on their respective lengths. In such a case, only the beaded edge shoulders of the side walls of the container which tend to arch would need to be designed with a width which increases from both ends of the shoulder towards its middle. This invention can also be readily employed in the case of containers which have an upright edge arranged on the horizontal flange.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a several sided container of flexible foil material, particularly for reception and packaging of food, the container having plural sidewalls and having laterally directed, beaded edge shoulders formed on the sidewalls in bordering relation with the container opening, said beaded edge shoulders having ends at container corners, wherein at least some of the sidewalls tend to arch outwardly by effect of material filling the container, the improvement being comprised in that, at least on those of such sidewalls tending to arch outwardly, the beaded edge shoulder widens gradually in a direction toward the inside of the container from the ends thereof to the lengthwise central zone thereof, the outer edge of such beaded edge shoulder being straight, each said widened beaded edge shoulder curving toward the inside of the container, defining a curved inner edge on such beaded edge shoulder, said sidewall provided with a said widening bead edge shoulder including a nonplanar upper portion joined to and following the inner edge of the bead edge shoulder and having a substantially planar bottom portion joined to the base of the container by a straight linear edge, wherein such bulging of the sidewalls is eliminated.

2. A container according to Claim 1, in which the upper edge of the latter sidewall curves concavely in conformance with the curved inner edge of the adjoining bead edge shoulder, the curvature of said sidewall being reduced downwardly therealong to achieve said planar condition at the lower edge of said latter sidewall joined to said base.