Patent Application
20240124205
Many individuals, such as children, enjoy juice or other beverage from a pouch. One popular drink pouch is the commercially available CAPRIS SUN drink pouch available from Capri Sun Gmbh Limited Liability Company, Fed. Rep. Germany, Rudolf-Wild-Strasse 86-98 Eppelheim, Fed. Rep. Germany, 69214. Other drink pouches include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,664 or 3,380,646, which are herein incorporated by reference to the extent they are not incompatible with the present disclosure.
These individuals, however, may not enjoy various school-related activities, such as homework or studying. Typically, younger individuals may not have a developed appreciation for their academic development or education. It is generally known that students who study will perform better than students who choose not to study. It is also generally known that students will retain information more easily if they are interested in the information. Many teachers and parents have tried to develop innovative and interesting ways to capture the attention of students and children, however, many methods are time-intensive or are simply ineffective.
Therefore, there is a defined need amongst the known art for a device that will stimulate students and children in a manner that will entice them to be more interested in learning. The device should utilize a system that provides a reward for a student that is able to correctly identify an answer to a question.
The present invention provides a multi-chamber pouch. More specifically, the present invention provides a system with which a user can engage in a knowledge-testing activity while eating food or consuming liquids.
An exemplary embodiment pouch includes a bottom wall and front and back panels that extend upwardly from the bottom wall. A plurality of chambers are internally defined in the pouch. The plurality of chambers includes a primary chamber and at least one secondary chamber. The primary chamber includes a primary opening, such that the primary chamber can be accessed by a user via the primary opening. Each secondary chamber individually includes a secondary opening, such that each secondary chamber can be individually accessed by a user via the specific secondary opening. As such, the user can access each chamber of the plurality of the chambers from the outside of the housing.
A particular enhancement of the invention is the incorporation of an educational function into the pouch. A user is presented with a question, either displayed on the pouch or on a tag or packaging thereof, or on a mobile device. The user is also provided with multiple answers displayed in like manner as the question. The answers have indicia associated with each answer, such as A, B, C, D and the primary and secondary openings on the pouch have the same corresponding indicia A, B, C, D displayed adjacent to or on each opening. The indicia for the correct answer will be displayed adjacent to or on the primary opening while the incorrect answers will be displayed adjacent to, or on the secondary openings. Depending on the questions, the correct answer could be any of answer choices A, B, C, or D and the correct answer choice corresponds to the primary opening.
The primary and secondary openings are indistinguishable by a user from an outside of the pouch. If the user picks the correct answer and opens the opening associated with the same indicia as his or her answer, the user will be opening the primary opening and will gain access to the contents of the primary chamber. If the user selects an incorrect answer and opens the opening of the pouch having the same indicia as his or her answer, the user will open the secondary opening and will access the secondary chamber. According to the exemplary embodiment, the primary chamber holds the desired contents of the pouch while the secondary chamber is empty or contains a secondary fluid or material.
The disclosure provides a multi-chamber pouch with an educational function in that the primary chamber stores a desired liquid or solid material and the secondary chamber can be empty. The primary and secondary openings are indistinguishable to the consumer until opened from a closed state. The selection of the primary opening corresponds to a correct answer to a question displayed on, or associated with, the pouch.
Some of the exemplary embodiments described herein provide an efficient way of making or manufacturing a multi-chamber pouch that can be made from pure recyclable material and can be compatible towards being in compliance with the Aseptic filling system used by juice filling companies in order to preserve quality and promote longer shelf life.
Although the characteristic features of this invention will be particularly pointed out in the claims, the invention itself and manner in which it may be made and used may be better understood after a review of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like numeral annotations are provided throughout.
Reference is made herein to the attached drawings. Like reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to depict like or similar elements of the multi-chamber pouch. The figures are intended for representative purposes only and should not be considered to be limiting in any respect.
This application incorporates by reference U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 62/833,160, filed Apr. 12, 2019; U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 63/247,126, filed Sep. 22, 2021 and U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 16/817,362 filed Mar. 12, 2020.
On the front panel, near the top, are two ports, a left front port 148 and a right front port 150. The ports 148, 150 are circular and can be areas having weakened perimeters that allow for a straw to be forcefully inserted into the pouch through the front panel.
The right folded panel 160 is sealed along a top edge band 138a thereof to the top seal band 138 of the pouch, and sealed at a bottom edge band 142a thereof to the surrounding bottom seal band 142 of the pouch. The left folded panel 162 is sealed along a top edge seal band 138b to the top seal band 138 of the pouch, and sealed at a bottom seal band 142b thereof to the surrounding bottom seal band 142 of the pouch. The right folded panel 160 has a front vertical seal band 134a that is sealed with the right vertical seal band 134 of the pouch, and a back vertical seal band 134b that is sealed to the right vertical seal band 134 of the pouch. Th left folded edge panel 162 has a front vertical seal band 132a that is sealed with the left vertical seal band 132 of the pouch, and a back vertical seal band 132b that is sealed to the left vertical seal band 132 of the pouch.
Once the pouch is formed and all seal bands are sealed, the right folded panel 160 forms a right side chamber 164 and the left folded panel forms a left side chamber 166. The pouch between the right side chamber 164 and the left side chamber 166 forms a central chamber 168. The right side chamber 164 is substantially sealed. A straw penetrating the ports 150, 150a will not have access to the contents of the central chamber 168. The left folded panel 162 includes an aperture 170 near to a bottom thereof. When the seals of the pouch are sealed, the left side chamber 166 will be in communication with the contents of the central chamber 168 through the aperture 170. A straw penetrating the ports 148, 148a will deliver beverage from the central chamber 168 into the left side chamber 166 and out the straw.
As shown in
The pouch 200 comprises the front panel 110, the back panel 120 and the floor panel 126. The front panel 110, the back panel 120 and the floor panel 126 may be of a multi-layer construction as is known for flexible pouches containing a beverage. The front panel and the back panel are sealed together along the vertical seal bands 132, 134 and across the top seal band 138. The front and back panels 110, 120 are sealed along inside bottom bands, forming the continuous band 142 all around to the floor panel 126.
On the front panel, near the top, are two ports, the left front port 148 and the right front port 150. The back panel 120 includes a right back port 151 and a left back port 149. The ports 148, 150, 149, 151 are circular and can be areas with weakened perimeters that allow for a straw to be forcefully inserted into the pouch through the respective panel.
The right folded panel 160 is sealed along the top edge band 138a thereof to the top seal band 138 of the pouch, and sealed at the bottom edge band 142a thereof to the surrounding bottom seal band 142 of the pouch. The left folded panel 162 is sealed along a top edge seal band 138b to the top seal band 138 of the pouch, and sealed at a bottom seal band 142b thereof to the surrounding bottom seal band 142 of the pouch. The right folded panel 160 having the front vertical seal band 134a is sealed with the right vertical seal band 134 of the pouch, and the back vertical seal band 134b is sealed to the right vertical seal band 134 of the pouch. Th left folded edge panel 162 having the front vertical seal band 132a is sealed with the left vertical seal band 132 of the pouch, and the back vertical seal band 132b is sealed to the left vertical seal band 132 of the pouch.
Once the pouch is formed and all seal bands are sealed, the right folded panel 160 forms the right side chamber 164 and the left folded panel forms the left side chamber 166. The pouch between the right side chamber 164 and the left side chamber 166 forms the central chamber 168. The right side chamber 164 is substantially sealed. A straw penetrating the port 150 or the port 151 will not have access to the contents of the central chamber 168. The left folded panel 162 in this embodiment is also substantially sealed and has no bottom aperture (such as the aperture 170 of the embodiment of
The label 250 is applied to the pouch 200 with the question 252 and four answers, choices “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”. The answer choice “A” corresponds to the port 148, the answer choice “B” corresponds to the port 150, the answer choice “C” corresponds to the port 151 and the answer choice D corresponds to the port 149. According to the illustrated embodiment, answer choice “D” would be the correct answer to the question and corresponds to the “primary” opening, and a straw pushed through port 149 would deliver beverage from the central chamber 168 to the user sipping through the straw. The answer choices “B” and “C” would be the incorrect answer and corresponds to “secondary” openings, and a straw pushed through the port 150 or the port 151 would access the closed chamber 164 and no liquid would be delivered through the straw. The answer choice “A” would also be the incorrect answer and also corresponds to a “secondary” opening, and a straw pushed through the port 148 would access the closed chamber 166 and no liquid would be delivered through the straw. The manufacturing of the pouch would assure that the correct answer would alternately be “A”, “B”, “C” or “D” requiring the user to make a correct selection to access the central chamber 168.
Although the exemplary embodiment can be advantageously configured for the game or educational purpose, it is also encompassed by the invention that a multi-chamber pouch is provided that can have different chambers holding different products, liquid or solid.
As an alternate to the label 250, an electronically readable tag, such as a bar code, can be used that can be scanned by an electronic device that reveals the question and answer choices. The tag may be of any suitable configuration to be scanned by a device, such as a traditional bar code, a QR code, or any similar representation.
It is therefore submitted that the instant invention has been shown and described in various embodiments. It is recognized, however, that departures may be made within the scope of the invention and that obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art. With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.
