Patent Application
20210214131
The subject disclosure relates to covers for containers and methods of using the same, and more particularly to, covers that are adapted and configured to allow the cover to be combined with bases of various sizes (e.g., volumes, heights) and/or bases made from a variety of materials to form a container. The container formed can be reclosable and/or securely sealed and/or tamper-resistant.
Numerous containers have been developed for packaging goods. The present containers for packaging goods are of fixed volume and their volume is not customizable by the user after purchase. Specifically, the prior containers are directed towards standardization of sizes and require customers to purchase, store and track an inventory of multiple different sizes which is problematic, especially when the demand for various sizes or volumes varies. This problem of standardized sizes is particularly exasperated when a container is used for packaging different volumes/weights of a good or when the size of the goods being packaged varies.
Moreover, the present containers are often made completely out of plastic and are not designed to allow mixing and matching of different materials to leverage the properties of the different materials. For example, an emerging demographics of consumers who are environmentally conscious and avoid containers made entirely out of plastic, especially when the containers are used for single use before disposal. Specifically, prior containers that are targeted towards the emerging demographics of environmentally conscious customers are made entirely of biodegradable materials such as cardboard or paper which are not as structurally durable as plastic, are susceptible to breakage, are at best translucent, are difficult to seal securely and are often less convenient. This problem is particularly exasperated when containers are used for storing goods that must be secure and sealed. For example, containers made out of materials that do not have the strong carbon chains present in plastics lose their structural integrity when used for goods that have a liquid content, when subject to stress around the corners or near the closures and often fail prematurely even in single use situations. Often the closures of the prior containers are not reclosable.
Based on the foregoing, a need exists for containers, especially containers that are customizable by the user to increase or decrease the volume of the container, that are capable of being securely sealed, that allow mixing and matching of different materials to leverage the properties of different materials such as thermal conductivity, cost, durability and environmental impact of waste. The aforementioned inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement are addressed and/or overcome by the assemblies, systems, and methods of the present disclosure.
The present disclosure is directed to a cover that is adapted and configured to allow the cover to be combined with bases of various sizes and/or bases made from a variety of materials to form a customizable container. More specifically, disclosed is a cover adapted and configured to receive customizable bases with a variety of sizes, materials, to form a reclosable container.
In accordance with some embodiments, the cover can feature a reclosable closure. In accordance with some embodiments, the cover can include a secure seal to indicate whether the packaging was opened prior to sale.
It should be appreciated that the present invention can be implemented and utilized in numerous ways, including without limitation as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, and a method for applications now known and later developed. These and other unique features of the system disclosed herein will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.
So that those having ordinary skill in the art to which the disclosed system appertains will more readily understand how to make and use the same, reference may be had to the drawings wherein:
It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various preferred features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment.
Disclosed herein are detailed descriptions of specific embodiments of covers for containers and methods of constructing the same. It will be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely examples of the way in which certain aspects of the invention can be implemented and do not represent an exhaustive list of all of the ways the invention may be embodied. Indeed, it will be understood that the systems, devices and methods described herein may be embodied in various and alternative forms. Moreover, the figures are not necessarily to scale and some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,630,756 describes containers for food products and the like that include a tamper-resistant and tamper-evident features the contents of this patent disclosure are hereby incorporated in this application in its entirety. As will be described in detail below, the covers disclosed herein can be constructed to include tamper-resistant and tamper-evident features. In certain instances those features can be similar to those described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,630,756. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the covers described herein can be formed without tamper-resistant or tamper-evident features or different mechanisms or constructions can be utilized than those described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,630,756.
Well-known components, materials or methods are not necessarily described in great detail in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure. Any specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the invention.
Unless otherwise apparent, or stated, directional references, such as “right,” “left,” “upper,” “lower,” “outward,” “inward,” etc., are intended to be relative to the orientation of a particular embodiment of the invention as shown in the first numbered view of that embodiment. In addition, a given reference numeral indicates the same or similar structure when it appears in different figures and like reference numerals identify similar structural elements and/or features of the subject invention.
The present disclosure now will be described more fully, but not all embodiments of the disclosure are necessarily shown. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof.
Referring now to
In an example, the base 106 having a main body section 107 with side walls 109a-d and a bottom wall 111 forming an enclosed storage space, the main body section 107 surrounded by a peripheral base sealing shoulder 400 and is configured to slide into the collar element 104 and engage with the peripheral collar sealing shoulder 300 of the collar 104 to form a container. The collar peripheral sealing shoulder 300 and the peripheral lid sealing shoulder 320 can lock the peripheral base sealing shoulder 400 to create a sealed container in the closed position. In an embodiment, the peripheral base sealing shoulder 400 snaps (e.g., snap fit) onto the collar peripheral sealing shoulder 300 when the cover 100 is in an open position to form the bottom of the container. When the collar peripheral sealing shoulder 300 snap fits with the peripheral base sealing shoulder 400, the base 106 can remain engaged with the collar 104 when the cover 100 is the open position. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various techniques can be used for securing the base 106 to the collar element 104 without departing from the scope of the present invention.
In another embodiment, the collar peripheral sealing shoulder 300 frictionally engages (e.g., press fit) with the peripheral base sealing shoulder 400 when inserted into the collar 104 and the base 106 is locked into place when the lid 102 is closed and the peripheral base sealing shoulder 400 is sandwiched between the peripheral lid sealing shoulder 320 and the peripheral collar sealing shoulder 300. When the peripheral collar sealing shoulder 300 is frictionally engaged the base 106 can be disengaged from the collar 104 when the cover 100 is in an open position.
In an embodiment, the cover 100 can include a lid 102 portion having a main body configured in a variety of shapes, including but not limited to, rectangular, circular, oval or elliptical. In an embodiment the cover 100 can be configured with a lid portion 102 having different cross-sectional dimensions to allow storage of different products of different dimensions/sizes.
In an embodiment, the hinge 108 can include tamper-resistant and tamper-evident features. The hinge portion 108 can include a tamper-evident frangible section or pull strip, which, upon its removal, severs the integral connection between lid portion 102 and the collar element 104. In accordance with the present invention, collar element 104 portion and lid portion 102 can include structural features that facilitate the formation of a non-permanent engagement between cover 100 to base 106 portion as described with reference to
Referring now to
In an embodiment, the wide variety of bases (106A through 106D) can include a different internal configuration, different volumes and/or different sizes. For example, the base 106C and 106 D can include one or more internal walls within the side walls to create one or more compartments in conjunction with the bottom wall. The base 106C can include an internal wall that divides the space enclosed between the side walls and the bottom wall into two compartments. The base 106D can include an internal wall that diagonally runs from one edge of the container to the other edge dividing the space enclosed between the side walls and the bottom wall to form two triangular compartments. In an embodiment, the base (e.g., 106B) can include one or more compartments vertically spaced and interlocking with each other vertically to create two vertical compartments.
In an embodiment, the variety of bases (106A through 106D) can be made from biodegradable materials such as paperboard, recyclable materials such as aluminum foil, structurally rigid materials such as plastics or the like. The variety of bases can allow the consumer to select an appropriate base for use with the same cover based on the intended use, cost of materials, the property of the materials and the like.
In some embodiments, the thermal properties of the material of the base such as insulation of the contents of the container can determine the appropriate base material. In some embodiments, the hydrophilic or hydrophobic properties of the base can influence selection of the base for a specific application. For example, an aluminum foil base is with low emissivity and high reflectivity can be used for hot food. Similarly, a paperboard base with or without a plastic coating can be used for packaging moist food or dry food respectively. In another example, the consumer can choose the base 106 based on the cost of materials depending on the use. In an embodiment, disposable containers for packaging, distributing, displaying or otherwise housing consumer items, especially perishable foods, customers like reclosable containers.
In an embodiment, the base 106 with or without the collar 104 can be sealed using a film seal. For example, the base 106 with or without the collar 104 can be covered with a shrink tubing and heat sealed to seal the contents of the base 106. In another example, the base 106 with or without the collar 104 can be covered with a film and vacuum sealed to seal the contents of the base 106.
Referring now to
In an example, the base 106 having a main body section 107 with side walls 109a-d and a bottom wall 111 forming an enclosed storage space, the main body section 107 surrounded by a peripheral base sealing shoulder 400 and is configured to slide into the collar element 104 and engage with the peripheral collar sealing shoulder 300 of the collar 104 to form a container. The peripheral collar sealing shoulder 300 and the peripheral lid sealing shoulder 320 can lock the peripheral base sealing shoulder 400 to create a sealed container in the closed position. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various techniques can be used for securing the base 106 to the collar element 104 without departing from the scope of the present invention.
In an embodiment the base 106 can be formed from a non-plastic material such as paperboard and the lid portion 102 and the collar element 104 can be formed of a plastic material. The peripheral collar sealing shoulder 300 and the peripheral lid sealing shoulder 320 formed out of plastic can lock the peripheral base sealing shoulder 400 formed out of paperboard to create a sealed container in the closed position.
Referring to
In step 702, a cover 100 of a suitable circumference can be chosen from a selection of lid-collar assemblies based on the dimensions of the product to be packaged. For example, the cover 100 circumference can be based on the maximum width and base of an object to allow the object to be inserted into the base of similar circumferential dimensions.
In step 704, a base 106 can be chosen from the selection of bases (e.g. 106A-106D) based on the dimensions and property of the product to be packaged. For example, as described above with reference to
In step 706, the base 106 is inserted into the collar 104 until the base 106 engages with the collar 104. In an embodiment, the base 106 can snap onto the collar 104. In this instance the base 106 will remain engaged with the collar 104 irrespective of whether the lid 102 is open or closed. In another embodiment, can frictionally engage (press fit) with the base 106 when inserted into the collar 104. In this instance the base 106 can be removed from the collar 104 when the lid 102 is open.
In step 708, the lid 102 can be articulated from the open position to the closed position sealing the base 106 between the lid 102 and the collar 104 to form a container. In an embodiment, the container formed can be reclosable. In another embodiment, the container formed can include a tamper-evident strip to indicate whether the container was opened and closed after packaging.
It should be readily understood that a cover constructed in accordance with the present invention, which is preferably a plastic cover used for carrying products, can be manufactured in a variety of shapes and sizes, and can be formed from resins or plastic materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene terephthalate (“PETE”), as well as other suitable materials or combinations thereof. The forming process can also vary to include methods such as thermo-forming, injection molding or blow molding. The cover can be transparent or translucent, and may be colored in either instance. Also, vents can be provided in the cover to promote airflow there through, if appropriate based on the intended contents of the container. Preferably, cover 100 is formed from a roll of PETE subjected to a vacuum and pressure mold with plug assist.
Similarly, a base in accordance with the present invention, which is made of a wide variety of materials such as paperboard, aluminum foil, plastic and the like. In an example, the plastic base used for carrying products, can be manufactured in a variety of shapes and sizes, and can be formed from resins or plastic materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene terephthalate (“PETE”), as well as other suitable materials or combinations thereof. The forming process can also vary to include methods such as thermo-forming, injection molding or blow molding. The base can be transparent or translucent, and may be colored in either instance. Also, vents can be provided in the base to promote airflow there through, if appropriate based on the intended contents of the container. Preferably, base 106 is formed from a roll of PETE subjected to a vacuum and pressure mold with plug assist.
In other examples the paperboard or aluminum foil base can be manufactured in a variety of shapes and sizes. The base forming process can also vary to include methods such as surface sizing, machine glazing, calendaring, surface coating, surface finishing and/or press forming methods. The base can be surface coated to make the base either hydrophobic or hydrophilic and can be colored in either instance. Also, vents can be provided in the base to promote airflow there through, if appropriate based on the intended contents of the container.
Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary implementations, the present disclosure is not limited by or to such exemplary implementations. Rather, various modifications, refinements and/or alternative implementations may be adopted without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure.
