Many consumer products are packaged in granular or powdered form, such as for example, infant formula, flour, coffee, and sugar. Stock keeping units of granular or powdered form which are sold in volumes larger than one-time use amounts require specific packaging. Such packaging must be suitable for storage until first time use and must provide adequate storage at the consumer site between subsequent uses. Adequately storing the product throughout the consumption cycle requires packaging which prohibits waste and contamination, is strong and durable, and is convenient to the user.
Multiple-use containers for power products are typically constructed of polymers. Such materials are subject to many variables that adversely result in product components being produced that can vary beyond acceptable dimensional tolerance limits. Also, polymeric materials can render mis-shaped component profiles due to unexpected shrinkage and warping. These types of manufacturing problems are especially pronounced in containers formed from assemblies that incorporate more than one component, such as where a top or lid and a collar assembly are fastened to a bottom part or base of a container.
Still other users experience problems with prior art containers that are inadequate for use in circumstances where the ambient air pressure external to the container changes drastically so as to create a significant pressure differential between the sealed interior space of the container and the external, ambient atmosphere. For example, when a container is packaged at a facility at sea-level pressure, and then shipped to consumers located at higher altitudes, the container will have a higher internal pressure, which creates a pressure differential that can be significant. If the pressure differential is large enough, the container may become distended, making it difficult to stack and store, and may even experience a breach, leading to contaminated and wasted product. The opposite situation can occur when containers that are filled and sealed at a higher altitude are shipped to lower altitude users. Upon opening, ambient air can rush into the interior space of the container and contaminate the contents.
When a container having a pressure differential is opened, the contents may again spill due to the very rapid pressure equalization ejecting a cloud of powdered or other type of product contents. Attempts to overcome these disadvantages have included thicker walled containers, which increases weight and material costs, as well as round and cylindrical containers that may have higher hoop stress strength, but which are less efficient and convenient to stack and store on a shelf.
A container is needed that addresses the many issues surrounding prior art containers, and which most importantly offers new and innovative ways to prevent and/or minimize contamination, spillage, and waste of product contained in such containers. A more durable container is needed that incorporates improved rigidity and strength characteristics that can expand the range of acceptable dimensional tolerances and that can adapt to and more readily accommodate unexpected mis-shaped container component profiles.
The present application describes a container for use in packaging, such as for example, a container suitable for use in holding powder infant formula.
In an exemplary embodiment, a container has a collar, a lid and a seal. The container includes walls which define an interior space and an opening to the interior space. The collar is attached to the walls. The lid is attached to the collar for positioning between an open position and a closed position, and is adapted to cover the opening while in the closed position. A latching assembly is attached to an outer surface of the container and offers precise user control features which permit the lid is be easily engaged to and disengaged from the collar. The latch assembly may be comprised of two protrusions, one on the lid and one on the collar or container.
Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Features and advantages of the general inventive concepts will become apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
This Detailed Description merely describes exemplary embodiments in accordance with the general inventive concepts and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention or the claims in any way. Indeed, the invention as described by the claims is broader than and unlimited by the exemplary embodiments set forth herein, and the terms used in the claims have their full ordinary meaning.
The general inventive concepts will now be described with occasional reference to the exemplary embodiments of the invention. This general inventive concept may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the general inventive concepts to those skilled in the art.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art encompassing the general inventive concepts. The terminology set forth in this detailed description is for describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the general inventive concepts. As used in this detailed description and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities of ingredients, properties such as molecular weight, reaction conditions, percentages and so forth as used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” Accordingly, unless otherwise indicated, the numerical properties set forth in the specification and claims are approximations that may vary depending on the suitable properties sought to be obtained in embodiments of the present invention. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the general inventive concepts are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical values, however, inherently contain certain errors necessarily resulting from error found in their respective measurements.
The present application describes a container for use in packaging, such as for example, a container suitable for use in holding powder infant formula. The container provides an advantageous storage method for a granular or powdered product. The container offers improved durability, strength, sealing and convenience features.
One embodiment of the invention features a container having walls defining an interior space, a collar, a lid, and a latch. The interior space is suitable for storage of a powder. The walls include an upper portion which defines a sealing flange having an internal edge. The internal edge defines an opening to the interior space. The collar is attached to the upper portion. The lid is attached to the collar for positioning between an open position and a closed position. The lid is adapted to cover the opening while in the closed position. The latch is attached to an outer surface of the lid. In offering increased ease of operation, the latch may have an actuator rotatable in two directions relative to the lid and detachably engaging to a catch. The catch protrudes from an outside surface of the container. The latch may be comprised of a protrusion on the lid and the catch may be comprised of a protrusion on the collar or container.
Another embodiment of the invention features a container having two first walls and two second walls, a collar, a lid, a latch, and a seal. The two first walls are each wider than the two second walls to generally form an opening having a rectangular shape. The upper portion defines a sealing flange having an internal edge which defines an opening to the interior space. The collar is attached to an upper portion of the walls. The lid is attached to the collar for positioning between an open position and a closed position. The lid is adapted to cover the opening while in the closed position. The latch is attached to an outer surface of the lid and is detachably engaged to a catch. The seal protects the contents of the container after packaging, during shipment and during storage prior to sale. The seal is removably attached to the sealing flange and covering the opening to the interior space. The seal includes a tab and defines a gripping surface for a consumer to grasp. In offering increased ease of operation, the tab is positioned along a first wall for prohibiting tearing during removal.
Another embodiment of the invention features a container having walls, a collar, a lid, a latch, and a flexible gasket. The upper portion defines a sealing flange having an internal edge which defines an opening to the interior space. The collar is attached to an upper portion of the walls. The lid is attached to the collar for positioning between an open position and a closed position. The lid is adapted to cover the opening while in the closed position. The latch is attached to an outer surface of the lid and is detachably engaged to a catch. The flexible gasket is positioned to extend from an interior surface of the collar to removably rest against the sealing flange. The flexible gasket is arranged to remain biased against the sealing flange when the lid is in an open position. The flexible gasket has a vertical portion separated from an inwardly protruding portion by a trough.
Referring now to the drawings, a container 10 for holding a granular or powdered product is shown in
Now referring to
The receptacle 12 is shaped to define an interior space 26 for storing powder. The receptacle 12 has a bottom wall and four side walls to generally form a cuboid with an open top. The opening 24 provides access to the interior space 26 suitable for storing a powder product. During a packaging operation, the interior space is filled with powder and then sealed with a removable sealing layer. The exemplary receptacle 12 shown has at least two opposing and generally rectangular sides and a rectangular bottom side, i.e., is generally in the shape of a rectangular hexahedron.
The exemplary receptacle 12 is formed in part by four vertical walls and a bottom wall. Referring to
The walls are constructed to permit a firm grip by the user during removal of the sealing layer. The front wall 20a has a recess 31a positioned to facilitate gripping of the container 10 by one or more digits of the user. The rear wall 20b also has a recess 31b positioned to facilitate gripping of the container 10 by one or more digits of the user. The recess 31a can further have an additional recess 32a to indicate the precise location within the recess 31a for the placement of a single digit of the user, such as for example, a thumb. The recess 32a is smaller in area than the recess 31a. The recess 31b can further have an additional recess 32b to indicate the precise location in the recess 31b for the placement of the desired digit of the user. The recess 32b is smaller in area than the recess 31b. The recesses 32a and 32b are preferably circular in shape, but other shapes may be used in the practice of the invention.
The walls of the container also form an upper portion which is advantageously shaped for strength, durability and strength. The upper portion defines a sealing flange having an internal edge which defines an opening to the interior space. The upper portion includes structural features allowing a secure connection of the collar and lid after application of the sealing layer.
The container 10 is also adapted for stacking a plurality of units to maximize containers per cubic feet, by increasing the number of containers per stack height, and thus, the number of containers per shipping pallet. As shown in
Referring now to
The upper portion of the receptacle includes additional stabilizing features. Discussed herein, the upper portion 40 of the receptacle provides stability to protruding tabs of the collar. As shown in
As shown in the assembly view of
Referring now to the collar 14 and
Still referring to the collar 14, a downwardly extending flag 600 can best been seen in
The structure of the lid 16 adds to the overall stability and strength of the container 10. To emphasize certain structural features, a bottom perspective view of the lid 16 is shown in
The lid 16 offers storage for a scoop 420 when not in use. The scoop 420 is stored in between clips 422, 424, 426, 428 extending from the bottom side of the lid 16. A scoop 420 is shown in
The container includes a latch for manipulation of the lid from an engaged position relative the collar to an unengaged position relative the collar. The actuator provides a user with precise fingertip control of the latch, without requiring the user to engage or contact the surface of the lid or collar. Many conventional collar and lid latch mechanism require a user to brace one or more fingers against the lid or the collar when opening the lid. However, the stability and strength afforded by the assembly of the inventive receptacle, collar, and lid, allows for ease of operation of the latch.
Relying upon fingertip movement of a single part of the latch, a user can move the lid between engaged and unengaged positions relative the collar. The latch includes an actuator rotatable in two directions relative to the lid and detachably engaged to a catch. In the exemplary embodiment on
An enlarged front perspective view of the latch 200 is shown in
The actuator is adapted to attach to a catch on the outside surface of the container. The adapter includes a tooth 218 which protrudes from an inside surface of the actuator 202, as best shown in
The actuator offers precise finger tip control for the user. For example, the actuator can be rotated in two directions relative the container. As discussed herein, a top portion of the latch can be rotated away toward the lid. When the lid is moved to an open position and released, the actuator is biased to passively return to an at rest position, as shown on
The actuator 202 includes several structural features which promote rotation by a user. Two bridges 210 extend from the front face 214 of the lid 16 to support the actuator 202. As such, the inside surface 212 of the actuator 202 in the closed position, as shown in
Referring again to
As seen in
The lid 16 also includes structure to limit movement of the actuator. Referring again to
In one embodiment of the invention, the container includes a flexible gasket. The flexible gasket is affixed to an inside wall of the collar and is dimensioned to project inwardly to removably rest against the sealing flange 30 of the receptacle 12, as depicted in
The flexible gasket 300 has several inventive features beneficial to the sealing performance of the container. As best seen in
As discussed herein, a seal is used to protect the contents of the container after packaging, during shipment and during storage prior to sale. The sealing layer may help to preserve freshness or indicate tampering. Any suitable seal material may be selected, such as for example, a material suitable to protect the contents from moisture, oxygen and light. The sealing layer may include a tab that facilitates removal of the sealing layer by the end user. Any gasket used in the container is adhered directly to the collar during manufacturing, such that the gasket will not subsequently interfere during a seal removal process by the consumer. In the removal process, the lid will in the open position and the gasket will flex up and out of the way of the seal.
Referring now to
In the packaging process, the seal is attached to the outside surface of the receptacle. The seal is adhered to the receptacle by a pressing operation. As shown in
An exemplary seal 70 is illustrated in a top view in
When the seal 70 is attached to the receptacle 12, as shown in
The seal 70 has other inventive features beneficial to tear resistance during removal from the receptacle by a user. An enlarged top view of the designated circular area of
The tab 72 illustrated in
For reference, a prior art seal is shown in
The inventive shape of the tab 72 offers dramatic improvement in tearing resistance over conventional tabs. In fact, testing of the inventive tab shape resulted in unexpected performance. In tear resistance testing, the tab shape of
While various inventive aspects, concepts and features of the general inventive concepts are described and illustrated herein in the context of various exemplary embodiments, these various aspects, concepts and features may be used in many alternative embodiments, either individually or in various combinations and sub-combinations thereof. Unless expressly excluded herein all such combinations and sub-combinations are intended to be within the scope of the general inventive concepts. Still further, while various alternative embodiments as to the various aspects, concepts and features of the inventions (such as alternative materials, structures, configurations, methods, circuits, devices and components, alternatives as to form, fit and function, and so on) may be described herein, such descriptions are not intended to be a complete or exhaustive list of available alternative embodiments, whether presently known or later developed. Those skilled in the art may readily adopt one or more of the inventive aspects, concepts or features into additional embodiments and uses within the scope of the general inventive concepts even if such embodiments are not expressly disclosed herein. Additionally, even though some features, concepts or aspects of the inventions may be described herein as being a preferred arrangement or method, such description is not intended to suggest that such feature is required or necessary unless expressly so stated. Still further, exemplary or representative values and ranges may be included to assist in understanding the present disclosure; however, such values and ranges are not to be construed in a limiting sense and are intended to be critical values or ranges only if so expressly stated. Moreover, while various aspects, features and concepts may be expressly identified herein as being inventive or forming part of an invention, such identification is not intended to be exclusive, but rather there may be inventive aspects, concepts and features that are fully described herein without being expressly identified as such or as part of a specific invention. Descriptions of exemplary methods or processes are not limited to inclusion of all steps as being required in all cases, nor is the order that the steps are presented to be construed as required or necessary unless expressly so stated.
This application is the U.S. national stage entry of PCT/US2013/038468, with an international filing date of 26 Apr. 2013 claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/639,857, entitled PRODUCT CONTAINMENT SYSTEM and filed Apr. 27, 2012, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, to the extent that it is not conflicting with the present application.
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PCT/US2013/038468 | 4/26/2013 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2013/163583 | 10/31/2013 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20150129597 A1 | May 2015 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61639857 | Apr 2012 | US |