This invention relates to flexible packages, such as plastic bags, and in particular to package closures employing adhesives.
Certain packages for food products comprised of particulates, such as shredded cheese, cereal, trail mix, nuts, dried fruit, small cookies, crackers, chocolate, confections, for example, comprise a pouch which is open at one end, or along one side, so as to allow product to be poured or shaken through a reclosable opening.
One widely used means of providing package reclosability is to employ zippers compatible with flexible packages of plastic film construction. One problem with such zippers is that application of zippers to a film roll makes the film roll bulky and more difficult to handle. Although packaging zippers can be applied in high speed in line form-fill-seal operations, the equipment requirements for application of zippers and the expense of the zipper materials can be significant. In addition, zippers may not provide hermetic seals when desired. Also, some consumers have difficulty operating and manipulating zipper closures.
Improvements are desired in packaging closures which are simple and economical yet reliable, durable, and tamper-resistant.
The invention provides a reclosable flexible package having a reclosable closure comprising easy-to-use adhesive securement means in combination with non-reclosable closures provided above and below the reclosable closure.
In one embodiment, a reclosable flexible package has opposed front and rear panels joined together to define a cavity enclosed by opposite side portions and a bottom portion of the package. An openable or removable non-reclosable closure, located at an upper end portion opposite the bottom portion and extending between opposite side portions of the package, is adapted to define a package mouth when opened or removed. An openable reclosable closure extending between the opposite side portions of the package at a location below the sealed portion, is adapted to be manually pulled open and reclosed for selectively opening and closing the mouth after the sealed portion has been opened. Another openable non-reclosable closure extends between the opposite side portions of the package at a location below the reclosable closure.
In one particular embodiment, the reclosable closure comprises a reclosable coating provided on at least one of the interior faces of the front and rear panels of the package. Whether applied to one or both interior faces of the front and rear panels, the reclosable coating is adapted to releasably attach the interior faces of front and rear panels of the package. The “reclosable coating” refers to a thin layer of material applied onto the film substrate that is solid at room temperature, has a surface energy substantially similar to the sealant side of the film substrate, and produces mutually bondable surfaces. In one embodiment, the reclosable closure comprises substantially continuous bands of reclosable coating oppositely aligned on interior opposing faces of the front and rear panels, wherein the bands are adapted to be manually pressed into mutual adhering contact and manually pulled apart more than once. In one embodiment, the reclosable coating has balanced tack such that it has sufficient tack to allow multiple unsealings and resealings of the package walls at the closure site, but also it is not overly tacky so that it has low-pick up of food contents of the package sufficient to reduce incidence and rate of contamination-deadening of the reclosable closure from food dispensing. In one embodiment, the reclosable coating is selected from the group consisting of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers, water-based acrylics, curable acrylics, and styrenic block copolymers. The reclosable coating material may be a transparent, translucent or a tinted coating material.
In another particular embodiment, the reclosable closure comprises a self-supporting tape material attached on interior faces of the front and rear panels of the package. The self-supporting tape material may comprise a laminate construction comprising a single-faced adhesive tape substrate, which bears a reclosable coating on the non-tacky side thereof. The tape may be a transparent, translucent or tinted discrete band material.
Food product may be introduced into the package cavity before the closures are sealed, providing a resealable food package. The package may further include visual textual and/or tactile indicia providing user instructions or guidance for applying pressure at the reclosable closure for reclosing the package. The package optionally may further include a rupturable line of weakness between the openable or removable non-reclosable closure at the upper end of the package and the reclosable closure, which is adapted, upon complete rupture, to remove the upper non-reclosable closure and provide a package opening. To facilitate rupture and opening the package mouth, the line of weakness optionally may intersect a notch provided on at least one side edge of the package. The package construction may comprise a folded polymeric sheet providing front and rear wall panels which are joined at opposite side portions thereof and folded at a bottom portion thereof. In another folded configuration, the package is folded at the opposite side portions sufficient to provide flaps extending in a machine direction which are arranged to include an overlap portion which is sealed, or a fin seal, and a bottom portion is sealed in a cross-machine direction. In another embodiment, the flexible package also may be incorporated into a bag-in-box package configuration.
The resealable flexible packages may provide greater manufacturing efficiencies and cost savings as compared to known packages with integral zippers. Also, tamper resistance is provided for the reclosable closure and package contents by provision of manually-openable, non-reclosable hermetic seals at both sides of the reclosable closure. The hermetic seals also better isolate the reclosable closure during manufacture, shipping, storage, handling and display, etc., until purchased and used by a consumer. Methods of forming and filling the reclosable package also are provided. The packages can be used to store a wide variety of foods. They can be used to store snacks, such as trail mix, nuts, dried fruit, small cookies, crackers, chocolate, confections, etc. They also can be used to store, e.g., cheese, meat, cereal, ground coffee beans, etc.
The figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. Similarly numbered elements in different figures represent like features unless indicated otherwise.
Referring to
In this illustration of
In this illustration, reclosable closure 117 comprises resealable adhesive bands 117a and 117b formed on the opposing inner faces 102a and 103a of walls 102 and 103 between line of weakness 114 and seal 118. Resealable adhesive bands 117a and 117b provide the user a gripping portion 119, indicated as having a dimension “X”, which aids a user in manually separating the bag panels 102 and 103 apart at the resealable bands 117a and 117b. Resealable bands 117a and 117b may be applied as coatings, which, at ambient conditions, maintain sufficient integrity not to migrate, sag or flow out of position in any significant manner.
The cross-sectional view of
In one particular embodiment, the resealable bands 117a and 117b are comprised of a reclosable coating material, which may comprise a “cold glue” which does not delaminate from the packaging panels, retains balanced tack properties adequate to allow multiple unsealings and resealings of the package walls at the adhesive site even after the adhesive is exposed to ambient conditions over an extended period of time, and does not become contaminated and deadened (from a tackiness standpoint) from exposure to food detritus. In addition, in another embodiment, the resealable bands may be pre-applied to packaging films stored as wound spools or rolls until unwound during package manufacture, where it is desirable to provide a reclosable coating which is not overly tacky to impede unwinding operations. In a particular embodiment, the reclosable coating is cohesive in respect of being more adhesive to like band materials than substrate films or food detritus. It also may have pressure-sensitive aspects in that it forms an unsealable bond with bands of like material upon application of pressure only, i.e., without requiring the application of heat, moisture, or radiation. Resealable compositions of this general type permit the bond that they form to be readily broken, as desired, so that the package walls may be peeled apart at the location of the seal without significant damage to the substrate to which the resealable pressure-sensitive contact adhesive had been applied.
The strength of the resealable seal 117 is such that it can be readily opened by application of manual outward force to the package by the consumer, but is not susceptible to accidental opening due to normal stresses associated with product containment during storage and handling. For instance, the resealable seal 117 generally may have a peel force ranging from about 100 g/inch to about 700 g/inch, particularly about 100 g/inch to about 300 g/inch, as measured by ASTM D 3330 (peel test). The resealable seal 117 generally may have a tack value not exceeding 5 psi when pre-loaded with 4.5 pounds, and not exceeding 15 psi when pre-loaded with 10 pounds, as measured by ASTM D 2979 (probe tack). It can be resealed by application of firm manual pressure, such as by pressing the seal 117 band or bands from one lateral end towards and to the opposite lateral end thereof to help ensure a continuous seal is restored after the bag has been temporarily opened. In one non-limiting embodiment, the resealable seal 117 is substantially impermeable to air, as well as to liquids which may be present in the pouch. The level of hermeticity needed generally will be determined based on the shelf-stability and/or form and sizing of the food contents or other contents stored in the package. In other embodiments, the resealable seal 117 may comprise intermittent or discontinuous bands, or bands that only part traverse the width of the package at its mouth portion, depending in large part on the type and form of the contents intended to be stored in the package.
In one embodiment, the reclosable closure comprises substantially continuous bands 117a and 117b of reclosable coating material oppositely aligned on interior faces 102a and 103a of the front 102 and rear panels 103. The bands 117a and 117b are adapted to be manually pressed into mutual adhering contact and manually pulled apart more than once. In a particular embodiment, the reclosable coating material is a labile, coatable material which can be transformed into a flowable coating substance by processing methods involving heat application, which can be at least partly cured in place, and/or alternatively, it reverts or changes into a generally non-flowable material at room temperatures (e.g., about 80° F. or less), so that it remains affixed to a substrate at the original coating location. Also, in one non-limiting embodiment, the reclosable coating material also maintains low but sufficient bonding tack to keep the bag sealed at temperatures commonly experienced in refrigerated or frozen storage of some perishable foods, such as storage temperatures between about 32° F. to about 40° F. In one embodiment, the reclosable coating material is selected from the group consisting of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers, water-based acrylics, curable acrylics, and styrenic block copolymers. The reclosable coating material may be a transparent, translucent or a tinted coating material. The reclosable coating material may be sourced from commercial coatable pressure-sensitive adhesive products, such as EVA copolymer based hot melts available from Bostik Findley, Inc., or curable acrylic adhesive products. In a particular embodiment, curable acrylic adhesives are used, which in a procured state can be heated to a flowable condition and conveniently coated or deposited upon a packaging film in bands or stripes, and then are at least partly cured, e.g., via ultraviolet light irradiation or electron beam exposure, to fix the position of the coating. The acrylic can contain conventional adhesion promoters and/or photoinitiators for u.v. light irradiation, and so forth.
In another particular embodiment, the reclosable closure 117 comprises a self-supporting composite band material attached on the interior faces of the front and rear panels of the package. The composite band material may comprise a single-faced adhesive tape substrate which supports a reclosable coating, such as described above, on one side thereof which is opposite to the tacky side of the tape substrate. The tape may be a transparent, translucent or tinted discrete band material. The substrate tape material may be sourced from commercial single faced tape products, such as those available from Tesa and 3M.
In
As indicated above, there is an additional non-reclosable peelable seal 118 provided below the resealable bands 117a and 117b that compose reclosable closure 117 that separate or isolate the resealable bands 117a and 117b from the product 120 contained in cavity 104 until peelable seal 118 is ruptured. The protective lower peelable seal 118 (i.e., 118a, 118b) is peelable to allow easy access to the product 120. The peelable seal 118 helps protect the resealable bands 117a and 117b of reclosable closure 117 from product contamination after packaging during shipment, storage, merchandising, etc., until the package is opened for the first time by the purchaser or other end user. Also, the peelable seal 118 aids in providing a hermetically-sealed package since the resealable bands 117a and 117b may extend into the side seals 111 and 112, affecting the seal quantity at those overlaps.
A hermetic peelable seal 118 is particularly desirable. A hermetic peelable seal may be formed in any suitable manner. In general, the walls 102 and 103 of packaging film 101 may be formed of a polymeric film material which is heat sealable, such that the peelable seal 118 can be formed where desired in the polymeric film per se without need for extraneous bonding materials. For example, the packaging film may be formed of a polybutylene/polyethylene blend which allows walls 102 and 103 to be heat sealed together at contacting portion that have a peel strength less than the cohesive strength of the adjoining unbonded portions of the walls. In this manner, the package 100 can be opened along peel seal 118 without tearing adjoining unbonded wall portions of the package. The strength of the peelable seal 118 is such that it can be readily opened by application of manual outward force to the package by the consumer, but is not susceptible to accidental opening due to normal stresses associated with product containment during the form/fill/seal (FFS) operation, and subsequent shipping, handling, and display. For instance, the peelable seal preferably has an opening force of from about 1.5 to about 6.0 lbs., and more preferably from about 2.5 to about 3.5 lbs. The peelable seal 118 may be formed with heat sealing techniques to provide a substantially impermeable seal to air, as well as to liquids which may be present in the pouch. Accordingly, the location of the peelable seal interiorly of the reclosable closure 117 prevents any contents of the pouch cavity 104 from leaking into the reclosable closure 117 before the filled package is purchased and initially used.
The various fusion seals 111, 112, and 113 of package 100 can be formed in conventional manners applicable to plastic bag manufacture, such as by ultrasonic sealing, heat sealing, etc. For instance, conventional heat sealing bars may be used for this purpose. The line of weakness 114 may be formed in conventional manners used to form such structural features in flexible packaging films, such as by laser scoring, using a die line, intermittent perforation, mechanical scoring, partial slitting through a packaging film laminate construction, etc. The notch 115 may be formed when the individual package is cut from a chain of bags. Alternatively, it may be formed by a conventional notched perforation wheel on the line at a perforation station or alternatively by a reciprocating perforating blade conventionally used for this purpose. The line of weakness 114 is generally horizontally aligned with a notch 115 formed at one side (or optionally both sides) of the reclosable package 100. The notch 115 is use to assist initiation of a tear and the tear line directs the tear as it propagates along the line of weakness 114, until the top edge portion 116 of the package 100 is separated from the remainder of the package 100 located below the line of weakness 114. In this manner, top fusion seal 113 represents a removable non-reclosable closure.
The film substrate 101 is a polymeric sheet material or film which may be formed of various plastic polymers, copolymers, co-extrusions and/or laminations. The polymeric sheet material or film 101 may be comprised, e.g., of monolayer or multi-layer combinations of: polyolefin such as polyethylene (high, medium, low, linear low, and/or ultra low density polymers including metallocene), polypropylene (oriented and/or biaxially oriented); polybutylene; ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA); polymides (oriented and/or biaxially oriented) such as nylon; polyethylene terephthalate (oriented and/or biaxially oriented); polyvinyl chloride; ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH); polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC); polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH); polystyrene; or combinations thereof.
As previously noted, in a particular embodiment the film 101 may comprise a polyethylene/polybutylene blend in which peelable seals 118 may be formed, and also non-peelable edge and/or end heat seals (e.g. 111, 112, 113). Non-peelable edge and end seals may be formed by applying greater thermal energy to the heat fusion bond sites formed in the packaging film.
The film substrate 101 also may comprise flexible polymeric film materials filled with micro- or nano-sized inorganic materials or minerals, such as clay, calcium carbonate, montmorillonite, dolmite, talc, mica, and so forth. The film subsrate 101 also may comprise flexible metallized film or a ceramic-coated film, e.g., a flexible film bearing a thin film of silicon oxide or aluminum oxide, and so forth, deposited on it. The film substrate 101 also may comprise flexible metal foil.
Film 101 desirably has air barrier properties to aid in providing hermeticity for the package, and is conducive to being heat sealed to adjoining contacted portions of folded or separate packaging film or layers. It also may incorporate non-plastic components such as foil, metallization, and/or paper, to the extent the barrier and heat sealing properties are sufficiently maintained. For purposes of example, a suitable film for cheese shreds may comprise a linear low-density polyethylene inner layer in combination with a polyester or nylon outer layer, and a middle adhesive layer of polyethylene. A nylon outer layer is particularly useful in connection with cheeses, where a degree of CO2 gas permeability is desirable in the packaging.
To facilitate support of the package 100 on a display hanger, a hole 122 optionally may be provided in an upper end portion 116 of the package 100 at a location above the reclosable closure 117 and below the notched line of weakness 109. Hole 122 also could be provided below line of weakness 114 in portion 119, or below band 117.
Referring to
At an upper end portion 308 of package 300 opposite bottom portion 326, two generally parallel, spaced-apart peelable seals 313 and 318 are provided having a construction similar to feature 118 described above. Peelable seals 313 and 318 can be provided by bonding the packaging film 301 with less thermal energy than used to form non-peelable seal 307 at the bottom of the bag 300. An openable reclosable closure 317 is provided between peelable seals 313 and 318. Reclosable closure 317 comprises resealable bands 317a and 317b. Film portion 319 extends above the upper peelable seal 313 to provide the user some loose material to grip for separating the bag panels. The dimension of film extension 319 at the top of the package is indicated by “G” (
As illustrated in
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
The reclosable package sealing arrangements of the present invention also can be applied to other styles of packages. Referring to
Referring to
In non-limiting form, fill and seal (“FFS”) operations applicable to manufacturing resealable packages according to the illustration of
In an alternative FFS operation for making packages such as illustrated in
The resealable flexible packages of embodiments of the invention offer many advantages over traditional package resealing arrangements, and particularly zippers. Manufacturing of the flexible packages of the preferred embodiments is streamlined because resealable bands used to form the reclosable closure (e.g., above-described features 117 and 317) are easier and less costly to apply and use than an integral zipper. Also, a conventional film converter may be used to coat the bands directly onto the film where needed and deliver all the materials on a ready-to-use single roll. In that case no additional equipment is necessary to make the packages of embodiments herein. This enables the manufacture of reclosable packages according to embodiments herein on a variety of form, fill, and seal machines. Since the reseal bands used to form the reclosable closure are applicable as a thin coating, the resulting low material usage provides a cost savings relative to zipper packaging, especially higher cost slider zipper packaging. Consumers have added ease and comfort using the packaging of embodiments herein due to the easy and reliable closing of the reseal band arrangement used in packages of embodiments herein versus the often difficult and inconsistent press-to-close zippers. Also, tamper-resistance is provided for the reclosable closure and package contents by provision of hermetic manually-openable, non-reclosable seals at both sides of the reclosable closure, which serve to better isolate it during manufacture, shipping, storage, handling and display, etc., until purchased and used by a consumer.
Methods of forming and using the reclosable package are also provided. Namely, if the heat seal (113, 313) is ruptured in a displayed package, it alerts that possible access or exposure of the reclosable coating seal (117, 317) has occurred prior to purchase. If the peelable seal (118, 318) is ruptured, it alerts that the package contents may have been exposed prior to purchase. The resealable seal and food contents thus can be better preserved in as-packaged conditions until sold and used.
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