The present invention relates to reclosable packages and, in particular, to packages that have a formed tray with a flexible cover over the tray.
Plastic packages are popular for storing food products and other items. Reclosable packages that can be securely closed and reopened are particularly popular due to their ability to maintain freshness of the food stored in the package and to minimize leakage to and from the package. Thus, reclosable packages are very common, especially in the food industry.
Reclosable packages are typically made to be reclosable via the use of a reclosable feature, such as a resealable adhesive seal or a reclosable zipper. Reclosable zippers can be opened and closed either by finger pressure or by use of an auxiliary slider mechanism. Because of the mechanical sealing provided by a zipper, the zipper has become the preferred type of reclosable feature.
In one particular type of package, a formed tray is sealed by flexible cover that is positioned over the formed tray. These formed-tray packages are especially useful for packaging items such as meats and cheese. Because these types of contents are not all used at once, it is desirable to have these formed-tray packages include a tamper-evident feature and a reclosable zipper. Further, because the opening and closing of these zippers is more easily accomplished by use of a slider, consumers prefer a slider-actuated zipper.
The present invention relates to an improved formed-tray package having a tamper-evident feature and a zipper that is preferably actuated by a slider.
The present invention is a reclosable package having a tray, a top sheet, and a fastener. The tray has a well and a peripheral flange. The well receives contents and the peripheral flange surrounds the well. The top sheet is attached to the peripheral flange.
The fastener has first and second interlocking members. The first interlocking member is attached to the peripheral flange and the second interlocking member is attached to the top sheet. A tamper-evident feature is attached to the top sheet along a line of weakness and prevents access to the fastener. The tamper-evident feature is also removably attached to the peripheral flange, usually by a peel seal.
To gain initial access to the package, the tamper-evident feature is removed from the package to allow access to the fastener. After the tamper-evident feature is removed from the package by tearing it from the top sheet along the line of weakness, the peripheral flange of the tray remains entirely intact. As such, in this first embodiment, the removable tamper-evident feature is a part of only the top sheet.
In a variation of this first embodiment, the tamper-evident feature may be attached to the peripheral flange with a stronger seal. The top sheet, however, includes a second line of weakness near the stronger seal, allowing the tamper-evident feature to be torn from the package between the two lines of weakness. Thus, the tamper-evident feature is that portion of the top sheet defined between the two lines of weakness.
In a second embodiment, the top sheet is attached to the sides and the bottom of the peripheral flange with a generally continuous first seal. The top sheet is further attached to the top of the peripheral flange with a generally continuous second seal. The first seal is spaced away from the second seal. The fastener has a first interlocking member attached to the peripheral flange and a second interlocking member attached to the top sheet. The fastener provides a seal between the top sheet and the tray along a line that extends between the two sides of the peripheral flange.
In this second embodiment, a tamper-evident feature is attached to the top sheet along a first line of weakness and attached to the peripheral flange of the tray along a second line of weakness. The first and second lines of weakness are above the first seal. The tamper-evident feature is removable from the package along the lines of weakness to allow access to the fastener.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to represent each embodiment, or every aspect, of the present invention. This is the purpose of the Figures and the detailed description which follow.
The foregoing and other advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
To gain access to the contents located within the well 16, a fastener 20 is located along the top portion of the peripheral flange 18. As is known in the art, the fastener 20 includes first and second interlocking members that can be manipulated to open and close the package 10. The fastener 20 also includes fins extending downwardly from the interlocking members. In this package 10, one fin is attached to the top sheet 14 while the other fin is attached to the tray 12. Preferably, the fastener 20 includes a slider 22 that allows the user to more easily open and close the interlocking members of the fastener 20. The fastener 20 also includes a sealed notch region 24 located at the two terminal ends of the interlocking members. These sealed notches 24 are useful in the process used to manufacture and assemble the fastener 20 by itself before it is placed on the package 10. The fastener 20 and its notches 24 are disclosed in more detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/636,421, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The fastener 20 also includes end terminations 25 for limiting the movement of the slider 22. The end termination 25 can be made by over-molding material on the end termination or by ultrasonic crushing.
The tray 12 preferably includes a slider recess 26 in which the slider 22 resides so that the slider 22 does not hinder the sealing process that is used to attach the top sheet 14 to the peripheral flange 18. This slider recess 26 is preferably located at a region on the top portion of the peripheral flange 18 such that the slider 22 is parked in its closed position or adjacent to its closed position. The reason that it may be preferable to locate the slider recess 26 at a point where the slider 22 is not fully closed relates to the fact that it is often desirable to evacuate the package 10 during its assembly, and it is necessary to have an opening in the interlocking members of the fastener 20 through which air located within the fastener 20 between the interlocking members and a sealed portion of the fins below the interlocking members can vacate the fastener 20. This will be discussed below in more detail.
The top sheet 14 has a line of weakness 32 adjacent to the fastener 20 and preferably located between an uppermost portion of the slider 22 and the well 16. The line of weakness 32 may be in several forms, such as mechanical scores, laser scores, perforations, or thinned sections. The top sheet 14 also includes a graspable section 34 that includes a tear line 36. When the consumer initially desires to gain access to the contents of the package 10, the consumer grasps the graspable section 34 and begins tearing the top sheet 14 above the tear line 36. Thus, the top sheet 14 can be thought of as being attached to or including a removable section 40 as is shown in
To better preserve the contents in the package 10, the package 10 includes a hermetic seal 42 between the tray 12 and the top sheet 14 along the left side, right side, and bottom of the flange 18. Further, the fastener 20 includes a hermetic seal 44, usually brought about through the attachment of fins extending downwardly from the interlocking members. This seal 44 on the fastener 20 is preferably a tamper-evident, barrier seal, such as the one described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/468,165, which is owned by the assignee of the present application and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Because the interlocking members of the fastener 20 are located outside the hermetic seal 44 provided by the fin structure of the fastener 20, there is less chance for the interlocking members to cause side seal leaks as they are outside the region that must be flattened to develop the hermetic seals 42. A top seal 46, usually a peelable seal, between the flange 18 and the top sheet 14 partially surrounds the fastener 20.
The hermetic seal 42 on the left side, right side, and bottom of the flange 18 is strong and is brought about through films placed on the tray 12 and the top sheet 14 that are in contact. For example, the tray 12 is made of formable material, such as a multi-layer polymeric lamination, and is usually about 5 mils in thickness to provide some rigidity, allowing the tray 12 to remain in the formed configuration shown in
Alternatively, the hermetic seal 42 on the three sides of the flange 18 is made of a stronger seal (e.g., about 5-6 lbs. of opening force required) and the top seal 46 is a weaker seal so that the removable section 40 can be readily peeled from the package 10.
To seal the contents of the package 110, the top sheet 114 and the tray 112 are sealed with a relatively strong seal 142 along the peripheral flange 118. Additionally, this process 200 involves sealing the top sheet 114 to the flange 118 along a top seal 142a above the fastener 120. The fastener 120 has a hermetic seal 144, which is brought about by the attachment of a fin structure located below the interlocking members, as described with respect to
To initially gain access to the package 110, the consumer grasps a graspable section 134, which is located between a first line of weakness 132 and a second line of weakness 133. When doing so, a removable section 140 (
It should be noted that in the embodiment of
In the second step, generally denoted as step 216, the contents for the packages are placed into the wells 212. Additionally, vacuum holes 218 are placed in the formable material adjacent to the wells 212 of the packages. Also, these vacuum holes 218 can be placed in the formable material in a step prior to placement of the contents of the packages into the wells 212.
In the third step 220, a continuous length of fastener 204 is partially attached to the formable material 202. In doing so, a slider located on the fastener 204 is registered such that it falls within the slider recesses 214 located in the formable material 202. The attachment of the continuous length of fastener 204 to the formable material 202 can be accomplished through tacking via adhesive, or by a permanent bond between a fin structure located on the fastener 204 and the formable material 202. The continuous length of fastener 204 can be supplied (and attached to the formable material 202) in the manner that is generally disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/636,421, which is owned by the assignee of the present application and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Such a length of fastener 204 has a slider pre-applied, end stops pre-applied, and sealed sections adjacent the end stops at the point where the fastener 204 is attached to the two sides of the peripheral flange.
In the fourth step, generally denoted as step 222, the roll of material 206 is unwound and placed over the formable material 202 to create a cover sheet 223. The roll of material 206 has the structures (e.g., perforations) which result in the line of weakness 32 (
In the fifth step, generally denoted as step 224, the cover sheet 223 is sealed along that portion of the formable material 200 that is adjacent to each of the wells 212. This seal, as described above, is a strong seal which is capable of withstanding the forces of carrying the contents in each individual package. Usually, at this step, the fastener 204 is permanently sealed to both the top cover 223 and the formable material 202. Also during this step, the air located in the region defined by the cover sheet 223, the formable material 202, and the contents within the wells 212 is evacuated through the vacuum holes 218. As mentioned previously with respect to
Finally, in the sixth step, generally denoted as step 226, each of the packages is cut from the formable material 202. These individual packages, which are the packages 10, 110 discussed in
The top sheet 314 and the peripheral flange 318 of the tray 312 include, respectively, a first line of weakness 333a and a second line of weakness 333b. The lines of weakness 333 are at substantially the same height on the package 310 such that they are adjacent to each other. While the lines of weakness 333 are shown as being above the fastener 320 and the slider 322, they could also be below the slider 322, or even below the interlocking members of the fastener 320. The top sheet 314 and the peripheral flange 318 have unattached regions 335a and 335b below the lines of weakness 333. As in the previous embodiments, the top sheet 314 is attached to the peripheral flange 318 on the bottom and two sides of the peripheral flange by a hermetic seal 342. Additionally, the top sheet 314 is attached to the top portion of the flange 318 with a second seal 342a. Accordingly, the first hermetic seal 342 is spaced away from the second seal 342a by the dimension of the unattached regions 335. The fastener 320 also includes a hermetic seal 344 that extends between the two sides of the peripheral flange 318 to maintain the integrity of the contents located within the tray 312. This hermetic seal 344 is breakable by the consumer when the consumer accesses the contents the first time.
As shown in
The package 310 can be made in generally the same manner described with respect to
While the present invention has been described with reference to one or more particular embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that many changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Each of these embodiments and obvious variations thereof is contemplated as falling within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
This application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/013,886 filed on Jan. 14, 2008 now abandoned, which is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/215,052 filed on Aug. 8, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,341,160 issued on Mar. 11, 2008, the contents of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
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Entry |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20110079536 A1 | Apr 2011 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12013886 | Jan 2008 | US |
Child | 12966547 | US | |
Parent | 10215052 | Aug 2002 | US |
Child | 12013886 | US |