The disclosures of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/648,633, filed Mar. 27, 2018, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/373,900, filed Dec. 9, 2016, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/266,084, filed Dec. 11, 2015, are hereby incorporated by reference as if presented herein in their entirety and are incorporated by reference for all purposes.
The present disclosure relates to packaging material for blanks, containers, trays, cartons, and other suitable constructs. More specifically, the disclosure is generally directed to a packaging material having features on a surface for allowing moisture to reach an absorbent internal layer.
In general, one aspect of the disclosure is generally directed to a packaging material for forming a construct for holding a food product. The packaging material can comprise at least a base layer and a coating on a face of the base layer. Absorption features can extend in at least one of the coating and the base layer for allowing fluids to pass to an interior of the base layer.
In another aspect, the disclosure is generally directed to a method of forming a packaging material for forming a construct for holding a food product. The method can comprise obtaining a material comprising at least a base layer and a coating on a face of the base layer and forming absorption features in at least one of the coating and the base layer for allowing to fluids pass to an interior of the base layer.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate the above stated advantages and other advantages and benefits of various additional embodiments reading the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the below-listed drawing figures.
According to common practice, the various features of the drawings discussed below are not necessarily drawn to scale. Dimensions of various features and elements in the drawings may be expanded or reduced to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the disclosure.
Corresponding parts are designated by corresponding reference numbers throughout the drawings.
The present disclosure relates generally to various aspects of a packaging material for containers, constructs, trays, materials, packages, elements, and articles, and methods of making such packaging material, containers, constructs, trays, materials, packages, elements, and articles. Although several different aspects, implementations, and embodiments are disclosed, numerous interrelationships between, combinations thereof, and modifications of the various aspects, implementations, and embodiments are contemplated hereby. In one illustrated embodiment, the present disclosure relates to a packaging material for forming a container or tray for holding food items or various other articles. However, in other embodiments, the container or tray can be used to hold other non-food containing articles or may be used for heating or cooking and/or the packaging material could be used to form other suitable constructs.
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In the illustrated embodiment, the partial cuts 35, 35′ can provide passageways from the surface 7 and/or the surface 88 to the paperboard layer 76 for the transmission of moisture and/or moisture vapor to the paperboard layer. The partial cuts 35, 35′ can be formed by conventional cutting tools, and/or the perforations could be formed by applying the coating 80 as a patterned layer during a coating process (not shown). The patterned layer could include selective areas that are free from the coating 80 to allow moisture to be absorbed by the paperboard layer 76. The partial cuts 35, 35′ could be otherwise shaped, arranged, configured, and/or positioned without departing from the disclosure. For example, perforations of the absorption features 10 could be alternatively shaped (e.g., curved cuts, circular or polygonal apertures or punctures, and/or other suitable shapes) or could be otherwise positioned without departing from the disclosure.
In one embodiment, the absorption features 10, 110 can allow the paperboard of the base layer 76 to absorb moisture in order to keep the food or other items held in a container formed from the packaging materials 8, 8′, 8″, 8′″, 108 fresh and crunchy versus soft and mushy, which can be caused by moisture collecting on a surface of the packaging material and engaging the food product (e.g., being absorbed by the food product) if the absorption features are omitted. The disclosure also includes a method of altering one or more surfaces of a packaging material (e.g., to form perforations) in order to allow moisture vapor to reach the interior of the paperboard (e.g., the fibers of the paperboard). Accordingly, by strategically utilizing cuts, partial cuts, pin points, and/or other features, one can control the amount of linear inches of the paperboard exposed, which would allow moisture vapors to enter and be absorbed by the fibers of the paperboard. In one exemplary embodiment, the configuration of the absorption features 10 in
Any of the features of the various embodiments of the disclosure can be combined with, replaced by, or otherwise configured with other features of other embodiments of the disclosure without departing from the scope of this disclosure.
Optionally, one or more portions of the blank or other constructs described herein or contemplated hereby may be coated with varnish, clay, or other materials, either alone or in combination. The coating may then be printed over with product advertising or other information or images. The blanks or other constructs also may be selectively coated and/or printed so that less than the entire surface area of the blank or substantially the entire surface area of the blank may be coated and/or printed.
All dimensional information presented herein is intended to be illustrative of certain aspects, features, etc., of various embodiments of the disclosure, and is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. The dimensions of the blanks, containers, forming tools, features, or any other dimension, can be more or less than what is shown and described in this disclosure without departing from the scope of this disclosure and can be within the listed ranges of dimensions for each feature or outside the listed ranges of dimensions for each feature without departing from the scope of this disclosure.
In accordance with the exemplary embodiments, the blanks may be constructed of paperboard of a caliper such that it is heavier and more rigid than ordinary paper. The blanks can also be constructed of other materials, such as cardboard, hard paper, or any other material having properties suitable for enabling the carton package to function at least generally as described above.
The foregoing description illustrates and describes various embodiments of the present disclosure. As various changes could be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the disclosure, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Furthermore, the scope of the present disclosure covers various modifications, combinations, and alterations, etc., of the above-described embodiments. Additionally, the disclosure shows and describes only selected embodiments, but various other combinations, modifications, and environments are contemplated and are within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed herein, commensurate with the above teachings, and/or within the skill or knowledge of the relevant art. Furthermore, certain features and characteristics of each embodiment may be selectively interchanged and applied to other illustrated and non-illustrated embodiments without departing from the scope of the disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/648,633, filed on Mar. 27, 2018.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62648633 | Mar 2018 | US |