The present invention relates to disposable containers with lids for packaging fresh foods for distribution. Particularly preferred embodiments inclusive of 2, 4 and 6 ounce containers for sauces and condiments are thermoformed on complimentary sheets which may be joined in sealing engagement to each other and thereafter separated to supply individual portions.
Plastic containers with lids such as disposable plastic containers are well known. There is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,017 to Gonclaves a combination of a row of containers and a strip of caps, each of the containers and caps being respectively joined by breakable links allowing the joined strip of caps to be placed on necks of the joined row of containers by a translational movement parallel to the axes of the containers. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,349 to Wojcik et al.; French patents 2 763 314 of APRI and 1 278 149 of GOIFFON.
Disposable articles are used as food containers as is seen, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,971 to Cozzi et al. In the '971 patent there is disclosed a compartmented container of the “clam shell” class suitable for containing food. The container or package in one embodiment includes a first or bottom compartment and a second or top compartment that is hinged to the first compartment. There is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,133 to Johnson a package and container for eggs. The container defines a plurality of compartments each of a configuration to hold an egg captive, each portion of the container defining a respective single compartment being connected with the remainder along lines of weakening, perforation or the like.
Containers arranged in arrays with breakable or tearable portions between them are seen in a number of references. In this respect, German Patent DE 100 12 364 of von der Worth discloses separable egg cartons arranged in a planar array. See also DE 100 12 364; FR 2 763 314; and FR 1 278 149.
There is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,535 to Berk et al. disposable mixing wells. Wells are formed as a unitary sheet of individual mixing wells arranged in rows and columns. The boundary between each mixing well is scored, perforated or otherwise made to allow individual pieces to be removed from the sheet. Preferably, the mixing wells may be pressure formed rather than being vacuum formed.
There is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,263 to St. Pierre et al. a multi-container package with individually removable containers. The package includes several individually sealed containers which are easily separable from one another by weakened zones between adjacent containers. Each container includes a tab portion over which the peel tab of the lid extends. Dimples in either the peel tab or tab portion facilitate their separation. Several multi-container packages are manufactured as a unit using a die and conventional heat sealing process and then are separated from one another by transverse cuts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,127 to Stratford et al. is directed to a multi-pack container assembly. The multi-pack assembly includes a plurality of containers and webs joining the containers, each web configured to include an area of reduced structural integrity for tearing a plurality of frangible ribs interconnecting adjacent containers and traversing the tearing area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,620 to Lane, Sr. discloses a fluted product cup. The cup, suitable for food packaging is formed from a resilient material and has an integral body having a product reservoir and a lip. The product reservoir includes a flat bottom wall and a continuous sidewall integrally joined together about a smooth curve. The sidewall extends upwardly from the bottom wall to join the lip. The joint between the lip and the sidewall continuously surrounds and defines an opening through the lip to the interior of the reservoir. The lip extends in a plane outwardly from this opening completely around the periphery of this opening. The bottom wall is essentially circular in shape and the opening is essentially a square shape. First, second, third and fourth fluted areas are located in the sidewall at the corners of the squarish shaped opening at the top of the containers. Each of the fluted areas are shaped essentially as a conical surface generated from a cone which is truncated by a plane about a parabolic intersection of the plane with the cone. These containers may be formed in an array as can be seen in the patent.
With respect to containers which may be separated, the following references are also of interest. French Patent No. 1,392,947 to Skandinavisk; German Patent No. DE 26 53 906 to Gizeh-Werk and British Provisional Specification No. 649,541 to Stephenson.
It is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,553 to Hovatter an integral assembly of microcentrifuge strip tubes having independently tethered caps and angularly related seal caps.
Food containers having sealing features are likewise well known. In this respect, ridges and cooperating grooves are used in many such containers. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,860 to Littlejohn et al.
While the container art is plentiful, there remain largely unresolved issues with respect to lidded containers of low cost that can exhibit superior sealing characteristics, even at low product weight. This is especially so with respect to containers having straight brim segments. Simply making a “tighter” fit between the lid and its associated container or receptacle is ineffective since the increase in the required capping force will crush the container, leading to product failure in too many instances as well as associated spillage.
Likewise, existing containers, especially relatively small containers, are difficult to individually fill and seal, making the process prohibitively time consuming or requiring equipment and skills not generally available at homes, catering establishments and restaurants.
The present invention provides food containers which are easily filled and sealed while the containers are connected to one another and then separated into individual containers containing a serving. Preferably the lids and cups form substantially continuous seals between them so that the containers are substantially liquid proof; it being understood that the seal, while highly effective, especially when viewed in light of the low cost nature of the articles, is of course less than perfect where the seal formed might allow a few drops of moisture to penetrate when a sealed container is partially filled with water and shaken; but compression, effort and/or agitation is required to remove more than a few drops of liquid. The containers are thus especially suitable for liquid or semi-liquid sauces, condiments, dressings, side dishes and so forth that are prepared and fresh-packaged shortly before consumption.
There is provided in one aspect of the invention a container ensemble for food packaging comprising: a substantially planar lid array member formed of a polymeric material defining a plurality of substantially planar lids which are integrally formed and separably joined to each other, each of the lids including a sealing channel around its perimeter and a skirt extending outwardly therefrom provided with tearable portions to facilitate separation; a cup member formed of a polymeric material defining a plurality of cups which are likewise integrally formed and separably joined to each other, the cups including a bottom, a sidewall, and a brim about an upper opening of each cup. Each cup further includes a skirt extending outwardly from its brim provided with tearable portions to facilitate separation. The sealing channels of the lids of the lid member are adapted to mate with the brims of the cups to provide a plurality of separably joined sealed containers when the lid member and cup member are joined in sealing engagement. The ensemble is accordingly adapted for sequentially: (i) receiving serving portions of food in a plurality of cups; (ii) lidding the cups to provide sealed containers containing individual portions; (iii) separating the sealed containers; and (iv) distributing the portions. The container ensemble is preferably thermoformed from thermoplastic sheet.
The ensemble may be formed from a single sheet of thermoplastic resin so that the lid member is integrally fabricated with the cup member and is optionally hinged thereto. The tearable portions are scored and/or perforated. The container ensemble is advantageously fabricated from different sheets, optionally sheets of different color, that is, the lid member and said cup member are fabricated as separate components wherein the cups and lids have different color or are made from different caliper material or from different polymeric materials. The container ensemble is typically configured such that the plurality of separably joined cups arc arranged in an N×M array, N and M being independently selected integers from 1 to 6. Likewise, the lids are arranged in an N×M array, N and M being perhaps most preferably 2 and 3, but either integer may be 1 in some cases.
An especially preferred embodiment is where the brims of the cups are further provided: a plurality of rounded corner brim portions, and a plurality of lateral brim walls extending between the rounded brim corner portions, the walls being configured such that the surfaces are substantially linear along a direction between adjacent brim corners interconnected thereby; and the lids are suitably provided with: a plurality of lid rounded corner portions; and a plurality of lateral lid walls extending between the rounded corner portions wherein the lid rounded corner portions and the lid lateral walls are configured to engage corresponding brim corner portions and the lateral brim walls thereof, the lateral lid walls being configured such that their surfaces are substantially linear between adjacent lid corner portions interconnected thereby; and a plurality of medial sealing beads disposed on lateral walls selected from lateral brim walls and lateral lid walls, the sealing beads being characterized in that: the medial sealing beads project away from their respective lateral walls a maximum distance at a central portion thereof between and distal to adjacent corners with lesser projections away from their lateral walls at their end portions proximate adjacent corners; and the medial sealing beads extend over the major portion of the length of the lateral wall between adjacent corners upon which they are disposed. Preferably, the plurality of medial sealing beads extends over substantially the entire distance between rounded corners; and preferably the plurality of medial sealing beads defines an arched line between adjacent rounded corners such that the medial sealing beads blend with the rounded corners at their ends. Most preferably, the medial sealing beads are flush with rounded corners at their end portions and have an arched profile away from the lateral walls upon which they are disposed. In a typical embodiment, the lateral walls upon which the sealing beads are disposed have an upper portion and lower portion and the medial sealing beads are located proximate to the upper portions of the lateral walls upon which they are disposed, for example, the lateral walls upon which the medial sealing beads are disposed have a top and bottom defining a height and the medial sealing beads are disposed at the upper portion of its lateral wall at substantially two-thirds the height of the lateral wall.
In an especially preferred embodiment, the medial sealing beads have a maximum projection away from the lateral wall at substantially the center line of the lateral wall.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of distributing individual serving portions of a food item selected from condiments, dressings and side dishes comprising the sequential steps of: (1) disposing the serving portions of the food item in a plurality of cups provided in a cup array member formed of a polymeric material defining a plurality of cups which are integrally formed and separably joined to each other, the cups including a bottom, a sidewall, and a brim about an upper opening of each cup, each cup further including a skirt extending outwardly from its brim, the skirts of each cup including tearable portions to facilitate separation; (2) joining a lid array member to the cup member, the lid array member being substantially planar and formed of a polymeric material including a plurality of substantially planar lids which are integrally formed and separably joined to each other, each of the lids including a sealing channel around its perimeter and a skirt extending outwardly therefrom provided with tearable portions to facilitate separation; (3) whereupon joining the lid member and the cup member the sealing channels of the lids of the lid member mate with the brims of the cups to provide a plurality of separably joined sealed containers; (4) separating the sealed containers; and (5) distributing the individual portions. The serving portions of food items may be selected from ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, relish, tartar sauce and salad dressing and the like.
A still further aspect of the invention is a packaging system including: (a) a nested stack of substantially planar lid array members formed of a polymeric material each defining a plurality of substantially planar lids which are integrally formed and separably joined to each other, each of the lids including a sealing channel around its perimeter and a skirt extending outwardly therefrom provided with tearable portions to facilitate separation, wherein the sealing channel defines a top recess on each lid; (b) a nested stack of cup members formed of a polymeric material defining a plurality of cups which are integrally formed and separably joined to each other, the cups including a bottom, a sidewall, and a brim about an upper opening of each cup, each cup further including a skirt extending outwardly from its brim, the skirts of each cup including tearable portions to facilitate separation, wherein further the bottom of each cup is configured to fit with the top recess of a lid such that an assembled lid/cup ensemble of sealed containers is securely stackable; (c) the sealing channels of each lid of the lid members being adapted to mate with the brims of the cups of a cup member to provide a plurality of separably joined sealed containers when the lid member and cup member are joined in sealing engagement; an assembled lid/cup ensemble of sealed containers being thereby adapted for sequentially: (i) receiving serving portions of food in a plurality of cups, (ii) lidding the cups to provide sealed containers containing individual portions; (iii) separating the sealed containers; and (iv) distributing the portions.
There is provided in a preferred embodiment the addition of a male bead along the straight side of a square (with round corners) soufflé container (hereinafter referred to as the cup) brim. This product may be produced in a six-pack design as is shown herein to be separated by the end user. A six-pack design is especially suitable for 2-ounce containers, while the inventive product may likewise be produced in a four-pack design which is especially suitable for 4 and 6 ounce containers. In still other cases, 1 or 1.5 ounce containers are preferred. The lid bead seal improvement achieved by way of the medial sealing bead is not limited to these configurations. The lid bead seal can be employed in connection with a wide variety of containers as described and claimed herein. The invention is perhaps most preferably incorporated into a bead of arcuate cross section or profile as is shown in
Most preferably, the lidded container according to the present invention is thermoformed from a plastic material. Such materials may include polystyrene polymer compositions, such as high impact polystyrenes or rubberized polystyrene. Further polystyrenes contemplated for use in connection with the present invention include oriented polystyrene. Alternatively, the inventive containers may be made from a thermoplastic composition including a polyolefin polymer such as polypropylene or polyethylene. Still further suitable materials include polyester materials such as a thermoplastic composition including polyethylene terephthalate.
Instead of being made by way of thermoforming, the inventive containers may be made by injection molding if so desired. For ease of illustration, the beads are shown as being made by injection molding. Typically, each container has a fill volume of from about 1 to about 8 fluid ounces, such as from about 1 to about 4 or 6 fluid ounces, 6-ounce and 4-ounce containers sometimes being preferred. In the embodiments specifically illustrated hereinafter, the containers have a fill volume of about 2 fluid ounces and are particularly useful for condiments.
The invention is described in detail below with reference to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts and wherein.
The invention is described in detail below with reference to several embodiments. Modifications of those embodiments within the spirit and scope of the present invention, set forth in the appended claims, will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art.
Referring to
Each lid has a sealing channel such as channel 36 which is configured to cooperate with the corresponding brim cup to form a seal; that is channel 36 is configured to cooperate with brim 48 to form a sealed container which may be separated from the others after sealing. The lids are separably joined to each other by a skirt such as skirt 40 which has a scored or perforate tearable portion 42 so that the lids can be separated from one another.
Each cup of cup member 24 includes a bottom 44, a sidewall 46 and a brim 48 extending around an opening 50 of each cup. There is additionally provided a skirt 52 around each cup extending outward from its brim. The skirts include scored or perforate portions such as portions 54, 56 so that the cups can be separated from each other.
The profiles of lid 22 and brim 48 of cup 26 are likewise seen in
As will be appreciated from
Each of the cups and lids has all of the features of cup 26 and lid 22, discussed in more detail below. For example, the lid channels and brims have the shape shown schematically in
There are shown schematically in
The length of the maximum projection, P, away from the sidewall of the brim upon which the medial sealing bead is disposed has an impact on the seal improvement for the container. It is found in accordance with the present invention, that a seal with a maximum projection of 8 mils performed substantially better than a seal having a maximum projection of 0.005 inches or 5 mils. It is seen in the vinegar/oil leak test the percent pass for the 8 mil bead was 96 percent while only 46 percent of the 5 mil bead containers passed, suggesting that the projection distance impacts performance. Thus, if one looks at
The integrally formed, container/lid arrays of the present invention may be conveniently formed by way of any conventional molding technique from a plastic material such as by a thermoforming process from a suitable thermoplastic sheet. “Thermoforming”, “thermoformed” and like terminology is given its ordinary meaning. In the simplest form, thermoforming is the draping of a softened sheet over a shaped mold. In the more advanced form, thermoforming is the automatic high speed positioning of a sheet having an accurately controlled temperature into a pneumatically actuated forming station whereby the article's shape is defined by the mold, followed by trimming and regrind collection as is well known in the art. Still other alternative arrangements include the use of drape, vacuum, pressure, free blowing, matched die, billow drape, vacuum snap-back, billow vacuum, plug assist vacuum, reverse draw with plug assist, pressure bubble immersion, trapped sheet, slip, diaphragm, twin-sheet cut sheet, twin-sheet roll-fed forming or any suitable combinations of the above. Details are provided in J. L. Throne's book, Thermoforming, published in 1987 by Coulthard. Pages 21 through 29 of that book are incorporated herein by reference. Suitable alternate arrangements also include a pillow forming technique which creates a positive air pressure between two heat softened sheets to inflate them against a clamped male/female mold system to produce a hollow product. Metal molds are etched with patterns ranging from fine to coarse in order to simulate a natural or grain like texturized look. Suitable formed articles are trimmed in line with a cutting die and regrind is optionally reused since the material is thermoplastic in nature. Other arrangements for productivity enhancements include the simultaneous forming of multiple articles with multiple dies in order to maximize throughput and minimize scrap. In some preferred embodiments, the melt-compounded composition from which the articles are made may include polypropylene and optionally further includes a polyethylene component and titanium dioxide. Suitable materials and techniques for fabricating the disposable containers of the present invention from thermoplastic materials appear in U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,501 to McCarthy et al. as well as U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,500 to Cochran II et al. the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. When thermoformed, the containers are made from sheet having a caliper of from about 5 to 30 mils; typically from about 10 to 20 mils.
Alternatively, the lid/container ensemble may be injection molded however, thermoforming is generally preferred.
The present invention provides a unique combination of leak resistance and ease of capping. This latter feature is very important especially for thermoformed articles which tend to crash if the capping force required is too high. This will be appreciated from the discussion which follows.
Product Testing
Products were tested for water or vinegar/oil leakage as follows: (a) with the containers still inter-connected and with their lids still inter-connected, they were filled with water or a 50/50 mixture of vinegar and vegetable oil; (b) the containers were then closed; (c) the containers were then separated from one another and placed on blotter paper; (d) each container was then placed on a side thereof, the side selected not having a hinge or tab; (e) the container was allowed to remain on its side for up to ten minutes; (f) if the container did not leak in 10 minutes, it was recorded as a pass; all others were recorded as failures; and (g) the test was repeated for another container ensemble, but the containers were placed on their sides opposite to those of the first trial.
The capping force test was conducted as follows: (a) with the containers uncapped, individual containers were separated from six-pack units, care being taken not to tear or damage the brim of the cup; (b) the test specimen, including cup and cap, was placed in an automated capping tester with a preset gauge height sufficient to receive the container without interference; (c) if the cup and lid were connected the lid was folded into a capping position, containers with separate cups and lids were prepared by placing the lid loosely in position on the cup brim; and a force gauge was zeroed and the speed set to 2½″/minute; (d) the tester drive was activated and the cross arm advanced until the cap was fully seated on the cup; (e) the container was inspected for damage; and (f) the capping force was recorded.
Initially the containers were made without medial sealing beads and did not perform well in the leak test. Initial trials involved making the lids tighter; however more than half of these containers were crushed during capping. It was found however, that with a required capping force of four (4) pounds or so, no containers were crushed. The inventive design was conceived and tested after these initial failures. Composite results are shown in Table 1. Table 1 reflects the early approach toward improving leak testing by making a tighter cap, but as can be seen from Table 1 this resulted in an unacceptably high rate of crushing of the container during capping, More importantly, it is seen from the data that with the present invention the containers are remarkably more leak resistant.
In Table 1 there is seen a dramatic increase in leak resistance with the invention design, without the need for increased capping force and associated crushing of the containers.
Referring to
Referring to
While the invention has been described in connection with specific examples, modifications to those examples within the spirit and scope of the invention will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art. In view of the foregoing discussion, relevant knowledge in the art and references discussed above in connection with the Background and Detailed Description, the disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference, further description is deemed unnecessary.
This non-provisional application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/911,044, entitled “Sealable Portion Cups and Lids Therefor,” filed Aug. 4, 2004, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/751,786, entitled “Lidded Container with Linear Brim Segments and Medial Sealing Beads,” filed Jan. 5, 2004, which is continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/456,207, entitled “Separable Containers Arranged in Arrays With Integrally Formed Lids,” filed Jun. 6, 2003, which claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/389,533, filed Jun. 18, 2002. The priorities of the foregoing applications are hereby claimed.
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