Claims
- 1. A self-closing liquid dispensing package comprising:
- a) a liquid container, said liquid container including a reservoir portion for containing liquid; and
- b) a self-closing flat channel valve in liquid communication with said liquid container via a connection portion, said flat channel valve including a first sheet member and a second sheet member, said first and second sheet members being indexed face-to-face and sealed together and having an original planar position, said first and second sheet members also being sufficiently flexible to arch away from each other to form a flow channel therebetween to permit flow of liquid from said liquid container in response to external pressure applied to said liquid container, wherein at least one of said first and second sheet members has sufficient resilience to return said first and second sheet members to said original planar position when said external pressure is released, and wherein said connection portion includes a stiffening crease in at least one of said first and second sheet members to increase said resilience of said at least one of said first and second sheet members.
- 2. The self-closing liquid dispensing package of claim 1 wherein said reservoir portion is made of a thermoformed thermoplastic material.
- 3. The self-closing liquid dispensing package of claim 1 wherein said stiffening crease has a radius of less than 1 mm and an orientation parallel to said original planar position of said flange, said stiffening crease also having an angle between said reservoir portion and said original planar position of said flange of at least 5 degrees.
- 4. A self-closing liquid dispensing package comprising:
- a) a liquid container, said liquid container including a reservoir portion for containing liquid, said reservoir portion being made of a thermoformed thermoplastic material; and
- b) a self-closing flat channel valve in liquid communication with said liquid container via a connection portion, said flat channel valve including a first sheet member and a second sheet member, said first sheet member being a cover portion for said reservoir portion and said second sheet member having said reservoir portion thermoformed therein, said first and second sheet members being sealed together along a perimeter of said reservoir portion to form a flange, said flange having an unsealed portion which has an original planar position, said flange also being sufficiently flexible to permit said first and second sheet members arching away from each other at said unsealed portion to form a flow channel therebetween to permit flow of liquid from said liquid container in response to external pressure applied to said liquid container, wherein said flange has sufficient resilience to return to said original planar position when said external pressure is released, thereby closing said flat channel valve, and wherein said connection portion includes a stiffening crease in said second sheet member to increase said resilience of said flange.
- 5. The self-closing liquid dispensing package of claim 4 wherein said stiffening crease has a radius of less than 1 mm and an orientation parallel to said original planar position of said flange, said stiffening crease also having an angle between said reservoir portion and said original planar position of said flange of at least 5 degrees.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a Divisional of my prior application, Ser. No. 08/250,737 entitled SELF-CLOSING LIQUID DISPENSING PACKAGE, filed on May 27, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,224, which is a Continuation-in-part of my original application, Ser. No. 08/146,676 entitled SELF-CLOSING LIQUID DISPENSING PACKAGE, filed on Nov. 1, 1993, which was expressly abandoned on Dec. 19, 1994.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
250737 |
May 1994 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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146676 |
Nov 1993 |
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