Patent Application
20110155761
NONE
Research and development of this invention and application have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under any Federal program.
NOT APPLICABLE
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to disposable pouches containing flowable candy or confectionery product contents, in general, and to such disposable pouches of enhanced appeal to a prospective purchaser and to a retail store seller, in particular.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disposable, flexible plastic pouches containing flowable candy or confectionery product contents are regularly sold in retail stores. Typically, the candy or confection is accessed by tearing off a top corner of the pouch, through which the product content is sipped or sucked out. Alternatively, a nozzle may be built into the top, which when uncapped allows the candy/confection, to flow into one's mouth. Usually constructed of square or rectangular shape, these disposable pouches are mostly found one atop the other on a retail store shelf in a tray, box or basket container. An arrangement providing a more attractive display to a prospective purchaser would be welcomed by the retail store seller, especially when arranged to increase the pouches' selection and sales possibility.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved disposable, flexible plastic pouch for use in the liquid and flowable candy industries where its product content can be sipped or sucked out with increased attractiveness to a prospective retail purchaser.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a disposable, flexible plastic pouch which can be more easily displayed on the retail store's shelf for enhanced advertising attractiveness.
The present invention, first, is of a twin-chambered sealed pouch with each chamber being provided with its own nozzle for dispensing the liquid or flowable candy. Second, the pouch is provided with its own hard bottom for displaying the pouch vertically, in allowing one such twin-chambered pouch to sit and be displayed on a shelf, one next to another. As will be described, each chamber is fabricated from two panels of flexible multi-layered film that are heat-sealed together. A twin nozzle or spout is inserted at the top, one nozzle being inserted into each chamber of the pouch, and is heat-sealed there. A hard, twin base is inserted at the bottom, one base also being inserted into each chamber, and is heat-sealed, as well. This allows the pouch to stand vertically.
As will also be described, the heat-sealed contact parts are made of the same material to allow them to seal to one another. Specifically, flexible front and back panels of each chamber are made of laminated layers of polyethylene/nylon or aluminum foil/polyethylene in that order, to be heat sealed together. In a preferred embodiment, an inner layer of each panel has the layer of polyethylene exposed in order to properly seal one chamber from the other.
In accordance with the invention, the two nozzles are spaced sufficiently close to one another to allow them to both, at the same time, fit within a user's mouth. In this manner, a user can sip or suck the product content of either chamber individually, or of both chambers simultaneously, whether the product content of the chambers be the same or different. A spacing of 1¼″ for the nozzles is preferable for this.
These and other features of the invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
a and 1b are exploded and assembled views respectively of the twin-chambered sealed pouch of the invention;
a, 2b and 2c are views helpful in an understanding of the bottom part; or twin base, of the twin-chambered pouch;
a, 3b, 3c and 3d are views helpful in an understanding of the twin nozzle, of the twin-chambered pouch;
a-4i are illustrations of a pair of tamper resistant caps for closing off the nozzles with breakaway rings and safety belts in securing the caps to the twin-chambered pouch
a-5f are views helpful in an understanding of plugs employed in the filling of the chambers with the product contents and with the final step of assembly of the pouch; and
a and 6b are views helpful in understanding the arrangement of the layered laminations in fabricating the pouch.
The component parts of the twin-chambered sealed pouch of the invention are shown in the exploded view of
a. Reference numeral 8 identifies the layered film chambers of the pouch 10 whose composition and makeup will be described below;
b. Reference numeral 12 represents the twin base of the pouch which is inserted into the chambers' bottom openings 14 where it is heat-sealed to insure a leak-proof seal between the twin base and the bottom of the chambers. The twin base 12 is made of the same plastic material as the inner layer of the chambers 8 in accomplishing this, preferably of polyethylene as also described below;
c. Reference numeral 16 identifies the twin nozzle of the pouch, also of the same plastic fabrication as the inner layer of the chambers where it is to seal—preferably again of polyethylene. The twin nozzle is inserted into the chambers' top openings 18, and heat-sealed to ensure a leak-proof seal between the twin nozzle and the top of the chambers. Each nozzle has a ring flange 20 to attach (by a force fit over) to a twin safety belt 22 as well as screw threads 24 to attach two tamper resistant caps 26;
d. The twin safety belt 22 employs a pair of front rings 28 which are force fit onto the nozzle's ring flange 20 located just beneath the screw threads 24. Its other rear two rings 30 are used and force fitted to the caps 26;
e. The caps have “break away” rings 32 built into them, with the caps 26 being screwed onto the threads 24 and force fit onto the same flanges 20 as shared by the safety belt 22. The “break away” rings 32 separate from the caps when the caps are removed for the very first time by the end user, and the seals are broken (leaving the ring 32 attached to the twin nozzle under the flange 20)—as more clearly shown and described with respect to the views of
f. Reference numeral 38 identifies a pair of flexible bottom plugs which are pushed to snap into openings 40 of the twin base 12 to seal off each chamber after it is filled with its particular product content. Such container and chamber will be seen to be filled through the openings 40, up and into the bottom of the chamber 8. The plugs 38 are constructed to comply with child safety regulations, and once pushed in, are unable to be opened or removed without the use of tool implementations.
As will be apparent from the assembled view of
The various views of
In like manner,
a, 4b and 4c are helpful in an understanding of the twin safety belt of the invention, while
d is a sectional view of the cap 26 showing its internal structure, its outer structure being shown by the perspective view of the cap in
In completing this description,
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the chambers of the pouch are filled with their respective “product contents” through their twin base openings 40. The final assembly step is then to snap the bottom plugs 38 into the openings 40. As will also be appreciated, such plugs are to be designed with child safety in mind. Thus,
A perspective view of the twin-chambered sealed pouch of the invention shown in
In essence, and more generally, the front panel 80 includes an outer layer, a center layer and an inner layer. The back panel 82 similarly is composed of outer, center and inner layers. Laminated together, the inner and outer layers of the front and back panels 80 and 82 are of the same material composition. The center layers of the panels can be of the same material composition as each other, or different in serving as a moisture barrier. With the center layer of nylon film, for example, a user will be able to see the product content inside the chamber either through the chamber's front side or through its back side. With the center layer of aluminum foil or paper, on the other hand, the moisture barrier protection and strength they each provide to the chamber carries the disadvantage of preventing the consumer from seeing exactly what product is inside the chamber. With a nylon center layer in the front panel, and with an aluminum center layer in the back panel, the center layers not only add strength to the chamber, provide it with moisture barrier protection, and extend its shelf life, but they better serve to reflect to a prospective purchaser the color of the product content of the chamber.
With the present invention, in its preferred embodiment of sealing each chamber and of separating one chamber from the other, both the inner layer of the front panel and the inner layer of the back panel are fabricated of polyethylene so that they are able to seal to one another. While the outer layer of the front panel and the outer layer of the back panel can be fabricated of different plastic compositions, in this preferred embodiment they are both composed of the same polyethylene composition. Between the front panel and the back panel, the product content of each chamber is added via the twin base 12 through its openings 40 to be then sealed.
In a manufacture of the twin-chambered sealed pouch, rolls of polyethylene, nylon film and aluminum foil, are set up on a laminating machine. For the front panel, the polyethylene, nylon film and polyethylene are laminated together—while for the back panel, the polyethylene, aluminum foil and polyethylene are laminated together. The resulting three layer panels are moved to a printing machine which prints the panels with whatever advertising and directions of use are set up. The outer layer of the front panel and the outer layer of the back panel are then placed under a heat sealing machine mold able to seal the pouch in a single step. Such sealing mold, in this embodiment, includes three vertical sealing lines (approximately 4 mm wide), which simultaneously seal the two outer edges and the center seal edge, thereby dividing the pouch into two chambers with top and bottom openings. The final step is to add the twin base bottom and the twin nozzle top, inserted in the top and bottom openings of the two chambers. There, they are each once again sealed in forming the top and bottom of the pouch. With the bottom plugs inserted, and the belt and cap assemblies added, the twin-chambered sealed pouch is then formed with its hard bottom and twin nozzle.
With the hard twin base bottom, the retail store seller can better display the pouches vertically on a shelf in catching a customer's eyes and improving its chances of purchase over and beyond any printed advertising that may be accompanying the product itself. With the ability to sip or suck either product content separately or together through the 1¼″ spaced twin nozzle, the pouch of the invention becomes more desirable to the consumer. This is even more so with the flexible plastic panels of the chambers, and with the chambers themselves according to the invention, becoming more and more collapsible upon continual squeezing by a user to dispense the product contents within.
Thus, and in these manners, the twin-chambered sealed pouch of the invention offers benefits both to the retail store seller and to the purchasing customer.
While there has been described what is considered to be a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. For at least such reason, therefore, resort should be had to the claims appended hereto for a true understanding of the scope of the invention.
