AU4866200A - Containers - Google Patents

Description

JUL 17 '00 JUL 1 '0005: 12PM FISHER ADAMS KELLY 61 7 32210597P./0 P. 2140 P/00/01i1 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 19-90 9* 0 *0 0 0*0* *0*0

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT invention Title: "CONTAINERS" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: JUL 17 '00 05:12PM FISHER ADAMS KELLY 61 7 32210597 P.3/40 2

"CONTAINERS"

THIS INVENTION relates to containers or packaging for foodstuffs and the like, and, in particular, to a tamper evident adaptation or system by which to disconnectably or removably locate or engage a closure to the container or a package.

It is known to supply products such as foodstuffs in containers such as are blown or moulded from typically plastic materials. These containers may be tub-like structures, typically oi round or rectangular in plan view, with the top of the container 10 closed by an interconnected complementary lid or closure. The usual closure is applied to its container with a press on or snap fit, their interworking surfaces effective to lock the components together, as by interaction of locking ridges on the respective mating surfaces, the closure and container preferably working together to effect a seal 15 there between to hold and maintain the contents of the packaging in a closed environment. Such containers are usually opened by forcefully lifting and/or levering the lid to over come the locking means employed to hold the parts together.

It is possible for the above style of container to be tampered with, the seal broken, and for the contents to be exposed to pathogens prior to acquisition or delivery to an end user, the integrity of the container being breached by mishandling or deliberately by persons opening the container after initial sealing, JUL 17 '00 05:12PM FISHER ADRMS KELLY 61 7 32210597 P.4/40 3 during distribution or retail processes, to compromise the quality of the product. The tub to the container is a means by which to hold it.

Normally the lid has an externally accessible lower edge which is exposed and readily engaged at any time to enable the lid to be forced away from the held tub to open the container.

There is a need for containers or packaging of the above general kind to be adapted, formed, or configured with appropriate means or in such manner as to make evident the fact that the lid or closure to the container or packaging has been lifted or otherwise 10 breached or tampered with.

AU-A-23721/92 shows one form of tamper evident packaging. In this arrangement a flange overlaps the lower edge of the lid which is the usual point at which leverage is effected to enable removal of the lid. The flange is adapted for removal. This is not a 1is useful approach to the problem. Someone who is not familiar with the product may be unaware of the initial state of the packaging and not know that something is missing.

AU 28340/97 is a variation of the above theme wherein there is provided a tamper evident and/or temper resistant container having a tub which has an upper edge portion or rim which has a peripheral groove having an inner wall and an outer wall. There was also provided a closure or lid having a downwardly extending flange which extended into the peripheral groove. The flange was also JUL 17 '00 05:13PM FISHER ARDMS KELLY 61 7 32210597 P.5/40 4 provided with an inwardly directed rib or bead which bears against a mating shoulder or recess in the inner wall of the peripheral groove when the closure or lid was fitted to the container.

There was also provided a section of outer wall which formed a tab which could be removed from the container when required. To this end the section of outer wall had a pair of end notches which formed part of a continuous groove which extended from a bottom end of each notch and into the inner wall of the i peripheral groove. The continuous groove was completed by a horizontal line of weakness which was located between a side wall of the container and the inner wall of the peripheral wall.

Thus in order to completely tear the tab away from the container, it was necessary to form a continuous tear in each end notch, part of the continuous groove extending between each of the end notches and the horizontal line of weakness.

It therefore will be appreciated that the container of AU 38240/97 was not only relatively complicated in structure but also required complete removal of the tab to completely expose the closure lid before removal of the closure lid could be facilitated.

It is therefore an object of the invention to' provide a container which may alleviate the aforementioned problems of the prior art.

JUL 17 '00 05:13PM FISHER FlDMS KELLY 61 7 32210597 P. 6/40 The container of the invention has a peripheral upper edge portion which surrounds an open top. There was provided an outwardly extending flange of the edge portion which included a tab which was attached to the outwardly extending flange by weakening means. The tab was also attached to the edge portion by a pivot strip whereby, in use, upon breaking of the weakening means, the tab may be pivoted downwardly about the pivot strip to expose an edge portion of a closure or lid for facilitating removal of the closure or lid from the container.

Preferably, the edge portion of the container has an inner channel having an open bottom and an outer channel having an open top. An outer wall of the outer channel may comprise the outwardly extending flange.

It will be appreciated that the shape of the container may 15 be square, rectangular or polygonal but is more preferably circular.

When the closure is fitted to the container there is provided an effective seal between the container and closure and the provision of such a seal may be facilitated by the outer channel being provided on an outer surface of an inner wall thereof with a bead which may engage with a corresponding protrusion of a closure as hereinafter illustrated.

The weakening means of the tab may be comprised by end notches which may extend to the inner channel as hereinafter JUL 17 '00 05:13PM FISHER RDRMS KELLY 61 7 32210597 P.7/40 6 illustrated.

The tab may be substantially L shaped having a finger grip or pad and a vertical web interconnecting the finger pad and on an outer wall of the inner channel. The pivot strip may be located intermediate the vertical web and the outer wall of the inner channel.

The tab after having been broken along each end notch and pivoted downwardly about the pivot strip may provide a flag or indicator that the tamper evident portion of the container has been actioned, away from the closure to expose its edge portion thereof to enable leverage of the closure or lid off the container or tub. The container might be additionally sealed by means of a tearable cover sheet being sealed over its top, beneath the closure or lid, to be e. exposed for removal on lifting the closure or lid.

The invention will now be described with reference to a 15 preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a container assembly of the invention; FIG. 2 is a plan view of the container assembly of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a detailed sectional view of an upper edge portion of the container; FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the closure separated from the container; JUL 17 '00 05:14PM FISHER RDRMS KELLY 61 7 32210597 P.8/40 7 FIG. 5 is a similar view to FIG. 4 showing the fitting of the closure to the container; and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the container of the invention with the tab broken away to expose an edge portion of the closure.

In FIG. 1 is seen in a side elevation, two stacked, generally circularly symmetric containers or tubs 10, with symmetry about a generally vertical axis, wherein the inner tub 15 ideally has an upwardly and outwardly sloped side wall 11, to create a taper by :0 io which to enable nesting of the tubs. The wall 11 is adapted by or fitted with an upper edge which is configured in a manner which is shaped, in this embodiment, to receive a closure or lid (not shown), and to realise the invention's tamper evident effect with edge portion or rim 16 about an upper opening 12 of the tub. A closure or lid 15 (which may be formed in the manner generally known to those skilled in the art) may be fitted, in use over the opening 12 as shown in FIG. 5. The floor or base 13 of the tub may be indented at 13A in such manner as is known to those skilled in the art. The tubs 10 and may have their sloping walls 11 ribbed internally as is shown, the ribs 11B being dimensioned so as not to interfere with the tubs being be stacked for reduced volume in transport and storage. The tubs might be later disengaged one from the other at a filling station. The rim 16 may be fitted with a tab, attached to the tamper evident JUL 17 '00 05:14PM FISHER ADRMS KELLY 61 7 32210597 P.9/40 8 section or portion as will be described in greater detail below.

In FIG. 2 is seen the tab 17 extended radially outwardly off the generally upwardly disposed flange 20 set or angled off the rim 16. The tab 17 is bordered at each end by a weakening in the flange 20, by means of notches, indents or the like at 18, 19 so as to enable this section of the flange to be freed at the respective ends of its peripheral extent and be bent downwardly so as to expose the edge portion of the closure or lid. The added tag or tongue 17 provides a more obvious character to the visible marker. The bent 10 down section might itself be the sole visible marker indicating actioning of the closure or lid. However it will not be so obvious to users of where the indents which enabling tearing of the flange are located when it is decided to open the container or packaging.

The tag or tongue 17 also serves to add a clearer visual signal of 15 where opening might be most readily effected.

In FIG. 3 is seen a section at the rim 16 of a tub where wall 11 extends outwardly at 22A to form a channel 22B having an open bottom 22C. Channel 22B has inner wall 11A, top wall 21 and outer wall 22D which also has a bead 22. The function of bead 22 is to catch behind a matching or complementary protrusion or ridge on the closure or lid to effect a locking of the two, as will also be known to those skilled in the art and as shown in FIG. 5. The outer flange 20 is fitted with or otherwise provided with JUL 17 '00 05:14PM FISHER ARDMS KELLY 61 7 32210597 P.10/40 9 a tab 17 in the form of a tongue or tag which may be bordered at each side, or adjoined at its respective circumferential ends, by a weakening such as is established by the internally disposed, generally axially aligned groove 24. The tag or tongue 17 may be pushed or pulled downwardly to tear the flange 20 at grooves 24 to bend the section of flange downwardly, in the sense of the drawing, lowering the flange so as to expose the closure or lid lower edge to engagement in suitable manner by which to effect removal of the .I closure or lid. Having been actioned, the lowered or depressed tag or 10 tongue 17 indicates or flags the fact that the container or packaging has been opened to expose the contents of the tub.

The tab shown generally at 17 in FIG. 3 includes a finger pad 17A and a vertical web 17B and thus is generally L-shaped in cross-section. The outer channel or well 23 has an open top 15 As shown in FIGS 4-5, the tub 10 has a closure or lid 26 having a peripheral edge portion 27 in the form of a channel 28 in the form of an inverted-U which has complementary bead 29 which engages with bead 23 to effect a locking action as described above.

Lid 26 has a flat top 30. Channel 28 has opposed side walls 33 and 34 and flat top 32 and is conventional in nature and fits snugly over flat top 21 of channel 22B of tub As shown in FIG. 5 tab 17 is attached to outer wall 22D of channel 22B by pivot strip 35. This allows for downward bending JUL 17 '00 05:14PM FISHER RDRMS KELLY 61 7 32210597 P.11/40 of tab 17 to expose edge portion 27 of lid 26 as shown in FIG. 6 and thus allows for removal of lid 26 as also shown in FIG. 6.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that the invention can be applied to the range of moulded containers which are commonly used in the food industry. It will also be clear that the tamper evident effect might be added to more general packaging where a closure is to be fitted in a manner which is to be resistant to removal except by means which are subsequently evident.

iio It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the container or hub of the invention is relatively simple in structure and can be adapted for use with a conventional lid 26 and thus the lid does not have to be especially designed to fit with a rim or edge potion of a tub or container, which is designed for a particular purpose in mind as was the case with the prior art.

It also will be appreciated that there is no necessity for complete removal of the tab 17 as it is still attached to flange 20 by prior strip 35 and this feature not only provides a container of simple construction but a very effective method of showing when tampering has occurred.

Claims (7)

1. A container having a peripheral upper edge portion surrounding an open top having an outwardly extending flange which has a tab which is attached to the outwardly extending flange by weakening means and a pivot strip interconnecting the tab and the upper edge portion whereby in use, upon breaking of the weakening means, the tab may be pivoted downwardly about the pivot strip to expose an edge portion of a closure or lid for facilitating removal of the closure or lid from the container.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1 wherein the peripheral edge portion includes an inner channel having an open bottom and said outwardly extending flange extends outwardly of the inner channel.

3. A container as claimed in claim 2 wherein the weakening means comprises end notches of the tab.

4. A container as claimed in claim 3 wherein the tab has a finger pad extending between each end notch of the tab.

A container as claimed in claim 4 wherein there is JUL 17 '00 05:15PM FISHER ADAMS KELLY 61 7 32210597 P.13/40 12 provided a vertically extending web between the finger pad and the inner channel.

6. A container as claimed in claim 5 wherein said pivot strip is located intermediate the web and the inner channel.

7. A container substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. g* 10 DATED this Seventeenth day of July 2000 DUO MEI PACKAGING AUSTRALIA PTY LTD By its Patent Attorneys FISHER ADAMS KELLY *l ji* *go *•g oo