WO1994018080A1

WO1994018080A1 - Closure assembly for liquid holding containers

Info

Publication number: WO1994018080A1
Application number: PCT/GB1994/000264
Authority: WO
Inventors: Roger Milner King
Original assignee: Beeson and Sons Ltd
Current assignee: Beeson and Sons Ltd
Priority date: 1993-02-10
Filing date: 1994-02-10
Publication date: 1994-08-18
Anticipated expiration: 1995-08-10
Also published as: AU6005094A

Abstract

A resealable container (e.g. for liquid) (10) includes a container body (12) of, for example, card. A container neck (14) of plastics is joined to the body. The neck has an opening over which a closure (35) can be secured to form a liquid-tight seal. The neck includes a base extension which has the same shape and size as the top panel of the body. Stabilising walls (60) depend from the extension and abut the interior faces of the side walls to provide additional stability against twisting forces. The extension fits against the interior surface of the body, and the neck (14) projects through a hole in the top panel. The container can be erected from a blank, the neck having been fitted to the blank before the blank is erected.

Description

CLOSURE ASSEMBLY FOR LIQUID HOLDING CONTAINERS

This invention relates to a container. In one aspect, the invention is particularly suitable for, but is not limited to, application to a container having a body of a type which, in general, does not lend itself to being properly resealed once the container has been opened for the first time.

Containers of this type, made from card, are often used to contain milk, fruit juice and other beverages. The containers are relatively simple and inexpensive to produce, and they can be formed by folding and securing panels of a one-piece blank. Such containers are also favoured for their biodegradability. Conventionally, once such a container has been filled with its contents, the top panel or panels of the container are welded closed to form a seal. When it is desired to open the container, a customer either tears open the welded panels, or punctures or cuts a hole in the top of the container. A problem with the conventional design of container is that it is not possible easily to re-seal the container once it has been opened. In the case of a tear-open container, it may be possible to refold the upper portion of the container, but this will not achieve a liguid-tight/air- tight seal which can keep the contents of the container fresh. Thus, in the case of fruit juice or milk, the container contents have to be used up within a relatively short period of time after the initial opening of the container. The present invention has been devised with the above drawbacks in mind.

In a first aspect, the invention provides an assembly comprising a resealable container, the container comprising a container body and a container neck which is distinct from the body, the neck being made of plastics and being joined to the container body in a substantially permanent or semi¬ permanent manner, the assembly further comprising a closure which is releasably securable over an opening in the neck in order to achieve a seal.

Such a container is particularly suitable for liquids, but it might also be used to hold other types of product, for example, power, granular or solid products. With such an assembly, it is possible to re-seal the container to re-form a seal, after the container has been opened for the first time. The body may be formed of generally rigid material such as tin or aluminium, or it may be formed of generally or slightly defoπnable material such as card, plastics (eg. plastics film) , foil (eg. aluminium foil) , _.or laminates including one or more of these materials. The body may be of any shape. The body and the neck member may be made of different material, or they may be made of the same material. In the preferred embodiment, the body of the container is formed of card, such that it is relatively light and is inexpensive to produce. As explained below, the body may be formed from a blank.

Preferably, the container body includes an inner or outer surface layer of weldable or meltable material at least in the region of the join to the neck, and the neck is joined to the body by a weld. Typically, a plastic layer is provided on containers made of card in order to prevent the container contents from seeping through the card material. Preferably, the container neck includes a base extension or lateral extension which fits against, or overlaps, a portion of the container body. The neck is preferably secured to the body by the extension.

Preferably, the extension comprises one or more projecting ridges which facilitate the formation of a seal at the join between the base and the container body.

Preferably, the extension is joined to an inner surface of the container body, and the neck projects out through a hole in the body, for example, a hole in a top panel of the body.

Preferably, the extension is shaped substantially to match the contour of the respective portion of the container body to which the neck is joined. Preferably, the extension is generally planar or includes a generally planar portion to match a generally planar inner or outer surface of the body. In addition, the base extension may include one or more side panels depending from the edge of the planar portion to match respective side panels of the container body.

Preferably, the portion of the container body to which the neck is joined comprises a panel of the body, and the size and shape of the base extension (or at least a portion thereof) of the neck matches substantially the size and shape of said panel. In one form, the portion of the container body to which the neck is joined may be generally rectangularly shaped, and the base extension may then include a substantially matching generally rectangular shape.

Preferably, the container body includes one or more side panels, and the edge or edges of the base extension, or the one or more side panels of the base extension, co-operate with the one or more side panels of the container body in order to stabilise the base extension from rotational forces relative to the container body. This helps to prevent the material of the body from being over-stressed if, for example, a screw-threaded closure is to be used.

In a preferred form, the invention provides an assembly comprising a resealable container for liquid, the container comprising a container body and a container neck which is distinct from the body, the neck being made of plastics and being permanently joined to the container body in a substantially liquid tight manner, the assembly further comprising a closure which is releasably securable over an opening in the neck in order to achieve a substantially liquid-tight seal.

In a second further aspect, the invention provides a container comprising a container body and a container neck distinct from the body, the neck being made of plastics material and being joined to the body in a substantially permanent or semi-permanent manner, the neck comprising an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to provide a seal.

The container may include any of the features described above.

In a preferred form, the invention provides a container comprising a container body and a container neck distinct from the body, the neck being made of plastics material and being permanently joined to the body in a substantially liquid-tight manner, the neck comprising an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to the neck in order to provide a substantially liquid-tight seal.

In a third aspect, the invention provides an assembly which can be folded and secured to form a container as described hereinbefore, the assembly comprising a container blank of foldable material for forming a container body, and a plastics neck joined to a portion of the blank in a substantially permanent or semi-permanent manner, the neck having an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to form a seal.

The blank may be of material such as card, thin plastics, or laminates including any of these.

In one form, the blank may comprise an area for forming a top panel of the container. It might also include areas for forming a bottom panel of the container, and one or more side panels of the container. The neck may be joined to the area which, in use, will form the top panel of the container.

Preferably, the neck includes a base extension or a lateral extension, and the neck is joined to the blank by means of the extension. Preferably, the extension fits against, or overlaps, the top panel of the blank, and is secured thereto. Preferably, the extension is secured to an inner surface of the top panel, and the neck projects through a hole in the top panel. In a preferred form, the invention provides an assembly which can be folded and secured to form a container as described hereinbefore, the assembly comprising a container blank of foldable material for forming a container body, and a plastics neck permanently joined in a substantially liquid-tight manner to a portion of the blank, the neck having an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to the neck to form a substantially liquid-tight seal.

In a yet further aspect, the invention provides a container neck for use in the container and/or in any of the assemblies described above, the container neck being made of plastics material and comprising a lateral extension which, in use, can be joined to a container body in a substantially permanent or semi-permanent manner, the neck including an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to form a seal.

In the preferred embodiment, the closure is releasably securable to the container neck by means of a screw thread. However, other securing methods could be used, for example, a snap fit connection.

In a preferred form, the invention provides a container neck for use in the container and/or in any of the assemblies described above, the container neck being made of plastics material and comprising a base extension which, in use, can be permanently joined in a substantially liquid- tight manner to a container body, the neck including an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to the neck to form a substantially liquid-tight seal.

In a particularly preferred aspect, the invention provides a container assembly comprising a container body and a container neck member distinct from the body, the neck member being of plastics and comprising an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to the neck to form a seal, a portion of the neck member overlapping at least partially the interior surface of a wall of the container body, said overlapping portion of the neck member being adhered to the interior surface of the wall.

In a further particularly preferred aspect, the invention provides a container assembly comprising a container body and a container neck member distinct from the body, the neck member being of plastics and comprising an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to the neck to form a seal, the neck member being attached to a panel of the body, at least a portion of the neck member overlapping the face of the panel, said overlapping portion of the neck having substantially the same shape as, and being substantially co-extensive with, the face of the panel. In a yet further particularly preferred aspect, the invention also provides an assembly which can be folded and secured to form a container assembly as above, the assembly comprising a container blank of foldable material for forming the container body, the blank including a panel having a neck opening therein, the assembly further comprising a neck member of plastics joined to the blank in the region of the neck opening, the neck member including a portion overlapping said panel, the overlapping portion of the neck member being adhered to the face of the panel. The container neck and closure arrangement may comprise any of the features described in our International application Nos. PCT/GB91/00850 (published as WO 91/18799) and PCT/GB92/01255 (published as WO 93/01098) . The contents of these documents are incorporated herein by way of reference, as if the contents had been reproduced in full herein.

Embodiments of the invention are now described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. l is a schematic sectional view through a carton in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the container of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 shows a detail of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 shows a blank for forming the container of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 shows a slightly modified form of blank.

Referring to Figs, l and 2, a container 10 for liquids comprises a generally rectangular body 12 and a neck 14. The body consists of a generally square or rectangular top panel 16, four depending side panels 18 and a bottom panel 20. (In Fig. 1, the neck is not shown in section for the sake of clarity) . Referring to Fig. 3, the material of the body portion consists of a laminate. It includes an outer layer 22 of card such as carton board, an intermediate layer 24 of metal foil, and a thin innermost layer 26 of a plastics film.

The neck 14 consists of a generally tubular portion 28 carrying a screw thread 30, and a generally planar base extension 32 which extends as a flange or shoulder around the tubular portion 28. Two concentric circular ridges 34 are formed on the upper surface of the base extension 32. The base extension is joined to the top panel 16 of the body in a liquid-tight manner by welding between the plastics material of the base extension 32 and the plastic film 26 on the inside face of the top panel 16. A preferred method of performing the welding is by ultrasonic welding or induction welding (utilizing the foil layer 24 adjacent to the plastics film 26 of the top panel 16) . During the weld, the ridges 34 become embedded in the plastics film 26 to ensure that a liquid-tight seal is made.

The neck is intended to be sealed by means of a screw threaded closure 35. When fitted, the closure forms a liquid-tight and preferably air-tight seal with the neck, in order to preserve the freshness of the container contents. Although not described in detail herein, the container neck and the closure may include any of the Jj-turn (easy- to-open) , tamper-proof, and child-resistant features described in our prior applications referred to above. It will be seen that the thread 30 is a four-start approximately ^-turn thread, and that the neck includes a positive retaining catch 29, a tapered sealing surface 31 (approximately 4° or 5°) , and also a tamper-proof ring engaging rim 33, as described in our prior applications.

As best seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the size and shape of the base extension 32 matches substantially the size and shape of the top panel 16 of the body 12. In particular, the edges 36 of the base extension 32 abut, or very nearly abut, the corresponding inside faces of the side panels 18. Thus the edges 36 of the base extension co-operate with the side panels 18 to restrain any tendency for the base extension to rotate relative to the top panel when the closure is being screwed or unscrewed from the neck. This helps to relieve the welded join and the top panel 16 of much torsional stress which might otherwise occur.

Typically, the capacity of the container may be about 1 litre. The length of the neck may be about 26mm, and the thickness of the base extension about 1mm. The size of the base extension will depend on the size of the top panel, but typically this may be about 56mm square.

Fig. 4 illustrates a blank 40 from which the container 10 can be formed. The blank 40 consists of the laminated material formed into a generally X shape. The top panel 16 is situated near the centre of the blank 40, and the side panels 18 are hingedly connected one to each edge of the top panel. The bottom panel 20 is coupled to one of the side panels 18, and lower adhesion flaps 42 are coupled to remaining three side panels 18. Side corner adhesion flaps 44 are formed on an opposed two of the side walls. The neck 14 is joined to the blank by inserting the tubular portion 28 through a hole 46 in the top panel 16. The neck 14 is inserted from the "rear" of the blank 40 such that the base extension 32 lies against the inside face of the top panel 16. The neck is preferably secured to the top panel 16 while the container body is in the form of a blank as in Fig. 3. The resulting composite blank (ie. comprising the container neck 14 secured to the blank 40) can be supplied to manufactures for erection and for filling, in suitable packaging machines.

In use, to erect the body 12 of the container from the blank, the side panels 18 are folded downwardly to depend from the top panel 16, and the bottom panel 20 is folded upwardly to meet the side panels 18. The lower adhesion flaps 42 are adhered to the bottom panel 20 (by induction welding) to seal the bottom of the container body 12 and the side corner adhesion flaps 44 are adhered (by induction welding) to adjacent side panels 18 to seal the sides of the body 12. Once the body has been formed, the container can be filled by pouring liquid into the neck. Fig. 5 illustrates a modified form of blank 50 for forming a similar container to that of Fig. 1. In Fig. 5, the side panels 18 are hingedly joined to each other. The top panel 16 and the bottom panel 20 are hingedly joined to one of the side panels 18. Upper and lower adhesion flaps 52 and 54 are formed on the free edges of the top panel 16 and the bottom panel 20, respectively. A side corner adhesion flap 56 is formed on one free edge of a side panel 18. In use, to erect the container body 12, the side panels 18 are folded relative to one another to form the generally rectangular body, and are secured using the side corner adhesion flap 56 (by induction welding) . The top and bottom panels 16 and 20 are then folded to meet the side panels, and are secured to the side panels 18 using the upper and lower adhesion flaps 52 and 54 respectively. A possible modification to the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 is the provision of side panels 60 (shown phantom in Fig. 1) depending from the planar portion of the base extension 32. The side panels 60 of the base extension 32 abut or nearly abut the side panels 18 of the container body 12 in order to further stabilise the top upper portion of the container and to improve the spreading of torsional stresses caused when the closure 53 is screwed on, or is unscrewed from, the neck 14. Typically the depth of the side panels 60 of the base extension 32 might be about 10-50 mm. Although in the preferred embodiments the container body has been formed of laminate material including card, foil and a plastics film, it will be appreciated that in other similar embodiments, the foil layer may be omitted, and the body may be formed of plastics-coated card, or of some other liquid-tight card based material.

As explained above, it will also be appreciated that the principles of the invention may be applied to containers made of materials other than card. In particular, it is envisaged that the neck of the invention may be used with bodies made of thin plastics (either in the form of a bag or pouch, or in the form of a self-supporting carton or packet) , or of foil (such as aluminium foil) , or of metal (eg. a self supporting relatively rigid aluminium or tin container) . The material might also be in the form of a laminate including one or more of the above.

It will also be appreciated that the shape of the body may be altered in other embodiments of the invention. It could, for example, be cylindrical or some other rounded shape, or it could be shaped as any regular or non-regular polygon. In the case of a non-self-supporting body, the body may be of any suitable pouch or bag type shape.

It will also be appreciated that a snap-fit or a flip- off closure may be used instead of a screw threaded closure as in the preferred embodiments.

It will further be appreciated that although welding (specifically induction-welding) has been used in the preferred embodiments to form the container body and to secure the neck to the body, other techniques for adhesion, for example glue, could be used instead. In order to form a seal, one or more pressure applying members might be used to press the respective surfaces into firm engagement.

Although in the preferred embodiments, the base extension of the neck has been secured to an inner face of the body, it will be appreciated that in other embodiments, the neck might be secured to an outer part or surface of the body.

It will be appreciated that the term "card" as used herein is intended to include sheet materials having similar properties to card.

Although the preferred embodiment illustrates a container for liquid, it will be appreciated that the invention could also be applied to other containers, such as containers for powder, granular or solid products. Depending on the particular application, the join between the neck and the body, and the seal achieved by the closure, may or may not be liquid-tight. It is emphasised that the foregoing description is merely illustrative of preferred embodiments of the invention, and that modifications of detail may be made without departing from the scope and principles of the invention.

Claims

1. A container assembly comprising a container body and a container neck member distinct from the body, the neck member being of plastics and comprising an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to the neck to form a seal, a portion of the neck member overlapping at least partially the interior or inside surface of a wall of the container body, said overlapping portion of the neck member being adhered to the surface of the wall inside the container.

2. A container assembly according to claim 1, wherein the wall of the container body has an opening therein, and the neck member projects out through said opening.

3. A container assembly comprising a container body and a container neck member distinct from the body, the neck member being of plastics and comprising an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to the neck to form a seal, the neck member being attached to a panel of the body, at least a portion of the neck member overlapping the face of the panel, said overlapping portion of the neck member having substantially the same shape as, and being substantially co-extensive with, the face of the panel.

4. A container assembly according to claim 3, wherein the overlapping portion of the neck overlaps the interior or inside surface of the panel, the panel having an opening therein through which the neck member projects.

5. An assembly which can be folded and secured to form a container, the assembly comprising a container blank of foldable material for forming the container body, the blank including a panel having a neck opening therein, the assembly further comprising a neck member of plastics joined to the blank in the region of the neck opening, the neck member including a portion overlapping said panel, the overlapping portion of the neck member being adhered to the face of the panel.

6. An assembly according to claim 5, wherein the overlapping portion of the neck member overlaps a surface of the panel which surface will, when the container is formed, be an interior or inside surface of the container, the panel having an opening therein through which the neck member projects.

7. An assembly according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the overlapping portion of the neck member has substantially the same shape as, and is substantially co-extensive with, the panel.

8. An assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the overlapping portion of the neck member comprises a lateral extension portion of the member.

9. An assembly according to claim 8, further comprising sidewalls depending from the extension, the side walls abutting the interior surfaces of corresponding side panels of the container body in order to stabilise the neck member.

10. An assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the neck member is adhered to the container body by means of a weld.

11. An assembly according to claim 10, wherein the weld comprises a plastics weld.

12. An assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the material of the body comprises plastics coated card.

13. An assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the overlapping portion of the neck member comprises one or more ridges in order to achieve a seal at the regions at which the overlapping portion of the neck member is adhered to the container body.

14. An assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the neck member is adapted to receive a screw threaded closure.

15. An assembly according to any preceding claim, further comprising a closure adapted to be releasably securable to the neck member.

16. An assembly comprising a resealable container, the container comprising a container body and a container neck which is distinct from the body, the neck being made of plastics and being joined to the container body in a substantially permanent or semi-permanent manner, the assembly further comprising a closure which is releasably securable over an opening in the neck in order to achieve a seal.

17. A container comprising a container body and a container neck distinct from the body, the neck being made of plastics material and being joined to the body in a substantially permanent or semi-permanent manner, the neck comprising an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to provide a seal.

18. An assembly which can be folded and secured to form the container of claim 17, the assembly comprising a container blank of foldable material for forming a container body, and a plastics neck joined to a portion of the blank in a substantially permanent or semi-permanent manner, the neck having an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to form a seal.

19. A container neck for use in the container of claim 17, or for use in the assembly of claim 1, 3, 5, 16 or 18, the container neck being made of plastics material and comprising a lateral extension which, in use, can be joined to a container body in a substantially permanent or semi¬ permanent manner, the neck including an opening over which a closure can be fitted and releasably secured to form a seal.