CA1300528C

CA1300528C - Transport and storage container for concentrates of beverages or the like

Info

Publication number: CA1300528C
Application number: CA000551051A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Erich Heuberger; Wolf-Dieter Knorrich; Joachim W. Dziallas
Original assignee: Carl Edelmann Verpackungstechnik GmbH; Coca Cola Co
Current assignee: Carl Edelmann Verpackungstechnik GmbH; Coca Cola Co
Priority date: 1986-11-19
Filing date: 1987-11-04
Publication date: 1992-05-12
Anticipated expiration: 2009-05-12
Also published as: ATE64912T1; AU8141387A; AU598321B2; IN168965B

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure TRANSPORT AND STORAGE CONTAINER FOR
CONCENTRATES OF BEVERAGES OR THE LIKE
A transport and storage container for concentrates of beverages or the like for making a ready-to-drink beverage by means of a drink-making machine is provided in the form of an inner bag package, whereof the two narrow side walls, as well as the top and bottom, are parallel to each other, whereof the narrow side wall containing the concentrate outlet, removal and connection, piece and the opposite narrow side wall form angles of approximately 93° and 87° with the top and with the bottom.
The two triangular wall portions of the inner bag gussets located in the bottom and top planes of the package are sealed or welded together, and a viewing window structure is provided in the outer cardboard casing of the package adjacent the end where the concentrate outlet piece is located.

Description

`l ~ q~

1 ~ This inve lon reEers to a transport aDd storaBe 2 ¦ container for concentrates of beverages or the like~ particularly 3 ¦ such as fruit juice syrups or the like~ eor making a ready-to-¦ drink beverage~ which container is capable of being inserted into ¦ a drink-making machine and connected to its system, wherein a 6 ¦ dose of concentrate is removed from the supply of concentrate and 7 ¦ water and, if applicable, carbon dioxide are added. The 8 ¦ container consl9ts Oe Whflt is called an inner bag package known 9 ¦ per se with an outer cardboard casing in the form of a folding ¦ box. The box has interconnected, especially glued together 11 ¦ bottom and top flaps and a liquid-tight inner bag closed at its 12 upper and lower ends by a sealed or welded seam, and wherein the 13 inner bag gussets are folded inwardly in the ar&a of the bottom 14 and top closures and lie between two bottom or top flaps each.
The bottom and top closures both of the inner bag and of the 16 cardboard casing are identically embodied, ~he removal and 17 machine-connection piece is connected by a flange to a side wa}l 18 of the inner bag and the connection piece projects outwardly 19 through an orifice in the side wall of the cardbosrd casing.
Vp to now, plastic containers have been used for the 21 transport~ storage and keeping of beverage concentrates and the 22 provision of supplies thereoE in drink-making machines, which 23 containers are inserted in~o these machines snd connected to the - 1 - ., ;~
',~ 'i`i '.

~30~

¦ concentrate removal system of the machine. A disadvantage of the 2 previously known plastic containers consists in th~ fact that 3 upon their being "emptied" a relatively large, no longer usable 4 residual quantity of concentrate remains in them. Furthermore, only certain plastics, unharmful to foodstuffs and luxury foods, 6 can be used for the ~anufacture of the containers. However, this 7 1 has the disadvantage of not being optimal with regard to some 8 ¦ beverage concentrates, since, if longer storage times are 9 ¦ involved, they can detract from the taste of the container 1 contents. Also, the disposal of the empty plastic containers 11 1 results in a considerable burden on the environment.
12 ¦ The already mentioned transport and storage cont~iners 13 ¦ consisting of inner bag packages have already been proposed for 14 ¦ the purpose in question; however~ the forms and designs available 1 up to now have not yet proven to be satisfactory enough to enable 16 ¦ their unreserved practical use.
17 l Obiect of the Invention 18 ¦ The invention is therefore based on the task of iMproving 19 1 the containers in question for beverage concentrates, insertable ¦ in drink-making machines, in such a ~ay that on being emptied, 21 ¦ only a very minimum residual amount effectively remains, and in 22 ¦ which it should be possible to check the level of the contents of 23 ¦ the container inserted in the drink-making machines without the 24 1 stability of the package or its contents being diminished by a ¦ viewing window making this possible. Finally, any detraction 26 1 from taste of the container contents is also to be avoided.
27 1 For the solution of this task, according to the invention 28 it is suggested that the container of the given type be embodied 29 in such a way that the two triangular wall portions of the inner 1 ~3~5Z~

I bag gussets located in the bottom and top planes of the package 2 ¦ are sealed or welded together, the two narrow side walls, like 3 ¦ the top and the bottom of the package, are in parallel 4 arrangement to each other, but the narrower side wall containing the removal and connection piece and the opposite side wall 6 ¦ respectfully form angles of approximately 93 and 87 with the 7 ¦ top and of approximately 87 and 93 with the bottom.
8 j Inner bag packages of the designated type h ve become 9 1 known in the widest variety of forms. A considerable ¦ disadvantage existing in such packages if they are used as 11 ¦ transport and storage containers for beversge concentrates for 12 ¦ use in drink-making machines is that a considerable residual 13 ¦ amount o~ the liquid contained therein remains in the container, 14 ¦ since the inner bag generally does not 1atly abut the inner wall ¦ of the cardboard casing surrounding it, but rather orms ~reases, 16 ¦ recesses or similar uneven places which hinder a desired flow-off 17 ¦ of the contents of the container. Thus a certain, albeit only a 18 ¦ seemingly relatively small quantity of the contents is lost to 1g ¦ the consumer with each package. However, such lost quantities, ¦ added up over a longer period of time, are indeed of substantial 21 ¦ significance.
22 ¦ If, however, instead of beverage concentrates 23 ¦ environmentally harmful chemicals in concentrated form are 24 ¦ involved, for instance such as those used for pest control or ¦ plant protection and the like, then the-residual amounts left in 26 1 the emptied packages have particularly serious consequences.
27 ¦ Therefore, strong demands for packaging such substances only in 28 ¦ such a way that they can be removed from the packages with 29 ¦ virtually no residue have recently been made. Thus the packages ¦ proposed according to the invention are also usable in the last-l ~ s ¦ above-mentioned technical field.
2 The novel features serving to solve the problem or to 3 promote and further develop the solution will become apparent 4 from the appended claims as well as in the following detailed ¦ description of embodiments of a package clesigned in accordance 6 ¦ with the invention, as represented by Figures 1 to 5 of the 7 drawings.
8 Brief Description of the Drawin~s 9 Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the finished package with closed inner bag in its filled position;
11 Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the only partly 12 closed, not yet filled, package with inner bag according to Fig.
13 1;
14 Figure 3 shows a side view of the package according to Fig. 1 in a position assumed upon being inserted in a drink-16 making machine;
17 Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the filling and 18 outlet connection piece with its flange;
19 Figure 5 shows a section through the outlet connection piece in a second embodiment.
21 Detailed Description of the Drawings 22 As seen in particular in Fig. 2, the package comprises as 23 usual, in this type of package, the outer cardboard casing 11 and 2~ the inner bag 12 consisting of a composite foil which can be a thin foil laminate, e.g., a three layer laminate of foils of 26 plastic, aluminum, plastic, or of three foil laminates of 27 transparent plastic, the middle layer being a gas-tight 28 transparent plastic foil.
29 The packages of the type in question are usually supplied 5;~3 lying flatly to the consumer and are to be set up and fiLled by 2machine only before being used. The inner bag 12 is closed by 3sealing or welding first at its lower end and then at its upper 4end by means of a transverse seam 13. The bottom of the Scardboard casing is shown already closed, namely in the same way 6as the top closure. At its upper end the package is shown still 7partly open.
8Before the inner bag end is sealed and closed, the 9filling and outlet connection piece 16, to be later provided 10with a sealed cap lS (Figure 1), is securely connected and sealed 11to the inner bag 12 so as to be liquid-tight by means of a flange 1217. The connection piece 16 has a tubular member which projects 13from within the bag 12 to the outside of the package through an 14orifice 18 in the one narrow side wall 19 of the cardboard casing 11.
16The filling and outlet connection piece 16 with its 17flange 17 can be seen especially in Fig. 4. The flange 17 is 18designed to have a relatively large area and is shaped such that 19three of the edges lying at right angles to each other abut the 20adjacent walls of the interior of the bag 12. The flange 17 has 21a bend 31 which approxirnately intersects the a~is of the outlet 22connection piece 16. The angle formed by the two flange parts 2317a and 17b is preferably 174 . However, it is also possible to 24design the flange 17 as a whole in the form of a very flat funnel 2517', with the funnel angle likewise being approximately 174 , as 26seen in Fig. 5. In this way it is possible for the container 27contents to pour into the tubular outlet piece and out of the 28package and to be used almost completely.
29The inner bag 12 is advantageously glued st several 30locations, including adjacent its upper and lower ends to the ~3~)5z1!3 inner side of the cardboard casing 11 in the area of the surfaces 2 1¦ 20 marked by dotted lines, to guarantee that the bag securely 3 ~1 abuts and is adhered to the inner wall of the cardboard casing of 4 I the package and to prevent the inner bag 12 from collapsing with S ¦ progressive emptying.

6 ¦ To achieve the required, necessarily very substantial 7 ¦ stability of form, the inner bag 12 is held or clamped fast in 8 ¦ the area of the top and the bottom by the special design of the 9 ¦ top and bottom closure, whereby a particularly stable ¦ construction results in the area of the top and bottom.
ll ¦ Although, for the sake of simplicity, the following 12 ¦ description refers to the design of the package in the area of 13 ¦ the top openLng or its closure~ this applies to the design of the ~ ¦ bottom closure accordingly.
¦ The size of the two larger top and bottom flaps 21, 22 of 16 ¦ the cardboard casing facing each other before closure 17 ¦ substantially corresponds to that of the top and bottom openings 18 ¦ of the package.
19 ¦ In closing the package, first of all, the inner bag 12 is ¦ closed by means of the liquid-tight welded or sealed seam 13 and 21 ¦ then the edge 14 containing this seam is folded onto the plane of 22 ¦ the top opening of the cardboard casing 11, whereupon the 23 ¦ superposed wall portions of the lateral gussets 23 are sealed or 24 ¦ welded together. In this way, the gussets are sealed from the ¦ main interior part of the bag 12 and liquid which could otherwise 26 ¦ remain as a residual amount in an emptied package is prevented 27 ¦ from entering the gussets 23. Furthermore, this measure wil~
28 ¦ provide an additional stiffening of the package in the bottom and 29 ¦ top areas. The lateral gussets 23 are laid outwardly onto the ¦ outwardly turned smaller top flaps 24, as seen at the upper 9~0~)S2~3 1 right-hand portion of Figure 2, and are preferabLy glued thereto.
2 The l~west or innermost top flap 21 is folded against the upper 3 end of the inner bag 12 and subsequently the smaller top flaps 24 4 with the gussets 23 of the inner bag 12 are folded against the larger top flap 21 lying on the inner bag 12 and are glued 6 1 thereto. Finally, the upper or outer top flap 22 is folded down 7 1 and glued to the top surfaces of flaps 21 and 24 which are 8 ¦ already closing the top opening.
9 ¦ To produce as good and secure a connection as possible ~ between the upper or outer top flap 22 and the lower or inner 11 1 top flap 21 by gluing, the corners 25 of the smaller top flsps 24 12 1 are cut off, so that the free edge 26 of the upper top flap 22 13 ¦ can be ~lued virtually along its entire length to the top flap 14 1 21.
lS ¦ To enable good and stable gluing of the smaller top flaps 16 ¦ 24 to the lower or inner top flaps 21, the outer corners 27 of 17 ¦ the inner bag edge 14 can be folded against the gussets 23, 18 ¦ whereby a large gluing surface can be obtained.
19 ¦ As seen in Fig. 3 in particular, the narrow side walls 19 ¦ are not at right angles to the vertical top or bottom flap 22, 21 ¦ but are rather at an angle of approximately 87 at one end and 93 22 ¦ at the other end, so that after insertion of the package into a 23 ¦ drink-making machine with the ends represented by flaps 22 being 24 ¦ held vertical, the narrow side wall 19, with the removal or ¦ outlet connection piece 16, which is now the bottom wall is 26 ¦ downwardly inclined by approximately 3 toward said connection 27 ¦ piece relative to a horizontal H. In this way the residual 28 ¦ container contents must necessarily run into the outlet 29 1 connection piece 16. This is also promoted by the design of the ¦ flange 17 and 17' of the outlet connection piece 16 and 16' ~3~a.~

I ~ccord~n~ to ~i~. 4 ~nd Fig. 5.
2 ¦In order to check the level of the liquid contained in 3 the interior of the container, it is advantageous to provide a 4 viewing window 32 enabling this, which, however, requires that ¦ the inner bag 12 of the container be made of a transparent foil.
6 As seen in Fig. 2, the viewing window 32 is arranged in the area 7 of the edge 33 between the one side wall 28 and the top flap 22.
8 In order not to diminish the stability of the package prior to 9 its insertion into a drink-making machine, a perforsted line 34 is located in the side wall 28 and in the top 22 along the edges 11 of the viewing window 32, so that the cardboard strip 35 bordered 12 by the perforated line need only be removed from the cardboard 13 casing 11 to form the viewing window 32 at a suitable point in 14 time. This construction also has the advantage of protecting the contents from the effects of light.
16 If desired, as an alternate location, a viewing window 31 17 can be provided in the outer cardboard casiDg near the outlet 18 piece 16, at the adjacent edge of the side wall 19, as also shown 19 in Fig. 2 and as is true with the construction of viewing window 32, the inner bag 12 in this case must also be made of a 21 transparent material.
22 It is advantageous to locate a slot 29 extending around 23 three-quarters of a circle in the top flap 22, thus forming a tab 24 30 with the aid of which the package can be more easily pulled from a stack or from the shaft of the drink-making ~achine into 26 which the package has been inserted.
27 The packages designed in accordance with the invention 28 also have the advantage o~ being capable of bearing substantial 29 loads, especially while forming stacks of packages, due to their great stability of form. In these cases the packages are turned l~lOOSZ~3 1 ~ by 90 , whereby the bottoms and tops become side walls.
2 1 The existing dispenser machines into which the container 3 is inserted has a fixed depth. Prior art containers for the, 4 dispensers have been rectangular and dimensioned for the depth of the dispenser machine. lhe skewed parallelogram shape of the 6 ¦ container of this invention resuLts in a package that has the 7 I same depth between its ends so it fits into the existing 8 I'¦ dispenser machines with front and rear walls vertical and the 9 j lower wall inclined toward the outlet connection piece. The¦
shape of the container of this invention provides a greater ll capacity than a rectangular container which has the same end wall 12 area and the same depth dimension as that measured between the 13 walls 22 of the container of this invention.
l~ The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without depnrting from the spirit or essential characteristics 16 thereof. The preaent embodiments are therefore to be considered 17 in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of 18 the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than 19 by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within ¦ the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore 21 intended to be embraced therein.

Claims

1. A transport and storage container for concentrates of beverages or the like, particularly such as fruit syrups or the like, for making a ready-to-drink beverage, said container being insertable into a drink-making machine and being connectable to its system, in which water and, if applicable, carbon dioxide are added to a dose taken from the supply of concentrate; said container consisting of an inner bag package known per se with a folding-box type outer cardboard casing having interconnected, especially glued together bottom and top flaps and a liquid-tight inner bag closed at its upper and lower ends by a sealed or welded seam, wherein the inner bag gussets folded inwardly in the area of the bottom and top closures lie between two bottom or top flaps each; the bottom and the top closures both of the inner bag and of the cardboard casing are identically embodied; the concentrate removal and machine-connection piece is connected by a flange to a side wall of the inner bag and the connection piece projects outwardly through an orifice in the side wall of the cardboard casing, with the two triangular wall portions of the inner bag gussets located in the bottom and top planes of the package being sealed or welded together and the two narrow side walls, as well as the top and bottom of the package, being parallel to each other, characterized in that the narrower side wall containing the removal and connection piece and the opposite narrower side wall form angles of approximately 93° and 87° with the top and bottom, respectively.

2. A container according to claim 1, characterized in that the flange belonging to the concentrate removal and connection piece and connected to the inner bag extends to the three wall surfaces adjacent thereto.

3. A container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the flange of the concentrate removal and connection piece has a bend and the flange parts on both sides of the bend form an angle of approximately 174°.

4. A container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the flange of the concentrate removal and connection piece is in the shape of a very shallow funnel with a funnel angle of approximately 174°.

5. A container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the inner bag is connected to the inside of the outer cardboard casing by gluing in spots or strips located at least in the area of the upper and the lower ends of the package.

6. A container according to claim 1 or 2, with an inner bag consisting of a transparent plastic foil, characterized in that a closed perforated line is arranged in the cardboard casing in the side wall containing the concentrate removal and connection piece or in said side wall and the adjoining side wall, said perforate line enabling the removal of a cardboard strip to form a viewing window for determining the level of the container contents.

7. A container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the inner bag consists of a three-layered composite foil whereof the middle layer is aluminum foil.

8. A container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the inner bag consists of a three-layered composite foil whereof the middle layer is a gas-tight, transparent plastic foil.