GB2503750A - Flexible container with stiffening means and a closure - Google Patents

Abstract

A free-standing container for containing fluids is comprised of flexibly foldable walls and comprises a top configuration similar to that of a pillow pack. The container comprises wall stiffening means 11, 31 attached to its wall exterior. The container may also comprise a user grip and a fluid valve attached, diagonally across a top corner, to the outside of the container wall. The user grip is formed as a longitudinal relatively stiff member that is oriented vertically, and attached adjacent to or abutting against the container wall. The user grip 31 may be attached by overlying adhesive tape 17, 32 such that it contributes to the vertical stability of the container. The fluid valve means12 provides a user grip that enables the user to fold the container wall material and lock it in a folded position.

Description

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1 Fluid Containers 2 This patent concerns improvements to products in the field of containers for a containing and pouring flowable agents or fluids, the containers being 4 constructed in the form of bags or pouches that are comprised of thin flexible, s foldable materials with little structural stiffness.

6 The idea of producing the lightest weight containers, that are usually destined 7 for disposal after use, has been of interest to industry for many years and very a lightweight packs or containers for fluid) that are not self supporting and free 9 standing, have been used in holders in the worldwide milk industry for a long to time.

ii The problem of producing thin walled flexible packs that are free standing and 12 that can hold large weights of fluid and stand upright without the base collapsing 13 has also led to various solutions for the base constructions all of which are 14 unstable at larger fluid volumes and unstable when standing on irregular as surfaces.

is To achieve an upright use position and or have a fluid valve and ergonomic user 17 grip these containers are usually inserted into holders, the holders having various is disadvantages in use.

ig However it has not been recognised, until this patent, that by the addition of zo extra externally applied support atached to the container walls,the support 21 means requiring to be of only a very little extra mass, that these containers can 22 be made to be self supporting and stand upright on flat and even irregular 23 surfaces like milk cage platforms, and compete in this respect with heavier 24 cartons and bottles.

This patent concerns containers for holding fluids, the containers are 26 constructed from flexible planar material that, when filled with fluid, forms 27 containment walls that are configured, near to or adjacent to the base of the 28 container) in a substantially circular configuration.

i This patent also concerns containers constructed from flexible planar sheet 2 material that are optionally further modified, after being filled with fluid, by the 3 addition of handles and fluid valves and further shape configuration means and 4 localized wall strengthening means.

The container bodies described herein are constructed of thin flexible materials 6 and may be manufactured in any suitable manner although a preferred manner is 7 herein described.

a The concept of sandwiching an external wall support for container wall between 9 the wall and a tape, confers extra mechanical strength especially when the io support is a lightweight hollow, preferably round extrusion, like a drinking straw.

ii Packs and bottle products are constantly being upgraded and developed to 12 lightweight the products. For example the 25% saving in weight from 4Ogms to 30 13 gms of the 2 litre Infinii' bottle is hailed, quite correctly, as a great innovation.

14 This current innovation provides a further 50% reduction in product mass and is manufacturing and confers waste space advantages.

is Flexible bags that requireholders were tried in the UK market over 20 years ago 17 without market success.

is This patent describes a new container pack that is superior in carbon footprint, 19 stability, user grip and fluid valve by the addition of features onto a standard flexible pack by the addition of only, for example about 4 gms in weight to a 21 5gm. I litre container.

22 The container may be made from a blown bag or made from sheet material but 23 preferably optionally, has at least one corner that is formed as in a pillow pack 24 format by the container walls, at the top of and or the base of the container.

In this patent a container wall may form part of the base, side or top of a container.

27 In this patent the words adhesive tape' also means tape attached with adhesive.

x These containers, when constructed from thin planar material, have considerable 2 cost, environmental and storage advantages over standard bottles and other 3 rigid and flexible liquid containers but present various technical challenges 4 regarding production, and format of use.

s Reduction of packaging mass and waste volumes are important issues/problems s and flexible containers formed in the pillow format or part pillow format and 7 then modified as herein described solve these problems by being lighter,less s costly and more stable than other flexible container options,for example, like 9 standard blown bottles,'Doy packs or Ecolean' containers or Amcor AquaFlex'.

io These aforesaid containers may have means to be opened and or re-closed, ii that are integral or atached to their structure.

12 A further problem to be solved is to provide an integral holding means or handle 13 that preferably takes up little or no space in storage and to provide such a handle 14 with a facility for the user such that the container can be lifted with a user finger hooked through it without fluid overspill.

16 Such a handle is preferably sited such that it can be used to lift and pour fluid ii from the container.

is A handle on such a container can be quite important as the walls are ie compressible together.

The container should be preferably free standing and stable in an upright position zi on a gridded surface such as a milk cage for marketing display and use 22 A further problem is the accidental movement of fluid or overspill out of the 23 pouring exit of such a container when a user picks up the pack with or without a 24 pouring side handle to pour, especially when a pillow pack corner fluid pour configuration is used as opposed to the central spout of a bottle.

26 Where the tiny container corner needs to be gripped by the user in order to be 27 cut without scissors, this provides a further problem.

1 A laser weakend tear section may be provided in the container pack wall, 2 however this would require the copnsiderable additional expense of 3 approximately £30,000 for a guided laser in the production line for small 4 packagers, a no cost solution is provided herein.

s A fluid valve is described that overcomes the problems of lack of container wall 6 strength nomalty neede for operation, is of minimal mass and is especially 7 suitable for automated assembly being attached only at one side of the container a wall..

9 One of the problems with pillow formed flexible packs is seal integrity under load.

ii The innovation disclosed here-in has an extra benefit in that it helps to distribute iz tearing forces and reduce such force on the seals of a container made from 13 planar material sealed together.

14 The adhesive tapes are loaded during use along the adhesive plane rather than is at right angles to it.

16 The main technical problem with devising a very light collapsible flexible 17 container pack or bag to contain and pour weighty contents and especially to is contain one or more litres of liquid fluid, is the mass and fluidity of the fluid and 19 the effect that, that has on the walls and stand up capability of the container pack.

21 Containers of prior art that are made from planar material either have peripheral 22 base support material that stabilizes the upright container position or have bases 23 that present a full contact surface to the ground support and are comprised of 24 walls that are made of thicker support material. Other containers such as bottles are formed from blown or shape formed plastic and are more rigid and not easily 26 crushable.

27 In this patent a' linear interference' is the junction of a circular fluid column and 28 its base support such as the ground or a tower more rigid part that can provide 29 such support to the liquid column by providing both lateral support to the i column lower edge and support over the initial vertical distance that is required 2 for fluid pressure to develop a circular geometry of wall support before any extra B fluid height/weight requires further wall stiffening.

4 Flexible pillow packs that comprise base or top configurations that comprise pairs of opposing bent over pressed in walls adjacent to the corners and the 6 sealed base and turned downwards or upwards at the top and fixed under at the 7 base in position before filling, are known.

8 Packs that can stand up with weighty contents such as fluid do exist1 but they g are either of very low profile and wide and therefore not suitable for pouring, or io like Ecolean' or toy packs they do not have good handles or valves and are not 11. of formats that are sufficiently stable for amounts of fluid of more than one litre 12 using the materials that can be run through the production machinery.

13 The container packs for fluids herein described also enable maximum use of the 14 newest thinnest barrier materials that in themselves do not have structural is stiffness, by applying localized wall support adjacent to the linear interference 16 and or by allowing the base support means to be configured in a circular manner 17 with the same dimension as the body of the container.

18 By using the collapsible nature of the pack as a positive feature to enable finger ig room for the user and overcome handle positioning issues and top handle attachment issues, a single lift and pour handle can be constructed.

21 Fluid overspill, when using such a single handed side handle, from the container 22 when opened and near full, is prevented by a simple baffle' feature herein 23 described.

24 Flexible containers for holding flow-able agents are well established in the market place and include very thin plastic bottles, pouches and bags of various types and 26 also includes containers formed from card structures.

27 For some considerable time and in many countries, pouches or bags containing 28 larger amounts of fluids for example more than 400m1. especially milk, have been 29 distributed to retail, for use by the consumer. But this is not acceptable in the

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i growing developed markets where the consumer still wishes to have a free- 2 standing product that has a good grip and a good valve, as well as preferably 3 make a carbon saving.

4 In fact, more milk is sold in the world, in bags rather than in bottles.

s The cost of a bag pack is one fifth that of the bottle and a bag has less than 15% of & the carbon footprint of a bottle and it also confers storage and space advantages 7 on the user. This format is therefore the starting point for this new technology.

8 In third world countries with developed bagged fluid markets there is still not a 9 suitable tow cost bag opener and re-seal device as proposed in this patent.

In the developed world with markets not yet converted to bagged fluids the ii consumers perceive there to be transport problems with the bags that are 12 manufactured from flexible sheet materials and also dislike the feel of the floppy 13 bags off the shelf and the volume waste produced by rigid bottles is awkward to 14 handle and not ecologically friendly.

is Users of fluid filled flexible bag containers require to put them in holders in ac order to use them and the handling of a lay flat bag rather than a stand up pack ii with a finger hold presents enough of an obstacle to dissuade some users from 18 converting to their use.

19 This innovation herein described solves these problems.

Current card packs like Tetrapak' have problems with re-cycling due to the 21 difficulty of separating the internal product barrier layer film from the card 22 support structure.

23 The best of current art is still deficient in some important matters that affect 24 commerciality, in that; Especially the problem has existed until the current development, of cutting open 26 the bag and combining a solution with a cosmetically acceptable and simple 27 closure seal suitable for a vapour condensing fridge environment.

i There are also the problems of the thin container material being penetrated 2 from the outside and of seal fracture. These two problems are results of the 3 internal fluid pressure and of the necessary nature and physical qualities of the 4 container material used for initial encapsulation of the fluid. Surprisingly the container construction revealed in this patent and that is designed to facilitate a 6 free standing container also addresses these problems by supplying adhesive 7 support to the seals and enabling a varied and more tough surface to be applied a in the very area most at risk,the bottom half of the container.

9 A pillow pack is defined in this patent as it is defined generally in industry,for io example, as being comprised of a tube of material that comprises spaced seals ii formatted across the long axis of the tube thereby defining a closed pack.

12 The container herein described may or may not have an integral valve.

13 In this patent the word fluid' means any flowable agent and the word pack' 14 bag' or container' means any thin flexibly walled fluid containment structure as generally accepted in the industry.

16 Valve means are fluid flow control means and optionally may include container or 17 pack opening means.

is Currently in the United Kingdom ASDA is marketing the Greenbottle' and 19 Sainsbury is marketing the Jugit'.

Both these holders or systems use fluid filled bags and suffer from recognised 21 disadvantages.

22 The Greenbottle' is expensive to manufacture is not attractive and leaves the 23 user with a substantial volume of covering material to get rid of.

24 The pillow pack currently used with the Jugit' and elsewhere is not stand alone, zs is floppy to hold and requires expensive secondary packaging to reliably pass 26 through the retail chain and into the users home without being damaged.

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i In this patent a pillow pack is used only as example and pillow pack Ears' are the 2 lower and or upper corners of a pillow pack and are extensions of material that 3 remain at the side of a pillow pack as the pack of pillow format is filled with 4 fluid or other content, while the body waits take up a circular shape.

s The container modifications that enable user hand grip, opening and or reclosure 6 and wall stengthening may be applied to any appropriate thin walled container, 7 but are especially useful when used as herein described.

8 The valve construction disclosed herein is suitable for other containers and non free standing pillow packs that may be used in a separate holder.

It is the object of this invention to provide features or product that can be added ii to or used with flexible bags and pouches in order to make them more suitable iz for handling and display when they are filled with liquid fluid -These features 13 and products may used independantly or in varying combinations to produce a 14 useful product.

is According to a first aspect of this invention there is provided a container pack 16 for containing fluid, the container pack comprising flexibly foldable walls and 17 wall strengthening means fixedly applied to the outside of the container wall.

is the container pack may be any flexibly walled pack, for example a Doy'pack or 19 pillow pack or be of blown form.

Optionally the container is formed from flexible planar sheet material, for

22. example LDPE.

22 Optionally the container walls are comprised of easily foldable material.

23 Preferably the container is formed as a pil!ow pack.

24 Optionally the container is comprised of a pack filled with fluid that comprises zs further modifications added or attached to its exterior after filling.

26 Preferably the container pack comprises wall support means attached to its wall 27 exterior surface that enables the wall to form a substantially stable circular 28 tubular configuration at or near t9 its base support.

i Preferably the container comprises at least two spaced vertical support 2 stiffenning means auached to the outside surface of its walls in order to confer 3 upright stability.

4 Preferably the container comprises vertical orientated wall stiffenning means that s are fixedly related, for example by overlying adhesive tape, to a base or lower 6 container part that is comprised of relatively stiff horizontal means that enables 7 the vertical stiffening means to be supported at right angles to the gravity vector.

s The container and vertical stiffenning means preferably are joined by the same 9 adhesive tape and or by weld means.

io Optionally the vertical wall stiffenning means is in direct contact with the lower 11 container part.

iz The adhesive tape preferably also enhances the resistance to surface penetration 13 of the container wall, being of a materia,for example PP, with increased surface 14 hardness over that with which the container can be manufactured.

The container, when formed as a pillow pack, may alternatively comprises a i base that confers upright stability by the simple holding or fixing of the ii upwardly turned or compressed ears' ,at the pillow pack container base, in a 18 substantially upwardly turned position to form a substantially rigid lateral linear je fold line and by fixedly attaching their position in relation to the container wall.

Preferably the vertical support stiffenning means are characterised as 21 longitudinal channels.

22 Optionally the support stiffenning means are formed from adhesive tape.

23 Optionally the support stiffenning means are formed as hollow extrusion means.

24 Optionally the container comprises a stiffened horizontal support means at its base, for example a stiffenned material edge that is enable to contact the linear 26 interference or ground support to the container.

27 The horizontal means may be a lower part formatted as a relatively shallow 28 preferably vacuum or pressure formed,tray.

i Optionally the container comprises means to be deconstructabte by the user 2 separating by pulling the container and separating it from the added stiffenning 3 means) that may be polypropylene, by the user pulling them apart.

4 Optionally the pack is attached to the lower part by a collar of adhesive tape that s extends around the junction of the pack and tower part wall.

s Optionally the lower part is formed from adhesive coated tape or a strap that is 7 preferably thicker than the tape or strap used upstream and that confers a s degree of rigidity and extra stiffness to the base.

g Preferably the lower part is comprised of material that is flexible or crushable.

14 The stiffenned lower part base may comprise a length of card or other material is that extends under the container base and preferably comprises hinges to fold 16 upwards is hinged at each side of the container to form vertical supports.

17 The stiffenned lower base may simply comprise the upturned ears of a pillow is pack container base material fixedly related to the side wall of the container, on 19 each side thus also supplying some vertical support.

Preferably the vertical stiffenning means are attached to the horizontal support 21 means.

22 Optionally, where planar sheet material is used to form the container body, the 23 vertical support means are attached to the sheet material before or during when 24 all or part of the container body is formed.

zs Optionally the vertical support means are releaseabty attached to the container 26 walls.

i Preferably the container wall vertical support means are fixed to the container 2 body by transversely applied overlying adhesive tape.

3 Optionally the adhesive tape may be used in varying thicknessess with respect to 4 its vertical positioning on the wall such that it enhances wall penetration resistance.

6 Preferably the container wall support means are applied after the container body 7 has its base seal applied.

a Preferably the container wall support means are applied after the container is filled with fluid.

Preferably the container comprises means to or is configured to stand upright ii,when filled with fluid, as a circular tube or channel closed at one or both ends.

iz The container base is preferably further configured such that it has substantially 13 the same circular geometric dimension as the body of the container pack near to 14 or adjacent to the base support, upon which the container rests, for example, is optionally the ground/table top or other added or attached upright or horizontal 16 support means and,that in this patent,is called a linear interference.

ii Optionally the container comprises strengthened zones on its walls.

is Preferably the container comprises a user grip formed on its side to enable 19 pouring of fluid contained therein.

Optionally the user grip is formed from an extrusion that may act, wholly or 21 partly along its length, as a vertical stiffenning means.

22 Preferably the user grip means is configured to abut against the container wall 23 up its rear vertical surface, when not in use.

24 Optionally the container has a top user grip means and a separate side user holding means.

26 The user grip means preferably is relatively stiff and not comprise a hinged or 27 curved part and depend on the flexibility of the top of the bag to create a space 28 for the user's fingers thus moving the centre of rotation, on lifting, more 1 farourably into the centre of the pack thus reducing fluid spill. Surprisingly when a such a user grip handle is attached by adhesive tape above the fluid level the bag 3 material tends to tilt under load such that the tape is pulled along the plane of 4 the adhesive rather than at right angles to it, thus avoiding a stripping off effect.

s The handle shown in this patent is long and thin and affords the user no palm 6 grip, unlike other handles. This has an unexpected and surprising result of 7 preventing rotation of the product across the gravity plane and therefore enables s the fluid pour direction not to be disturbed by lateral product movement that s might otherwise move the flexible pour exit.

io Optionally the container has two or more vertical strengthening means sited 11 around the circumference of the container and that extend upwards from an iz area adjacent to or near to the container base lower part.

13 Furthermore this type of container, with a base tray, can make use of existing 14 mobile shelf ready cages that are used in the milk industry and as opposed to the is Green bottle' innovation that weighs about lOGgms or a standard 4 pint milk jug 16 that weighs 4Ogms, a similar volume container of this type weighs only l2gms and 17 is easily crushable and is easily opened by the user.

18 Preferably the container is modified after being filled with fluid such that the 19 circular base configuration is formed or other modification takes place under the influence of the weight of the fluid.

21 Optionally,where the container is of pillow pack construction, the base ears' 22 may be folded upwards in a position to promote strength of the container wall 23 by being folded towards the container pack wall and held fixedly in position, 24 but preferably not folded down to the undersurface where such additional suport is not needed. I t is more normal to place such ears' under, as the pack 26 weight stabilises the fold. The ears may be crushed inwards and the container 27 further supprted by a support means, for example by a lower part comprised as for example, of plastic, of adhesive or coated tape or card that may be 29 configured horizontally around the container or adhesive tape alone and or extend under the pack and is then extended or folded upwards at opposing sides i and fixed to the pack wall, the dimension between each side being substantially 2 the dimension that matches the container diameter.

3 Optionally the container,may be an assembly of a flexibly walled pack and a 4 lower part that is characterised as being less flexible than the body of the pack.

s According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided the invention of 6 the first aspect and a fluid valve.

7 The fluid valve is formed as a substantially rigid longitudinal part, preferably s comprising hinged means positioned transversely across the longitudinal part and preferably further comprises an extension extending from its top that is angled downwards towards its longitudinal dimension preferably creating a ii gap in between.

12 Preferably the valve or fluid exit closure means also comprises a curved portion is extending from its upstream extremity the curved portion being able to engage 14 and clasp the front container wall material or the top of a front vertical support is attached to the container wall.

is The valve, preferably made of polypropylene, PP. is held engaged by the elasticity 17 of the container wall materials, enhanced by a polypropylene adhesive tape is overlay.

19 The valve means preferably is attached on the outside, to one side of the container wall, upstream of the fluid exit. This format simplifies assembly.

21 Preferably the valve means comprises a hinge means in the middle such that 22 bending the hinge tends to enable opening or closing of a fluid pour 23 configuration of the container wall material at the fluid exit.

24 Optionally the container further comprises a fluid spill prevention means that preferably is an area on the container wall, upstream of the pouring exit, where 26 there is a join at the walls thus creating a fluid baffle effect that reduces the 27 sloshing of fluid up through the fluid exit.

i A baffle' as described, may be formed by a weld or fixing means that secures the 2 lower part of the valve to the container while securing the opposing container 3 walls together.

4 Optionally the top of the pack is modified by there being provided a fluid tight s seal, preferably across the pack width, upstream of the top outer seal, thus a isolating an area of material from the fluid contents and thereby enabling further 7 modification on that area without compromising the container contents.

s Alternatively sealed edge perforations may be constructed in the container heat s sealable material without the need for an extra seal across the pack width.

io In manufacture, an upstream seal may be formed before the downstream seal.

ii Optionally a finger grip or hand grip means is formed and attached by 12 mechanical or adhesive means to the top of the container.

13 Optionally the container comprises a fluid valve reclosure means that is formed 14 as a longitudinal stiff member means attached to the container at an angle to is the vertical substantially parrallel to and at or adjacent to the fluid exit tear line 16 This reclosure means enables the user to roll over the fluid exit edge material to 17 form a closure.The closure is prevented from being unwound by an extension of 18 material extending downwards from the top of the stiffening means that can is engage the top of the container as it descends on being rolled by the user rolling it over at an angle.

21 Preferably the closure mean comprises a hinge means that enables it to be 22 folded such that when the container is in opened mode it allows the exit 23 material at the pouring exit to slacken and form a pouring spout under the 24 influence of the pouring fluid.

Optionally a pre weakened tear off section of the container, that creates a fluid 26 pour exit, is manufactured by creating intermittent perforations in the container 27 wall along the proposed tear line and then covering and sealing the perforations 28 with adhesive tape, preferably made of polypropylene, and that preferably 29 comprises a starter tear notch.

i While the perforated or weakened container LOPE wall is now easily torn the z adhesive tape also easily tears along the line of the perfortions underneath and 3 lifts of the container wall to open the fluid exit.

4 Adhesive tape affixed to the container over the perforations but under the closure means also supplies the facility to weld the closure valve to the container 6 wall as the tape material can be chosen to suit such a weld whereas the container 7 material is most likely not to be suitable.

a These features brought together may form a unique product that avoids the need 9 for a container with a stiff body or the need for a container holder or the need io for an expensive laser weakening system.

ii The closure is formed from polypropylene plastic and the bag is formed from iz LDPE. Thus there is a difficulty bonding or welding the closure to the container 13 wall. This is solved by the introduction of the poylpropylene adhesive tape in 14 between the structures.

is Thus a mechanical closure is created that can be used with very thin container is material thus overcoming the difficulty of devising a chemical reseal that works in 17 wet or damp fridge conditions or after other moisture contamination.

is Optionally the holding means is formed from tape and adhesive or formed in the i top container pack material.

A method of manufacture is provided that includes; 21 Positioning freely or attaching the vertical supports at the edge of the base tray, 22 leaving a short length of the supports to the inside of the base tray to act as a 23 lever, 24 entering the container pack downwards into the base tray, on top of the vertical zs supports and thus levering them upwards into position, 26 holding the assembly upright by encompassing holding means that has 27 perforations or slits to allow the vertical supports to move into position and then 28 applying top tapes to secure them; i top adhesive tapes are then applied, 2 rotational forces then are applied to the container by rotational means 3 contacting and interfering with the vertical supports.

4 The fluid pack may be entered into the base by being transported inside a channel s and then being dropped through guide planes that compress up the ears' before 6 entry.

i Any or all features described in this patent may be used in various combinations 8 to produce new useful product suitable for various markets..

9 Preferably the lower part or tape means comprises means to be easily deconstructed from the container, by the user., for example the tape may ii comprise a tab for pulling it apart.

12 The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to i the following figures.

14 Figure 1 shows a modified pillow pack container that contains approximately one is litre of fluid.

16 Figure 2 shows valve detail of figure 1.

17 Figure 3 shows a container with a pressure formed base and user grip.

is Figure 4 shows initial container asssembly detail.

is Figure S shows further assembly detail.

Figure 6 shows a schematic of an assembly line.

21 Referring to the drawings; 22 It is the intention of the author that the numbered features depict features with 23 similar functions in each figure.

i. In figure 1 container 1 is formed as a pillow pack and has a top seal 2 and a base 2 seal 3 and when filled with fluid ears' 4 are formed at the corners. This container 3 pack could also be a Doy' type pack in which case only top ears' would form.

4 The container 1 is seen containing fluid 30, ready to be assembled and sits over s adhesive tape or card that is folded upwards at hinges 6 thus compressing or e folding the ears' in direction 8 and fixedly locating them against the container 7 wall 7 to form a stiffer lower part. Assembly means 9, not part of the product, s enables the accurate folding and comprises hinges 10 and underlies the card or 9 tape or other material..

The container is enabled to take up a circular cross sectional shape that matches ii its circular peripheral dimensional geometry.

12 A user grip means 14 for lifting the container and a vertical support means 11 are 13 attached to the container watt 14 Valve means 12 with a hinge means 13 is attached diagonally across the is potential pouring exit 15.

16 Such a valve may be attached to a standard pillow pack that can be suppoorted 17 by an external holder and can be used in a similar fashion, not shown.

is In figure 2 the pouring corner of container us shown covered with adhesive 19 polypropylene tape 17. This enables the valve 12 to be weldably attached to the bag surface,the bag 1 being made of LLDPE.The tape 17 is notched at 18 to zi produce a starter notch such that when the user pulls on it, it tears and the zz container ruptures along preperforated line l6to produce a pouring exit 15.

23 The user, not shown, can fold the valve 12 at hinge 13 to enable the bag material 24 to open under influence of the weight of fluid pour. To close the fluid exit the user holds the valve 12 at top part 27 and turns it in direction 19. The valve 12 26 descends as it rotates and closes off the fluid exit being locked in place by top 27 container material 1 being tucked under it in the space 28.Once it has been 28 turned locking part 21 of valve 12 can releaseably engage the top of front vertical 29 stiffenner 22 at line 23.

a Valve 12 is attached to the container at welds 25 The upstream weld 25 acts as a 2 fluid baffle to prevent sloshing of fluid up the inner front of the container on the 3 user lifting it. Perforation 16 is made such that a distance 26 is created 4 downstream of the baffle such that there is a single fluid stream.

s Adhesive tapel7 is seen covering and fixing the front vertical stiffenner and this s tape application is multifunctional as described above solving many f the technical 7 problems engendered by this type of valve 12.

s In figure 3 a complete container 1 is shown in perspective view and contains 9 fluid to fluid level 30 and a pressure formed base 5, rear vertical support 31 and io front support 22 are attached by adhesive tape 32.For large 2 litre volumes a ii side vertical stiffenner 11 may be included.

12 Adhesive tape 28 is applied over the top rear vertical stiffenner 32 such that 13 uncovered container wall 1 facilitates the user to insert a finger at 33 to lift the 14 container 1 or more fingers upstream to enable the user to pour from the is container 1. Weld 29 is made to weld the container walls together and reinforce ic the grip attachment of rear vertical support 31.

17 In figure 4 there is a side view of a delivery chute 34 and figure 44 is cross is sectional view of the bottom, positioned directly above base tray lower parts, i that delivers containers 1 in direction 33, the drop speed being controlled by control means 34A.The ears 4 of container 1 are pressed upwards by inclined 21 guide planes 35 that overhang the trayS and the container 1 enters the tray S 22 while levering up in direction 8 the vertical supports 22, 31 and or 11, titled in 23 this figure and figure 6 by the number 36. The guide planes 35 are splft n the 24 middle to allow the vertical supports 36 to pass through and provide lateral control to their elevation.

26 Once dropped and in position, if required perforation means 37 creates pour 27 exit tear line perforations. During this time period,see figure 5, adhesive tapes 17 28 and 28, stored in rolls 37 drop into position and are pressed onto the container 29 by spring loaded means 40 pushing a planar surface 39. The tape stores rise and so extend the tape for the next product. Figure 5A shows the planar surface on one i side in face view, Cutting means 45 cuts the tape just before the tape satoes rise 2 in direction 38 and planar surfaces 47 then hinge about hinge 45 to close together 3 and compress the tape neatly over the container top.

4 In figure 6 station 1 shows a lower part tray advancing in direction 42 to station 2 where the action as described above take place.

6 The container tray assembly then travels to station 3 where adhesive tape 32 is i applied on to the revolving product that then travels to station 4 where valve part 8 12 is welded on.