WO1996008987A1

WO1996008987A1 - Package including a food consumption spoon, in particular for throwaway containers

Info

Publication number: WO1996008987A1
Application number: PCT/IT1995/000144
Authority: WO
Inventors: Claudio Concetti
Original assignee: D.S.A. S.R.L.
Priority date: 1994-09-22
Filing date: 1995-09-01
Publication date: 1996-03-28
Also published as: ITBO940163U1; AU3375595A

Abstract

The package (1) is completed with a spoon (2) including a tubular element or small reed (3) and a concave member or cup (4), to be assembled together. The cup features a shank (5) that is fitted to the reed (3) when the spoon must be used. The reed (3) and the cup (4) are separately inserted in an envelope (7) sealingly closed by means of welding lines (9, 10) and then associated to a related container (14).

Description

PACKAGE INCLUDING A FOOD CONSUMPTION SPOON, IN PARTICULAR FOR THROWA AY CONTAINERS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to packaging of semi-liquid food into throwaway containers and the like.

BACKGROUND ART

It is known that semi-liquid food, such as yoghourt for instance, are generally sold packaged in throwaway containers, small vessels and the like. Two or more vessels are often packaged toge¬ ther within an outer wrapping that wraps them all around. Generally, the wrapping is obtained from a suitable cut out blank of flexible material, such as card board.

Food packaged in this way is eaten directly from the container by means of a spoon. It appears that providing the wrapping with a related spoon that could be used to eat the product, would be convenient.

In fact, this would allow to easily eat the product anywhere, even outdoors, thus increasing selling thereof. Providing the containers with the convention¬ al throwaway spoons generally used to eat ice-creams and obtained by moulding of plastic material, brings about several problems, mainly because they are rather big, and therefore they cannot be directly fitted to the containers both at side and on top thereof.

Fastening the spoons to the cardboard outer wrapping enclosing a couple of containers is also rather difficult, because the containers do not leave space enough due to their shape.

As a matter of fact, it would be possible to set two spoons within a wrapping enclosing two containers, with the spoons arranged transversely on the inner surface of the wrapping blank side panels. However, the spoons situated in this position would exceed the free space thus interfering with the containers.

Folding spoons have also been proposed to solve the problem, in which the handle can be folded up longitudinally over itself, so that the length of the spoon is reduced to a half.

When it must be used, the spoon must be opened to the full length configuration while the handle is constrained to this position by means of snap means provided in the spoon.

However, such folding spoons require complex manufacture operations and are therefore rather expensive. In particular, high precision moulds are necessary in producing these spoons to give them possibility of folding and unfolding movements as well as to provide them with the snap means.

Moreover, once they have been manufactured, the spoons must be folded up before packaging, and this further increases the overall cost. Consequently, the folding spoons have a very high production cost that prevents their use in large production food packaging, such as in single portion packaging of yoghourt and the like. It must be also considered that these articles are thrown away after using. In any way, due to their irregular shape, positioning of folding spoons with respect to the containers and within an outer wrapping is trouble¬ some.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to propose a spoon package that requires reduced space, and that allows easily providing the throwaway containers and the like with related spoons.

The above mentioned object is achieved by means of a package including a food consumption spoon that includes a handle forming tubular element or small reed and a concave member or cup, to be assembled together. The cup features a shank that is fitted to the reed when the spoon must be used. The reed and the cup are separately inserted in an envelope sealingly closed by means of welding lines and fastened to a related container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The characteristic features of the invention are highlighted in the following, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Fig.l is a perspective view of a wrapping blank for a pair of throwaway containers, still open to make apparent the presence of a related pair of spoon package including spoons obtained in accor¬ dance with the present invention;

- Fig.2a shows a front view of a section of a band carrying the spoon packages,- - Fig.2b and 2c show a front view of different forms for the above mentioned packages;

- Fig.3 is a view of a spoon when it is assembled to be used.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

With reference to the above mentioned Fig- ures, reference numeral 1 indicates the package enclosing the spoon to be assembled before consump¬ tion of semi-liquid food, such as yoghourt and the like.

The spoon 2 includes a tubular element or small reed 3 and a concave member or cup 4. The reed

3 is made of plastic material, such as polypropylene and the like, and forms the handle of the spoon, while the cup 4 is obtained by moulding of plastic material . The cup 4 features a shank 5 that can be fitted into the reed 3 to assemble the spoon 2. The shank 5 has a knurling 6 aimed at preventing the cup

4 from coming off the reed 3, after assembling them together. The spoon 2 disassembled is enclosed into a related envelope 7 made of suitable material, such as cellophane. The envelopes are formed in a support band 8 that is obtained from two superimposed strips welded to each other along delimiting welding lines 9 and then transversely severed.

More precisely, each envelope is delimited by a pair of welding lines 10 arranged transverse to the band 8. The envelopes are separated from one another by means of conventional severing opera- tions, cutting the band 8 along a cutting line between two adjacent welding lines 10.

Therefore, the envelopes 7 are hermetically sealed due to the outer weldings 9 and 10, and this assures the best hygienic condition for the spoons contained thereinside.

According to the embodiment shown in Fig.2a, the reed 3 and the cup 4 are separated inside the envelope 7 by means of a further transverse welding line 11. In fact, this further welding line 11 defines, along with an adjacent transverse welding line 10, a basically tubular housing 12, into which the reed is introduced.

It must be noted that the reed put into the housing 12 of the envelope 7 forms a clear reference mark that can be used for precise and unvaried application of the envelopes to the related wrapping blanks or containers.

The envelopes 7 have also indentations 13 aimed at making easier ripping when the spoons are needed.

According to the embodiment shown in Fig.2b, the welding line 12 is interrupted in its midpoint, and therefore the housing 12 of the reed 3 communi¬ cates with the housing of the cup 4. This allows for reducing the width of the envelopes.

It is also possible to make the envelopes 7 with a unique housing for both the reed 3 and the cup 4, as it is shown in Fig.2c.

Usage of the package 1 are clearly compre- hensible from the foregoing description. Since the dimension of the package is reduced, due to the spoon 2 being divided into two pieces, the envelope 7 can be easily applied either directly to the container, for instance to a small vessel 14, or to the outer wrapping 15 of the containers packaged in couples. The wrapping 15 is obtained from a card¬ board blank, in accordance to a known process.

Particularly, the envelope 7 can be applied to an inner surface of a side panel 16 of the blank, arranged perpendicular with respect to the bottom panel 17 and in a middle position with respect to the two containers 14, that is in correspondence with a position where the containers leave enough space for it (See Fig.l) . In other words, two packages 1 containing related spoons 2 can be housed inside the wrapping 15 without any interference with the containers 14.

The envelopes 7 are applied to the containers 14 or to the wrappings 15 by means of suitable adhesive or other similar stitching means.

It must be noted that the regular shape of the envelope 7 containing the reed 3 facilitates the application of the package 1. It must be also pointed out that using the two-piece spoons brings to a substantial saving in production costs. This is due to low moulding costs, with simple moulds which allows for high throughput, and also to smaller use of plastic material.

In fact, forming the handle of the spoon by means of the reed reduces the need of material and however, the light handle thus obtained has the resistance necessary to pick up the food from inside the container.

Packaging the spoons to be assembled in the envelopes 7 formed in a continuous band 8 allows to reach high throughput for the machine used to apply the envelopes 7 either to the containers 1 or dir¬ ectly to the wrappings 15. This is a consequence both of the regular shape and also of the steadiness of the package 1. The package is also very easy to be used by the consumer. The consumer, after opening the enve¬ lope 7, takes out the reed 3 and the cup 4 therefrom and assembles the spoon by press fitting the shank 5 of the cup into an end of the reed 3.

It is understood that what described above has been described as a mere example, not limita¬ tive, therefore possible constructive variants are protected by the present technical solution, as described above and claimed in the following.

Claims

1. Package including a food consumption spoon, in particular for throwaway containers, characterised in that the said spoon (2) includes a handle forming tubular element or small reed (3) and a concave member or cup (4) , to be assembled together, with the said cup featuring a shank (5) that is fitted to the reed (3) when the spoon must be used, the reed (3) and the cup (4) being separately inserted in an envelope (7) sealingly closed by means of welding lines (9,10) and fastened to a related container

(14) .

2. Package as in claim 1, characterised in that the said shank (5) include a knurling (6) aimed at preventing the cup (4) from coming off the reed (3) , after assembling them together.

3. Package as in claim 1, characterised in that the said reed (3) and cup (4) are separated from each other, inside the envelope (7) by means of a further transverse welding line (11) that defines a basical¬ ly tubular housing (12) into which the reed is introduced.

4. Package as in claim 3, characterised in that the said further transverse folding line (12) is inter¬ rupted in a midpoint, thus making the housing (12) of the reed (3) communicate with the housing of the said cup (4) .

5. Package as in claim 1, characterised in that said envelopes (7) are obtained by transversely severing a band (8) formed by two strips of material joined to each other along longitudinal welding lines (9) , each of said envelopes (7) being delimited by a pair of transverse welding lines (10) made on the band (8) .

6. Package as in claim 1, characterised in that said envelope (7) is applied to an inner surface of a side panel (16) of a wrapping blank (15) that en¬ closes a pair of container (14) , this envelope (7) being arranged perpendicular to a bottom panel (17) of the same wrapping blank (15) , in a position situated between the two of the containers (14) .

7. Package as in claim 1, characterised in that said envelope (7) is applied directly to a container

(14) .

8. Package as in claim 1, characterised in that said reed (3) forms a reference mark used for precise and unvaried application of the envelopes (7) to related containers (14) .

9. Package as in claim 1, characterised in that said reed (3) forms a reference mark used for precise and unvaried application of the envelopes (7) to inner surfaces of related wrapping (15) that encloses at least one container (14) .