Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to a beverage container of
multilayer composite material having a liquid-tight inside layer
of thermoplastic synthetic material, with a perforation extend-
ing to the inside layer to form an cpening for inserting a
drinking straw. In particular, the ir.ver.tion relates to a
beverage container made of flexible foil material.
There are already known in the art beverage containers
which are made of at least one exterior carrier layer and a
liquid-tight inside layer and provided with an insertion open-
10 ing for a drinking straw closed by means of a tear-off adhesive
strip. The zdhesive strip is pasted to the exterior layer of
the wall material surrounding the insertion opening and has a
tab for tearing it off.
With aromatic beverages, these closures have proven
15 permeable for the passage of aromatic matter so that quality
deterioration was found between bottling and consumption of
such beverages. Also, such closures do not withstand the con-
ditions cccurring during transport and the storage of such
beverage containers.
There is already known a beverage container of multilayer
composite material where a cover strip is inserted in a with-
drawal opening penetrating the container wall and a thermoplas-
tic inside layer of the cover strip is fused to the cutout edges
of a liquid-tight thermoplastic inside layer of the container
25 wall. This closure dces not provide sufficient tightness
- against the penetration of aromatic matter, because only the
edges of the inside layer of the cc,ntainer walls are fused to
the thermoplastic inside layer of the cover strip. Furthermore,
this closure provides no security against leaks unless such con-
30 tainers are of stable shape and no pressure can be exerted from
the inside to the outside on the walls during transport and
storage.
There are also known beverage containers consisting of
multilayer composite materials having perforation of the outer
35 layers of the composite material penetrating to ~he liquid-
tight inside layer, so that after piercing the inside layer
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there develops an cpening through which a drinking straw can
be inserted in the container~ Even thoug~ the liquid-tight
inside layer is thin, it has ~een found difficult to pierce
this layer with a straw. The consumers of the beverages con-
tained in such beverage containers frequently have no meansbesides the drinking straws for piercing the inside layer ex-
posed in the vicinity of the perforation and an additional
difficulty is encountered in the resilience of the walls.
According to the present invention there is provided a
beverage container comprising walls of at least an inner layer
of liquid-tight thermoplastic material and a further layer of
a gas-tight material, an opening extending through the further
layer and up to the inner layer, and a closure member to cover
the opening and of material having at least an inner layer of
liquid-tight thermoplastic material and a further layer of a
gas-tight material, the inner layer of the closure member being
joined to the portion of the inner layer of the cc,ntaine~ walls
exposed by the opening.
A safe sealing of the insertion opening is achieved
which ensures particularly simple handling since the closure
strip is solidly connected to the beverage container material
only in the perforated area while the portions overlapping the
perforation contact the container walls only from the outside.
Thus, when tearing off the closure strip, which is done by
pulling a tab or the portion of the closure strip overlapping
the perforation, that portion of the inside layer of the con-
tainer walls is torn out along the peripheral contour of the
perforation. This produces an opening in the container wall
through which the drinking straw can be easily inserted.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be more
particularly described by way of example with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a beverage container
which has an insertion opening for a drinking straw and closed
by a closure strip with tear-off tab;
Fig. 2 shows the upper end of the container in a section
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taken along line II~II of Fig. 1,
Fig. 3 shows an enlarged sectional view of ringed area
IV of Fig. 2 before fusing on a closure strip; and
Fig. 4 shows an enlarged view of ringed area IV of Fig.
2 with a fused-on closure strip.
Referring now to the drawings, the container shown in
Fig. 1 is a beverage container 10 whose walls 11 are made of
flexible foil laminate material consisting of a liquid-tight
thermoplastic inside layer 12, a gas-tight intermediate layer
13 and an exterior cover layer 14. Po]yethylene may be used
as the thermoplastic in~ide layer 12 while use of a thin alum-
inium foil as the intermediate layer 13 forms an excellent gas
lock and hence prevents penetration of aromatic matter. The
exterior layer 14 is nct fusible and may be cellophane or a
suitable varnish coat.
A filling opening is located at the top, and is closed
after filling with a beverage by means of a fused seam 15.
Near the opening one of the container walls 11 has an inser-
tion opening 18 for a drinking straw and closed by means of a
tear-off closure strip 17 having a tab 16. Fig. 4 shows
details of the closure strip 17 which is made of the same foil
laminate material as the container walls. Accordingly, it has
a thermoplastic inside layer 12' of polyethylene, a vapor-
tight intermediate layer 13' of thin aluminium foil and a non-
fusible cover layer 14' of cellophane or cover varnish.
Fig. 3 shows the laminate material from which the con-
tainers are made, which is provided with a perforation 20
penetrating only the outer layers 13, 14. The holes are
covered on the inside by the undamaged thermoplastic layer 12.
Before fusing the containers at seam 15, closure strip 17 is
placed on perforations 20, with the fusible inside layer 12'
located on the side adjacent to the perforation and fused with
the use of pressure and temperature to the thermoplastic in-
side layer 12 of the wall material which is exposed in the
perforation zone.
This provides a beverage container with a liquid-tight
and aroma-tight opening f~r insertion of a drinking straw and
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this opening is distinguished by a closure which is secure
against large l~quid pressures and yet can be removed in a
simple manner. To expose the insertion opening, it is merely
necessary to tear off the closure strip 17. The portion of
the inside layer 12 fused to the inside layer 12' of the clo-
sure strip remains stuck to the closure strip and is torn, as
indicated at 22 of Fig. 4, along a contour determined by the
perforation 20.
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