Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1333263
A LIQUID PACKAGE FOR PRESSURIZED CONTENTS
The present invention relates to a liquid package for pressurized contents.
A demand has existed for a long time for inexpensive and ecologically beneficialpackages for pressurized, carbonated beverages. The packages found on the market to-
5 day are glass bottles, aluminium cans and plastic bottles. Each of these has someadvantages and disadvantages.
Glass has good properties permitting a gas-tight package which withstands the
inner pressure the contents exercise on the package and which does not affect the
taste of the liquid contents. Glass bottles can be cleaned and refilled or crushed when
10 the raw material is to be used anew for bottle manufacture. To wash and refill may be
considered advantageous but the washing process entails undesirable expense and an
appreciable consumption of energy. Conventional glass bottles, moreover, are heavy
and require a large volume in transport. The weight makes them also less attractive for
the consumer.
The aluminium cans discussed in recent times, are also eminently suitable for
recycling. The main disadvantage of aluminium as packing material, however, is the
expensive and energy-demanding manufacture of aluminium, which also tends to
become more expensive still with rising energy prices. A further disadvantage of this
type of packages is that their inside are varnished and that this varnish contains
20 solvents which negatively affect the taste of the liquid. Furthermore, empty packages
which are transproted to the brewery cannot be stacked into one another, so that the
transport becomes inefficient and expensive.
Plastic bottles which are also encountered on the market for carbonated
beverages are expensive. The plastic raw material may be reused, however, for another
25 manufacture, such as e.g. insulating padding in clothing.
For a development of a wholly new packaging for pressurized contents all the
abovementioned aspects have to be weighed up carefully. The packaging should be
inexpensive and the manu-
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facture should not be too energy-demanding or require an expensive raw material. The
package should be recoverable. Moreover, it should be light from a point of view of the
consumer and of transport and, in particular, it should be stackable for a more efficient
transport in empty state. The packing material should protect the product and it should
5 not affect its taste and quality. The material also should be gas-tight and withstand the
internal pressure which the liquid exercises on the package.
It is an object of the present invention to make possible the manufacture of a
cheaper and ecologically more beneficial package for pressurized contents which
possesses the properties enumerated above.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a package where the
contents are in contact with a thermoplastic material which, differently from varnish,
does not affect the quality of the liquid contents and in which the liquid is protected
from light, which also contributes to the retention of the quality and taste of the liquid
contents.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the package with a
characteristic and attractive appearance in a form which contributes to a good
utilization of volume during distribution.
These and other objects have been achieved in accordance with the invention in
that a liquid package of the type described in the introduction has been given the
20 characteristic that the package is in the shape of a truncated cone where therelationship between top radius and bottom radius can be expressed by the formula r
0.4R, where r designates the radius of the top surface and R designates the radius of
the bottom surface.
The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the attached
25 drawings wherein
Fig. 1 shows the packages as whole
Fig. 2 shows the relationship between the top radius and the bottom radius
Fig. 3 shows a conceivable packing pattern as a distribution
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unit.
As is evident from Fig. 1 the package 1 in accordance with the present inventionis in the shape of a truncated cone, with a shell surface 2 manufactured from a thin
metal foil, e.g. thin sheet steel, laminated at least on one side with a thermoplastic
5 material. The metal foil has good gas-tightness properties. The thermoplastic material
is chosen so that it has good welding characteristics. Moreover, it should have good
adhesion capacity to metal and it should be ecologically beneficial. If a choice is made
to manufacture the shell surface 2 of thin sheet steel, it is possible already from the
start to make use in the manufacture of recycled scrap and thus make the manufacture
10 less expensive. The sheet steel too may possibly be recovered.
The stamped out sheet is rolled round to a cone and the thermoplastic material
on its surface is welded with overlap to a longitudinal joint 3. The joint 3 coincides
with a generatrix on the truncated cone.
The package 1 is provided with bottom 4 and top 5. The bottom 4, which may
15 be manufactured of thermoplastics or sheet metal, may be wholly closed or it may
comprise an opening device. The bottom 4 should be designed so that it can withstand
the pressure from the enclosed liquid. If it is chosen to make the bottom 4 of sheet
metal it should be covered at least on one side by means of lamination with, or
application of, a thermoplastic material and be welded together with the thermoplastic
20 layer of the shell surface 2 by heating.
To the top 5 or bottom 4 an opening device 6 is fitted in a tight manner which
on opening of the package 1 is intended to be torn off so that the enclosed liquid
becomes accessible for consumption.
The truncated cone is characterized by the relationship between the radii of its25 top and bottom surfaces which can be expressed by the formula r = ~2 - 1 ) R, which
corresponds to ~ 0.4R, where R designates the radius of the top surface 7 and R the
radius of the bottom surface 8, which is illustrated in Fig. 2.
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The bottom radius is chosen so that it fits the module used in the handling of
distribution and transport. The top radius then can be calculated according to the
aforementioned formula r = ~2 -1 )R. The height of the package, and with it also the
cone angle, is determined by the volume, bearing in mind the product volume, head
5 space, that is to say splash space, and bottom and top design. The height, and the
cone angle connected therewith, are limited by practical considerations in respect of the
ease of handling and the desire that the packages should make the best possible use of
the distribution units. The enclosed volume is calculated by the formula Ir H R2(3 - v'2) 3
where H represents the height and R the radius of the bottom area 8.
Fig.3 shows a distribution unit 9 comprising 13 off packages 1,10. With
different package dimensions, of course, a great number of other packing patterns may
exist taking into consideration the transport and distribution modules.
Fig.3 demonstrates also that if a package 10 with an aforementioned relationshipbetween the radii of top and bottom surfaces is positioned upside down, that is to say
reversed between 4 adjoining packages 1 positioned the right way up, the reversed
package 10 will rest on its top surface 7, that is to say wholly on a level with the
bottom surfaces 8 of the four packages 1 which are positioned the right way up. At
20 the same time a tangential touch is obtained along four whole generatrices on the shell
surface 2 of the reversed package 10 and one whole generatix on each shell surface 2
of the four packages 1 which are positioned the right way up. Thus a good utilization is
obtained of the space which the packages 1 occupy in their distribution unit 9. The
packing pattern is held together e.g. by being shrink-wrapped or enclosed, in some
25 form, by the distribution unit. To hold the units 9 together the space can be utilized
better, moreover, by turning every other unit 9 upside down. The units 9 can also be
stacked in vertical direction, since their surfaces are wholly plane and the internal
pressure of the packages 1 imparts to them great strength and endurance against the
effect of external pressure.
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As is evident from the above description, a liquid package is provided by the present
invention which complies with the demands regarding gas tightness and strength for
carbonated beverages and which is cheaper than the liquid packages for pressurized
contents on the market at present. The liquid packages in accordance with the present
5 invention, moreover, are ecologically more beneficial, since they can be manufactured
mainly from recycled material which can be recovered again. The manufacture,
moreover, is not as energy-demanding as e.g. that of aluminium cans. By means of the
present invention, moreover, a package is obtained which in an improved manner
preserves the quality and taste of the enclosed beverage, as the enclosed beverage is in
10 contact with a thermoplastic material and as it is protected against light by the metal
foil .
