Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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DISPOSABLE CONT~INER
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a disposable
container for holding a low viscous liquid seasoning such
as soy sauce, or liquid detergents, liquid toiletries, or
the like. This disposable container is constructed in such
a way that when the container is pressed by fingers or -the
palm of the hand so as to peel and tear a seal on a side of
the container where a discharge opening is formed, the
contents can be discharged.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
In general, disposable containers have been hitherto
constructed in such a manner that a notch for opening each
container is formed in a sealing portion. When the
containers are torn at this notch, the contents can be
discharged.
In many conventional containers, however, it is
difficult to tear the containers at the notch. For this
reason, these conventional containers have the following
problems: (1) when the container is being torn, the
contents scatter, soiling clothing or the like; (2) in the
case of the container for foods, torn pieces of the
container often get in the food, which makes the food
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unclean; (3) tne contents on these torn pieces may soil
clothing or the like; and (4) there are no contalners
having a structure in which the seal can be readily broken
or the opening can be readily made for fillers or the like
in which two or more kinds of liquids are mixed together.
In view of the above problems, Japanese Unexamined
Patent Publication No. 56-82849 discloses a disposable
container which does not have these problems and which can
be readily opened.
The disclosed container is made of a flexible sheet
material, the edges of which container are sealed. The
container is torn open to take out the contents. A sealing
portion of the edge is formed so as to form an inverted V
whose peak faces the inside of the container. When the
container is pressed from the outside, the seal of the
sealing portion begins peeling off at the peak of the
inverted V. An opening made by this peeling is
progressively formed along a predetermined path, whereby
the contents are caused to flow out in a predetermined
direction.
However, after the disclosed container has been
manufactured on an experimental basis and actually been
used, it is seen that there still remain certain problems.
That is, it is difficult to tear the container, since
the outline of the sealing portion to which pressure is
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applied is formed so as to face simply the inside of the
contalner, this sealing portion being formed where the
opening is formed through which the contents flow out.
Furthermore, the container, as mentioned above, is the
type in which when pressure is applied to tear the sealing
portion, an opening is formed through whlch the con-tents
are forced out. Therefore, this difficulty, together with
the above difficulty in tearing, results in a problem in
that, once an opening made by tearing is formed, the
contents are suddenly forced out of the opening, and thus
scatter around. A problem further arises in that it is
difficult to make the contents flow in a predetermined
direction.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcoms the problems mentioned
above. The object of the invention is to provide a type of
disposable container in which, when it is pressed so as to
partially peel and tear a sealing portion, an opening is
formed. The container can thus be readily torn open. The
contents are not forced out of the opening of the
container, in other words, it is possible to force the
contents in a direction in which one wants the contents to
flow.
To achieve the above object, this invention provides a
bag-like disposable container constructed in such a manner
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that filmy sheets in which synthetlc resin films or
aluminum foils are laminated or not lamlnated are stacked,
and the three or four sides of the stacked sheets are
sealed, wherein a sealing portion where a discharge
opening, through which the contents flow and which is to be
formed by peeling and tearing this sealing portion, is
formed of a narrow seal, which substantially looks like a
bell or mountain, and wherein a small projected sealing
portion, which looks like a nipple, is formed at the peak
of the bell-like or mountain~like sealing portion, and
wherein a circulating resistive portion is formed near the
discharge opening formed in the container.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a first
embodiment of a container in accordance with the present
invention;
Fig. 2 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a
second embodiment of the container;
Fig. 3 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a third
embodiment of the container;
Fig. 4 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a
fourth embodiment of the container;
Fig. 5 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a fifth
embodiment of the containeri
Fig. 6 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a sixth
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embodiment of the container;
Fig. 7 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a
seventh embodiment of the container; and
Figs. 8 and 9 are each horizontal cross-sectional
views of the conventional art.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The embodiments of the present invention will now be
described with reference to the drawings.
In the drawings, numeral 1 denotes a bag-like
container which is formed in either one of the following
two manners: Two sheet materials at least opposite sides
of which can be heat-sealed are laid on top of the other,
and the three or four sides of these sheet materials are
heat-sealed 2-5; or one sheet material is folded into two
in a longitudinal direction thereof, and the three or four
sides of this sheet material are heat-sealed 2-5. As shown
in Fig. 8, a notch 6 is formed in a sealing portion 3 of
the conventional container, where an opening for tearing is
to be made. This opening is thus made by tearing the
container from this notch 6. This invention may be applied
to a heat-sealable bag-like container as well as to an
adhesive-type bag-like container.
As mentioned earlier, however, there are various
problems in the structure having such an opening.
In view of these problems, a container shown in Fig. 9
has hitherto been proposed. Pressure is applied to this
container which has no notch formed so as to make a sealing
portion 5 project into the container 1 in an inverted V-
shaped manner, whereby a tearing portion 7 is torn open.
In the proposed container, however, there is a problem
in the configuration of a sealing portion 2 which includes
the tearing portion 7 where an opening is to be made.
Because of this problem, it is not easy to make the
opening. Also, it is found that when a substantial amount
of pressure is applied to forming the opening, the liquid
in the container spills because of this pressure. The
present invention shown in Figs. 1-7 has been made to
overcome these problems.
The same reference characters in Figs. 1-7 as those in
Figs. 8 and 9 designa-te like members. (1) A sealing
portion 8 to be torn is formed inside the container 1: (2)
A chamber 10, for reducing the flow velocity of the
contents, is formed between the sealing portion 8 and an
opening 9, which is made beforehand in the sealing portion
5; or a flow velocity reducing portion 11 is formed. These
two points are unique features of the invention, which will
be explained with reference to Figs. 1-7.
In a first embodiment of Fig. 1, the sealing portion 8
formed inside the container 1 is cons-tructed in the
following way: A rlght seal line 8r and a left seal line
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2 Q .~3 ~ ~3 3 ~
8Q are formed in a substantially straight line, or in such
a manner as to form valleys of gentle slops. A narrow seal
line 8a to be peeled and torn is formed substantially at
the center of the sealing portion 8, this narrow seal line
8a being connected to the above two seal lines 8r and 8Q.
The peak of this bell-shaped or mountain-like seal line 8a
faces the inside of the container 1. Furthermore, a nipple
portion 8p is formed at this peak.
In Fig. 1, the chamber 10 is formed between the
sealing portion 8 and the opening 9. A resistive sealing
portion 11 serving as a flow velocity reducing portion is
formed in the chamber 10, directly under the peeling seal
line 8a. In this embodiment, a triangle resistive sealing
portion is utilized as the sealing portion 11.
The above structure of the container 1 permits a
liquid in the container 1 to be readily e~tracted from the
opening 9 at a reduced flow velocity of the liquid.
In other words, when -the container is pressed as when
tightly grasped, the stress caused by this pressure is
centered on the nipple 8p of the seal line 8a (for peeling
and tearing) of the sealing portion 8. The seal of the
sealing portion 8 is peeled off at the nipple 8p, thereby
causing the contents to start flowing toward the chamber
10. Though depending on pressure, the nipple 8p is peeled
off along the seal line 8a (for peeling and tearing), thus
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substantially forming an opening, consequently causing more
of the contents to flow.
The contents (liquid) are caused to flow rapidly into
the chamber 10 through an opening which is made as a result
of peeling and tearing the sealing portion 8. However,
because the resistive sealing portion 11 is formed in the
chamber 10, the contents, flowing through the peeled and
torn opening, are not caused to flow directly to the
outside through the opening 9, which is made beforehand in
the sealing portion 5. The contents first stay in the
chamber 10 because of the resistive sealing portion 11, and
then flow to the outside through the opening 9. They will
not be forced out directly from the container 1 in the way
the contents do in the conventional art. The opening 9 may
be formed arbitrarily in any position, so long as it is
connected to the chamber 10.
The resistive sealing portion in the first embodiment
may also be formed as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
In a second embodiment of Fig. 2, a plurality of dot-
like resistive sealing portions 12 are formed as flow
velocity resistive portions in the chamber 10.
In a third embodiment of Fig. 3, a bowl-like resistive
sealing portion 13 connected either to the right seal line
8r or to the left seal line 8Q is formed in the chamber 10.
The sealing portion 13 serving as a flow velocity resistive
portion is so designed as to change the flow path of the
contents in the chamber 10.
Needless to say that the flow velocity resistive
portions in Figs. 1-3 can be arbitrarily designed or
changed in accordance with the si~e or quantity of the
sealing dots of these resistive portions. The shape of the
flow path in the chamber 10 can also be arbitrarily
deslgned or changed in accordance with the vlscosity of the
contents, i.e., liquid, or the like.
In a fouxth embodiment of Fig. 4, for example, a
coarse open-cell foam 14 used as a flow velocity resistive
element is charged in the chamber 10. Such a flow velocity
resistive element formed of the open-cell ~oam 14 is
suitable especially for low viscous liquids such as water
or juice.
The flow velocity resistive element formed of such a
open-cell foam 14 allows the contents (liquid) to flow out
at a remarkably reduced rate, so therefore, the shape Of
the chamber 10 can be made simple as illustrated in Figs. 5
and 6, whiCh show fifth and sixth embodiments. In such a
case, the flow velocity resistive element made of the open-
cell foam 14 or a similar material may be arranged near the
peeled and torn opening in the container 1.
The flow velocity resistive element is not limited to
the open-cell foam 14 in the fourth embodiment. A member
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in which a liquid can soak, such as nonwoven fabric 15 or a
interwoven fabric material 16, may also be utilized as the
flow velocity resistive element.
In a seventh embodiment of Fig. 7, a straw-like
passageway 17 through which the contents are discharged or
sucked is connected to the opening 9 or the chamber 10
formed inside the container 1, and is integrally formed
with the container 1.
With the thus-constructed container 1, it is
convenient for one to suck the contents, such as drinking
water, through the straw-like passageway 17.
Two or more containers described above in accordance
with the present invention may be arranged in parallel in
the longitudinal directions thereof, or may be stacked one
on top of another in the thickness directions thereof.
Containers having such a construction in which they are
arranged in rows or stacked one on top of another are
suitably used for extracting two or more kinds of liquids
at the same time.
As has been described above, in the type of con-tainer
in which pressure applied to the container partially helps
peel and tear the sealing portion, so that the contents can
be extracted, the opening made by tearing is formed along
the substantially narrow bell-like or mountain-like seal
line. Since the nipple-like peeling projection is formed
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on the peak of the seal line, the peeled and torn opening
made by applying pressure can be easily formed.
In addition, because the chamber for reducing and
easing the flow velocity of the contents is formed between
the peeled and torn opening and the opening, which is made
beforehand in the sealing portion, the contents flowing out
under pressure will not be directly forced out. This is a
unique advantage of the present invention.
