Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02761443 2011-12-09
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority from Provisional Application Serial No.
61/421,907, filed on December 10, 2010, entitled Gusseted Flexible Package
With
Enlarged Mouth, which application is assigned to the same assignee as this
application
and whose disclosure is incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to containers and, more particularly, to
containers formed of flexible sheet materials.
Flexible containers formed of sheet materials have gained wide acceptance in
the
trade for holding foodstuffs, e.g., whole bean or ground coffee, chemicals, or
other air
perishable materials therein. One common type of flexible package container is
the so-
called gussetted package. That package is formed from a web of flexible stock
material,
e.g., polyethylene, polyester, polypropylene, metal foil, and combinations
thereof in
single or multiple plies, into a tubular body, having a front panel a rear
panel, and a pair
of gussetted sides. Each gussetted side is formed by a pair of gusset sections
and a central
fold edge interposed between a pair of outer fold edges. The marginal edges of
the front
and rear panels form the outer fold edges. The outer fold edges of one side of
both panels
and the interposed central fold edge define therebetween respective gusset
sections.
Those sections are subadjacent (underlie) the marginal edges of their
associated panels.
The other gussetted side of the package is constructed in an identical manner.
The lower
end of many such prior art gussetted packages are commonly permanently sealed,
e.g.,
heat sealed, along a line extending transversely across the width of the
package close to
the bottom edge of the package. The upper end of each such package is left
open to form
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a mouth for filling (and in many cases, emptying) the package. Thus, it is a
common
practice to form the mouth of the package of sealable, (e.g., heat sealable),
means to
enable the package to be sealed at its mouth after the package is filled with
its desired
contents.
Special means are commonly provided at the mouth of a gussetted flexible
package to facilitate its sealing and easy opening. For example, in U.S.
Patent No.
4,705,174, which is assigned to the same assignee as this invention and whose
disclosure
is incorporated by reference herein, there is disclosed a gussetted flexible
package having
a mouth portion including means to enable it to be heat sealed to hermetically
hold coffee
or some other air perishable material therein, while enabling that package to
be readily
peeled open at its mouth when it is desire to remove the contents of the
package. Other
U.S. Patents assigned to the same assignee as this invention and relating to
gusseted
packages with openable mouths are U.S. Patent Nos.: 4,518,087 (Goglio);
4,576,285
(Goglio); 4,705,174 (Goglio); 4,913,561 (Beer), 5,692,837 (Beer); 6,082,897
(Galomb);
and 6,234,676 (Galomb); the disclosure of all of which are specifically
incorporated
herein.
Gussetted flexible packages containing coffee for sale at retail are generally
80mm to 90mm wide, 60mm to 80mm deep and 150mm to 250mm tall. This package
shape is long established and fits the retail shelf very well. Unfortunately,
this long and
thin package shape makes it difficult to scoop the product out of the package.
Thus, a
need exists for a gussetted flexible package of similar size and shape to
those
commercially available, but having a mouth which of a considerably larger size
than that
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in the prior art to facilitate the scooping of coffee or any other product
from the package.
The subject invention addresses that need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one aspect of this invention there is provided a package
formed of a flexible material for holding a product, e.g., whole bean or
ground coffee,
therein. The package comprises a front panel, a rear panel, a first side
gusset and a
second side gusset. The front panel has a first side and a second side. The
rear panel has a
first side and a second side. The first side gusset connects the first side of
the front panel
to the first side of the rear panel. The second side gusset connects the
second side of the
front panel to the second side of the rear panel. One of the gussets includes
plural fold
edges forming at least four gusset panels between the fold edges of that
gusset. The other
of the gussets includes plural fold edges forming at least two gusset panels
between the
fold edges of that other gusset. The panels and the gussets are arranged to be
initially
secured together, e.g., by a peelable seal line, to hold the product within
the package and
thereafter to be opened, e.g., peeled open, to form an enlarged mouth for said
package to
provide ready access to the product.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a package constructed in accordance with this
invention;
Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the package of Fig. 1 shown filled with
a
product, e.g., whole bean coffee;
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Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a web of flexible material that has been formed
into a
tubular arrangement to fabricate the package of Figs. 1 and 2 showing the
various panels
and fold edge that make up the package; and
Fig. 4 is a top view of a filled package after its enlarged mouth has been
opened to
provide greater access to the contents of the package than available
heretofore.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to the various figures of the drawing wherein like reference
characters refer to like parts, there is shown in Fig. 1 an exemplary
embodiment of a
package 20 constructed in accordance with this invention. The package
comprises The
package 20 basically comprises a front wall or panel 22, a rear wall or panel
24, a first
side gusset 26, a second side gusset 28, a bottom end 30, a top end 32 and a
one-way
venting valve 34. The walls of the package define a hollow interior in which a
product,
e.g., whole bean coffee 10, is located. The venting (or degassing) valve 34 is
located in
the front panel and is of any suitable construction, such as those disclosed
in the
aforementioned patents assigned to the same assignee as this invention. When
so
disposed the valve enables gases contained within the sealed package 20 to
vent to the
ambient air without any air gaining ingress to the package's interior.
The front panel 22, rear panel 24, and the two side gussets 26 and 26 of the
package are all integral portions of a single sheet or web of flexible
material which has
been folded and seamed to form a tubular body such as shown in Fig. 3. Thus,
the back
panel 24 of the package 20 includes a longitudinally extending (vertical) seam
36. The
seam is formed by the marginal edges of the sheet or web section which are
brought into
engagement with each other. Those edges are permanently secured to one another
via any
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conventional sealing technique, such as heat sealing or welding. The lower end
30 of the
package is sealed closed along a permanent seam line 38. That seam line is
formed using
conventional sealing techniques, such as any of those used to form seam 36.
The upper end 32 of the package includes a transverse seal line 40, to be
described later, that is preferably constructed so that it can be readily
opened, e.g., is
peelable, to form a mouth 50 for the package. It is through the mouth that the
contents of
the package may be removed, e.g., whole bean or ground coffee may be scooped
out of
the package through the mouth when it is opened.
In accordance with one preferred aspect of this invention the two side gussets
26
and 28 are of asymmetrical construction to result in a mouth 50 having a
larger cross-
sectional area than heretofore existing in the prior art, for the same size
package. To that
end, as can be seen clearly in Figs. 1 and 3 the gusset 26 is in the form of a
single fold,
namely, a central fold edge 26A interposed between a pair of outer fold edges
26B and
26C. The central fold edges and the outer fold edges all are parallel to the
longitudinal
axis of the package 20. The gusset 28, however, is in the form of a double
fold formed by
three interior fold edges 28A1, 28A2 and 28A3 interposed between a pair of
outer fold
edges 28B and 28C. Two of outer fold edges 26B and 28B form the marginal edges
of the
package's front panel 22, while the other two of the outer fold edges 26C and
28C form
the marginal edges of the package's rear panel 24.
The outer fold edge 26B and the inner fold edge 26A define a first gusset
panel
42A between them, while the outer fold edge 26C and the inner fold edge 26A
define a
second gusset panel 42B between them. The first and second gusset panels, 42A
and
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42B, respectively, are of the same width and are subadjacent, that is, lie
under, the
marginal edge portions of the front and rear panels 22 and 24, respectively.
The outer fold edge 28B and the inner fold edge 28A1 of the gusset 28 define a
first gusset panel 44A between them. The inner fold edge 28A1 and the inner
fold edge
28A2 define a second gusset panel 44B between them. The inner fold edge 28A2
and the
inner fold edge 28A3 define a third gusset panel 44C between them. The inner
fold edge
28A3 and the outer fold edge 28C define a fourth gusset panel 44D between
them. The
first and fourth gusset panels 44A and 44D are subadjacent the marginal edge
portions of
the front and rear panels 26 and 28, respectively, while the second and third
gusset
panels, 44B and 44C are subadjacent the gusset panels 44A and 44D,
respectively. Each
of the gusset panels 44A - 44D is of the same width as the others and
preferably the same
width as the gusset panels 42A and 42B of the gusset 26.
As mentioned above the top portion of the package 20 includes transverse seal
line 40. That seal line 40 is located a short distance below the top edge of
the package
and extends the full width of the package, i.e., between the outer fold edges
42B and 42C
on one side of the package and the outer fold edges 44B and 44C on the other
side of the
package. Thus, the seal line encompasses the subadjacent panels of the two
gussets 26
and 28 as well.
The seal line 40 is preferably formed so that it can be readily peeled open to
form
the mouth 50 of the package and thus provide access to the contents 10. To
that end, the
seal line 40 can be constructed in accordance with any conventional prior art
technique,
such as those disclosed in the aforementioned patents assigned to the same
assignee as
this invention. For example, a layer of coating of a peelable material 40A,
such as shown
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in Fig. 2, may be disposed on the inner surfaces of the abutting panels
forming the
package's mouth at the seal line 40.
Since the seal line 40 is peelable, all that is required to open the mouth 50
of the
package is to pull on the edges of the front and rear panels 22 and 24 above
the transverse
seal line 40 to break the seal line. This has the effect of opening or
flattening the gussets
contiguous with the top portion of the package. In particular, when the mouth
50 of the
package is pulled open, as just described, the top portions of the panels 40A
and 40B of
the gusset 26 are flattened or coplanar and the top portions of the panels 42A
- 42D of
the gusset 28 flattened or coplanar as best seen in Fig. 4. Thus, the distance
separating the
outer fold edges 28B and 28C will be approximately double the distance
separating the
outer fold edges 26B and 26C, whereupon the mouth 50 of the package will be of
a
substantially larger area than if the package had two, single-fold gussets
like gusset 26.
This provides the user with easier access to the contents 10 of the package to
enable the
user to readily scoop the contents of the package.
It should be pointed out at this juncture that the width of the panels of
either of the
gussets 26 and 28 can be selected as desired. Thus, a package 20 can be
constructed in
accordance with this invention wherein the panels of the double fold gusset 28
may be of
a different width than the panels of the single fold gusset 26. In fact, the
width of the any
of the gusset panels of the double wall gusset may be different that the width
of other
panels of that gusset. Moreover, while the preferred embodiment of the package
20 is
disclosed as having a single fold gusset 26 on one side and a double fold
gusset 28 on the
other side, such an arrangement is merely exemplary. To that end, both gussets
can have
double folds. In fact, the subject invention contemplates gussets having more
than two
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folds, with the only limitation being the amount of flexible material desired
to fabricate
the package.
Without further elaboration the foregoing will so fully illustrate my
invention that
others may, by applying current or future knowledge, adopt the same for use
under
various conditions of service.
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