CA1104531A

CA1104531A - Dispensing container

Info

Publication number: CA1104531A
Application number: CA351,944A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Lawrence Wainberg
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-04-12
Filing date: 1980-05-14
Publication date: 1981-07-07

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A container for dispensing liquids placed in the con-tainer in sealed plastic pouches. The container has a body of a size to receive a pouch containing the liquid to be dispersed, and includes a combined dispensing-cutter unit removably secured in an opening in the container. The dispensing-cutter unit has a dispenser connected to a combined suction and cutter tube which has a sharpened lower end which penetrates into the pouch during positioning and securement of the unit in the opening.

Description

L53~L
The pres~nt application ~s a divisional o~ application Serial No. 325,419, filed April 12, 1979.
The invention relates to improvements in a container and dispenser-cutter unit combination ~or containin~ and hold-ing flexible form-fill-seal plastic pouches containing ~ uids.
It has been common practice to merchandise liquids such as milk, oils, beverages, a~ti-freeze, solvents and the like, in sealed containers, bags and pouches which are made from fle~ible materials such as cellulosics, glassine, polyvinyl chloride, poly-styrene, copolymer film, polyethylene and the like and distrib-uted to the consumer, who destroys or otherwise opens the sealed bag or pouch for releasing its contents therefrom.
In the packaging and merchandising of certain commod-ities, flexible sealed plastic pouches containing fluids are generally used, and the consumer or other person stores away the fill-seal pouches until required. When a ~ill-seal pouch is `
needed, the consumer places the pouch in an upright position into a pitcher or jug, nips off one upper corner of the pouch to form a flow outlet and simply tllts the pitcher and pours out a speci-fied quantity of the contents of the pouch. The pitcher, with its open pouch, which now acts as a liner therein, is stored away until further required.
. :
In other instances, fluids such as milk, have been poured into form-fill-seal pouches and are automatically or man-ually inserted into moisture-proof sealed carton. When the con-sumer desires a glass of milk to drink, he cuts and tears off the top corner of a milk carton to expose the sealed milk pouch con-~` :
tained therein, and then snips off, pierces or otherwise pene-trates the skin of the pouch to form an aperture therethrough, and 3~ which is in line with the torn or cut off corner of the carton.
The consumer may then withdraw the milk from the pouch and through the pouch opening, by means of a hollow straw, or pour out the milk into a glass or other receptacle. The used carton and ~,, ~ .

pouch are then discarded.
Some attempts have been made to provide a pouch recept-acle in the shape of a pitcher, an open-top can and the like, in which each bottom wall of the receptacle is Eormed with an aper-ture and a flow pipe extending therethrough and integrally or otherwise secured to ~he bottom wall o-f the receptacle. The upper end portion of the flow pipe terminates into a cutting edge while its lower end portion is adapted to engage with the inlet of a radiator, fuel tank, oil inlet of vehicle engines, and other equipment.
In this type of receptacle, depending on the kind of fluids it is used for, such as anti-freeze, the attendant or other person will drop a flexible seal-plastic pouch containing anti-freeze, into the open top or mouth of the receptacle and insert the lower portion of the flow pipe into the Eeed inlet of the engine's radiator and maintain the receptacle in that posi-tion. The attendant then pressed downwardly on the top portion of the flexible pouch so as to impinge the pouch upon the cutting edge of the upper portion of the flow pipe, thereby causing a ; 20 rupture to the bottom portion of the pouch and effecting a flow of the contents from the pouch through the flow pipe and into -~
the feed inlet of the radiator of the engine.
The use of these form-fill-seal flexible plastic pouches for containing fluids or pourable materials has been found ef~ic-ient, inasmuch that they have created a breakthrough in terms of ~-~ cost, durability and convenience in the packaging of fluids and , . .
other products. Furthermore, these pouches are light in weight and take less space in refrigeration, less storage space on dis-", play stands, shelving and the like, and do away the handling of bottles, cans, and cartons and their awkward disposal. Further-more, these form-fill-seal flexible plastic pouches have a jelly-like consistency with walls that are soft and yielding. Thus -they change in shape iE they are moved, pushed, or handled. Each .~ .

pouch in its initial tube shape is round, but when heat sealed top and bottom the tube assumes a shape somewhat like a pillow having imprecise dimensi.ons as related to top, bottom and sides, yet being filled with a fluid it will assume whatever shape it .
rests in or upon.
The plastic films used have gene:rally shown slip characteristics ~hich, when coupled with the action of the fluid contained seeking its own level, causes the pouch wall to adhere closely to the surface area of the members supporting it to create a partial airlock which further inhibits slip, thus causing a significant difference in characteristics from cellophane, paper, rigid or semi-rigid type packages.
However, there is much to be desired in the lack of a proper receptacle in which to place the .filled pouch, in most cases, the filled pouch is simply inserted into a pitcher or jug, one top corner of the pouch is cut off to form an aperture for the pur~
pose of pouring out the require2 volume of -the fluid from the pouch. Once the pouch has been opened, it allows the surrounding ;~ air and foreign matter to enter the pouch through the aperture 20 and permeate the contents of the pouch. Furthermore, no means ~.
are provided to maintain the receptacle closed at all times if neeeded, or any means -for manually, semi-automatically or other-: wi.se penetrating and forming an aperture through the skin of the flexible fluid form-fill-seal plastic sealed pouch for the ; ;
-~ egree of its contents and maintain a constant holding engagement with the 1exible pouch. ~`
It is therefore, the purpose of this invention to avoid such defects or other shortcomings of previous means and ;
methods in packaging and merchandising of these flexible fluid ~ 3~ or pourable material form-fill-seal plastic pouches, by devising : a container and a dispenser-cutter unit that forms an indis- :
pendable part of one another, and a flexible fluid or pourable material form-fill-seal plastic pouches which is adapted to be detachably inserted and held in the container and to be manually, semi-automatically or o~herwise operated by the dispenser-cutker unit to form an aperture -through the pollch for the withdrawal of the contents, and to detachably engage the pouch and maintain the same in an approximately upri~ht position within the container.
IN THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a front elevati.on of a flexible fluid form-fill-seal plastic pouch of the type used in the present invention;
Figure ~ is a side elevation of the flexible fluid form-fill-seal plastic pouch as shown;
Figure 3 is a vertical sectional schematic view of one embodiment of the invention in which the dispenser is formed with a sprayer and closure cap and provided with a hollow tube having its lower end terminating into a cutting edge adapted to enga~e ~ and penetrate the top portion of the flexible fluid form-fill-seal ; plastic pouch held within the container;
Figure 4 is a vertical sectional. schematic view of the invention, as shown in Figure 3, in which the flexible fluid form-~ fill-seal plastic pouch has been pierced by the dispenser-cutter ~ 20 unit and capped, and the con~ents thereof ready to be withdrawn therefrom;
Figure 5 illustrates in side partially sectioned view an embodiment of the invention wherein a pouch is placed in a ~ container from the bottom;
; Figure 6 illustrates in side partially sectioned view an embodiment of the invention similar to that shown in ~igure 4 ~. -wherein the dispenser is of a flip-open type;
Figure 7 is a sectional schematic view of a further embodiment of the invention, in which the container is adapted to hold multiple plastic pouches therewithin and the dispenser-cutter unit is provided with suction tubes which terminate into pouch cutting edges adapted to pierce and penetrate the skin of the flPxible fluid form-fill-seal plastic pouches for withdrawing the contents of the pouches;
Figure 8 is a perspective schematic view oE an embodi-ment of the invention in which the container has a separate com-partment to hold a flexible fluid form fill-seal pouch and -the remainder of the space contained in the container ~orming a sepa-rate compartment which is adapted to contain a different flu.id, and a dispenser-cutter unit combination including a metering valve forming a closure for the containex;
Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view as take.n along the line IX-IX in Figure 8; and Figure 10 is a partially sectioned view of a further embodiment of the inven-tion showing a metering valve unit to meter the flow of fluid withdrawing from the flexible fluid pouch.
Like numerals o-f reference indicate corresponding parts in the various Figures. ~-~
The container-dispensing units of the present invention are adapted to receive sealed flexible pouches containing various :~
types of liquids for the variety of purposes as discussed above~
Pouches of this general type are shown at 2 in Figures 1 and 2. .~ .
In Figures 3 and 4, a rigid container 4 has an open end ~`
4 and is adapted to be closed and opened by a screw lid 6. The screw lid has an externally threaded spout 8 projecting upwardly therefrom and integrally secured thereto and adapted to be engaged ~:
and disengaged by a dispenser-cutter unit 10, which is in the form of a top-fill dispenser 12 operated by the sprayer suction pump 14 thereof and integrally mounted on a screw cap 16. A suction tube :
18 is integrally or otherwise secured to the underside of the screw cap 16 and connected to passageway 18 of dispenser 14, the free end of the suction tube terminating a pouch cutter 20. .
A flexible commodity form-fill-seal plastic pouch 2 is inserted into the container in the usual way, and the dispenser-cutter unit is placed into aligned position with the spout of the screw lid so that upon pushing down the dispenser-cutter unit the suction tube will be pushed through the oriEice of the spout and then into and through the skin of the flexible commodity form-fill-seal plastic pouch un-til the end portion of the suction tube ter~
minates short of the bottom of the pouch and the screw cap is engaged with the threaded spout and forms the closure.
In this way, the commodity is always sealed within the container, until the contents have been used up. The screw lid and its dispenser-cutter unit are then detached from the contain er, the used spout removed and replaced by another flexible com-modity form-fill-seal plastic pouch, and the dispenser cutter unit is returned to its closure position on the container.
The embodiment as shown in Figure 5 is generally simi-lar to that shown in E`igure 4 but the top of the container is partially closed to receive screw cap 16 and the lower open end of the container is closed by closure cap 21. In this em~odiment the pouch 2 is placed in the container from the bottom and sealed in the container by cap 21.
The embodiment of Figure 6 is similar to that as shown in Figure g but the dispensing unit is shown in the form of a flip-top unit 23. The lower sides of the container may converge somewhat to reduce the bottom area of the container to maximize the amount of liquid which can be drawn from the container. In ~ ' this embodiment the walls of the container could be flexible whereas inward squeezing pressure would assist in dispensing.
In Figure 7, a container 22 is formed of a rigid plas~
tic or e~uivalent material and has a partially closed end 24 and an open end 26 and is provided with a vertical partition 28 inte-grally or otherwise secured to the inner surface of the container to form multiple-pouch compartments 30 therein. The partially closed integral end 24 of the container has a commodi-ty discharge aperture 32 surrounded by an externally threaded dispenser spout 34 that is integral with the partially closed end 24 and projects upwardly therefrom and which is adayted to be engaged by an inter-3 ~

nally threaded closure screw cap 36.
The integrall~ threaded closure screw cap 36 forms aninte~ral part of the dispenser-cutter uni-t and which is in the form of a top--fi:Ll dispense.r 38 controlled through a spray gun ~0 and operated by compressed air or other means for withdrawing and spraying commodity contents from the container 22 and integrally ~ mounted on the closure screw cap 36. Double-suction tubes 42 : have their upper portions bent inwardly towards one another at 44 merge together to form a hollow neck 46 which is in alignment with a commodity egress passageway 48 of the top-fill dispenser 38. The hollow neck 46 of the double-suction tubes 42 is inte-grally or otherwise secured to the top-fill dispenser 38 while the lower portions 50 of the suction tubes terminate ln pouch cut-ting ends 52.
The lower portion 54 of the container is externally ~ :
threaded around its circumference and located adjacent to its circumEerential edge forming the contour of the open end 26, and which is adapted to be engaged by an i.nternally threaded lid 56.
The flexible commodity form-fill-seal plastic pouches are inserted through the open end of the container into their respective compartments and the threaded lid is applied -to the ; open end of the container and interlocks the container and lid together into a tight closure position. The closure cap is removed ~ :
from the spout of the closed end of the container and is replaced by the dispenser pouch-cutter unit by first aligning the dispen-ser with the spout and inserting the suction tubes of the pouch-cutter unit, that forms a part of the dispenser, into the respec-tive pouch compartments for engagement and penetra*ion of the - multiple pouches contained therein. The threaded closure top of the dispenser is then brought into interlocking and tight engaging position with the spout of the container, thereby seal-. ing the container, which is now ready for use. It will thus be seen that the pouch container and dispenser pouch-cutter unit com-: -7-bination is capable of being made in all sizes and to lend them-selves for commercial and industrial purposes.
The invention, as a container-dispenser flexible com-modity form-fi,ll~seal plastic pouch cutter unit co~bination, is equally useful in ,its application for the in-ternal mixing and meteriny of the constituents and their concentration, and their :
withdrawal. from the container-dispenser-cutter uni.t.
In Figures 8 and 10, the container and dispenser-cutter unit combination consists of a contalner 60 made from a rigid plastic or equivalent material and shaped in the form of a bottle having an externally threaded open neck portion 62 (Figure 10) and a bottom end wall 64. A curve-shaped partition 66 is inte- :~
grally or otherwise secured to an innerside surface of -the con-tainer wall 68 forming therewith a riyid open pocket 70 and sit- '~
uated adjacent to and partially under the interior area of the open-neck portion 62, the size of the open pocket 70 being pre-determined in accordance to the pre-selected size and styl~ of ;~.,. - :
, the flexible co~modi-ty form-fill-seal plastic pouches 2 that ,. are to be used. ;
The dispenser-pouch-cutter 72, includes an external '~, mixiny spray pump 74 for the mixiny and dispensing of contents of the container. The spray pump has a base 78 which fits over - ~ , the upper open end of the container 60 and is securely held thereon by threaded screw cap 76. The base 78 carries a comm-odity tube 80 and a fluid tube 82 which merge or join with one another into a common commodity and fluid passageway 83 leading through a plunger spring mechanism compartment and into the mix-ing chamber 83' of the plunger head 84 and which is provided with the customary noz~les 86. A ball valve 85 (or similar) enables passage of liquid upwardly through passayeway 83 but prevents movement of liquid downwardly from mixing chamber 83' , ~, into passageway 83. As a result downward movement of plunger 84 ;~ with respect to head 78 will cause discharge of liquid from ~s~
chamber 83' outwardly through no~zles 86. Return upward move-ment of plunger 8~ will result in a partial vacuum being created in chamber 83' with the result that liquid fro~ both the pouch 2 and the container will move upwardly into chamber 83' and in ; position for dispensing.
The commodity suction tube 80 and the diluter fluid suction tube 82 are integrally or otherwise secured to the base 78 and the commodity suction tube 80 has a flexible pouch cutt-ing lower end which is adapted to be inserted into a pouch 2 positioned in the open pouch pocket 70 of the container, while the diluter fluid suction tube 82 projects downwardly into the container and terminates short of the bottom thereof.
In the application and use of this form of the inven-tion, a flexible form-fill-seal plastic pouch, which contains a concentrate, is positioned in the open pouch pocket 70 of the container and the remaining space in the container is filled with a diluent and which, preferably has a fluid level below the level of the open pouch pocket. The head 78 is then positioned over the open upper end 62 of the container so that the lower end of the commodity tube &0 pierces and enters pouch 2 and the diluent tube extends downwardly into the container 60 as shown. The screw cap 76 is then tightened to hold head 78 in position.
The embodiment as shown in Figure 10 is similar to that as shown in Figure 8, but is provided with a meterlng dial arrangement 90 enabling control of the volume of the concentrate drawn through concentrate tube 80 upon operation of the plunger head 84.
The embodiments as illustrated~ show use of screw-lids or screw-caps. It will be appreciated however, that other types of closures such as snap-fit or bayonet-types of locking means could be used without departing from the scope of the invention.

s;;;, _ g _

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. In a container and dispenser-cutter unit combina-tion adapted to contain and hold a detachable flexible form-fill-seal plastic pouch containing fluids, a container having an ex-ternally threaded opened end, a screw-lid adapted to engage and interlock with the externally threaded opened end of said contain-er, an externally threaded spout forming an integral part of said screw-lid, an internally threaded screw cap adapted to form a closure for said externally threaded spout, a dispenser-cutter unit integrally mounted on said internally threaded screw cap, and a combined suction tube and pouch cutter connected to and operated by said dispenser and adapted to be inserted into said container and penetrate into the detachable flexible form-fill-seal plastic pouch contained therein.

2. In a container and a dispenser-cutter unit com-bination, as claimed in claim 1, in which a to-fill dispenser-cutter unit is integrally mounted on said screw cap and with a passageway extending therethrough, a suction tube secured to the underside of said screw cap and connected with the passageway ex-tending through the screw cap and the free end of said suction tube terminating into a pouch cutter.

3. In a container and dispenser-cutter unit combina-tion adapted to contain detachable flexible form-fill-seal plas-tic pouches containing fluids, a container having an opened end and a closed end, a vertical partition secured to the inner sur-face of said container and forming pouch compartments and adapted to contain individual plastic pouches therefrom, an internally threaded screw cap adapted to form a closure for said externally threaded spout, a dispenser-cutter unit integrally mounted on said internally threaded screwcap, and a dispenser-cutter unit integrally mounted on said internally threaded screw cap, com-bined suction and cutter tubes forming a unit and connected to and operated by said dispenser and adapted to be individually in-serted into said individual pouch compartments in said container and penetrate into the individual flexible form-fill-seal plastic pouches contained therein, and an internally threaded lid forming a closure for the opened end of said container.

4. In a container and dispenser-cutter unit combina-tion, as claimed in claim 3, in which a dispenser-cutter unit is integrally mounted on said internally threaded screw cap and is in the form of a top-fill dispenser and a spray gun, said dis-penser having a commodity egress passageway extending through said screw cap.

5. In a container and dispenser-cutter unit combina-tion, as claimed in claim 4, in which multiple suction tubes have their upper portions bent inwardly towards one another and merged together to form a hollow neck and which is in alignment with the commodity egress passageway of said top-fill dispenser and is integrally secured to said top-fill dispenser, said mul-tiple suction tubes having their lower portions terminating into pouch knife cutting edges.

6. In a container and dispenser-cutter unit combin-ation adapted to contain and hold a detachable flexible commodity form-fill-seal plastic pouch containing a fluid, a container hav-ing an opened externally threaded neck portion and a bottom end wall, a curve-shaped partition integrally secured to an inner side surface of said container and forming therewith a rigid open-ed pocket situated adjacent to and partially extending under the interior area of the externally threaded neck portion, a screw cap forming a closure for the opened externally threaded neck portion, a dispenser-pouch cutter in the form of an external

Claim 6 - continued mixing spray pump integrally mounted on said screw cap and having a commodity tubular passageway and a diluter fluid tubular pas-sageway, a commodity suction tube having one end secured to said dispenser and connected to the commodity tubular passageway there-of and its other end terminating into a pouch knife cutting edge and adapted to be inserted in the opened pocket of said container, a diluter fluid suction tube having one end secured to said dis-penser and connected to the diluter fluid passageway and its re-maining portion adapted to be inserted into that portion of the container containing the diluent, and a metering means forming a part of said dispenser.