DE69003781T2 - Containers for pre-cooked and / or ready-to-eat foods. - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a container for pre-cooked and/or ready-to-eat foods.

When preparing and preserving pre-cooked foods which can be consumed immediately after heating, it is of crucial importance that the foods which are to be packed in suitable containers can be thermally treated and suitably preserved and eaten from these containers without first having to be brought onto separate plates.

Plate-shaped or bowl-shaped containers made of heat-resistant plastic material are generally used for this purpose (DE-A-3 919 120), the contents of which are protected by a thin plastic film which adheres to the planar edge of the container and can be removed by the user by so-called "peeling", which consists in pulling on the film at a certain angle with respect to the adhesive plane defined by the container edge, which is hereinafter referred to as the "bonding plane".

The film is generally removed by initially applying a pulling force at a specific angle - approximately equal to 45º - with respect to the joint plane, with the positive effect on the one hand of allowing the film to be removed correctly and easily, but with a hardly negligible disadvantage in terms of product protection.

During the various thermal treatments, such as revitalisation, pasteurisation and the like, the protective film expands under the influence of the steam and assumes a substantially lens-shaped convex shape, which creates stresses in the connection areas at the edges of the container and allows the film orientation to reach and exceed the said limit angle, which leads to a rapid and spontaneous separation of the film and damages the tight seal of the packaging.which leads to a rapid and spontaneous separation of the film and damages the tight seal of the packaging.

The aim of the present invention is to eliminate the disadvantage described above while maintaining the easy opening of the package.

An object of the present invention is to improve the protection of packaged food by preventing accidental tearing of the protective film by means of a lid which can be easily put on by machines for continuous production processes and can be just as easily removed by the user without damaging the container itself.

The solution to this problem and objects of the present invention, which are described below with reference to the description of the figures, are realized by means of a container for pre-cooked and/or ready-to-eat foods according to the appended claims.

The characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment of the container, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, which serve as an example. These show: Fig. i is a plan view of the base half-shell of the container from above, Fig. 2 is a transverse cross-section along the line II - II of Figure l, Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a detail of Figure l, Fig. 4 is a view of the lid from below, Fig. 5 is a cross-section along the line V - V of Figure 4, Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of a detail of Figure 5, 2 Fig. 7 is a transverse cross-section of the container with base half-shell and lid, Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of a section of Figure 7,

Fig. 9 a view of the container with the lid from below along the arrows IX - IX from Figure 8,

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Figure 9 illustrating the process for releasing the lid from the base half-shell.

In Figures 1 to 3, reference number 10 designates the base half-shell, which comprises a cup-shaped bowl 11 surrounded by a protruding edge 12, this half-shell preferably being made of a heat-resistant plastic material and being suitable as a plate for directly eating the foodstuffs packaged therein.

As clearly shown in Figure 1, the planar profile of the shell 1() is rounded-curved and substantially rectangular and is defined by pairs of opposite homologous sides L, L formed by circular arcs with correspondingly different radii. The edge l2 has substantially the same profile as the half-shell and differs from it only by the extended gripping areas l2A which surround the longer sides L. The edge 12 is also concave at least at the gripping areas l2A and ends with a slightly undercut lip l2B.

The concave shape of the edge 12 defines a curved connection surface 14 for a protective film 15 made of plastic material, known per se, which can be removed by the so-called "peeling".

The concave shape of the surface 14 is selected so that it runs tangentially or approximately tangentially to the geometric figure SG to which the film is arranged, at least in the area of the connection of the edge 12 with the bowl 11. 3

when subjected to the steam pressure generated during the thermal treatment steps of the foodstuffs packaged in the container. In the presence of steam, the film is therefore subjected to a tensile force which is parallel to the joining surface in said area, thus avoiding, in accordance with the aim and subject matter of the invention, the progressive and spontaneous separation of the film from the edge 12. Preferably, the curvature of the joining surface 14 is chosen such that the tangent to this surface in the joining area to the bowl 11 forms an angle of approximately 30° with the plane P which is tangent to the edges of the container.

A removable lid 20 (Figure 4), which is also made of plastic material, works together with the base half-shell 10 to protect the food and can be snapped onto the base half-shell underneath. For this purpose, the lid, which is also cup-shaped, has an edge 21, the flat profile of which coincides with the flat profile of the edge 12 of the base half-shell onto which this lid can be placed.

Pairs of opposed raised portions or teeth 22 are formed on the edge 21 of the lid, substantially in the junction areas between the rounded-curved sides of the edge, and are designed to be snapped onto by the elastic deformability of the container material, with the undercut lip 12B located on the edge 12 of the base half-shell 10.

The lid 20 is connected to the half-shell 10 by placing the lid on the half-shell (Figure 7) and exerting a slight pressure on the lid, which can be carried out quickly and easily using continuous packaging machines.

Removing the lid is just as easy due to the special flat profile of the container. 4

For this purpose, it is sufficient to rotate the lid relative to the base half-shell to such an extent that the raised areas 22 detach from the lip 12B, as is clearly shown in Figure 10 of the accompanying drawings, the angle of rotation R for detachment being between 15 and 200.

If technical features in the claims are provided with suffixed reference signs, these reference signs only serve the purpose of improving the intelligibility of the claims and therefore have no limiting effect on the scope of protection of each individual element, which is identified by these reference signs only by way of example.

Claims (6)

1. Container for pre-cooked and/or ready-to-eat foodstuffs, comprising a bowl-shaped half-shell (10) which is designed as a plate for eating the foodstuffs, and a protective film (15) to be welded to it, characterized in that the half-shell (10) has a substantially rectangular but rounded-curved profile in plan view and a concave, protruding edge (12) which forms a curved connection surface (14) for the protective film (15), and this connection surface, at least in the region of the connection of the edge (12) to the bowl (11), runs approximately tangentially to the geometric figure (SG) to which the protective film arranges itself when it is exposed to the steam pressure generated during the thermal treatment steps of the foodstuffs. 2. Container according to claim 1, characterized by a film protection lid (20) which has pairs of opposing raised areas (22) which can be brought into engagement with an undercut lip (12b) of the edge (12) of the half-shell (10), whereby the lid and the half-shell are connected to one another in the manner of a snap coupling and wherein the release of the lid can be achieved by means of a reduced rotation of the lid with respect to the half-shell due to the flat shape of the container. 3. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the flat shape of the half-shell (10) is defined by pairs of opposite homologous sides (L, L ) which are formed by circular arcs with correspondingly different radii. 4. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the edge (12) of the half-shell (10) has enlarged gripping areas (14) which support the longer 6 rounded-curved sides (L ) and the concave connecting surface (14) of the film (15) is present at least on these enlarged areas (14) of the edge (12). 5. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the curvature of the concave connecting surface (14) on the edge of the half-shell (10) has an angle of approximately 30° with respect to the plane (P) which is tangential to the edges (12) of the container. 6. Container according to claim 2, characterized in that the pairs of opposing raised areas (22) are located on the edge (21) of the lid (20) and are arranged substantially in the region of the connection of the rounded curved sides (L, L ) of the edge (12). 7