US2051923A - Package - Google Patents

Description

- Aug. 25,- 1936.

C, w. voGT= PACKAGE Filed July 19, 1934 ATTORNEYS Patented vug. 25,l 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PACKAGE Application July 19, 1934, serial No. man

7 Claims.

This invention relates to packages, the containers thereof, and morevparticularly t a package consisting of a body of a plastic material and an enwrapment therefor. The enwrapment is so designed that it may be conveniently opened along. the length thereof to liberate the body of material therefrom and without deformation thereof.

.One object of the invention is to provide a package which may be conveniently and expeditiously opened without the use of any tools and withoutl the ngers coming in contact with the enwrapped material and in which there is no tendency to crush or defor'm the material during the opening operation.

Another object is to provide a package, some ofthe constituent elements of which are secured together by adhesion, yet so designed that the adhesive material cannot come in contact with the .20 packaged contents.

Another object is to provide a package having.

a line of proposed tear along which the package is opened and which tear line is so arranged that it is substantially strain resisting against inad-k vertent tearing, during casual handling of the package. As one important feature the cylindrical peripheral wall is formed of two superposed layers, the outer layer having a tear line parallel fto the meeting edges of the material forming the inner layer whereby upon breaking or separating the outer layer along its tear line the entire casing may be opened up.

As a further feature, the tear line is formed as a series Aof perforations and the inner layer seals the perforations to prevent the escape of the material during shipment or handling.

As a further feature, the tear line extends helically at a comparatively steep pitch so that the line extends only a relatively short distance around the periphery and thus the casing may be easily opened up and attened out as a sheet.

The invention may be more fully understood from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one form of a package embodying the invention,

Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional views therethrough on the lines 2-2 and 3 3 respectively of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating certain steps in the operation of opening the package shown in Fig. 1.

'Ihe package illustrated includes a cylindrical casing I0 filled with plastic materialk II, such for instance as ice cream, lard, shortening etc. which completely lls the casing. These two ends may be closed in any suitable manner but preferably by anged caps I2 forced into the cylinder ends against the material Il with the 5 iianges I3 extending outwardly and with the ends of the cylinder spun on crimped over these flanges as indicated at I 0a to retain the caps in position.

The cylindrical peripheral wall of the enwrapment or casing preferably comprises a section of l0 spiral tubing, one satisfactory method and apparatus for forming and filling said section being described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 735,740, led July 18, '1934, In another copending application Serial No. 739,391, 15 iiled August 11, 1934, I disclose and claim a 4process of completing the formation of the packages which may be of the type embodying the present invention by forcing the material back from the ends of the cylindrical sections `by gas 20 pressure and closing the ends while under such pressure.

'I'he spiral tubing which is cut into sections to form the peripheral wall of the present package consists of an inner spirally wound layer I4 25 I preferably of paper or other suitable flexiblesheet material. The line of abutment of the sheet forming the spirally wound inner layer is concealed by a spirally wound outer sheet or wrapper I5, the two spirally wound layers I 4 and I5 30 being adhesively connected together. I have illustrated the adhesive as applied in spaced spiral bands I8.

The outer layer or. wrapper is provided with a line of perforations I6 parallel to the spirally 35 disposed abutting edges of the inner wrapper and lying closely adjacent said edges. The adhesive material which connects the inner and outer spirally wound cylindricalcas'ing sections is omitted in the region of the perforations in 40 the outer sheet. There is no adhesive directly under the perforations and there is no adhesive along the narrow spiral band between the line of perforations in the outer sheet and the line where the edges of the spirally wound inner 45v shell abut. Thus if the outer sheet is torn along the line of perforations, the edges of the inner shell which are held in abutment only -by the outer sheetl will be free to separate. By making the perforations at one or both ends of the line 50 of perforations somewhat larger than the others as indicated at I'I, the edges of the outer sheet may be easily picked up to initiate the tearing operation. y

In liberating the ice cream or other plastic 55 material from the package, the crimped end may be raised and smoothed out at one end and the cap pulled out. Then one end of the line of periorations is torn with any suitable tool or byhand as indicated in Fig. 4 and the tearing conl tinued along the entire length of the package and the casing thus easily opened up to permit removal of the contents. Both caps may be removed before beginning the tearing or the tearing may be started from one or both ends heiorev the caps are removed or the tearing may in. some cases be completed before either cap is removed.

' The present package makes it unnecessary to soil a separate plate by dumping the block of ice' cream or other plastic material on the plate for slicing or other subdivisionor serving since the completely opened package may serve as a' tray or rest upon which the slicing or other subdividing may be done. 'in some cases it may he desired to vremove only a slice or two from the venwrapped block in which event only one end o the package is opened and the peripheral wall or the enwrapment or ycasing is only partially torn open and the torn vportion is folded back to a sucient extent so'that one or more slices may be cut from the end o the block.

The paper strip trom which the spiral tubing is formed is relatively wide and the pitch of the spiral is relatively steep. This is important in most cases because in tearing the tubular container from end to end,the tear extends around only approximately a small portion, for instance,

other words, a crushing strain applied to the side of the cylinder is more effectively' resisted than if a straight longitudinal line of tear were relied upOn.

It is within the scope of the invention to form the cylindrical section of the casing of other material than spirallywound tubing but such material is preferred due to theffact that it is in. herently adapted for the application of a highly satisfactory weakening line.v

The end caps afford a very substantial resistence t'o endwise displacement prior to tearing open of the cylinder. If the plastic material be ice cream or otherv compressible material, these end caps are preferably applied while the block of ice cream is under substantial 'air pressure in the order of three or four pounds, and are forced in and spun over securely enough so that the,

compressed air within the ice cream or voids in the material will not dislodge said caps after the package is completed and -the outside pressure is released. Thus the danger of a suddenly applied pressure on 'one end cap forcing out the other end'cap and the ice cream with it, is

t Due tothe convenience with which the outer wrapper may be manually grasped to initiate a tearing operation and due to the presenceof the projecting flanges on the caps. thereis no necessity for contaminating the enwrapped. plastic donnees body by contact with the iingers when completely or partially opening the package.

.Another advantage of the enwrapment which .tears along a spiral` line results from the fact that the wrapper is much more easily removed from a materialtending to stick or adhere thereto because of the unpeeling action than'is the case where the material must be', slid or pushed out/of a closely conilning container.

The inner shell or layer may be of relatively sti material but this is not essential as the resistance of the ice cream itself is a very material .factor in rendering the package form-sustaining and not subject to denting or injury during the yicissitudes of shipment or casual handling.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: Y l. A package including a cylindrical casing comprising two spirally wound layers of :dexible material, the outer layer having a weakened tearing line extending spirally 'thereof and disposed adjacent to but out of registry with the line o the abutting edges of the inner layer, said layers beingedhesively connected together but being free of adhesive in the region of the tear line.

2. a package including a substantially solid cylindrical block of comestible material and a casing thereabout including a cylindrical peripheral wall closely ntting the block and means closing the ends og said casing, said casing com prising two adhesively connected layers of spirally wound exible material, the outer layer having a weakened tearing line therein extending n substantially from end to end thereof and arranged closely adjacent to the line of abutment of the edges of the inner layer and said layers being devoid oi adhesive connecting means between said tearing line and said line of abutment, whereby tearing oi` the outer layer on the weakened line trees the inner layer along the line of abutment.

3. A package including a. substantially solid cylindrical block of plastic comestible material and an enwrapment thereabout including a tubular casing closely fitting the block, and a pair of caps closing the ends of the casing, said casing comprising two adhesively connected layers of spirally wound exible' material, the outer layer t having a line of perforations therein extendin from end to end thereof and arranged closely adjacent to the line of abutment of the edges of the inner layer, said casing being of greater length than diameter and the lines of abutment of the spirallyxwound material traversing less than onehalfpf the circumference of the casing, whereby upon tearing the outer layer along said line of perforations the casing may be opened from end to end and the block laterally discharged.

4. A package including a substantially solid cylindrical block of plastic comestible material and an enwrapment thereabout including a. tubular casing closely tting the block, and a pair of caps closingthe ends of the casing, said casing comprising two adhesively connected layers of spirally wound flexible material, the outer layer having a line of perforations therein extending from end to end thereof and arranged closely adjacent to the lineof abutment of the edges of the inner layer, said line of perforations and said line of abutment traversing less than onehalf of the circumference of thepackage, whereby' upon tearing the outer layer along said line of 'perforations the casing may be opened from end -W end and the block laterally discharged, the Der..

forations at the ends of the line being enlarged to facilitate the initiation of the tearing operation.

5. A container having a peripheral wall comprising two adhesively connected layers of spirally wound flexible material, the outer layer having a weakened tearing line therein extending substantially from end to' end thereof and arranged closely adjacent to the line of abutment of the edges of the inner layer and said layers being devoid of adhesive connecting means between said tearing line and said line of abutment, whereby tearing of the outer layer on the weakened line frees the inner layer along the line of abutment.

6. A package including a cylindrical casing of greater length than diameter and comprising two layers of exible material, the inner layer having abutting edges extending from'one end of the package to the other along a spiral line traversing less than one-half of the circumference of the package, and the outer layer having a line of '7. A package including a cylindrical casing of greater length than diameter and comprising two layers of flexible material, the inner layer having abutting edges extending from one end of the package to the other along a spiral line traversing less 4than one-half of the circumference of the package, and the outer layer having a weak ened line adjacent to, parallel with and spaced laterally from said abutting edges of the inner layer, whereby upon tearing the outer layer along said weakened line the casing may be opened from

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