Dispensing – Collapsible wall-type container – With casing or support
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-03
2003-05-13
Kaufman, Joseph A. (Department: 3754)
Dispensing
Collapsible wall-type container
With casing or support
C222S518000, C222S570000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06561386
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improvement in a valve assembly for use in connection with a bag in box type liquid container. The improvement consists of providing a spring loaded ball check valve assembly for use with a bag in box container intended to carry a liquid such as juice or other fluids therein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The art field with respect to the bag in box type fluid containing containers is well established. Such containers are usually formed by a bag created from a film material which is intended to carry a liquid therein, with the bag then being fully enclosed by a corrugated box. The bag is produced with a fluid exit opening to which is scaled an exit port sealingly engaged to the fluid exit opening. The method of securing the exit port to the fluid exit opening is usually dependent upon the material of which the bag is produced, and certainly includes such procedures as heat sealing, adhesive sealing, and the like. The enveloping box is provided with an opening which is in registry with the exit port of the bag such that the bag can be contained within the corrugated box and have the exit port extending outwardly from the corrugated box. In many applications, it is intended that the box having the bag contained therein with the fluid is installed in a device which has a valve assembly of some type such that once the box is installed in the assembly, the valve may be alternately opened and closed in order to permit fluid to exit from the bag for consumption purposes.
The advantage that such containers have over other older prior art containers is the fact that the fluid contained within the bag will stay fresher for much longer periods of time and therefore from the standpoint of shelf life, the product has an extended shelf life. Furthermore, such assemblies do not require that airholes be included in the container in order to permit the fluid to flow and exit from the container into the consumer's vessel.
Typically, such bag in box containers have been used to contain juice concentrate which are prepared with preservatives. Hence, the contents of the container is purely liquid in format, and does not contain any juice pulp with the fluid. Hence, in such applications, the exit port required for the bag in box container is simply a press-fitted port which has exit openings therein sized in order to allow the fluid from the container to be drawn therefrom in the appropriate application. The present state of the art therefore permits a juice concentrate to be vended from a bag in box container. Such containers are presently not able to vend fresh juices which contain pulp because the exit ports are not designed to allow pulp to flow through the exit ports without the pulp ultimately plugging the exit ports and therefore stopping fluid flow.
It is important to know that the equipment which has been created in order to produce the bag in box assemblies with exit ports on a mass production basis have been designed to accommodate the press-fitted exit ports which exist with respect to the present art. The accompanying drawings and descriptions will adequately describe the present state of the art with respect to such exit ports and the inter-relationship with the bag in box assembly.
Another format of these types of containers which is presently available in the art are plastic containers which carry a liquid therein and are intended for the mass market and which are especially created for juice machines. Juice machines are usually designed to accommodate a plurality of plastic container cartridges which are positioned within the machine in a vertical positioning so that the machine is designed to dispense any one of a number of juices. It is well-known that juice bars and other similar types of establishments contain juice machines which are designed to dispense a plurality of juices from each machine including orange juice, pineapple juice, grape juice and the like. In such applications, the plastic containers are designed to be filled with a juice, then frozen until the same are ordered and delivered to the end destination. The containers are delivered in a frozen state, and therefore require the recipient of the container to maintain the frozen state of the container until they are ready for use. The container cannot be used in the juice machine unless and until the container is left to atmosphere in order to cause a thawing of the frozen juice whereupon the container may then be placed into the juice machine with the exit port positioned in an appropriate valve assembly so that the juice from the container may be dispensed when the valve is opened.
The one principal advantage that the containers containing the frozen juices have over the bag in box containers is the fact that any juices contained in such plastic containers may have frozen juices including the pulp. Various segments of the public have come to believe that juices containing the pulp of the juice is a healthier product for ingestion, and therefore there appears to be some desire that vended juices contain the pulp as well as the juice. Hence, typically such plastic containers include an exit port having a screw thread thereon, and a ball check valve assembly screw threaded onto the exit port. Ball check valve assembly will operate in conjunction with a juice machine such that when a handle is pulled or the valve otherwise open, the ball is urgingly removed from the opening and a free path is opened to the interior of the container. Hence, juice including the pulp may flow freely through the ball check valve once it is opened when dispensing the juice from within the container. The juice flow with pulp will continue until the valve is placed into the closed position.
It will therefore be appreciated that while such plastic containers have the advantage of permitting juice with pulp to be contained therein and vended therefrom, the disadvantage of such containers is the primary fact that such containers must be frozen prior to delivery to the end destination, and must be kept in a frozen state until they are ready for use. This, therefore, necessarily requires that the recipient of the containers, or the proprietor of the juice bar, have sufficient freezer space available to accommodate the storing of a plurality of such plastic cartridges until the juice is ready to be installed in the machine and vended. It will therefore be appreciated that the recipients of the containers are required to expend substantial amounts of money in terms of freezer space, square footage of the establishment in order to accommodate the use of a juice machine which vends fresh juice with pulp.
It has been determined that it would be advisable to be able to present a bag in box container for vending a juice with the pulp component included therein, but that that has not become possible for the reason that the exit ports associated with bag in box containers will not allow the passage of the pulp therefrom without plugging the valving incident to the use of the container. Furthermore, it has not been possible to change the valving fitment of the bag in box container due primarily to the manner in which the bag in box assemblies are constructed and the method of manufacture thereof. As was previously indicated, the bag is produced with a fluid exit opening to which is sealed an exit port employing either heat sealing, adhesive sealing or the like. The exit port accommodates the press fitted exit port valve which has exit openings sized in order to permit the juice concentrate to flow therethrough. The manufacturing machines designed to create such bag in box assemblies are therefore presently adapted for press fitting the exit port onto the collar which is sealing engaged to the bag. For this reason, ball check valve assemblies have not been deemed appropriate to be used in connection with bag in box containers.
It has been determined, however, that it would be advantageous to provide a bag in box assembly having a ball check valve which would then afford the opportunity to vend juice
Demeur Basil E.
Hurley David J.
Juice Tyme
Kaufman Joseph A.
Samlan Alan
LandOfFree
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