Special receptacle or package – Laminate sheet packet – With gas permeable cover
Patent
1998-04-07
2000-03-28
Foster, Jim
Special receptacle or package
Laminate sheet packet
With gas permeable cover
206469, 53451, B65D 7300
Patent
active
06041930&
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to sachets. More particularly, although not exclusively, the present invention relates a sachet for storing and dispensing quantities of liquid, paste, powder or similar substances in discrete predetermined quantities. The present invention further relates to an apparatus and method for producing said sachets.
The general area of application of the present invention is in the production and distribution of food condiments. However, other applications such as dispensing medicines, glues, cosmetics and the like are envisaged.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Sachets known in the art include flexible sachets wherein the contents are expelled by, for example, tearing off a corner or end of the sachet and exerting pressure on the exterior of the sachet.
Other prior art devices include rigid moulded "tray" or "blister" type sachets wherein the condiment or similar substance is sealed in by means of an aluminium foil or plastic lid. The lid is heat-sealed or otherwise secured to the upper edges of the tray. In this case the contents are extracted by peeling back the foil lid and either exerting pressure on the lid and the plastic tray or by using an implement such as a knife or spoon to extract the contents.
These constructions suffer disadvantages in that they can be expensive to manufacture, messy to use and, when extracting the contents of the sachet, behave unpredictably in terms of the flow of the substance through, for example, the aperture formed by tearing off the corner of the sachet. In the case of the tear-back foil lid the mobility and ease of extraction of the contents may vary depending on the viscosity of the contents.
There have been attempts to overcome these disadvantages in the prior art, however they have met with mixed success. One solution includes dividing the rigid tray into two sections and providing a perforated "beak" in a more substantial plastic or foil lid. The beak is located between the two tray sections wherein the tray sections in the beak are arranged so that when the ends of the condiment tray are bent towards each other in such a manner as to crush one section against another, the beak cracks along the aforesaid perforation and the contents may be expelled through the cracked beak by squeezing. This construction suffers from disadvantages in that the perforations sometimes crack in transit, and the contents of the tray sections can spoil or be otherwise contaminated. They are also more complicated structurally and therefore more expensive to manufacture.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sachet and a means and method for producing the same, which overcomes or at least mitigates the above mentioned disadvantages, or at least provides the public with a useful choice.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a sachet formed from a plurality of plastics layers sandwiched together to form a reservoir wherein at least one of said layers is a semi-rigid plastics layer adapted so that upon bending said semi-rigid plastics layer will fracture, said semi-rigid plastics layer is located so as to form an outside layer of said plastics layers.
The sachet can be formed from two plastics layers and one semi-rigid layer wherein the plastics layer adjacent the semi-rigid layer incorporates an aperture located proximate said fracture.
Alternatively, the sachet can be formed from one plastics layer and one semi-rigid layer wherein the reservoir is formed therebetween.
The sachet can be elongate, oval or similar suitable shape.
The semi-rigid plastics layer can incorporate a scored line or a region of weakness to effect the fracture.
The reservoir can contain a liquid, paste, powder or similar substance.
The reservoir can, with suitable adaptation contain a powder, granules or similar dry substance.
In an alternative embodiment, the semi-rigid plastics layer may be smaller than the reservoir formed from the first and second flexible plastics layers, the geometry of the plastics layers
REFERENCES:
patent: 3924747 (1975-12-01), Gerner
patent: 3948394 (1976-04-01), Hellstrom
patent: 3986640 (1976-10-01), Redmond
patent: 4011949 (1977-03-01), Braber et al.
patent: 4125190 (1978-11-01), Davie, Jr. et al.
patent: 4158411 (1979-06-01), Hall et al.
patent: 4371080 (1983-02-01), Hainess et al.
patent: 5613609 (1997-03-01), Hamilton et al.
Foster Jim
Thornton Trustee Company Ltd.
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