Receptacles – Compartmented container – Intercommunicable compartments
Patent
1995-04-10
1997-07-08
Castellano, Stephen J.
Receptacles
Compartmented container
Intercommunicable compartments
220505, 220 2386, 220 424, B65D 2502
Patent
active
056451881
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a capsule for storing and dispensing at least one fluid under pressure and also to a metal fluid container for storing and dispensing fluids, generally liquids, under pressure and which incorporates such a capsule. The invention is particularly although not exclusively concerned with containers for carbonated beverages. Such containers may be of steel or of an aluminium alloy or of a plastics/metal laminate or of plastics material.
It is well known with some beers, and particularly draught stout for it to be desirable that a creamy head should be formed on the beer when it is poured. Many such beers are now sold in cans, usually of an aluminium alloy and are pressurised by a gas. When the can is opened some formation of a head will occur but it is well known to enhance this by providing a second chamber in the form of a capsule within the can, the capsule communicating with the interior of the can via a valve or one or more small holes.
Frequently such capsules are of plastics material and are a friction fit within the can. Specifications GB 2183592 and GB/PCT 91/07326 show such arrangements. However friction fit capsules may damage the thin protective coating customarily applied to the interior of the cans.
Other arrangements have also been proposed in which at least part of the capsule is formed as a part of the can construction either at the top or bottom thereof.
The recycling of cans of aluminium alloy is now widely practised and it has been found that when they contain capsules of plastics material problems arise in the furnaces used.
When the can is used for draught stout the second chamber constituted by the capsule is subject to various pressures in the following ways: and subsequently when the stout is first poured in. psi. The pressure within the capsule rises more slowly because the fluid enters the capsule more slowly. At this stage the overall pressure on the capsule acts in the sense to collapse it. pressure therein to rise to say 70-80 psi. The pressure in the capsule will again lag behind that in the body of the can and the degree of lag will depend both upon the size of the hole or holes in the capsule (or the nature of its valve) and the rate of heating. Again the overall pressure on the capsule acts in the sense to collapse it. On cooling after the pasteurisation process the pressure within the can and the capsule reverts to an equilibrium position at about 40 psi. substantially instantly while the pressure within the capsule initially remains at about 40 psi. This pressure difference causes the stout plus gas within the capsule to be ejected forcefully through the hole or holes or through a valve in the capsule to generate the desired head. Thus when the can is first opened and for a short time thereafter the overall pressure on the capsule acts in the sense to inflate it.
Thus the capsule must be able to resist pressures which tend both to collapse and inflate it.
For the purpose set out above when the container is for a carbonated beverage it may be of an aluminium alloy or of steel and the capsule should in such case also be metallic, for example of an aluminium alloy. However it is also envisaged that the container including a capsule may have other uses for example in the food industry for providing two part formulations under pressure. Other uses including the storage and dispensing of adhesives are also envisaged.
Accordingly for different uses a container may be of steel, or an aluminium alloy or a plastics/metal laminate or a plastics material and the capsule may be wholly or partly of plastics or metal.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a capsule comprising upper and lower parts at least one of which has a dished formation and both of which have a peripheral rim, the rims being secured together so that the formations are at least partially in register with one another to provide at least one vented chamber extending into the dished formation of said dished part, means in at least one of the parts to communicate betwee
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Adams Barry
Gray Alan
Alcan International Limited
Castellano Stephen J.
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