Receptacles – Receptacle having flexible – removable inner liner – Means for venting air trapped between the liner and its...
Patent
1991-11-15
1993-01-12
Elkins, Gary E.
Receptacles
Receptacle having flexible, removable inner liner
Means for venting air trapped between the liner and its...
220410, 229902, 229903, 426113, B65D 550
Patent
active
051782944
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a packaging container and in the preferred embodiment provides a packaging container which is particularly suitable for the packaging for retail sale of pre-prepared foodstuffs.
Many pre-prepared foodstuffs are sold in a ready-to-heat form, and may be heated either in a conventional oven or a microwave oven. Heating of such foodstuffs in a microwave oven has many well recognized advantages, and it has been found to be particularly advantageous if foodstuffs which are susceptible to being heated in a microwave oven are sold packaged in a container in which the products may be heated using a microwave oven. Certain plastics materials are well suited to the formation of such containers since they can readily and cheaply be formed into a water-tight dish-like container, are not adversely affected by microwave energy, and are able to withstand contact with the product even when the temperature of the product has been raised to boiling point. However, simple plastics containers known heretofore for microwavable food products have suffered from the disadvantage that they readily conduct heat with the result that the temperature of the outside surface of the container rises substantially to the temperature of the contents of the container during microwave heating. It is accordingly very difficult to remove the container from the microwave oven after heating. In this respect, it will be appreciated that many of the plastics suitable for formation of such containers are thermoplastic in nature, and accordingly the containers will soften at elevated temperatures. Such softening makes the containers highly flexible, and great care must be taken when removing the container from the microwave oven in order to avoid spillage of the product. Such careful removal will necessitate careful grasping of the container, and this is difficult if the outer surface temperature of the container approaches that of the heated contents.
A similar problem arises in relation to dehydrated food products which are sold in a pot to which boiling water is added in order to re-hydrate the food product. The temperature of the outside surface of such containers will become very high, and the containers themselves will soften at elevated temperature rendering handling of such containers difficult.
According to the present invention a packaging container comprises an inner plastics generally dished portion having an open upper end, a closed lower end, and side walls interconnecting the upper and lower ends; and an outer portion having an open upper end, a closed lower end, and side walls interconnecting the upper and lower ends, wherein the inner portion is in contact with the outer portion at the upper end of the container and the side walls of the inner portion are spaced from the side walls of the outer portion by an air gap, the inner portion being engagingly retained in the outer portion by a mechanical interlock with the outer portion, the interlock being provided by flaps which extend from the upper end of the outer portion downwardly and inwardly to engage the outer surface of the inner portion at a point intermediate the upper and lower ends.
With such a container, the outer surface of the side walls will be substantially thermally isolated from the contents of the container by the air gap and accordingly the outer side walls of the container will remain cool to touch. Further, because the outer portion is not heated significantly during microwave heating of the contents of the container, the physical properties of the outer portion will not be adversely affected with the result that the container will remain rigid and easy to handle, notwithstanding that the temperature of the contents may be at or close to the boiling point thereof.
In one preferred embodiment of the invention the outer portion is of carton board and the inner portion rests on the upper edge of the outer portion and is supported thereby. In this case, the lower closed end of the inner portion is preferably spaced from the lower end of the oute
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patent: 4866232 (1989-09-01), Stone
Hill Joseph A.
Wood Johnathan R.
Elkins Gary E.
Robinson & Sons Ltd.
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