Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – With manipulation of flexible or collapsible receiver or supply
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-07
2002-04-30
Maust, Timothy L. (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
With manipulation of flexible or collapsible receiver or supply
C141S313000, C141S329000, C383S202000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06378573
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention refers to a removing device for liquid in a flexible packing and to a flexible packing used for accommodating a liquid.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Such a removing device is known e.g. as a drinking straw for removing beverages from a beverage bag.
The simplest form of a known drinking straw consists only of a tubular straw element produced from a plastic material that is unobjectionable from the point of view of the law relating to food production and distribution, said straw element being preferably produced by extrusion. The inlet of the known drinking straw is normally cut at an oblique angle to the longitudinal axis of the drinking straw so as to form an insertion tip penetrating through the beverage bag. The beverage bag into which the drinking straw can be inserted is provided with an insertion area. This insertion area is of such a nature that it permits easy penetration of the drinking straw. For this purpose, the flexible packing is normally provided with a circular opening in the insertion area, the diameter of said opening corresponding approximately to the outer diameter of the drinking straw. Prior to the first insertion of a drinking straw into the opening, said opening is closed by an interior foil covering said opening.
The foil is normally implemented as an interior foil and, consequently, secured to the inner side of the envelope, e.g. by a welded joint or an adhesive joint. The interior foil is e.g. a polyethylene foil. Alternatively, said interior foil may also consist of a composite foil. The flexible packing may consist of an arbitrary envelope material.
For example, flexible packings are known whose envelope consists of a single-layer or a multilayer foil. Alternatively, the envelope of the flexible packing may also comprise a paper or cardboard material which has been prepared—e.g. by providing a waterproof foil or coating on the inner side thereof—in such a way that the envelope is prevented from softening, thus guaranteeing that the liquid will be kept safely in said flexible packing.
When the drinking straw is being inserted into the beverage bag, it will penetrate through the interior foil so that the content of the bag will communicate with said drinking straw and so that the drinkable liquid can be sucked from the beverage bag through said drinking straw. The known drinking straw is, however, not fully sealed with regard to the beverage bag so that dirt or small insects may penetrate into said beverage bag. Moreover, the danger exists that microorganisms or oxygen may be introduced via the drinking straw into the product accommodated in the flexible packing. This will contaminate the product, e.g. reduce the keeping quality of the beverages. In addition, the drinkable liquid may escape through the drinking straw. Such an undesired escape of drinking liquid will especially occur if the internal pressure of the drinkable liquid in the beverage bag is increased unintentionally via the flexible envelope of the beverage bag.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the object of the present invention to provide a removing device for liquid in a flexible packing by means of which the above-mentioned drawbacks are avoided. It is a special object of the present invention to provide a removing device for liquid in a flexible packing which permits said flexible packing to be sealed in such a way that an ingress of dirt into the product accommodated in said flexible packing as well as an unintentional escape of the product can be avoided, and which also permits also easy removal of the liquid from the flexible packing.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a flexible packing used for accommodating a liquid with the aid of which good sealing relative to the removing device can be achieved and which is particularly suitable for use with the removing device according to the present invention.
In order to achieve this object, the present invention suggests a removing device for liquid in a flexible packing, comprising a tubular straw element including the inlet of the removing device and further comprising a closure element associated with the outlet.
By means of the removing device according to the present invention, the liquid product accommodated in the flexible packing can be removed from said packing via the tubular straw element. An ingress of dirt and microorganisms as well as of air and an unintentional escape of liquid can easily be avoided by the closure element associated with the outlet. The removing device according to the present invention is suitable for use with a large number of flexible packings, e.g. as a removing device for cardboard packings, which are nowadays frequently used for packing pasteurized milk or fruit juices, or for the bag-shaped packings which have lately become more and more common as light-weight packings that can be disposed of without taking up much space, said bag-shaped packings being used especially for toilet articles and cleaning agents.
Any closure element that permits repeated opening and closing of the straw element can be used as a closure element. A screw top or a hinged top can, for example, be used. The person skilled in the art knows other closure means, especially the so-called push-pull top which is frequently used for closing beverage bottles.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the closure element is formed integrally with the straw element, said closure element being formed on one end of said straw element as a cap that can be broken off. By breaking the cap off and by turning it, said cap can be attached to the free end of the straw element where it then serves as a closure element.
The straw element is preferably provided with an insertion tip on the inlet. Surprisingly enough, it turned out that this kind of removing device permits the removal of liquid from a flexible packing produced from a plastic foil or having an insertion area that consists of a plastic foil, the ingress of dirt, microorganisms and air being reliably and permanently avoidable at the same time. The plastic foil of the flexible packing or of the insertion area of said flexible packing elastically wraps itself around the circumferential surface of the straw element when said straw element is being inserted. This has the effect that the straw element it reliably sealed relative to the flexible packing. Since the removing device is also provided with a closure element by means of which the ingress of dirt, microorganisms and air can be prevented, the liquid can be kept stably for a certain period of time in the flexible packing without any deterioration of the product quality, with a removal of the liquid being permitted at the same time. For producing this effect, it is only necessary to use a straw element provided with an insertion tip at the inlet and having an outlet that is adapted to be closed by a closure element.
In order to save material, the straw element can be an extruded straw having a small wall thickness. For achieving the best possible sealing effect also in the case of this kind of straw element, it is suggested that, according to a further embodiment of the present invention, the closure element should be provided with a counterelement which is connected to the straw element.
The straw element is permanently fastened to the flexible packing in that the inlet and the outlet have provided between them a fastening means with the aid of which the straw element can be connected to the flexible packing. The fastening means can consist of an adhesive layer applied directly to the straw element. For providing a connection between the removing device and the flexible packing, this adhesive layer can be provided on the envelope of the flexible packing or on adhesive tabs secured to the envelope of said flexible packing. Alternatively, adhesive strips may be provided between the outlet and the inlet of the straw element, said adhesive strips having one end secured to the straw element whereas the other end thereof is provided with an adhesi
Marshall Gerstein & Borun
Maust Timothy L.
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