Dispensing – Processes of dispensing
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-29
2004-06-29
Kaufman, Joseph A. (Department: 3754)
Dispensing
Processes of dispensing
C222S094000, C222S105000, C222S185100, C229S120180, C229S117350
Reexamination Certificate
active
06755324
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to beverage containers and, more particularly, to apparatus and methods for transporting and dispensing beverages.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Gourmet coffee shops have gained a large share of the beverage market in recent years. These shops typically sell individual servings of upscale brands of coffee. These servings are usually packaged in single serving cups that are suitable for carryout orders. When such orders are for several people, some of whom may be absent at the time of purchase, several cups (perhaps four or even as many as six) may need to be carried in a cardboard cup-holder.
These gourmet coffee shops so changed the public's taste for coffee that such coffee increasingly came to be requested as part of a coffee service for large gatherings or groups, such as meetings and the like. As a result of this demand, various beverage transport and service containers were developed and have been widely used in the industry. An example is the container described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,452 B1 (Andrews, Sr. et al.). One particularly useful such container is the package for beverages described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,431 (Geshay) owned by BIB Pak, Inc., Racine, Wis.
One impediment to the serving of gourmet coffee at large gatherings that is not addressed by these other containers, however, is the absence of one that is capable of efficiently transporting and serving more than one type of beverage by itself. In the field of coffee service, when coffee is being prepared for a group of people, it is most often necessary that at least regular and decaffeinated coffees be available. While such demand can be satisfied by utilizing more than one container, this has apparent disadvantages with respect to transport and cost. These problems have persisted despite the high demand for convenient transporting and service of multiple coffees to large groups.
Therefore, an apparatus that would permit one to transport and serve more than one type of beverage at a time, be it coffee or any other type of drink, would be an important advancement in the art.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved beverage package overcoming some of the problems and shortcomings of the prior art.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved beverage package that is capable of transporting more than one beverage in a single container from a point of retail sale of those beverages and of dispensing those beverages in individual servings from the same container.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved beverage package that is easy to fill with two different types of beverage at the point of retail sale.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved beverage package that accepts two different beverages and involves a carton formed of a unitary cardboard blank which is easy to erect for use.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved beverage package that secures fill spouts on beverage bags within the carton and protects the fill spouts from damage during transport.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following descriptions and from the drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is an improvement in beverage packages particularly adapted for the transporting and dispensing of more than one type of beverage.
In this invention, the beverage package includes a carton, a pair of flaccid bags within the carton where each bag has a fill spout secured to a spout-securing panel and a dispensing device secured to a front panel, and a bag-separation panel between the two bags. More specifically, the carton includes the front panel, a rear panel and at least two side panels spaced between the front and rear panels. The top portions of these panels define an upper opening to the carton into which the spout-securing panel is placed. On each of the flaccid beverage bags, the dispensing device is attached to the bottom of the bag and the fill spout is attached to the top of the bag. The dispensing devices of the bags extend through the lower portion of the front panel to secure them to the carton. The fill spouts extend through the spout-securing panel to likewise secure them inside the carton. The bag-separation panel is located inside of the carton and extends down between the two bags to promote the unobstructed filling of each bag. By allowing each bag to fill unobstructed by the other, this panel provides ease in the use of the package at the point of purchase of the beverages being transported.
It is preferred that the bag-separation panel be attached to the front panel and the rear panel, and most preferred that the bag-separation panel have an upper edge abutting the lower surface of the spout-securing panel. This configuration allows the spout-securing panel to be supported by the bag-separation panel when placed inside the carton. The support provided the spout-securing panel in turn enables the beverage bags secured by it to be filled with greater ease and less chance of spilling.
In certain embodiments of this invention, the beverage package also includes a cover panel that extends over the top of the carton and the spout-securing panel inside. In particularly preferred embodiments, such cover panel is contiguous with (i.e., integral with) the upper edge of the front panel of the carton. The cover panel serves to protect the fill spouts from damage during transport.
It is particularly preferred that the upper portion of side panels on each side of the carton have apertures to serve as handle openings for the beverage package, or to allow attachment of handles. These handle openings assist the user in carrying the package by hand. In a most preferred embodiment, latch flaps attached to the sides of the cover panel can be inserted into the handle openings to better secure the cover panel to the top of the carton.
In certain highly preferred embodiments, the front, rear, side, and spout-securing panels are individual parts of a unitary (or single) blank with fold lines that allow it to be erected into the carton of the beverage package. This feature allows for ease in manufacture and storage of the package. Moreover, the part of the blank comprising the spout-securing panel is pre-cut to create a pair of fill apertures for receiving each of the fill spouts when the beverage bags are added to the carton. Likewise, the portion of the blank constituting the front panel is pre-cut to create a pair of dispensing apertures for receiving each of the dispensing devices attached to the bags. It is particularly preferred that the blank further include the bag-separation panel as one of its sections. A more preferred embodiment is one where the blank is formed from corrugated cardboard material.
In certain embodiments, the blank has bottom flaps contiguous with the bottom of each of the front, rear, and side panels. When the blank is later erected into a carton, these flaps are simply folded back in the direction of the interior of the carton. Use of the flaps in this manner reinforces the rigidity of the bottom of the package, giving added stability as it is placed down onto a flat surface where it will rest during beverage dispensing. In preferred embodiments, a bottom panel is attached to one of the bottom flaps to form a bottom to the carton when the blank is erected.
Another preferred embodiment is one where the rear panel portion of the unitary blank is composed of two non-contiguous rear-panel sections. When the carton is erected, one rear-panel section overlaps the other so that the two sections can be adhered to one another to form a completed rear panel. In addition, the spout-securing panel in this embodiment of the blank is composed of two non-contiguous spout-panel sections, each spout-panel section being contiguous with the top edge of a different rear-panel section. Each spout-panel section has one of the pre-cut fill apertures and, when the carton is erected, one spout-panel section overlaps the other so that the two
Bib Pak, Inc.
Jansson & Shupe & Munger Ltd.
Kaufman Joseph A.
LandOfFree
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