Package making – With cover-adjunct application or formation – Adjunct comprising provision to allow access to contents,...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-26
2002-11-05
Sipos, John (Department: 3721)
Package making
With cover-adjunct application or formation
Adjunct comprising provision to allow access to contents,...
C053S281000, C053S471000, C229S117300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06474040
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
This invention relates to the packaging of dry particulate foods such as ready-to-eat (“RTE”) cereal. More specifically, this invention relates to an apparatus and processes for preparing lined cartons of the type known as a bag-in-a-box. The cartons are produced by beating a carton having a filled and sealed liner therein such that the liner expands to contact an interior wall of the carton and is adhered to the interior wall by an adhesive disposed there between. In a preferred embodiment, the carton has a reclosable dispensing means or pour spout which is connected to the liner or bag in such a way that a portion thereof is separated from the liner upon initial opening of the dispensing means to provide access to the contents of the carton.
The apparatus of the invention have an infeed airlock infeed section, a central sealing section under vacuum, and a discharge airlock section. Cartons having filled and sealed liners pass through each of these sections via a conveyor, and the bag is adhered to the carton interior in the central section. In operation, there are three cartons at different stations of the apparatus at any given time; a first carton in the discharge airlock station which is the finished carton, that is, the liner has already been sealed tot eh carton; a second in the central sealing section which is being processed to bond the liner to the carton, and a third in the infeed airlock station which is the “new” carton which will be passed to the central sealing section to bond the liner to the carton. These are numbered in accordance with the process flow direction of the apparatus.
The use of cartons with liner bags for dry particulate products such as RTE cereal is well known. Such cartons are usually formed from a blank of paperboard or similar material comprising sidewalls with top and bottom flaps. The liner is a plastic or coated paper bag which holds the particulate product. The liner can be filled and sealed before or after being placed inside an open carton, the flaps of which are then folded and sealed.
Access to the contents of such cartons involves breaking the seal between the top flaps of the carton and pulling open the sealed liner bag. Resealing is often difficult and incomplete leading to a loss of freshness of the product. RTE cereal, for example, has a low moisture content and readily absorbs moisture from the air leading to a loss of crispness.
Dispensing devices such as pour spouts have been proposed to control the discharge of particulate product and minimize exposure to the atmosphere. However, when a carton with a pour spout contains a filled and sealed liner bag, the bag must be manually torn or cut with a knife or scissors when the spout is first opened. This arrangement has several drawbacks not the least of which is manually cutting or tearing of the liner bag. Once opened, and as the contents are depleted, the liner bag and its contents slide and shift positions in the carton which can cause the opened portion of the liner to become misaligned with the pour spout opening thereby hindering dispensing of product from the carton. This also causes product to drop between the carton and the liner.
Bag in the box type cartons and lined cartons in general are prepared using a variety of methods. Vacuum and induction heating are typical steps in such processes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,788 to Back et al. disclose applying pour spout to the interior of liner in empty container. The spout is sealed to the inside of liner via a heated anvil. U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,906 to Ako discloses a package making system wherein bags are assembled within cartons, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,380 to Ueda discloses a package assembly system which includes a first container forming unit having a jaw, which includes a high frequency coil serving as a heater. U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,020 to McGee discloses a process of lining a container with plastic using vacuum. U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,935 to Furukawa discloses the use of air streams (vacuum) to force a lining against the inside of a carton or box. U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,390 to Knudsen discloses a manufacturing system wherein lids are placed on containers and sealed thereto as the assembled units travel past an induction heating area. The induction coil generates eddy current heat in a metal foil layer in the lid and thus welds to the container.
U.S. Pat. No. Reissue 33,467 to Steck et al. describes a machine for assembling filled containers of polyfoil wherein sealing jaws include induction coils used to induce a current in the metallic layer of the polyfoil to seal the container. The patent also shows an apparatus to carry out this operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,774 to Bell discloses a lid for a container which consists of a rigid ring and a removable membrane. The membrane, which includes a thin layer of aluminum, is welded (using induction heating) to the ring. Bell also discloses an apparatus to assemble the ring and membrane.
The existing approaches are limited in that the resulting packages provide limited protection of the package contents product from ambient moisture.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is therefore directed towards apparatus and methods for producing improved bag-in-a-box cartons where the bag or liner is physically adhered to the interior wall or walls of a sealed carton without breaking the seal of the liner. Thus, the liner will be prevented from slipping to the bottom of the carton. In preferred embodiments, the liner is adhered to the interior of the carton in such a way so as to provide placement of a reclosable pour device which readily facilitates initial opening or piercing of the package, yet offers superior protection from ambient moisture.
More specifically, the present invention is related to an apparatus sealing a filled liner to the interior of a dispensing assembly located in an end wall of a sealed carton containing said filled liner without breaking the seal of the filled liner. The apparatus includes a central sealing section connected to a vacuum source and having means for sealing positioned therein to align with the end wall of the carton. Infeed airlock and discharge airlock communicate with the central sealing section, and a conveyor moves the sealed cartons from the infeed airlock through the central section in sealing contact with the end wall and into the discharge airlock while maintaining a vacuum atmosphere in said central section. Using this apparatus, the liner is sealed to the interior of said dispensing assembly without breaking the seal of said liner.
The infeed airlock and outfeed airlock include a top and bottom conveyor which are adjustable to the carton size. Typically the top belt is raised or lowered to accommodate the specific carton to be processed. The conveyors are of sufficient length to maintain control of several boxes at a given time. Cartons are kept in the infeed and outfeed airlocks to block the flow of air and to aid maintaining vacuum inside the central portion.
Sensors in the airlock sections detect the presence of a carton. Upstream of the airlock is an additional sensor which can determine of sufficient cartons are available to maintain a continuous flow. During a continuous run, there are three cartons in the apparatus at any given point in time, a finished carton in the discharge airlock section, a second in the central sealing section and a third in the infeed airlock section. A full stream of cartons assists the airlocks to maintain vacuum along the working zone. When an upstream sensor detects that no more cartons are available, the infeed airlock stops with several cartons in it such that the vacuum is maintained in the working zone and the outfeed airlock continues to cycle until the working zone is clear, which is determined by a sensor at the beginning of the outfeed airlock. At this time, the cartons stop in the outfeed airlock to maintain vacuum. When the upstream sensor determines that cartons are again present, the infeed airlock starts in synchronization with the flow of cartons such that a full load o
Bradley David L.
Ours David C.
Desai Hemant M.
Howard & Howard
Michigan State University
Sipos John
LandOfFree
Method and apparatus for producing lined cartons having pour... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for producing lined cartons having pour..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for producing lined cartons having pour... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2962378