Container for drink and method of manufacturing the container

It is an object of the present invention to provide a container wherein said disadvantages are eliminated.

This object is realized according to the present invention firstly because the space in which the straw is to be introduced is defined exclusively by welding seams between a bag wall and a part defining this space, these seams being situated. welding within the rectangle formed by the longitudinal and transverse seams of the bag so that the thickness of the layers at the position of said longitudinal and transverse seams of the bag is unchanged, and the bag having an opening within the region defined by the longitudinal and transverse seams of the bag at the position of said space, which opening through which a straw may be introduced or has already been introduced. According to the present invention, the space into which the straw is to be introduced now has one. only opening for the introduction of straw, but the space itself is closed. Under these conditions, the valve function no longer exists. If the contents of the container are to be consumed, the container wall must be perforated by the straw, an operation which is already known in the case of straw containers supplied as a loose component. Since the space is normally closed and has only one opening for introduction,

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the straw may already have been placed in the pre-delivery opening of the container. The straw, therefore, is no longer a loose component, or at least not necessarily.

Welding seams defining the space for straw insertion do not alter the thickness of the layers in the position of the longitudinal and transverse seams of the bag, resulting in the elimination of leakage streaks.

In accordance with the present invention, the surface of the space adjacent to the interior of the bag is preferably formed of an elastically deformable film and the straw has the end cut obliquely at an acute angle, so that the straw resiliently expands the opening after perforation. from the wall. This is accomplished simply by cutting a straw of a suitable rigidity under an acute angle of, for example, 45 °. 4 The film may be pierced by the sharp tip thus formed in the straw, after which this piercing may be expanded therethrough. This results in the film tightly wrapping the straw to form a seal. It is therefore not possible for any leakage to occur along the outer wall of the straw while consuming the contents of the container, or in the event that some of the contents are still stored.

In accordance with the present invention, the space may be defined by a strip of film welded to one of the bag walls. This strip may have a width or length that is equal to the width or length of the bag wall respectively. The weld seams then coincide in this case, which means the weld seams that define the yanatuffi bag

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contain three layers along its entire length. This strip can be placed on the inner side or. exterior of the adjacent wall.

The longitudinal or transverse weld seams of the strip may be arranged spaced apart from the hard weld seams defining the bag.

It is also possible that the space is defined by a sleeve welded to the inner surface of the bag and then the upper ends of this sleeve are welded to a wall of the bag such that they surround the opening for the straw.

In addition, if a strip the same width as a sidewall of the bag is used, it is convenient to provide additional welding seams between the strip and a bag wall in order to define and reduce the space for the straw. Such seams may, for example, consist of a longitudinal seam extending from the upper transverse seam of the bag to a transverse seam and a transverse seam defining the bottom of the space and terminating at the position of a longitudinal seam.

The present invention also relates to a method of making a bag according to the invention, wherein two sheets of thermoplastic synthetic material are placed against each other and bags are formed by welding seams, and then in the process According to the present invention, a third sheet is placed against one of the sheets defining a wall of the bag and said third sheet is fixed to the bag to form said space before or during welding.

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The sheet defining the outer wall of the space provided, prior to welding, with spaced opening openings coinciding with the longitudinal pitch of the bag chain, these openings being opened after welding of the bags. leaves defining the space in each other, and a straw being inserted into each of said openings as the leaves advance.

Accordingly, according to the present invention the third sheet is welded against one of said sheets before the bags are formed to form the interior space, or the three sheets are welded together simultaneously.

If the third sheet is applied to the outside of one of the walls of the bag, this third sheet shall be provided with the straw opening. However, if the third sheet is applied to the inner side of a film sheet defining one of the bag walls, a. Said sheet of film which determines a wall of the bag shall be provided with the introduction opening for the straw. 0 The opening of the introduction opening can be easily performed by means of suction nozzles, after which the straws can be introduced into the openings from the upper end of the bag, for example by means of a stepwise feeding device. the straws by introducing them into the openings by means of a transverse stroke.

The present invention thus provides the possibility to manufacture a beverage container, which has already been provided with a straw, which is easy to manufacture and presents no leakage problem.

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings whose figures show:

the fig. 1 is a front view of a container according to the invention;

fig. 2 - a longitudinal section along the line

II-II of fig. 1;

fig. 3 - a cross section taken along the. line

III-III of fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a front view of an embodiment of the container according to the invention;

fig. 5 is a cross section taken along line VV of FIG. 4;

fig. 6 is a front view of yet another embodiment of the container according to the invention;

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VII-VII of Fig. 6;

fig. A longitudinal section through yet another variant of the container according to the invention; and

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fig. 9 is a perspective schematic representation of a device for applying the container manufacturing method according to the invention.

The container illustrated in the accompanying drawings consists of two films 1 and 2 respectively in the form of film sheets which are formed - by vertical welding seams 3 and 4 respectively and a horizontal bottom seam 5 - in bags which are closed after filling by middle of the upper welding seam 6.

Before films 1 and 2 are welded together by vertical seams 3 and 4 respectively, a strip 7 is welded together by vertical seams 8 and 9 and horizontal seams 10 and 11 on the inner surface of film 2. or on the outer surface thereof.

Prior to that, an aperture is punched in the film 2 at point 12 for introducing thereto a straw 13 having a sharp tip 14 and is preferably of the type comprising a wrinkled curved zone 15 so that the straw portion 16 can be placed against the sidewall of the container. Such a bag is completely closed. If it is convenient to consume the contents of the container, the straw is pushed through the lower region 17 of the welded strip 7, piercing this area with its sharp tip 14.

If the strip 7 is welded to the outer side of the foil sheet 2, the strip 7 shall be provided with an introduction opening and the sharp tip 14 of the straw 13 shall be pushed through.

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through the foil 2, i.e. through the wall of the container.

If the contents of the container are only partially consumed, the container may be partially sealed by retracting the straw 14, in which case the pressure of the contents will tighten the strip 7 against the inner wall 2. This performs a valve function. as is known from the container described in British Patent 725,588 mentioned above.

It is, however, more favorable to choose for the wall which should be perforated a resilient deformable material such as, for example, a low pressure polyethylene. With a sufficiently rigid straw and a tip cut obliquely, for example at 45 °, the tip of the straw will puncture the material of the film, less than the hole formed and expanding elastically and forming a seal around the straw. Thus, a leak along the outer wall of the straw is not possible, which is an advantage both during the consumption of the contents of the container and also in the event that some of the contents are stored.

While in the embodiment of figs. 1 to 3, the strip 7 has weld seams 8 to 11 which are clearly located at a certain distance from the weld seams 3 to 6 of the container, it is of course also possible to fit the weld seams in another way. without this changing the thickness of the welded layers at the position of the seams 3 to 6 of the container.

Possibilities of this type are illustrated in FIGS. 4 to 7.

In the embodiment shown in figs. 4 and 5, 0 mate

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The starting material consists of sheets of film of the same width. In the film sheets 1 and 2 a third relic sheet 23 is added which defines the space 24 for the straw. 13. In this census, therefore, there are no separate welding seams, but welding seams 3, 4, 5 and 6 comprise three layers instead of two. Throughout the entire length of each weld seam, however, the number of punches remains constant.

In this embodiment, the straw 13 is fixed to the outer wall of the container by means of a removable adhesive strip 25. This adhesive strip may be used in either embodiment.

The embodiment shown in figs. 6 and 7 θ different from that shown in figs. 4 and 5, by third film. 23, in addition to being welded to the film sheet 2 at the position of weld seams 3 and 6 inclusive, to be fastened by means of a vertical weld seam 26 and a horizontal weld seam 26 ', having this as result that a small space 27 is isolated from the large space 24 to accommodate the straw

13 Welding seams 26 and 26 'comprise two layers and join the welding seams 6 and 3 respectively consisting of three layers, but without any effect on the thickness of the layers.

The embodiment illustrated in Fig. 8 differs from the embodiment shown in the preceding figures in that the straw 13 is located in a sleeve 18 which is welded by the upper seams 19 and 20 respectively around the opening 21 in the sheet. In this embodiment, the space for the introduction of the straw is also formed in such a way that the

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10thickness. the layers at the longitudinal seams remain unchanged. However, the manufacture of this embodiment is somewhat more complicated.

Method for manufacturing the containers according to FIGS. 1 to 7 inclusive will be explained with reference to fig. 9.

Fig. 9 shows a feed roll 32 for the film sheet 2 which is guided above the guide rollers 33 and 34 and through a guide 35 so that the film sheet is already accurately guided in a vertical plane.

A device 36 serves to puncture the introduction openings for the straws.

feed roll 31 for film sheet 1 pro moves its feed over guide rollers 37 and 38 resulting in the two film sheets 1 and 2 side by side.

Welding devices 39 and 4θ perform vertical welding seams 3 and 4.

welding device 41 performs horizontal fun sewing 5.

The cutting knives 42 and 43 serve to separate the still open empty containers from one another which are conveyed by means of a transfer device 44 to a filling station where the containers are opened by means of nozzles. 45, are inflated with gas at point 46 θ are then led through the filling station 47 after which the top weld seam 6 is executed at 4θ.

Before the two nellule sheets 1 and 2 are placed against each other on the guide roll 38, a third film sheet 23 is placed against the film sheet 2 from a feed roller 49 via the rollers. 5G and 51. The vertical welding seams 8 and 9 are then made between the film sheets 2 and 23 by means of the welding devices 52, and the horizontal welding seams 10 and 11 by the welding devices 53 .

The space is then opened by means of the vacuum device 54 so that the straws 13 can be introduced into the openings 12.

Said nips are fed from a feeder container 55 by means of a conveyor belt 56 which carries the straws at regular distances from one another. The straws may be attached to the conveyor belt for example by friction in sheaths or clamps present in the belt 56. In 57 is located the device for cutting the oblique ends 14 of the straws 13. At 5S there is a device comprising introducing elements 59 which rotate to perform a vertical stroke and insert the straws 13 into an opening 12 via guide 60,

The straws are then folded by means of the folding devices 61 and 62 and, at the end of the operation, are provided with the adhesive tapes 25 shown in fig. 4

The machine shown in fig. 9 corresponds in particular to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 inclusive.

For the embodiments of figs. 4 and 5, welding devices 52 and 53 may be omitted. The welding is then carried out exclusively by means of the solar devices.

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39 and 41 and the openings 12 and straw inserts are then situated downstream of the welds 39, 40 θ 41.

In the embodiments of figs. 6 and 7, the welding seams 26 and 26 * are first made with welding devices comparable to welding devices 52 and 53 and the straw feeding device must then be downstream of welding devices 39, 40. and 41.