Package and method of producing same

Dec. 12, 1950

Ο. M. BYERLY

2,533,554

PACKAGE

AND METHOD OF PRODUCING

SAME

Filed Sept. 21, 1945

Sheets-Sheet 1

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i

Dec. 12, 1950

Ο. M. BYERLY

2,533,554

PACKAGE AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME

Filed Sept. 21, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2

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Patented Dec. 12, 1950

2,533,554

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,533,554

PACKAGE AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME

Oliver M. Byerly, Chicago, III., assignor to Walter E. Hausheer, Evanston, Hl.

Application September 21,1945, Serial No. 617,749

Claims. (CL 206—46)

This invention relates generally to the packaging of merchandise of various kinds, particularly those such as certain food products which are best preserved and maintained in a marketable condition in hermetically sealed packages.

Many products, the character or flavor of which is best maintained when packaging in hermetically sealed packages, do not justify the expense of glass or tinplate jars, cans or similar'containers, and it is in connection with the marketing of products of this character such as soup bases, single rations of cereal, certain candies, and other products which should be kept free from moisture that my invention can be most successfully and profitably utilized. Under con- 15 ditions such as above mentioned where expensive containers are not feasible, containers formed of impervious metal foil, such as aluminum foil or tin foil are employed to some extent. Their use has not been entirely satisfactory, however, for 20 a number of reasons, among which may be mentioned the fact that the packages made of such material have been nothing more than flat bags resembling envelopes which when filled with bulky material bulge and wrinkle and present a 25 quite unattractive appearance. This fact will be particularly appreciated when one recognizes that these packages are formed by sealing together the margins of a pair of sheets of foil, the opposed faces of which have been provided with thermo- 30 plastic sealing material, so that when the margins are pressed together under the influence of heat they are secured together, thus forming a marginal flat sealing area entirely surrounding the package. The contents of the package do 35 not, therefore, approach the edges of the package, but are confined to the central portion of the package. The bulging and wrinkling induced by the presence of the contents in this central portion surrounded by the adhesively united margins 40 of substantial width so wrinkles the margins as to often impair the sealing of the package and distorts and disfigures the package as a whole so that decorative ornamentation applied to the package is rendered unattractive and printed 45 matter becomes distorted and frequently illegible. In fact, the whole package fails to present that sales appeal which is highly desirable in the marketing of products which are displayed for sales inducement purposes. 50

One of the primary purposes of my present invention is to provide a hermetically sealed package consisting of a container and contents which will present smooth flat surfaces upon which printed matter in the form of advertising or directions ⁶⁵ and decorative ornamentation will be attractively displayed.

Another purpose is to provide a package of the character indicated which, while formed of relatively flexible foil or laminated material, will be so constructed that it will retain its shape and will not, if handled with reasonable care, become distorted or disfigured.

Another feature of my invention resides in the 10 fact that the package, instead of having flat marginal portions surrounding the contents, as heretofore, is substantially rectangular in crosssection, comprising top, bottom and side walls which are self-sustaining and non-collapsible. The package, therefore, will retain its shape and will present an attractive and sales inducive appearance when displayed.

In addition to the advantageous features above enumerated, a package constructed in accordance with my invention is hermetically sealed and moisture-proof, so that the contents, irrespective of the degree of hygroscopicity, will be maintained in the condition of dryness possessed when the package was sealed.

Another purpose of my invention is to provide a method by which containers in accordance with my invention may be simultaneously formed, filled and sealed in rapid succession. The method contemplated provides for the expeditious and economical production of attractive and merchantable packages.

For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of my invention, I have illustrated on the accompanying drawings a preferred form of package and method for producing the same, from which in connection with the following description my invention and many of its inherent advantages will be readily appreciated.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a package made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view on the line 4—4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 5—5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 Illustrates schematically an apparatus by which the method of my invention may be carried out;

Fig. 7 is a view of the same apparatus looking toward the left at Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view on the line 8—8 of fig. 6. the section being that seen when looking

2,533,554 downward in the direction of the arrows on the section line;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view on the line 9—9 of Fig. 6; .

Fig. 10 is a fragmental sectional view on the line 10— I Oof Fig. 6;

Fig. 11 is a fragmental sectional view on the line II—II of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 12 is a similar view on the line 12—12 of Fig. 6.

In the production of a package in accordance with my invention, the container is formed from two sheets of different widths of impervious material consisting of or including a metal foil, preferably aluminum foil or tin foil, although lead foil or other metal foils may be suitable for some purposes.

The sheets are first corrugated or embossed to impart strength and rigidity thereto, which in the completed package will enable the container to be self-sustaining and non-collapsible, and then the thus strengthened sheets are united, in a manner to be later described, to produce the container into which the merchandise is introduced before the container is completed, and thereupon the filled or charged container is closed and hermetically sealed. Thus an attractive impervious package is provided, in which the merchandise is protected and maintained in its original condition until the package is opened by the user.

The wider of the two sheets employed, which is designated on the drawing generally by reference character 13 (Fig. 7), is withdrawn from a roll of material (not shown). During its manufacture the foil sheet material is coated on one face with a thermoplastic adhesive by which the sheets when subjected to heat and pressure are sealed together along the area thus treated.

The strip or sheet 13 is, as previously stated, unwound from a supply roll and passed first between a pair of positively driven corrugating or embossing rolls 14 and 15 provided with cooperating ribs and depressions adapted to provide said sheet with three rows of transversely extending strengthening ribs and depressions. The center row comprises the flutes or depressions 16 extending transversely of the sheet and arranged in spaced groups, as will be apparent from Fig. 5, leaving intervening fiat unembossed areas 17 for the application thereto of printed matter or decorative ornamentation.

As will be apparent from Figs. 4 and 5, the corrugations 16 terminate some distance from the side edges of the sheet and that area at each side of the row of corrugations 16 is also provided with flutes or corrugations 18 along one side, as indicated in Fig. 1, and similar flutes or corrugations 19 along the other side, as illustrated in Fig. 3. These corrugations are also arranged in spaced apart groups and the corrugations near the ends of each group are progressively shorter in length as illustrated, to enable the container to be shaped as shown.

The sheet 13 after being processed by the rolls 14 and 15 to form the three rows of corrugations, each row comprising spaced apart groups of transversely extending parallel flutes, as described, is next subjected to the action of a pair of folding rolls 21 and 22 which fold the margins provided with the flutes 18 and 19 so as to dispose them at right angles to the plane of the sheet 13, as illustrated in Fig. 8. A hollow mandrel 23 of rectangular cross-section serves as a form about which the sheet is folded as it travels in continuous motion along the mandrel from top to bot4 tom, as indicated in Figs. 6 and 7. The outer or free margins of these side flanges of the sheet are then bent outwardly into a plane parallel with the plane of the sheet 13 by suitable means including supporting bars 24 (Fig. 7) against which the thus disposed margins 25 rest, as shown in this figure. Simultaneously the other sheet 26 is laid against the exposed faces of these flanges and over the then uncovered face of the mandrel.

Sheet 26, which is also faced with a thermoplastic adhesive, is withdrawn from a supply roll (not shown) and passed first between corrugating or embossing rolls 27 and 28 by which the flutes or corrugations 29, corresponding in length and arrangement to the flutes 16 in sheet 13, are formed. It will be apparent from the drawings, particularly Figs. 2 and 5, that the flutes 29 are arranged in spaced apart groups to leave intervening spaces 31 for the reception and display of printed matter, ornamentation or the like. The sheet 26, which is of the width of sheet 13 when folded to provide the side walls and laterally extending margins of Fig. 10, is laid against the face of the mandrel and upon the margins 25 as it leaves the embossing roll 28, whereupon the superposed margins provided on their opposed contacting faces with thermoplastic adhesive are passed between a pair of spaced apart heated rolls 32 and a cooperating pressure roll whereby the adhesive is plasticized and under the roll pressure the margins are pressed together so as to form a hermetic seal and thereby provide in effect a long rectangular tube of foil having laterally projecting margins of the material hermetically sealed together.

As the tube progresses through the machine it is subjected to the action of a pair of folding devices in the form of curved plates or wings and 35 which first bend the sealed together margins upwardly, as illustrated in Fig. 11, and then fold them over onto the outer face of the sheet 26, as exemplified in Fig. 12. The tube, therefore, is not only hermetically sealed where the margins of the sheets 13 and 26 overlap, but the overlapping sealed margins are folded over against the exposed face of sheet 26 to form the seams 36 and 37 along the margins of one face of the tube and on one face of the completed package, as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 4.

My invention contemplates not only the production of a hermetically sealed tube in the manner thus far described, but also the formation from such tube of a series of structurally independent containers, and in addition the filling of such containers with merchandise simultaneously with their formation and the hermetic sealing of the ends of such containers when formed. With these purposes in view, the upper end of the hollow mandrel 23 is connected by a chute 38 with a hopper or magazine 39 containing a supply of the merchandise such as milk powder, dehydrated soup or other products to be packaged. From the supply hopper the mandrel is kept continuously supplied with the merchandise to be packaged and a predetermined quantity of such merchandise or material is discharged at timed intervals from the lower end of the mandrel into the surrounding tube by the automatic and timed opening and closing of a gate or valve 41 adapted to close the lower end of the mandrel.

As the charge of merchandise is admitted into the tube by the opening of the gate 41, the tube is flattened and sealed transversely at a point indicated by 42 (Fig. 7) a spaced distance

9,588, 554 from the gate 41 and between successive groups of corrugations II and 19 in the side walls. This compressing and sealing action is performed preferably by a pair of rolls 43 and 44 having cooperating heated projections 44 and 43, respectively, g which in effect produce a transversely extending sealed partition across the tube which limits the downward travel in the tube of the merchandise discharged from the mandrel.

The filled portion of the tube proceeds past 10 the rolls 43 and 44 to bring the transverse partition into position to be severed transversely by one of the cutters 41 carried by the. roll 48 and adapted to cooperate with a companion roll 49.

In this manner the filled section of the tube is 15 separated and becomes the completed package consisting of a hermetically sealed container filled with the merchandise. Simultaneously with the severance of the completed package from the tube, the succeeding filled tube section is 20 sealed at its upper end by the rolls 43 and 44, as previously described and as illustrated in Fig. 7.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that I have provided an hermetically sealed package 25 formed from impervious foil which Is so strengthened by the corrugations or flutes in the top, bottom and side walls as to be self-sustaining and sufficiently strong and rigid to maintain its shape without deformation under reasonably 30 careful handling conditions such as articles of this character commercially receive. The package is formed, filled and sealed during the continuous passage of strips or sheets of suitable material through a machine. Consequently, the 35 production, which is rapidly accomplished without manual handling of either the container material or the container contents, is desirably and commercially economical.

The structural details of tlie apparatus and the &lt;0 procedure of the method as well as the structural details of the package itself are capable of considerable modification and variation within the scope of my invention as defined in the followingclaims. 45