Food package

Abstract

 The invention concerns a thermoplastic food package comprising a cup formed container part (1) with a horizontally extending fixing flange (3) surrounding a container mouth (4) and with an upwardly extending collar (5) at the outermost edge of said fixing flange (3), as well as a lid (2) for hermetically sealing and subsequent reclosing of the package. The invention is characterized in that the lid (2) is an in mould labelled lid (2) of an oxygen permeability determining thermoplastics having a preprinted flat thermoplastic label (8) at its upper surface, said lid (2) being stackable due to an upwardly extending collar (9) at the outermost edge of the lid (2), at least at corner portions thereof, and for sealing the package hermetically the bottom surface of the lid (2) is provided with an endless groove (12) extending around the whole periphery, at a distance from the outer edge of the lid (2), said groove (12) having a depth extending to bottom face of said label (8) and having a shape mating with the shape of an endless upwardly directed projection (6) extending along said fixing flange (3) of the container part (1).

Description

[0001] The invention concerns a thermoplastic food package comprising a cup formed container part with a horizontally extending fixing flange surrounding a container mouth and an upwardly extending collar at the outermost edge of said fixing flange, as well as a lid for hermetically sealing and subsequent reclosing of the package. Such a package is previously known from WO 97/27106.

[0002] The lid of the previously known package is manufactured by injection moulding a thermoplastic oxygen permeability determining lid part having a shape matching the shape of a mouth of the container part. A thermoplastic label having a somewhat larger size than said oxygen permeability determining lid part is then fixed to said lid part by using a thermoplastic lacquer, whereby the label forms a projecting portion around the whole periphery of the lid part. Said projecting portion is intended to be used for hermetically sealing the package by heating when the lid is applied onto the container part with said projecting portion resting upon the fixing flange of the container part. The drawbacks of such a food package are for instance a complicated manufacture of the lid and a problematic handling of the lids before they have been applied upon the container part because the lids cannot be stacked in such a way that they do not slide away from each other.

[0003] The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above mentioned problems and drawbacks. This is achieved with a thermoplastic food package of the type defined in the preamble of claim 1 wherein the lid is an in mould labelled lid of an oxygen permeability determining thermoplastics having a preprinted thermoplastic label at its upper surface, said lid being stackable due to an upwardly extending collar at the outermost edge of the lid, at least at corner portions thereof, and for sealing the package hermetically the bottom surface of the lid is provided with an endless groove extending around the whole periphery at a distance from the outer edge of the lid said groove having a depth extending to bottom face of said label and having a shape mating with the shape of an endless upwardly directed projection extending along said fixing flange of the container part.

[0004] The thermoplastic label of the lid is fixed to the lid part simultaneously as said lid part is manufactured by injection moulding. Said label is inserted into a mould used for said injection moulding prior to injection of a mass of oxygen permeability determining thermoplastics into said mould. The mould is designed to produce a lid with an upwardly extending collar at the outermost edge of the lid, at least at corner portions thereof. Due to the collar the lids produced can easily be stacked. Further the mould is designed to produce an endless groove at the bottom surface of the lid extending around the whole periphery of the lid at a distance from the outer edge thereof and with a dept extending to the bottom face of the label. The shape of the groove will match with the shape of an endless upwardly extending projection along the fixing flange of the container part. The groove and the projection will cooperate to provide an hermetically sealed package when heating the thermoplastic material of the label being in contact with an upper surface of the projection at said fixing flange of the container part when the lid is applied upon said container part so that said projection is inserted into the groove in the bottom surface of the lid. By the heating a weld is formed between the label at the upper side of the lid and the projection at the fixing flange of the container part.

[0005] According to one embodiment of the invention the upwardly extending collar of the lid extends along the whole periphery of the lid except a short portion at one end of the lid, which portion allows a grip part of the label to extend horizontally out of the lid in order to facilitate opening of the hermetically sealed package.
The upwardly extending collar of the container part is preferably provided with a similar opening to allow said grip part also to extend horizontally out of the container part.

[0006] When a hermetically sealed package according to the invention has been opened by breaking the weld between the face of the label at the bottom of the groove in the lid and the projection at the fixing flange of the container part, the package can still be reclosed by applying the lid onto the.mouth of the container part, which lid will be secured at place by means of a pair of inwardly directed nibs provided at two opposite sidewalls of the collar of the container part, which nibs will cooperate with the upper edge of the collar of the lid.

[0007] The invention will be described in more with reference to the enclosed drawing, wherein

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a food package according to the invention,

Fig 2 shows a perspective view of the container part of the food package shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view from below of a lid of the food package,

Fig. 4 is top view of another embodiment of a lid according to the invention, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section along line A-A in Fig. 4, showing how the lids can be stacked upon each other.

[0008] The thermoplastic food package shown in Fig 1 comprises a cup formed container part 1 and a lid or lid 2. The container part 1 is provided with a substantially horizontally extending fixing flange 3 surrounding a container mouth 4 and with an upwardly extending collar 5 at the outermost edge of the fixing flange 3. The fixing flange 3 is further provided with an endless upwardly directed projection extending along the inner edge thereof. In the upwardly extending collar 5 of the container part 1 there is an opening 7 at one short edge of the container part 1.

[0009] The lid or lid 2 of the food package is an in mould labelled lid 2 of an oxygen permeability determining thermoplastics having a preprinted flat thermoplastic label 8 at its upper surface. The lid is provided with an upwardly extending collar 9 at its outermost edge, at lest at corner portions thereof as shown in the embodiment according to Fig. 4 and 5 or along the whole periphery of the lid 2 except at a portion 10 at one end of the lid 2 to allow a grip part 11 of the label 8 to extend horizontally out of the lid 2. Due to said upwardly extending collar 9 of each lid 2 the lids are easily stackable as shown in Fig. 5. The bottom surface of the lid 2 is provided with an endless groove 12 extending around the whole periphery, at a distance from the outer edge of said lid 2. Said groove 12 has a depth extending to the bottom face of the thermoplastic label 8 of the lid 2 and it has a shape matching the shape of the upwardly directed projection 6 at the fixing flange 3 of the container part 1. Due to said groove 12 and to said upwardly directed projection 6 the thermoplastic material of the label 8 will come into contact with upper surface of said projection 6, when the lid 2 is applied onto the container part 1. By heating the thermoplastic material in the label 8 above said groove 12 and the thermoplastic material at the top of the projection 6 at the fixing flange 3 of the container part 1 a hermetically sealed package is achieved, which package is intended to be filled with food before the lid 2 is applied.

[0010] The hermetically sealed package is intended to be opened by tearing the grip part 11 of the label upwards, away from the container part 1, whereby the hermetical seal between the lid 2 and the container part 1 will break. The package can then be reclosed by applying the lid 2 onto the container part 1 whereby the lid 2 will be secured in closed position by means of a pair of inwardly directed nibs 13 at two opposite sidewalls of the collar 5 of the container part 1, which nibs 13 will cooperate with the upper edge of the collar 9 of the lid 2.

Claims

1. A thermoplastic food package comprising a cup formed container part (1) with a horizontally extending fixing flange (3) surrounding a container mouth (4) and with an upwardly extending collar (5) at the outermost edge of said fixing flange (3), as well as a lid (2) for hermetically sealing and subsequent reclosing of the package, characterized in that the lid (2) is an in mould labelled lid (2) of an oxygen permeability determining thermoplastics having a preprinted flat thermoplastic label (8) at its upper surface, said lid (2) being stackable due to an upwardly extending collar (9) at the outermost edge of the lid (2), at least at corner portions thereof, and for sealing the package hermetically the bottom surface of the lid (2) is provided with an endless groove (12) extending around the whole periphery, at a distance from the outer edge of the lid (2), said groove (12) having a depth extending to bottom face of said label (8) and having a shape mating with the shape of an endless upwardly directed projection (6) extending along said fixing flange (3) of the container part (1).

2. The food package according to claim 1, wherein the upwardly extending collar (9) of the lid (2) extends along the whole periphery of the lid (2) except a portion (10) at one end of the lid (2) to allow a grip part (11) of the label (8) to extend horizontally out of the lid (2).

3. The food package according to claim 2, wherein the upwardly extending collar (5) of the container part (1) is provided with an opening (7) similar to the portion (10) at one end of the lid (2).

4. The food package according to claim 3, wherein the upwardly extending collar (5) of the container part (1) is provided with an inwardly directed nib (13) at two opposite sidewalls of said collar (5), said nibs (13) cooperating with the upper edge of the collar (9) of the lid (2).

Drawing