Tubular Pouch with Lid Piece

Abstract

The invention relates to a tubular pouch having a tubular pouch body and a lid piece and, optionally, a base, especially a standing base or stand-up base, the lid piece being fixed on the tubular pouch by means of a cuff and either the cuff being formed integrally with the lid piece or the lid piece co-operating with the cuff, the cuff at least partially overlapping the lid piece and the cuff extending around the periphery of the lid piece and at least over an end portion of the tubular pouch at the lid-piece end thereof.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and is a U.S. National Phase filing of PCT International Application Number PCT/EP2006/002475, filed on Mar. 17, 2006, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to German Patent Application Number 10 2005 016 268.1, filed on Apr. 8, 2005. The disclosures of the above-described applications are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a tubular pouch in accordance with the preamble of patent claim 1.

2. Description of the Related Art

Tubular pouches of the kind in question herein are generally known and are used for conserving, storing and transporting liquid, paste-form and solid contents as well as for bringing such contents into commercial availability; such tubular pouches and packagings produced therefrom have proved to be extremely advantageous inter alia on account of their being lightweight and easily shapeable and printable. A further advantage of such tubular pouches is their ease of disposal.

The opening behaviour of such tubular pouches or tubular pouch packagings has proved to be problematic, however. Such packagings are usually opened by tearing open the packaging, it being usual to provide a notch in a lateral sealing seam by means of which further tearing of a foil forming the tubular pouch, generally of two side wall foils, is initiated.

A further possible way of opening such a tubular pouch packaging is to pull apart two side faces forming the tubular pouch in the region of a seal, the seal breaking open.

Those two variants of opening have the serious disadvantages, however, that when the packaging is torn into or torn open, the foil forming the tubular pouch tears in an undirected and uncontrolled way, so that the contents of the packaging are spilled, resulting in loss of the packaged goods.

Furthermore, after such tearing-open, the interior of the tubular pouch is often poorly accessible, because torn or residual portions of the packaging make it difficult to gain access to the interior of the tubular pouch, for example with the hand or a spoon. Intentionally pouring out the contents of the packaging is also often impeded by residual portions of the packaging, so that the contents of the packaging on the one hand also come into contact with outer parts of the packaging, with the result that on the one hand the contents of the tubular pouch can be contaminated on being poured out and on the other hand can be dispensed only in an uncontrolled way.

Finally, a further variant of opening comprises the use of a pair of scissors by means of which an upper portion of the closed tubular pouch is cut off and removed, so that the interior volume of the tubular pouch is then freely accessible. Although that variant enables a tubular pouch portion that closes the tubular pouch to be cleanly separated, it creates the problem firstly that it is necessary always to have a pair of scissors to hand and secondly, if the scissors used are not clean, that there is a risk that both the cut edges and the contents of the tubular pouch will be contaminated, with the result that the contents may become unusable.

The problem underlying the invention is to provide a tubular pouch of the kind mentioned at the beginning which can be opened hygienically, simply and without aids, so that the interior of the tubular pouch is accessible without problems.

That problem is solved by a tubular pouch according to patent claim 1.

The problem is solved, in particular, by a tubular pouch having a tubular pouch body and a lid piece and, optionally, a base, especially a standing base or stand-up base, the lid piece being fixed on the tubular pouch by means of a cuff.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the cuff is formed integrally with the lid piece, the cuff extending around the periphery of the lid piece and at least over an end portion of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof.

In accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention, the lid piece co-operates with the cuff so that the cuff at least partially overlaps, especially engages over, the lid piece, and the cuff extends around the periphery of the lid piece and at least over a portion of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof. In that case, the cuff is produced as a separate component. The cuff extends both over the periphery of the lid piece and over the periphery of the end portion of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof and thereby holds the lid piece fixed in its position on the tubular pouch body.

In the latter case, the construction of the cuff is like that of an angle profile, so that one limb of the cuff extends over the peripheral edge of the lid piece and the other limb extends over the peripheral edge of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof.

According to the invention, at least one portion of the cuff that extends over the edge portion of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof is sealed or adhesively bonded thereto.

The cuff according to the invention accordingly fulfils two functions: the first is to fix the lid piece on the tubular pouch, the lid piece either resting loosely on the tubular pouch body and being held in place by means of the cuff which in turn is sealed to the tubular pouch body.

The second function of the cuff is to ensure that it is impossible to open the lid piece without removing the cuff. Accordingly, the cuff constitutes a safety measure by means of which improper opening of, for example, a reclosable lid piece is effectively prevented (closure integrity). That is expedient, for example, when the lid piece itself, with a cold-seal adhesive that is suitable for reclosure, is used for closing the tubular pouch.

The cuff itself has at least one, preferably two co-operating grip region(s) in the form of opening tabs. Accordingly, for opening the cuff the grip region(s) is/are grasped and separated from the tubular pouch body by pulling, so that the seal between the tubular pouch body and the portion of the cuff in contact therewith is broken.

Preferably, for attachment of the cuff there is used a sealing medium which effectively prevents reclosure of the cuff, so that there is no doubt as to whether a cuff has been opened. Optionally, the cuff can also be constructed so that after being opened it has broken sites or torn sites.

In accordance with a further embodiment, the lid piece is placed over the associated peripheral edge of the tubular pouch body, so that the tubular pouch body is surrounded at least on the outside by the edge of the lid piece. In that case, the internal diameter of the edge of the lid piece is slightly larger than the external diameter of the tubular pouch body, so that the lid piece can simply be placed onto the tubular pouch body.

Alternatively, the lid can be trough-shaped or dish-shaped and have a diameter that enables the lid piece to be inserted into the tubular pouch body. In that embodiment, the lid piece preferably has its edge turned over towards the outside so that in this variant the peripheral edge of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof is surrounded by the edge of the lid piece both on the inside and on the outside. Such a lid piece is suitable in an extremely advantageous way for reclosure of the tubular pouch; the lid piece, by virtue of its surrounding the tubular pouch body on the inside and the outside, rests so firmly against the tubular pouch body that there is no risk of its unintentionally falling off the tubular pouch body. Instead, in this embodiment the lid piece can easily be removed from the tubular pouch body by hand; unless removed manually, however, the lid piece keeps the tubular pouch securely closed.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, a desired tearing line is formed between the sealed or adhesively bonded seam of the cuff and the lid piece. That variant according to the invention is advantageous especially when the cuff is formed integrally with the lid piece, and the cuff can be at least partially separated from the lid piece in order to open the tubular pouch.

In an advantageous embodiment, the cuff is formed by a foil strip the end portions of which are joined, especially sealed or adhesively bonded, so that they overlap one another, an outer end portion serving as grip tab for opening the cuff (lap-seal variant).

The overlapping of the end portions can therefore be in the form of a lap seal or a fin seal. In the latter case, the cuff can be opened by gripping the end portions of the foil strip and pulling them apart, so that the fin seal breaks open and the cuff can be removed, so that the lid piece of the tubular pouch can be removed.

In an extremely advantageous development of the invention, the lid piece is configured with an angled edge strip which in the longitudinal direction of the tubular pouch can face either towards or away from the latter. In the former case, the lid piece can preferably be placed over the portion of the tubular pouch body located at the lid-piece end thereof, while in the latter case, as mentioned above, insertion of the lid piece, which is accordingly of dish-like construction, into the tubular pouch comes into consideration, the angled edge strip of the lid piece preferably projecting above the rim of the peripheral edge of the tubular pouch body.

In the two last-mentioned cases, according to the invention the cuff is sealed or adhesively bonded to the outside of the edge strip, so that the cuff remains on the lid piece when the lid piece is removed from the tubular pouch body. For that purpose, a strongly adhesive contact adhesive or a strong seal is preferably chosen in order to prevent the cuff from falling off the lid piece.

A further variant of a cuff according to the invention has at least one grip tab extending in the longitudinal direction of the pouch, especially towards the base of the pouch, by means of which the cuff can be opened, or torn open. As mentioned above, the grip tab is free of adhesive and/or sealing medium.

Otherwise, the tubular pouch body itself and, where applicable, the lid piece and/or the base of the tubular pouch is/are of relatively rigid construction. This is particularly advantageous when the tubular pouch contains liquid or paste-form contents. When the contents are solid, they can themselves impart a certain stability to the tubular pouch body.

A considerable advantage of a tubular pouch according to the invention is that substantially the entire cross-sectional opening of the tubular pouch body can be opened, so that optimum access can be gained to the interior volume of the tubular pouch, including, for example, with a spoon, a fork or some other removal aid.

In accordance with one embodiment, the tubular pouch body is produced from a square or rectangular foil blank, the overlapping edge regions being joined to one another by means of fin-seal and/or lap-seal sealing to form a tubular body. Alternatively, the tubular pouch body is produced as part of an extruded foil tube which is preferably of seamless construction.

Furthermore, the tubular pouch body is preferably made from a laminate, especially an aluminium laminate, having at least one sealing layer and optionally at least one barrier layer. The barrier layer preferably consists of SiO₂, ethyl vinyl alcohol (EVOH), an oriented polyolefin, preferably polypropylene (OPP), or a metal foil, for example an aluminium foil.

Moreover, the lid piece and/or the base are made substantially of the same materials as the tubular pouch body. As a result, the tubular pouch can be produced very cost-effectively, because both the lid piece and the base are made of the same foil or the same laminate as the tubular pouch body itself. For that purpose, it is possible to use either the foil forming the future tubular pouch body, prior to formation of the tubular pouch body, or a length of extruded tube, which are in each case detached for forming the lid piece and the base. For example, it is possible for such a short length of tube simply to be sealed on one side to form the base and then incorporated into the tubular pouch body, with the latter optionally being stretched, and joined sealingly thereto, that is to say sealed or adhesively bonded thereto.

Both the lid piece and the base and/or the tubular pouch body have a thickness in the range of from 50 μm to 1000 μm, preferably from 100 μm to 500 μm, and especially from 150 μm to 350 μm. Adhering to those dimensions on the one hand ensures that the tubular pouch is lightweight and has sufficient durability and stability, including for carbonic-acid-containing pouch contents. Furthermore, the lid piece, the base and the tubular pouch body itself is sterilisable, so that foods, beverages and stimulants can also be introduced into the tubular pouch and packaged hygienically therein.

Further embodiments of the invention will be found in the subsidiary claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is described below on the basis of exemplary embodiments which are explained in greater detail with reference to the Figures.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a tubular pouch according to the invention in accordance with a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a tubular pouch according to the invention in accordance with a second embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a tubular pouch according to the invention in accordance with a third embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic part-sectional view of a tubular pouch according to the invention in accordance with a fifth embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic sectional view, from above, of a lid piece having a fin seal; and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic sectional view, from above, of a lid piece having a lap seal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the description which follows, parts that are the same or have the same action have been given the same reference numerals.

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the tubular pouch 10 according to the invention has a tubular pouch body 12 which can be formed by means of lap-seal sealing. At its base end, the tubular pouch body 12 can be provided with a deep-drawn stand-up base and can be sealed tightly thereto peripherally around the edge. The tubular pouch body 12 is approximately circular both in its base region and in its lid-piece region 20. Other cross-sectional shapes, such as oval, rectangular etc., are also possible, however. The lid piece 14 of an approximately circular-cylindrical tubular pouch body 12 consists of an approximately circular part, especially a foil part, which has a slightly greater diameter than the tubular pouch body 12. At the edge, the lid piece 14 is placed over the tubular pouch body 12. The lid piece 14 of the closed tubular pouch 10 is fixed on the tubular pouch body 12 by having sealed to the tubular pouch body 12 a cuff 18 which by means of a limb extends over the lid piece 14 at the top and is stretched peripherally both around the lid piece 14 and around the tubular pouch body 12. For tearing open the cuff 18, the latter has on two sides a tab 22, for example in the form of a fin seal 34, having two respective grip regions which extend away from the tubular pouch body 12 substantially at a right angle and which can each be grasped with two fingers of a hand. For opening, the two ends of the tab 22 sealed with the fin seal 34 are pulled and in that way the cuff 18 is removed from the tubular pouch body 12.

Further embodiments of the invention are shown diagrammatically in FIGS. 1 to 6.

For example, FIG. 1 shows a tubular pouch 10 according to the invention, consisting of a tubular pouch body 12, a base (not shown) and a lid piece 14 which is fixed by means of a cuff 18 on the upper, lid-piece-end peripheral edge 20 of the tubular pouch body 12. The cuff 18 is firmly joined by means of a very strong seal 36 to the outside of an edge strip 32 of the lid piece 14, which edge strip is angled upwards in FIG. 1. The seal 36 extends over the periphery of the lid-piece edge 32.

By means of an adhesively bonded seam 26, the cuff 18 is joined to the outside of the peripheral edge 20 of the tubular pouch body 12 at the lid-piece end thereof. That adhesive bond likewise extends over the periphery of the tubular pouch body. For opening the cuff 18, a grip region in the form of tab 22 is provided. The adhesively bonded seam 26 is weaker than the seal 36 in terms of adhesive strength, which ensures that when the cuff 18 is being opened the cuff becomes detached only from the tubular pouch body 12.

In accordance with the embodiment described above, the lid piece 14 is of dish-like construction and extends into the tubular pouch body 12 to the depth of about half its angled edge strip 32. The portion of the angled edge strip 32 projecting out of the tubular pouch body 12 is used for the join to the cuff 18.

FIG. 2 shows a diagrammatic view of a further embodiment according to the invention which is a modification of the embodiment according to FIG. 1. In accordance with this variant, the cuff 18 is formed integrally with the lid piece 14. The lid piece 14 is accordingly joined to the tubular pouch body 12 via the sealed or adhesively bonded seam 26 of the cuff 18. For opening the tubular pouch 10, it is accordingly necessary first to open the cuff 18, it being possible to break the sealed or adhesively bonded seam 26 between the cuff 18 and the tubular pouch body 12 by pulling on the tab 22. For easier release of the lid piece 14, it is also possible to provide a desired tearing line 28 along which the cuff 18 can be separated from the lid piece 14. Such a desired tearing line 28 is located between the adhesively bonded seam 26 and the upper edge of the lid piece or pouch.

FIG. 3 shows a diagrammatic view of a third embodiment of a tubular pouch 10 according to the invention in which the lid piece 14 has a downwardly angled edge strip and is placed cap-like over the peripheral edge 20 of the tubular pouch body 12 at the lid-piece end thereof. The cuff is in that case in the form of an annular angle profile, the horizontal limb of the cuff 18 extending over the peripheral edge of the lid piece 14, while the vertical limb, or the limb extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the pouch, is joined to the tubular pouch body 12 by means of the sealed or adhesively bonded seam 26 and accordingly holds the lid piece 14 on the tubular pouch body 12. For opening such a tubular pouch variant, again the tab 22 can be grasped and the sealed or adhesively bonded seam 26 broken by pulling, so that the cuff 18, which is in the form of a separate component, can be removed. lid piece 14 is accordingly free to be removed.

FIG. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of a tubular pouch according to the invention in which the cuff 18 is again formed integrally with the lid piece 14 and can be separated therefrom along a desired tearing line 28. In accordance with the part-sectional view of the embodiment according to FIG. 4, the tab 22 is used for opening the cuff 18. Here too, the desired tearing line 28 is located between the sealed or adhesively bonded seam 26 and the upper edge of the pouch or lid piece.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of a lid-piece-end peripheral edge 20 of a tubular pouch body 12 according to the invention having an associated cuff 18. The cuffs 18 are in each case in the form of foil strips and have end portions 30 that overlap one another. In the case of FIG. 5, those end portions 30 are in the form of a fin seal 34 and in the case of FIG. 6 in the form of a lap seal. For opening the tab, according to FIG. 5 the grip regions 22 of the fin-seal seal are grasped and pulled apart from one another so that the seal is broken and the cuff 18 is accordingly opened.

In accordance with FIG. 6, a grip region 22 is provided on the outer end portion 30 of the foil strip, by means of which the cuff 18 can be broken open to open the lap-seal seal.

The packagings described above are excellently suitable for storing solid items, it being emphasised that a seal or some other sealing means can likewise be provided between the lid piece and the limb of the cuff that engages over the lid piece. In that case the storage of paste-form and liquid tubular pouch contents is also possible if the cuff is not anyway firmly joined to the lid piece.

It should be pointed out here that all the above-described parts, considered alone and in any combination, especially the details shown in the drawings, are claimed as being important to the invention. Modifications thereof will be familiar to the person skilled in the art.

List of reference numerals

10 tubular pouch

12 tubular pouch body

14 lid piece

18 cuff

20 end portion/peripheral edge at the lid-piece end

22 grip region/tab

24 edge of the lid piece

26 sealed/adhesively bonded seam of the cuff

28 desired tearing line

30 end portions of the foil strip

32 angled edge strip

34 fin seal

36 sealed/adhesively bonded seam between lid piece and cuff

Claims

1. A tubular pouch comprising a tubular pouch body and a lid piece wherein the lid piece is fixed on the tubular pouch body by means of a cuff.

2. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein the cuff is formed integrally with the lid piece, and extends over the periphery of the lid piece and over an end portion or peripheral edge of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof.

3. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein the cuff, is a separate component, and extends both over the periphery of the lid piece and over the periphery of the end portion of the tubular pouch body at the lid-piece end thereof and thereby holds the lid piece on the tubular pouch body.

4. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein the cuff is sealed or adhesively bonded to the lid-piece-end portion of the tubular pouch body to the outside thereof or elsewhere.

5. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein said cuff is provided with one or more opening tabs defined by grip region(s) selected from the group consisting of at least one grip region, and two co-operating grip regions.

6. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein said lid piece is placed over the associated peripheral edge of the tubular pouch body.

7. A tubular pouch according to claim 4, wherein a desired tearing line is formed between the sealed or adhesively bonded seam of the cuff and the lid piece.

8. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein the cuff is formed by a foil strip the end portions of which are joined, sealed or adhesively bonded so that they overlap one another, the outer end portion serving as grip tab.

9. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein the lid piece has an angled edge strip, the cuff being fixed with high sealing strength on the outside of the edge strip.

10. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein the cuff is formed by a foil strip the end portions of which are joined to one another by a fin seal to form two grip tabs.

11. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein said cuff has at least one grip tab extending in the longitudinal direction of the pouch towards the base thereof or otherwise.

12. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein part(s) selected from the group consisting of said tubular pouch body, the lid piece, a base, said tubular pouch body and said lid piece, said tubular pouch body and a base, said lid piece and a base, and said tubular pouch body, said lid piece and a base is/are of relatively rigid construction.

13. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein the tubular pouch body is produced from a square or rectangular foil blank, the overlapping edge regions being joined to one another by means of sealing selected from the group consisting of a fin-seal sealing, a lap-sealing, and a fin-seal sealing and a lap-seal sealing to form a tubular body.

14. A tubular pouch according to claim 22, wherein said least one barrier layer, is selected from the group consisting of SiO2, ethyl vinyl alcohol (EVOH), an oriented polyolefin, oriented polypropylene (OPP), and a metal foil.

15. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein said lid piece is made substantially of the same materials as the tubular pouch body.

16. A tubular pouch according to claim 2, wherein part(s) selected from the group consisting of said lid piece, said tubular pouch body, and said lid piece and said tubular pouch body have a thickness in the range selected from the group consisting of from 50 μm to 1000 μm, from 100 μm to 500 μm, and from 150 μm to 350 μm.

17. A tubular pouch according to claim 2, wherein said lid pieced, the base and the tubular pouch body are sterilisable.

18. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, further including a standing, stand-up or other base.

19. A tubular pouch according to claim 7, wherein the lid piece is placed over the associated peripheral edge of the tubular pouch body so that the peripheral edge of the tubular pouch body is surrounded on the inside and the outside of the edge of the lid piece.

20. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein said tubular pouch body is produced from a square or rectangular foil blank, and the tubular pouch body is part of an extruded foil tube.

21. A tubular pouch according to claim 1, wherein said tubular pouch body is made from aluminum or other laminate having at least one sealing layer.

22. A tubular pouch according to claim 17, said laminate includes at least one barrier layer.

23. A tubular pouch according to claim 2, wherein part(s) selected from the group consisting of said base, and said base and said lid piece is/are made substantially of the same materials as said tubular pouch body.

24. A tubular pouch according to claim 16, further including a standing, stand-up or other base, wherein said base has a thickness in a range selected from the group consisting of from 50 μm to 1000 μm, from 100 μm to 500 μm, and from 150 μm to 350 μm.