PACKAGING ARTICLE
An intelligent directional fire alarm system (1) is disclosed. The intelligent directional fire alarm system (1) identifies a threat such as a fire (60), and the location within a building relative to the known exits (70, 80) for building occupants, and indicates the closes exits in each area of a building relative to the location of an identified threat, and the path towards the exit for evacuees throughout a given building, relative to the detected fire location (s).
This invention relates to a packaging article in the form of a fitting for associating with an article, e.g. with a beverage container.
BACKGROUND ARTBeverage containers come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. In some cases, the container may have a base which is narrower than other parts thereof, e.g. a container shaped to resemble a conventional beer glass having a wide mouth and/or a bulge towards its upper end and a base which is narrower than said mouth and/or said bulge. However, such containers can present difficulties in manufacturing lines and/or during transport or packaging thereof due to their shape.
The present invention seeks to overcome or reduce these difficulties and/or provide additional advantages.
SUMMARY OF INVENTIONAccording to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a fitting for the base of a container arranged such that, when fitted thereto, a peripheral part of the fitting and a peripheral part of the container (at or towards the upper end thereof) respectively present first and second points of contact aligned along a substantially vertical line.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a fitting for associating with an article to provide an assembly having desired shape characteristics to facilitate handling thereof in automatic machinery, the fitting being adapted to be subsequently joined with one or more similar fitting so as to form part of a packaging unit for holding a plurality of said articles together.
According to other aspects of the invention there is provided the use of such a fitting for facilitating the handling of a line of containers in an automated assembly or filling line, the use of such a fitting to facilitate the packaging of an array of containers and/or the use of such a fitting as a coaster or base of a container.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of filling and packaging containers in which such fittings are used to facilitate handling of the containers whilst they are being filled and to facilitate packaging of a plurality of containers once filled.
Preferred or optional features of the invention will be apparent from the subsidiary claims of the specification.
The invention will now be further described, merely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
As shown in
In the embodiment shown in
As shown in
Thus, if two such fittings are placed side by side, the arrangement is relatively stable as the sides 10D of the adjacent fittings abut each other and the bulges 11A of adjacent containers 11 also abut each other. The arrangement is thus much less prone to the containers 11 tilting or tipping over compared to a line or array of such containers without the fittings 10.
If the fitting is square, it will have the same dimension d between both pairs of opposite sides so can be used in either orientation. In other cases (not shown), the widest part of the container may be non-circular so it has different widths in different directions. In this case, the fitting may be rectangular and the container orientated therein so the sides of the rectangular fittings are aligned with the parts of the container having the corresponding width. In this case, if the base of the container is non-circular, the aperture 20B may be correspondingly shaped and orientated so as to assist in locating the container in the correct orientation with respect to the fitting.
The use of such fittings 10 thus facilitates the handling of the containers 11, e.g. in an automated filling line in which the containers are filled with a beverage and closure means (not shown) applied to close the opening 112B at the upper end of the container 11 as they help ensure that a line or array of containers can be moved along the filling line with a much reduced risk of tilting or tipping over.
Such fittings 10 may be used just to facilitate handling of the containers 11 in a filling line and once used may be disposed of or, preferably, re-used at the beginning of the filling line.
However, in a preferred arrangement, the fitting may remain with the container and form part of its subsequent packaging in transit from the filling plant to a retail outlet. For example, four containers 11 in their respective fittings 10 may be placed side by side in a square array and secured in this configuration by secondary packaging, e.g. folded cardboard sheet (similar to that shown in
In this embodiment, the sheet material is in the form of a tube with a rectangular cross-section which can adopt a flat configuration for storage (as shown in
In the arrangement shown in
If it is desired to use the fitting 20 as part of the packaging for the containers, lengths of fitting comprising four apertures 20B may be separated from each other and then partially separated about their centre perforation and folded to form a two-by-two array of apertures 20B as shown in
Separation of the fitting 20 and folding to form such arrays may be carried out whilst containers 21 are held within the apertures 20B (the containers not being shown in
The two-by-two array shown in
In a preferred embodiment, the moulding is designed to be a push-fit on snap-fit onto the base of a container so it remains thereon and is not prone to accidental detachment, although it can be removed therefrom by manually pulling it from the container. In some cases, it may be designed to remain attached to the base of the container when beverage is drunk from the container, e.g. to provide a broad, stable base for the container and/or as an integral part of the overall aesthetics of the container (e.g. if the container is designed to resemble a wine glass).
The plastic moulding 30 may thus be used in an assembly plant to facilitate the handling of the containers 31 to reduce the risk of the containers tilting or tipping over. They may then be re-cycled for further use in the assembly plant. Alternatively, they may remain with the container and form part of the secondary packaging used to transport the containers, e.g. as shown in
The use of folded sheet material for such purposes is well-known so will not be described further. The sheet material is preferably held together in the assembled configuration by mechanical interlocking between parts thereof although, in some cases, the use of adhesives may be desired.
The moulding may subsequently be used by the consumer as a coaster for the container 31 and/or for receiving closure means (not shown) when removed from the container 31.
The fittings shown in
As shown in
The eight-sided shape shown helps ensure that a line of fittings, such as that shown in
Adjacent fitting in the assembly line abut against each other as shown in
Whilst
Adjacent fittings may be connected to each other by adhesive, inter-engaging tabs and slots or by any other suitable means. Examples are described below with reference to
Whilst rectangular, circular and octagonal fittings having been described above, it will be appreciated that other shapes may be used, e.g. triangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, etc. Preferably, the shapes are capable of tessellating to form an array or mosaic in which each fitting contacts one or more adjacent fittings. Similarly, whilst two-by-two arrays have been described above other arrays may be used, e.g. to provide a “six-pack” or “twelve-pack”.
Whilst the fittings may simply be located side by side they are preferably arranged (whether formed from sheet material or a plastic moulding) to interlock or inter-engage with one or more adjacent fittings, e.g. by provision of co-operating features on the periphery thereof as described above, when assembled in an array to form part of the secondary packaging of the containers.
As mentioned above, the fitting may be arranged to receive closure means when the latter is removed from the container (e.g. to provide temporary storage of the closure means and/or so that both items may be disposed of/recycled as a single unit and/or to reduce the potential for the closure means creating litter if discarded after removal). The fitting may also be adapted to co-operate with the upper end of a container and/or the closure means thereof to assist in locating a container or pack of containers stacked on top of another. The fittings may thus be used to help stabilize a 3-dimensional array of containers as well as 2-dimensional array.
In addition to the other uses/advantages mentioned above, the fittings provide potential for promotional use.
It will be appreciated that the fittings described above provide a simple but effective way of altering the shape of a product, such as a beverage container, having a tapered or irregular form to a shape which is effectively parallel sided (i.e. which engages adjacent products at at least two points which are aligned on a substantially vertical line).
A fitting can thus be provided for associating with an article (e.g. a container) to provide an assembly having desired shape characteristics (e.g. effectively parallel sides), to facilitate handling of the article in automated machinery (e.g. a filling and/or packaging line).
In other uses, the fitting is preferably adapted to be joined with one or more similar fittings (e.g. in a side-by-side array) so as to form part of a packaging unit (e.g. a 6-pack) for holding a plurality of the articles together.
The fittings have particular application to wide-mouth containers, e.g. beverage containers which are designed to have a wide mouth through which the beverage can be drunk, particularly as, if it desired to avoid the container having parallel sides (and hence looking more like a can or jar), the container is shaped so its base is narrower than the wide mouth (and/or may bulge towards the upper end of the container).
By a “wide-mouth opening” is meant (at least in its broadest sense) an opening of a size suitable for a person to drink from the container in the same manner as from a drinks glass or similar drinking vessel. That is, in its broadest sense, the wide-mouth opening of the container generally renders the container suitable as a drinking vessel from which a beverage supplied in the container may be conveniently drunk (in contrast to conventional narrow-necked bottles and ring-pull cans which generally are not regarded as comfortable drinking vessels). In practice, this requirement means that the diameter of the wide-mouth opening of the container will normally need to be at least 40 mm, preferably at least 45 mm, and more preferably at least 50 mm. Additionally, an excessively wide opening is generally difficult for the consumer to drink from, and thus the wide-mouth opening preferably has a diameter no greater than 150 mm, more preferably no greater than 100 mm, and especially no greater than 80 mm. A particularly preferred diameter range for the wide-mouth opening is 50 to 80 mm, and examples of particular preferred diameters included 53 mm and 63 mm.
The embodiments described above relate to wide-mouth containers. However the fittings described can be used with other types of container having a base which is narrower than other portions thereof, e.g. a bottle or drinking vessel having a bulge between its top and base. The mouth of such containers may be relatively narrower, e.g. as in a conventional 28 mm opening, or may be relatively wide as described above.
The above description relates to fittings designed for use with containers, e.g. beverage containers, but it will be appreciated that the concept can be applied to a wide variety of other articles and containers.
As described above, the fitting may be formed of folded sheet material or of a plastics material, e.g. formed by injection moulding. Other materials may, however, be used depending upon the application, e.g. aluminium when the fittings are only used to facilitate handling of containers in automated assembly/filling equipment.
Claims
1-24. (canceled)
25. A fitting for removably receiving the base of a container to facilitate handling of the container in automatic machinery, the fitting comprising a fitting body having container receiving means for receiving the container base, and inter-engaging means for engaging said fitting body with one or more similar fittings to hold the fittings together in a side-by-side array to form part of a packaging unit for holding a plurality of containers together.
26. A fitting as claimed in claim 25, wherein said container receiving means includes an aperture defined in an upper surface of said fitting body for receiving the base of the container.
27. A fitting as claimed in claim 26, further comprising flexible members disposed around for periphery of said aperture for assisting in locating and retaining the base of a container therein.
28. A fitting as claimed in claim 25, wherein said fitting body is formed from folded sheet material.
29. A fitting as claimed in claim 28, wherein said sheet material is substantially non-absorbent of liquids.
30. A fitting as claimed in claim 28, wherein said sheet material is folded to form a tube with a substantially rectangular cross-section.
31. A fitting as claimed in claim 30, wherein said fitting is provided with a plurality of said container receiving means, each said container receiving means including an aperture defined in an upper surface of said tube for receiving the base of the container, said tube further including a perforated tear line disposed thereon between said apertures so that said tube can be separated into units each for holding one or more containers.
32. A fitting as claimed in claim 25, wherein said fitting body is formed from a plastic moulding, said container receiving means including an aperture defined in an upper surface of said fitting body for receiving the base of the container.
33. A fitting as claimed in claim 32, wherein said fitting body is formed having a cross-section taken along a horizontal plane that is substantially circular in shape.
34. A fitting as claimed in claim 32, wherein said fitting body is formed having a cross-section taken along a horizontal plane that is substantially polygonal in shape.
35. A fitting as described in claim 34 in which the aperture or recess is designed to be a push-fit or snap-fit with the base of a container.
36. A package comprising:
- a container having a base and an upper portion at or towards the upper end of said container, said base being narrower than a peripheral part of said upper portion;
- a fitting for removably receiving said base, said fitting comprising a fitting body having container receiving means for receiving said container base, said fitting being configured such that a peripheral part of said fitting and said peripheral part of said container upper portion present first and second points of contact which are aligned along a substantially vertical line, said fitting further including inter-engaging means for engaging said fitting body with one or more similar fittings to hold said fittings together in a side-by-side array to form part of a packaging unit for holding a plurality of said packages together.
37. A package as claimed in claim 36, wherein said fitting has an external width in one or more directions such that said width corresponds to the width of part of said upper portion of said container.
38. A package comprising:
- a plurality of containers, each container having a base and an upper portion at or towards the upper end of said container, said base being narrower than a peripheral part of said upper portion;
- a plurality of fittings, each fitting comprising a fitting body having container receiving means for receiving one of said container bases, said fitting being configured such that a peripheral part of said fitting and said peripheral part of said container upper portion present first and second points of contact which are aligned along a substantially vertical line, said fitting further including inter-engaging means for engaging said fitting body with one or more similar fittings to hold said fittings together in a side-by-side array to form part of a packaging unit for holding a plurality of said packages together,
- said fittings each having one said container received therein, said fittings being interconnected by said inter-engaging means to form an array and plurality of containers, each having their base located within a respective fitting.
39. A package as claimed in claim 38, further comprising and secondary packaging for holding the containers and the associated fittings together in said array.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 24, 2005
Publication Date: May 12, 2011
Inventors: Farrar A. Peter (Menston), John Heln (WEst Yorkshire), Fraser H. Anthony (Rutland)
Application Number: 11/720,118
International Classification: B65D 23/00 (20060101); B65D 25/24 (20060101);