COMBINATION INGESTIBLE-PRODUCT AND BEVERAGE PACKAGING
A combination package, e.g., (10) for both an ingestible product, such as a medication, e.g., (12) and a beverage, e.g., (14), such as water, is of a unitary single-use design. The medication and the beverage, of which only a small amount is provided, can be stored in separate sealed cavities defined by the package. The combination package can be designed so as to be easily and conveniently hung from a display rack in a store. A consumer can open the package to gain access to each cavity and can then orally consume the medication and then wash it down with the beverage.
Various over-the-counter medications are routinely sold in pharmacies and convenience stores in bottles. In recent years, single-dosage-sized packages have also become available and may, e.g., be hung from display racks at the cashier's counter.
Likewise, liquid beverages, such as water, are routinely available at convenience stores and generally sold in the form of a plastic bottle, typically in volumes of 500 mL or more. The bottles typically include a metal or plastic cap that can be screwed on and off of the container part of the bottle. These bottles are generally purchased by customers to quench a thirst or to wash down a meal. Consequently, they are sold in sizes providing for more than a few swallows of the beverage by the consumer, and the replaceable cap allows for the beverage to be consumed in stages; for example a user can take a few sips of the beverage and then replace the cap and finish the beverage at a later time.
SUMMARYDisclosed herein is a combination package containing both an ingestible product that offers a health benefit to humans and a liquid beverage, such as water. A fairly small volume of the beverage can be provided—i.e., just enough for a user to wash down the ingestible product when ingesting it; consequently, the package can be much more compact than previous designs. In one embodiment, the package is of a unitary structure that defines a pair of cavities, one each for the ingestible product and for the beverage.
Additionally, in particular embodiments, no additional (separate) packaging for the ingestible product and beverage is provided. In other words, the beverage is not contained in a bottle, which is then incorporated into the unitary package, and the ingestible product is not contained in a separate sleeve or canister. Rather, the sole containment for the beverage and the ingestible product within the combination package can be the package, itself.
Accordingly, the entire package can be very small and highly portable and convenient; moreover, a tab in the form of a hook or including a defined orifice can be provided so that the package can be hung with a stack of similar packages from a display rack in a store. The design of this combination facilitates easy purchase and use by a consumer, wherein the consumer can easily tear open the package to access the ingestible product and the beverage, consume them and then throw away the package with minimal waste.
The package can be manufactured via a variety of methods that are different from conventional bottling techniques. In one embodiment, a front shell and a back shell are provided. The front shell can have a pair of bubbles into which the ingestible product and the beverage are placed and segregated. The back shell is then placed on top of the front shell and bonded thereto. After the bonding process the two cavities are fully sealed and segregated from one another within the package.
In the accompanying drawings, described below, like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating particular principles of the methods and apparatus characterized in the Detailed Description.
Various embodiments of a (disposable) package or container with two discrete cavities or compartments each hold a single serving of an ingestible product and a small portion of a beverage to aid in the swallowing of the ingestible product are described, below, and illustrated in the figures. The cavity for each can be defined by the unitary (integral) package, itself, or can be defined by a separate structure, such as a bottle for the beverage or a separate blister package for the ingestible product The various embodiments are provided as non-limiting examples, and various features from the different embodiments can also be readily mixed and matched. Each of the packages illustrated and described herein can be sealed in an outer layer of shrink-wrap plastic to maintain the beverage and ingestible product compartments in a clean, sanitary condition. In addition, multi-use configurations are illustrated in
The ingestible product offers a health benefit to a human and generally will have a desired effect on the consumer upon ingestion. For example, the ingestible product can be a medication, a vitamin, an herbal remedy (e.g., ginseng, ginkgo biloba, psyllium, spirulina, or echinacea), etc.
Medications that can be contained in the ingestible product cavity of the package can be of many different types, e.g., antacids, antihistamines, aspirin, ibuprofen, oral contraceptives, pain-relief or anti-inflammatory drugs including aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, methyl salicylate, diflunisal, arylalkanoic acids, diclofenac, indomethacin, dulindac, 2-arylpropionic acids (profens), ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, carprofen, fenoprofen, ketorolac, n-arylanthranilic acids (fenamic acids), mefenamic acid, oxicams, piroxicam, meloxicam, coxibs, celecoxib, rofecoxib, valdecoxib, parecoxib, etoricoxib, sulphonanilides, and nimesulide. Moreover, the form of the medication (or other ingestible product) contained within the “ingestible product cavity” can be of a variety of forms, including (but not limited to) gel caps, capsules, coated or uncoated pills, powder, etc.
The beverage is a fluid that can safely be orally ingested by humans. Water (in a substantially pure form) is particularly suitable as the beverage. The water can be, for example, spring or distilled water. Alternatively, another type of beverage, such as soda, fruit juice or even a more-viscous fluid, such as drinkable yogurt, can be contained in the beverage cavity.
The package can be formed, e.g., of a plastic such as those marketed under the tradenames, LEXAN (from GE Plastics of Pittsfield, Mass., USA) and LUCITE (from Lucite International of Southampton, UK). Examples of other suitable plastics include polyethylene (PE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polystyrene, polypropylene, polycarbonate, polyester, etc.
An embodiment of the combination package 10 in the form of a clear blister pack with two discrete blisters 16 and 18 is illustrated in
Another embodiment, in the form of a minimal dual-pocket or dual-packet ingestible-product-and-beverage package 10 (similar to a packet of ketchup or mustard except with two discrete pockets 17 and 19 separated by a seal similar to that on the perimeter of a ketchup packet) is illustrated in
A bottle 22 filled with a beverage and having a secondary lid or cap 36 is illustrated in
A peel-away-top, dual-cavity, plastic package 10 with two discrete “tops” is illustrated in
A canister 42 for two discrete containers is illustrated in
Another embodiment of a blister-pack package 10 is illustrated from various perspectives in
The bubble 46 for the beverage includes a neck 48 at one end, wherein the neck 48 has a width substantially less than (e.g., less than half) that of the bulk or majority of the bubble. A cut-out slot 50 is provided around the neck 48 to thereby allow the end of the scaffold 26 (proximate to the tab 28) to be bent back to leave the neck 48 extended from the package. The package 10 can then be tilted to allow the beverage to flow through the neck 48 and into the consumer's mouth after the back shell 58 is peeled away from the neck 48. The bubble 46 for the beverage also includes a flattened portion 54 to enable the package 10 to sit flat when the front shell 56 is placed atop a horizontal surface. The opposite side of the package 10 (i.e., the outer side of the back shell 58) is substantially flat, thereby facilitating stacking of the packages.
A blister pack, such as the package 10 illustrated in
Alternatively, other means, such as a heat-sealing die can be used to thermally seal the back shell 58 to the front shell 56. In another alternative process, the back shell 58 can be sealed to the front shell 56, leaving a fill hole in the back shell 58 over the cavity defined by bubble 46. The needle of a filling tool can then be inserted through the fill hole to fill the bubble 46 with the beverage. Then, a foil decal can be applied to the back shell 58 to seal the fill hole. Finally, a consumer can pierce the fill hole with a pointed straw adhered to the package 10 to enable the consumer to suck the beverage out of the cavity and through the straw.
An embodiment of a fold-over package structure is illustrated in
Another package design is illustrated in
Another embodiment of a one-piece construction 66, this one merely being bent to contain the beverage and medication sub-packaging, is illustrated in
An embodiment of a package 10 including a straw 76 sealed under a shrink-perforated pull tab 40 on the scaffold 26 is illustrated in
A backerboard 86 to which a shell including a bubble for the beverage is ultrasonically welded is illustrated in
An exploded view of the different layers of a laminate package 10 is illustrated in
A clear plastic shell including a bubble 46 for containing a beverage is illustrated in
Two additional embodiments of backerboards 86 to which a front shell including a bubble for the beverage is shown in
Yet another embodiment, illustrated in
In other embodiments, a plurality of the packages 10 can be joined side to side or end to end and are able to be separated by tearing at a perforation 30, as shown in
Another embodiment of a package 10 is shown in
The package 10 of
As an alternative to the consumer ingesting the beverage and the ingestible product separately, the consumer can open the cavities and drop the ingestible product into the beverage; with products such as antacids, the product may dissolve therein. In still other embodiments, a membrane can be provided between the beverage cavity and the ingestible product; and a consumer can break that membrane to immerse the ingestible product in the beverage.
In describing embodiments of the invention, specific terminology is used for the sake of clarity. For purposes of description, each specific term is intended to at least include all technical and functional equivalents that operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose. Additionally, in some instances where a particular embodiment of the invention includes a plurality of system elements or method steps, those elements or steps may be replaced with a single element or step; likewise, a single element or step may be replaced with a plurality of elements or steps that serve the same purpose. Further, where parameters for various properties are specified herein for embodiments of the invention, those parameters can be adjusted up or down by 1/20th, 1/10th, ⅕th, ⅓rd, ½, etc., or by rounded-off approximations thereof, unless otherwise specified. Moreover, while this invention has been shown and described with references' to particular embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will understand that various substitutions and alterations in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention; further still, other aspects, functions and advantages are also within the scope of the invention. The contents of all references, including patents and patent applications, cited throughout this application are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. The appropriate components and methods of those references may be selected for the invention and embodiments thereof. Still further, the components and methods identified in the Background section are integral to this disclosure and can be used in conjunction with or substituted for components and methods described elsewhere in the disclosure within the scope of the invention.
Claims
1-11. (canceled)
12. A combination package comprising:
- a unitary package defining at least two cavities;
- a liquid beverage in a first of the cavities;
- an ingestible product that offers a health benefit to a human in a second of the cavities; and
- one or more pull-tabs configured to open the package and provide access to at least one of the beverage and the ingestible product when pulled by a user.
13-30. (canceled)
31. A combination package for use with an ingestible product that offers a health benefit to a human, the package comprising:
- a molded cap;
- a backerboard;
- a bottle defining first and second cavities, the bottle including a flattened portion; the first cavity defining an opening configured to mate with the molded cap such that when the molded cap is mated to the first cavity a leak-proof enclosure is formed; the second cavity being of a predefined size to contain the ingestible product that offers a health benefit to a human, the second cavity defining an opening in the flattened portion; the flattened portion being configured to attach to the backerboard such that when the backerboard is attached to the flattened portion the ingestible product that offers a health benefit to a human is contained in the second cavity;
- a liquid beverage in the first cavity,
- wherein the bottle is configured such that when the backerboard is attached to the flattened portion, the ingestible product that offers a health benefit to a human is at least partially visible through the bottle and the liquid beverage in the first cavity.
32. The combination package of claim 31 wherein the backerboard defines a hanging orifice.
33. The combination package of claim 32 wherein the backerboard is sized such that the combination package can be hung with a stack of similar packages from a display rack using the hanging orifice.
34. The combination package of claim 31 wherein the molded cap comprises a threaded portion and the bottle is configured to couple to the threaded portion such that the opening defined by the first cavity mates with the molded cap.
35. The combination package of claim 31 wherein the backerboard includes a visible indicia that is at least partially visible through the bottle when the backerboard is attached to the bottle.
36. The combination package of claim 35 wherein the visible indicia relates to the ingestible product that offers a health benefit to humans.
37. The combination package of claim 31 wherein the liquid beverage comprises a plurality of H20 molecules.
38. The combination package of claim 31 wherein the backerboard is attached to the flattened portion using adhesive.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 27, 2007
Publication Date: Aug 5, 2010
Inventors: Steven Collotta (Grafton, MA), Samuel L. Millen (Somerville, MA)
Application Number: 12/375,565
International Classification: B65D 81/32 (20060101); B65D 73/00 (20060101); B65D 90/00 (20060101); B65D 41/04 (20060101);