US3524488A - Dispensing container - Google Patents

Description

Afig. 18 1970 WL R. SCHOLLE 3,524,483

DISPENSING CONTAINER I Filed July 31, 1968 w W 54 m 5, n 4 1 1 e 1 w w 4 w w w Mm v H United States Patent 3,524,488 DISPENSING CONTAINER William R. Scholle, Long Beach Calif., assignor to Scholle Container Corporation, North Lake, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed July 31, 1968, Ser. No. 749,083 Int. Cl. A45c 7/00 US. Cl. 150-5 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a novel container for liquids and to the method of producing same, the container being composed of flexible synthetic plastic material and in generally rectangular form.

In the filling of such containers with foamable liquids, such as for example milk, and in order to prevent undue foaming of the milk during the filling, it is desirable for the container to be evacuated of air prior to filling so as to cause the defining surfaces of the container to collapse towards or against each other. Thereafter, the container is filled with the milk under pressure to simultaneously expand it to its normal rectangular contour without foaming, thus permitting complete filling which would otherwise be inconvenient due to necessity for replacing of the air within the container.

This necessity for first collapsing and then expanding causes the walls of the container to be flexed twice with the resultant possibility of increasing by 100% the chances of cracks or leaks resulting, as distinguished from the single folding as is the case with the container of the present invention wherein a single folding only takes place when the container is filled due to the fact that the container of the present invention is formed in collapsed or substantially collapsed condition, eliminating or largely eliminating the necessity for causing such collapsing by evacuation.

Not only does the double folding, that is, the first collapsing and then expanding of the prior practice, result in the source of leakage but this twice folding causes crease lines which unduly affect the appearance of the package.

As will appear hereinafter, the container of the present invention is blow-molded in a manner whereby the defining top, bottom and end walls of the container are partially inwardly return-folded against each other with the remaining pair of opposed side walls disposed in close proximity to each other. This results in a container having about half the thickness of the rectangular form to which it is ultimately to be expanded in use, and thus results in a considerable saving of space in transportation and storage.

The objects and advantages of the present invention ice.

and its details of construction will be apparent from a consideration of the following specification and accompanying drawings, wherein FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows, partl in section, an apparatus for blow-molding the container of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing the inner face of one of the mold halves.

FIG. 3 is a section on line 3-3, with the two mold halves closed and the plastic material blown therein to collapsed container form.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a container formed in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the same container after it has been expanded upon being filled with liquid under pressure.

Referring to the drawings, particularly FIG. 1, the reference numeral 10 indicates a hopper for plastic material which is fed into the heating and extruding chamber 11 wherefrom the plastic material issues in the form of a hollow tube of parison 12 between the spaced mold halves 13, 13 after which the mold closes. Air from the supply conduit 14 leads to the blow pipe 15 which projects into the parison and between the mold halves 13, 13.

As is well known in the blow-molding process, when air is introduced through the blow pipe the parison embraced between the mold halves is blown to conformity with the mold cavity, and as shown in FIG. 3, there is defined the sidewalls 16, 16, and a pair of opposed end walls 17, 17. As further shown in FIG. 4, the product, removed from the mold after it has been cooled and opened, is a container then defined by a pair of sidewalls 16, 16 in close proximity to each other, and opposed end walls 17, 17 which are partially inwardly folded and return-bent as at 17', 17', a bottom wall 18 which is partially return-bent on itself as at 18', and a top wall 19 which is partially return-bent similar to the bottom 18. Integral with the top wall 19 there is formed a hollow handle 20 resulting from the mold cavity 20' as shown in FIG. 2.

The plastic material conventionally employed in the production of dispensing containers for liquids such as milk is polyethylene, a thermoplastic, and the blowing is such to result in considerably stifi walls which are nevertheless flexibly resilient. The mold halves 13, 13 can be provided with cooling coils 24 to permit rapid cooling of the thermoplastic and to hasten ability to be separated from the formed container body.

As shown in the drawings, the areas of convergence between the said end walls and top and bottom, and the areas of convergence between the sidewalls and top, bottom and end walls, are rounded so that they may suitably be flexed outwardly upon introduction of liquid under pressure through the neck 21 which is formed integrally with the container and preferably at the rounded area of convergence of one of said walls 17 with either the bottom 18 or the top 19 as shown in the drawings. This neck 21 is formed by the die cavity portion 21' as shown in FIG. 2 whereat a desirable lip may be formed by the die cavity portion 22 and annular collar by the die cavity portion 23.

It will thus be seen that the container of the present invention is in the form of a one-piece, hollow, blow molded partially collapsed body, which is distended to final form by-filling the container with liquid under' expanding pressure.

I claim:

I 1. A dispensing container for liquids in the form of a one-piece, hollow, blow-molded body composed of stiff, flexibly resilient, synthetic plastic material, said container comprising ,an integral top, bottom, an opposed pair of end walls, an opposed pair of sidewalls and a tubular neck portion, said container being formed laterally collapsed wherein the top, bottom and end walls are par- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner H. S. LANE, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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