The present invention concerns a container for pourable products.

In particular, this invention relates to a container of the type made of substantially parallelepiped-shaped laminated element (known as "brick") and having an opening/closing device arranged on the upper face of the container in order to pour the liquid product contained therein.

KNOWN PRIOR ART

According to known art, this opening/closing device, or cap, is arranged at a weakening zone obtained by removing, at the upper face of the container, a small portion of the paper layer the laminate element consists of.

Still according to known art, there are containers further comprising an upper face provided with a welding zone arranged so that a first portion and a second portion precisely separated from each other by the welding zone are defined on the upper face itself. In particular, the first portion of the upper face accommodates just the aforementioned weakening zone for positioning the closing/opening device to close/open the container, for example a screw cap. However, because of the small space generated by the welding zone, nor the cap can be freely positioned on the upper face neither its sizes can be chosen as desired. On the contrary, its sizes are forcibly reduced compared to the containers not having the welding zone arranged at the upper face. Due to this critical situation, the pouring flows of product will be so poor that no user's appreciation will be obtained.

In order to solve the aforementioned drawbacks, containers having an upper face tilted with respect to the lower base face have been made. This slightly increases the area of the first position of the upper face on which the cap is placed, therefore allowing the latter to be chosen of greater size than in case of containers having an upper face parallel to the lower base face.

Anyway, the increase in the area of the first portion causes the structural strength of the upper face of the container to decrease. Therefore, the first portion is not always perfectly planar, and therefore not only the cap is glued with difficulty but, when in use, it can also become "unglued" from the upper face as a result of the stresses caused by multiple opening-and-closing cycles. Clearly, this problem increases as the size of the cap and, as a result, the surface on which the cap is glued, increases.

In order to overcome such drawbacks, containers are known whose first portion of the upper face comprises two creases extending from the welding zone towards the front face of the container. The weakening zone of such containers is arranged in the area defined between the two creases which, at this point, cause the stiffness of the upper surface, but in particular of the first portion thereof, to be slightly increased. However, it has been found that the achieved degree of improvement is insufficient to ensure the flatness needed in order to actually position the cap on the weakening zone both in a correct way and in such a way that it can remain there even during the container life.

Therefore, object of the present invention is to provide a container having a welding or folding zone placed on the upper face and tilted with respect to the lower base face, nonetheless not having the drawbacks of the aforementioned known prior art, and therefore being able to allow the cap to be applied on a zone that is perfectly flat and to remain in that condition throughout the life of the container, or even for multiple screwing and unscrewing operations.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a container of the above mentioned type which however can be easily made starting from known art containers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects are achieved by a container for pourable products, comprising at least one upper face provided with at least one welding or folding zone, arranged so as to define, on said upper face, a first portion and a second portion separated by said welding zone, two side faces, a front face, a back face, and a lower base face of the container, said at least one first portion of said upper face comprising at least one weakening zone for positioning a closing/opening device to open/close the container and being at least partially tilted with respect to said lower base face, wherein said at least one first portion of said upper face comprises at least one first crease and at least one second crease, which at least partially extend from said at least one welding zone towards said at least one front or back face, said at least one weakening zone being arranged in the area defined between said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease. Advantageously, said at least one first portion of said upper face further comprises at least one first stiffening crease and at least one second stiffening crease, wherein said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease are arranged, respectively, outside of and on the two opposite sides of said area defined between said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease, said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease being tangent at least in a first point, respectively, to said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease, in order to support and keep substantially flat said area defined between said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease.

Thus, the first and second stiffening creases being at the sides of the area defined between the first crease and the second crease, where the opening/closing device is glued, allow the area defined between said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease to be supported and kept substantially flat and thus provide support to the whole zone on which the cap is applied, both during the application of the cap and during the following screwing and unscrewing operations thereof.

Moreover, advantageously, said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease each comprises two ends subtending the corner obtained between the upper face and the respective side face so that said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease define, with said respective corner, a closed perimeter.

Such a solution advantageously allows to stretch even more the packaging material thereby increasing the force supporting the area defined between said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease. In this way, the zone on which the cap is applied is always planar both during the application of the cap and during the following screwing and unscrewing operations to screw and unscrew the cap itself. Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment, the welding zone comprises two welded edges respectively belonging to said at least one first portion and said at least one second portion, wherein the two edges are folded on said upper face along a fold line, advantageously said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease extend on said first portion so that each stiffening crease, next to at least one of the respective two ends of each stiffening crease, is further tangent in a second point to the corner obtained between said front face and said upper face and/or in a third point to said fold line of said welding zone.

This results in an increase in stiffness of the package, because the warpage at the ends of the first stiffening crease and the second stiffening crease is prevented.

Furthermore, in order to further improve the stiffness of the container, but in particular of the upper face thereof at the weakening zone, said upper face, said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease respectively lie on a plane which intersects the plane on which said area lies between said first crease and said second crease. This is to say that the plane lying between the first and the second creases is not parallel to the one where the first stiffening crease and the second stiffening crease lie, i.e. the lying plane of the opening/closing device.

Preferably, said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease comprise at least one straight length. Furthermore, according to the invention, said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease are parallel to one another at least along the respective straight length. Additionally, said at least one straight length of said at .least one first crease and said at least one second crease extends to said at least one front or back face.

In addition, said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease are respectively tangent, in said first point, to said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease, at the respective straight length.

In a preferred embodiment, said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease comprise at least one curvilinear length having concavity facing, respectively, said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease.

In particular, the apex of the curvilinear length of said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease is tangent, respectively, to said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease at said first point and, preferably, at the respective straight length.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease each comprises at least one arc of a circle, or a parabola or a semiellipse or other curvilinear length, each arc of a circle, parabola or semiellipse or other curvilinear length is tangent, at the apex respectively, to said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease, at said first point, and wherein said arc of a circle, parabola or semiellipse or other curvilinear length is further tangent, at the respective two ends, in a second point to the corner obtained between said front face and said upper face and, in a third point, to said fold line of said welding zone.

According to a second embodiment, said at least one first stiffening crease and said at least one second stiffening crease each comprises three arcs of a circle, or three semiparabolas or three semiellipses, of which one is central and two are lateral, said central arc of a circle, or central parabola or central semiellipse comprising said apex at which it is tangent, respectively, to said at least one first crease and said at least one second crease, at said first point, and each lateral arc of a circle, or lateral parabola, or lateral semiellipse comprising one end of said two ends of the respective stiffening crease at which it is further tangent in a second point to the corner obtained between said front face and said upper face and in a third point to said fold line of said welding zone.

Finally, the container comprises an opening/closing device, such as a screw cap. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

These and other aspects of the present invention will be made more clear by the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, provided herein by way of example only and without limitations, with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

figure 1 is an axonometric view of the container according to the invention without the closing/opening device;

figure 2A is a top view of the container of figure 1 ;

figure 2B is a partial axonometric top view of the container of figure 1 ;

figure 3 is a top view of a container according to a second embodiment of the invention;

figure 4 is a plan view of the container of figure 1 , not yet built up.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

A container 1 according to the invention is illustrated with reference to the accompanying figures.

This container 1 comprises an upper face 2 provided with a welding zone 3 arranged so as to define, on the upper face 2, a first portion 2a and a second portion 2b separated from one another exactly by the aforementioned welding zone 3, two side faces 4a and 4b, a front face 5, a back face 6, and a lower base face 7 of the container 1. Figure 1 also shows the container 1 provided with two connecting portions 20, 21 having a substantially elliptical shape, to connect the front face 5 and the two side faces 4a, 4b. In Figure 4, the die-cut element 100 of the container 1 is shown not yet built up, i.e. in plan view. This figure 4, in particular, shows the welding zone 3 which comprises two edges 3a and 3b respectively belonging to the first portion 2a and the second portion 2b of the upper face 2. These edges 3a and 3b are folded on the upper face 2 along a fold line 31. It should be noted that, although a particular laminated sheet 100 to make the container according to the invention has been shown herein, other designs could be made in order to obtain the container 1 according to the invention, even without the connecting portions 20, 21 or having a different shape, without departing from the protection scope of the present invention. In particular, the container 1 according to the invention preferably could be obtained starting from a roll of laminated material instead of starting from a single sheet, or die-cut element. It should also be noted that in other embodiments, in place of the welding zone 3, the upper face 2 may comprise a folding zone which at most may also coincide with the corner 60 obtained between the upper face 2 and the back face 6, without thereby departing from the protection scope of the present invention. In this last extreme case, the second portion 2b of the upper face 2 would have a very small or almost null surface.

As can be seen in figures 1 and 2A, the first portion 2a of the upper face 2 comprises a weakening zone 8 for positioning a closing/opening device (not shown herein, but known to the field technician) to close/open the container 1. Such an opening/closing device comprises a screw cap in turn made up of an annular-base collar, a screwable opening/closing cap on the outer side of the collar, and a cutting element located inside the collar and able to be screwed either to the cap or to the collar, inside the latter, during the first opening operation to open the container. For example, a cap of this kind is described in the Patent EP 1088764 in the name of TETRA LAVAL HOLDINGS & FINANCE. In addition, the weakening zone can be obtained by removing, in that particular zone of the container 1 , the layer of paper or cardboard which the laminate is constituted of. In this way, in that specific zone obtained by laminating aluminum and polyethylene layers together, when the cutting element is screwed to the cap, the former can easily tear the weakening zone and create a hole of appropriate size so as to allow the liquid product contained in the container 1 to flow out. It should be noted that, although hereinafter reference will be made to a generic screw cap, however other caps (or opening/closing devices) could be used in this container such as, for example, of the type known in English as "push-pull" or of "pull-tab" type or others, without thereby departing from the protection scope of the present invention.

Still as shown in figures 1 and 2A, the upper face 2, but particularly the first portion 2a, is tilted with respect to the lower base face 7. In practice, the upper face 2a is not parallel to the lower face 7. Such a solution allows the available surface of the upper face 2, or better of the first portion 2a, to be increased in a known manner, in order to be able to use larger opening/closing devices.

Also, the first portion 2a of the upper face 2 comprises a first crease 10a and a second crease 10b both extending from the welding zone 3 towards the front face 5 (or back face 6 in case of alternative embodiment).

The weakening zone 8, as shown in figures 1 and 2, is thus arranged within the area A defined between the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b.

Advantageously, the first portion 2a of the upper face 2 further comprises a first stiffening crease 15a and a second stiffening crease 15b which are arranged, respectively, outside of and on the two opposite sides of the above mentioned area A defined between the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b. In particular, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b are tangent in a first point T l a, Ti b, respectively, to the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b, in order to support and keep substantially flat the area A defined between the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b.

Specifically, the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b comprise a respective straight length 1 1a, l i b. These straight lengths 1 1a, 1 lb are parallel to one another. However, an embodiment in which the straight lengths 1 1 a, 1 l b are not parallel but, for example, convergent or divergent with respect to each other, would still fall within the protection scope of the present invention. In addition, the straight length 1 la, 1 l b of the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b extends to the front face 5 (or back face 6 in case of alternative embodiment).

According to the embodiment described herein in figures 1 and 2A, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b each comprises two ends 18a, 18b and 19a, 19b subtending the corner 40a, 40b obtained between the upper face 2 and the respective side face 4a, 4b so that the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b define, with the respective corner 40a, 40b obtained between the upper face 2 and the respective side face 4a, 4b, a closed perimeter Al and A2.

As mentioned above, this solution advantageously allows the packaging material to be even more stretched thus increasing the force supporting the area A defined between the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b. In this way, the zone on which the cap is applied is always planar both during the application of the cap and during the following screwing and unscrewing operations to screw and unscrew the cap itself.

Still according to the embodiment described herein, in particular, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b extend on the first portion 2a so that in one end 18a, 19a of the two ends 18a, 18b and 19a, 19b each stiffening crease 15a, 15b is further tangent in a second point T2a, T2b to the corner obtained between the front face 5 and the upper face 2, and the other end 18b, 19b of the two ends 18a, 18b and 19a, 19b of each stiffening crease 15a, 15b is tangent in a third point T3a, T3b to the fold line 31 of the welding zone 3. This solution prevents the warpage of the area Al and A2 of the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b. Moreover, as best seen in figure 2B, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b respectively lie on a plane X, Y intersecting the plane Z on which the area between the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b lies, i.e. the area accommodating the weakening zone 8. In practice, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b lie on planes X, Y not parallel to the one on which the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b lie.

Still according to the first embodiment of the invention as hereinbefore described, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b are, respectively, tangent to the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b at the first point Tl a and Ti b, precisely at the respective straight length 1 1 a, l i b.

Additionally, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b comprise at least one curvilinear length 16 and 17 having concavity facing, respectively, the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b.

In particular, the curvilinear length 16 and 17 of the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b comprises an apex V I , V2 at which it is tangent, respectively, to the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b, at the respective straight length 1 1a, l i b.

Specifically, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b comprise an arc of circle.

As evident, in other embodiments the curvilinear length 16, 17 can have other geometric shapes such as, for example, shape of parabola, semiellipse or the like. In order to increase the supporting effect provided by the first 10a and the second creases 10b, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b extend on the first portion 2a of the upper face 2 so as to be also tangent, on one side, to the corner 30 obtained between said front face 5 and the upper face 2, namely in the third point T2a and T2b, respectively, and on the other side, to the fold line 31 of the welding zone 3, namely in the points T3a and T3b, respectively.

In practice, therefore, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b each comprises an arc of circle at whose apex VI and V2 they are respectively tangent to the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b, at the first point Tl a, Tib, and at the respective two ends 18a, 18b and 19a, 19b of each arc of circle they are further tangent, in a second point T2a, T2b, to the corner 30 obtained between the front face 5 and the upper face 2 and, in a third point T3a, T3b, to the fold line 31 of the welding zone 3.

In other embodiments, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b may comprise a number of curvilinear lengths.

Figure 3 shows a top view of a container 1 according to a second embodiment of the invention.

In this embodiment, each of the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b may comprise several curvilinear lengths, in particular three curvilinear semi-elliptically shaped lengths. In this case, both the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b are tangent in a point Tla, Ti b, respectively, to the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b, in order to support and keep substantially flat the area A defined between the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b. This is achieved at the central semi-ellipse of the three semi-ellipses constituting the first 15a and the second stiffening creases 15b. These two central semi-ellipses have an apex VI , V2 at which they are tangent exactly to the straight length 1 1 a, 1 lb of the respective first crease 10a and second crease 10b.

Furthermore, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b extend on the first portion 2a of the upper face 2 so as to be also tangent, on one side, to the corner 30 obtained between the front face 5 and the upper face 2, namely in a second point T2a and T2b, respectively, and on the other side, to the fold line 31 of the welding zone 3, i.e. in a third point T3a and T3b, respectively. This is achieved thanks to the two semi-elliptical lateral lengths arranged at the sides of the central semi-ellipse and together forming the first 15a and the second 15b stiffening creases. In practice, therefore, the first stiffening crease 15a and the second stiffening crease 15b comprise three semi-ellipses, of which one is central and two are lateral. The central semi-ellipse of each stiffening crease 15a, 15b comprises the apex V I , V2 at which it is tangent respectively to the first crease 10a and the second crease 10b, at the first point Tla, Ti b, whereas each lateral semi-ellipse comprises an end of said two ends 18a, 1 8b and 19a, 19b of the respective stiffening crease 10a, 10b at which end it is further tangent in a second point T2a, T2b to the corner 30 obtained between the front face 5 and the upper face 5 and, in a third point T3a, T3b, to the fold line 31 of the welding zone 3.

In other embodiments not shown herein, the stiffening creases 15a and 15b may be provided each with three arcs of circle, or even only with two arcs of circle or a different number thereof, or with one or more different curvilinear lengths, for example of the type having semi-parabolic or semi-elliptical or other shape, without thereby departing from the protection scope of the present invention.