The present invention relates to a container for a product and a method for the manufacture thereof.

The invention has been developed with particular regard to a container for a product, comprising two walls which are joined along their respective edges, at least for the most part, by means of a weld and which together define a recess for the product, the recess having a mouth zone with a welded end, the weld comprising a peelable portion for opening the container by separation of the two walls.

Containers of the type set out above are typically manufactured by thermoforming and welding two strips of thermoformable material, which are supplied in a state facing one or more forming and welding stations, in which the material strips are heated, welded along the contour which is defined by the shape which the finished container will have to assume, and formed by a forming fluid being injected through a mouth zone which is not affected by the welding, and therefore opens outwards, and which communicates at the other end with a central zone which is surrounded by the weld and which is thereby deformed in order to define a recess for accommodating the product.

The containers formed and welded in this manner are directed to one or more filling stations, in which a product in flowable or fluid form is introduced into the accommodating recess through the mouth zone which was previously used for forming the container itself. Subsequently, the end of the mouth zone is closed by means of welding and the containers are directed, to one or more cutting stations in order to separate them from each other.

There are known various kinds of container of the type set out above. In general, containers of the peelable type have a tab which projects relative to the welded contour and whose edges can be moved apart from each other in such a manner that, with a given traction being applied, a portion or all of the welding of the walls of the container can be opened so as to access the product contained in the container.

In most peelable containers of known type, the peel away tab is arranged in a region of the container that is substantially opposite the mouth zone, through which the forming fluid is injected and through which the product which fills the container is subsequently introduced.

A request which is heard more and more in the sector is to limit the use of material for manufacturing the containers by optimising the disposition of the containers with respect to the material strips which are used in the manufacture thereof so as to reduce, to the greatest possible extent, waste of material not used. With conventional containers of the peelable type, the material strips are not used to the maximum because material zones have to be provided in addition, both in the zone in which the tab is formed and in the zone opposite it, which is used to form the mouth zone and which has to project sufficiently with respect to the central recess of the container in order to allow optimum closure by means of welding.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the above-indicated disadvantages by providing a container of the type set out above which leads to low consumption of material and low waste with respect to the strips of material used for the manufacture thereof, without thereby compromising the easy peelability thereof and, at the same time, providing good finishing in the region of the peel- away tab. Another object of the invention is to provide a container of the type indicated which can readily be manufactured in existing installations without the need for substantial structural modifications thereto.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a container which has the above-indicated features and which allows material to be saved with respect to known manufacturing methods of containers .

For the purpose of achieving the above-indicated objects, the invention relates to a container for a product of the type indicated in the introduction to the present description, characterized in that the peelable portion is arranged at or near the mouth zone. The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a container for a product having the features indicated in claim 7 below.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the peelable portion is positioned beside the mouth zone, without being coincident therewith, because it is ensured that, in this manner, the peelability characteristics of the tab do not depend on the welding of the end of the mouth zone after the container has been filled. In fact, that welding generally requires higher temperatures and pressures with respect to the initial welding of the contour of the container, with the result that production of a peelable portion at the mouth zone requires greater care than production thereof beside the mouth zone. The mouth zone of the container according to the invention is preferably in the form of a channel which communicates with the recess of the container. The end of the channel which opens outwards is used to form the central recess of the container by a fluid being injected in accordance with techniques known in the art, and to introduce the product into the recess . Subsequently, the end of the channel is closed by welding.

Preferably, the channel is rectilinear and at least a majority of the peelable portion of the weld is located laterally with respect to a transverse centre plane which is substantially parallel to the channel. In particular, the transverse centre plane is substantially orthogonal to the plane in which the weld is located, and divides the container into two portions which are approximately symmetrical, or volumetrically substantially equivalent. In that manner, an optimum configuration of the container is brought about in terms of its arrangement on the material web which is used for the manufacture thereof in such a manner that several containers which are aligned with and located beside each other occupy as little space as possible and allow material waste to be minimised. The tab is offset laterally relative to the centre plane of the container.

According to a preferred, but non-limiting, embodiment of the container, the edges of the walls of the containers are integrally joined together at least in an integral portion which is formed by folding a single sheet of material for containers. In short, the web of material which is supplied to the installation for manufacturing the containers is folded, substantially in the manner of a U or V, along a longitudinal centre line in such a manner that the folding forms an integral junction zone of the two walls at least over a portion of the edge or contour. The integral zone is preferably located at the side opposite the mouth of the container and the above-mentioned peelable weld portion with respect to a centre plane which is substantially orthogonal to the plane of the weld itself and which is parallel to the folding line of the material web.

Other features and advantages will become clear from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment which is given with reference to the appended drawings which are given purely by way of non-limiting example and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a container manufactured in accordance with the present invention, Figure 2 is a sectional view of the container in accordance with arrow II of Figure 1, Figure 3 is an elevational view of a portion of the material web, in which a series of containers of Figure 1 is formed, before the material web is directed to a cutting station in order to obtain the individual finished containers, and Figure 4 is a perspective view, drawn to a reduced scale, of a roll of the material web which is folded along a longitudinal centre line in order to form the web having two strips of Figure 3.

With reference now to Figures 1 and 2, a container 10 for a product comprises two opposing walls 11, 12 which are welded to each other along at least a majority of the edges 13, 14 thereof. The central region of one or both of the walls 11, 12 has a convexity 15 which defines an internal recess of the container, in which the product is contained. The internal recess communicates with a channel 16 or mouth zone which is closed and sealed at one end 17 by means of a weld which merges into or is integral with the welding of the edges 13, 14. Beside the channel 16, and more particularly the weld of the end 17 thereof, the weld of the two walls 11, 12 extends into a peelable portion or tab 18, having dimensions so as to allow it to be readily held by a user, and where the two walls 11, 12 are partially separated and not welded, or have other arrangements known in the art relating to peelable containers, so as to be able to be easily separated, allowing separation with a minimum of force, at least in part, of the welding between the walls 11, 12 so as to open the container and access the product contained therein. Preferably, a majority of the peelable portion 18 is arranged laterally with respect to the transverse centre plane marked by the line A-A which is substantially orthogonal to the plane in which the weld between the walls 11, 12 is located and is substantially parallel to the channel 16 itself, theoretically dividing the container 10 into two substantially similar parts, at least from the point of view of volume, if not practically symmetrical parts .

Figure 3 illustrates an example of an arrangement of a series of containers on a web of material 19, in particular a thermoformable material of known type, after being formed, welded, filled with the product and the channel 16 has been sealed and before being subjected to the cutting operation by which the individual finished containers 10 are formed. As is visible, the arrangement of the peelable portion 18 beside the channel 16 and, more particularly, the sealed end 17 thereof, at opposite sides with respect to the plane marked A-A, allows the consumption of material to be optimised for the web 19 by minimising the waste material following the cutting operations . The peelable portion 18 extends and occupies a majority of the upper edge 20 of the web 19 which forms the majority of the waste material after cutting, and whose minimum dimensions depend on the type of installation used for manufacturing the containers 10, in particular the type of nozzles for forming the containers by means of injection through the channel 16 and the type of nozzle which, by way of the same channel 16, is used to fill the recess of the containers 10 with the desired product.

The web 19 can be constituted as a whole by two distinct and facing strips of web or, as in the example illustrated in the Figures, by a single strip 21 which, being unwound from a roll of material 22 (see Figure 4), is folded into a U or V shape along a longitudinal centre line thereof. That folding line forms the lower portion of the container 10, by defining an integral junction zone 23 of the two walls 11, 12. In that manner, it is possible to substantially reduce the consumption of material in the lower zone of the web 19, since it is not necessary to provide additional space for the welding between the walls 11, 12.

In the method for manufacturing the containers 10, the material which is unwound from the roll 22 is supplied in the state folded into a U or V shape along a longitudinal centre line thereof and is supplied to one or more forming and welding stations, where the containers 10 which are side by side and which are illustrated in a simplified manner in Figure 3, are formed, with the channel 16 open at its end 17 outwards, in particular upwards. The material web 19 is then supplied to one or more filling stations, where the product is introduced inside the recess of the containers 10 through the channel 16. In one or more subsequent sealing stations, the end 17 of the channel 16 is closed and sealed by means of welding in order to obtain the simplified configuration in Figure 3. The web 19 is then supplied to one or more cutting stations, where the individual containers 10 are separated from each other and from the web portion 19 which constitutes the waste material.

Although the preceding detailed description and the appended Figures refer to a preferred embodiment, in which the peelable portion 18 is beside the channel 16, it is naturally possible to achieve the objectives that the present invention proposes by means of a configuration of the container 10, in which the peelable portion is arranged substantially in the region of the channel or mouth zone 16.

Naturally, the principle of the invention remaining the same, the forms of embodiment and details of construction may be varied with respect to those described and illustrated, without thereby departing from the scope of the invention.