"DELIVERING AND METERING PLUG FOR SPREADABLE FOOD PRODUCTS IN SQUEEZABLE VESSELS" BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a delivering and metering plug or nozzle for spreadable pasty, semi-fluid or fluid food products, such as jam, spreadable chocolate cream, honey and other spreadable products which, as is known, are selectively spread on toasts, bread slices and so on as defined in the preamble of claim 1.

Prior spouts or plugs with nozzle, momted on crushable (squeezable, twistable, tube) vessels for spreadable food products comprise in principle a conical or cylindrical delivering nozzle having a rather small through central hole which nozzle is however exclusively suitable for delivering additive and seasoning products such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and so on in the fonn of a delivered continuous product rope.

On the other hand, a recent increasing consumer demand of the so- called snack and take away products is compelling the makers to package in this type of vessels also those products which are typical of a snack and breakfast consume, such as jam, spreadable chocolate and others, thereby providing these products with an additional servicing, transporting and off- home use value.

Actually, the above mentioned additive and seasoning products, are at first coed-like delivered on target surfaces such as bread slices and toasts, and then said cord-like product portions are usually spread and distributed in a more homogeneous manner on said toasts or bread slices by using a knife or the like.

As set forth above, commercially available food product delivering nozzles or spouts deliver the product in a cord-like shape (that is with an irregular thickness) with a rather small diameter (ca. 5 mm) on narrow surfaces thus even if this delivery mode would be suitable for seasoning products, it is not, however, truly suitable for products to be delivered and spread on large surfaces, since, in such a case the user would be compelled to perform several spreading passes to fully cover said large surface, in particular if the latter is very large, such as for bread slices, toasts and the like.

Moreover, since the hole supplying the food product has a circular cross-section, it would be necessary to additionally use a knife or the like for suitably spreading and homogeneously distributing the food product on said surface.

Thus, it would be advantageous to design an improved nozzle construction for rationally delivering and simultaneously spreading, basically for a snack or an off-home use, a lot of products such as jam, chocolate cream and others, to be rationally delivered and distributed or spread on large surfaces, without using a knife or the like as in the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the main object of the present invention is to provide a nozzle construction with which by a single delivering operation it is possible to simultaneously achieve a double advantage, i. e. that of simultaneously distributing, in a metered manner, a product consisting of a broad exiting strip having a flat and non cylindrical or cord-like shape, on a toast or bread slice and that of simultaneously spreading the product, and this by a specifically designed construction of the delivering spout, nozzle or plug which may be easily produced with usual molding equipment and methods and without requiring additional components.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a delivering-metering nozzle or plug which does not comprise and custom constructional or operating parts or devices, to operate as designed, while allowing an optimum preserving of the contents thereof, by providing a specifically designed top closure therefor.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a delivery plug which can be made by simple and known operating steps, while providing the delivery plug with additional useful fimctions.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a plug or nozzle which can be made as a single piece of plastics for food products.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the above mentioned objects, as well as yet other objects, which will become more apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a delivering and metering plug or nozzle, for pasty, semi-fluid or fluid food product in vessels having the features set forth in claim 1.

Further developments and embodiments of the plug or nozzle according to the present invention are inferable from the dependent claims.

Thus, the invention consists of a delivering-metering spout or nozzle which has been designed to provide both a delivering of a food product on a broad and preformed surface and a simultaneous spreading of said food product on, for example, toasts, bread slices and so on.

Yet other objects achieved by the invention are that of a hygienic spreading operation and a good preserving of the product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed disclosure of a delivering and metering plug and nozzle according to the present invention which is shown, by way of indicative examples, in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a delivering and spreading nozzle-plug according to the invention, in the open position; Figure 2 is a side view of the plug according to Figure 1; Figure 2A shows in an enlarged scale the detail I of Figure 2, Figure 3 is a perspective view, as partially taken from the top, of the nozzle-plug according to Figure 1; Figure 4 is a top plan view of the nozzle-plug of Figure 1 shown with the cover in the open position; Figure 5 is a perspective view taken from the top, with a tube type vessel having an oval or flattened cross-section, to which a delivering-spreading nozzle is coupled; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the metering and spreading plug-nozzle for oval or flattened tube vessels; Figure 7 is a side view showing the contour of the metering and spreading nozzle, formed by the same tube vessel, with a cover shown in an opening position thereof, and having an ergonomic squeezing function for squeezing out and extruding the food product; Figure 8 is a front view of the delivering nozzle formed on the same tube of Figure 7 and suitably contoured; and Figure 9 shows a bread slice being spreaded with a food product, for example marmelade, contained in a tube vessel according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to the figures 1-4, the first embodiment of a delivering-spreading plug (1) according to the present invention for vessels (5) containing pasty, semi-fluid or fluid food products P to be stripe-wise spread side-to-side, for example, on surfaces of toasts and bread slices B, Figure 9, (such as jam, honey, spreadable chocolate, cheese creams, dessert creams) is provided at the plug-bottom with a body (A) able to be engaged, by any known means, for example thread (la), Figure 1, or snap engaging means (lb), figure 2, with the mouth or inlet part (5A) of a vessel (5). Said body (A) is provided, on its top surface (Al), with a projecting nozzle-like portion (2) defining a simultaneous delivering and spreading spout or nozzle (2). In this first embodiment said body (A) is coupled, at the top thereof, by an integral hinge forming flap (4b), to a cover (4) provided on the inner side or surface thereof with covering means (3) for covering the delivering-spreading nozzle (2) in the non-use condition.

The projecting nozzle (2) is provided at the top thereof in a slanted sector (2A) with a delivering opening (2b) formed by a cross opening or slot having, for example, preferably a length from 15 mm to 40 mm, and suitably narrowing to a delivering width (S) of preferably, though not exclusively, 3 mm-6 mm, Figure 2A.

Said nozzle (2) is preferably provided with a front diverging slanted wall (2a), beveled towards the top surface (A1) of said plug body (A), to provide an optimum delivering and spreading of the food product together with an easy arrangement thereof, free of any sharp edges, as said wall is abutted against the receiving surface of a bread slice (B) or the like.

A suitable serrated arrangement of said nozzle slot (2b) can define a top slot side (2c) in order to also provide an aesthetic effect typical of a food product spread by a serrated knife edge.

The spout contoured portion or nozzle (2) can be arranged either at a center line (A2) of said body (A) or, preferably, offset with respect to said center line (A2) (as shown in Figure 4), thereby providing a better and easier delivering and spreading handling of the food product, in cooperation with the diverging profiled nozzle sides (2A, 2a), and to advantageously facilitating an optimum use of the product residual portions in the vessel (5).

Moreover, the nozzle contoured portion (2) can be arranged at a slanted position for meeting particular delivering requirements, for example to allow the slot (2b) to face a longer vessel side of an oval or flattened vessels, Figure 5-8.

The edges 2d and 2e of the slot sector (2A) can be aligned, that is coplanar in a plane parallel to the body surface (Al) or, advantageously, the rear edge (2d) could project higher than the front edge (2e) from the body surface (Al), to facilitate an easier spreading, since the spreadable food product being delivered would be crushed by said rear higher edge (2d) onto the underlying bread slice (B) or the like.

Furthermore, as set forth above, said plug body (A) is advantageously hinged to said cover (4) by means of an one-piece"hinge" portion (4b), and said cover (4) being moreover so contoured as to define, on its inner surface (4A), a part (3) with a recess (3A) having a shape mating that of the nozzle (2), thereby providing a very good air tightness and insulation of the nozzle slot (2b), when the cover (4) is in the closed position.

The delivering and spreading nozzle (2)-Figures 5,6-could also extend along practically the whole width of the upper part or mouth of the vessel (5), that is along the longer center line thereof or of the plug body (A), while providing a comparatively larger slot (7b) with a rather large vertical distance between the higher and lower nozzle edges (2d) and (2e), which higher edge (2d) is suitably serrated (2c). In this case, the metering- spreading plug according to the invention is particularly suitable for application to oval or flattened vessels (5) as shown for example, Figg. 5- 8.

In a further not shown embodiment of the delivering, metering and spreading plug according to the present invention, the plug is provided with a body (A) which can be inserted inside the vessel mouth part and is preferably provided with known snap means able to cooperate with snap counter-means provided in the mouth part of the vessel made of plastics.

According to a further embodiment, figures 7,8, the nozzle (2) is integrally formed on the delivering or end portion (9) of a tube vessel (12) and, accordingly, said nozzle (2) can be made as the tube or other like vessel is molded and, accordingly, from the same material as that of the tube and simultaneously molded therewith. Thus, the contour of the metering and spreading nozzle would be obtained simultaneously with the making or molding of said tube vessel.

Also with this embodiment the cover (4) may be integrally connected by a hinge part (4b) to the vessel (12). Said cover (4) could obviously also be provided as a separated cover.

In the case of non-circular vessels with removable plug 2, Figure 5, it is suggested to provide within the plug body and/or the vessel mouth 9 a preferably integral not shown stop projection in order to assure a parallel relationship or position between the delivering and spreading nozzle (2) and the vessel (5) after application of said delivering and spreading plug.

It f Irther lies within the scope of the present invention to provide to form further plug or nozzle embodiments using in combinations at will the features disclosed above as well as vessels for food products provided with nozzles or nozzle plugs having as claimed in the following claims.