The invention relates to a product package as disclosed in the preamble of claim 1, such as a foodstuff package, princi pally made of recyclable fiber material, and to a method of manufacturing said product package, as disclosed in the pre amble of claim 12, as well as to a package blank, as dis closed in the preamble of claim 11, for manufacturing, inter alia, the product package of claim 1. A preferable material option for the product package can be corrugated paperboard, cardboard or any other appropriate recyclable fiber material.

It is known that there are different kinds of foodstuff pack ages available, packaged with, for example, cold cuts, other meat and fish products, cheeses, or ready meals which can be heated in a microwave oven or the like, for example. In a skin-package, a content is packaged in a vacuum between a skin-film and a package body. The body part is coated with a foodstuff foil, which hereafter also can be referred to as an inner lining. The flexible skin-film gives the product a nat ural and selling appearance by enhancing the distinctiveness of the product through the package. The flexible foil follows closely the surface of the product inside the package and creates a natural and visual impression of the freshness, colors and genuineness of the product. Currently, a major part of these packages are entirely made of non-recyclable plastic, and, instead of printing, product and brand infor mation labels adhered thereto. This is an environmental prob lem. The body part of the package is made of suitable plastic or lined, on the inside, with a separate foodstuff foil. The package is given a suitable shape to allow a desired amount of food to be packaged therein. Besides, the design includes a horizontal circumferential flange extending around the top edge of the entire package and intended as an attachment face and a seaming base for a package lid used to tightly close the package by heat-sealing once the package has been filled and the food contained therein has been cooked, if needed. The food contained in the package must often be cooked before it can be passed on to be sold as a ready meal. This involves the problem that the cooking takes place at a high tempera ture, in an oven, for example, which all package box plastics cannot withstand, with the result that special expensive plastics must be used for the boxes.

Foodstuff packages made of cardboard or the like, for exam ple, and lined, on the inside, with a separate foodstuff foil, are also known. A solution like this is disclosed in EP 2 441 696. The top edge of the cardboard-based foodstuff package described in this patent specification is provided, similarly to the above-described plastic package, with a sub stantially horizontal, laterally extending planar circumfer ential flange for attaching a lid. Besides, the package is lined, on the inside, with a foodstuff foil, the foil also extending over the circumferential flange. This solution suf fers, inter alia, from the problem that the shape of the package only is supported by the inner lining, i.e. the food stuff foil, which, in combination with the discontinuous rim portion results in that the package does not have torsional stiffness and in that the seams of the circumferential flange provided at the top edge are not tight and even. The above increases the risk that unevennesses and gaps remain between the foodstuff foil pulled over the circumferential flange and the lid heat-sealed thereto, causing the foodstuff package to lose its gas-tightness and, thereby, let air into the food stuff package. If the sealing does not succeed reliably and the package is not tight enough, the package may have to be wrapped in separate plastic, which, in turn, increases the material costs and the need of space, the package is not be ing as tidy in appearance as without such extra wrapping.

Foodstuff packages are industrially machine-filled with a foodstuff. If a package stack cannot be effortlessly handled by a machine, this easily causes production problems. A very common problem is that the uppermost package of the stack does not come off while the machine is transferring it to a conveyor belt. To solve this problem, foodstuff packages are provided with different kinds of brackets to make machine- operated unstacking easier by maintaining appropriate spaces (gaps) between packages stacked in a nested way.

Sometimes, a paperboard or cardboard package is folded, out of a planar package blank, into a suitable shape. To minimize the costs, the aim is that the entire package blank is creat ed from a single blank but often the corners of a foodstuff package, for example, are folded in such a way that there are more than one superimposed material layers in the walls or especially in the corners, at the fold. This drawback in creases the manufacturing costs of the foodstuff package by causing material loss.

Product package boxes are filled automatically and each sin gle product package box is picked out of a product package stack by a machine. Any product package boxes jammed and at tached against each other disturb the filling process, which, in turn, extends the product-batch manufacturing time and decreases the efficiency of the production process. This invention aims at replacing the airtight tray solutions currently in use, such as the all-plastic skin-trays, with a solution containing less plastic, and to replace the skin- bases having a direct-laminated cardboard-plastic structure with smaller skin-trays. Biodegradable plastic products, such as PLA plastic, made of natural materials, for example, can also be used as the plastic films. This invention also aims at eliminating the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide an inexpensive, stackable, non-jamming and machine-operable, sturdy as well as space- and cost-effective stackable product package. It also aims at providing a product package with reliable lid attachment, resulting in that the product pack age is tight when closed by a lid. Likewise, it aims at providing a package blank easily foldable into a product package providing air- and watertightness. Because the blank has effective utilization of area, separability of plastic and cardboard, as well a vast printing area, the solution contributes to recyclability, brand visibility, shelving and transportation efficiency.

The product package according to the invention is character ized in what is set forth in the characterizing part of claim 1. Accordingly, the method of manufacturing said product package according to the invention is characterized in what is set forth in the characterizing part of claim 12, while the product package blank for creating said product package according to the invention is characterized in what is set forth in the characterizing part of claim 11. Other embodi ments of the invention are characterized in what is set forth in the rest of the claims .

The product package according to the invention comprises a receiving space, a covering film, an inner lining and a body part created from a single blank, the body part comprising walls, a bottom and a rim portion as well as a plurality of slots for shaping the receiving space. The rim portion of the body part is a continuous, seamless and planar portion made from the same said blank and interconnecting the walls of the body portion.

In the method of manufacturing the product package according to the invention, the product package according to the inven tion comprises a receiving space, a covering film, an inner lining and a body part created from a single blank, the body part comprising walls, a bottom and a rim portion, and, in the method, a plurality of slots are made in the body part, for shaping the receiving space. The rim portion, which con tinuous, seamless and planar, is created, from the same said blank, on the body part.

The product package blank according to the invention compris es a sheet-like structure made of recyclable fiber material and having a bottom portion (bottom portions), a wall portion (wall portions) and a rim portion for a bottom, walls, brack et members and a rim portion of a product package created from the product package blank. The rim portion of the prod uct package blank is a continuous, seamless and planar entity adapted to act, substantially as such, as a rim portion of the finished product package.

In the solution according to the invention, the bottom por tion (bottom portions) , wall portions and the rim portion of the body part are created out of the product blank and put together, by means of the inner lining, from a two- dimensioned product blank into a three-dimensioned product package . An advantage of the solution according to invention is, inter alia, that the product package principally consists of recy clable material, thus almost entirely overcoming the environ- mental problems related to plastic packages. This sustainable development solution allows the user to easily separate the plastic layers from the body material as separate recyclable waste. Another advantage is that the planar rim portion of the product package, coated by the inner lining, is substan- tially seamless and even all over, allowing the product pack age to be securely and reliably closed by the lid and to be come completely tight. This results in the advantage that no extra wrapping plastic is needed and the foodstuff can be packed in a skin-package or in a packaging gas to increase the shelf-life of the foodstuff.

Another advantage are savings in the manufacturing material and costs, resulting from that the product package according to the invention is folded out of a single cardboard or pa- perboard blank and from that the product package does not have sections with superimposed material. In addition, the outer edges of the material blank constitute the outer edges of the rim portion of the product package and the internal section is entirely used for creating the product package, thus eliminating any loss of the blank material.

Another advantage is that the product package is made to be easily stackable in a nested way, without allowing jamming to occur in the product package stack, when complete, during storage and transport. An additional advantage is that a sin gle product package can easily be picked out of the product package stack. The above allows for a reliable machine fill ing process of the product packages, reducing both the number of fault situations in the filling process and the process lead time.

The double faces of the bottom and the rim portion allow in- expensive and environmentally friendly printing to be used for brand identification and product information displaying.

In the following, the invention will be explained in more detail, by means of two exemplifying embodiments, with refer- ence to the accompanying drawings wherein

Figure 1 is an oblique lateral and top view of a pri- or-art product package, Figure la is a simplified, not-to-scale top view of a discontinuous corner of the prior-art product package of Figure 1,

Figure lb is a simplified, not-to-scale, partially sec tional lateral view of the discontinuous cor- ner and an untight lid connecting solution of the prior-art product package of Figure 1,

Figure 2a is a direct top view of a product package according to the invention,

Figure 2b is a not-to-scale lateral view of a side wall of the product package of Figure 2a, after putting into shape,

Figure 2c is an oblique, not-to-scale lateral and top view of the product package of Figures 2a and 2b, after putting into shape, Figure 2d is a direct top view of a package blank for the product package of Figure 2, Figure 3a is a direct top view of another package blank according to the invention, before forming it into a product package,

Figure 3b is a not-to-scale lateral view of a side wall of the product package of Figure 3a, after putting into shape,

Figure 4 is a sectional, simplified and not-to-scale lateral view of a portion of a product pack age according to the invention, provided with a skin-film,

Figure 5k is a sectional, simplified and not-to-scale lateral view of the product package of Figure 4, provided with a bracket member,

Figure 6k is an oblique lateral and top view of the product package of Figure 5k, and Figure 7k is a direct top view of a package blank for the product package of Figure 5k.

Figures 1, la and lb show a product package according to the invention, Pa (Prior Art: EP 2441696 Al) . For illustrative purposes, some of the figures exaggerate the thickness of the manufacturing material and of the films. Figure 1 is an oblique lateral and top view of a prior-art product package Pa. The product package Pa is folded out of a single cardboard blank. The product package Pa consists of a body part 2 and an inner lining 6. Correspondingly, the body part 2 consists of a bottom 3, two lateral walls and two end walls as well as of a substantially planar rim portion 4 ex tending laterally outwards from the upper edge of the lateral and end walls. The body part 2 is made of a suitable recycla ble fiber material, such as cardboard. The product package Pa maintains its intended shape by means of thin foodstuff plas tic used as the inner lining 6 and laminated to the body part 2, resulting in a weak and unstable structure due, for exam ple, to the fact that the rim portion of the top is not seam less and continuous.

Figure la is simplified and not-to-scale top view of a dis continuous corner of the product package Pa of Figure 1. The above-mentioned structure solely supported by the inner lin ing causes that, in the assembling step of the product pack age Pa, where the inner lining 6 is attached to the body part 2 and to the planar rim portion 4, small slots are left in the corner seams 5 of the planar rim portion 4, making the planar rim portion 4 discontinuous.

Figure lb is a simplified, partially sectional and not-to- scale lateral view of the discontinuous corner and an untight lid connecting solution of the product package Pa of Figure 1. As there is a slot in the corner seam 5 of the planar rim portion 4 of the product package Pa, the foodstuff plastic attached over the planar rim portion 4 and used for the inner lining 6 tends to deform towards the slot, leaving, in the surface of the planar rim portion, a groove 6a parallel to the corner seam 5. Later, the product package Pa will be filled with a foodstuff product and a covering film 7 will be sealed to the portion of the inner lining 6 attached over the planar rim portion 4 of the product package Pa by heat sealing, for example. The above-mentioned grooves 6a of the inner lining 6, formed at the corner seams 5, leave an air channel between the inner lining 6 and the covering film 7, and thus, also in the receiving space la of the product pack age 1, making the product package non-airtight or possibly even non-watertight . Product packages having this structure do not allow a packaging gas, for example, to be used for enhancing the shelf-life of the food product, and are not suited as skin-packages.

Figures 2a, 2b and 2c show a product package 1 according to the invention. Figure 2d show a package blank 9a for forming the body part 2 of the product package of Figures 2a, 2b and 2c .

Figure 2a is a direct top view of a product package 1 accord ing to the invention. Preferably, the product package 1 ac cording to the invention is a foodstuff package intended for cold cuts for example. The empty product package 1 consists of a body part 2 and an inner lining 6, such as a foodstuff foil. Correspondingly, the body part 2 consists of nine bot tom portions 3a, two lateral walls 2a and two end walls 2b, as well as of intermediate walls 2c extending therebetween, in the corners of the product package 1, and, additionally, of a continuous seamless rim portion 4 extending laterally outwards from the upper edge of the lateral, intermediate and end walls 2a, 2b and forming a substantially planar rim por tion 4 of the product package 1. The bottom portions 3a form a bottom 3. The body part 2 is made of a suitable recyclable fiber mate rial. Preferably, the material is corrugated paperboard, cardboard or any other appropriate recyclable fiber material, for example. The inner lining 6 consists of foodstuff plastic and is, after use, easily separable from the body part 2, allowing the body part 2 and the inner lining 6 to be sorted for recycling. The body part 2 is manufactured by shaping and folding it out of a package blank 9a, by a machine, for exam ple .

The continuous and seamless planar rim portion 4 of the body part 2 of product package 1 is a part, a common component, holding the walls (2a, 2b, 2c) together and making the struc ture sturdy. The lateral walls 2a, end walls 2b and interme diate walls 2c, which are folded at folding lines (4e) and from which the bottom portions 3a are created by folding along folding lines 3e, are connected to the rim portion (4) .

The lateral walls 2a, end walls 2b and intermediate walls 2c, together with the bottom portions 3a, form a space for the product to be packaged, as the package blank 9a is folded, along the folding lines 4e and 3e, into a frame of the re ceiving space la for a food portion. The discontinuous struc ture of the frame of the receiving space la, also comprising a plurality of slots 5, results in savings in material costs because the body structure 2 involves neither sections with superimposed material nor material loss due to cutting, and, in addition, the plurality of slots 5 increase the volume of the receiving space la. The frame of the receiving space la provided with the inner lining 6 constitutes the actual stur dy receiving space la which reliably maintains its shape and tightness, also thanks to the inner lining 6. The manufacturing method provides a continuous and even as well as seamless planar rim portion 4 for the product package 1, allowing the covering film 7 to be attached to the product package in an airtight manner. In skin-packages, air is sucked out of the package and the airtightness of the package ensures that a vacuum is maintained in the package 1.

Figure 2b is a simplified and not-to-scale lateral view of one of the ends of the product package 1 of Figure 2a, show ing an end wall 2b and two intermediate walls 2c as well as a rim portion 4 and an inner lining 6 extending, on each side of the rim portion 4, beyond the rim portion 4.

The inner lining 6 is attached over the frame and the planar rim portion 4 of the receiving space la of the product pack age 1 by a machine, after folding and assembling it into shape. The inner lining 6 attaches to the body part 2 and is adapted to make the package airtight, together with the cov ering film 7. The inner lining 6 is attached, for example, by causing an under-pressure under the body part 2. The inner lining 6, having glue on its lower face, is adapted to be sucked, by the under-pressure, tightly against the inner face of the body part 2. This is done by sucking air, by means of the under-pressure, from between the body part 2 and the in ner lining 6 located inside it, through the body part 2 and the apertures 5. The over-pressure prevailing above the package contributes to the attachment. The above-described method results in a tight attachment of the inner lining 6 to the inner face of the frame of the receiving space la of the body part 2 and over the rim portion 4. In addition, the in ner lining 6 extends beyond the rim portion 4, allowing the body part 2 and the inner lining 6 to be easily separated from package, after it has been used, for sorted recycling. At the rim portion 4, the inner lining 6 is evenly set, not allowing the inner lining 6 to form any grooves or projec tions which are detrimental to the tightness of the product package 1. Later, the product package 1 will be filled with a foodstuff product and the covering film 7 will be sealed to the portion of the inner lining 6 attached over the continu ous seamless planar rim portion 4 of the product package 1. The covering film 7 of the product package 1 is adapted to be sealed to the inner lining 6 by heat-sealing, for example, or by some other suitable sealing method. At the above-mentioned seamless planar rim portion 4, the covering film 7 is tightly set against the inner lining 6 to make sure that the receiv ing space la of the product package 1 is watertight and air- tight. This tightness ensures that the product package 1 ac cording to the invention maintains a vacuum in skin-package applications, for example, or that a packaging gas, for exam ple, can be used in the product package 1 to enhance the shelf-life of the foodstuff product.

Figure 2d is a top view of a preferable package blank 9a ac cording to the invention before shaping it into the product package 1. Appropriate cuts and folding lines 3e and 4e are made in the product blank 9a, at folding points, to facili- tate machine-folding of the package blank 9a into the product package 1. The folding lines 3e and 4e are made by creasing, for example.

Preferably, the product blank 9a comprises a sheet-like structure made of recyclable fiber material and having bottom portions 3a, wall portions 2y and a rim portion 4y, separated by the folding lines 3e and 4e, for a bottom 3, walls 2a, 2b, 2c and a rim portion 4 of the product package 1 to be created out of the product blank by folding. In a preferred solution, the bottom portions 3a are separated, along the folding lines 3e, from the wall portions 2y forming the walls (2a, 2b, 2c) .

Figure 3a is a top view of another flat package blank 9b ac cording to the invention before putting it into the shape of the product package 1. This package blank 9b has a planar and seamless rim portion 4y and a planar continuous bottom por tion 3a. A wall portion 8y, consisting of continuous circum ferential portions 8a inside each other, is located between the bottom portion 3a and the rim portion 4y. The circumfer ential portions 8a are separated from each other by systemat ically alternating circumferential cut seams 8b and bridges 8c. The rim portion 4y and the bottom portion 3a are similar ly separated from the circumferential portions 8a. Thus, the circumferential portions 8a are connected to the adjacent circumferential portions 8a by the bridges 8c, this configu ration allowing a flexible basket-shaped structure and a re ceiving space la to be later created for the product to be packaged.

Figure 3b is a lateral view of the body part 2 of the product package 1 created out of the product blank 9b of Figure 3a, after putting into shape. The body part 2 has a bottom 3, a rim portion 4 and a wall 8. The wall 8 comprises continuous circumferential portions 8a, bridges 8c interconnecting the circumferential portions 8a, and a plurality of slots 5 formed by the cut seams 8b. Once put into shape, the product package 1 forms a frame for the receiving space la since the circumferential portions 8a, cut seams 8b and bridges 8c of the wall 8, as a result of the systematic alternation, form a basket-shaped structure. When an inner lining 6 is laid on the basket-shaped body part 2 created in this way, the prod- uct package 1 becomes rigid in construction and the receiving space 1 for the product to be packaged is formed.

Figure 4 is a sectional, simplified and not-to-scale lateral view of a product package 1 according to the invention, pro vided with a covering film 7. The figure illustrates how the receiving space la and the rim portion 4 of the product pack age 1 are covered by an inner lining 6 and how the product package 1 containing a ready foodstuff product 10 is closed, at the even and planar rim portion 4, by the covering film 7 attached to the inner lining 6. The portions of the covering film 7 and the inner lining 6 extending outside the rim por tion 4 of the skin product package of Figure 4 are not at tached to each other, allowing the product package 1 to be effortlessly opened. After use, the inner lining 6 is easily separable from the body part 2, by pulling at the portion of the inner lining 6 located outside the rim portion 4.

Figure 5k is a sectional, simplified and not-to-scale lateral view of the product package of Figure 4, provided with a bracket member 11. At the bracket member 11, the fold between the rim portion 4 and the intermediate wall 2c bends in a different direction outside the bracket member 11.

Figure 6k is an oblique lateral and top view of a corner of the product package 1 where the bracket member 11 is pushed out into shape.

Figure 7k is a direct top view of a package blank 9a for the product package 1, having cuts 11a and creases lib made be tween the wall portions 2y and the rim portion 4y for the purpose of forming the bracket member 11. However, the figure does not show how the horizontal part of the bracket member 11 is substantially wider than the vertical part thereof.

Preferably, a vast potential information-displaying surface, such as a pressing or printing surface, is formed on the product package 1, on both faces of the bottom and the rim portion, and, in certain applications, also on the faces of the wall portions. The displaying surfaces provided on both sides allow pressing/printing to be used, inter alia, for brand identification and product information displaying.

It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the invention is not solely restricted to examples above but may vary within the scope of the accompanying claims. Thus, some structural solutions may differ from the above.

It will also be appreciated by the person skilled in the art that the product packages may differ in shape from the above. The simplest and most common shape of the body part of the product package is a rectangle, for example. However, the package can have some other than a box-like rectangular shape. As an example, this shape can be polygonal, or also round or oval, depending on the folding lines of the finished blank. When the shape is not a quadrilateral, the number of the walls may also differ from the above, and, therefore, separate lateral or end walls may not exist. It is also pos sible to make the angle between the bottom and the walls, for example, less acute by an additional fold of the walls, near the bottom. Further, the shape can also be asymmetrical.

It will also be appreciated by the person skilled in the art that the product packages may consist of some other material than recyclable fiber material. In this case, the body part of the product package can be made of any other foldable ma terial, such as corrugated paperboard. The body part of the product package can be made of different grades of board, cardboard or paper, or, also of woven material, or of combi- nations of different materials.