Tearable closure

The invention relates to a tearable closure for an opening of a package, of the kind that is seen in the preamble of claim 1. (EP 0972 719 Al) .

From the practice, there is previously known a tearable closure for a lay-flat flexible neck of a package, the closure compris- ing a seal seam arranged at a distance from the mouth of the neck, which seam extends transversely across the neck, and closely connects opposite portions of the neck of the bag, the neck portion outside the seam forming gripping tongues for manual tearing of the seal seam. The seal seam may be in the form of a welded joint or an adhesive joint.

By gripping a respective gripping tongue with each hand and by pulling apart said tongues in opposite directions, the seal seam can be pealed or torn open.

Tearable closures of the kind outlined are previously known in plastic bags containing ground coffee and having an inner subatmospheric pressure.

A problem with such previously known closures is that the strength of the seal seam is critical. In practice, it happens not infrequently that the user does not manage to grip the gripping tongues by a sufficient force to keep hold of them upon a tearing operation. The problem is naturally augmented if the seal seam has increased strength. Varying strengths of the seal seam may arise from different production conditions for welding seams, varying temperatures of the package material and the like.

On the other hand, the strength of the welding seam may not be lowered to such an extent that the welding seam unintentionally is opened during general handling of the package.

For that sake, EP 0972 719 Al discloses a package of the mentioned kind, in which the tongues have pre-manufactured openings that facilitates manual gripping of the tongues for the opening of the closure.

Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a closure that, without a pre-manufactured gripping opening in a tongue, allows a user to open the closure in an easy and reliable way.

The object is attained by the invention.

The invention is defined in the appended independent claim.

Embodiments of the invention are defined in the appended dependent claims.

Preferably, the produced gripping opening is sufficiently large to allow the user to introduce a finger through, for instance, the outermost index-finger joint through the opening, but the opening may be smaller and may, for instance, have a diameter of, for instance, 5 mm. In such a case, the thumb and the index finger may meet in the opening so that the user by increased force can bring the tongue in the pulling motion, even if the package-film material has a low surface friction.

The gripping openings are defined by indications of fracture so that the user easily can break up weakening lines or indications of fracture in the material by the finger or some tool. Preferably, the openings have a substantially round shape so that the edge of the opening does not have any apparent indications at which a tearing is established upon loading.

The package-material panels enclosed by indications of fracture may carry information of a selectable kind, for instance, regarding exposure of the gripping opening.

In the following, the invention will be described by way of examples, reference being made to the appended drawing.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a part of a package having a tearable closure.

Fig. 2 schematically shows a pattern of indications of fracture in the gripping tongues of the closure.

Fig. 3 schematically illustrates a tearing operation of a closure according to the invention.

Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the invention, in a perspective view.

Fig. 1 illustrates a tubular end part of a foil package 1, the end part being laid flat and provided with a closure seam 2, which is at a distance from the free end 3 of the neck. The neck portion 4 outside the seam 2 is shown laid flat and forms two gripping tongues that are parallel in the embodiment illustrated.

The foil package 1 is shown to contain a parallelepipedic orthogonal product, which is surrounded by the tubular package part, the neck portion 4 being shown turned-down toward an end of the package. The ends of the neck portion 4 are shown turned-down toward two opposite side faces of the package. The neck portion 4 is shown to have overlapping openings 40 aligned with each other through the two foil-material layers outside the seam 2. The neck portion 4 can be raised, and further, the foil-material layer of the neck portion 4 can be brought apart at the free end edges 41, 42 thereof, for instance, at the lon ^¬ gitudinal centre area of the neck portion 4. In order to open the seam 2, the layers 43, 44 are pulled substantially in oppo- site directions such as is illustrated in Fig. 3, whereby the welding seam 2 is pealed open. The material layers 43, 44 form gripping tongues that a user grips by the respective hand. By providing the gripping tongues 43, 44 with breakthrough indica-

tions for round, preferably circular openings 40 having a diameter that is at least 5 mm, a steady grip of the gripping tongue 43, 44 is afforded in a simple and efficient manner, even if the foil material of the package consists of materials having a low friction against the fingers. As is seen in Fig. 3, a user of the package can simply press the finger pads of the two outermost joints of the thumb and an opposite finger (for instance, the index finger) of one hand through the opening 40 for a steady grip of the gripping tongue. Alternatively, the user may insert a tool in the opening 40 to get hold of the tongue. Alternatively, the user may stick in a finger through the opening 40 in a gripping tongue 43. Thanks to the steady grip afforded by the openings 40, the seal seam can relatively easily be pealed open, even at varying strength of the seam 2.

For a parallelepipedic coffee package for 0,5 kg of coffee, the holes 40 may be entirely aligned with each other and have a diameter in the range of 10-15 mm. The package foil may be composed of a plastic having a thickness of, for instance, 0,5 mm.

Figure 1 shows openings 40 that are recessed in the neck portion 4. Figure 2 illustrates a pattern 140 of lines or slots of indication of fracture, which has been established in at least one of the two gripping tongues 43, 44 formed by the lay-flat neck portion. A user may press a finger through the pattern in the gripping tongue 43/44 for the formation of an opening 40 for the extremity of the finger. In the package illustrated, each tongue 43, 44 may have a pattern 140 that in such a case preferably are substantially aligned with each other.

The lines/slots of indication of fracture may comprise arched sections 60 spaced-apart in the circumferential direction, which sections extend along a circular arc and connected thereto radial lines 70, which connect to the longitudinal centre area of the respective circular arc section 60 and extend radially toward the centre of the circle, but are terminated immediately outside the centre. In the middle of the pattern 140, accordingly there is a centre portion 80 that con-

nects the adjacent tip parts of the sectors delimited by the lines 60, 70.

By a finger or by an obtuse object, a user may apply a force against the centre part of the pattern 140, whereby the sectors are detached from each other at the tips and can be folded back around the interspaces between the lines 60. In this way, openings are exposed corresponding to the openings 40. Before the breakthrough of the weakening lines, the material inside the circular arc defined by the lines 60 may carry information symbols, for instance, in the form of an instruction about how the counterpart to the openings 40 should be established.

In a preferred embodiment, the gripping opening is sufficiently large to allow the user to insert a finger in the opening. By the radial fracture lines, generally triangular tongues are formed, which are folded around when the finger is introduced through the opening, and decreases the abutment pressure against the finger upon the opening of the closure. All foil parts that are delimited by weakening lines will remain stuck together or to the foil outside the opening, so that no pieces of foil are detached, neither in connection with the establishment of the weakening lines nor by the breaking of the weakening-line pattern.

In one embodiment, the central area 80 may be surrounded by a ring-shaped weakening line, the generally radial slots or weakening lines 70 reaching up to the ring-shaped weakening line and the ring-shaped weakening line facilitating a separation of the top area of the triangular tongues from each other at the same time as the central area 80 remains attached to one of the tongues via the remaining material at the ring-shaped weakening line.

Above, the invention has been described in connection with a lay-flat bag neck, which is cross-sealed at a distance from the mouth of the bag neck and which thereby has two gripping tongues outside the seal seam, at least one of the gripping tongues having a weakening-line pattern 140 that forms an indi-

cation of fracture facilitating the establishment of a gripping opening for the gripping tongue. However, a person skilled in the art appreciates that the invention just as well may be applied to other types of packages, for instance, a can or bot- tie the opening rim of which is covered with a cover foil tear- ably sealed against the package around the opening rim thereof by means of a tearable circumferential seal seam, the cover foil having a portion that is situated outside the seal seam and that forms a gripping tongue for manual tearing of the seal seam, and thereby the cover foil, along a substantial part of the seal seam, and preferably along at least the major part of the circumference of the package opening.

Figure 4 shows a container having an opening rim 60 and a cover foil 50 that comprises a first part 51, which covers the opening defined by the container rim and which is connected to the same by a tearable seam 2 that, for instance, may be a welding seam. The cover foil 50 has also a second part that is situated outside the seam and that forms an exposed gripping tongue 43 having the pattern 140 of indication of fracture.