WO1995031370A1

WO1995031370A1 - Self-standing pouch, and assembly thereof

Info

Publication number: WO1995031370A1
Application number: PCT/US1995/005136
Authority: WO
Inventors: Werner Herman Marie B. Libens; Joseph Fernand Deflander; Patrick Jean-François ETESSE
Original assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
Priority date: 1994-05-11
Filing date: 1995-04-20
Publication date: 1995-11-23
Also published as: JPH10500089A; EP0681970A1

Abstract

A pouch (1) for containing liquid or granular substances, said pouch comprising a front wall (4), a back wall (5), and a base wall (6). The pouch is self-standing in a stable manner. It is also able to support and carry in a stable manner at least another stacked pouch.

Description

Self-standing pouch, and assembly thereof

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to self-standing flexible pouches for containing liquids or granules, particularly liquid detergents.

Background of the invention

The use of flexible standing pouches for containing liquids or granular substances is well known in the packaging industry. These pouches principally comprise a front, a back and a base wall sealed together along the edges of said pouches. The pouches described in US-3 380 646 and EP-0 261 010 are self-standing on their bottom seal edges. In this manner the majority of the base wall is not in contact with the surface supporting the pouch in its upright position. Such pouches are prone to the weakening of the bottom edges of the pouches over time, resulting in the eventual collapse of the bottom edges and loss of upright stability and ultimately the collapse of the pouch itself. Furthermore, such pouches are not adequate to be stacked one over another in a stable manner during transportation and storage. This depends not only from the bottom edges which are too weak, as explained before, but also by the edged top of these pouches which give no sufficient support to another stacked pouch.

In co-pending European Patent Application No. 93870118.2 a substantial part of the base wall is in direct contact with the surface, upon which the pouch stands. Nevertheless, also this document does not address the problem to obtain a stable stacking of the filled pouches in an assembly. The edged tops of the pouches hinder to achieve a stable stack of these pouches. The base wall of a pouch has no support on an edged top of another pouch in an stacked assembly. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to render the top portion of the filled pouches adequate to support and carry in a stable manner at least another stacked pouch.

It is another object of the present invention to have stable assemblies of stacked pouches. It is further another object of the present invention a method to obtain pouches which can be stacked in a stable manner in an assembly.

Summary of the invention

The present invention relates to a stackable pouch comprising at least a back, front and a base wall, said walls are sealed together along their peripheral edges. Said pouch is self-standing supported by the base wall, i.e. said base wall is at least partially in contact with the surface upon which said pouch stands. Said pouch comprises a substance free top portion. Said substance free top portion is brought into a flat surface nearly parallel to the surface upon which said pouch stands.

Brief description of the figures Figure 1 shows an embodiment of a pouch for the present invention.

Figure 2a shows a cross sectional view of the bottom portion of the unfilled pouch of Figure 1 , whereas Figure 2b is a front or back view of the filled pouch of Figure 1.

Figures 3 an 4 show possible folding steps of a pouch to get a flat top surface.

Figure 5 illustrates a folded pouch, the folding of which is held by a maintaining means.

Figure 6 shows a folded pouch, the folding of which is held by another maintaining means comprising also a carrying handle.

Figure 7 shows a possible assembly with the pouches of the present invention.

Detailed description of the invention

The present invention relates to a flexible pouch (Fig. 1 , 1 ) for containing liquid or granular substances. The pouch is self-standing without the need for additional supporting means. The pouches of the present invention have a top portion (Fig. 1 , 2) and a base portion (Fig. 1 , 3) comprising a front wall (Fig. 1 , 4), a back wall (Fig. 1 , 5) and a base wall (Fig. 1 , 6). According to the present invention the base wall is generally perpendicular to the front and back walls when the pouch is in its filled upright position.

The top portion (Fig. 1 , 2) of the pouches according to the present invention comprises said front (Fig. 1 , 4) and back walls (Fig. 1 , 5) which are superimposed upon one another. The front and back walls are sealed together along their top edges (Fig. 1 , 7, 8) and their peripheral edges (Fig. 1 , 9, 10 and 11 , 12) only in said top portion. Said top portion can also comprise a top wall, sealed between the front (Fig. 1 , 4) and back wall (Fig. 1 , 5). For material 4 savings, only the front, back and bottom walls are necessary for the present invention.

The seals in the pouches according to the present invention are preferably heat seals. Said seals are preferably from 3 mm to 50 mm, more preferably from 3 mm to 10 mm, most preferably 5 mm in width (=y, as shown in Figure 1).

The base wall (Fig. 2, 21 ) can be folded into a pleated inverted V shape and is situated in between said front (Fig.2, 22) and back walls (Fig. 2, 23) in said base portion. The inverted V shape maybe continuous with the front and back walls, such that all the walls of the pouch are formed from one single foil of pouch material. As an alternative said base wall may be an additional piece, separate from the front and back walls, which is further sealed at one bottom edge of said base wall with the bottom edge of the front wall (Fig. 2, 24) and sealed at the other bottom edge of said base wall with the back wall (Fig. 2, 24b) in the base portion of the pouch.

Each half of the pleated inverted V shape forms a corresponding leg with the front (Fig. 2, 22) and back walls (Fig. 2, 23) in the base portion when the pouch is unfilled. The peripheral edges of said base wall are sealed to the peripheral edges of the corresponding front (Fig. 2, 27) or back wall (Fig. 2, 28) in the base portion. The section of the base wall not sealed to the front and back walls, is such that the midsection of the base wall (Fig. 2, 29) is free and may extend up into the interior of the pouch when the pouch is unfilled.

According to the present invention it is essential that a substantial part of said base wall is in contact with the surface upon which the pouch stands. By having a substantial part of the base wall supporting the pouch on a surface, the pouch is not only self-standing, but said pouch is also able to withstand the load of at least another stacked pouch in a stable manner. A possible way to get a pouch with a substantial part of the base wall in contact with the surface upon which the pouch stands, as can be seen by the Figure 2b representing a filled pouch, is given by sealing the base wall to the front wall peripheral edge (Fig. 2b, 27) and said back peripheral edge (Fig. 2b, 28) in said base portion with oblique seals. All of the peripheral edges of said front and back walls and said base wall in said base portion are substantially along oblique seals. Said oblique edges are substantially parallel with said oblique seals. Oblique as used herein is determined with reference to the perpendicular axes (Fig. 1 , 13a, 13b) which extend from the top portion of the pouch along the inner edge of the seals of the peripheral edges of the front and back walls when the pouch is filled in its upright position into the base portion. An oblique seal or oblique peripheral edge according to the present invention is a seal or peripheral edge which does not lie along said perpendicular axes, but is inclined away from said perpendicular axes towards the bottom edge (Fig. 1 , 14) of the base portion (Fig. 1 , 3), so as to form an obtuse angle (Fig. 1 , β) between the inner edge of the seal of the peripheral edge of the top portion and the corresponding inner edge of the peripheral edge of the base portion. The obtuse angle is preferably from 90° deg to 180° deg, more preferably from 120° deg to 150° deg.

The dimensions of the pouch or the total amount of contained substance may be chosen by any person skilled in the art for the appropriate use of the present invention. As said before, it is sufficient that the pouch is stable and self- standing without any need for additional support means. Preferably, a substantial part of the base wall is in contact with the surface upon which the pouch stands.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the pouches may have at least one, preferably 1 to 4 vertical ridges on the front and back walls of said pouch, (Fig. 1 , 15) when the pouch is in its filled upright position. The ridges preferably extend from the bottom edge of the base portion corners (Fig.1 16, 16b) vertically up at least into the top portion of the pouch. Said ridges are preferably parallel with the perpendicular axes (Fig.1 , 13, 13b). The ridges according to the present invention preferably extend at least 50% of the length of the front and back walls, when the pouch is in its upright position, preferably from 50% to 90%, more preferably from 70% to 90%.

The ridges give the pouches the desired configuration in at least the base portion and help retain said configuration. The ridges also help the base wall to remain in contact with the surface upon which the pouch stands and helps to stiffen the pouches. Preferably the pouches of the present invention have a substantially rectangular footprint in at least the base portion of said pouches. According to the present invention one of the corners of the top portion of the pouches may be removed to provide an opening so that the consumer can pour out the contents of the pouch. Therefore, in another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ridges of the front and the back walls near the corner, which can be opened, run towards the apex of said corner so as to create a pour spout shape that pops open when said corner is opened.

As an optional, but preferred embodiment, the pouches of the present invention may comprise a handle (Fig.1 , 17) in the top portion of said pouch. The handle is a sealed corner of the front and back walls in the top portion of said pouch. Said sealed corner is the corner between the top edges (Fig.1 ,7,8) of the front and back walls and one of the peripheral edges of said front (Fig.1 , 11 ) and back (Fig.1 , 12) walls in the top portion such that the front (Fig.1 ,4) and back walls (Fig.1 ,5) are sealed together beyond their edges. A piece of the sealed portion is removed from the center of said sealed portion so that an opening (Fig. 1 , 18) is formed to enable a consumer to place the fingers through said opening. Said opening is preferably oblong and substantially parallel with the bottom edge of the seal (Fig.1 , 19). The top edge of the seal of the handle (Fig.1 , 20) is preferably parallel with the edge of said opening and said bottom edge of the opening seal. Said pouches may be used as sample pouches and refill pouches for reusable containers.

Suitable materials for use as the front, back and base walls according to the present invention are preferably thin, to reduce the amount of material used and the associated cost, whilst being sufficiently thick, and tough enough to resist punctures and leaks caused by abrasion and rough handling. Preferably the pouch material is from 50 μm to 500 μm, more preferably from 100 μm to 300 μm. The front, back and base walls are also selected from materials that can be easily handled and sealed together, preferably by heat sealing in a high-speed form, fill and seal apparatus.

Suitable flexible materials for use herein may be selected from thermoplastics, preferably polyethylene, most preferably linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). According to the present invention the front, back and base walls are preferably made of the same material. It may be preferred to have a stiffer material in the base wall, than in the front or back walls. For example, using LLDPE for the front and back walls, whereas a middle density polyethylene (MDPE) coextrude can be used for said base wall. According to the present invention the plastic material may also be a composite material constituted by at least two layers of different plastic materials such that one of said material is thermally weldable while the other is not. By laminating LLDPE also with a thicker layer of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or oriented polypropylen (OPP), a stiffer material can be achieved usable for the base wall. In this manner, the base wall is made thicker preferably between 5 and 100%, more preferably between 10 and 50%, and most preferably between 25 and 30% than the front or back walls.

The pouches according to the present invention may be filled with soiids or fluids such as food products, laundry detergents, softeners, automatic dishwasher detergents and hard surface cleaners. Preferably the pouches according to the present invention are filled with liquid detergents.

The pouches according to the present invention have an air-free portion, i.e. said pouches are not restlessly filled with the contained substance and the remaining rest of the volume is under partial or complete vacuum. This vacuum is mainly maintained starting from an unfilled, flat pouch during the filling and sealing operation.

The pouches described above demonstrate a stable self-standing, but not a stable stacking possibility. The difficulty arises from the fact that the front and back wall are directly sealed together forming an edged top, as can be seen in Figures 1 and 3. Said edged top of a first pouch does not give a sufficient supporting surface to the base wall of a stacked second pouch.

We have found that the top of an upright standing air-free pouch can be folded. We also found that folding the top of said pouch creates a sufficiently great, nearly flat surface. And finally, we found that said surface can be used as a load carrying support for the base wall of another stacked pouch. Due to the inherent incompressible nature of the contained substances, we have found that the partial or complete air-free self-standing pouch with a substantial part of the base wall in contact with the surface upon which said pouch stands can carry up to 200 times its own weight without noticeable deformation or damage. The way of folding the top of the pouches can be various The folding has to create a sufficiently flat surface Said surface is at least nearly parallel to the basis of the pouch in its standing position Said surface efficiently acts as a stable support for the base wall of another stacked pouch, since said surface has approximately the same dimensions of the base wall of the pouch In the following ways of folding the air-free pouches after their filling and sealing are described in more detail But the present invention is by no means limited to these particular ways of folding

"Horizontal", in the following, defines a line or a surface parallel to the supporting basis of the pouch in its standing position "Vertical", on the contrary, defines a line or a surface perpendicular to said supporting basis "w" is the width of the pouch, i.e the minimum distance between the sealed edges of the front and back wall of a filled pouch (see Figure 1 or 3c)

In a first execution, the top air-free portion (Fig 3a, 32) of the pouch (Fig. 3a, 30) is bent till it is approximately horizontal, as illustrated in Figure 3b Afterwards, approximately a width w of the middle part of said air-free portion is held in the horizontal position, whereas the remaining extremity parts (Fig. 3c, 33 and 34) are upwardly bent again into an approximately vertical position These vertical parts (Fig. 3c, 33 and 34) are now bent one over another, as schematically illustrated by the arrows (Fig 3c, 36 and 37), onto the bent middle part (Fig 3d, 32) of width w Through this folding, a flat top surface with approximately the same dimensions as the base wall of the pouch and parallel to the supporting basis, is achieved Said surface efficiently acts as a stable carrying support for the base wall of another stacked pouch, as shown in Figure 3e.

Other variations of the folding are possible The easiest of which can be achieved by bending the vertical parts (33) and (34) from Figure 3c in the opposite direction, as illustrated in Figure 3f In this manner, a flat surface able to support and carry in a stable manner another pouch on top of said surface

(Fig 3c, 32) is also available

In another folding execution, the top air-free portion (Fig 4a, 32) is first flattened forming a flat top portion (Fig 4a, 38) with approximately the dimensions of the base wall of the pouch, and forming the extremity parts (Fig 4a, 40 and 42). These extremity parts (Fig. 4a, 40 and 42) can again be bent in two possible directions : onto the flat top portion (Fig. 4b, 38) an extremity part over another, or in the opposite direction (see Figure 4c). Any folding, which results in a horizontal, flat surface, and which efficiently acts as a stable load carrying support for another stacked pouch, is part of the present invention.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the folding are fastened with appropriate means. This fastening means may be chosen by any person skilled in the art. For example, ligatures or adhesive tapes may be used. But also straps, plastic film bands, shrinkable plastic film bands are possible. These fastening means (Fig. 5, 43) are placed partially or completely around the pouch maintaining the folding, as illustrated in Figure 5, therefore preventing the flat top surface to unfold. Fastening means comprising also a handle (Fig. 6, 44) are possible, as shown in Figure 6. A handle with adhesive extremities only may also be envisaged.

The pouches according to the present invention may be manufactured according to the methods well known to the man skilled in the art, and described for example in the above mentioned U.S. Patent No. 3 380 646 or in the European Application No. 93870118.2. The process may be a continuous, a semi-continuous or a multi-step batch process. In any case, before the filling the pouch is left unsealed along the top edges (Fig. 1 , 7, 8) in the top portion (Fig.1 , 2) of said pouch.

Once this pouch is manufactured, said pouch is placed in the magazine of the filling machine. In said magazine the pouch is picked up, opened along the unsealed top edges, filled with the desired liquid or granular substance and then sealed along said top edges. The filling operation is nearly air-free, i.e. a certain part of the top portion (Fig. 1 , 2) remains substance free after the pouch is filled with the desired amount of liquid or granular substance. The filled pouch is subsequently folded as described above.

The filled and sealed pouches having a flat top surface described above are able to be stacked one over another forming an assembly. Several of said pouches can be packed together in a shipping unit (Fig.7, 40). Said shipping unit is formed to a rectangular shape, suitable to be stacked with other similar shipping units for depot and transport. Stacking several of these shipping units a complete assembly or pallet stack (Fig. 7, 50) is obtained.

The shipping units of consumer units made of filled and sealed pouches having a flat top surface may be formed in several ways. Said pouches may be packed together in a wrap-around plastic film. Said plastic film can be also shrinkable. It is also not necessary that said pouches forming the shipping unit have fastening means described above. Another possibility is to use simply straps tightening said pouches together. Naturally, open or closable boxes with rectangular bases, in which several of said pouches are inserted, are also possible. Said boxes are made of cardboard, preferably corrugated cardboard's. Nevertheless, other materials, like plastic materials, are possible. Said boxes have to be sufficiently resistant to carry at least the load of a shipping unit consisting of several filled pouches according to the present invention.

Claims

1. A stackable pouch comprising a front, a back and a base walls, said walls sealed together along their peripheral edges, said pouch being self-standing supported by the base wall, said base wall being at least partially in contact with the surface upon which said pouch stands, said pouch comprising a substance free top portion characterized in that the substance free top portion is brought into a flat surface nearly parallel to the surface upon which said pouch stands.

2. A pouch according to claim 1 characterized in that said substance free top portion is under partial or complete vacuum.

3. A pouch according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that said flat surface has approximately the same dimensions as the base wall.

4. A pouch according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that said substance free top portion is brought into a flat surface by folding said top portion.

5. A pouch according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that said flat surface is maintained in this flat configuration with fastening means.

6. A pouch according to claim 5 characterized in that said fastening means are chosed from the group consisting of a plastic film band, a plastic shrinkable film band, a strap, a ligature, an adhesive tape.

7. A pouch according to claims 5 or 6 characterized in that said fastening means comprise a handle.

8. A pouch according to any of claims 5 to 7 characterized in that said fastening means is a handle with adhesive extremities holding said flat configuration of said pouch.

9. A pouch according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that said pouch is able to carry on the flat top surface at least another stacked pouch in a stable manner.

10. A pouch according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that said pouch can carry a topload up to 200 times the weight of said pouch without irreversible deformation or damage.

11. A pouch according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that said pouch contains liquid or granular substances.

12. A method of making said pouches according to any of the preceding claims comprising the steps of :

making said pouch in a continuous, a semi-continuous or a multi- step batch process, leaving said pouch unsealed along the top edges (Fig. 1, 7, 8) in the top portion (Fig.1, 2) of said pouch;

opening along the unsealed top edges;

filling with the desired liquid or granular substance in an air free manner;

sealing along said top edges;

folding said the top air-free portion (Fig. 3a, 32) of the filled pouch to get a flat surface parallel to the basis of the pouch in its standing position.

13. A method of making said pouches according to claim 12 characterized in that said method further comprises the step to fasten the folding in a flat configuration with a plastic film band, or a plastic shrinkable film band, or a strap, or a ligature, or an adhesive tape or a handle with adhesive extremities.

14. An assembly comprising several pouches according to claims 1 to 11 characterized in that said pouches are packed to form a shipping unit.

15. An assembly according to claim 14 characterized in that shipping unit is held together with a wrap-around plastic film, or with a shrinkable plastic film, or with one or several straps, or with open or closable boxes.

16. An assembly according to claim 15 characterized in that said boxes are made of cardboard, preferably corrugated cardboard.

17. An assembly according to any of claims 14 to 16 characterized in that said shipping units are stacked one over another, at least forming a complete pallet unit.