US2705579A - Condiment package - Google Patents

Description

April 1955 E. w. MASON 2,705,579

CONDIMENT PACKAGE Filed Aug. 5, 1952 FIG. 3

. INVENTOR. Edwin W. Mason g ll ORNEY United States Patent 0 CONDIMENT PACKAGE Edwin W. Mason, Wykoff, N. J., assignor to Mason- Keller Corporation, Roseland, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application August 5, 1952, Serial No. 302,695

8 Claims. (Cl. 222-129) The present invention relates to a package having two separate compartments, and more particularly to a package constituted of two webs of flexible sheet material sealed together to form two pockets, and provided with improved means for separately unsealing and opening the pockets for removal of the contents thereof.

The general object of the invention is to provide a novel, simple, inexpensive, and efficient package of the class described, and a method of making the same.

The invention particularly contemplates a package of this class which, as a unit, may be employed for holding two separate granular condiments, such as salt and pepper; and novel means are provided herein whereby each pocket may be readily opened in such manner that a relatively small pouring spout, or the equivalent, is

provided so that the package may be used as a miniature salt and pepper shaker. Used in the manner described the package is especially convenient in connection with the preparation and serving of boxed lunches and other individually preassembled meals and refreshments.

Generally the package is useful for condiments desired to form part of preassembled meals which are to be transported considerable distances from the point of preparation of the meals in containers which are to be thrown away. The package, as a container for condiments, provides a convenient and exceedingly lightweight and inexpensive adjunct for prepared rations designed to last throughout a relatively short period only; thus the pack age is a convenience for picnics, hunting and fishing trips, and other excursions where minimization of weight of foodstuffs to be carried by hand is desirable. Also the package is especially suitable for carrying individual supplies of salt and pepper for the meals of airplane passengers.

The package herein considered comprises two separate envelopes of particular construction, the envelopes being substantially within a common plane and joined together edgewise. Actually both envelopes are formed in common by only two webs of material, one web be ing superposed on the other, and both webs being sealed together marginally and along a transverse band intermediate the ends of the webs for the purpose of pro viding two distinct pockets or compartments.

While the present package may be formed of two sheets of metallic foil, such as aluminum foil, or of a sheet of paper and a sheet of foil, or of two webs of plastic film, as desired, the desirability of the package is materially enhanced if at least one of the webs is of transparent material so that separate condiments carried within the pockets may be distinguished by eye. Also while the present package is well suited for carrying small quantities each of salt and pepper, it will be understood that the package may also be used for other condiments, medicines, and other materials of a granular nature which are preferably dispensed in small quantities at particular times. It will be plain that an advantage of the package for salt and pepper res1des 1n the fact that usually very little of these condiments is used during a single meal by an individual eater, and that the package may provide not only a durable conta ner for small quantities of these condiments for shlpplng and storage, as well as an etficient shaker When properly opened, but may also be manufactured at a cost so exceedingly small that it is quite economical to throw the package away after use.

It is a particular feature of the invention that it provides a double compartmented package of the envelope class having two commodity pockets each provided with a pouring spout, or the equivalent, extending outwardly from the pocket proper, preferably from a corner of the pocket toward a corner of the package, where the pockets and package are substantially of rectangular shape, as in the preferred form of the invention illustrated herein. Means for opening the pockets may therefore operate to unseal the spouts only, whereby the contents of the pockets may be emptied in a gradual and controlled manner, as salt and pepper, for" example, are commonly dispensed.

While the present invention need not be limited to a package of rectangular shape having separate substantially rectangular pockets aligned with the edges of the package, this design is advantageous, as it saves material and also renders the package easier to open. In a design of this kind the spout of each pocket may be formed at one of the corners thereof and extend outwardly toward, but not to, one of the corners of the package. Thus when a particular corner of the package is torn off diagonally the spout of one of the pockets is thereby unsealed. In the form of the invention herein illustrated the package is so designed; and the pocket spouts are provided at diagonally opposite corners of the package, and the package is perforated diagonally at these two corners, the perforations passing through the pocket spouts, whereby an elfort to tear off a proper corner of the package results in the removal of a triangular portion thereof of desired shape and size.

Another object of the invention is to provide a double compartmented package comprising two separate envelopes joined edgewise, and formed of two webs, one web being substantially planar, and the other having its margin and a transverse band between the ends of the web within a common plane, but with other areas drawn out of such common plane, whereby two separate depressions or pockets are formed on one side of the last described web. The package is constructed by sealing the first web to the second with the first contacting only the margin and the transverse band of the second.

The package is most easily made by securely holding, as by clamps, the second web by its margin and by the above-described transverse band, and then applying sulficient fluid pressure against the free areas of the web to draw these areas out of plane with the margin and the transverse band, thus forming two separate depressions in the web. After these depressions have been suitably loaded with salt and pepper, respectively, or with other commodities, the first web may be applied and sealed to the margin and transverse band of the second web, thereby providing two sealed envelopes joined edgewise. The material of at least the second web is preferably cellulose acetate which, when preheated slightly, can be drawn in the manner described and the formed depressions will be permanent. Of course other plastic film may be employed for the second web, as, for example, vinyl chloride. If the second web is transparent any of a variety of materials may be used for the first web to produce a satisfactory package whose contents may be seen while the package is sealed.

These and other objects and features of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description and from the drawing, in which one form of the invention is illustrated.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the package.

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the package with part of one web broken away to show the insides of the two pockets.

Fig. 3 is the section 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is the section 4-4 of Fig. l.

The package shown in the drawing is made of two webs 10 and 11 which are sealed together marginally and along a transverse band 12 intermediate the ends of the package, thereby providing two separate sealed envelopes or pockets 13 and 14.

Although Fig. 1 is a front view of the finished package, showing Web 10 overlaying web 11, in manufacturing the package web 10, originally a flat sheet, is first drawn by fluid pressure to form two permanent depressions 15 and 16, as seen in Fig. 2, wherein part of web 11 is broken away; and these depressions are next loaded with the commodities to be packaged; and then the package is completed by superposing web 11, invariably a flat sheet, over web 10, and sealing the webs together in the manner described above. This operates to seal the depressions 15 and 16 of web 10, thereby providing the two envelopes or pockets 13 and 14 respectively. Plainly the formed portions of web 10 form one side'of the envelopes and those portions of web 11 which bridge the depressions form the other side thereof. As a convenience herein that side of the entire package on which web 10 is solely exposed is referred to as the'front, as the formed web is usually transparent while the flat web may be opaque material forming what may be regarded as a backing.

Neither web need, in fact, be of transparent material, although the usefulness of the package, as a salt and pepper shaker is clearly much enhanced if at least one of the webs is transparent. Web 10 may be of any sheet material which can be permanently drawn to form the suitable depressions, and a preferred material is cellulose acetate film, which is transparent, and when slightly preheated is well adapted to be drawn by means of fluid pressure, as that of compressed air. However, vinyl chloride and other plastic films may be used, or a metallic foil, such as that of aluminum, will serve. Web 11 may be paper, such as glassine. Of course both Webs are required to be of material suitably impervious to atmosphere moisture.

Web 10 is formed by clamping the periphery and the area related to band 12 of a fiat blank in a suitable manner and then applying pressure against the free portions of the blank. While the drawing operation could be performed on a mechanical press having male and female dies, it has been found much simpler to produce the web by means of the apparatus and method disclosed in the pending application of Arthur M. Keller for patent for Packaging Machine and Method, filed March 18, 1948, and bearing Serial Number 15,695, wherein the principle of drawing and forming web material by fluid pressure is involved. In the Keller apparatus the web is formed by drawing portions of it into suitably shaped female die depressions; the fluid pressure is applied through apertures within a blanket which is simul taneously forced into tight engagement with other portions of the web not desired to be deformed. Thus the blanket serves, in cooperation with the land of the die, as a clamp element, and simultaneously as a nozzle or group of nozzles for introducing compressed air against the free area of the blank.

The form of the package shown in the drawing is that found preferable for use as a salt and pepper shaker after the commodity envelopes or pockets have been opened. The package is rectangular and the pockets are nearly rectangular and have sides largely aligned with the edges of the package. Pocket 13 is intended for pepper while pocket 14 is suitable for salt, the pockets having a size relationship roughly approximating the volume relationship of the two condiments in normal use for seasoning foods. Each pocket is provided with a pouring spout, that for pocket 13 being designated 17, and that for pocket 14 being designated 18. It will be noted in Figs. 1 and 2 that the spouts extend from corners of their respective pockets, and that the spouts are directed toward diagonally opposite corners of the package.

The spouts are formed by utilizing a female die having two separate depressions each of a particular depth' and with a step in one corner of each depression diminishing said particular depth considerably, and having bays of such diminished depth extending outwardly diagonally from the corner, in the shape of the pockets shown. Figs. 3 and 4 clearly indicate the shape of the required die and of the interior of the envelopes or llaockets. Fig. 4 is an axial section of the spout of pocket The two diagonally opposite corners of the package at which the spouts are situated may be diagonally scored or perforated, as at 19 and 20, the score or perforations passing through the necks of the two spouts, as shown in the drawing, to facilitate the accurate tearing away of the corners of the package for the purpose of opening the spouts only without destroying the pockets as containers. It is seen that by unsealing the pockets by means of opening merely the spouts thereof the condiments may be shaken out in a controlled manner. Further it is seen, as best illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, that when the unsealed package is held in position so that pepper may escape from pocket 13 by gravity, salt cannot escape from pocket 14; and that when the unsealed package is rotated so that salt may be dispensed, the pepper cannot escape.

The rate of discharge of either condiment possible when the package is suitably positioned after being unsealed may be fairly accurately predetermined by the shape of that portion of the die employed in forming the spouts. These, of course, may be large or small as desired, as may the package itself. As an example of size of a practicable package according to the invention, test packages intended for individual use during a single meal were found to be satisfactorily capacious where the pockets had the size relationship to each other indicated in the drawing, and where the length of the package was about two inches.

I claim:

1. A package comprising a first web of soft, pliable material drawn to provide two separate depressions therein, the web material forming said depressions being undistorted each depression having a relatively large body and a relatively narrow bay shallower than said body, and each bay extending substantially oppositely to the other bay toward the periphery of said web; another and substantially planar web of soft, pliable material sealed to said first web at areas surrounding said depressions and said bays and covering and closing said depressions and said bays; one of said webs being of a transparent material, said package being scored near its periphery across said bays whereby fragments of predetermined shape and size may be torn from said package for opening said bays.

2. The package of claim 1 wherein the first web is of cellulose acetate.

3. The package of claim 1 wherein the first web is of vinyl chloride.

4. The package of claim 1 wherein the first web is of sheet material which may be deformed permanently by drawing.

5. A package comprising a rectangle of soft, pliable sheet material drawn to provide two separate and substantially rectangular depressions therein the web material forming said depressions being undistorted, each depression having a relatively shallow and narrow bay extending toward one of two diagonally opposite corners of said rectangle; another rectangle of soft, pliable sheet material sealed to said first-named rectangle at areas thereof surrounding said depressions; said other rectangle covering and closing said depressions; said package being scored diagonally across said opposite corners and across said bays whereby fragments of predetermined shape and size may be torn from said package for opening said depressions at the bays thereof.

6. The package of claim 5 wherein the first-named rectangle is of transparent plastic film.

7. The package of claim 5 wherein the first-named rectangle is of sheet material which may be deformed permanently by drawing, and wherein at least one of said rectangles is transparent.

8. A package comprising two rectangular webs of soft, pliable sheet material, one thereof being fiat and the other being also flat except for two separate concavo-convex portions side by side on the last-named web, said portions each having a body from which a neck extends toward a corner of said package, each neck extending toward a comer diagonally opposite from that related to the other neck, said portions being completely surrounded by flat areas sealed to the first-named web whereby two separate envelopes are formed at said portions, said package being scored at diagonally opposite corners across said necks whereby fragments of predetermined size may be torn from said package for opening said necks.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,438,487 Greene Dec. 12, 1922 1,576,088 Bunz Mar. 9, 1926 2,103,389 Salfisberg Dec. 28, 1937 2,561,400 Morrell July 24, 1951 2,578,444 Nicolle Dec. 11, 1951

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