Tetra Laval issued US patent application serial number for packaging material configured to be folded and sealed to produce a gable-top package for pourable food products, has been cleared for further review

Sandy Yang

Sandy Yang

ATLANTA , December 6, 2012 () – By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Politics & Government Week -- Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. has been issued patent application serial number 560333, according to news reporting originating out of Washington, D.C., by VerticalNews editors.

The patent's inventors are RIMONDI, Fabrizio (Castel San Pietro Terme, IT); Pradelli, Massimo (Reggio Emilia, IT); Fontanazzi, Paolo (Modena, IT); Jeppsson, Lars (Modena, IT).

This patent application was filed on July 27, 2012 and was cleared for further review on November 29, 2012.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: "Many pourable food products, such as beverages, fruit juice, pasteurized or UHT (ultra-high-temperature treated) milk, wine, tomato sauce, etc., are sold in packages made of sterilized packaging material.

"One example of this type of package is the gable-top package for liquid or pourable food products, as described in European Patent EP1440010 and in published Patent Application EP1584563, and known by the trade name Tetra Gemina.TM. Aseptic.

"More specifically, the above package comprises a parallelepiped-shaped main portion; and a gable top portion defined by two sloping walls joined along a sealing strip.

"More specifically, the walls of the gable portion are trapezoidal in shape, project from the main portion of the package at their respective major bases, and are joined by the sealing strip at their respective minor bases.

"The gable portion comprises two lateral flaps folded outside the volume of the package available for the food product.

"The flaps each project from a respective oblique side of a first wall, and are folded towards the second wall and superimposed, at the sealing strip, on respective oblique sides of the second wall.

"The above package is produced by folding and sealing laminated strip packaging material.

"The packaging material has a multilayer structure substantially comprising a base layer for stiffness and strength, which may comprise a layer of fibrous material, e.g. paper, or mineral-filled polypropylene material; and a number of layers of heat-seal plastic material, e.g. polyethylene film, covering both sides of the base layer.

"In the case of aseptic packages for long-storage products, such as UHT milk, the packaging material also comprises a layer of gas- and light-barrier material, e.g. aluminium foil or ethyl vinyl alcohol (EVOH) film, which is superimposed on a layer of heat-seal plastic material, and is in turn covered with another layer of heat-seal plastic material forming the inner face of the package eventually contacting the food product.

"As is known, packages of this sort are produced on fully automatic packaging machines, on which a continuous tube is formed from the web-fed packaging material. More specifically, the web of packaging material is unwound off a reel and fed through an aseptic chamber on the packaging machine, where it is sterilized, e.g. by applying a sterilizing agent, such as hydrogen peroxide, which is subsequently evaporated by heating and/or by subjecting the packaging material to radiation of appropriate wavelength and intensity; and the web so sterilized is maintained in a closed, sterile environment, is folded into a cylinder, and is sealed longitudinally to form a continuous tube in known manner.

"The tube of packaging material, actually forming an extension of the aseptic chamber, is fed continuously in a vertical direction, is filled with the sterilized or sterile-processed food product, and is fed through a forming unit for producing the individual packages. That is, inside the forming unit, the tube is sealed along a number of equally spaced cross sections to form a continuous strip of pillow packs connected to one another by respective transverse sealing strips, i.e. extending perpendicular to the travelling direction of the tube. And the pillow packs are separated by cutting the relative transverse sealing strips, and are then folded further to form respective finished gable-top packages."

Supplementing the background information on this patent application, VerticalNews reporters also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "A packaging material is configured to be folded and sealed to produce a gable-top package for pourable food products which possesses top and bottom portions. The packaging material comprises a web of material provided with a crease pattern along which the web of material is foldable to form the gable-top package. The crease pattern comprises: a first transverse fold line extending transversely across the web of material between one longitudinally extending side edge of the web of material and an opposite longitudinally extending side edge of the web of material; and a second transverse fold line extending transversely across the web of material between the one longitudinally extending side edge of the web of material and the opposite longitudinally extending side edge of the web of material. The second transverse fold line is positioned at one longitudinal end of the web of material and defines a top sealing area at which the web of material is sealed when the packaging material is folded and sealed to form the top portion of the gable-top package, while the first transverse fold line is spaced from the second transverse fold line in a direction toward an opposite longitudinal end of the web of material. A plurality of longitudinal fold lines extends longitudinally away from the first transverse fold line toward the opposite longitudinal end of the web of material, with adjacent pairs of the longitudinal fold lines defining respective walls of the gable-top package when the packaging material is folded and sealed. A pair of oblique fold lines each extend obliquely from the first transverse fold line to the second transverse fold line such that an area is bounded by the pair of oblique lines, by a portion of the second transverse fold line extending between the pair of oblique fold lines and by a portion of the first transverse fold line extending between the pair of oblique fold lines, and such area encloses six, and no more than six, triangular panels, each of the triangular panels being outlined by three fold lines forming a part of the crease pattern.

"Another aspect involves packaging material configured to be folded and sealed to produce a gable-top package for pourable food products which possesses top and bottom portions, wherein the packaging material includes a web of material provided with a crease pattern along which the web of material is foldable to form the gable-top package. The crease pattern on the web of packaging material comprises: a pair of transverse fold lines extending transversely across the web of material between longitudinally extending opposite side edges of the web of material, wherein the pair of transverse fold lines includes a first transverse fold line and a second transverse fold line, and wherein the second transverse fold line is positioned at one longitudinal end of the web of material and defines a top sealing area at which the web of material is sealed when the packaging material is folded and sealed to form the top portion of the gable-top package, and wherein the first transverse fold line is spaced from the second transverse fold line in a direction toward an opposite longitudinal end of the web of material. Four longitudinal fold lines each intersect the first transverse fold line at a respective first intersection point and extending longitudinally away from the first transverse fold line toward the opposite longitudinal end of the web of material, with adjacent pairs of the longitudinal fold lines defining respective walls of the gable-top package when the packaging material is folded and sealed. A pair of first oblique fold lines each extend obliquely between the first and second transverse fold lines so that each first oblique fold line intersects the first transverse fold line at a respective one of the first intersection points and intersects the second transverse fold line at a respective second intersection point, with each first oblique fold line intersecting the second transverse fold line so that one portion of the second transverse fold line is located between the second intersection points, and each first oblique fold line intersecting the first transverse fold line so that one portion of the first transverse fold line is located between the first intersection points. The pair of first oblique fold lines, in combination with the one portion of the first transverse fold line and the one portion of the second transverse fold line, defines a first area possessing an isosceles trapezoid shape, wherein the first area encloses six, and no more than six, triangular panels which are each outlined by three fold lines forming a part of the crease pattern. A pair of second oblique fold lines each extend obliquely between the first and second transverse fold lines so that each second oblique fold line intersects the first transverse fold line at a respective third intersection point and intersects the second transverse fold line at a respective fourth intersection point, wherein each second oblique fold line intersects the second transverse fold line so that a portion of the second transverse fold line is located between the fourth intersection points, and wherein each second oblique fold line intersects the first transverse fold line so that a portion of the first transverse fold line is located between the third intersection points. The pair of second oblique fold lines, in combination with the portion of the first transverse fold line located between the third intersection points and the portion of the second transverse fold line located between the fourth intersection points, define a second area possessing an isosceles trapezoid shape. The second area encloses six, and no more than six, triangular panels which are each outlined by three fold lines forming a part of the crease pattern.

"In accordance with another aspect, a packaging material configured to be folded and sealed to produce a gable-top package for pourable food products which possesses top and bottom portions comprises: a web of material provided with a crease pattern along which the web of material is foldable to form the gable-top package. The crease pattern on the packaging material web comprises: a first transverse fold line extending transversely across the web of material between one longitudinally extending side edge of the web of material and an opposite longitudinally extending side edge of the web of material; and a second transverse fold line extending transversely across the web of material between the one longitudinally extending side edge of the web of material and the opposite longitudinally extending side edge of the web of material. The second transverse fold line is positioned at one longitudinal end of the web of material and defines a top sealing area at which the web of material is sealed when the packaging material is folded and sealed to form the top portion of the gable-top package, and the first transverse fold line is spaced from the second transverse fold line in a direction toward an opposite longitudinal end of the web of material. A plurality of longitudinal fold lines extends longitudinally away from the first transverse fold line toward the opposite longitudinal end of the web of material, with adjacent pairs of the longitudinal fold lines defining respective walls of the gable-top package when the packaging material is folded and sealed. A pair of oblique fold lines each extend obliquely from the first transverse fold line to the second transverse fold line such that a trapezoidal area is bounded by the pair of oblique lines, by a portion of the second transverse fold line extending between the pair of oblique fold lines and by a portion of the first transverse fold line extending between the pair of oblique fold lines, and a plurality of additional fold lines are located within the trapezoidal area and form an isosceles triangle within the trapezoidal area, wherein the isosceles triangle encloses a plurality of further fold lines forming a part of the crease pattern, and the further fold lines forming three, and only three, triangular panels within the isosceles triangle."

For the URL and additional information on this patent application, see: RIMONDI, Fabrizio; Pradelli, Massimo; Fontanazzi, Paolo; Jeppsson, Lars. Packaging Material with Crease Pattern. U.S. Patent Serial Number 560333, filed July 27, 2012, and posted November 29, 2012. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=5131&p=103&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=20121122.PD.&OS=PD/20121122&RS=PD/20121122

Keywords for this news article include: Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A.

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