Paper container top flange
AssigneeProseal UK Limited
InventorRobert Julian Hargreaves
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A plurality of camming surfaces (116) are actuated to move against the top portion of the side walls (38) of a container (36) to turn such top portion in an outward direction relative to the interior of the container sufficiently to enable the seal profile (90) of the top tool assembly (30) of a sealing apparatus (22) to press the outwardly disposed side wall top portions downwardly against an abutment formed by a bottom tool assembly (32) so as to create a horizontal, outwardly disposed sealing flange (40) to which a top film (34) is applied for closure of the container.
Claims20
A top tool assembly for assisting in forming flanges along the top of the pliable side walls of a carton, comprising:
- (a) a plurality of planar camming surfaces configured to engage a top portion of pliable side walls of a carton, the side walls being in nominal upright orientation relative to the interior of the carton;
- (b) a camming structure to which the camming surfaces are mounted, the camming structure is movable toward the carton to force the camming surfaces against the top portion of the side walls of the carton in an outward direction relative to the interior of the carton to partially deform the top portion of the pliable side walls further outwardly relative to the nominal orientation of the side walls relative to the interior of the carton;
- and
- (c) a seal profile having a flat perimeter portion corresponding to the locations of the camming surfaces, the seal profile moveable relative to the camming surfaces to present the perimeter portion against the top portion of the sidewalls to deform the top portion of the pliable side walls further outwardly relative to the initial deformation of the top portion of the side walls by the camming surfaces to form sealing flanges along the top of the carton side walls.
A tray sealer, comprising:
- (a) a bottom tool assembly for receiving trays to be sealed, the trays having upwardly extending, pliable and deformable side walls disposed in nominal upright orientation with top margins;
- (b) a top tool assembly, comprising a camming structure for deforming the top margins of the tray side walls outwardly relative to the trays to initiate the formation of a sealing flange, the camming structure having a plurality of planar camming surfaces;
- and
- (c) the camming structure moveable relative to a base tool assembly to press the camming surfaces against the top margins of the tray side walls to partially deform the top margins of the side walls outwardly relative to the nominal upright orientation of the side walls;
- and
- (d) a seal profile moveable relative to the camming structure and having a flat perimeter portion to engage the top margins of the tray side walls previously partially outwardly deformed by the camming surfaces to deform the top margins of the tray side walls further outwardly relative to the orientation of the top portion of the side wall resulting from the initial deformation of the top portion of the side walls by the camming surfaces to form sealing flanges extending outwardly to form the side walls into a flat top plane.
A method for sealing a container having an open top defined by pliable, deformable nominally upwardly extending side walls, comprising:
- (a) initially pressing a planar camming surface against the top of the side walls to partially deform the top margins of the side walls into an outwardly disposed initial position relative to the nominally upward orientation of the side walls;
- (b) thereafter operating on the outwardly disposed side wall top margins with a seal profile that is movable relative to the camming surface and having a flat perimeter portion to press against and to further deform the side wall top margins further outwardly relative to the orientation of the side wall top margins resulting from the deformation of the side wall top margins by the camming surfaces thereby to form a horizontal sealing flange;
- and
- (c) applying a top cover to the formed sealing flanges of the container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.