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US 4,726,480 AGranted
Fail safe ultrasonically welded container and process
AssigneeMcKesson Corporation
InventorRichard J. Hagan
Life of this patent
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AssigneeMcKesson Corporation
InventorRichard J. Hagan
Estimating the term…
A package (10) includes a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) container (12) having a necked opening (14). A PET insert (18) is fixedly attached to an inside surface (30) of the necked opening (14) by a plurality of tack welds (34). The tack welds (34) are formed within recesses (44) that extend completely through the wall of the necked opening (14) and into the insert (18). The insert (18) makes a substantially line contact (32) with the inside surface (30) of the necked opening (14). The substantially line contact (32) extends continuously around the inside surface (30) of the necked opening (14) to form a fluid tight seal between the inside surface (30) of the necked opening (14) and the insert (18). To make the package (10), the insert (18) is driven into the necked opening (14). The tack welds (34) are formed between the necked opening (14) and the insert (18) by application of ultrasonic energy at the necked opening (14) below the line contact (32), allowing tips (42) of ultrasonic transducers (36) to penetrate completely through the wall of the necked opening (14) and into the insert (18). The tack welds (34) fixedly attach the insert (18) to the necked opening (14). If the insert (18) and necked opening (14) structure is damaged, such as by dropping the package (10), failure occurs at the ultrasonic welds (34) allowing harmless venting of the pressure inside the package (10).
A package comprising a thermoplastic, ultrasonically weldable resin container having a necked opening and a thermoplastic, ultrasonically weldable resin insert fixedly attached to an inside surface of said necked opening by a plurality of tack welds, each of said plurality of tack welds being formed at a recess extending completely through a wall of said necked opening and into said resin insert, each tack weld forming a hermetic seal around its recess between said necked opening and said insert, said insert making at least one substantially line contact with the inside surface of said necked opening, said at least one substantially line contact extending continuously around the inside surface of said necked opening to form at least one fluid tight seal between the inside surface of said necked opening and said insert.
A process for making a package, which comprises providing a thermoplastic, ultrasonically weldable resin container having a necked opening and a thermoplastic, ultrasonically weldable resin insert having a portion of greater cross sectional dimension than a remainder of the insert, the portion of greater cross sectional dimension being sized to form an interference fit in the necked opening, driving the insert into the necked opening, penetrating completely through the necked opening and into the insert with an ultrasonic transducer to form a plurality of recesses extending completely through a wall of the necked opening into the insert, and forming a plurality of tack welds between the necked opening and the insert around the plurality of recesses to form a hermetic seal around each of the recesses, fixedly to attach the insert to the necked opening, by application of ultrasonic energy at the necked opening below the portion of greater cross sectional dimension of the insert.
A process for making a package, which comprises providing a thermoplastic, ultrasonically weldable resin container having a necked opening and a thermoplastic, ultrasonically weldable resin insert, the insert being sized to form an interference fit in the necked opening, driving the insert into the necked opening to establish a substantially line contact extending around an inside surface of the necked opening to form a hermetic seal between the inside surface of the necked opening and the insert, penetrating completely through the necked opening and into the insert with an ultrasonic transducer to form a plurality of recesses extending completely through a wall of the necked opening into the insert, and forming a plurality of tack welds between the necked opening and the insert around the plurality of recesses to form a hermetic seal around each of the recesses, fixedly to attach the insert to the necked opening, by application of ultrasonic energy at the necked opening below the substantially line contact.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.