US 6,182,850 B2Granted

Closure membranes

AssigneeAlusuisse Technology & Management Ltd.

InventorsClaude A. Marbler, Jean-Paul Boudinet

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Abstract

Closure membrane for containers having an outer film and inner film with a joining layer and a sealing seam zone between these two films. At least one space free of a bonding layer is provided within the sealing seam zone between the outer film and the inner film and, within the limits of this non-bonded space, the outer film and the inner film each feature at least one opening, and a reservoir of material that softens under the influence of heat is provided in the non-bonded space between the outer film and the inner film. The openings in the inner film and the openings in the outer film are connected to enable the passage of a fluid such as a gas from the interior of the container to the surrounding atmosphere. On application of heat to the closure membrane e.g. during a sterilization process, the openings in the inner film and the outer film are closed off as a result of softening of the material that softens under the influence of heat.

Claims14

Dependent claims

Closure membrane (11) for containers (10), comprising an outer film (16) and an inner film (15) and a joining layer (17) between both films (15, 16) and a sealing seam zone (13), at least one nonbonded space (21) free of a bonding layer is provided within the sealing seam zone (13) between the outer film (16) and the inner film (15), and within this non-bonded space (21) the outer film (16) features at least one opening (20), and the inner film (15) features at least one opening (19), and a reservoir of material (18) that softens under the influence of heat is provided in the non-bonded space (21) between the outer film (16) and the inner film (15), whereby the at least one opening (19) in the inner film (15) and the at least one opening (20) in the outer film (16) are connected to permit through-flow of a fluid (23), and the at least one opening (19) and the at least one opening (20) are closed by application of heat to the closure membrane (11) as a result of softening of the material (18) that softens on application of heat.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.