US2778739A - Package for beverage infusion material - Google Patents

Description

Jan, 22, 1957 J. .1. RODTH 2,773,739

PACKAGE FOR BEVERAGE INFUSION MATERIAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 16. 1954 INVENTOR. Jase 0k Jfiad/k AT TORN E Y5.

Jan. 22, 1957 J. J. RODTH PACKAGE FOR BEVERAGE INFUSION MATERIAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 16, 1954 INVENTOR. (Yoga 9% Jfiodf/z fiMaW/JZ ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 2,778,739 PACKAGE FOR BEVERAGE INFUSION MATERIAL Joseph J. Rodth, Swansea, Mass, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Sealpak Corporation, a corporation of New York Application July 16, 1954, Serial No. 443,789 Claims. cl. 99-171 This invention relates to improvements in an infuser or food pellet and an apparatus for use to extract useful qualifies therefrom by infusion.

Infusers for individual portions of food material such as tea or coffee are well known in the art. Frequently such food materials are put up in bags and like packages and commonly referred to as tea bags, coifee bags or cartridges. When it is required that such packages be sealed in order to prevent the escape of volatile material and preserve the aroma and flavor of the contents (such as ground coffee), the sealing medium may take the form of a separate closure which is removed prior to using the package or such sealing medium may be a gelatinous A material which dissolves in the extracting liquid.

An object of the invention is to improve upon the usual sealing medium of the prior art.

Another object of the invention is to provide a package that may be stored indefinitely.

Another object is to provide a package of the above character so constructed as to provide for the use of afragile material for the body thereof and to support at least one of the walls thereof in a manner to permit the piercing thereof without collapsing of the package. 7

Another object of the invention is to provide a unit which may be used for machine handling.

Another object is to provide a package of the above Patented Jan. 22, 1957 ice Figure 5 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale through a piece of laminated foil material employed in forming certain elements of the pellet;

Figure 6 is a central sectional view through an apparatus for extracting by infusion the foodstuff contained in the pellet shown in Figure l; and

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 7-7 of Figure 6.

Referring to Figures 1-5, 10 designates generally an in fuser or pellet of a food material which will be soluble in some liquid as for example ground coffee in a state: suitable for extraction by hot water infusion. The in-- fuser or pellet 10 comprises a cup-like body 11 which is shown as being circular but may be made in various appropriate shapes as desired. The body 11 has abottom wall 12 which extends in a flat plane and anannular side wall 13 united to thebottom wall 12 extends therefrom on an outward taper and has anannular flange 14 which projects outwardly at the upper edge thereof substantially parallel to thebottom wall 12. The body 11 may be made by a usual drawing operation from suitable sheet stock of any suitable material compatible with the particular nature of the food material to be contained therein and to be able to withstand without collapsing or deterioration the temperature of the extracting liquid such as hot or boiling water and the pressure at which it may be required to pass said water through the pellet. Such material must also be of a nature to be readily formed in a practical manner in the aluminium foil which is known in the art as laminated character so constructed as to provide for rigidity at the location of sealing between the package and the apparatus employed for extracting a solution from the contents of the. package.

Another object is to provide a package of the above character which will enable a quicker extraction of a solution from the package.

Another object is to provide a package of the above character so constructed as to be particularly adapted to be formed in an automatic manner.

Another object is to provide a package of the above character which may be manufactured at a competitive cost.

A more specific object is to provide a package of the above character so constructed as to permit the use of a metallic foil for the walls of the body of the package.

Another object'is to provide an apparatus for extracting a solution from the above package.

vWith these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as wil1 be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the coifee, of the pellet.

in the ground coffee is maintained fresh until used. The

foil (see Figure 5) is suitable for making the above described body 11. The core of the material is ametallic foil 15 both side surfaces of which have been coated with a thermoplastic material '16 as for example polyethylene. Thethermoplastic coating 16 adds rigidity to the foil and is such as to withstand the temperature of boiling water without unduly softening thereof or imparting a foreign taste to the food contents of the pellet. This coating also provides for sealing the package.

A metal disk or rigid member 17 (see Figures 2 and 3) has a shallowannular recess 13 in a base portion thereof which extends inwardly from the lower side thereof and a portion shaped as a hollow f'rustro-conicalhublike projection 19 which rises centrally from thewall 20 of the recess. Thewall 20 of therecess 18 andside wall 21 of theprojection 19 are perforated withopenings 22, 23, respectively. Themember 17 is received within the cup body 11 and its outer margin rests flat against the bottom thereof. Asheet 24 of a filter material as for example muslin, although various filters may be used, may be positioned over themember 17 to an extent to cover saidopenings 22 and 23. A filter, however, is not necessary in many instances. Aclosure 25 which is made of the same material as that of the body 11 is placed or stretched across the body 11 and engages theflange 14 and thehub 19 thereof. Thethermoplastic material 15 of theflange 14 and of theclosure 25 are welded to each other under heat and pressure to hermetically seal the groundfood material contents 26, such as for example Thus, apellet 19 is provided wherepellet or infuser 10 hereinabove described is particularly adapted for use in combination'with the apparatus shown in Figure 6.

The apparatus comprises a housing designated generally 27 which is composed of lower and upper telescopicallyrelated sections 28 and 29. Thesection 23 has acircular base 30 from which there depends a centrally disposed boss-like projection 31 having arecess 32 therein, which boss is turned inwardly at the lower end as at 33 and forms anannular shoulder 34. An annular groove extends inwardly from the upper side of base '36 and receives an O-ring seal 35' therein. Theupper section 29 is of an inverted cup-like formation having a depending annular wall 36in which there is formed an innerannular groove 37 to receive a packing ring orseal 37. A plurality of piercing fingers '38 project downwardly from theupper Wall 39 ofsection 29 for a purpose to hereinafter appear. The lower marginal edge of thewall 36 telescopes over the peripheral flange orwall 40 of thebase 30 with theseal ring 37"sealing1y engaging thesaid base 30 at the peripheral edge portion thereof. Thesections 28 and 29 are detacha'bly held in assembled relation by frictional engagement of thewalls 36 and 40 and form therebetween an'infusionchamber 41.

Theupper section 29 has a vertically extendingccn tral boss 42 which has abore 43 opening intochamber 41. The inner end portion of thebore 53 is reduced as at 44 and forms astop shoulder 45. Aplunger 46 is slidably received in thebore 43 and is reduced at the inner end portion thereof to project through the reduced bore portion 44. Theplunger 46 has aguide bore 47 extending inwardly from the upper end thereof in which is received acompression spring 48, one end of which abuts against the bottom wall ofbore 47 and the other end of which abuts against the bottom wall ofbore 43 and applies a resilient bias on theplunger 46 in a direction tending to move the same intosaid chamber 41. Aflexile conduit 49 leads from a suitable supply source (not shown) of water at boiling temperature under pressure above atmosphere tochamber 41.

Thehousing 27 is slidably mounted on avertical post 50 which has acentral bore 51 therethrough which is enlarged at the upper end portion as at 52 to frictionally receive and hold apiercing member 53 which has abody 54 of a cross formation as seen in Figure 7. The post is mounted on a horizontally extendingsupport 55 which engages aneck portion 56 on the post. Theboss 31 of section 28 slidably engages thepost 50, and an' O-ring 57 is positioned between adjacent wall portions of the post and boss to block'leakage therebetween. A compression spring 58 encircles theboss 31, one end of which abuts against thesupport 55 and the other end of which abuts against thebase 30 to apply a bias on said housing in a direction tending to move the same upwardly on the saidpost 50.

In the operation of the apparatus hereinabove described, theupper section 29 is removed from lower section 28 by lifting the same therefrom, and an infuser or pellet it) is inserted and centered on thebase 30. This will position theopenings 22 of the pellet inwardly of the seal 35' and the marginal edge of therigid member 17 opposite the seal 35. The plunger46 under bias ofspring 48 will have been moved outwardly of bore 47 to the extent ofshoulder 45. With the pellet 10 in proper position thesection 29 is inserted on the lower section. Theplunger 46 will engage the central portion ofrigid member 17 and apply a pressure'thereon to engage the pellet against the seal 35. Further movement of section 29in the same direction will carryfingers 38 throughwall 25 of the pellet or infuser and engage seal 37' with the edge of thebase 30, thus sealingchamber 41 at seal 37' and sealing the pellet at seal 35 whereby fluid introduced intochamber 41 will be blocked from passing out of chamber-41 other than will pass through the pellet. The piercingmember 53 is normally at a position for the head 53' thereof to be beneath theupper edge ofbase 30. Upon a downward pressure applied on thehousing to move the same on thepost 50 against bias of spring 58, thewall 12 of thepellet 19 will be moved against the piercing 'head 53' andbe ruptured thereby as seen at 12' in Figure 6 to provide an outlet opening from the pellet. Upon the release of the downward force applied on the housing, the bias of spring 58 will move the housing upwardly to free the pellet of the piercingmember 53.

The supply of liquid such as boiling water under pressure above atmosphere may now'be turned on through a suitable control ,(notshown). The water will flow into chamber .41 and pass .throughopeningsdtl made in thewall 25 byfingers 38 and pass out of pellet throughopening 22, 23 in therigid member 17 and thence intorecess 18 and out through opening 12 past piercingmember 53 to bore 51 which forms a passageway for the elfusion liquid and beneath which a receptacle such as a cup may be positioned to receive the solution extracted from the pellet 10.

I claim:

1. A hermetically sealed package comprising a container having spaced walls made .of relatively thin frangible material, a perforated relatively rigid member ,between said walls having a baseportion engaging one wall and a central projection extending therefrom into engagement with the other wall tohold the Walls in spaced relation and beverage infusion material between said walls about said central projection.

2. A hermetically sealed package as set forth in claim 1 wherein the said walls are made of a metallic foil.

3. A package as in claim 1 wherein the base of said rigid member is a disk with openings therethrough.

4. A hermetically sealed package of liquid soluble food material to be extracted by infusion comprising a gen erally cup-shaped body having an annular flange at the upper edge of the side Wall thereof, a closure for said body extending across the opening of said cup and engaging the said flange and welded thereto, a metal disk within said cup engaging the bottom wall of said cup and having an apertured central raised portion extending into engagement with saidclosure, said disk being apertured adjacent said central portion for the passage of the effu sion solution fromsaid package, beverage infusion material in said cup andabout said central raised portion.

5. A hermetically sealed package of liquid soluble food material to be extracted .by infusion comprising a generally cup-shaped body having an annular flange at the upper edge of the side wall thereof, a closure for said body extending across the opening of said cup and engaging the said flange and welded thereto, a metal disk within said cup engaging the bottom wall of said cup and having an aperturedcentral raised portion extending into engagement withsaid closure, saiddisk being apertured adjacent said central portion for the passageof the elfusion solution from said package, and a sheet of flter material covering 'the.openings in said disk, beverage infusion material in said cup and about said central raised portion. j

ReferencesCited in'the fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS France Sept.

Claims (1)

1. 4. A HERMETICALLY SEALED PACKAGE OF LIQUID SOLUBLE FOOD MATERIAL TO BE EXTRACTED BY INFUSION COMPRISING A GENERALLY CUP-SHAPED BODY HAVING AN ANNULAR FLANGE AT THE UPPER EDGE OF THE SIDE WALL THEREOF, A CLOSURE FOR SAID BODY EXTENDING ACROSS THE OPENING OF SAID CUP AND ENGAGING THE SAID FLANGE AND WELDED THERETO, A METAL DISK WITHIN SAID CUP ENGAGING THE BOTTOM WALL OF SAID CUP AND

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