A DISPOSABLE OR ONE USE LIQUID OR PASTE INSERTION DISPENSER
Technical field
The present invention relates to a disposable or one use insertion dispenser.
It is known to use disposable or one-use containers for the purpose of applying condiments such as sauce and jam, to a food prior to consumption. Examples of these include small plastic containers covered and sealed by a flexible plastic sheet, which hermetically seals to the container around its edge. In use the sheet is peeled back so that the sauce can be poured on to the food.
Background Art
When eating baked savory pastries such as pies, pasties and sausage rolls it is common practice to apply tomato sauce in particular through the pastry prior to consumption. A significant problem with this is that the sauce is typically poured onto the top of the pastry, such that when a person attempts to pick it up to eat it, the sauce can spill, making a mess and generally causing inconvenience for the consumer.
Some multi-use sauce bottles incorporate a tapered nozzle through which the sauce is dispensed; this nozzle can be used to pierce through the pastry of a pie or pasty or sausage roll, to inject the sauce through the pastry inside of the pastry. The sauce then is inside of the pie or pasty where it cannot spill as easily.
The problem with this is that this nozzle is reused, as remnants of the sauce or the food to which the sauce is being applied remain in the nozzle, degrading over time, potentially creating a health hazard. Also flies are known to be attracted to such exposed contaminated surfaces It would be better if there could be disposable containers which are able to be used in a one off application, and which would nonetheless be able to be kept aseptic prior to use for instance, in insertion of the material into food.
Disposable packages containing liquid condiment are known but, typically, these have not been made such that they are adapted to be used to insert the liquid condiment into the food, where the surfaces of the packaging that will in that instance, engage with the food, can be effectively, efficiently and economically kept sterile, or otherwise out of easy human touch contact immediately prior to such insertion.
The problem to which this invention is then directed relates to this difficulty of keeping materials that will be adapted for use to insert liquid condiment into a food item separate from external contamination until readied for use for insertion of the condiment into the food item.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, embodiments of the present invention are disclosed.
Disclosure of the Invention
In one form this can be said to reside in a one use liquid or paste insertion dispenser comprising a chamber for holding a liquid or paste having a shape defined by being between respective facing surfaces of two sheets of pliable and/or resilient material, each of the sheets sealably joined to the other around a circumference of the chamber, the chamber including an elongate outwardly extending projecting portion, and there being at least one aperture in at least a one of the sheets or between the sheets which at least one aperture is located at or toward an outermost end of the projecting portion, and a contamination protecting cover member which also covers and seals, in a way which allows for it to be subsequently manually removable, the aperture or apertures in a one of the sheets or between the sheets against release of contents from the chamber and also seals against external contamination, in a way which allows for it to be subsequently manually removable, respective upper and lower outer surfaces of each of the sheets at least at and toward the outer end of the projecting portion.
In a further form of this invention there is proposed a disposable condiment dispenser having a chamber defined between the facing surfaces of two sheets containing liquid condiment, and having at one end of the chamber a projecting portion incorporating at least one aperture for extrusion of the condiment there through, and at least one cover sheet which is shaped, positioned and adhesively attached to an outer surface of respective sides of the chamber so that all the outer surfaces of at least the projecting portion of the dispenser are covered, and upon a separation of the cover sheet from such adhesive attachment adapted such that this will both open said aperture or apertures and expose such otherwise covered and sterile surfaces of the projection portion and cover any not thus exposed projection portion area with an underneath side of said cover sheet.
Preferably, the chamber is defined by two sheets of plastics material, the first of which is planar and sealably attached to a further sheet, which has a cavity form.
Preferably, the chamber is elongated and is made from a plastics material, which at least for some of the plastics material allows for it to be depressed by a person so as to effect the manual extrusion of the liquid condiment.
Preferably, the cover sheet is adhesively attached so that the cover sheet can be pulled away from the respective plastics materials to expose the previously covered and protected outer surface of these, as well as at least one aperture from the chamber.
Preferably, the packaging is arranged so that the outer surfaces of the package which is to say at least upper and lower outer surfaces are able to be kept in an as originally established extent of being sterile.
Preferably, at least one of the plastics materials is a clear plastic such that the contents within the container can be externally seen.
Preferably, the cover is such that it will not of itself, when it is in a covering position, obscure an ability for a user to see the contents of the dispenser.
This in fact can be achieved for instance, by having the cover of a transparent or translucent material itself or, in another instance, having an opaque material that only such that it will not cover at least a portion of the container through which the contents of the container can be viewed. In preference, the dispenser has an elongated chamber having on one side, a planar plastics material having at one end an aperture there through, and a further plastics material having a cavity shape of elongate proportions and a nozzle shape at its end welded around its edges to the said first plastics material sheet such that the cavity shape and the projecting end shape will coincide, so that apart from the aperture in the first sheet, the container is thereby closed, and there is then a cover sheet which both covers to protect for sterility purposes the outside surfaces of the container at least around its projection end and also with removal, is adapted to thereby unseal previously contained liquid condiment within the container, and where the material of the container is such that it can be deformed to an extent to effect ejection of the liquid condiment through said aperture.
In the mass production of such dispensers, it has been found beneficial that each of the sheets that are to be used in assembling a dispenser continue in a same direction past appropriate stations for forming and joining the respective sheets.
It has been found to be beneficial to in fact have two cover sheets, a first which is on a one side and a second of which is on an opposite side of the dispenser and where both sheets are caused to be joined together forward of a projecting portion.
The effect of this is that a supply of strip to form the respective cover sheets assembly can then be separately drawn for a top cover and a lower cover and there is no need then to try to have a single sheet in the sense of this being an integral material covering both sides and therefore having to be, in a production situation, changed during manufacture in direction to adhering to an underneath side.
The cover sheet in its composite form would then have a forward join either adhesive in the sense of an additional chemical adhesion material, or adhering because of a melted adhesion so that it is thermally fused and the cover sheet being pulled away, this forward most join will be sufficiently strong to allow a continuation of the pulling away against an adhesive or welding surface in relation to the two inner sheets holding the liquid condiment.
It is considered that such an improvement lies within the original conceptual scope although the improvement does allow for a better or more economic continuity of manufacture.
It is acknowledged that condiment dispensers of the type being discussed are more useful if the economy of their manufacture is improved.
By having two sheets together making up a "cover sheet" means that in manufacture, all sheets can be fed and handled in a more economical manner at least for the type of machines currently available for this similar manufacturing technique.
Brief Description of the Drawings
For a better understanding of this invention it will now be described with respect to the preferred embodiment which shall be described herein with the assistance of drawings wherein;
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the disposable or one use liquid insertion condiment dispenser according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing it with its cover sheet removed; and
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view through the dispenser in Figure 1 , showing it with its cover sheet in place;
Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view through the dispenser in Figure 1 , showing it with its cover sheet partially removed;
Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view through the dispenser in Figure 1 , showing it with its cover sheet completely removed;
Figure 5 is a top plan view of the dispenser in Figure 1 , showing it with its cover sheet in place;
Figure 6 is bottom plan view of the dispenser in Figure 1 , showing it with its cover sheet in place;
Figure 7 is a bottom plan view of the dispenser in Figure 1 , showing it with its cover sheet completely removed; and
Figure 8 is a perspective view of the dispenser according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention illustrating it in use, inserted into a pie.
Fig 9 is a perspective view of a dispenser according to a further embodiment, Fig 10 is a perspective view of a still further embodiment, Figs 11 and 12 illustrate step by step the formation of the further embodiment as shown in Fig 9, and
Figs 13 and 14 show the steps to achieve the still further embodiment as shown in Fig 10.
Best Mode for Carrying out the Invention
Now referring to the illustrations, and in particular to Figure 1 , there is a disposable which is to say adapted to be used only once and then being thrown away liquid and paste condiment dispenser 1 , the dispenser being formed from two sheets of plastic, a flat sheet 2, and a shaped sheet 4 that has a cavity formed into it. The two sheets 2, 4 are secured together around their respective edges by an adhesive (in an alternative they are joined by being heated to effect a heat seal), so that they then define a chamber 6 that holds the sauce.
The dispenser 1 , has at a first end 8 a projecting portion 10 that is symmetrical in plan view, and which tapers until it forms a point 12 at its furthermost end. The flat sheet 2 has a hole 14 through it proximate to the pointed end of the projecting portion.
The dispenser 1 , has at a second end 16 a tab 18, that it is attached to the dispenser by a frangible tear line 20. This tab is securably attached to a flexible cover sheet 22 by an adhesive (In an alternative arrangement this is a portion continuously of the sheet material). This flexible cover 22 passes along the surface of the flat plastic sheet from the second end 16 of the dispenser to the first end 8, where it then passes over and around the pointed end 12 of the protruding portion 10, so that it eventually attaches to the protruding portion 10 at a point on its other side, such that the protruding portion 10 is completely covered. This cover sheet 22 is attached in a continuous manner by an adhesive between the respective surfaces which is selected so that it will maintain adequate attachment but will allow for manual removal when required and thereby keeps the protruding portion 10 clean until such time as the dispenser 1 is used.
In use then, a user would grasp the tab 18 and break it away from the body of dispenser 1. Then the user would pull the tab from the second end 16 of the dispenser 1 toward the first end 8, such that the tab18 would bring with it the cover sheet 22. Once the cover sheet has been completely pulled from the flat sheet 2, it will expose the hole or aperture 14 in the top sheet 2; continuing to pull the tab 18 away from the body of the dispenser will eventually remove it completely, leaving the protruding portion completely exposed.
(In an alternative the tab can be at a lower side and then be pulled so that it results in the tear away being from the lower side around to the upper side.)
Once exposed the protruding portion 10 can be pushed through the pastry of pie 24 or the like until the hole 14 is no longer visible. If the user then squeezes the two plastic sheets 2 and 4 that define the chamber 6 together, the sauce or other condiment eg mustard will be forced through the hole 14 and into the pie 24. In an alternative, this sauce insertion process is carried out with the shaped plastic sheet 6 facing upwards, and the hole 14 facing downwards.
Now referring in detail to the drawings and particularly to the further embodiment as illustrated in Figs 9 and 11 and 12, the construction of the one use insertion dispenser in this case includes two sheets of material 30 and 31 which together form top and bottom layers of a dispenser holding liquid 32 to be dispensed.
The top layer 30 includes an aperture 33 and the lower sheet which is formed to provide a cavity shape which is welded around the sides to the top sheet 30 and includes an elongate and narrowing nozzle portion which is thereby a projecting portion 34. A length of the nozzle portion is chosen to be sufficient for the nozzle to sufficiently project into a food item such as a pasty, sausage roll or a pie and so that the sides of the nozzle have been kept clean of external contaminant. The extent to which the cover should cover the projecting portion can be selected but would extend at least from an outermost end and past the aperture 33. If there is chosen in a further embodiment to be a further aperture then the cover should extend to cover and thereby seal all of the apertures.
There is now in accordance with this dispenser shape, a cover sheet assembly 35 which includes a top sheet 36 and a bottom sheet 37.
The top sheet 36 and the bottom sheet 37 are at first brought together at a forward location of the dispenser at 38 and in this embodiment are then simply pushed together to form an adhering joined surface as shown specifically in Fig 12. The selection of this adhesive and joining is simply to the extent that when the cover sheet assembly 35 is to be pulled off, then if the top sheet 36 is grasped first, then it will continue to tear away from the underlying dispenser and particularly the top sheet 30 and as appropriate the lower sheet 31 until at least most of the 5 nozzle shape 34 has the cover removed from its outer face.
In the alternate embodiment which is described as the still further embodiment, as in the further embodiment except as shown specifically in Fig 14, there is a forward end at 40 in which the respective upper and lower cover sheets 41 ad 42 are pressed under heat so as to be welded together.
o In both this and the earlier embodiments, can be chosen so as to provide as much covering of the nozzle shown in this case at 43 and with the further embodiment at 34.
This can therefore be slightly less in depth than the nozzle depth if the application of the dispenser would anticipate that the depth to which the nozzle might need to 5 be inserted into a further food item would only be relatively shallow.
This depth then is to be chosen for the application although conventionally this will be at least the full length of the nozzle shape so that all of the area will be continued to be covered and therefore protected for sterilisation purposes.
It is to be understood by a person skilled in the relevant art that the applications for0 this device are not strictly limited to dispensing sauce in baked savoury pastries. For instance it could be used to apply tartar sauce to fried fish, or perhaps even as a means of hygienically and safely introducing milk or sugar to coffee or tea.
Although the invention has been herein shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognised that departures can be made within the scope of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details described herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the appended claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus.