Packaged roast and ground coffee

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9637287-B2
Application number	US-201213438971-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2012
Priority date	Jan 16, 2009
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

A packaged roast and ground coffee product comprising a lightweight, thin-walled reclosable container comprising a moisture barrier and an oxygen barrier, and a quantity of roast and ground coffee disposed within the container. The container comprises a finish having a top surface and one or more snap beads positioned below the top surface. A sealing member may be sealed to the top surface and may include a one-way valve permitting venting of CO 2 resulting from off-gassing of the roast and ground coffee while preventing ingress of air. A removable overcap comprising a top wall and a depending skirt may be affixed to the finish. The skirt may include an inner surface with at least one locking member dimensioned to engage the snap beads in an interference fit. The packaged roast and ground coffee is preferably capable of withstanding stacking loads and loads associated with decreased interior pressure.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Packaged roast and ground coffee comprising:
a plurality of lightweight, thin-walled, mass produced, extrusion blow molded wide mouth containers made of laminated plastic material comprising a moisture barrier and an oxygen barrier;
a quantity of roast and ground coffee disposed within each said container;
each said container having a blow molded container body, the container body comprising a straight wall finish that includes a top surface having a radial dimension that is between 0.045 in. to 0.1 in. and is substantially equal to a thickness of a container wall at an upper end of the container, the straight wall finish defining a wide mouth opening with a diameter of at least 4 in., and a plurality of snap bead segments circumferentially spaced from one another;
each container having a sealing member sealed to said top surface, said sealing member having a one-way valve permitting venting of CO 2 resulting from off-gassing of said roast and ground coffee while preventing ingress of air;
each container having a removable overcap comprising a top wall and a depending skirt, said skirt having an inner surface with at least one locking member dimensioned to engage one or more of said snap bead segments so that said locking member and said snap bead segments are interengageable between locked and unlocked positions, said overcap being initially removable by application of a cap removal force of between 1.5 lbs. and 10 lbs., wherein a standard deviation of the required initial cap removal force is no more than 1.7 among the plurality of lightweight, thin-walled mass produced containers;
said packaged roast and ground coffee being capable of withstanding stacking loads as well as loads associated with decreased interior pressure without permitting ingress of air;
said finish being susceptible to radially inward displacement in response to pressure within said container being maintained below external pressure, the magnitude of said radially inward displacement being a function of pressure differential and location on said finish;
said radially inward displacement being greatest at said top surface, and decreasing as a function of distance below said top surface;
said snap bead segments being spaced below said top surface by a predetermined distance sufficient to avoid radially inward displacement of said snap bead segments that would permit removal of said overcap by application of opening force without audible and tactile indications of interengagement or disengagement of said locking member and said snap bead segments when a pressure differential of 4 psi results in inward deformation of said top surface,
wherein the straight wall finish does not have a flange at its top surface,
wherein said container body has an average wall thickness that increases from the bottom to the top so that sufficient resistance to buckling is provided in upper regions of the container body that have less support and buckling resistance provided by said coffee,
wherein a cross-section of at least one portion of the container body below the straight wall finish has a non-circular shape and forms a handle from the laminated plastic material, and
wherein said straight wall finish and the container body are blow-molded from the same laminated plastic material.

2. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 1 wherein said top wall of said removable overcap comprises an inner surface having a vent structure overlying said top surface of said finish.

3. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 2 wherein said overcap is removable by application of a cap removal force of between 1 lbs. and 9 lbs., after removal of said sealing member.

4. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 1 wherein said top surface has a chamfered outer edge.

5. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 4 wherein the seal by which said sealing member is sealed to said top surface is capable of maintaining seal integrity when said sealing member is subjected to a pressure differential resulting in a force of up to 135 pounds of pressure.

6. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 5 wherein said container has an internal volume of at least 119 oz. and has an empty weight of no more than 6.7 oz.

7. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 5 wherein said container has an internal volume of at least 97 oz. and has an empty weight of no more than 5.1 oz.

8. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 5 wherein said container is capable of withstanding stacking loads of at least 190 lbs.

9. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 8 wherein the sealing member extends radially outward beyond said top surface and downward along the finish within the overcap skirt and has a lower edge disposed above said snap bead segments.

10. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 1 having a sealing member removal force of between 2 to 8 lbs.

11. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 1 wherein the top surface is a flat, smooth sealing surface.

12. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 1 wherein the top surface has a planarity measurement that does not exceed 0.020 inches around any 0.5 inch circumferential length of the top surface.

13. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 1 wherein the top surface has a planarity measurement that does not exceed 0.015 inches around any 1.0 inch circumferential length of the top surface or wherein the top surface has a planarity measurement that does not exceed 0.012 inches around any 1.5 inches circumferential length of the top surface.

14. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 1 wherein the predetermined distance of said snap bead segments are spaced below said top surface at least 1/16 inches and no more than ⅝ inches.

15. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 1 wherein the radial dimension is between 0.060 inches to 0.090 inches.

16. The packaged roast and ground coffee of claim 15 wherein said plurality of containers comprise 42 containers on a pallet.

17. Packaged roast and ground coffee comprising:
a plurality of lightweight, thin-walled, mass produced, extrusion blow-molded wide mouth containers made of laminated plastic material comprising a moisture barrier and an oxygen barrier, each of said containers having an internal volume of at least 97 oz. and an empty weight of no more than 5.1 oz. and having an opening with a diameter of at least 4 in.;
a quantity of roast and ground coffee disposed within each said container;
each said container having a blow molded container body, the container body comprising a straight wall finish that includes a smooth top surface having a radial dimension that is between 0.045 in. to 0.1 in. and is substantially equal to a thickness of a container wall at an upper end of the container, and a plurality of snap bead segments circumferentially spaced from one another, said smooth top surface having a planarity measurement that does not exceed 0.020 inches around any 0.5 inch circumferential length of the top surface;
each container having a sealing member comprising a peelable film membrane sealed to said top surface, said sealing member having a one-way valve permitting venting of CO 2 resulting from off-gassing of said roast and ground coffee while preventing ingress of air, said sealing member being capable of maintaining seal integrity when said sealing member is subjected to a pressure differential of 4 psi resulting in a force of up to 135 pounds, and having a removal force of between 2 to 8 lbs.;
each container having a removable overcap comprising a

Assignees

• Sagy Arthur A
• De Cleir Piaras Valdis
• Kraft Foods Group Brands Llc

Inventors

• Sagy Arthur A
• De Cleir Piaras Valdis

Classifications

• B65D2543/00527

  NO contact · CPC title

• B65D51/20 Primary

  Caps, lids, or covers co-operating with an inner closure arranged to be opened by piercing, cutting, or tearing {(B65D51/185 takes precedence; co-operating with an auxiliary container for additional articles or materials B65D51/28)} · CPC title

• B65D2543/00092

  circular · CPC title

• B65D2205/00

  Venting means · CPC title

• B65D43/0212

  only on the outside, or a part turned to the outside, of the mouth (B65D43/0206 takes precedence) · CPC title