Process for forming an insulated container having artwork

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9694962-B2
Application number	US-201514718836-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 21, 2015
Priority date	Jun 17, 2011
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

A container is formed to include and interior region and a mouth opening into the interior region. The container includes a floor, a side wall coupled to the floor to define the interior region between the floor and the side wall, and artwork on the side wall.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A blank of polymeric material used to form a body of a cup, the blank comprising
an upper band formed to include a curved top edge and
a lower band formed to include a left-end edge, a right-end edge, and a curved bottom edge arranged to extend between the left-end and right-end edges, wherein the lower band is appended to the upper band along a curved fold line to locate the curved fold line between the curved top and bottom edges, the lower band is formed to include a series of high-density staves of a first density and low-density staves of a relatively lower second density, each stave is arranged to extend from the curved bottom edge of the lower band toward the curved fold line, and the high-density and low-density staves are arranged to lie in an alternating sequence extending from about the left-end edge of the lower band to the right-end edge of the lower band to cause density to alternate from stave to stave along a length of the lower band.

2. The blank of claim 1 , wherein the lower band has a first side and an opposite second side, each low-density stave has a first face on the first side of the lower band, a second face on the opposite second side of the lower band, and a first thickness defined by a distance between the first and second faces of the low-density stave, and each high-density stave has a first face on the first side of the lower band, a second face on the second side of the lower band, and a second thickness defined by a distance between the first and second faces of the high-density stave, and the second thickness is less than the first thickness.

3. The blank of claim 2 , wherein the polymeric material is an insulative cellular non-aromatic polymeric material.

4. The blank of claim 1 , wherein each high-density stave has a narrow width and each low-density stave has a relatively wider wide width.

5. The blank of claim 4 , wherein the lower band includes a border section extending from the left-end edge to the right-end edge and lying between the curved fold line and an upper end of each of the high-density and low-density staves.

6. The blank of claim 4 , wherein the polymeric material is an insulative cellular non-aromatic polymeric material.

7. The blank of claim 4 , wherein a connecting web is defined by polymeric material extending along and on either side of the curved fold line and the connecting web has a third density that is lower than the first density.

8. The blank of claim 7 , wherein the third density of the connecting web is about equal to the second density of the low-density staves.

9. The blank of claim 4 , wherein a connecting web is defined by polymeric material extending along and on either side of the curved fold line and the connecting web has a third density that is higher than the second density.

10. The blank of claim 9 , wherein the third density of the connecting web is about equal to the first density of the high-density staves.

11. The blank of claim 8 , wherein each low-density stave has a first thickness, each high-density stave has a relatively thinner second thickness, and the connecting web has a third thickness that is about equal to the relatively thinner second thickness.

12. The blank of claim 7 , wherein the polymeric material is an insulative cellular non-aromatic polymeric material.

13. The blank of claim 1 , wherein the upper band includes a left-end edge arranged to extend from the curved fold line to a first end of the curved top edge and a right-end edge arranged to extend from the curved fold line to an opposite second end of the curved top edge, the upper band includes a top strip arranged to extend along the curved top edge from the left-end edge of the upper band to the right-end edge of the upper band, a bottom strip arranged to extend along the curved fold line from the left-end edge of the upper band to the right-end edge of the upper band, and a middle strip arranged to lie between and interconnect the top and bottom strips and extend from the left-end edge of the upper band to the right-end edge of the upper band, the top strip is configured to be moved relative to the middle strip during a blank conversion process to form a circular rolled brim, the middle strip is configured to be wrapped about a central vertical axis during the blank conversion process to provide a sleeve-shaped side wall coupled to the circular rolled brim, and the bottom strip of the upper band and the lower band cooperate to form a floor mount configured to provide means for receiving a portion of a floor during a cup formation process to cause the floor and the sleeve-shaped side wall to cooperate to form an interior region in response to folding movement of the lower band along the curved fold line while wrapping the upper band around a vertical central axis to establish an annular shape of the lower band to provide a ring-shaped floor-retaining flange and to establish an annular shape of the bottom strip of the upper band to provide a ring-shaped web-support ring surrounding the ring-shaped floor-retaining flange to provide an annular floor-receiving pocket therebetween.

14. The blank of claim 13 , wherein the lower band has a first side and an opposite second side, each low-density stave has a first face on the first side of the lower band, a second face on the opposite second side of the lower band, and a first thickness defined by a distance between the first and second faces of the low-density stave, and each high-density stave has a first face on the first side of the lower band, a second face on the second side of the lower band, and a second thickness defined by a distance between the first and second faces of the high-density stave, and the second thickness is less than the first thickness.

15. The blank of claim 14 , wherein the first face is formed to include a depression along the length of a high-density stave and between opposing edges of neighboring low-density staves and the depression is arranged to open in a direction away from the ring-shaped web support ring defined by the bottom strip of the upper band and arranged to surround high-density and low-density staves included in the floor-retaining flange defined by the lower band.

16. The blank of claim 15 , wherein the polymeric material is an insulative cellular non-aromatic polymeric material.

17. The blank of claim 14 , wherein the first face is formed to include a depression along the length of a high-density stave and between opposing edges of neighboring low-density staves and the depression is arranged to open in a direction toward the ring-shaped web support ring defined by the bottom strip of the upper band and arranged to surround high-density and low-density staves included in the floor-retaining flange defined by the lower band.

18. The blank of claim 17 , wherein the polymeric material is an insulative cellular non-aromatic polymeric material.

19. The blank of claim 14 , wherein a connecting web is defined by polymeric material extending along and on either side of the curved fold line and the connecting web has a third density that is lower than the first density and wherein the connecting web is appended to the web-support ring and to the floor-retaining flange.

20. The blank of claim 9 , wherein the polymeric material is an insulative cellular non-aromatic polymeric material.

Assignees

• Berry Plastics Corp

Inventors

• Euler John B
• Paladino Jason J
• Leser Chris K

Classifications

• B32B37/14

  characterised by the properties of the layers · CPC title

• B65D2203/00

  Decoration means, markings, information elements, contents indicators · CPC title

• B31B2105/00

  Rigid or semi-rigid containers made by assembling separate sheets, blanks or webs · CPC title

• B29L2031/7132

  Bowls, Cups, Glasses · CPC title

• B29C44/569

  Shaping and joining components with different densities or hardness · CPC title