Container lid with removable seal layer

Abstract

A lid includes a cover surface. A wall depends from the surface. A membrane has an uppermost surface and a bottommost surface and a first layer. The uppermost surface of the membrane is affixed to the cover surface and the bottommost layer is adapted to be affixed to a container. The strength of the bond with which the bottommost layer affixes to a container is greater than the strength of the bond by which the uppermost layer is affixed to the cover surface.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This Application is a utility application and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional application 60 / 575,582 filed on May 28, 2004.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention is directed to a lid for a plastic container, and more particularly, to a lid providing a detachable container within the lid. [0003] It is a common expedient to provide food, drugs, chemicals and other perishable or ingestible items in plastic containers for sale. The containers are covered with lids which either snap on the top of the container to close the container, or are fused to the container and are removed by breaking the seal by a tear away tab or the like. [0004] What is known in the prior art is that consumers require that the contents of the container be protected against tampering and spoilage. It is known that oxygen and humidity are the primary spoilers of foods and other products contained within the container. For example, in dairy products o...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] A lid is shaped to be received on and enclose a container in a fitting relationship. A membrane made of one or more layers is affixed to the interior of the lid. The uppermost surface of the membrane comes in contact with the lid and is detachably affixed to the lid. The bottommost surface of the membrane becomes attached to the container when the lid is placed on the container to close the container. The force affixing the bottommost surface to the container is greater than the force affixing the uppermost surface to the lid. Therefore, when the lid is removed for use, at least one layer of the membrane detaches from the lid and remains affixed to the container until broken or removed by the user.

[0011] In one embodiment of the invention, the layer is a film, which can be either an oxygen barrier, an oxygen scavenger, a tamper evidence structure, a label, or a suppor...

Problems solved by technology

For example, in dairy products oxygen destroys the good bacteria in dairy resulting in accelerated degradation of the food's properties.

The container lids, either when originally in place or when reapplied, do not provide a sufficient oxygen barrier to prevent rapid spoilage.

Furthermore, because the plastic lids are thick and often have design on them, it is not readily apparent whether or not the lid has been tampered with.

As a result, printing or decorations on the seal become distorted, making them unusable.

This two-step process has been satisfactory, but it suffers from the shortcomings that it in fact requires two steps to produce: (1) the placing of the foil onto the container and (2) the placing of the cap over the foil.

This results in a significant increase in the time required to seal containers for shipment.

This requires an excessive amount of space for warehousing and provides a bottleneck at the packaging line.

However, without the plastic cap, there is no structural integrity to the top layer of the container.

Because there is no structural integrity, the containers cannot be stacked one upon the other.

Therefore, although space and time efficiencies are accomplished at the packaging plant, as a result of the inability to stack, this container requires more space to transport the goods, to store the goods and requires more and special packaging to hold the containers in facing relationship as is known from individual Jell-O dessert or pudding containers.

Additionally, the film only containers are susceptible to breakage and leakage when stacked.

However, these devices either (1) separate through shearing forces, and therefore are only applicable for twist caps, (2) are made of a conglomerate of materials, such as metal, plastics, and paper, and therefore, are not recyclable and are wasteful, or (3) do not provide a sufficient surface to allow the integrity for stacking one container upon another.

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