Label ledge for injection molded containers

Abstract

A container having a label ledge elevated from the base of the container for receiving label is disclosed. When formed in mold, the ledge protects the leading edge of the label from the flow of resin through the cavity walls of the mold. Because the label leading edge is protected, the resin flows over the label and pins the label to the cavity wall of the mold, creating a container with the label formed on the container wall. A container lid with side walls defining a skirting is also disclosed. The lid includes a ledge to facilitate label placement on the skirting.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 327,499, filed Dec. 20, 2002, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 342,730, filed Dec. 21, 2001, the entireties of which are hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates generally to an improved label for food and drink containers made using an injection molding process. Specifically, this invention relates to a label ledge which supports a label that is applied to the product packaging during the injection molding process which results in a stronger, more attractive container than those made using in mold labeling. [0003] Many plastic products are made using either injection or blow mold technology. Products that are made by injection molding are typically made using either a low melt resin or a high melt resin. When a lightweight or thin walled container is desired, it is generally more ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013] It is an object of an exemplary form of the present invention to provide an in mold label that can be used in in mold labeling injection molding processes and prevents or minimizes label displacement during resin flow through the mold.

Problems solved by technology

Labels that are glued or otherwise applied to the container after manufacturing often peel or wash off.

This is undesirable in a product subjected to repeated squeezing, such as drinking cups and container tops.

Moreover, when these containers are subjected to extreme temperatures, such as when they contain ice cream, the extreme temperatures often cause a full fracture to develop along the latent fracture line.

However, using the low melt resin increases the cost of each container because of the increased processing time.

In addition, the resulting containers are often heavier or have thicker walls than necessary for the product that the container is designed to hold.

Some manufacturers use high melt resin for the bulk of their products, but must also keep low melt resin available to produce in mold labeled products which cannot be made out of high melt resin, solely because the of the latent fractures created by the traditional in mold labels.

Often the injection molding process drags ink from the edge cuts of the in mold label into the resin used to form the container, causing undesirable streaks in the resulting container.

Although the resulting ink streaks are harmless, they are commercially unacceptable.

As a result, a portion of each batch of containers must be discarded because their appearance is unacceptable.

This streaking occurs when both low melt and high melt resin are used, and cannot be overcome by selection of an appropriate resin type.

Problems arise when the corners or radiused portions of the container are adjacent the area where the in mold label is to be placed.

The flow of resin displaces the label away from the cavity wall and flows around both sides of the label, causing scrap.

This leads to the wasting of large amounts of molding material, which correlate to increased manufacturing costs.

Furthermore, the labels are not currently placed on elevated planes of containers.

However, the attempts to place labels on the container lids encounter the same challenges as seen with the labels placed around the container body: The lids have corners or radiused portions adjacent the area where the in mold label is to be placed.

Thus, a need exists for a label that can be applied during the injection molding process that does not permit displacement of a label during the flow of resin through the mold.

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