Packaged beverages and packaging therefor
US5660867A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 20, 1995 |
| Grant date | Aug 26, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 20, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB65D85/73
- WIPO fieldHandling
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
Devices are described for fitting into pressurized individually packaged beverages (typically canned beers, ales and stouts), by which gas at high pressure is stored within the package for jetting into the beverage as the package is opened to atmosphere. One embodiment comprises a length of tube (10) having a gas jetting orifice (14) which in use is submerged below the beverage in a pressurized can having a gaseous headspace, which can be used to charge the tube with gas during the passage of the filled can (16) along a conventional canning line, on which the can is inverted after filling which brings the orifice into the gaseous headspace. A more preferred design of device comprises a molded plastics capsule (34; 50;78) secured near the bottom of a can (20, 88) with an internal, preferably central, pipe (56; 62; 80) to provide a liquid seal to prevent loss of gas when the can is inverted from the upright position, and an airlock when the can is upright, to prevent beverage which has entered the capsule from leaving it when the can is opened to atmosphere. A further design of capsule (96) having a central internal pipe (98) and adapted to be pressurized solely by the ingress of bev…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.