Containers for dispensing fluids and beverages such as mustard, catsup, mixed fluids, water, wine, milk or carbonated beverages, in individual serving quantities, such as to fill glasses with beverages often cost more than the contents themselves, such as in the case of beer cans. Furthermore, the containers are difficult to store and present disposal problems. In most cases they have a single resident discharge position for dispensing and cannot be used in both horizontal and vertical positions. There has been no suitable substitute low-cost bulk package for dispensing carbonated beverages, in part, because the carbonation may be lost in storage and upon first opening of the bulk containers.
Also, other forms of bulk packaging, such as the thin plastic film storage bags placed in corrugated cardboard cartons by various packagers for dispensing wine and milk by gravity, are deficient for either commercial or household use to discharge fluids at ideal discharge rates. Furthermore, many bulk packages are tall in aspect ratio and cause storage problems for use in home refrigerators because of the limited storage space therein because of usual shelf dimensions. Not only can it be difficult to completely empty a prior art thin plastic bulk storage bag because of folds, creases and pockets but also the gravity fed package need be tall and full to produce the necessary discharge gravity weight. Thus, contents are wasted and dispensing is inconvenient, particularly since gravity dispensng force varies as contents are used. Loss of expensive liquids such as wine because of incomplete discharge is a problem.
Protection of the sanitation and purity of the contents poses serious problems. After a bulk container is opened, entry of air causes oxidation and bacterial contamination. No prior art bulk packaging is known that simply keeps air out of a bulk storage thin film container from which servings are made from time to time. Also, conventional dispensing methods create conditions such that residual carbonation retained by the beverage is lost when carbonated beverages are attempted to be dispensed from bulk storage by gravity methods.
Contamination in the prior art has not been resolved so that perishables such as milk and orange juice can be bulk stored without refrigeration. With long storage periods, other problems are posed, such as the tendency for separable constituents to settle or dissociate during storage, such as solids in orange juice. The same problems may occur in storage of paint and other fluids which have mixed ingredients.
Accordingly, it is an objective of this invention to provide improved, bulk, low-cost dispensing means and methods employing thin film flexible bags for correcting the foregoing and other prior art deficiences, including variable dispensing pressure, separation of ingredients, decarbonation, contamination and inconvenient aspect ratios.
Some attempts have been made to provide bulk dispensing containers with pressurized discharge by a collapsing elastic member providing discharge force for a bag-like container, or the like, as typified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,077,543--D. F. Kulikowski et al., Mar. 7, 1978; No. 4,121,737--C. L. Kain, Oct. 24, 1978; and No. 4,098,434--A. R. Uhlig, July 4, 1978. However, these collapsible elastic members provide varying pressure during discharge and need be packaged in expensive outer containers. Neither do these devices adapt themselves to large bulk amounts of stored materials, such as five or ten liters.
In order to get a more constant dispensing pressure over a large distance, coiled spiral constant force springs have been used to produce dispensing force, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,381,857--S. Francis, May 7, 1968; No. 3,647,117--T. S. Hargest, Mar. 7, 1972; No. 4,136,802--C. T. Mascia et al., Jan. 30, 1979; and No. 2,298,844--S. N. Hope, Oct. 13, 1942. However, as proposed in the prior art, these springs have not been effectively combined with thin plastic film containers in such a way as to provide effective and inexpensive bulk storage dispensing containers which provide solutions to the various aforesaid problems.