Frito-Lay North America, Inc.

Eric Thomas Henderson

John Joseph Michels

Jay Edward Gehring

Joseph Paul Sagel

Garrett William Kohl

Steven Kenneth Tucker

Emanuele Teobaldo

Carl Littrell

Alistair Bramley

Nicolas Donadio

Luis Rene Gutierrez Quintanilla

David Rodrigo Lopez Soto

A dispenser for stored product such as food products includes a generally hollow housing having a cavity configured to retain product; an outlet provided at a lower portion of the housing with a proximal portion adjacent the cavity and a distal portion spaced from the proximal portion; a gate disposed between the cavity and the distal portion or disposed at the distal portion; an actuator coupled to the gate to selectively position the gate between a closed position and an open position, wherein in the closed position product disposed within the cavity cannot move to the outlet and in the open position product falls by gravity from the cavity to the outlet; and optionally an environmental control unit to control an environmental control apparatus to modulate at least one of temperature, moisture content, or oxygen content within the dispenser or an agitator assisting movement of the product to the outlet.

Bulk food dispenser with environmental control

A method is provided of forming a multi-pack container assembly having at least two containers joined together by a channel. The method includes the steps of providing sheet having a barrier layer thermoforming the sheet into a multi-pack container assembly having a plurality of containers wherein each container comprises a flange and the flanges of adjacent containers are connected by an engineered area of weakness or channel. Resultant containers can be used for low-moisture, shelf-stable, ready-to-eat food products.

Detachably connected container having barrier properties

Method for producing a detachably connected container having barrier properties

A product and method for producing a string of individual sealed, filled packages separated by perforations. A string of separate packages optionally may be enclosed in a cardboard or other container designed to sit in a pantry or other location for dispensing of individual units. Perforations in the packaging film between separate packages provide a tear point to aid in separating one package from the next. There are several advantages to this format including easy placement of the string of packages into a carton for shipping or dispensing, and the ability to hang a string of packages in locations without the need to attach the packages to a backing strip. The perforations between packages facilitate the packaging and transportation of the entire string or bandolier, and facilitate the removal and use of a separate package.

Bandolier format packaging

Food container

Food container array

Growing community of inventors

Dallas, TX, United States of America

Eric Thomas Henderson