General Mills, Inc.

John P Rebhorn

John D Culter

Wade J Groetsch

H Eugene Hite, Jr

David V Harmann

Arne H Brauner

Stephen P Belko

Gary S Bachand

Bernd Hansen

Pamela A Hodulik

A portable, single-use container for separately containing a first and second consumable products. The container includes a first compartment and a second compartment. The first compartment tapers at an upper portion thereof to form a spout. The spout facilitates dispensing of a contained first consumable product from the first compartment. The second compartment, in turn, tapers at an upper portion thereof to form a mouth. The mouth facilitates dispensing of a second consumable product from the second compartment. The first and second compartments are assembled to one another in a side-by-side fashion such that the spout abuts the mouth. With this configuration, during use, a first consumable product and a second consumable product can be dispensed from the container in close proximity to one another for convenient consumption. In one preferred embodiment, the first compartment contains a volume of milk and the second compartment contains a quantity of cereal.

Portable, side-by-side compartment container and method for separately storing and dispensing two consumable products, especially cereal and milk

A container (10) especially adapted for wedge shaped food products is disclosed including a transparent, thermoformed tray (11) receiving a paperboard product card (32) and sealed by a transparent closure layer (15). The tray (11) includes an isosceles trapezoid shaped bottom (16) and a sidewall (18) formed by a first, isosceles trapezoid shaped end (20), sides (24, 26) extending at an angle between an annular flange (12) and the bottom (16) from their upper edges to their lower edges and from their first end edges to their second end edges, a second trapezoid shaped end (22), and a triangular shaped corner panel (28). The product card (32) includes a bottom portion (34) of a size and shape for abutting with the bottom (16) of the tray (11) and end and side portions (36, 40) integrally connected to the bottom portion (34) about fold lines (38, 42) for abutting with the first end (20) and first side (24) of the tray (11). Printing on the outer surfaces of the product card (32) can be viewed through the bottom (16) and first end (20) and side (24) of the tray (11) while the interior of the tray (11) can be viewed through the second end (22) and side (26) and the corner panel (28) of the tray (11).

Refrigerated food product container

A closure (10) is shown including a U-shaped handle (27) integrally connected to a cap (22) in turn integrally connected to the end wall (18) of a bottle (12) to seal the opening (20) formed therein. The handle (27) includes a lever element (28) in the preferred form of a hollow body (30) integrally connected to the cap (22) by a web (32) and for providing leverage in twisting the cap (22) off the end wall (18). First and second wings (36) are integrally connected to the lever element (28) for increasing the size of closure (10) to be larger than a small part. In the preferred form, each of the wings (36) includes a solid trailing portion (44) and a hollow tube (38) in fluid communication with the hollow body (30). The trailing portions (44) are compression molded by the mold halves (54) utilized to blow mold the bottle (12). The hollow tubes (38) are compression molded and thermoformed in the mold halves (56) forming the end wall (18), the cap (22), and the lever element (28).

Flexible bottle having an improved, integral closure

Bottle closure

Growing community of inventors

Maple Grove, MN, United States of America

John P Rebhorn