In/or relating to bottles

The present invention relates to containers for solid or semi-solid products and in particular to plastic containers for holding and allowing freezing of juice products.

In particular markets there is a desire to purchase and take home frozen juice for later personal use. The product is supplied in a container in its frozen state and is retained in the frozen state until the juice is required. Typically the juice is of a concentrated form to be later diluted to the strength desired.

The typical process is that the end user would part defrost the frozen juice to remove the desired amount or would squeeze the container to extract the amount of frozen juice required.

Existing products, for example the ‘Minute Maid’ 12 oz Frozen Orange Juice container, have typically been made of paper with a plastic or foil lining having a tear off seal top and a re-closable lid. However, these containers have a number of disadvantages. When the container is crushed to remove the amount of juice required it is not easily returned to its pre-crushed shape. This can lead to inefficient resealing of the container and degradation of the product. Furthermore the container of these forms is not easily recyclable. It is also often difficult to crush the required amount of frozen juice out of the container. Further, a user cannot see the amount of product left in the container without at least opening the container.

In this specification where reference has been made to patent specifications, other external documents, or other sources of information, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the invention. Unless specifically stated otherwise, reference to such external documents is not to be construed as an admission that such documents, or such sources of information, in any jurisdiction, are prior art, or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a container that at least goes some way to overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art or at least that will provide the public with a useful choice.

In a first aspect the present invention consist in a container for the storing and dispensing of an at least part-frozen product, comprising or including,

a container upper portion including an outlet spout defining an outlet aperture to receive a complimentary closure,

a container base portion, and

a crushable container body portion disposed from said container upper portion to said container base portion,

said container upper portion, said container base portion and said container body portion being substantially axially aligned to a container axis; and said container body portion having lines of weakness that define a plurality of facets aligned parallel to the container axis between said container upper portion and container base portion,

wherein at or adjacent the boundary of said container body portion and said container upper portion there is provided at least one waist region (“first waist region”) of said container body portion, said container upper portion or both, that in use provides reinforcement to prevent, in the event of crushing along said lines of weakness, deformation of said container upper portion.

Preferably at or adjacent the boundary of said container body portion and said container base portion there is provided a second waist region of said container body portion, said container base portion or both that in use provides reinforcement to prevent, in the event of crushing along said lines of weakness, deformation of said container base portion.

Preferably either of both of said first and second waist region is/are an increase in dimension orthogonal to said container axis from said container body portion to said container upper portion and said container base portion.

Preferably there is a first inward circumferential groove on said container body portion disposed toward, but not on, said first waist region of said container body portion to said container upper portion to act as further reinforcement to prevent deformation of said container upper portion.

Preferably there is a second inward circumferential groove on said container body portion disposed toward, but not on, said second waist region of said container body portion to said container base portion to act as further reinforcement to prevent deformation of said container base portion.

Preferably a central axis of said first and second inward circumferential grooves is parallel to said container axis.

Preferably said lines of weakness extend above and below said first and second inward circumferential grooves respectively to define facets.

Preferably said facets above said first inward circumferential groove, and below said second inward circumferential groove are rectangular with a minor axis thereof parallel to said container axis.

Preferably said facets between said first and second inward circumferential grooves are rectangular with a major axis thereof parallel to said container axis.