Container with improved heat shrunk cellular sleeve

Claim 2

A heat shrinkable two layer sleeve shaped article having a major orientation circumferentially of said sleeve and adapted to be telescopically located about the sidewall of a container, and heat shrunk into snug engagement with said sidewall, said article comprising a composite structure consisting essentially of two layers, one of said layers consisting essentially of a closed cellular polyethylene layer and the other of said layers consisting essentially of a noncellular polyethylene layer in adhering contact with said cellular layer, said composite structure having been formed by blown bubble coextrusion with a blow up ratio of about 2:1 or less and having a machine direction heat shrinkage of at least 50% and a cross direction heat shrinkage of 20% or less, the heat shrinkage of said sleeve in the circumferential direction corresponding to the machine direction heat shrinkage and the heat shrinkage of said sleeve in the axial direction corresponding to the cross direction heat shrinkage, said polyethylene of said cellular and said non-cellular layer being independently selected from the group consisting of high density polyethylene, low density polyethylene, medium density polyethylene and blends thereof.

Claim 3

The article of claim 1 wherein said composite has a density of about 10 to about 40 pounds per cubic foot and a thickness of about 101/2 to about 34 mils.

Claim 4

The article of claim 2 wherein said cellular layer has a cell count of about 100,000 to about 5,000,000 cells per cubic centimeter.

Claim 5

A heat shrinkable two layer sleeved shaped article having a major orientation circumferentially of said sleeve and adapted to be telescopically located about the sidewall of a container, and heat shrunk into snug engagement with said sidewall, said article formed from a two layer composite structure, one of said layers being a closed cellular polymeric layer predominantly of polymerized moieties of an olefin selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, and butene-1 or mixtures thereof and the other of said layers being a non-cellular polymeric layer predominantly of polymerized moieties of an olefin selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, and butene-1 or mixtures thereof in adhering contact with said cellular layer, said structure having been formed by coextrusion and having a heat shrinkage of at least 50% in the machine direction of coextrusion and 20% or less in the cross direction the machine direction of coextrusion corresponding to the circumferential direction of said sleeve and the cross direction of coextrusion corresponding to the axial direction of said sleeve.

Claim 6

A heat shrinkable two layer sleeved shaped article having a major orientation circumferentially of said sleeve and adapted to be telescopically located about the sidewall of a container, and heat shrunk into snug engagement with said sidewall, said article formed from a two layer composite structure, one of said layers being a closed cellular polymeric layer predominantly of polymerized moieties of an olefin selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, and butene-1 or mixtures thereof and the other of said layers being a non-cellular polymeric layer predominantly of polymerized moieties of an olefin selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, and butene-1 or mixtures thereof in adhering contact with said cellular layer, said structure having been formed by coextrusion and having a heat shrinkage of at least 50% in the machine direction of coextrusion and 20% or less in the cross direction the machine direction of coextrusion corresponding to the circumferential direction of said sleeve and the cross direction of coextrusion corresponding to the axial direction of said sleeve.

Claim 7

The article of claim 4 wherein said composite structure has a density of about 10 to about 40 pounds per cubic ft. and a thickness of about 101/2 to about 34 mils, said closed cellular polymeric layer and said non-cellular polymeric layer respectively and independently consist essentially of at least about 60% by weight of ethylene, propylene, or butene-1 moieties and less than about 40% by weight of polymerized moieties of a member selected from the group consisting of vinyl esters of saturated carboxylic acids, alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids and alkyl esters of alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids.

Claim 8

The article of claim 4 wherein said cellular layer is disposed internally of said non-cellular layer and said non-cellular layer carries a decoration.

Claim 9

A heat shrinkable composite sleeve shaped structure having a major orientation circumferentially of said sleeve and adapted to be telescopically located about the sidewall of a container, and heat shrunk into snug engagement with said sidewall, said article having an axial heat sealed overlapped seam and consisting essentially of an inwardly exposed closed cellular layer predominantly of polymerized olefin moieties selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, butene-1 and mixtures thereof and a non-cellular layer predominantly of polymerized olefin moieties selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, butene-1 and mixtures thereof in adhering contact with said cellular layer, said cellular layer and non-cellular layer respectively and independently having at least about 60% by weight of polymerized moieties of said olefin and, less than about 40% by weight of polymerized moieties of a vinyl ester of a saturated carboxylic acid or an alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid or an alkyl ester of an alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid, said structure having a shrinkage of at least 50% in the circumferential direction of said sleeve and about 20% or less in the axial direction.

Claim 10

A heat shrinkable composite sleeve shaped structure having a major orientation circumferentially of said sleeve and adapted to be telescopically located about the sidewall of a container, and heat shrunk into snug engagement with said sidewall, said article having an axial heat sealed overlapped seam and consisting essentially of an inwardly exposed closed cellular layer predominantly of polymerized olefin moieties selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, butene-1 and mixtures thereof and a non-cellular layer predominantly of polymerized olefin moieties selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, butene-1 and mixtures thereof in adhering contact with said cellular layer, said cellular layer and non-cellular layer respectively and independently having at least about 60% by weight of polymerized moieties of said olefin and, less than about 40% by weight of polymerized moieties of a vinyl ester of a saturated carboxylic acid or an alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid or an alkyl ester of an alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid, said structure having a shrinkage of at least 50% in the circumferential direction of said sleeve and about 20% or less in the axial direction.

Claim 11

The sleeve of claim 7 wherein said cellular layer consists essentially of polyethylene, and wherein said non-cellular layer consists essentially of polyethylene.

Claim 12

The sleeve shaped article of claim 1 wherein said cellular layer is inwardly exposed and wherein said non-cellular layer carries a decoration.

Claim 13

The article of claim 7 wherein said structure is formed by blown bubble coextrusion with a blow up ratio of 2:1 or less.

Claim 14

The sleeve of claim 7 wherein at least one of said layers consists essentially of polypropylene.

Claim 15

The sleeve of claim 7 wherein at least one of said layers consists essentially of ethylene and vinyl ester moieties with at least about 85% by weight being ethylene moieties and less than about 15% by weight being vinyl ester moieties.

Claim 16

The sleeve of claim 12 wherein said vinyl ester is vinyl acetate and the other of said layers consists essentially of polyethylene.

Claim 17

The sleeve of claim 13 wherein said layer is an admixture of polyethylene and a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate, the vinyl acetate moiety of said admixture being less than about 10%.

Claim 18

The sleeve of claim 7 wherein at least one of said layers consists essentially of ethylene and alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid moieties with at least about 65% by weight being ethylene moieties and less than about 35% by weight being alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid moieties.

Claim 19

The sleeve of claim 15 wherein said ethylene moiety is at least about 80% and said alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid moiety is less than about 20%.

Claim 20

The sleeve of claim 7 wherein at least one of said layers consists essentially of polymerized moieties of ethylene and polymerized moieties of an alkyl ester of an alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid with at least about 75% by weight being ethylene moieties and less than about 25% being moieties of an alkyl ester of an alphabeta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid.

Claim 21

The sleeve of claim 17 wherein alkyl ester is ethyl acrylate.

Claim 22

The composite of claim 18 wherein said ethylene moiety is at least about 80% and said ethyl acrylate moiety is less than about 20%.

Claim 23

The composite of claim 7 wherein said non-cellular layer carries a decoration.

Claim 24

A process comprising providing a sheet of a heat shrinkage composite consisting essentially of a closed cellular polymeric layer and a non-cellular polymeric layer adhered to said cellular layer, said composite having a major orientation circumferentially of said sleeve and adapted to be telescopically located about the sidewall of a container, and heat shrunk into snug engagement with said sidewall, said composite being formed by blown bubble coextrusion with a blow up ratio of 2:1 or less and having a machine direction heat shrinkage of at least 50% and cross direction heat shrinkage of about 20% or less, forming said sheet into a sleeve shaped article with the closed cellular layer being inwardly exposed and the heat shrinkage of said sleeve in the circumferential direction corresponding to said machine direction and the heat shrinkage in the axial direction corresponding to said cross direction, said closed cellular layer and said non-cellular layer respectively and independently consisting essentially of at least about 60% by weight of polymerized moieties of ethylene, propylene, or butene-1 or mixtures thereof and less than about 40% by weight of polymerized moieties of a vinyl ester of a saturated carboxylic acid, or an alkyl ester of an alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid or an alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid or mixtures thereof.

Claim 25

A process comprising providing a sheet of a heat shrinkage composite consisting essentially of a closed cellular polymeric layer and a non-cellular polymeric layer adhered to said cellular layer, said composite having a major orientation circumferentially of said sleeve and adapted to be telescopically located about the sidewall of a container, and heat shrunk into snug engagement with said sidewall, said composite being formed by blown bubble coextrusion with a blow up ratio of 2:1 or less and having a machine direction heat shrinkage of at least 50% and cross direction heat shrinkage of about 20% or less, forming said sheet into a sleeve shaped article with the closed cellular layer being inwardly exposed and the heat shrinkage of said sleeve in the circumferential direction corresponding to said machine direction and the heat shrinkage in the axial direction corresponding to said cross direction, said closed cellular layer and said non-cellular layer respectively and independently consisting essentially of at least about 60% by weight of polymerized moieties of ethylene, propylene, or butene-1 or mixtures thereof and less than about 40% by weight of polymerized moieties of a vinyl ester of a saturated carboxylic acid, or an alkyl ester of an alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid or an alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid or mixtures thereof.

Claim 26

The process of claim 21 wherein cellular layer and said non-cellular layer independently consist essentially of polyethylene.