Packaging Trends

---

Packaging trends A. H. WARTH, Crown Cork & Seal Company, Baltimore, Md.

and size of the container or of its component parts, (c) the type of equipment required and its availability, (4 the stability and appearance of the product necessary to receive consumer acceptance, (e) the proofness of the package against poisonous gases when shipped to an area of combat, (f) the speed of filling and the amount of labor involved in packaging, (8) the cost in relation to the price ceiling already established for the material packaged.

0 0 0 Packaging containers may be classified under four main headings: cellulose, metal, glass, and plastic resin. The closure for a package is often made of a material from a group entirely unlike that of the body of a container-for example, a metal closure for a glass jar, or metal ends for a paper canister. The packaging trends are now primarily influenced by the relative availability of the materials. The packaging trend with respect to Conservation Orders of WPB is discussed. Illustrations are given in the transfer of foods, medicinals, and chemicals from one type of container to another, with attending advantages or disadvantages. The lightening of the weight of metal used in containers and caps is discussed, together with reference to size and shape of containers. The manufacture of electrotin plate is illustrated.

Shortages The packaging trend within the past year has been almost entirely influenced by either Conservation Ordera of the War Production Board or their contemplation through known shortages of materials needed for the armed forces. Aluminum was one of the first materials to be replaced. For example, aluminum and other metal barrels were used by brewers in delivering beer to taprooms where the beer was

I

N PACKAGING we may classify containers

under four headings when they are considered from the standpoint of material construction of the body of the container, or the wrap of the package. These groups are cellulose, metal, glass, and plastic resin. Each one of these groups will have four or more important divisions, and many minor subdivisions. For example, cellulose would include wood, cardboard, paper, and fiber. Metal would include tin plate, terne plate, steel plate, Bonderized plate, zinc, and galvanized sheet. Glass would include bottle glass, opal glass, stoneware, and porcelain. Plastic resin would include Bakelite, ureaformaldehyde, lignin, and polyvinyl acetals. The closure for a package is often made of a material from a group entirely unlike that of the body of a container-for example, a metal closure for a glass jar or metal ends for a paper canister. Keeping the above classification in mind, it will be evident that hundreds of combinations and substitutions are possible simply through interchange of the component parts of a container, without even taking into account any of the many subdivisions. It is just this fact that is now influencing the packaging trends during the present emergency. The packaging trends are, of course, primarily influenced by the relative availability of the materials used in construction of containers. However, other extremely important considerations enter into the picture of the present trend in packaging: (a) the nature of the end product to reach the consumer, (b) the weight

Looking Down the Top of the Tin-plating Tank The strip enters, then passes over and under rolls spaced about 12 feet apart vertically. This tank is made up of sixteen passes, or thirty-twovertical strands, between each of which is a one-ton anode. Each top roll carries power. 43

dispensed by the high-pressure system to the consumer, The metal barrel ia being replaced by white oak properly reinforced. The latter has been named the “high-pressure victory barrel” by the Bhtz Company of Nilwaukee ( I ) . A large tonnage of aluminum foil had been used to face the composition cork disks in bottle caps sold for sealing malt beverages. Almost a million pounds of aluminum foil. were so used by the bottle cap manufacturers. This foil has been replaced by varnish-coated paper spot materials. Foils were extensively used in wrapping chocolate buds and bars and wrapping cheese. They have been largely replaced by Glassine or other cellulosic wraps. The use of bot,h tin and aluminum are being discontinued in the packaging of cigarets, although the paper substitutes have not proved entirely satisfactory. The foils are needed, in the writers opinion, to protect chocolate bars, cheese, and cigarets from extreme climatic conditions as {Tell as from Tar gases. For years cork has served a number of purposes in which it is not easily displaced. Cork is used t o make long stoppers fur bot,tles, I n composited form it provides an inexpensive elastic cushion and essential lining for bottle caps (crowr? corks) used in sealing liquids with high gaseous pressure such as ginger ale. A milling grade provides a, water- and oiltight gasket for motor engines; and a %ewer quality or grinding grade is used in making insulation board for refrigeration and other purposes. Cork is hasveited largely in Bpain, but as a noncontraband material is emported to the Gnited States from Portugal. Long stoppers are disappearing from prescription ware in favor of plastic closures, and cork in bottle closures other than crown corks has been almost entirely replaced by cardboard faced with suitable plastic material g., notably plasticized vinyl resin calendered on paper-. Vinylite. An example of B bottle cap liner which is being offered for many cold packed prQduCtR which were formerry sealed with metal foil, rubber hydrochloride, etc., is the plastic wax liner. A plastic wax liner is a white pulpboard heavily coated with B high-melting nonsaponifiable plastic wax. Rubber is not considered for these purposes because of its present shortage.

Conservation of metals The shortage of tin arising a t the beginning of I942 caused the manufacturers of cans and glass bottle closures to exert. every effort to reduce the amount, of tin used in these industries to e minimum and to eliminate it entirely when and wherever possible. For a year previous to any WPB order, a large volume of bottle caps was being converted from dipped tin plate t o electrotin plate, thereby saving a t least half the amount of tin. The electrolytic tin process in use was developed at the Crown Cork & Seal Company; it is essentially different from a process previously developed in Germany. However, the electrolytic tin closure has now been converted to a tinless closure for the sealing of nonalcoholic and malt beverages, and this is nom enforced by WPB ruling. The closures for nonpresaure ware are being gradually converted from tinned to tinless steel. The interior of B can is directly exposed to the liquid contents, whereas with a closure such as B crown cork the metal does not need to contact the liquid. Cans that must be sterilized at a high temperature after packing still present a knotty problem that has defied any commercial conversion from tinned or tinless steel. The broader use of electrolytic plate for vegetable cans or can ends is being fostered by WPB’s Division of Industry Operations. The electrolytic tin plate carries 0 5 pound of tin per base box (6). Tin is being elinhated t o some extent from side seam solders in favor of silver solders made from lead alloyed with a littie silver, about 2.5 per cent (8), A tremendous amount. of pressure has been brought to

bear upon the maniifscturer of containers to conserve steeL Cans use from thirty l o fifty times nruch steel and tin for liquids as do glass cmtainera, and from six t o thirteen times as much for solids. It) has been eatimated thw,t, in 1941, 3,375,000 tans of steel went into cam, whereas 260,OBiB tons of steel wbre used to seal glass containers. ApproxixllateIg IO billion giass ~ontainerswere produced 4ts conrpared with 26 bii%ionCBnS ( 8 ) The glass COlledher illdbastry 6s reported a 23 IdliO.il gross Crtp&Git’JiaVai!able for COBiSBIPWj,tical materials now used in packaging. Much thought is being given by the conservationists to the comparative amount of steel, tin, and rubber in cams and that in the glass container closures. A base box of steel. plate will yield 265 cans of a quart capacity each, The same amount of steel will! however, yield 14,400 closures fur quart-size glass containers. Motor oils and some other CQIIUnoditiescan be packed in glass and thus save much steel. Transfer from steel to glass CGXItainers is not so advisable vvhere the closures for the glass require 8.s critical a material as rubber. 90,000 tons of steel were used in 3-54!. for packing tomato juice and cocktail, It has been siuggest,ed t o pack tt portion of this in gltiss 11-vith a G ~ Q I Vcork ~ closure and axwid the use of rubber otherwise needed in gaskets for P O ~ Etypes of bottle closixes, For shipment overseas, glass ha,s the serious drawback of danger of breakage, and the Wa,r Department prefers metal. Xetal cans War Department, as being safe warfare gases, FOPcivilian nee to glass. ~

hanges in the trend Gignificant changes in the trend are apparent daily; e. g., a popuiar brand of molasses is IIQW packed in glass with a tear-off metal and cork cap instead of a can; spices in cardboard cylinders with metal. ends instead of all tins plate canisters, slOOdle S O U P mixes in Cardboard and CellQPhane9r h very thin metal foil covered cardboard cartons; a popular brand of baked beans formerly in tin is now in glass; some baby foods are now in glass instead of tin. Frozen egg liquid is nom being packed in a cellophane-line6 paperboard carton instead of the customary tin ea3 of 30pound capacity. The new container with its leak-proof d l < > p h a n ebag inside i s a rectangular fiberboard box. Its chief advantages are that the frozen eggs may be slipped out in a block and readily melted, it is less costly than the tin s space in car because of its rectmiguiar can, and it m ~ e much shape. The current estimate of 1942 dutput of eggs is 360 million pounds, A little less than 3 billion eggs will be delivered either frozen or dried to bakers, candy ~nakers, restaurants, etc., and t o our allies on the Lease-Lend program ( 4 ) ~Each 30-pound can takes 2 pounds of steel, and hence at least a large portion of an estimated 10,000 tons of steel is saved, En the cosmetic field ITPB regulation bans the use of tin plate d ~ s u r e sfor ointment jars. No new metal can be secured to make more of them (7‘). Therc bad been a, t m d e n c y So go from a glass t o a plastic container, but scarcity af plastics has reversed the trend. Glass containers with glass closures are receiving serious consideration, The Technical Research %Cthn of the Containers Branch of WPB i~4 reported t o be drawing up exact specifications for drug containers, avoiding the use of metab as far as possible. Items considered are those for tooth powder, tooth paste, aspirin, iaxative lozenges, etc., in which 35, 00 tons of wteel BPB annually used, according t o Deputy Chief Charles L. Sheldon ( 3 ) ~The familiar cobalt; blue g i a s container used for many s out, since cobalt was placed on the critical list. replaced by flint glass for the duration of the war,

January, 1943

INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY

Paint is now being packed in quart paper cans. The top and bottom are alloy metal disks, but the body is made entirely of cardboard impregnated with an insoluble substance ( 2 ) . It bears the label “War Emergency ContainerHandle with Care”. Paint also goes into glass, such a conversion being recently made by the Glidden Company of Cleveland. (6). Collapsible tubes used 3300 tons of tin in 1939. Although the collapsible tube business has increased enormously since then, the tonnage of tin used this year will be far less than in 1939. Collapsible tubes of alumnum have disappeared from the market. The collapsible tube of tin has been largely replaced by tin-lead alloy tubes or tin-coated lead tubes, thus saving about 70 per cent tin. For certain hygienic preparations pure tin is still considered essential. However, it should be possible to develop a collapsible tube of a leadsilver alloy containing up to 3 per cent silver that would offer the chemical resistance of tin, and to plate this on the inside with a silver-indium alloy. Indium has, however, no official approval as to nontoxicity. Plastic collapsible tubes have been invented but still require perfection. Containers are being designed to permit economical utilization of transportation facilities. A new method of “clip” packing has been designed by an RCA engineer in the packing of spare radio tubes so that they can be made to fit into spaces designed by the builders of planes, tanks, and other fighting equipment (IO). I n production a clip

45

other five dehydrated vegetables. This choice involves fiber drum with kraft asphalt barrier board lining properly sealed, 5-gallon lacquered black metal can with lever lock or friction top, laminated-paper-base sealed bags enclosed in weatherproof solid fiber box, a folding carton with a specially constructed heat-sealing moistureproof inner liner and a highly waterproofed outside wrapper (11 ) . The specifications for packaging dehydrated vegetables have been recently replaced by a special lead foil package, according to information received from the Office of the Quartermaster General, 17Tar Department, Washington. (Tentative Specification for Beets Dehydrated, C. Q. D. No. 72 -4, September 4, 1942, supersedes C. Q. D. No. 72, July 18, 1942.) This specification can be applied to white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and rutabagas, inasmuch as the packaging of these items will be identical to that for dehydrated beets, according to official information. The packaging, labeling, packing, and marking for shipment are covered by Section G of C. &. D. Specification 72 A. Section G-1 states that the dehydrated product shall be packaged in a laminated sealed bag constructed of films. These films are, briefly: 1. Two sheets of Glassine laminated with a permanently plastic laminating agent.

2. One sheet of a thin moisture-vapor-re5istan.t heat-sealing cellophane Isminctted to Glassine or to sulfite paper by means of a permwnently plastic laminating agent. 3. Two sheets of the thin heat-sealing ~ldbphanelaminated together in same manner descrabed under film 2. (Presumably B mtlterial auch 8s MBAT cellophane would have these proper-

ties.)

The bag may be of Bat or gusset style or may be mechanically formed. It is sealed by application of hea,t or moisturevapor-resistant adhesive. Mter filling, the bags are closed either by heat sealing or by taping down in the prescribed manner, Section G-2 describes the outRide bag or envelope. This envelope consists essentially of a dense kraft paper iarninated with asphalt to a composition lead foil, then Iamiaiated on the foil side to a sheet of moistureproof anchored, coated, regenerated cellulose (cellophane) f i l m ? by meam of a thermoplastic coaling on the film, that provides w face t o face heat-sealed seam of sde ate strength. Section G-3 describes a solid fiber carton approximately 5-ga%loncapacity. The bag is placed in an envelope, the envelope in a carton, and two cartons in a solid wooden boxl secrirely fastened by the strap iron or wire bands. The complete pctclwge dis~ will ~ be a packed t e in ~ places 1.32 cubic feet. ~ e ~ ~foods the manner described above for overseas shipment. ehydrated apple nuggets, anions, cabbage, carrots, tomato juice cocktail and cranberries are still being tentatively packed in cans; the apple nuggets and onion^ En 5-gallan square cans or round steel cans, or in 363-pound frozen egg or

fruit cans; the c f e h y ~ r ~ ~cabbage ed and carrots in siar3ilar em@,in which sir has been replaced by 8nitrogexl. or 9:m;ron dioxide gam; dehydrated torneeto juice cocktail in No, 1.0 e&nB,3pounds l'0 the can; ciehydrated cranberries, powdered, in %-pound mmitavy cam. The specifications on sll of these i t e m i s flexible MO B~Bto permit the consideration DP use of prohtiiiely coated sjteei plate instead of tin pEate. . The packaging trends during the preaen-t m e r none too well deEnecW for B year at least, and &re a t the moment being greatly influenced by Conservation Qrders of the WPB. T h e trends will perhaps be less well defined. in packaging for civilian^ h n for Lease-Lend or the armed forces because of the great difficulty thclt container SXM,~IUfseturers wilil experikace in securing priorities sinfficientIy high for materials that have been c o ~ i m d used y in @hepast. The problems of packaging for dornestic cvnsilrnptiora &Ewa ~ o ~ s ~ d ~from r a bthose ~ y in ~ a for overseas ~ shipxnent. ~ ~~~~~~~~~~

a

~

cited

(1) Bates, A. s., Am. Brewsr, 75, No. 1,19 (1942). (2) Chem. dr~dus&ries, 51, 103 (19421). (3) e)ruo T m d e NevJa, 17, 1\90. 12, 1 (19&$. (4)Pocd MaCel.iala, 2, No. 1,4 (1942). ( 6 ) Glass Packer, P I , 423 (19429, (6) Betbbard, D, M., @amnP,r,95, No. 3 , 20 (1942), ( 3 ) Xtallie, P.E. van, DWQ T m d s Newe, 17, No. 32,29 (1942) (8) 'Tanssen, F., Qlaak Pceekar. 21, 368 (1942). (9) Lusok, R.R., Food ImctU8tTi@ri, 14,No. 8,57-63 (XQ42). (10)Ship&g ~ ~ 7 , No. 8 , %&lI ~ (1942).~ ~ (1I9 wefit5rn canasr 6% Rae.ker, 34, No. '9, 32 (1942:

w.

~

1

de: of carcass beef. Best results are sbtaine of dehydration equipment, incl have been used. Factors affecting the rate of drying axe discussed.

MALL quantities of dehydrated beef were produced during the first World War and subsequently for several arctic expeditions. Recently, because of the meed to conserve shipping space, renewed interest has d ~ e l ~ p e in c fthe dehydration of large amounts of meat for overseas shipment. Early in February, 1942, officials 012 the United States Department of Agriculture indicated that the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation would like to purchase considerable quantities of dehydrated meat for Lend-Lease purposes. The meat packing industry was requested t o develop methods for the dehydration of meat. On February PO, the Committee on Scientific Research of the American Meat Institute held a meeting to discuss the problem of dehydration of meat. Et was agreed that members of the committee would seek to

carry out studies in their respective laboratories, and that the committee would ~ e e subsequently t snd e x c h a ~informa~~ tion. Intensive studies of methods 0% meat dehydration were carried out by the research ~ a b o r ~ ~ oofr B number of meat tory of the American Meat ~ ~ t ~ t uand t e the , United Skates Department of A g i culture. On the basis of these studies methods have been worked out which will produce s a t ~ s ~ a c ~ oand ry a c ~ e p ~ a b ~ ~ purpose of dehydrated meat is threefold: p r o d ~ c t ~ The . T o conserve shipping space, to conserve tin and other s t r a t e ~ j ~ metals if possible, and to furnish a meat product which can be stored safely without refrigeration under varying ~ o n d ~ t ~ ~ ~ of temperature and humidity and for prolonged periods.