Air Purging Lid

Abstract

A nested set of containers sealed with a single lid. The lid contains at least one perforation, or weak section, to allow the lid to tear along the perforation at a point between the edge of the outer container and the edge of the inner container, so that removing the lid to the perforation allows for the inner container to remain sealed. The remaining seal outer container edge can then be easily removed without breaking the seal on the inner container. In one embodiment, two or more perforations may be included, each with an adjacent tab to ease removal. The invention includes a method of removing the lid in such a way that the perforation provide for ease of access to the outer container without breaching the inner container.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements comprising:
 a. an inner container comprising a first opening, a first edge within a first plane said first edge defining said first opening, a lip extending from said first edge wherein said lip parallel to said first plane;   b. an outer container comprising a second opening, and a second edge within a second plane defining said second opening, and said outer container sized large enough to allow said inner container to be nested within said outer container;
 whereby when said inner container is located within said outer container, said first plane and said second plane align; and 
   c. a flexible lid adapted to seal both inner container and said outer container along said first and second planes, said lid adhering to said first edge, said lip, and said second edge, said flexible lid further comprising:
 at least a first perforation adapted to allow tearing of said flexible lid with a lower force than the remainder of said flexible lid, said at least one perforation aligned over a first section of said lip. 
   
     
     
         2 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 1  wherein said flexible lid comprises a perimeter edge, said perimeter edge comprising at least as first tab extending from said perimeter edge. 
     
     
         3 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 2 , wherein said at least one tab is aligned along a lid plane defined by at least a portion of said flexible lid. 
     
     
         4 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 2  further comprising at least a second tab. 
     
     
         5 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 4  whereby said at least second tab is positioned directly opposite said at least first tab. 
     
     
         6 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 4  further comprising at least a third tab. 
     
     
         7 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 6  further comprising at least a fourth tab. 
     
     
         8 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 4  further comprising at least a second perforation aligned over a second portion of said lip. 
     
     
         9 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 8  wherein said at least a first perforation extend over at least 60 degrees of an arc length along said lip, and said at least a second perforation extend over at least 60 degrees of an arc length along said lip, said at least first perforation and said at least second perforation covering distinct portions of said lip. 
     
     
         10 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 4 , wherein said at least a first perforation extends at least 180 degrees of an arc length along said lip. 
     
     
         11 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 10  wherein said at least a first perforation extends at least 250 degrees of an arc length along said lip. 
     
     
         12 . The multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements of  claim 11  whereby said at least first tab is outside said at least a first perforation and said at least said second tab is positioned outside a remainder of said flexible lid, said remainder positioned in the remainder of said flexible lid that is not outside said at least a first perforation. 
     
     
         13 . A multiple chamber container system for storage of separable elements comprising:
 a. an inner container comprising a first opening, a first edge within a first plane said first edge along said first opening;   b. an outer container comprising a second opening, and a second edge within a second plane along said second opening, and said outer container sized large enough to allow said inner container to be nested within said outer container;
 whereby when said inner container is located within said outer container, said first plane and said second plane align; and 
   c. a flexible lid adapted to seal both inner container and said outer container along said first and second planes, said lid adhering to said first edge and said second edge, said flexible lid further comprising:
 at least a first perforation adapted to allow tearing of said :flexible lid with a lower force than the remainder of said flexible lid, said at least one perforation aligned near said first edge. 
   
     
     
         14 . A method of removing a nested interior container from an exterior container, whereby both the interior and exterior containers each have a single opening defined by an edge, the interior and exterior containers being concurrently sealed via a perforated flexible lid, comprising the steps of:
 a. Lifting an edge of the lid to remove the lid from at least a portion of the lid from at least a portion of the exterior edge;   b. Partially tearing the lid along a perforation between the exterior edge and the interior edge;   c. Removing the remainder of the lid from the exterior lid, while leaving the lid over the entire edge of the interior container;   d. Extracting the sealed interior container from within the exterior container; and   e. Opening the interior container by removing the lid from the interior edge.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein after the step of partially tearing the lid further comprising the step of partially tearing the lid along a second separable perforation, wherein the second separable perforation is between the exterior edge and the interior edge. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the step of partially tearing comprises tearing an arc length of at least 180 degrees around the interior edge. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the step of partially tearing comprises tearing an arc length of at least 270 degrees around the interior edge. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14  wherein said step of lifting an edge is preceding by a step of grasping a tab adjacent to the perforation in the lid. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 18  wherein said step of removing the remainder is preceding by a step of grasping a second tab, the second tab not adjacent to a perforation.