CONTAINER, FORMING TOOL, AND METHOD FOR FORMING A CONTAINER

1 . A container for holding and heating a food product, the container comprising:

a bottom panel;

at least one side panel extending upwardly from the bottom panel, the bottom panel and the at least one side panel cooperating to at least partially define a cavity of the container;

a flange extending laterally outward from an upper edge of the at least one side panel; and

pleats extending in at least a portion of the flange, the flange having a first thickness and the side panel having a second thickness, the first thickness is greater than the second thickness.

2 . The container of claim 1 wherein the container comprises a base layer of paperboard and a microwave interactive layer that is secured to the base layer, the container having an interior surface wherein the microwave interactive layer substantially covers the interior surface.

3 . The container of claim 1 wherein the pleats extend into at least a portion of the at least one side panel.

4 . The container of claim 3 wherein each of the pleats comprises overlapped portions.

5 . The container of claim 4 wherein the overlapped portions include protrusions that extend from a lower surface of the flange, and the first thickness includes the height of the protrusions.

6 . The container of claim 5 wherein the flange has a substantially flat top surface.

7 . The container of claim 5 wherein the flange has an amount of compression of each protrusions of each of the pleats in the at least a portion of the flange that is less than the amount of compression of each respective protrusion of each of the pleats in the at least a portion of the at least one side panel.

8 . The container of claim 1 comprising at least one first corner formed at a first junction between the at least one side panel and the flange and at least one second corner formed at a second junction between the at least one side panel and the bottom panel.

9 . The container of claim 8 wherein the at least one first corner and the at least one second corner are curved.

10 . A method of manufacturing a container for holding and heating a food product, the method comprising:

obtaining a blank comprising a central portion, an outer edge, and a marginal portion between the outer edge and the central portion, the blank comprising a radius extending from a center of the blank to the outer edge, the marginal portion comprising a plurality of radial score lines having an angular spacing between respective adjacent radial score lines, the blank having a first thickness;

closing the blank in a forming tool so that the blank is formed into a container having a bottom panel, at least one side panel extending upwardly from the bottom panel, and a flange extending laterally outward from an upper edge of the at least one side panel, the closing the blank in the forming tool comprises

forming a cavity by upwardly folding the side panel relative to the bottom panel, and

forming pleats at the radial score lines, the pleats extending in at least a portion of the flange, wherein the flange has a second thickness, the second thickness being approximately two times the first thickness.

11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the side panel has a third thickness, the second thickness is greater than the third thickness.

12 . The method of claim 10 wherein the pleats extend into at least a portion of the at least one side panel.

13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the forming the pleats comprises overlapping portions of the blank at the score lines to form overlapped portions.

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein the overlapped portions include protrusions that extend from a lower surface of the flange, and the closing the blank comprises compressing the overlapped portions in the at least a portion of the flange to the second thickness that includes the height of the protrusions.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein the closing the blank comprises forming a substantially flap top surface of the flange.

16 . The method claim 14 wherein the closing the blank comprises compressing the overlapped portions in the at least a portion of the side panel to the third thickness.

17 . The method of claim 10 wherein in closing the tool further comprises forming at least one first corner formed at a first junction between the at least one side panel and the flange and forming at least one second corner at a second junction between the at least one side panel and the bottom panel.

18 . The method of claim 17 wherein the at least one first corner and the at least one second corner are curved.

19 . The method of claim 17 wherein the forming tool comprises a first tool assembly and a second tool assembly, at least one of the first tool assembly and the second tool assembly is moveable between an open position wherein the blank is received between the first and the second tool assembly and a closed position wherein the blank is formed into the container, the first tool assembly comprises a nose having an external surface shaped to generally correspond to at least a portion of the container and the second tool assembly comprises a cavity block having a recess shaped to correspond with at least a portion of the container, the closing the blank in the tool comprises compressing the blank between the nose and the cavity block to form the container from the blank when the nose is at least partially received in the cavity block.

20 . The method of claim 19 wherein the nose and the cavity block have respective flat surfaces that cooperate to form the flange of the container.

21 . The method of claim 19 wherein the nose and the cavity block have respective first curved surfaces that cooperate to form the at least one first corner and the nose and the cavity blank have respective second curved surfaces that cooperate to form the at least one second corner.