U.S. patent application number 09/840905 was filed with the patent office on 2001-11-01 for bottle-type plastic container.
This patent application is currently assigned to YOSHINO KOGYOSHO CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to Ota, Atsushi, Shimada, Shinji.
Application Number | 20010035392 09/840905 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 18639775 |
Filed Date | 2001-11-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010035392 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ota, Atsushi ; et
al. |
November 1, 2001 |
Bottle-type plastic container
Abstract
A bottle-type plastic container has a barrel portion and an
opening at one end region of the barrel, for allowing liquid
contents to be charged into the container and discharged therefrom.
The barrel portion has a generally polygonal cross-section defined
by a plurality of substantially flat walls, and a plurality of
part-cylindrical corner walls extending contiguously between the
flat walls. The flat walls each has a shape that is deflected
inwards as the liquid contents charged into the container at a high
temperature is cooled, to absorb a pressure drop within the
container. The corner walls each has a center line of curvature
extending in parallel with a longitudinal axis of the container,
and a radius of curvature that decreases as the pressure drop is
absorbed by the flat walls.
Inventors: |
Ota, Atsushi; (Koto-Ku,
JP) ; Shimada, Shinji; (Koto-Ku, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
OLIFF & BERRIDGE, PLC
277 S. WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 500
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
US
|
Assignee: |
YOSHINO KOGYOSHO CO., LTD.
|
Family ID: |
18639775 |
Appl. No.: |
09/840905 |
Filed: |
April 25, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
215/381 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 2501/0081 20130101;
B65D 79/0084 20200501; B65D 1/0223 20130101; B65D 2501/0036
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
215/381 |
International
Class: |
B65D 090/02 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 28, 2000 |
JP |
2000-130,746 |
Claims
1. A bottle-type plastic container comprising a barrel portion and
an opening in one end region of the barrel, for allowing liquid
contents to be charged into the container and discharged therefrom;
said barrel portion having a generally polygonal cross-section that
is defined by a plurality of substantially flat walls, and further
having a plurality of part-cylindrical corner walls extending
contiguously between said flat walls; said flat walls each having a
shape that is deflected inwards as the liquid contents charged into
the container at a high temperature is cooled, to thereby absorb a
pressure drop within the container; and said corner walls each
having a center line of curvature that extends in parallel with a
longitudinal axis of the container, and having a radius of
curvature that decreases as the pressure drop is absorbed by the
deflection of the flat walls.
2. A bottle-type plastic container according to claim 1, wherein
each of said flat walls has at least one reinforcing rib.
3. A bottle-type plastic container according to claim 2, wherein
each of said at least one reinforcing rib extends in a direction
that is parallel to a surface on which the container is adapted to
stand.
4. A bottle-type plastic container according to claim 1, wherein at
least two of said flat walls are parallel to each other.
5. A bottle-type plastic container according to claim 1, wherein
said barrel portion has a generally square cross-section.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates a bottle-type plastic
container that can be charged with liquid contents at a higl
temperature.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] When a bottle-type plastic container is charged with liquid
contents at a high temperature of 80-95.degree. C., for example, it
is generally inevitable that the shape of the container at its
barrel portion changes due to a pressure drop within the container,
which occurs as s result of cooling of the contents to a room
temperature. Thus, JP-A-07-172,423 discloses a bottle-type plastic
container wherein an inward deflection of the barrel portion is
absorbed by absorption grooves having an arcuate cross-section.
[0005] It would be highly desirable that a bottle-type plastic
container charged with liquid contents at a high temperature
exhibits a sufficient buckling strength against a load applied to
the container in its longitudinal direction, even after the cooling
of the contents and the resultant pressure drop within the
container.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to
provide an improved bottle-type plastic container that can be
charged with liquid contents at a high temperature, and that
exhibits a sufficient buckling strength against a load applied to
the container in its longitudinal direction, even after the cooling
of the contents and the resultant pressure drop within the
container.
[0007] To this end, according to the present invention, there is
provided a bottle-type plastic container comprising a barrel
portion and an opening in one end region of the barrel, for
allowing liquid contents to be charged into the container and
discharged therefrom; said barrel portion having a generally
polygonal cross-section that is defined by a plurality of
substantially flat walls, and further having a plurality of
part-cylindrical corner walls extending contiguously between said
flat walls; said flat walls each having a shape that is deflected
inwards as the liquid contents charged into the container at a high
temperature is cooled, to thereby absorb a pressure drop within the
container; and said corner walls each having a center line of
curvature that extends in parallel with a longitudinal direction of
the container, and having a radius of curvature that decreases as
the pressure drop is absorbed by the deflection of the flat
walls.
[0008] With the above-mentioned arrangement of the bottle-type
plastic container according to the present invention, each of the
corner walls of the barrel portion has a center line of curvature
that extends in parallel with a longitudinal direction of the
container, and has a radius of curvature that decreases as the
pressure drop is absorbed by the deflection of the flat walls.
Thus, after the container has been subjected to a pressure drop,
the corner walls of the barrel portion serve as a reinforcing
column to provide an improved buckling strength of the
container.
[0009] Advantageously, each of the flat walls has at least one
reinforcing rib. It this instance, it is preferred that the
reinforcing rib extends in a direction that is parallel to a
surface on which the container is adapted to stand. Such
reinforcing ribs serve to prevent bulging out of the flat walls
when the container is charged with contents, and serve to maintain
the shape of the barrel portion upon the pressure drop within the
container.
[0010] Also advantageously, at least two of the flat walls forming
part of the barrel portion are parallel to each other. It is
preferred, in this connection, that the barrel portion has a
generally square cross-section. Such a cross-sectional geometry of
the container ensures that, when a series of containers are
successively transferred along a conveyor in a beverage factory,
neighboring containers are brought into a stable contact with each
other to realize an improved alignment stability.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] The present invention will be explained below in further
detail, with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the
drawings, in which:
[0012] FIG. 1 is a front view of the bottle-type plastic container
according to one embodiment of the present invention;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a view showing the container of FIG. 1 diagonally
to the front;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the container of FIG. 1;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in
FIG. 1;
[0016] FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the inward deflection of
the barrel portion;
[0017] FIGS. 6A to 6C are schematic views showing an improved
alignment stability of the container achieved by the present
invention; and
[0018] FIG. 7 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4 but showing a
bottle-type container according to another embodiments of the
present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0019] Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 4, there is shown a bottle-type
plastic container according to one embodiment of the present
invention. The container includes a barrel portion 1 and an opening
2 in one end region of the barrel 1, for allowing liquid contents
to be charged into the container and discharged therefrom.
[0020] The container according to the present invention may be
comprised of appropriate synthetic resin, typically polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) resin. Alternatively, however, the container
may be comprised of polyamid resin, polycarbonate resin, polyacetal
resin, polybuthylene terephthalate resin or other synthetic resin
having a sufficient resistance to chemicals. The container may be
formed by known molding process, such as a biaxial orientation blow
molding process or a direct blow molding process.
[0021] The barrel portion 1 has a generally polygonal
cross-section, i.e., a square cross-section in the illustrated
embodiment. The polygonal cross-section of the barrel portion 1 is
defined by a plurality of substantially flat walls 3, as well as a
plurality of part-cylindrical corner walls 4 extending contiguously
between the flat walls 3.
[0022] Each flat wall 3 has a shape that is deflected inwards,
i.e., toward the longitudinal axis of the container, as the liquid
contents charged into the container at a high temperature is cooled
to a room temperature. Such deflection of the flat walls 3 serves
to absorb a pressure drop within the container. It is preferred
that each flat wall 3 has at least one reinforcing rib 5 that
extends horizontally when the container is standing on a support,
such as a conveyor in a beverage factory or a table at home. These
reinforcing ribs 5 effectively prevent bulging out of the flat
walls 3 when the container is charged with contents, and serve to
maintain the shape of the barrel portion 1 upon the pressure drop
within the container.
[0023] Further, each corner wall 4 has a center line of curvature
that extends in parallel with a longitudinal direction of the
container, and a radius of curvature R that decreases to a smaller
radius R' as the pressure drop is absorbed by the deflection of the
flat walls 3.
[0024] The square cross-sectional geometry of the container
includes two pairs of flat walls 3 forming part of the barrel
portion 1, wherein opposed flat walls 3 of the adjacent containers
are parallel to each other. It is thus possible to ensure that,
when a series of containers are successively transferred along a
conveyor in a beverage factory, neighboring containers are brought
into a stable contact with each other to realize an improved
alignment stability.
[0025] With reference to FIG. 5, when the container shown in FIGS.
1 to 4 is charged with liquid contents at a high temperature of
80-95.degree. C., for example, and the contents then undergo a
gradual cooling to a room temperature, the flat walls 3 of the
barrel portion 1 are deflected inwards as shown by arrows, to
thereby absorb a pressure drop within the container.
Simultaneously, the radius of curvature R of the corner walls 4
between these flat walls 3 is decreased to a smaller radius R' so
that the corner walls 4 serve as a reinforcing column to provide an
improved buckling strength of the container.
[0026] The unique cross-sectional geometry of the container
according to the present invention, wherein at least two of the
flat walls forming part of the barrel portion are parallel to each
other, also provides a practical advantage that, when a series of
containers are successively transferred along a conveyor in a
beverage factory, neighboring containers are brought into a stable
contact with each other to realize an improved alignment
stability.
[0027] With reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B, when a series of
conventional bottle-type plastic containers are successively
transferred along a conveyor in a beverage factory, adjacent
containers, of which the flat walls have been more or less
subjected to bulging out, tend to be brought into a single line
contact with each other thereby generating side forces as shown by
arrows in FIG. 6A. As a result, the containers tend to be rotated
about the respective center axes as shown in FIG. 6B, making it
difficult to achieve an orderly alignment of the containers. On the
other hand, according to the present invention, adjacent containers
while being transferred along a conveyor are brought into contact
with each other along two lines at the opposite corner walls 4, as
shown in FIG. 6C, so that the orientation of the containers about
the respective longitudinal axes can be maintained stably, thereby
facilitating further processing and/or handling of the containers
at a beverage factory.
[0028] A modified embodiment of the present invention is shown in
FIG. 7, wherein the barrel portion of a plastic container is
enclosed by a heat shrink label 6. In this instance, when the
container is subjected to a pressure drop upon cooling of high
temperature liquid contents, the part-cylindrical corner wall 4 of
the barrel portion 1 are directly connected to each other by the
shrink label 6 whereby the corner walls 4 functioning as
reinforcing columns are further reinforced by the beams that are
formed by the heat shrink label 6. It is thus possible to realize a
further improved bucking strength of the container.
[0029] It will be appreciated that the present invention provides
an improved bottle-type plastic container that can be charged with
liquid contents at a high temperature, and that exhibits a
sufficient buckling strength against a load applied to the
container in its longitudinal direction, even after the cooling of
the contents and the resultant pressure drop within the container.
The improved container according to the present invention can be
highly efficiently produced at a low cost, without requiring
substantial changes to existing facilities.
[0030] While the present invention has been described above with
reference to specific embodiments, it is needless to say that
various changes and/or modifications are possible without departing
from the scope of the invention.
* * * * *