U.S. patent application number 10/135967 was filed with the patent office on 2003-10-30 for ball-shaped container.
Invention is credited to Cheng, Chuan-Chen.
Application Number | 20030201201 10/135967 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 29249579 |
Filed Date | 2003-10-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030201201 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Cheng, Chuan-Chen |
October 30, 2003 |
Ball-shaped container
Abstract
A ball-shaped container consists of a vessel (10) and a cap (20)
mated with the vessel (10) to compose a ball. The vessel (10) has
an opening (12) defined in the vessel (10) and a first circular
neck (144) formed around the opening (12). The cap (20) has a
second circular neck (22) formed on an inner face to engage with
the first circular neck (144) by threads or other means.
Inventors: |
Cheng, Chuan-Chen; (Miaoli
Hsien, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Kolisch, Hartwell, Dickinson,
McCormack & Heuser
Suite 200
520 S.W. Yamhill Street
Portland
OR
97204-1378
US
|
Family ID: |
29249579 |
Appl. No.: |
10/135967 |
Filed: |
April 29, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
206/457 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 81/365 20130101;
B65D 81/36 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
206/457 |
International
Class: |
B65D 073/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A ball-shaped container comprising: a vessel (10) having an
opening (12) defined in the vessel (10) and a flat portion (14)
formed on the vessel (10) around the opening (12); and a cap (20)
with an inner concave surface and an outer convex surface mounted
on the vessel (10) and abutting the flat portion (14); wherein the
vessel (10) and the cap (20) compose a ball with an outer surface
and have patterns on the outer surface similar to a real sports
ball.
2. The ball-shaped container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
flat portion (14) further has a curved edge (142) formed at the
junction between the flat portion (14) and the outer surface of the
vessel (10); and the cap (20) further has a lip (26) formed around
the cap (20) to smoothly connect with the curved edge (142) of the
vessel (10), whereby the ball-shaped container has an excellent
air-tight seal.
3. The ball-shaped container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
vessel (10) further has a first circular neck (144) formed on the
flat portion (14) around the opening (12) with an inner surface,
outer surface and a thread on the outer surface; and the cap (20)
further has a second circular neck (22) with a thread to engage
with the first circular neck (144).
4. The ball-shaped container as claimed in claim 2, wherein the
vessel (10) further has a first circular neck (144) formed on the
flat portion (14) around the opening (12) with an inner surface,
outer surface and a thread on the outer surface; and the cap (20)
further has a second circular neck (22) formed on the inner face of
the cap (20) with an inner surface, outer surface and a thread on
the outer surface to engage with the first circular neck (144).
5. The ball-shaped container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cap
(20) is preferred to have a radial length about 1/3-2/3 of the
radius of the ball-shaped container.
6. The ball-shaped container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
outer surface of the ball has multiple raised areas evenly formed
on the outer surface and some of the raised areas each has a indent
defined in the raised area for holding the ball or twisting the
cap.
7. The ball-shaped container as claimed in claim 6, wherein the
ball is a soccer ball and the outer surface of the ball is divided
into multiple white hexagonal areas (16) and black pentagonal areas
(18).
8. The ball-shaped container as claimed in claim 7, wherein the
white hexagonal areas (16) are the raised areas.
9. The ball-shaped container as claimed in claim 8, wherein the
black pentagonal areas (18) are formed with adhesive paper.
10. A ball-shaped container comprising: a vessel (10) having an
opening (12) defined in the vessel (10), a flat portion (14) formed
on the vessel (10) around the opening (12), and a first circular
neck (144) projecting from the flat portion (14); a cap (20) with a
concave inner surface and a convex outer surface mounted on the
vessel (10) and having a second circular neck (22) formed on the
inner surface; and a ring (30) mounted between the first circular
neck (144) and the second circular neck (22); wherein the ring (30)
has a first side with a thread and a second side with multiple
teeth; one of the circular necks (144, 22) has a thread to engage
the first side of the ring (30) and the other one of circular necks
(144, 22) has multiple teeth to engage the second side of the ring
(30).
11. The ball-shaped container as claimed in claim 10, wherein the
ring (30) further has a rim (41) formed on a top of the ring (30)
to prevent the cap (20) from separating from the ring (30).
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a ball-shaped container,
and more particularly to a ball-shaped container having a novel
appearance and used to hold things or as a real ball.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] Conventional rigid containers used to hold snacks such as
cookies or candy are usually cuboid and made of plastic or metal.
Such conventional containers are dull in appearance and do not
stimulate the purchasing desire of young consumers to increase the
sales volume of snack products. Moreover, the container is
discarded as rubbish or is used to store other objects after the
contents are used up. The only function of a container is to hold
things and does not have any other function and is not
versatile.
[0005] To obviate or mitigate the problems with the conventional
container for holding snacks, the present invention provides a
ball-shaped container that can be used as a real ball after the
snacks are consumed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The main objective of the invention is to provide a
ball-shaped container that holds snacks and also can be used as a
real ball.
[0007] Other advantages and novel features of the invention will
become more apparent from the following detailed description when
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a ball-shaped
container in accordance with the present invention;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ball-shaped container in
FIG. 1;
[0010] FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the ball-shaped container in
FIG. 2;
[0011] FIG. 4 is a cross sectional side plan view of the
ball-shaped container along line 4-4 in FIG. 3;
[0012] FIG. 5 is a cross sectional side plan view of another
embodiment of the ball-shaped container in accordance with the
present invention, wherein the ball-shaped container is assembled
by wedging;
[0013] FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment
of the ball-shaped container in accordance with the present
invention, wherein a ring is mounted between the cap and the
vessel;
[0014] FIG. 7 is a cross sectional side plan view of the
ball-shaped container in FIG. 6; and
[0015] FIG. 8 is a cross sectional top plan view the ball-shaped
container along the line 8-8 in FIG. 7; and
[0016] FIG. 9 is an operational perspective view of the ball-shaped
container in FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0017] With reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, a ball-shaped container
preferably made of resilient materials consists of a vessel (10)
and a curved cap (20). The cap (20) detachably engages the vessel
(10) to form a ball. The container can be formed in any one of
numerous ball shapes such as a football, a volleyball, a soccer
ball, etc. A soccer ball is used in the figures for illustrative
purposes only.
[0018] The vessel (10) is a hollow spherical object with a vivid
outer surface and has an opening (12) defined in the vessel (10)
for users to access the contents (30) held inside the ball-shaped
container. A flat area (14) is formed on the vessel (10) around the
opening (12) and extends to the outer surface. A curved edge (142)
is formed at the junction of the flat area (14) and the outer
surface of the vessel (10) to keep users from being injured and to
make the combination of the vessel (10) and the cap (20) have an
excellent air-tight seal. A first circular neck (144) with an inner
and outer surface is formed on the flat area (14) around the
opening (12). A thread is defined on the outer surface of the first
circular neck (144).
[0019] The cap (20) is a circular plate with a concave inner
surface, a convex outer surface, a center and an edge to mate with
the vessel (10) and has a vivid pattern on the outer surface
consistent with the outer surface of the vessel (10). A second
circular neck (22) is formed on the inner surface of the cap (20),
extends toward the center of the container and has a thread defined
on the inner surface of the second circular neck (22) to engage the
thread on the first circular neck (144). A lip (26) is formed
around the edge of the cap (20) and tapers to cover the curved edge
(142) of the vessel (10) so that the contacting area between the
vessel (10) and the cap (20) is increased to enhance the air-tight
seal of the ball-shaped container. The cap (20) is preferred to
have a radial length (length of the maximum radius) about 1/3-2/3
that of the radius of the ball-shaped container.
[0020] The outer surfaces of the vessel (10) and the cap (20) are
divided into multiple white hexagonal areas (16) and black
pentagonal areas (18), which appear on a soccer ball. One of the
black pentagonal areas (18) is positioned at the center of the
outer surface of the cap (20) and surrounded by white hexagonal
areas (16). The white hexagonal areas (16) are slightly raised
areas formed on the outer surface, and a shallow indent (24) is
defined on some of the white hexagonal areas (16) so the container
or can be held or the cap (20) switched. Additionally, patterns on
the ball-shaped container can be formed by bonding colorful
material to the outer surface of the ball. For example, the black
pentagonal areas (18) can be formed with adhesive paper.
[0021] With reference to FIG. 5, another embodiment of the
ball-shaped container has a different means by which the cap (20)
engages the vessel (10). The first circular neck (144) of the
vessel (10) has multiple stubs (146) formed on the outer surface,
and the second circular neck (22) has multiple recess (not
numbered) corresponding to the stubs (146). Therefore, the cap (20)
connects to the vessel (10) by the stubs (146) engaging the
recesses. Because the stubs (146) are located in specific
positions, the cap (20) has to be mounted on the vessel (10) at a
precise orientation. This feature is used to ensure that the
pattern of the cap (20) matches the pattern of the vessel (10).
[0022] With reference to FIGS. 6-8, a ring (40) is mounted between
the vessel (10) and the cap (20). The ring (40) has an inner face,
an outer face and a rim (41) formed on the top of the ring (40). A
thread is defined on the inner face to engage with the thread of
the first circular neck (144) and multiple teeth (43) are formed on
the outer face of the ring (40). The second circular neck (22) of
the cap (20) corresponding to the ring (40) has multiple teeth to
engage with the teeth (43) of the ring (40). The ring (40) is
screwed onto the first circular neck (144), and then the cap (20)
is pressed down until the rim (41) locks inside the second circular
neck (22) to prevent the cap (20) from inadvertently separating
from the vessel (10). The teeth of the second circular neck (22)
and the ring (40) engage with each other at a precise orientation
to make the pattern match.
[0023] With reference to FIG. 9, the ball-shaped container with
vivid appearance has a secondary use as a real ball when the cap
(20) is firmly attached to the vessel (10) after the contents (30)
have been depleted.
[0024] The ball-shaped container in accordance with the present
invention has a simplified structure as described. Even though
numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention
have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with
details of the structure and function of the invention, the
disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail,
especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts
within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated
by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended
claims are expressed.
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