U.S. patent application number 16/430951 was filed with the patent office on 2020-10-29 for food container.
The applicant listed for this patent is Jingdong Wu. Invention is credited to Jingdong Wu.
Application Number | 20200339304 16/430951 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000004143018 |
Filed Date | 2020-10-29 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20200339304 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wu; Jingdong |
October 29, 2020 |
FOOD CONTAINER
Abstract
A food container is provided, including a box body, a cover and
a locking buckle, wherein the cover is buckled above the box body;
an outer edge of the box body encloses an outer edge of the cover,
and the outer edge of the box body is provided with a segment of
notch, the notch exposes a part of the outer edge of the cover; and
the locking buckle is composed of a seal strip and a pull-tab
portion, wherein the seal strip is arranged in the notch, and is
connected to a break face formed by the box body at the notch
through a plurality of connecting bridges, and the pull-tab portion
is arranged at an outer side of the seal strip and connected to the
seal strip. The food container is easy to open and can ensure the
sealing performance.
Inventors: |
Wu; Jingdong; (Taishan City,
CN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Wu; Jingdong |
Taishan City |
|
CN |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000004143018 |
Appl. No.: |
16/430951 |
Filed: |
June 4, 2019 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A45C 11/20 20130101;
B65D 17/4011 20180101 |
International
Class: |
B65D 17/28 20060101
B65D017/28 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 25, 2019 |
CN |
201910340549.8 |
Claims
1. A food container, comprising a box body, a cover and a locking
buckle, wherein the cover is buckled above the box body, and a
peripheral part of the box body and a peripheral part of the cover
are connected in a clamped manner, with a storage space formed
between the box body and the cover; an outer edge of the box body
encloses an outer edge of the cover, and the outer edge of the box
body is provided with a segment of notch, the notch exposes a part
of the outer edge of the cover; and the locking buckle is composed
of a seal strip and a pull-tab portion, wherein the seal strip is
arranged in the notch, and is connected to a break face formed by
the box body at the notch through a plurality of connecting
bridges, and the pull-tab portion is arranged at an outer side of
the seal strip and connected to the seal strip.
2. The food container of claim 1, wherein the peripheral part of
the box body is rectangular and has four corners.
3. The food container of claim 2, wherein the notch is formed at
the outer edge at one corner of the box body, and the seal strip is
arranged in the notch, with an inner side face of the seal strip
being connected to the break face formed by the box body at the
notch through the connecting bridges, and the pull-tab portion is
connected to an outer side face of the seal strip.
4. The food container of claim 3, wherein the shape of the seal
strip is same as that of a complete corner of the box body.
5. The food container of claim 2, wherein the four corners of the
peripheral part of the box body are all rounded corners.
6. The food container of claim 3, wherein the four corners of the
peripheral part of the box body are all rounded corners.
7. The food container of claim 1, wherein an inner side face and
two end faces of the seal strip are all connected to the break face
formed by the box body at the notch through the connecting
bridges.
8. The food container of claim 2, wherein an inner side face and
two end faces of the seal strip are all connected to the break face
formed by the box body at the notch through the connecting
bridges.
9. The food container of claim 3, wherein the inner side face and
two end faces of the seal strip are all connected to the break face
formed by the box body at the notch through the connecting
bridges.
10. The food container of claim 7, wherein connecting bridges
connecting the inner side face of the seal strip to the break face
are uniformly distributed at intervals.
11. The food container of claim 8, wherein connecting bridges
connecting the inner side face of the seal strip to the break face
are uniformly distributed at intervals.
12. The food container of claim 9, wherein connecting bridges
connecting the inner side face of the seal strip to the break face
are uniformly distributed at intervals.
13. The food container of claim 1, wherein the pull-tab portion has
a through hole.
14. The food container of claim 1, wherein the pull-tab portion is
a sheet structure, which is perpendicular to an outer side face of
the seal strip and connected to the outer side face of the seal
strip.
15. The food container of claim 1, wherein the box body, the
locking buckle and the connecting bridges are formed together
through plastic molding and punching processes.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Application No.
CN 201910340549.8 having a filing date of Apr. 25, 2019, the entire
contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY
[0002] The invention relates to the technical field of articles for
daily use, in particular to a food container.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Food containers are indispensable in people's daily life.
For example, disposable plastic lunch boxes are widely used due to
the advantages of good sealing performance, light weight, beautiful
appearance, low cost and the like. The plastic lunch box generally
includes a box body and a cover disposed on the box body, with a
storage cavity formed between the box body and the cover,
functioning to accommodate and seal food. In the prior art, to
achieve a good sealing effect, a peripheral part of the box body
and a peripheral part of the cover are generally designed as
structures closely connected to each other. However, while the
sealing performance of the lunch box is improved, the difficulty of
the user's operation of lifting the cover from the box body is
increased, and finger injury is likely to occur; sometimes it needs
to damage the cover or the box body to open the cover successively,
and the food in the lunch box is likely to spill, which results in
a poor use effect and a poor use experience of the lunch box.
Conversely, to reduce the difficulty of opening the lunch box, it
needs to sacrifice the sealing performance.
SUMMARY
[0004] In view of this, the present invention provides a food
container, which is easy to open and can ensure the sealing
performance.
[0005] A technical solution adopted in the present invention is as
follows:
[0006] A food container includes a box body and a cover, wherein
the cover is buckled above the box body, and a peripheral part of
the box body and a peripheral part of the cover are connected in a
clamped manner, with a storage space formed between the box body
and the cover; the food container further includes a locking
buckle, wherein an outer edge of the box body encloses an outer
edge of the cover, and the outer edge of the box body is provided
with a segment of notch, the notch exposes a part of the outer edge
of the cover; and the locking buckle is composed of a seal strip
and a pull-tab portion, wherein the seal strip is arranged in the
notch, and is connected to a break face formed by the box body at
the notch through a plurality of connecting bridges, and the
pull-tab portion is arranged at an outer side of the seal strip and
connected to the seal strip.
[0007] To open the food container, a user pulls up the pull-tab
portion to break the connecting bridges that connect the box body
and the seal strip, and removes the locking buckle from the notch
so that a part of the outer edge of the cover is exposed, then
pinches the exposed part of the outer edge of the cover and lifts
the cover from the box body, thus conveniently opening the food
container. Furthermore, the locking buckle also has safety and
anti-theft functions in that the user can know whether the food
container has been opened according to whether the food container
has the sealing strip or whether the connecting bridges are intact
in the food container.
[0008] In the present invention, on the one hand, the notch is
provided at the peripheral part of the box body to expose a part of
the outer edge of the cover, so as to facilitate the operation of
lifting the cover and reduce the difficulty of opening the food
container, and the reliability of connection between the box body
and the cover is almost not affected, thereby ensuring the sealing
performance; on the other hand, the seal strip is used to close the
notch and shield the exposed part of the outer edge of the cover,
thereby also functioning to ensure the sealing performance and also
providing safety and anti-theft functions.
[0009] The food container is easy to open and can ensure the
sealing performance, and also has safety and anti-theft
functions.
[0010] Further, the peripheral part of the box body is rectangular
and has four corners.
[0011] Further, the notch is formed at the outer edge at one corner
of the box body, and the seal strip is arranged in the notch, with
an inner side face of the seal strip being connected to the break
face formed by the box body at the notch through the connecting
bridges, and the pull-tab portion is connected to an outer side
face of the seal strip.
[0012] In the rectangular peripheral part of the box body, the
portion at the corner has the most concentrated stress and the
highest mechanical strength, and is not prone to deformation or
damage. Providing the notch at the outer edge of the corner has
small influence on the overall average mechanical performance of
the box body. In this way, not only is the probability of
deformation of the notch during transportation and storage reduced
to ensure the sealing performance of the food container, but also
the shape of the notch can be maintained when the connecting
bridges break, and the notch is prevented from being further split
due to the action of an external force to damage the original
structure of the box body.
[0013] Further, the shape of the seal strip is same as that of a
complete corner of the box body, so that the peripheral part of the
box body is substantially complete and beautiful in appearance
while ensuring the sealing performance.
[0014] Further, the four corners of the peripheral part of the box
body are all rounded corners, which can avoid inconvenience in
transportation and possible injury to the user due to too sharp
outlines.
[0015] Further, the inner side face and two end faces of the seal
strip are all connected to the break face formed by the box body at
the notch through the connecting bridges, to improve sealing
performance.
[0016] Further, connecting bridges connecting the inner side face
of the seal strip to the break face are uniformly distributed at
intervals, such that the user can successively remove the seal
strip by applying a force that is uniform in magnitude.
[0017] Moreover, the pull-tab portion has a through hole, and thus
the food container has a suspensible function. The user can hang
the through hole of the pull-tab portion on a mechanism such as a
hook or nail to suspend the food container or suspend the box body
separately.
[0018] Further, the pull-tab portion is a sheet structure, which is
perpendicular to the outer side face of the seal strip and
connected to the outer side face of the seal strip, to facilitate
suspension and the user's operation of ripping the seal strip by
pulling up the pull-tab portion.
[0019] Further, the box body, the locking buckle and the connecting
bridges are formed together through plastic molding and punching
processes, which is conducive to reducing manufacturing processes
and costs.
[0020] For the sake of better understanding and implementation, the
present invention is described in detail below in conjunction with
the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] FIG. 1 is a front view of a food container of the present
invention;
[0022] FIG. 2 is a top view of the food container of the present
invention;
[0023] FIG. 3 is a sectional view in a direction A-A of FIG. 2;
[0024] FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a part I in FIG. 3;
[0025] FIG. 5 is a sectional view in a direction B-B of FIG. 2;
[0026] FIG. 6 is a front view of a box body;
[0027] FIG. 7 is a top view of the box body;
[0028] FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a part II in FIG. 7;
[0029] FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the box body;
[0030] FIG. 10 is a three-dimensional diagram of the box body;
[0031] FIG. 11 is a three-dimensional diagram of the food container
of the present invention in a direction;
[0032] FIG. 12 is a three-dimensional diagram of FIG. 11 along a
sectional direction a-b-c-d;
[0033] FIG. 13 is a three-dimensional diagram of the food container
of the present invention in another direction; and
[0034] FIG. 14 is a three-dimensional diagram of the food container
of the present invention in a yet another direction.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0035] Referring to all of FIGS. 1-14, a food container provided by
the present invention includes a box body 1, a cover 2 and a
locking buckle 3.
[0036] The cover 2 is buckled above the box body 1, and a
peripheral part 10 of the box body 1 and a peripheral part 20 of
the cover 2 are connected in a clamped manner, with a storage space
S formed between the box body 1 and the cover 2, as shown in FIG.
3. An outer edge 103 of the box body 1 encloses an outer edge 203
of the cover 2, as shown in FIG. 4, and the outer edge 103 of the
box body 1 is provided with a segment of notch 12, as shown in FIG.
8, and the notch 12 exposes a part of the outer edge 203 of the
cover 2, as shown in FIG. 12.
[0037] Referring to FIGS. 8 and 12, the locking buckle 3 is
composed of a seal strip 31 and a pull-tab portion 32, wherein the
seal strip 31 is arranged in the notch 12, and is connected to a
break face 13 formed by the box body 1 at the notch 12 through a
plurality of connecting bridges. The pull-tab portion 32 is
arranged at the outer side of the seal strip 31 and connected to
the seal strip 31 and is provided with a through hole 320.
[0038] To open the food container, a user pulls up the pull-tab
portion 32 to break the connecting bridges that connect the box
body 1 and the seal strip 31, and removes the locking buckle 3 from
the notch 12 so that a part of the outer edge 203 of the cover 2 is
exposed, then pinches the exposed part of the outer edge 203 of the
cover 2 and lifts the cover 2 from the box body 1, thus opening the
food container. Furthermore, the locking buckle 3 has safety and
anti-theft functions in that the user can know whether the food
container has been opened according to whether the food container
has the sealing strip 31 or whether the connecting bridges are
intact in the food container.
[0039] Moreover, the user can hang the through hole 320 of the
pull-tab portion 32 on a mechanism such as a hook or nail to
suspend the food container or suspend the box body 1 separately, to
satisfy the needs of various use occasions.
[0040] In the embodiment, the peripheral part 10 of the box body 1
is rectangular and has four corners. Further preferably, the four
corners of the peripheral part 10 of the box body 1 are all rounded
corners, which can avoid inconvenience in transportation and
possible injury to the user due to too sharp outlines.
Correspondingly, the peripheral part 20 of the cover 2 is a
rectangle with four corners being all rounded. In other
embodiments, the peripheral part of the box body may also be a
regular shape or an irregular shape such as other polygon, circle
or oval.
[0041] To ensure the sealing performance, in the embodiment, the
notch 12 is formed at the outer edge 103 at one corner of the box
body 1. In the rectangular peripheral part 10 of the box body 1,
the portion at the corner has the most concentrated stress and the
highest mechanical strength, and is not prone to deformation or
damage. Providing the notch 12 at the outer edge 103 of the corner
has small influence on the overall average mechanical performance
of the box body 1. In this way, not only is the probability of
deformation of the notch 12 during transportation and storage
reduced to ensure the sealing performance of the food container,
but also the shape of the notch 12 can be maintained when the
connecting bridges break, and the notch 12 is prevented from being
further torn due to the action of an external force to break the
original structure of the box body 1. In other embodiments, the
notch can be provided at a part on any position of the outer edge
of the box body.
[0042] To reduce the material cost and ensure beautiful appearance,
in the embodiment, the shape of the seal strip 31 is same as that
of a complete corner of the box body 1, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 12,
the seal strip 31 is arranged in the notch 12 and shields the part
of the outer edge 203 of the cover 2 exposed from the notch 12, and
is coordinated with the outer edge 103 of the box body 1 in shape,
so that the peripheral part 10 of the box body 1 is substantially
complete in appearance while ensuring the sealing performance, and
a small amount of material is used for the seal strip 31.
[0043] To improve the sealing performance, in the embodiment, as
shown in FIG. 8, an inner side face 311 and two end faces 313 of
the seal strip 31 are all connected to the break face 13 formed by
the box body 1 at the notch 12 through a plurality of connecting
bridges. Specifically, a gap is formed between the seal strip 31
and the break face 13, and the connecting bridges are arranged in
the gap and are perpendicular to the break face 13, wherein three
connecting bridges 41 connecting the inner side face 311 of the
seal strip 31 to the break face 13 are uniformly distributed at
intervals, such that the user can successively remove the seal
strip 31 by applying a force that is uniform in magnitude.
[0044] When the seal strip 31 is pulled, usually the connecting
bridge between one end face 313 of the seal strip 31 and the break
face 13 is broken first, and then the rest connecting bridges are
broken. Therefore, to facilitate ripping the seal strip 31, in the
embodiment, the two end faces 313 of the seal strip 31 are each
connected to the break face 13 respectively through only one
connecting bridge 42. In other embodiments, depending on the
thickness and material of the connecting bridge, more than one
connecting bridge can be used to connect each end face of the seal
strip and the break face.
[0045] To reduce the material cost and ensure beautiful appearance,
the pull-tab portion 32 is an annular sheet structure with a
through hole 320 formed in the middle. The pull-tab portion 32 is
perpendicular to an outer side face 312 of the seal strip 31, and
is connected to the outer side face 312 of the seal strip 31, as
shown in FIGS. 5 and 12, to facilitate suspension and ripping the
seal strip 31.
[0046] In the embodiment, the box body 1, the locking buckle 3 and
the connecting bridges are made of the same material, such as
thermoplastic, to facilitate manufacture at the same time and
reduce manufacturing processes and costs. Specifically, the box
body 1, the locking buckle 3 and the connecting bridges are formed
together through plastic molding and punching processes, wherein
the gap between the seal strip 31 and the break face 13 is formed
by the punching process to form the notch 12, and the gap between
two adjacent connecting bridges is also formed by the punching
process, and the through hole 320 of the pull-tab portion 32 is
also formed by the punching process. The cover 2 may also be made
of the same material as the box body 1, such as being formed by
plastic molding.
[0047] Referring to FIGS. 4, 5 and 12, FIG. 4 shows a sectional
view at the junction of the peripheral part 10 of the box body 1
and the peripheral part 20 of the cover 2 (the locking buckle 3 is
not cut through by the section line); FIG. 5 shows a sectional view
at the junction of the peripheral part 10 of the box body 1 and the
peripheral part 20 of the cover 2 (the locking buckle 3 and the
connecting bridge 41 in the middle are cut through by the section
line); FIG. 12 shows a sectional view at the junction of the
peripheral part 10 of the box body 1 and the peripheral part 20 of
the cover 2 (the locking buckle 3 and the connecting bridge 41 in
the middle are cut through by the section line); the food container
shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are placed right side up, while the food
container shown in FIG. 12 is placed upside down.
[0048] To improve the sealing performance, in the embodiment, the
peripheral part 10 of the box body 1 is bent to form a horizontal
platform portion 101, an upward projecting protrusion portion 102
and the upturned outer edge 103, wherein the protrusion portion 102
is located between the platform portion 101 and the outer edge 103;
and the peripheral part 20 of the cover 2 is bent to form a
downward projecting support portion 201, an accommodating portion
202 with a downward opening, and the upturned outer edge 203,
wherein the accommodating portion 202 is located between the
support portion 201 and the outer edge 203; the support portion 201
is arranged on the surface of the platform portion 101, the
protrusion portion 102 is embedded into the opening of the
accommodating portion 202, and the top face of the protrusion
portion 102 and the bottom face of the accommodating portion 202
are in contact and form-fitted with each other to achieve sealing;
the outer edge 103 of the box body 1 encloses the outer edge 203 of
the cover 2 from bottom to top, an end face 103s of the outer edge
103 being higher than an end face 203s of the outer edge 203, and
the outer edge 103 and the outer edge 203 are in contact and
form-fitted with each other to achieve sealing. In this way, the
peripheral part 10 of the box body 1 and the peripheral part 20 of
the cover 2 are connected in a clamped manner to achieve a good
sealing effect.
[0049] Further, to achieve a better sealing effect, as shown in
FIG. 4, an inner side face of the outer edge 103 projects toward
the direction of the protrusion portion 102 to form a lock rib
103m. The lock rib 103m is arranged above the end face 203s of the
outer edge 203 and along the outer edge 103, and the lock rib 103m
functions to obstruct the outer edge 103 from upward displacement,
thereby preventing the separation between the box body 1 from and
the cover 2.
[0050] In addition, referring to FIG. 4, the protrusion portion 102
forms a downward opening, and in order to improve the mechanical
strength of the peripheral part 10 of the box body 1, in the
embodiment, a plurality of reinforcing ribs 104 are provided in the
opening of the protrusion portion 102, as shown in FIG. 12 (one of
the reinforcing ribs 104 is cut through by the cross section in the
figure); and the support portion 201 forms an upward opening, and
in order to improve the mechanical strength of the peripheral part
20 of the cover 2, in the embodiment, a plurality of reinforcing
ribs 204 are provided in the opening of the support portion
201.
[0051] The foregoing embodiments only represent several
implementations of the present invention, and are described
concretely in detail, but should not be understood for this reason
as limiting the patent scope of the present invention. It should be
noted that for those of ordinary skill in the art, a number of
modifications and improvements can be made without departing from
the concept of the present invention, and all these modifications
and improvements are encompassed within the protection scope of the
present invention.
* * * * *