Container Cap Capable Of Being Resiliently Held Open And Closed

Abstract

A cap for a container, said cap being coupled to said container through resilient coupling means provided to said container and to the interior of said cap. The appearance of the container is not lost by the resilient coupling means. The cap be positively held closed or open by the elastic force provided by said resilient coupling means.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to caps for containers filled with rinsing liquid, hair liquid and various other liquids. More particularly, the invention concerns caps capable of being elastically held open and closed.

A typical example of the prior-art container cap capable of being elastically held open and closed is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawing. As is shown, container cap 5 is integrally coupled to container body 2 having a spray nozzle 1 through coupling hinge 3 and elastic strings 4. The opening and the closure of the cap 5 is made with respect to the neutral point a of the elastic strings 4.

However, in the container of the type described above the elastic strings are exposed to the outside of the container, and when the cap is closed the elastic strings sag between the container and cap (as shown in FIG. 1), thus extremely spoiling the appearance of the container. Also, since the container and cap are integrally coupled together through the coupling hinge and elastic strings, the unit has a complicated configuration difficult to form and expensive. Also, if it becomes necessary to remove the cap from the container body, this is not possible since the container and cap are integrally coupled together through the elastic strings.

The present invention is intended to overcome the above drawbacks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a cap for a container, the cap being removably coupled to the container body through coupling means not exposed to the outside of the unit, and the cap being capable of being elastically held open and closed.

A second object of the invention is to provide a cap for a container, the cap being coupled to the container body through coupling means not exposed to the outside of the unit to avoid spoiling the appearance of the unit and the cap being elastically held open and closed.

A third object of the invention is to provide a cap for a container, the cap being elastically coupled to the container body without using any string to reduce the material and manufacturing cost while being capable of being elastically held open and closed.

A fourth object of the invention is to provide a cap for a container, the cap being removable from the container body and hence capable of being formed independently of the container body to simplify the formation, and the cap being elastically held open and closed.

A fifth object of the invention is to provide a cap for a container, the cap being very easily removable from the container body, and the cap being elastically held open and closed.

A sixth object of the invention is to provide a cap for a container, the cap being opened or closed by exerting a slight torque to it until it clears a neutral point in the resilient coupling means, and the cap being subsequently automatically held open or closed by the elasticity of the resilient coupling means.

A seventh object of the invention is to provide a cap for a container, the cap being very easily and rapidly opened and closed automatically held open and closed through the elasticity provided by resilient coupling means coupling the cap and container to each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description, when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side view showing a prior-art cap for a container in the open state;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded fragmentary perspective view showing a first embodiment of the cap for a container according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the container shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a second embodiment of the cap for a container in the open state according to the invention;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view to a reduced scale showing the unit of the second embodiment in the closed state; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the unit of FIG. 5 in the illustrated state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TWO EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The invention will now be described in conjunction with a first embodiment thereof with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

Reference numeral 10 designates a container body, although it is shown only partly. Its top wall 11 is provided with, for instance, a usual outlet nozzle 12 such as a spray nozzle substantially at the center thereof. A pair of guide projections 13 extend from the top wall 11 on opposite sides of the outlet nozzle 12. As is apparent from FIG. 4, the guide projections 13 are arcuate and extend along the circular edge of the top wall 11 of the container body 10. The maximum distance between the guide projections 13 is substantially between points A and A in FIG. 4. The point A is a neutral point as described hereinafter in detail. Each guide projection 13 is formed with an arcute outer guide groove 14 (only one such groove is seen in FIG. 3). Reference numeral 17 designates a cap provided with a pair of integral resilient members 16 inwardly extending from the top thereof. The resilient members 16 are formed with respective integral protuberances 15 (only one such protuberance is seen), which constitute resilient coupling means together with the guide projections 13. Each protuberance 15 can be elastically snapped in the corresponding guide groove 14 against the elastic force of the resilient member 16 when fitting the cap 17.

When removing or fitting the cap 17, as the protuberances 15 of the resilient members 16 pass by the respective points A at the maximum distance as mentioned above of the guide projections 13, the engagement of projection 14 in guide groove 14 becomes loose. Thus, in either case of fitting or removing the cap the movement of the cap in the reverse direction with respect to the previous movement is prevented, so that it can be resiliently retained in either case.

FIGS. 5 to 7 show a second embodiment of the invention. In these Figures, reference numeral 10 designates a container body which is shown only partly as in the first embodiment. Its top wall is provided with a usual outlet nozzle 12, for instance a spray nozzle, substantially at the center thereof. Projecting from the top wall 11 is a guide 18, which constitutes a resilient coupling means. The guide 18 has a substantially W-shaped, curved cross sectional profile. Its lower guide portion 19 extends from the top wall 11 and terminates in the peripheral wall 20 of the container body 10, and only the upper guide portion 21 projects upwardly from the top wall 11 and terminates in a free end. The upper and lower guide portions 21 and 19 define an intermediate neutral point 22, at which the guide is projected toward the peripheral wall 20. About this neutral point 22, the cap 17 can be held in the open or closed state to be described hereinafter in detail. As is clearly shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the lower guide portion 19 and the peripheral wall 20 define a recess 23, in which a slightly curved support arm 24 integral with the peripheral wall 17' of the cap 17 can be received. The free end of the support arm 24 is formed with an engagement rod 25, which can slide along curved surfaces 26 and 27 of the upper and lower guide portions 21 and 19. The cap 17 is integrally hinged to the container body 10 through a coupling hinge 28.

To close the cap 17, the cap 17 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 5 about the fulcrum hinge 28 to cause the engagement rod 25 at the free end of the support arm 24 to slide along the curved surface 26 of the upper guide portion 21 toward the neutral point 22. At this time, the engagement rod 22 is forced against the elastic force of the upper guide portion 21. As soon as the rod 25 clears the neutral point 22, it is guided along the curved surface 27 of the lower guide portion 19 toward the bottom of the recess. It will thus be seen that since the engagement rod 25 has been guided along the lower guide portion 19 against the elastic force thereof, the cap 17 is resiliently held closed (as shown in FIG. 6). To open the cap 17, it is rotated in the opposite direction to the case of closing it. At this time, the relation between the engagement rod 25 and the guide portions 19 and 21 is similar to the case of closing the cap, so will not be described. When the engagement rod 25 comes near the free end of the upper guide portion 21, further sliding movement of the rod 25 ie prevented by the elastic force of the upper guide portion, and the rod is resiliently held in the final position. Thus the cap 17 is resiliently held open (as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7).

As has been described in the foregoing, according to the invention the resilient coupling means coupling the container body and the cap is not exposed, so that the appearance of the container is not degraded by otherwise exposed coupling means. Also, the cap can be positively held closed or open by the elastic force provided by the resilient coupling means. Further, since the cap is coupled to the container body through the resilient coupling means any flexible string can be dispensed with to facilitate the formation of an economical cap.

It is to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are by no means limitative but various changes and modifications in the details of the construction of the container body and the cap may be made without departing from the claimed scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A capped container comprising:

a container body having an outlet nozzle;

a container cap for covering over the nozzle when closed;

resilient coupling means integrally coupling the cap to the container body at an angularly short portion of each;

a guide integrally formed on the container body and including upper and lower arcuate guide surfaces vertically adjoining one another at a neutral point of lesser radius than said guide surfaces have vertically adjacent the neutral point; and

an engagement rod mounted on said cap, interiorly thereof and disposed in resilient engagement with said guide for forced movement past said neutral point as the cap is opened and closed about the resilient coupling means.

2. A capped container, comprising:

a container body having a peripheral side wall terminating at an end wall;

contained product dispensing means disposed generally centrally on the end wall;

a container cap disposed, when closed, to cover over the contained product dispensing means, the cap including a peripheral skirt;

means integrally hinging the skirt of the cap to the container body adjacent where the container body sidewall meets the container body end wall, so that the cap may be tipped up about the hinging means to give access to the contained product dispensing means and tipped down about the hinging means to close, in which position the cap skirt becomes generally axially aligned with and abuts the container body adjacent where the container body side wall meets the container body end wall;

surface means defining a recess in the container body end wall adjacent the container body side wall in radial alignment with the hinging means;

means defining an upward projection on the container body having its base adjacent the recess, distally of the hinging means;

means defining a cam surface on the surface means of the recess and continuing up on said projection, being generally arcuately concave toward said hinging means;

a cam follower;

arm means mounting the cam follower on the container cap interiorly of the container cap generally in radial alignment with the hinge, said arm means being disposed to urge the cam follower into resilient engagement with the cam surface;

means defining a shorter radius, high point on the cam surface intermediate the vertical extent thereof, being so disposed that additional opening force, in one direction, and additional closing force, in the reverse direction, is required when opening and closing said container cap, to move the cam follower past the high point, whereby the container cap is held resiliently closed when the cam follower is below the high point and open when the cam follower is above the high point.

3. The capped container of claim 2 wherein the cam surface is shaped like a shallow lower case script "w" with the high point thereof equating to the central rise of such "w."