Containers

Abstract

A collapsible container made preferably from material such as low density polythene for use principally in containing and dispensing viscous or semi-liquid products such as artists' colours the container having thin flexible walls rising from a base and terminating in a neck which may be closed by means of any suitable closure the base being normally flat and sufficiently stiff to provide a support for the container. Opposite walls of the container are provided with at least one fold whereby the walls may be collapsed after the fashion of a bellows to a substantially flat configuration which allows practically the whole of the contents to be expressed from the container. The present invention relates to containers and more particularly to collapsible containers for use with viscous liquids such as paints. Some types of paints, such as Artist's colours are conveniently supplied in a highly viscous form and where these are supplied in very small quantities no difficulty arises as they may be sold in small collapsible tubes of metal or plastic material. Where however, it is desired to supply the material in a larger quantity, for example, half a gallon or one gallon, difficulties arise in packaging it so that it may be dispensed in an easy and convenient manner. If an ordinary high density polythene bottle is used having a sufficiently thin wall to enable it to be readily collapsed, it is found that there is a tendency for the whole bottle to collapse in hot weather, in addition repeated flexing of the wall of the bottle can cause cracking. Such bottles normally have a round bottom which prevents the container from being completely collapsed and thus leads to a waste of material left in the bottom of the container. The dispensing of material, for example, in schools makes it desirable to have a small outlet to the container which adds to the difficulties of extracting the entire contents from the container. The object of the present invention is to provide an improved collapsible container which is constructed so as to assist in overcoming the difficulties referred to above. The present invention consists in a collapsible container for viscous material having a base, thin flexible walls rising from the base and terminating in a neck adapted to receive a closure, the base being normally flat and sufficiently stiff to provide a support for the container, opposite walls being provided with at least one fold whereby the walls may be collapsed after the fashion of a bellows to a substantially flat configuration thereby allowing practically the whole of the contents to be expressed from the container.

Description

In order that the invention may be better understood and put into practice a preferred form thereof is hereinafter described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container constructed in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 2 is an inverted plan view of the container of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a side elevation thereof.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the container in a completely collapsed form.

In the preferred form of the invention the container is formed by moulding from low density polythene and it consists of a base 10 which is relatively thick and rigid to provide a level support for the container. The shape of the base as seen from underneath is approximately that of two similar trapezoids united along the shorter of their parallel sides as is seen in FIG. 2.

The walls 11 of the container rise vertically upwards from around the periphery of the base converging at the upper end of the container to a moulded neck 12 which is adapted to receive a suitable closure not shown. The diameter of the outlet in the neck is relatively small to enable the contents of the container to be dispensed easily and without loss.

By virtue of the shape of the base 10 two opposite sides of the container are formed with a V shaped fold or indentation 13 which extends vertically throughout its length in such a manner that the whole container may be collapsed to a substantially flat position in the manner of a bellows. The base however, owing to its greater rigidity will not collapse in the same manner; it is however possible to fold up opposite edges of the base 10 towards the centre line of the container about the line along which the shorter parallel sides of the two trapezoids are joined as shown in FIG. 4.

With the arrangement described above the contents of the container may be expelled by deforming the container and gradually collapsing it towards the flattened condition. The last remanents of the contents of the container may be expelled by folding up the base in the manner described above until the whole container is in a substantially completely flattened condition and virtually all the contents squeezed out of it. To assist in folding up the base, the container may be formed with an inwardly directed indentation across the line of folding of the base.

The embodiment of the invention described above is given by way of example only as illustrating one form of the invention within the general scope thereof as defined broadly above.

Claims

I claim:

1. A collapsible container for dispensing material and, in particular, for dispensing viscous liquids such as paints, comprising a base, side walls secured to and extending upwardly from said base, and a neck and closure member secured to the upper ends of said side walls, said container being deformable from a normal position to a collapsed position for dispensing materials through said neck and closure member, said base, side walls and neck and closure member formed of a low density polythene with said side walls being thin and flexible and said base being thicker than said side walls and providing a rigid construction relative to said side walls and affording a support for the lower ends of said side walls, said base being flat in the normal position and having four sides with two opposite sides of said base being straight-sided and the other two sides of said base having an inwardly directed V-shaped configuration, said side walls comprise four side walls with two oppositely disposed ones of said side walls having a flat planar configuration and extending upwardly from the straight sides of said base and the other two oppositely disposed said side walls being deformed inwardly into a V-shaped configuration conforming to and extending upwardly from the V-shaped sides of said base so that an apex line extends upwardly in the other said walls from said base to said neck and closure member, whereby at the commencement of dispensation of material from the container, said container can be collapsed with said side walls containing the inwardly directed apex lines moving inwardly toward one another and with the flat planar side walls moving toward one another in the fashion of a bellows but with said base retaining its flat configuration until a considerable amount of the material has been dispensed and then folding said base over across its narrow dimension with the fold line in said base extending outwardly from the lower ends of said side walls for providing the container with a substantially flat configuration for allowing practically all the entire contents to be expelled from the container.