Closure with hinged lid
A closure system is provided with a peripheral wall for extending from a container. A lid is molded with the peripheral wall as a unitary structure connected by a linear array of spaced-apart floppy hinge segments.
Not applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENTNot applicable.
REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIXNot applicable.
TECHNICAL FIELDThis invention relates to a closure system for a container.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS POSED BY THE PRIOR ARTThere are a variety of types of conventional closures. One type of prior art closure system includes a body for being attached to the top of a container. The body defines an opening to the container interior. The system further includes a lid which is hingedly mounted on the body and which can be lifted up to expose the opening to the container interior. The closure body to which the lid is attached may be alternatively described as the closure base or base portion.
For some types of products, it would be desirable to provide a relatively large closure with a hinged top or lid structure that could provide access to the product (such as fluent products, as well as non-fluent products), and that would optionally accommodate either the insertion of a utensil through the open closure to permit the product to be scooped out of the container with a spoon, knife, ladle, etc., or accommodate the insertion of a user's hand through the open closure so that the product can be lifted out by the user's hand.
For aesthetic reasons, it is preferable to have a closure wherein the walls of the closure adjacent the container do not deform or bend excessively when subjected to stresses imposed on the closure when the user opens or closes the hinged lid. It would be advantageous if an improved closure could be provided with a hinge for the lid wherein stresses imposed on the hinge and closure body during opening of the lid could be accommodated without causing objectionable bending or deformation of the closure wall.
It would also be beneficial if such an improved closure could provide a lid within a relatively large range of movement between a closed position and a fully opened position.
It would also be desirable if such an improved closure could accommodate containers which have a variety of shapes and which are constructed from a variety of materials.
Such an improved closure should also preferably accommodate ease of use.
Preferably, such an improved closure should also facilitate cleaning of the closure.
It would also be beneficial if an improved closure could readily accommodate its manufacture from a thermoplastic material.
Further, it would be desirable if such an improved closure could accommodate efficient, high-quality, high-speed, large volume manufacturing techniques with a reduced product reject rate to produce products having consistent operating characteristics unit-to-unit with high reliability.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention can be incorporated into a closure system that may include one or more of the above-discussed, desired features.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a closure system is provided for a container that has an interior where a product may be stored. The closure system includes a peripheral wall for extending from the container at an opening to the container interior, a lid, and a molded thermoplastic hinge structure. The hinge structure is unitary with the peripheral wall and with the lid for connecting the lid with the peripheral wall to accommodate movement of the lid between a closed position occluding the opening and an open position exposing the opening. The hinge structure includes a plurality of spaced-apart floppy hinge segments arranged along a straight line hinge axis to define a plurality of spaced-apart voids wherein each void is defined between two of the spaced-apart floppy hinge segments.
Numerous other advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention, from the claims, and from the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSIn the accompanying drawings forming part of the specification, in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,
While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, this specification and the accompanying drawings disclose only some specific forms as examples of the invention. The invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments so described, however. The scope of the invention is pointed out in the appended claims.
For ease of description, the closure system of this invention is described in a generally upright orientation that it could have at the upper end of a container when the container is stored upright on its base. It will be understood, however, that the closure system of this invention may be manufactured, stored, transported, used, and sold in orientations other than the position described.
The closure system of this invention is suitable for use with a variety of conventional or special containers having various designs, the details of which, although not illustrated or described, would be apparent to those having skill in the art and an understanding of such containers. With respect to the illustrated, preferred embodiments of the invention described herein, the container, per se, forms no part of, and therefore is not intended to limit, the broadest aspects of the present invention. It will also be understood by those of ordinary skill that novel and non-obvious inventive aspects can be embodied in the described exemplary closure system alone.
One presently preferred first embodiment of a closure system of the present invention is in the form of a closure illustrated in
The container 32 typically has a conventional mouth 33 (
The container 32 typically may have a neck or other suitable structure defining the container mouth having a cross-sectional configuration with which the closure 30 is adapted to engage. The body of the container 32 may have another cross-sectional configuration that differs from the cross-sectional configuration of the container mouth. The container 32 may, on the other hand, have a substantially uniform shape along its entire length or height without any neck portion of reduced size or different cross-section.
The container 32 may or may not be a squeezable container having a flexible wall or walls which can be grasped by the user and compressed somewhat. However, the preferred, illustrated embodiments of the closure 30 are especially suitable for use with a container 32 that has substantially inflexible walls that are not necessarily intended to be squeezed by the user.
As shown in
In other contemplated embodiments, the closure 30 need not be an article that is completely separate from the container 32. Instead, the container 32 could be made with a dispensing end structure that incorporates the closure 30 as a unitary part of the container 32. In such an alternative, the illustrated first embodiment closure 30 could be modified so that it is formed as a unitary extension of the container 32, and the extending portion defining the body 34 could then be characterized as a structural feature that functions to accommodate communication with the container interior.
In either of the above-discussed alternatives (i.e., a separate closure or a closure molded (or otherwise formed) as an extension of a container 32), the hinge 40 extends from a portion of the body 34 near the container opening, and the portion of the closure body structure at the container opening to which the hinge 40 is attached may be described as a “peripheral wall” 42 (
In either of the above-discussed alternatives (i.e., either a separate closure or a closure molded (or otherwise formed) as an extension of a container 32), the container 32 may have an initially open bottom end opposite the dispensing end on which the closure 30 is located, and such a bottom end could be used for accommodating the filling of the inverted container with the product to be dispensed. After the inverted container is filled with the product through the open bottom end of the container, the open bottom end of the container could be closed by suitable means, such as by a separate bottom end closure which could be attached to the container bottom end (e.g., through a suitable threaded engagement, snap-fit engagement, adhesive engagement, thermal bonding engagement, etc.). Alternatively, such an open bottom end of the container could be deformed closed (e.g., with an appropriate process applying heat and force if the container bottom end portion is made from a thermoplastic material or other material that would accommodate the use of such a process).
In the illustrated first embodiment, wherein the closure 30 is initially molded as a completely separate article that is subsequently attached to the container 32, the closure body 34 preferably has a depending skirt 44 (
The closure body 34 and container 32, if they have circular configurations, could also be releasably connected together with a screw thread system (not shown), or by other means. Alternatively, the closure body 34 may be permanently attached to the container 32 by means of induction bonding, ultrasonic bonding, gluing, or the like, depending upon the materials employed for the container and closure body 34.
The interior of the body 34 may also include special or conventional seal features to provide an enhanced leak-tight seal between the closure body 34 and the container 32. The illustrated snap-fit closure body 34 does not employ such an enhanced seal feature.
The illustrated preferred, first form of the closure body 34 has an inwardly extending flange of rim 48 (
As can be seen in
As can be seen in
As can be seen in
With reference to
In the preferred embodiment, there are three hinge segments 81, 82, and 83, and there are two voids 86 and 88 arranged along a straight line hinge axis. In
In the preferred embodiment, the lengths of the spaced-apart floppy hinge segments 81, 82, and 83 are uniform and equal. In the preferred embodiment, the lengths of the spaced-apart voids 86 and 88 are uniform and equal. In the most preferred embodiment, the lengths of the floppy hinge segments and voids are all equal. In the presently preferred embodiment, each length L1, L2, L3, L4, and L5 is 0.4 inch. In the preferred embodiment, the spaced-apart voids 86 and 88 have a cumulative length (i.e., L2 plus L4) which is about 40% or more of the hinge structure total length (i.e., L1 plus L3 plus L5).
With reference to
In the preferred embodiment, each floppy hinge segment, such as the floppy hinge segment 82 illustrated in
As can be seen in
With reference to
With reference to
In the preferred embodiment illustrated in
It has been found that the novel hinge structure of the present invention substantially minimizes, if not eliminates, undesired deformation of the closure body adjacent the hinge 40 as the lid 36 is closed onto the closure body 34. In particular, it has been found that the hinge 40 of the present invention minimizes, if not eliminates, outward flaring or bending of the closure body skirt 44 on the rear of the closure body adjacent the hinge. It is believed that the hinge 40 of the present invention permits the motion of the lid 36 to be more independent from, or less dependent on, the closure body 34. It is believed that with the hinge 40 of the present invention, the closure body wall adjacent the hinge is subjected to lower stresses when the lid 36 is opened and closed.
A modified form of the hinge structure 40A of the present invention is illustrated in
In the second embodiment, each of the hinge segments, such as hinge segment 82A shown in
The second embodiment of the hinge 40A illustrated in
As the lid 36A is moved to the fully closed position (
It will be readily apparent from the foregoing detailed description of the invention and from the illustrations thereof that numerous variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the true spirit and scope of the novel concepts or principles of this invention.
Claims
1. A closure system for a container that has an interior where a product may be stored, said closure system comprising:
- (A) a peripheral wall for extending from said container at an opening to the container interior;
- (B) a lid; and
- (C) a molded thermoplastic hinge structure that is unitary with said peripheral wall and with said lid for connecting said lid with said peripheral wall to accommodate movement of said lid between a closed position occluding said opening and an open position exposing said opening, said hinge structure including a plurality of spaced-apart floppy hinge segments arranged along a straight line hinge axis to define a plurality of spaced-apart voids wherein each void is defined between two of said spaced-apart floppy hinge segments.
2. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which
- said system is a closure for a container that has a container opening to said container interior;
- said closure is separate from, but releasably attachable to, said container around said container opening; and
- said closure has a body that (1) has a body opening for communicating with said container opening, and (2) is defined at least in part by said peripheral wall adjacent said body opening.
3. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which there are three of said spaced-apart floppy hinge segments.
4. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which
- said system is a closure for a container that has a container opening to said container interior;
- said closure is separate from, but releasably attachable to, said container around said container opening;
- said closure has a body that has a body opening for communicating with said container opening;
- said closure body has a skirt around said closure body opening;
- said skirt is adapted to engage said container around said container opening, and
- a portion of said skirt defines at least a portion of said peripheral wall to which said hinge structure connects said lid.
5. The system in accordance with claim 4 in which said lid has a peripheral flange for said closure body when said lid is in said closed position.
6. The system in accordance with claim 5 in which
- said peripheral flange of said lid has a laterally extending latch bead; and
- said closure body skirt has a laterally extending latch bead for engaging said latch bead on said lid peripheral flange.
7. The system in accordance with claim 4 in which said closure body includes a lift tab projecting laterally beyond said lid when said lid is closed.
8. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which said lid includes a lift tab projecting laterally.
9. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which said hinge structure includes two of said voids.
10. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which
- said hinge structure has a first end defined by an outer end of a first one of said floppy hinge segments;
- said floppy hinge structure has a second end defined by an outer end of a last one of said hinge segments;
- said hinge structure has a total length as measured along said hinge axis from said first end to said second end; and
- said spaced-apart voids have a cumulative length along said hinge structure that is about 40% or more of said total length of said hinge structure.
11. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which
- each said spaced-apart void has a length as measured along said hinge axis;
- each said spaced-apart floppy hinge segment has a length as measured along said hinge axis; and
- the lengths of said spaced-apart voids and the lengths of said spaced-apart floppy hinge segments are uniform and equal.
12. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which
- each said floppy hinge segment has a width measured perpendicular to said hinge axis; and
- each said floppy hinge segment has a minimum thickness at the center of the width of the hinge segment.
13. The system in accordance with claim 12 in which said width is about 0.048 inch and said minimum thickness is about 0.008 inch.
14. The system in accordance with claim 12 in which the ratio of the floppy hinge segment width to the floppy hinge segment thickness is about 6.
15. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which
- said peripheral wall defines a flat surface adjacent each said floppy hinge segment;
- said lid defines a flat surface adjacent each said floppy hinge segment;
- a tapered surface extends from said lid flat surface to each said floppy hinge segment;
- a tapered surface extends from said peripheral wall flat surface to each said floppy hinge segment;
- each said floppy hinge segment defines an interior surface which has a folded over configuration when said lid is fully closed; and
- when said lid is opened to a position 180 degrees from said fully closed position, said interior surface of each said floppy hinge segment is generally planar and is recessed from said lid flat surface and from said peripheral wall flat surface.
16. The system in accordance with claim 15 in which said interior surface is recessed about 0.003 inch.
17. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which each said floppy hinge segment has a uniform thickness.
18. The system in accordance with claim 1 in which each said floppy hinge segment defines an exposed exterior surface that (1) has a convex arcuate configuration when said lid is fully closed, and (2) has a concave arcuate configuration when said lid is opened to a position 180 degrees from the fully closed position.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 27, 2005
Publication Date: Dec 28, 2006
Inventor: Christopher Danks (Waukesha, WI)
Application Number: 11/167,419
International Classification: B65D 43/14 (20060101); B65D 6/28 (20060101);