CONTAINER

Abstract

A container having a body which defines a volume for storing a liquid. The body has a sidewall and the container also has a cover arranged to be mounted to the body. The sidewall and the cover are arranged such that, when the cover is mounted to the body, a space is defined between the cover and the sidewall in which an article may be stored. The container may be a bottle made from plastics material and the cover may be pivotally attached to the body so that it can be moved from a first position in which access to the space is permitted to a second position in which access to the space is restricted. The article may be a cleaning tool.

Description

The present invention relates to a container and in particular, but not exclusively, to a container for separately storing liquid and a cleaning device.

Containers for cleaning products are often used together with cleaning devices such as cloths or brushes to clean domestic appliances and work surfaces. In many cases, effectively cleaning a particular appliance or surface using a specific type of cleaning product requires the use of a particular type of cleaning device. For example, a sponge is often used in combination with an antibacterial spray to clean kitchen worktops. However, these cleaning devices tend to be easily misplaced and can therefore become separated from the cleaning products with which they are intended to be used. This is especially undesirable when the cleaning tool is not readily available and is specifically designed to tackle a particular cleaning job. An object of the invention is to mitigate these difficulties.

According to the present invention there is provided a container comprising a body defining a volume for storing a liquid, the body having a sidewall, the container further comprising a cover arranged to be mounted to the body, the sidewall and the cover being arranged such that, when the cover is mounted to the body, a space is defined between the cover and the sidewall in which an article may be stored.

Advantageously, the space defined by the sidewall and the cover provides an easily accessible and visible compartment for the storage of a cleaning device on the body of the spray dispenser without compromising the stability of the container when in an upright position.

Preferably, the sidewall is recessed. More preferably, the sidewall is concave. Preferably, the volume defined by the bottle extends beneath the concave sidewall. Preferably the body is blow moulded and the cover is injection moulded.

The cover may be shaped and configured to define the space between the sidewall and the cover when mounted to the body. Preferably, the cover is pivotally mounted to the body. More preferably, the cover has a first position in which access to the space is permitted and a second position in which access to the space is restricted. Preferably the cover is at least partially transparent. The cover may have one or more apertures to promote ventilation of the space when the cover is mounted to the body and/or enable the space to be viewed when the cover is in the second position.

Preferably, the container is a bottle. More preferably, the bottle has an opening at its top to which a spray bottle head, for example a trigger spray, is mounted.

The container may additionally comprise an article stored within the space. Preferably, the article is a cleaning device. Preferably, the cleaning device is shaped and configured to fit within the space. More preferably, the cleaning device is comprised of one or more constituent parts that may be dismantled and arranged in a configuration that fits within the space when the cover is in the second position. More preferably, one or more parts fit within another part.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, an embodiment therefore will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a bottle according to the invention when the cover is in the closed position;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a bottle according to the invention when the cover is in the open position;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a section of the bottle shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a section of the body shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a section of the body shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the cover shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 7 is a side view of a cleaning tool in a storage configuration;

FIG. 8 is a side view of the cleaning tool shown in FIG. 7 when in an assembled configuration;

FIG. 9 is a side view of the handle of the cleaning tool shown in FIGS. 7 and 8;

FIG. 10 is an underside view of the handle shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the brush head of the cleaning tool shown in FIGS. 7 and 8;

FIG. 12 is a side view of the brush head shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a side view of an alternative handle for use with the brush head shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 when in an extended position;

FIG. 14 is a side view of the handle shown in FIG. 13 when in a collapsed (storage) position;

FIG. 15 is an enlarged plan view of the connection point of the handle shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 when in a partially collapsed state; and

FIG. 16 is an alternative view of the handle shown in FIG. 15;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the bottle 1 comprises a body 2 made from blow moulded plastics material, a cover 3 made from injection moulded plastics material and a plastic trigger spray head 4. The body 2 comprises a sidewall 5 which is concave in shape, a threaded opening 8 at its top permitting access to the bottle interior for the spray head 4, two outwardly extending plastic studs 6 formed at approximately the same point on opposite sides respectively of the body 4 and a protrusion 9 extending down from the top of the sidewall 5.

The cover 3 is shaped and configured such that, when in the closed position, it defines a space between the sidewall 5 and the walls of the cover 3. In this embodiment, the shape of the cover is chosen to be such that it follows the original contours of the walls of the bottle and completes the overall appearance of the bottle 1. As shown in FIG. 6, the cover 3 is therefore generally U-shaped in cross section having curved edges that correspond to the shape of the concave sidewall to enable the cover to be comfortably seated against the sidewall 5. The cover 3 is pivotally mounted at one end on the body 2 via the two studs 6 which fit within complementary holes formed in the cover 3. The cover 3 can therefore be moved from a first position in which it is pivoted away from the body 2, thereby permitting access to the space defined by the cover 3 and the concave sidewall 5, to a second position in which it is closed on the body 2, thereby restricting access to the space defined by the concave sidewall 5 and the cover 3.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, extending out from the end of the cover 3 remote from the pivotally mounted end toward the sidewall 5 is a pair of arms 10 each having a wedge shaped formation 18 extending toward the other arm 10. The arms 10 are spaced apart from one another a distance slightly greater than the width of the protrusion 9. The arms 10 and wedges 18 are sized and configured to fit around the protrusion 9 of the body when the cover 3 is in the closed position. The wedges 18 are therefore tapered on their protrusion facing side to promote their passage around the protrusion 9 and substantially flat on their opposite side to restrict the passage of the arms 10 back around the protrusion 9. The sidewalls of the protrusion 9 are likewise tapered to permit or restrict the arms 10 from passing around the protrusion depending on whether the cover 3 is being moved to or from a closed position.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, to further enhance the securing capability of the arms, two shallow recesses 11 are located on opposite sides of the protrusion 9 respectively at the interface between the protrusion and the sidewall 5. The recesses 11 are sufficiently shallow to receive the wedges 18 and thus retain the cover 3 in place when in the closed position. The arms 10 and protrusion 9 together form a latch means. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, a cutout section 17 of the cover 3 between the two arms 10 is provided which corresponds to the external dimensions of the protrusion 9. Thus, when in the closed position, the protrusion 9 is seated within the cutout section 17 of the cover 3.

The body 4 is chosen to be made from blow moulded plastics material, for example high density polyethylene (HDPE), which gives rise to a substantially rigid body ideal for containing liquids and for providing a structure that can be placed in a stable, upright position. However, it is generally more difficult to make an accurately moulded product using blow moulded plastics material than injection moulded plastics material. Thus, the tolerances achieved by blow moulding tend to be greater than injection moulding. The protrusion 9 is therefore moulded so that it is narrower than the distance between the two arms 10. Since the cover 3 and, hence, the arms 10 made are from a resilient plastics material, the arms 10 have a high degree of resilience or flex and because they are injection moulded can be made with relatively lower tolerances than the protrusion 9. Arranging for the arms 10 to engage opposite sides of the protrusion 9 enables the size of the protrusion 9 to be minimized thus enabling variation in size of the protrusion 9 as a result of moulding tolerances to be accommodated by the resilience of the arms 10.

The cover 3 is chosen to be translucent to permit visual access to the cover interior when in the closed position. Six apertures 7 are formed in, and toward, the free end of the cover 3 to permit ventilation of the cover interior when in the closed position. Thus a wet cloth or brush can be placed within the compartment formed by the body 2 and the cover 3 without affecting the ability of the cleaning device to dry out.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, there is shown a cleaning tool 12 adapted to fit within the space or compartment defined by the cover 3 and the body 2 when in the closed position. The cleaning tool 12 comprises an injection moulded plastic handle 13 and an injections moulded plastic cleaning brush head 14 each shown respectively in FIGS. 9 and 10 and FIGS. 11 and 12. The handle 13 takes the form of a closed loop whose shape roughly corresponds to that of the compartment and its dimensions are such that it fits within the compartment when the cover 3 is in the closed position. The handle 13 has a flat portion 15 having two substantially co-planar flanges 19 extending from opposite sides of the flat portion 15 respectively and which engage with two corresponding recesses 20 within a receiving portion 21 of the base of the brush head 14. The handle 13 and brush head 14 can therefore be releasably engaged by sliding the flat portion 15 of the handle 13 into the receiving portion 21 of the brush head 14.

The base 16 of the brush head 14 is smaller in size than the internal dimensions of the space defined by the closed loop handle 13 and can therefore be inserted within the handle. The bristles of the brush head 14 are sufficiently resilient to retain the brush head within the handle 13 when in the inserted position. Thus, the cleaning tool 12 can be broken down into smaller constituent parts and arranged in a storage configuration suitable for storage within the compartment defined by the sidewall 2 and the cover 3 when in the closed position.

Referring to FIGS. 13 to 16, the handle 25 of the cleaning tool may alternatively comprise two component parts, a gripping part 26 and a brush head receiving part 27, pivotally mounted to one another and having a first position (shown in FIG. 13) in which the two parts are fully extended so that a brush head 14 can be releasably engaged and a second position in which the two parts are folded in upon themselves. In the second position, the handle 25 is sufficiently small to fit within the compartment defined by the sidewall 2 and the cover 3 when in the closed position. The receiving part 27 of the handle 25 has a pair of coplanar flanges 28 extending from opposite sides of the receiving part 27 respectively. The flanges 28 are similar to those found on the handle shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 and permit a brush head 14 to be releasably engaged with the handle 25.

Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, the gripping part 26 of the handle 25 has a pair of shallow linear recesses 29 on opposite sides respectively of the gripping part that extend a distance from the pivot point 31. The recesses 29 are sized and configured to receive a pair of linear protrusions 30 formed on opposite sides respectively of the inner region of the brush head receiving part 27. The protrusions 30 are positioned on the brush head receiving part 27 so that, when in the extended position shown in FIG. 13, they are seated within the recesses 29 of the gripping part 26. Thus, the component parts 26, 27 of the handle 25 can be releasably engaged with one another when in the extended position.

It is of course to be understood that the above embodiments have been described by way of example only and that many variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A container comprising a body defining a volume for storing a liquid, the body having a sidewall, the container further comprising a cover arranged to be mounted to the body, the sidewall and the cover being arranged such that, when the cover is mounted to the body, a space is defined between the cover and the sidewall in which an article may be stored.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sidewall is recessed.

3. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sidewall is concave.

4. A container as claimed in claim 3, wherein the volume defined by the bottle extends beneath the concave sidewall.

5. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body is blow molded and the cover is injection molded.

6. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover is shaped and configured to define the space between the sidewall and the cover when mounted to the body.

7. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover is pivotally mounted to the body

8. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover has a first position in which access to the space is permitted and a second position in which access to the space is restricted.

9. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover is at least partially transparent.

10. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover has one or more apertures to promote ventilation of the space when the cover is mounted to the body and/or enable the space to be viewed when the cover is in the second position.

11. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container is a bottle.

12. A container as claimed in claim 11, wherein the bottle has an opening at its top to which a spray bottle head, for example a trigger spray, is mounted.

13. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container further comprises an article stored within the space.

14. A container as claimed in claim 13, wherein the article is a cleaning device.

15. A container as claimed in claim 14, wherein the cleaning device is shaped and configured to fit within the space.

16. A container as claimed in claim 15, wherein the cleaning device is comprised of one or more constituent parts that may be dismantled and arranged in a configuration that fits within the space when the cover is in the second position.

17. A container as claimed in claim 16, wherein one or more parts fit within another part.