CONTAINER
A container including a container member having a bottom portion and a side wall portion which form a depression, and a lid member configured to adhere to the side wall portion to close an opening of the depression, wherein a projection is provided in an area of the side wall portion to be adhered to the lid member, part of the projection forms an extending portion extending along the lid member as a result of the adhesion, and the extending portion extends toward an inside and an outside and the length in an extending direction of the extending portion extending toward the inside is longer than the length in the extending direction of the extending portion extending toward the outside.
1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a container having a container member and a lid member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Examples of containers for storing products or the like include a configuration including a container member having a depression and a lid member configured to close an opening of the depression by adhering to a side wall portion of the container member, and for example, a container referred to as a “blister pack” is known. The blister pack is formed by adhering a blister container, which corresponds to a container member having a suitable shape for storing and holding a product to a lid member configured to close an opening of the blister container. At this time, if adhesion is insufficient, the adhered portion is separated due to deformation of the container caused by falling impacts, temperatures, pressure variations, and the like, and hence the product stored in the depression may not be protected. Therefore, the adhesion between the container member and the lid member needs to have a sufficient strength and enhancement of hermeticity is required. However, if the strength of the adhesion is enhanced too much by adhering the lid member strongly, then separation of the lid member from the container member becomes difficult.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-10082 describes a mode in which a projection is provided on an upper part of a side wall portion and the projection and a lid member are adhered.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis disclosure provides a container including: a container member including a bottom portion and a side wall portion extending from the bottom portion, and a depression formed in an area surrounded by the bottom portion and the side wall portion; and a lid member configured to adhere to the side wall portion to close an opening of the depression, wherein a projection is provided in an area of the side wall portion to be adhered to the lid member, part of the projection forms an extending portion extending along the lid member as a result of the adhesion, and the extending portion extends toward an inside and an outside where the inside is a side where the opening exists with respect to the projection as a center, and the outside is an opposite side from the inside, and the length in an extending direction of the extending portion extending toward the inside is longer than the length in the extending direction of the extending portion extending toward the outside.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
According to the study of present inventors, with a container disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-10082, strength of adhesion can be adjusted to an extent that allows opening by a hand by adhering the lid member to a projection having a substantially cylindrical shape. However, according to a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-10082, it is difficult to achieve the strength of adhesion and easiness of separation of the lid member simultaneously. In other words, if the strength of adhesion is increased to hermetically close a depression, easy-to-open property is impaired and, in contrast, if the strength of adhesion is reduced for providing the easy-to-open property, hermeticity is impaired. In this manner, adjustment of the strength of adhesion is very difficult.
Accordingly, this disclosure provides a container which allows easy separation of a lid member when separating the lid member while increasing hermeticity of a depression of a container member.
Modes for carrying out this disclosure will be described below.
A portion IV in
In this disclosure, a configuration of the extending portion 14 provides a container which allows easy separation of a lid member when separating the lid member while increasing hermeticity of a depression of a container member. The configuration of the extending portion 14 will be described with reference to
Therefore, this disclosure employs a configuration in which the length in the direction of extension of the extending portion extending toward the inside is increased to secure the hermeticity, and the length in the direction of extension of the extending portion extending toward the outside is decreased or the extending portion extending toward the outside is eliminated.
Although a container having no extending portion extending toward the outside is illustrated in
The projection 6 can be provided continuously so as to extend along the entire circumference along the side wall portion 8. The extending portion can also be provided continuously so as to extend along the entire circumference along the side wall portion 8. In this configuration, stable adhesion is achieved.
The length of the extending portion extending toward the inside is preferably 0.2 mm or longer. A length of 0.2 mm or longer achieves the enhancement of the hermeticity of the depression. A length of 0.4 mm or more is more preferable. A length of 1.0 mm or shorter is preferable. The length of the extending portion extending toward the inside is a length of a portion indicated by C in
In contrast, the length of the extending portion extending toward the outside is preferably 0.15 mm or shorter. A length of 0.15 mm or shorter facilitates the separation of the lid member. The length of the extending portion extending toward the outside is a length of a portion indicated by D in
The thickness of the extending portion extending toward the inside is preferably 0.01 mm or longer. A thickness of 0.01 mm or longer achieves the enhancement of the hermeticity of the depression. A thickness of 0.1 mm or shorter is preferable. The thickness of 0.1 mm or shorter facilitates separation. The thickness of the extending portion extending toward the inside is a thickness (length) of a portion indicated by E in
With the provision of the extending portion of this disclosure as described above, a container which allows easy separation of a lid member when separating the lid member while increasing hermeticity of a depression of a container member. The extending portion of this configuration may be formed in any way. However, a method of adjusting the shape of the extending portion by adjusting the shape of the projection before adhesion will be described. As an example, the case where the shape of the projection before adhesion has a shape illustrated in
As illustrated in
The shape of the projection which allows the extending portion to extend to the inside easily will be studied from a different point of view. The shape of the projection described above is asymmetry in the lateral direction (the inside and outside direction), and is a shape in which a center (outer center) of a circumscribing circle of the projection is arranged on the outside of a center of gravity of the projection. In other words, as illustrated in
Based on the result of study described thus far, an example of the projection 6 before adhesion is illustrated in
The lid member 3 will be described. The lid member 3 has a flat portion which is adhered to the projection 6, so that adhesion is achieved further stably. The adhesion layer of the lid member 3 can have compatibility with the side wall portion 8 of the container member 2 during the adhesion. Therefore, the adhesion layer can be formed with the same type of material as the container member. In order to achieve a structure which promotes heat transfer during the adhesion, the lid member 3 of a sheet-type can be employed. The lid member of the sheet-type has a multilayer structure, and can include a printing layer and a gas barrier layer. Amorphous polypropylene can be arranged on the lowermost layer (the layer farthest from the base material 12). The amorphous polypropylene in the lowermost layer is compatible with the distal end of the projection of the container member during the adhesion, so that the stable adhesion is achieved. A transparent material as the lid member of the sheet-type can be employed because visibility of the interior of the container may be enhanced.
The projection 6 can be formed of crystalline polypropylene. Accordingly, the thermally deformed portion may be stayed in the vicinity of the original projection. The adhesion layer of the lid member can be formed of amorphous polypropylene as described above. With this combination of these members, fluidity of the adhesion layer may be enhanced to allow the adhesion layer to flow to the periphery of the extending portion, so that the adhesion between the extending portion and the adhesion layer may be enhanced.
The length and the thickness of the extending portion change according to the amount of the distal end of the projection 6 collapsed during adhesion. If the projection 6 is adhered deeply to the root, the extending portion becomes long and thick, and the strength of adhesion is also enhanced. In contrast, if the projection 6 is adhered shallowly near the distal end, the extending portion becomes short and thin, and the strength of adhesion is also weakened. Therefore, the length and the depth of the extending portion are easily adjustable if the height of the projection is set to 0.2 mm or longer. From the moldability point of view, the height of the projection can be set to 1.0 mm or smaller. The height of the projection corresponds to the length in a direction vertical to the lid member or the opening of the container member. The height of the projection corresponds to a length of the projection before adhesion to the lid member.
The width of the projection on the side wall portion side is preferably 0.2 mm or longer. If the width of the projection on the side wall portion side is 0.2 mm or larger, the functional separation of the extending portion between the inside and the outside thereof is easily achieved. The width of the projection on the side wall portion side can be set to 5.0 mm or smaller from the manufacturing point of view. The width of the projection on the side wall portion side corresponds to the width (length) of a portion indicated by a sign F in the projection 6 illustrated in
The method used in adhesion may be any method such as ultrasonic adhesion, vibration adhesion, thermal adhesion as long as the projection can be melted. Among others, the thermal adhesion system is preferable because temperature control and load control can be performed relatively easily. In the case where polypropylene is used as the projection, the adhesion horn is operated at a temperature from 8° C. to 15° C., and a load from 3N to 15N as a condition for achieving melting of this member. Accordingly, adhesion between the container member and the lid member is achieved. If the temperature is lower than 8° C. or if the load is smaller than 3N, adhesion may become insufficient without causing a sufficient compatibility. In contrast, if the temperature is higher than 15° C. or if the load is larger than 15N, excessive adhesion may occur and separation of the lid member may not be easy.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-183710 filed Sep. 9, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Claims
1. A container comprising:
- a container member including a bottom portion and a side wall portion extending from the bottom portion, and a depression formed in an area surrounded by the bottom portion and the side wall portion; and
- a lid member configured to adhere to the side wall portion to close an opening of the depression, wherein
- a projection is provided in an area of the side wall portion to be adhered to the lid member, part of the projection forms an extending portion extending along the lid member as a result of the adhesion, and
- the extending portion extends toward an inside and an outside where the inside is a side where the opening exists with respect to the projection as a center, and the outside is an opposite side from the inside, and the length in an extending direction of the extending portion extending toward the inside is longer than the length in the extending direction of the extending portion extending toward the outside.
2. The container according to claim 1, wherein the length of the extending portion extending toward the outside is 0.15 mm or shorter.
3. The container according to claim 1, wherein the length of the extending portion extending toward the inside is 0.2 mm or longer.
4. The container according to claim 1, wherein the length of the extending portion extending toward the inside is 1.0 mm or shorter.
5. The container according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the extending portion extending toward the inside is 0.01 mm or larger.
6. The container according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the extending portion extending toward the inside is 0.1 mm or smaller.
7. The container according to claim 1, wherein the projection before being subjected to adhesion has an R-shape on the outside thereof.
8. The container according to claim 1, wherein the lid member has a base material and an adhesion layer, and the projection before being subjected to adhesion has a relationship of θ1>θ2 where θ1 is an angle formed between a straight line which connects a point on the root side, which is one of points inside the projection, and a point on the base material side and the base material and θ2 is an angle formed between a straight line which connects a point on the root side, which is one of points outside the projection, and a point on the base material side and the base material.
9. The container according to claim 1, wherein the projection before being subjected to adhesion has a shape in which a center of a circumscribing circuit of the projection is arranged on the outside of a center of gravity of the projection.
10. A container comprising:
- a container member including a bottom portion and a side wall portion extending from the bottom portion, and a depression formed in an area surrounded by the bottom portion and the side wall portion; and
- a lid member configured to adhere to the side wall portion to close an opening of the depression, wherein
- a projection is provided in an area of the side wall portion to be adhered to the lid member, part of the projection forms an extending portion extending along the lid member as a result of the adhesion, and
- the extending portion extends only toward an inside where the inside is a side where the opening exists with respect to the projection as a center, and an outside is an opposite side from the inside.
11. The container according to claim 10, wherein the length of the extending portion extending toward the inside is 0.2 mm or longer.
12. The container according to claim 10, wherein the length of the extending portion extending toward the inside is 1.0 mm or shorter.
13. The container according to claim 10, wherein the thickness of the extending portion extending toward the inside is 0.01 mm or larger.
14. The container according to claim 10, wherein the thickness of the extending portion extending toward the inside is 0.1 mm or smaller.
15. The container according to claim 10, wherein the projection before being subjected to adhesion has an R-shape on the outside thereof.
16. The container according to claim 10, wherein the lid member has a base material and an adhesion layer, and the projection before being subjected to adhesion has a relationship of θ1>θ2 where θ1 is an angle formed between a straight line which connects a point on the root side, which is one of points inside the projection, and a point on the base material side and the base material and θ2 is an angle formed between a straight line which connects a point on the root side, which is one of points outside the projection, and a point on the base material side and the base material.
17. The container according to claim 10, wherein the projection before being subjected to adhesion has a shape in which a center of a circumscribing circuit of the projection is arranged on the outside of a center of gravity of the projection.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 4, 2015
Publication Date: Mar 10, 2016
Inventors: Toshiaki Kaneko (Tokyo), Tsubasa Takaoka (Tokyo), Ryo Shimamura (Yokohama-shi)
Application Number: 14/846,572