AU2005232328A1 - A container lid - Google Patents

Description

TITLE OF THE INVENTION

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A CONTAINER LID Z BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION This invention relates to a lid for a container, particularly a lid that folds to enable 00 easy opening and closing.

The use of plastic containers, especially round plastic containers, has become more S 10 and more widespread in the food, chemical, medical and petrochemical industries among others. They are suited for the carrying not only of liquid materials, but also for the carrying of granule or powdered solid materials.

For easier storage or transportation purposes, people often cover plastic containers with equal-sized plastic lids to prevent the loss or contamination of the contents and to prevent the contents contaminating other items.

In most cases, commonly seen plastic container lids are constructed with four cover locks positioned at the front, rear, left and right of the lid, with a safety seal along its side. When they are used, the lid with the safety seal and cover locks are positioned in place on top of the opening of a plastic container containing the material; when the stored material is to be removed from the container, the lid's safety seal is first pulled off to expose the hidden cover locks on the lid side, and then the four cover locks positioned at the front, rear, left and right positions are pried off in order to remove the lid.

However, using container lids constructed as described above is very inconvenient in a number of ways. The operation of opening the lid from and closing the lid onto the container in particular becomes more tedious when the material in the container cannot be used all at once and needs to be used repeatedly.

In addition, as lid tops are most often designed as flat surfaces, when a number of containers are stacked on top of each other and transported, they are likely to slide or even fall over when the transportation vehicle brakes or starts off. Thus, it can be seen that there is still ample room for improvement in the design of the current plastic container lid.

00 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

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S 10 Is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a lid for containers that (Ni offers easy opening and closing and stable stacking.

Broadly according to one aspect of the invention there is provided a lid for a container suitable for placing on top of the opening of the container, the lid has a folding line hinge, this line divides the lid into front and rear parts, and thus enable the front part to open and close using the folding line hinge.

Preferably, the lid surface has a raised platform, within which there is a recessed area and the structure design of the base of the container dovetails with the structure of the aforementioned raised platform and the recessed area to help the containers remain stable when stacked on top of each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the following more detailed description of the invention according to preferred embodiments, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a lid incorporating the invention, Figure 2 is a top plan view of the lid shown in Figure 1.

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Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the lid along line A-A shown in Z figure 2, Figure 4 is a side elevation of the lid of figure 1, and 00 Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the lid of figure 1.

S 10 DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE

INVENTION

According to one embodiment of the invention there is provided a lid for a container, a folding line hinge in the lid divides the lid into front and rear parts. The front part of the lid can be easily opened and closed using the folding line hinge. The lid body is also equipped with a raised platform and a recessed area, so that when many containers are stacked together, the containers will not slide or shift during transportation.

Please refer to Figure 1 which is an exploded perspective view of one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention.

The lid of the present invention is suited for covering the opening of a container (which is not shown in the drawing). In the present embodiment, the lid is exemplary of a circular-shaped plastic lid and is designed with a folding line hinge which divides up the lid into two parts, a front lid (12) and a rear lid On the side of the front lid (12) and the rear lid respectively, a cover lock (the figure here only shows the cover lock (11) of the front lid may be further incorporated in the design and can be used to lock down on the container's opening.

In terms of the present embodiment, a folding line hinge (1 5) is positioned at the base of a groove (14) on the lid and the front lid (12) can be opened and closed C-i along the folding line hinge The above-mentioned groove (14) can be a Vshaped groove or a groove of some other shape, and the included angle of the Z groove (14) can be designed based on the degree to which the front lid (12) needs to be opened (in this present embodiment, the groove is designed at an included angle of 120 degrees).

00 SIn addition, along the perimeter of the lid there is a safety seal which is (Ni n connected to the lid when manufactured. To facilitate viewing, the lid and the 10 safety seal are drawn separately in the present drawing. In use, the user can first (Ni pull off the safety seal along the direction marked by the down arrow, and then lift up the front lid (11) along the direction marked by the arrow angled up.

Please refer to Figure 2 which is a top plan view of the present embodiment. The size of the rear lid (1 3) in the present embodiment is about one third of the whole lid Of course, anyone familiar with the art will appreciate that the front lid (12) and rear lid (1 3) of the present utility model can each take up half of the lid or be sized at some other ratio.

Please refer to Figures 3 and 4 concurrently. Both ends of the groove (14) are connected to the safety seal and one end (or both ends) of the groove (14) can be connected to the designed connection point (31) on the safety seal, thus forming a safety seal opening between the groove (14) and the safety seal In use, the user only needs to use a tool (such as a pair of scissors), or their bare hands to break the connection point (31) on the safety seal and then easily pull off the safety seal Please refer to Figure 5. After the safety seal has been pulled off as described above, the user can then grab hold of the cover lock (11) in order to open the front lid (1 In addition, the inside of the cover lock (11) may be designed with a slightly outward-pointing declining surface as shown in the drawing to further facilitate the

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action of opening or closing the front lid Furthermore, on the circular edge where the inside bottom of the lid meets the inside side of the lid there may Zbe designed multiple strengthening strips (18) in order to boost the structural strength of the lid 00 SPlease refer to Figures 1 to 4. On the surface of the lid a raised platform (16) may be designed with, for example, the size of the raised platform (16) being smaller than the surface area of the lid Furthermore, on the raised platform (16) a recessed area (1 7) may be designed, which, for example, may be in the center of the (Ni raised platform On the bottom of the same model of container there may be designed a shape that corresponds to the raised platform (16) and the recessed area (17) on the lid Thus, when multiple containers are stacked on top of each other, use can be made of how the raised platform (16) and the recessed area (17) on the lid fit tightly with the bottom of the container, and so sliding or shifting of the containers stacked on the top layers during transportation can be avoided.

Based on the above description, the lid of the container of the present invention has at least the following advantages: The lid has a folding line hinge design that enables an easy opening and closing action while the lid remains on the container.

The lid has the design of a raised platform and a recessed area, together with a corresponding design on the bottom of a container in order to increase the stability of stacked containers.

The lid has a number of functional attributes, including a one-off safety feature, and being foldable and stackable. It also provides a tight seal, and can be used repeatedly.

The above description is merely the preferred embodiment of the present invention and may not be used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

ZThat is, all the various forms and modifications following from the claims of the present patent application shall all still fall within the scope of the patent of this new product.

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Claims (13)

1. A container lid suitable for placing on top of the opening of a container, wherein said lid has a folding line hinge to divide the said lid into a front lid and a rear lid, said front lid being able to be opened and closed using said folding line hinge.

2. A container lid as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the design of the said lid further includes a groove, and the said folding line hinge is situated at the bottom of said groove.

3. A container lid as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the said groove is substantially V-shaped.

4. A container lid as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the included angle of the said groove is 120 degrees.

A container lid as claimed in Claim 2 which further includes a safety seal provided along the perimeter of said lid.

6. A container lid as claimed in Claim 5 wherein both ends of said groove are connected to said safety seal, and one end of said groove where connected to the said safety seal has a safety seal opening.

7. A container lid as claimed in Claim 5, wherein both ends of said groove are connected to said safety seal, and both ends of said groove where connected to said safety seal have a safety seal opening respectively.

8. A container lid as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said lid has a raised platform on its upper surface.

9. A container lid as claimed in Claim 8, wherein there is a groove in the raised platform.

A container lid as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the said lid has multiple strengthening strips on its circular edge where its inside bottom meets its inside side.

11. A container lid as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the sides of said front lid and said rear lid having a cover lock respectively.

12. A container lid for sealing a container substantially as herein described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

13. A container lid and container combination wherein the lid is as described in any one of Claims 1 to 12. DATED this fifteenth day of November 2005 NEU-TECH LIMITED PATENT ATTORNEYS FOR THE APPLICANT DON HOPKINS ASSOCIATES 00 (N