EP0630765A2 - Paint container with optimal emptying - Google Patents

Abstract

The proposal of the invention is that a container for paints be so designed that it can be emptied of residues more easily, reliably and completely than is the case with conventional containers. The containers to which the invention refers are those for paints, surface coatings or other viscous contents. In order to achieve this objective, the invention envisages a base (1) which is connected to a container wall (10), which is closed (at the top) by a removable lid (11). The base (1) has a defined region (2) which is lowered in comparison with the remaining base region (residual base) towards the median axis of the container wall (10). The lowered region has at least one removal aperture (4; 4a, 4b, 4c), which is closed in the filled state of the container. It can however easily be opened, especially when the container has been emptied by use. In conjunction with this proposal, an apparatus is also shown whereby a base (1) can be produced which permits (virtually) complete emptying of a paint container. A method is also described whereby a container for viscous contents can be completely or virtually completely emptied of residues. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention is concerned with the residual emptying of containers, in particular paint containers, such as paint cans, paint cans, such buckets or canisters. It also relates to containers made of metal or plastic, including those made from combination wrap materials.

The paints and varnishes stored and transported in such containers belong to the viscous contents, which are difficult to remove completely from a container due to internal fuselage adhesion. It is only possible to clean the inside walls of such a paint or lacquer container with a brush and thus remove the last remnants of the viscous content from the container. But even with this possibility of removing the last remnant of paint or varnish one will only get an unsatisfactory cleaning of the inner wall. Alternatively, the containers can be overturned, in which case they must remain in an overturned state for a long time in order to collect the remaining paint or lacquer from all the inner walls, however, complete emptying cannot be achieved because the mouth geometry of the lid area (lid ring) prevents it that the remains of the paint can drain through the upper opening.

Therefore, the invention faced the task of achieving a complete or almost complete emptying of containers that were filled with paint, varnish or other viscous contents.

This is achieved with a technical teaching according to claim 1; it is also achieved with the technical teaching of claim 14 or 15.

The bottom of the container is given a delimited area which is lowered compared to the rest of the bottom area. In the lowered area, a removal opening is provided which is closed when the container is filled. However, it can be opened easily, especially after extensive emptying of a container by use (Claim 1). If this opening is opened, the remainder of the paint or varnish collected in the lowered floor area flows out through this opening on the floor side. If the container is placed on the subsequent container (subsequent container), reliable residual emptying is achieved without a user constantly holding the container to be emptied in a certain position (claim 14). The upper container that empties in this way remains on the subsequent container (below) until the complete emptying has been carried out completely or almost completely. It is not necessary to clean the inside with a brush or topple the container.

A floor which is suitable for a method according to the invention (claim 15) or the container according to the invention (claim 1) can be produced with a manufacturing device according to the invention (claim 14). The manufacturing device has a press ram that lowers a partial area of the base relative to the residual base. Alternatively, a punching or cutting punch can be provided, which introduces the opening into the lowered portion of the floor, or a scoring anvil can be used, which impresses a scoring line - which is closed in itself - into the lowered portion. The press die can be combined with the punching or cutting die, and the press die can also be combined with the scoring anvil, so that only one operation is required.

The complete or almost complete residual emptying is based on the combination of a lower-lying floor area and an outflow opening arranged therein. This outflow opening is regularly closed in the normal state (filled state) of the container and is only opened when the container is to be emptied completely.

At the same time, the residual emptying can also be used to mix a plurality of colors. Here, the residual emptying is carried out as a full emptying, which allows an almost complete emptying of the entire contents of a container, namely in a subsequent container in which one Majority of paints or varnishes can be mixed. The tedious overturning and the removal of paint through the lid-side opening for mixing is avoided in this way. With the invention, therefore, not only can a container be emptied completely, so that the rest in the container can be completely used for further use, but also a full or almost full container - for mixing purposes - can be emptied so far that no significant amounts of paint or varnish are left remain in the container.

With the better residual emptying (also: full emptying) of the containers, the invention also makes it possible to use the residual contents of a paint container that have not been used until now.

The invention also reduces the environmental problem, since the empty containers only contain insignificant amounts of environmentally harmful substances.

With the invention, the evaporation effect is also suppressed, since a covered follow-up container - covered with the container to be emptied - can only release small amounts of its gases, which are harmful to the environment and endanger the human mucous membrane.

With the invention, the risk of spilling when mixing or emptying is avoided.

Finally, the invention also simplifies the mixing of paints and further reduces the health-damaging risks at a painter's workplace.

The lowered floor area can have a round shape (claim 2). The delimited - also: round - recessed floor area can be arranged off-center (claim 3). It can have a size which corresponds to just half of the bottom diameter, so that the off-center lowered bottom area fits between the middle of the container and the edge of the container is (claim 3).

The lowered area can have different geometric cross sections (claim 4, claim 6, claim 7).

The opening provided in the lowered area can be closed with a plastic stopper (claim 6). The lowered area can be provided in whole or in part with a tear-open cover (claim 7), which tear-open cover can have a tear-open tab which is arranged with the nose as close as possible to the bottom edge. The tear-open area can relate to the entire lowered area, it can also relate to a partial area of the lowered area (claim 8, claim 9), in particular if the lowered area has a frustoconical shape in which the lowest circular area of the frustum cone can be designed as a tear-open cover ( Claim 9 in conjunction with claim 5).

The opening can be designed as a small opening (claim 10), which is closed with a tear film. The tear film can have a tear tab with which the tear film can be pulled off the floor (claim 10, claim 11). To secure the strength, the tear-open tab around the opening can be dimensioned sufficiently so that the sealed or glued tear-open film can reliably close the (small) opening (claim 12).

If the lowered area of the bottom is designed in the form of a cone or truncated cone, the outflow effect of the viscous content improves downwards (claim 4, claim 5).

The opening through which the container can be completely or almost completely emptied can either be opened directly from below (claim 5, claim 7, claim 10), but it can also be pierced indirectly from above, for example with a brush, a stick or a screwdriver (claim 5, claim 10).

A damping shoulder can run around the lowered area (claim 13). It is designed as an annular step, the flat ring section of which comes to lie in the axial direction between the level of the rest of the base and the level of the lowered base area. The ring-shoulder has damping and stabilizing functions with regard to the lowered floor area.

The G 91 13 667.9 already shows a packaging container with a cover ring and cover, which deals with the problem of residual emptying. This finding suggests that the (entire) floor be designed as a tear-open floor (full-open floor). For this purpose, the bottom is fastened to the fuselage with a double fold and raised towards the center of the tank. This protects the pull tab attached to the bottom. It can be used to tear open the entire base - or a part of it - (there number 8 in FIG. 2 and number 20 in FIG. 3) in order to carry out the residual emptying. The rest of the filling material is easily removed after the tear-open bottom has been opened through the bottom opening created in this way, the container becomes drip-free and can be fed to normal scrap recycling (there page 2 below, page 3 above). It is emphasized that it is important for this site to greatly reduce the stability of the container after removal of the base part in order to easily generate disposal cases flattened with a footstep. This is clearly illustrated on page 6 below, where the remaining packaging container (drip-free) is pressed ("collapsed") laterally onto the fuselage by means of a footstep.

This objective is foreign to the present invention because it just wants to maintain the stability of the container, since only a stable container can be placed on a subsequent container in order to empty itself into the subsequent container in a reasonable period of time. The problem of how to dispose of the entire floor that has been separated off and that still contains a considerable amount of paint is also not addressed in the site or paint residues. It still finds its place in the highly polluted scrap, which cannot be used for normal scrap recycling.

These drawbacks of the mentioned reference avoids the present invention, by providing only a portion of the soil for the residual emptying and this portion relative to the rest floor lowers to facilitate emptying and to reduce the bottom portion which is cut out in its face.

• Figuren 1 bis 3 veranschaulichen ein erstes Ausführungsbeispiel;
• Figuren 4 bis 6 veranschaulichen ein zweites Ausführungsbeispiel;
• Figuren 7 bis 9 veranschaulichen ein drittes Ausführungsbeispiel;
• Figuren 10 bis 12 veranschaulichen ein viertes
  Ausführungsbeispiel.

Some execution examples of the invention are intended to explain and deepen the principle.

• Figures 1 to 3 illustrate a first embodiment;
• Figures 4 to 6 illustrate a second embodiment;
• Figures 7 to 9 illustrate a third embodiment;
• Figures 10 to 12 illustrate a fourth
  Embodiment.

Figure 1 shows the side view of a first embodiment of the invention. The container has a top lid 11 which is inserted in a lid ring which is attached to the fuselage wall 10 with a (known) double fold. A handle 12 is used for easier transportation of the container. The fuselage wall 10 is circular in the exemplary embodiment, as can be seen from the top view in FIG. 2. The relevant design of the floor area can be seen in a side view from FIG. 1 and is illustrated in a top view (view into the container) in FIG . A section of the lowered floor area 2 of the entire floor 1 is shown in a side view in FIG . 3 .

The entire floor 1 is fastened to the fuselage wall 10 with a double fold 10a. A circular recess 2 is introduced into the base region 1 with a circumferential protective bead 6a. The recess is a few millimeters, it can be made depending on the indentation of the bottom 1 into the interior of the container, which is largely determined by the mirror edge bead 10b (leveling bead) surrounding the bottom.

A small opening 4a - small in relation to the depression 2 of the floor area 1 - is arranged in the lowered area 2. This opening 4a is sealed or glued on Tear film 5a closed. The tear film 5a can have a tab 5e, on which it can be pulled off the floor directly. The remaining content of the container 10 then flows through the opening 4a if it is left to stand on a subsequent container for a while, depending on the viscosity of the remaining content. A large part of the residual content has already found its way into the lower-lying floor area; after some time, residual content still held in the container by the inner wall of the fuselage collects in the lowered floor area.

As an alternative to pulling off the tear film 5a via the pull tab 5e, the container can first be placed on the subsequent container and the opening 4a can be pierced from above with a long, possibly pointed object. In this way it is also possible to set up a full container or a filled container on another container and to open the opening 4a from above (through the color content) in order to completely empty the container. The complete emptying can be advantageous for mixing purposes, since it depends on a precisely metered amount, which is precisely defined by the container content. A clean, drip-free and spotless mixing of different colors is possible.

For better orientation, the depression can be slightly conical so that it has a central low point. The central low point can be designed as a central low plateau, which creates a truncated cone shape of the lowered area. Then the long, pointed object, with which the bottom of the outlet opening 4a is opened through the opaque content, is better guided. When arranged as a truncated cone, the sealed film finds better hold on the deep plateau.

The lowered area 2 is less than ¼ of the floor area 1; if it is chosen too small, the color collection in it takes too long; if it is too large, the container with an open bottom area loses stability too much.

Figures 4 to 6 show a further embodiment of the invention - following the same principle. Here, a circular floor area 2 is also lowered in the overall floor 1, specifically via an inclined shoulder 6b. In the lowered area 2 - the center of the lowered area is shown - an opening 4b is provided, which is closed with a plastic stopper 5b. The plastic plug 5b has a larger collar on the outside, since it is grafted into the opening 4b from the outside (from below). This plastic stopper 5b can now also be opened (directly) from above with a long tool (indirectly) or from below - with a slight inclination of the almost empty container standing on the next container. In both cases, the residual emptying is only a matter of time.

The lowered area 2 is significantly smaller than the total floor 1; clearly less than ¼ of the floor area.

Figures 7 to 9 are an embodiment in which a flat portion 2 of the entire floor 1 (flat) is lowered. The rest of the floor is in the first level, the lowered section 2 in a second, lower level.

In the lowered bottom area, a small opening 4c is provided, which is covered with a film 5a, 5e, the tear tab 5e of which protrudes somewhat (laterally) over the lowered area 2.

A shoulder 8, consisting of two ring-shaped, approximately perpendicular ring sections 8b, 8c and a flat, approximately horizontal ring section 8a, runs between the lowered partial area and the residual base. The ring shoulder 8 thus fulfills a damping and stabilization task for the lowered floor area 2, which remains axially easily movable.

The plane in which the ring section 8a lies is approximately parallel to the planes of the residual floor 1 and the lowered floor area 2.

The ring shoulder is preferably asymmetrical in the axial direction, with a somewhat shorter section 8c near the lowered floor area and a somewhat (axially) longer section 8b near the residual floor 1.

The width of the step 8a is small compared to the diameter of the lowered area 2, but is nevertheless a clearly recognizable step.

According to FIGS. 10, 11, 12 , the bottom-side opening of the container 10 can also be brought about in such a way that the tear-open area - which defines the opening 4c and is defined by the scoring line 6f - relates to a partial area of the bottom. This section can be lowered. The opening 4c is only a small area. In the case of a truncated cone as a lowering cross section (FIG. 12), the tear area 4c can be made approximately as large as the low-lying plateau of the truncated cone pointing downward. The oblique ring area 4d runs between the plateau 4c and the residual bottom, as the jacket of the lowered truncated cone.

It is also possible to design the entire residual base 1 in the shape of a truncated cone (indicated in FIG. 12), so that a deep-lying collecting point - potential sink - is formed in the center, in which all the remaining contents of the paint container 10 can collect. At this point, the outflow opening 4c, 4a or 4b - in short: 4 - is provided, which simply allows emptying into the subsequent container.

This variant therefore has two concentric truncated cone cross-sections, the inner one being separable.

The invention proposes to design a container for colors so that it can be emptied more easily, reliably and completely than is the case with previous containers. The invention addresses containers as those for paints, lacquers or other viscous contents. In order to achieve this goal, the invention provides a base (1) which is connected to a container wall (10) which (above) is closed with a removable cover (11). The bottom (1) has a delimited area (2) which is lowered in the direction of the central axis of the container wall (10) in relation to the rest of the bottom area (residual bottom). The lowered area has at least one removal opening (4; 4a, 4b, 4c) which is closed when the container is full. However, it can be opened easily, especially if the container has been emptied by use.

In connection with this proposal, a device is also shown, with which a base (1) can be produced, which allows (almost) complete emptying of a paint container.

A method is also set out with which a container for viscous contents can be completely or almost completely emptied.

Claims (15)

Containers for paints, with a bottom (1), a container wall (10) and a removable lid (11); in which (a) the bottom (1) has a delimited area (2) which is lowered relative to the remaining bottom area (residual bottom) - in the direction of the central axis of the container wall (10); (b) the lowered area (2) has at least one removal opening (4; 4a, 4b, 4c), which is closed when the container is full, but can be opened easily, especially after the container has been emptied. A container according to claim 1, wherein the defined area (2) is substantially round. Container according to Claim 1 or 2, in which the delimited area (2) in the base (1) is arranged off-center, in particular between the base center and the container wall (11). Container according to one of the preceding claims, in which the lowered, delimited region (2) of the base (1) has the shape of a truncated cone or pointed cone pointing downward in the container cross section. Container according to Claim 4, in which a closed opening (4) is provided at the lower end of the truncated cone, which can be opened directly from below or which can be penetrated indirectly (with an elongated aid) from above - through the cover-side (11) container opening. Container according to one of the preceding claims, in which the removal opening (4; 4b) is closed with a plastic stopper (5b), in particular a round stopper with two collars - of different diameters - and an intermediate circumferential trough which, in the closed state, on the inner edges of the Opening (4b) is present. Container according to one of Claims 1 to 5, in which the removal opening (4; 4c) is the bottom area (2) or part of the bottom area (2), which part or which bottom area is delimited by a scoring line (6f), determined by tearing, the bottom area (2) or partial area delimited by the scoring line (6f) in particular has a tear-open tab (6d, 6e, 6e) which is fastened in the tear-off area with a rivet (7) and with a nose (6c) on the scoring line ( 6f) or close to the scratch line. Container according to one of claims 1 to 7, in which the tear-open bottom area, delimited by a scoring line (6f), is the lowered area (2). A container according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the deepest flat area of the downward-pointing truncated cone is the part of the base which is torn open. Container according to one of Claims 1 to 5, in which the lowered region (2) has a (smaller) opening (4; 4a) which is closed with a tear-open film - in particular a metal film (5a, 5e). Container according to Claim 10, in which the tear-open film (5a) has a tear-open tab (5e), on which it can be removed from the lowered region (2) of the base (1), in particular by gripping a handle end (5e) which projects radially beyond the lowered base region. . Container according to one of claims 10 or 11, in which the tear-open film (5a) is sealed or glued onto the lowered region (2), being sufficiently dimensioned around the opening (4a) to ensure a secure seal. Container according to one of the preceding claims, in which a shoulder section (8; 8a, 8b, 8c) is arranged circumferentially between the lowered bottom region (2) and the residual bottom, said shoulder section being in the form of an annular step (8a) in a plane between the lowered bottom (2) and residual floor (1). Device for producing the bottom (1) of an (almost) completely empty container (10); (a) with a press ram that lowers a partial area (2) of the bottom (1) of the container (10) relative to the remaining bottom; (b) with a punching or cutting punch, which creates an opening (4; 4a, 4b) in the lowered portion (2); or (c) with an embossing stamp (scoring anvil) which impresses a scoring line (6c) into the lowered partial area (2) of the base (1). Process for emptying a container for viscous contents, in which (a) the container (1) largely emptied by use is placed on a subsequent container of the same diameter; (b) an opening (4; 4a, 4b, 4c) recessed in the bottom of the container (1) is opened or pierced from above after the container has been largely emptied; (c) the container (1) remains on the subsequent container until the (upper) container (1) largely emptied by use is almost completely or completely emptied into the subsequent container.

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