EP0957734A1

EP0957734A1 - Holder for flowers and the like

Info

Publication number: EP0957734A1
Application number: EP98900463A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Johannes Bakermans
Original assignee: Macek Technika BV
Current assignee: Macek Technika BV
Priority date: 1997-01-10
Filing date: 1998-01-09
Publication date: 1999-11-24
Also published as: NL1004972C2; WO1998030137A1; AU5500098A

Abstract

Holder, for example for flowers, comprising a foot, from which the actual holder extends upwards, in the position of use. The holder wall consists of an elastomer which has a stiffness which is such that the wall retains its shape at room temperature. On the other hand, this material is sufficiently flexible for it to be possible to impart different shapes to the holder depending on the wishes of the user. Particularly if the holder wall is folded over, it is advantageous to make the holder conical.

Description

Holder for flowers and the like

The present invention relates to a holder in accordance with the preamble of Claim 1. French patent 2,651,663 discloses a holder which is produced by folding a rectangular blank of relatively rigid material to form a "cornet" and reducing the volume of a holder of this kind by separating material parts. This is done by providing loop-like projections, these parts being fastened to one another by melting or adhesive bonding. The material used is a relatively rigid plastic, and a holder of this kind is provided at the top with one or more eyelets for hanging it from the wall or in a hanging device designed specially for this purpose.

This holder is designed in the above way in order to obtain a decorative effect. The holder can be deformed to a limited extent and in the filled state will always assume the same shape. Swifs patent 287,163 discloses a holder with a wall made of vulcanized rubber. This description does not give any dimensions for the wall thicknesses, but it can be concluded from the drawing that the wall thicknesses will be above 5 mm. The flexibility of the holder is important only for preventing breakage. This holder too will always assume the same shape in the filled state.

The object of the present invention is to provide a holder which on the one hand is decorative and which on the other hand makes it possible to realize numerous different shapes, i.e. so that the holder or vase according to the invention can be made shorter or longer depending on the stem length and the flowers to be accommodated; furthermore, if so desired by the user, the holder or vase may have a different appearance.

This object is achieved with the holder described above by means of the characterizing features of Claim 1. By providing the top part with an essentially uniform wall thickness, the holder is easy to fold over and possibly even fold over again. In the case of a holder which has a substantial wall thickness and in which moreover this wall thickness increases considerably from the top towards the underside of the holder, it is scarcely possible to fold the holder over in this way. The same applies to the design shown in British patent 1,034,018. Building the holder up from offset parts means that it is impossible to fold the wall over.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, as seen in the vertical direction of the holder, approximately the top third of the holder wall has a thickness of between 1 and 4 mm and the bottom third of the holder wall has a thickness of at least 3 mm. By making the top part of the wall relatively thin, it is easy to fold it over. The bottom third needs to be considerably thicker, in order to prevent the pressure exerted by the stem parts from pushing the wall of the vase outwards, i.e. so as to avoid bulges being produced at irregular locations.

The invention is based on the insight of designing the holder wall in such a manner that, on the one hand, it has a stable shape at room temperature but, on the other hand, it can be folded over, i.e. the part in the region of the free end of the holder can be turned over downwards in the position of use and if appropriate can then be turned over again upwards. The use of an elastomer having the above-described properties makes it possible to reverse such folding while leaving hardly any traces. This is in contrast to holders made of cardboard and other materials. For example, if the holder in accordance with the French patent 2,651,663 were to be folded over, which in principle is not possible, owing to the presence of the hanging eyelets in its top part, a fold line will always remain in the rigid plastic material. The present invention avoids this and makes it possible to fold over the top edge in any desired manner, i.e. straight or at an angle.

It was indicated above that the flexible material comprises an elastomer. This preferably comprises a thermoplastic elastomer. This may be any thermoplastic elastomer which is known from the prior art, such as EPDM rubbers, SBR, types of acrylonitrile rubber, types of acrylonitrile- butadiene-styrene rubber (terpolymers) , block copolymers (styrene- butadiene), polybutadiene and polyisoprene. Such materials may, if necessary, be provided with fillers, in order to provide sufficient stiffness and colorants may be present for decorative effect. Moreover, these materials may be present in sufficient quantity to allow injection- moulding, so that a product of this kind can be produced in large series in a particularly efficient and cost-effective manner.

The above-described folding of the top edge of the holder is facilitated further, and in particular the folded-over position is stabilized further, if the internal circumference of the holder decreases towards the foot. This is achieved, for example, if the holder is of conical design. In such a case, folding over is possible in a particularly simple manner.

In order to provide the holder with sufficient stiffness, the holder wall has a thickness of preferably at least 1.0 mm.

In contrast to the design shown in French patent 2,651,663, the internal circumference of the holder is uninterrupted, i.e. where the French patent brings together and adhesively bonds parts of material, in the present application a continuous shape is obtained, so that the outer circumference essentially corresponds to the inner circumference of the holder.

The foot which is used with the holder may comprise any design known from the prior art which provides sufficient stability. The foot may be integral with the holder, but may also be separately joined thereto. The foot can also be produced by injection-moulding, optionally at the same time as the holder.

The holder wall is made more stable if its wall thickness increases from the free end in the direction towards the foot piece. The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodime_*ιt depicted in the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a side view of a cross-section through a preferred embodiment of the holder with foot according to the invention in a first, unfolded position; Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the holder in accordance with Fig. 1 in a second, folded position of use.

In Fig. 1, a vase is denoted overall by 1. It comprises a top part with holder wall 2 and a bottom part or foot piece 3. In the case of the embodiment now shown, foot piece 3 is produced separately from the top part or holder and is attached to the holder after production or after it is received at the point of sale. To do this, the foot piece 3 is provided with a cavity 6 which acco odates the bottom end of the holder wall 2. Holder wall 2 may be closed on the underside, but may also be open, in which case the join with foot piece 3 seals the holder with respect to the surroundings. It is also possible to produce parts 2 and 3 as one component, for example by injection-moulding.

On the top side, holder wall 2 delimits an opening 5 for the introduction of, for example, water and flowers. It can be seen from Fig. 1 that the holder wall has a slightly thickened part 4 in the region of its bottom end. This provides further stability and strength. Its thickness lies in the range from 3-7 mm and is preferably 3.5 mm. The unthickened part of the holder wall 2 has a thickness of between 1 and 4 mm, and more particularly of approximately 2 mm. The top third of the holder has an essentially constant wall thickness. This allows folding to take place in a simple manner. "Essentially constant" is obviously to be understood as encompassing slight variations, but with the narrowing of the wall thickness clearly differing from that which is shown in Swiss patent 287, 163. Fig. 2 shows the holder in accordance with Fig. 1 in a perspective view, with the top edge partly folded over towards the lower part of the holder wall 2. It should be understood that this top edge is not a narrowly defined part. The height of the folded-over edge which is indicated by 10, as well as its shape, can be varied depending on the wishes of the user. The flowers arranged in the vase formed in this way are denoted by 9.

Since the holder wall comprises a thermoplastic elastomeric material, both the shape shown in Fig. 1 and that shown in Fig. 2 are stable. The material used for the holder wall 2 consists of one continuous part which is free of joining seems, is elastic, flexible and rubbery. Moreover, it has sufficient stiffne s to retain its shape at room temperature. The material may be generally defined as a thermoplastic elastomer.

Although the invention is described above with reference to a preferred embodiment, the person skilled in the art, on reading through the above text, will come up with variant embodiments which lie within the scope of the appended claims.

It should also be understood that the above-described holder can be used not only to hold flowers, but also to accommodate any other object or product.

Claims

1. Holder (1) for flowers (9) and the like, comprising a holder wall made of flexible material, which holder is provided on the underside with a foot, and the flexible material comprising an elastomer which has a stiffness which is such that this wall retains its shape at room temperature, characterized in that, as seen in the vertical direction of the holder, approximately the top third of the holder wall has a substantially constant thickness.

2. Holder (1) for flowers (9) and the like, comprising a holder wall made of flexible material, which holder is provided on the underside with a foot, and the flexible material comprising an elastomer which has a stiffness which is such that this wall retains its shape at room temperature, characterized in that the top part (10) of the holder wall is folded over downwards towards the remaining upright part of the holder wall.

3. Holder according to one of the preceding clains, in which, as seen in the vertical direction of the holder, approximately the top third of the holder wall has a thickness of between 1 and 4 mm and the bottom third of the holder wall has a thickness of at least 3 mm.

4. Holder according to one of the preceding claims, in which the elastomeric material comprises a thermoplastic elastomer.

5. Holder according to one of the preceding claims, in which the internal circumference of the holder comprises an uninterrupted piece of flexible material.

6. Holder according to one of the preceding claims, in which the thickness of the holder wall is at least 1.0 mm.

7. Holder according to one of the preceding claims, in which the internal circumference of the holder in the region of the free end (5) is greater than the internal circumference in the region of the foot (3).

8. Holder according to Claim 7, in which the holder is conical.

9. Holder according to one of the preceding claims, in which the foot is a separate component which is connected to the holder.

10. Holder according to one of the preceding claims, in which the holder and/or foot comprises a component which is produced by injection- moulding.