ES1103733U - Container to conserve products in the absence of air (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Container for preserving products in the absence of air comprising [a] a hollow main body (2) with a base (4), an upper edge (6) and a side wall (8) extending between said base (4) and said upper edge (6), [b] a cover (10) mounted slidably fitted on the inner perimeter of said side wall (8) of said main body (2) so that said lid (10) and said main body (2) delimit an interior volume (100) variable, [c] further presenting said cover (10), a cavity (12) with a lower air passage (14) and an upper air passage (16), and [d] a hollow buoy (18) mounted in said cavity (12), movably between a position remote from said upper air passage (16) that allows the entry and exit of air and a sealing position of said upper passage (16) that prevents the entry and exit of air, Characterized because [e] because a first end (22) of said buoy (18) has a shape complementary to said upper air passage (16), and [f] because said buoy (18) comprises fastening means (20) that protrude through said upper air passage (16) of said cover (10) and that are operable by tension or compression so that from said position of said shutter (18) can be respectively carried to a blocking position or to said position remote from said upper air passage (16). (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)

Description

Container to conserve products in the absence of air

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a container for preserving products in the absence of air comprising a hollow main body with a base, an upper edge and a side wall extending between said base and said upper edge, a sliding mounted lid fitted tightly on the inner perimeter of said side wall of said main body such that said lid and said main body delimit a variable inner volume, said lid also having a cavity with a lower air passage and an upper air passage, and a hollow buoy mounted in said cavity, movably between a position away from said upper air passage that allows the entry and exit of air and a sealing position of said upper passage that prevents the entry and exit of air.

State of the art

Containers for preserving products in the absence of air, and especially liquid or pasty products, are known in the state of the art.

For example, document ES2409185A1 of the applicant itself discloses such a device. This device is formed by a main body as a hollow cylinder and a sliding mounted cover on the inner perimeter of the main body. In the assembled state, the cover and main body assembly define a variable interior volume. The cover is provided with a sealing gasket that prevents the exit of product through the side wall of the main body. To extract the air from inside the container, the lid has a cavity with a spherical dome, provided with an upper hole and a lower hole that communicate the inner volume with the outside of the container. A spherical and hollow buoy is provided in the cavity. The buoy can be moved from an air passage position, to a sealing position in which the buoy seals the upper hole due to the effect of pushing the liquid or paste contained in the container.

This solution presents the problem that a perfect shutter is often not achieved. This can cause air to enter the interior volume and consequently the product contained in said volume is damaged. Alternatively, it may happen that although the seal by the buoy is correct, the lid moves slightly upwards and again enters air in the interior volume.

In a situation opposite to that described in the previous paragraphs, it may happen that the buoy so tightly seals the upper hole that at the time of opening the container to consume the product contained therein a vacuum effect is generated. This situation makes it difficult to remove the cover inside the main body.

Summary of the invention

The purpose of the invention is to provide a container for preserving products in the absence of air of the type indicated at the beginning, which minimizes the risk of outside air entering once the product is in the container in the absence of air. Another objective of the invention is to facilitate the opening of the container at the time when it is desired to consume the preserved product without air.

This purpose is achieved by a container for preserving products in the absence of air of the type indicated at the beginning, characterized in that a first end of the buoy has a complementary shape to the upper air passage, and because the buoy comprises fastening means that protrude through the upper air passage of the lid and which are operable by traction or compression so that from the sealing position said buoy can be respectively moved to a locked position or to the position away from the upper air passage.

With the invention, the user can secure the sealing position of the buoy by pulling it through the securing means to place it in the locked position. By doing this, the buoy is mechanically locked, for example, by snapping the buoy against the walls of the upper air passage. Alternatively, a locking position could be provided with a trailed joint between the lid and the buoy.

The availability of a buoy locking position greatly improves the sealing of the vessel compared to systems known in the state of the art. In the known containers, if the buoy did not rest properly in the sealing position, air could enter the interior volume. On the other hand, with the solution according to the invention, it is not so important if the sealing position has not been reached correctly. Thanks to the means of securing the buoy, the user consciously places the buoy with respect to the upper air passage in a position such that in addition to properly blocking the air passage, it avoids relative movements between the buoy and the lid and consequently the problems described above are completely eliminated.

In the invention, the concept of liquid or pasty product must be interpreted in a broad sense. Any type of substances such as liquids, creams, purees, gels or products of similar consistencies is included in the concept of liquid or pasty product.

On the other hand, it is worth commenting that the invention is primarily intended to preserve liquid and pasty products in the absence of air, since these products push the buoy up against the upper air passage based on the Archimedes principle.

Although the invention is preferably intended for products of liquid or pasty consistency, thanks to the fact that the buoy incorporates the fastening means protruding from the lid to place the buoy in a locked position, the container according to the invention also facilitates the preservation of powdered products, such as flour, ground coffee, sugar or the like, with a very small amount of air. To do this, it is enough to compress the product strongly and finally pull the clamping means in the direction away from the inner volume of the container to place the buoy in said locked position.

The invention has its main application in the household goods sector for food preservation. However, alternatively it can also be used to preserve other solid or pasty products in industrial fields such as paints, mineral oils, or in areas related to leisure time, such as the sports sector.

Furthermore, the invention encompasses a series of preferred features that are the subject of the dependent claims and whose usefulness will be highlighted later in the detailed description of an embodiment of the invention.

It is desirable that blocking the buoy with respect to the lid be simple. Therefore, preferably the upper air passage comprises a first ring seal of elastomeric material with a central hole adapted to receive a cross section of the buoy and the cross section of the central hole is smaller than the cross section of block. This allows the buoy to be locked against the elastomeric material by means of a tightening adjustment that guarantees a good seal.

During the development of the invention it has also been found that the risk of improper placement of the buoy with respect to the upper air passage impairs the correct tightness of the assembly, in those cases in which the user does not remember to place the buoy in the locked position. To solve this problem, in one embodiment, preferably the buoy comprises guiding means in the longitudinal direction that rest on the side walls of said cavity. Preferably, these guiding means are a plurality of fins that rest against the walls of the cavity. Moreover, these fins have the advantage that they form a series of air passages around the buoy and simultaneously allow the buoy to rest on the lower air passage without sealing it.

The main body of the bucket that receives the lid can be manufactured in different materials. For example, the body can be made of glass, plastic or metal. It can also happen that depending on the material, not all cuvettes have the same internal cross-section. This can cause leaks through the inner side walls of the main body. Therefore, in order to avoid this problem, the cover preferably comprises an upper part of the cover and a lower part of the cover and a second sealing gasket mounted between the upper and lower parts, the upper and lower parts being movable with each other by means of axial displacement to deform the second seal between a retracted radial position and an expanded radial position. This facilitates that the compression force of the gasket on the inner face of the side wall of the main body can be adjusted. Additionally, this also facilitates the reverse process, when what is desired is to open the lid of the container.

In a preferred embodiment, the axial displacement means are a complementary thread provided in the upper and lower parts and the thread is a left hand thread. This offers a very simple solution to regulate the tightness of the seal against the inner walls. In addition, the left hand thread makes the adjustment very intuitive.

Likewise, the invention also encompasses other detail features illustrated in the detailed description of an embodiment of the invention and in the accompanying figures.

Brief description of the drawings

Other advantages and features of the invention can be seen from the following description, in which, without any limitation, a preferred embodiment of the invention is mentioned, mentioning the accompanying drawings. The figures show:

Fig. 1, an exploded perspective view of the lid of the container for preserving liquid or pasty products in the absence of air according to the invention.

Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of the container according to the invention with the buoy in position away from the upper air passage.

Fig. 3, a longitudinal section of the container according to the invention with the buoy practically in sealing position.

Fig. 4, a longitudinal section of the container according to the invention with the buoy in the locked position.

Fig. 5, a cut-away detail view of the second seal in a retracted radial position (in solid lines) and an expanded radial position (in broken lines).

Detailed description of an embodiment of the invention

The container 1 for preserving products 102 in the absence of air according to the invention is mainly intended for products of liquid and pasty consistency. However, as already mentioned, its use for powdery or even solid products is not ruled out, although in both cases, but especially for solid products it is difficult to extract all the air from the product.

The container 1 is formed by two main parts, a main body 2 and a lid 10 with the characteristics described below.

The main body 2 is a hollow body with a closed base 4 and a side wall 8 extending to an upper edge 6. The cuvette that forms the main body 2 is preferably a cylinder of circular cross-section. However, it is not ruled out that it may have other cross sections, such as polygonal, elliptical or other less regular shapes. The essential requirement, as will be seen below, is that the inner hollow of the main body has a complementary shape to that of the lid 10. This main body 2 can be manufactured in materials such as glass, transparent or opaque plastic or sheet metal of aluminum, galvanized steel or similar. Also, due to its characteristics it can be manufactured by injection, stamping, machining and other known processes. Nor is it essential for the invention that the walls of the main body 2 be completely vertical. In fact, depending on the manufacturing process, the main body 2 may have a slight demolding angle to facilitate its removal from the mold.

On the other hand, and as can be seen in figures 2 to 4, the container 1 has the cover 10 slidably mounted on the inner perimeter of the side wall 8 of the main body 2. In the assembled state of the container 1, the lid 10 and the main body 2 delimit a variable interior volume 100 in which the product 102 is contained that is desired to be preserved in the absence of air.

In its most generic form, the cover 10 has a central cavity 12, through which the air coming from the inner volume can pass through a lower air passage 14 and an upper air passage 16. As can be seen in particular clear in figures 2 to 4, a hollow buoy 18 is mounted in the cavity 12 that can be moved between a position away from the upper air passage 16 and a sealing position, in which the buoy 18 rests on this passage of upper air 16. Also as seen in the figures, the buoy at its end corresponding to the lower air passage 14 and the lower air passage 14 itself are configured so that the air can circulate without the buoy gaping the passage when you want to open the lid 10. As will be seen later, in a preferred embodiment, the buoy 18 has a plurality of fins defining air passage channels with respect to the support point of the buoy 18 on the air passage inf upper 14.

In the position away from the upper air passage 16, shown in Figure 2, the air can circulate freely, both inlet and outlet of the inner volume 100 through the lower and upper air passages 14, 16.

On the contrary, when the buoy 18, by the Archimedes principle, is pushed through the product 102 by its second lower end 24 upwards, it encounters its first upper end 22 in the upper air passage 16 and seals it preventing entry and air outlet of the inner volume 100. Figure 3 shows the moment at which the buoy 18 is about to reach the sealing position.

As already mentioned, a notable problem in the vessels of the state of the art is that the sealing position may not be sufficient to ensure that no air enters or leaves the interior volume 100 of the container 1. This is obviously a detrimental factor. when it is desired to guarantee that the product will be kept free of air at all times. As is known, contact with air is the origin of the oxidation of products, especially food.

Thus, in order to solve this problem in the invention it is provided that the first end 22 of the buoy 18 has a complementary shape to the upper air passage 16. The concept in a complementary way should not be confused with an identical dimension. On the other hand, the first end 22 can have any cross-section such as, for example, semi-spherical, conical or similar, but this must be complementary to the shape of the upper air passage 16. However, the semi-spherical shape is considered particularly suitable for achieving satisfactory sealing of the upper air passage 16 regardless of the relative orientation of the buoy 18 with respect to the upper air passage. The semi-spherical shape is not as sensitive to lateral inclinations of the buoy 18 and always closes in a circle. Additionally, the buoy 18 comprises a clamping means 20 as a rod protruding through the upper air passage 16 of the cover 10. This rod protrudes sufficiently that the user can comfortably manipulate the buoy 18 through the rod With the fingertips. At its distal end, the stem comprises a flared to facilitate clamping. Alternatively, it could have a sphere or any other form of greater cross section than the stem itself.

According to the invention, when the buoy 18 has reached the sealing position, it can be operated through the rod by traction or compression so that from the sealing position the buoy 18 can respectively be brought to a locked position, if it is desired that no air enters the inner volume 100, or the position away from the upper air passage 16, if on the contrary it is desired to remove the plug 10 from the main body 2.

In the invention, the lock position should not be confused with the shutter position. The blocking position is achieved, for example, by tightening the buoy 18 inside the upper air passage 16, while the sealing position only implies that the buoy 18 covers the air passage 16, resting on its inlet. Later, the operation of the container 1 will be explained in detail to better understand the difference between both positions.

In Figure 1 it can be seen that in a preferred embodiment, the upper air passage 16 is constituted by a first annular sealing gasket 26 of elastomeric material that is pressure mounted between a plug 42, threaded on the cover 10, and a washer 44. The plug 42 has an upper hole 50 that allows the entry and exit of air from the upper air passage 16.

The first seal 26 has a circular central hole 40. In turn, the buoy 18, in the blocking cross-section 46, also has a circular cross-section complementary to that of the central hole 40, but of a larger diameter. With this, this central hole 40 is adapted to receive the locking cross section of the pressure buoy 18, since the buoy 18 deforms the central hole 40. The cross section of both pieces is preferably circular. However, it is not ruled out that they may have other forms.

On the other hand, the invention also provides that in order to facilitate a good fit of the buoy 18 in the upper air passage 16, the first one has guiding means 38 in the longitudinal direction of the cavity 12 as fins. These fins are configured to rest on the side walls of the cavity 12.

Unlike a conventional cover consisting of a cylindrical body and a gasket of elastomeric material mounted on its perimeter, in the preferred embodiment shown in the figures, the cover 10 is basically formed by three parts. In particular, the cover 10 comprises upper and lower cover portions 30, 32 that clamp a second sealing gasket 28 together. As can be seen in the figures, this second sealing gasket 28 is responsible for ensuring the correct sealing between the side wall 8 of the main body 2 of the container 1 and the lid 10 itself.

It has been found, especially in glass containers, that the inner diameter of the main body 2 has very wide tolerances that make it difficult to achieve a good seal between the joint of the lid 10 and the side wall 8. Therefore, in the invention for To solve this problem, the upper and lower parts 30, 32 are movable with each other by means of axial displacement means 34. In particular, a thread 36 is provided on the left, complementary to the upper and lower parts 30, 32 and which causes the tightening Be more intuitive for the user. To achieve tightening, the upper part 30 is held by the grooves 52 while the lower part 32 is rotated through the lugs 54 clockwise. This movement rotates both parts 30, 32 with respect to each other, causing the lower part 32 to rise, or approach the upper part 30 and consequently the second seal 28 is deformed from a retracted radial position, which shown in solid lines in figure 5, to an expanded radial position, shown in dashed lines in the same figure. This increases the maximum outer diameter of the second seal 28 and therefore also the pressure of the plug on the side wall 8.

The invention provides other possible solutions for axial displacement means 34. For example, a bayonet mechanism may be provided between the upper and lower parts 30, 32. The use of a lever with a cam is also contemplated as having a tilt of 90º from a vertical position to a horizontal position compress the upper and lower parts 30, 32 together.

The entire air extraction process of the product 102 with the container 1 according to the invention is explained in detail below.

Starting from the situation in which the main body 2 is full of product 102, the guided cover 10 is placed on the side wall 8, leaving the upper part 30 of the cover 10 protruding. In this situation, the tightening of the second sealing gasket 28 by means of relative axial displacement between the upper and lower parts 30, 32, in the manner explained in the preceding paragraphs.

Then, the lid 10 begins to be lowered as shown with the arrows A in figure 2. In this situation the buoy 18 remains motionless supported on the lower air passage 14. Then, when the lid 10 continues to descend, the second end 24 touches the surface of the product 102. It is important to note that the lower part 32 of the cover 10 has a curvature inwardly to direct the fluid against the base of the buoy 18. When the product 102 contacts the buoy 18 Due to the Archimedes principle, buoy 18 separates from the lower air passage 14 and rises to the upper air passage 16. The air contained in the inner volume 100 passes through the sides of the buoy 18 and exits through the air passage top 16. This process continues, until the buoy 18 stops against the first seal 26 through its semi-spherical end.

At this time, all the indoor air has gone out and the indoor volume 100 is occupied solely by the product

102. From this situation, it is when the user pulls the rod protruding from the first end 22 of the buoy 18 and blocks the latter against the inside diameter of the first seal 26, as shown in Figure 4. Because there is no air left in the inner volume 100, this movement causes a suction that slightly sinks the cap 10. Thus, in this position it is guaranteed that the buoy 18 will not move from the locked position during transport or handling of the container. one.

Finally, when it is time to consume the preserved product 102, the process explained must simply be reversed. For this, the user compresses the rod and separates the buoy 18 from the first seal 26, allowing the air to enter the inner volume 100. From this position, the lid 10 must simply be pulled through the cap 42 in an upward direction, which allows air to enter the inner volume 100. Preferably, before pulling the cover, it is advisable to loosen the second sealing gasket 28 by rotating the upper and lower parts 30, 32 of the cover 10 each other. This reduces the effort required to open the container 1.

Finally, it should be noted that as shown in Figure 1, the lid 10 of the container 1 is completely removable so that it can be washed after each use. Particularly preferably, the pieces are made of injected plastic. When the container is intended for food consumption, food-grade plastics will preferably be used.

Claims (5)

1.- Container to conserve products in the absence of air that includes [a] a hollow main body (2) with a base (4), an upper edge (6) and a side wall (8) extending between said base (4) and said upper edge (6), [b] a cover (10) slidably mounted on the inner perimeter of said side wall (8) of said main body (2) so that said cover (10) and said main body (2) delimit an inner volume (100) variable, [c] further presenting said cover (10), a cavity (12) with a lower air passage (14) and an upper air passage (16), and [d] a hollow buoy (18) mounted in said cavity (12), movably between a position away from said upper air passage (16) that allows the entry and exit of air and a sealing position of said upper passage (16) that prevents the entry and exit of air, characterized because [e] because a first end (22) of said buoy (18) has a complementary shape to said upper air passage (16), and [f] because said buoy (18) comprises fastening means (20) that protrude through said upper air passage (16) of said cover (10) and that are operable by traction or compression so that from said position The said buoy (18) can be sealed respectively to a locked position or to said position away from said upper air passage (16). 2. A container according to claim 1, characterized in that said upper air passage (16) comprises a first annular sealing gasket (26) of elastomeric material with a central hole (40) adapted to receive a blocking cross-section of said buoy (18) and because the cross section of said central hole (40) is smaller than said blocking cross section. 3. A container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said buoy (18) comprises guiding means (38) in the longitudinal direction that rest on the side walls of said cavity (12). 4. Container according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said lid (10) comprises an upper part (30) of lid (10) and a lower part (32) of lid (10) and a second sealing gasket (28) mounted between said upper and lower parts (30, 32), said upper and lower parts (30, 32) being movable with each other by means of axial displacement means (34) to deform said second sealing gasket (28) between a retracted radial position and an expanded radial position. 5. A container according to claim 4, characterized in that said axial displacement means (34) are a complementary thread (36) provided in said upper and lower parts (30, 32) and that said thread (36) is a left hand thread .