FR2609450A1 - FOLDABLE LIQUID CONTAINER, WITH SELF-LOCKING IN FOLDED POSITION - Google Patents

Abstract

Device for reducing the space taken by a container for liquid materials by folding it and maintaining it in a folded position by self-locking. The invention relates to a device for folding a container configured like bellows (1) and for maintaining the container in a folded position by self-locking by nesting the container bottom (2) presenting an extra width (6) into the groove (7) of the container neck (3) or vice-versa. The concave conical shape of the botton (2) provides for the nesting of successive containers. The device is particularly adapted to reduce the space taken by empty containers for all applications before use and essentially as waste; it also reduces the air volume of the container when the latter is only partially filled.

Description

Description
The present invention relates to a plastic container which is intended for everyday use as containing liquids such as water, milk, juice, to be thrown away when it is emptied.

 The fact that it is foldable and that it has in itself the means of remaining blocked in the folded position gives the advantage of less bulk as waste.

 Maintained in the folded position, the container significantly reduces its size between the place of production and the place of filling. I1 can also be kept in this folded position in dispensing devices of said empty commercial container.

 the usual disposable containers are designed either on the basis of traditional glass bottles and, despite the fact that they are made of plastic, they also remain rigid and unsuitable for reducing their volume, or they are made of cardboard material with coating waterproof interior, therefore opaque, these being reducible only by means of two-handed and complex manipulation. Furthermore, the other types of container with flexible envelopes for buds and creams are unsuitable for fluid liquids.

 In the case of the invention, the container is rigid in its initial shape, a pressure of the hand folds it like a bellows and the blocking resulting from the same movement holds the object in the folded position. The blocking is obtained by clamping or clipping the bottom of the container into the neck. In addition, the container can be redeployed and reserved in its initial function.

 The present invention consists in the presentation of a collapsible container which can be self-maintained in the folded position with the aim of reducing its bulk when it is empty.

It also makes it possible to reduce the volume of interior air when the container is partially filled, so as to avoid any alteration of the content by oxidation, loss of flavor or aroma.

 This folding movement of the container is made possible by its structure of folds in its area, it is at the surface of the frustoconical or truncpyramidal surfaces, depending on the section of the volume, in opposite alternate directions, giving it a form of bellows.

 The concavity of the bottom of section equivalent to the neck favors the stacking of the containers (either in the deployed position, or in the folded position) and the stabilization in the stacked position by fitting the neck / bottom of two successive bottles.

 The shape and arrangement of the container is valid for manufacturing using plastic or cardboard materials, the latter having to be sealed; the containers can be transparent, translucent or even opaque.

 The container structure is however mainly produced using a semi-flexible plastic material, for example of the polyethylene type, preferably produced by blow-molding, making the entire container monolithic and waterproof.

 The vertical manual pressure on the neck of the container causes a deflection at the height of each fold already engaged in the bellows shape, which creates a general compaction of the container, until it locks in the compressed position.

the accompanying drawings illustrate the invention:
Figure 1 shows in semi-elevation semi-section the container in its deployed position, ready to receive the content for which it is intended. I1 is mainly composed of a bellows wall (1), a conical bottom (2) provided with an extra width at its top (6) of height (H) equal to the crowding of the container and a neck with neck (3) provided with a groove (7). The positive (4) and negative (5) folds are produced according to a radius capable of retaining enough nerve for normal holding of the container, nevertheless subsiding under manual pressure. your flat surfaces or cylindrical or frustoconical sections can be produced as desired in the height of the container, suitable for receiving inscriptions.

 Figure 2 shows the container in its folded and self-locked position. blocking is achieved by manual pressure on the container neck towards the bottom, under this pressure, a bottom widening (6) is housed in a throat of the neck (7). This widening of the bottom being of section slightly smaller than the section of the throat of the neck. The system represented in FIGS. 1 and 2 is not limiting, the invention extending to any similar clipping device, such as that which is of inverted shape to that shown and described above, that is to say that the extra width (6) can become a re-entrant groove and the throat of the neck (7) can become an internal protuberance of section slightly greater than the corresponding part of the bottom.

 the bottom is of conical and concave shape of cross section equivalent to the neck of the neck of the container, which allows nesting like stacking of a successive container, folded or deployed, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1.

 FIG. 3 represents a series of variant shapes of horizontal sections and shapes of profiles of containers provided with the same device.

 The entire device is applicable to any standard container up to a capacity of five liters.

stands out /
It is also specified here that the invention / de i'invenTior French patent No 1,593,622, this being in the form of a collapsible container of conical shape, with too smooth surface, unsuitable for good manual entry, this unlike
promotes, rence this described iinvenion which, by its caneiures ,, a Gives manual hold; moreover, its pleating mode at an angle close to 180 degrees places too much stress on the nerve of the material and consequently significantly reduces the frequency of folding.

 The invention is also distinguished from the invention French patent lo 2.504.095, the latter being in the form of a collapsible container provided with a double complementary device of staples which bear on the neck for the one, and on the bottom for the other, in order to maintain said container in various partially folded positions until complete folding. This device requiring the assistance of complementary parts of another material is uneconomical and does not present a solution guaranteeing the non-loss of staples during multiple handling, this in contrast to the described invention which is monolithic and manufactured in a single extrusion-blowing operation.

Claims (2)

Claims  1) Device for reducing the size of a container for liquid materials of the type having a body with bellows folds (1) and a device for holding the container in the folded position, characterized in that said device acts by the interlocking of its bottom (2) in its neck (3), by internal clipping of a projecting part (6) provided at the upper part of said bottom in a part of opposite shape (7) provided on the neck, the part of the bottom being of section slightly less than the section of the corresponding part of the neck and the height of said bottom corresponding to the height of the piling up of the container.  2) Device according to claim 1 characterized by the concave and conical shape of the bottom, of section equivalent to the neck of the neck of the container, which allows the nesting as the stack of successive containers.