GB2051727A - The provision of handles on containers - Google Patents

Abstract

A container 12 has a handle or handle attachments 10 for anchoring the ends of a handle 17 to the container, adhesively secured to the external surface of the container, the adhesive being of a thermoplastic material heated to a plastic condition to secure the handle attachments to the container. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION The provision of handles on containers This invention relates to the provision of handles on containers and, in particular, on containers such as tin cans,metal and trunks and the like made ofmetal.

It is often desirable to provide a handle on a container such as a tin and, in particular, such as a paint tin or the like to enable the tin to be more easily carried and handled.

To this end there have been various proposals, the most widely used of which, as far as applicant is aware, has been the provision of two hollow, diammetrically opposed support members centrally perforated and welded on to the outside of the tin.

The hooked ends of an arched shaped handle, which may optionally be provided with a comfortable handle hold, may then be hooked into the holes in these memers in order to carry the container.

The provision of such an arrangement is costly and thus not very often used, simply as a result of such cost.

Other proposals, which have, as far as applicant is aware, not been commercially successful, have involved the adhesive attachment of a flexible handle to a container. It is believed that such arrangements have not been marketed as a result of difficulty in applying the correct adhesives and handles. Still further proposals provide anchorages or handle ends folded into a peripheral seam at the top of the container. This is believed also to be difficult, inconvenient or costly to achieve in mass production lines.

It is the object of this invention to provide containers having handles attached thereto and wherein attachment can be achieved without difficulty, and inexpensively, in a production line. The invention also extends to certain containers and handles adapted to be attached to a handle or container by the method of this invention.

In accordance with this invention there is provided an assembly of a container having at least two handle attachments which are adhesively secured to the container so that the adhesive, at least in some way, maintains the handle attachments in association with the container, the assembly being characterised in that the adhesive is defined by a thermoplastic material and bonding of the handle attachments to the container has been effected by heating to a temperature at which the adhesive is plastic.

Further features of the invention provide for the handle attachments to be either integral with a handle or to be adapted for connection, optionally releasably, to a separate handle; forthe handle attachments to be made of a flexible plastics material, which is at least deformable to some extent so that its surface can be brought into intimate contact with the surface of the container to provide only a film of adhesive between the two; for the handle and integral attachments to comprise a simple length of strip material defining the handle whereof the free end are adhesively attached to the container; for the container to be a tin or like receptacle preferably of a type suitable for use in packaging paint and the like; and for the handle attachments to be optionally secured to a ring dimensioned to encircle the container with the ring being optionally elastomeric and somewhat in tension.

The invention also provides a method of adhesive ly attaching handle attachments to a container by means of thermoplastic adhesive and wherein the handle or container or both have co-operating areas precoated with a thermoplastic adhesive, the method comprising the heating of the container, handle attachments, or both, to a temperature at which the adhesive is in a plastic state and urging the handle attachments and container together to cause bonding of the handle attachments to the container by way of the thermoplastic adhesive.

The invention thus also provides containers and handles or handle attachments having areas thereof precoated with a thermoplastic adhesive material for enabling a handle and container to be bonded together by the above defined method.

In the most preferred form of the invention, the thermoplastic adhesive is applied to the entire surface area of the container, the application taking place with the adhesive substituting for the conventional lacquer usually utilised to coat paint or like tins in order to resist corrosion thereof and protect any printing thereof. In this particular application, it will be seen that the adhesive will substitute for the conventional lacquer and, it is envisaged that the cost of such adhesive material will not, if at all, be appreciably more than the present cost of lacquer. In this particular application, the application of the adhesive can be effected by the same apparatus as is at present used for coating containers with lacquer and thus, as far as the application of the adhesive material itself is concerned, no additional processing steps are required.

Conveniently a handle or handle attachment in its least expensive form, will comprise a cut length of a strip made of plastics material and, conveniently such plastics material can be a spun bonded polyolefin material of a suitable gauge and which is sufficiently strong to take the required load. As alternatives, polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane strapping or sheeting could be utilised to define the handle. Alternatively injection moulded handle or handle attachments or both may be provided.

It will be understood that the adhesive material will, in use, usually be only in a state of shear which enables adhesive bonding to be effective.

It is preferred that the container, where it is made of metal, be heated in orderto secure a handle attachment thereof by the thermoplastic adhesive and such heating can most simply be effected by induction heating which is easy to control, requires little space as opposed to ovens, and lends itself to inclusion in a manufacturing line. Alternatively, hot airjets or the like could be employed to heat only the required regions of a container.

The handle, itself, where it is integral with its attachments, is preferably flexible and thus, after attachment to a container, is conveniently dimensioned to be folded at or near its points of attachment to the container so as to follow, in an inoperative position, about one half of the outer periphery of the container. A tab can, conveniently, be provided in the central region of the handle for easy gripping to move it from an inoperative to an operative position. The handle, where it is at least fractionaliy extensible, could be fitted flush with the periphery of the container in its inoperative position and simply pulled by means of the tab, over the usual rim to an operative position.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, embodimentsthereofwill now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 illustrates, in isometric view, a container having one form of handle attached thereto in accordance with the invention; Figure2 illustrates, in similar view, one alternative form of the invention, and, Figure 3 illustrates one handle attachment and a handle end of a separate handle.

As shown clearly in Figure 1, the invention can be implemented by applying to a single strap 1 of material in an area adjacent each end 2 thereof, a coating of a suitable thermoplastic type of adhesive material. Such coatings are usually extremely thin and can be applied in any suitable way.

As outlined above, this strap of material could conveniently be spun bonded olefin material, or alternatively, another suitable plastics material such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyurethane. It will be clearly understood that the handle or handle attachments may be made of a strap of woven or other material as may be required, but, in general, a continuous strap or sheet of plastics material, optionally reinforced with suitable fibrous material is preferred.

Preferably, however, the adhesive material is applied to the outer surface of the container. In this particular instance, the adhesive material is preferably utilised to coat the entire container in place of the conventional lacquer used for this purpose and with the end in view of preventing or inhibiting corrosion.

In either case, the container can simply be heated to a suitable temperature, which will depend upon the adhesive utilised and which renders the adhesive sufficiently plastic or active from the point of view of adhesion. Such heating can be carried out, as mentioned above, by induction heating or hot air jets.

The ends of the handle or handle attachments can then be engaged with the wall of the container on the outside thereof to cause the adhesive material to bond to both the container and handle or attachments.

It has been found that when suitable thermoplastic adhesive materials are utilised, a bond which is morethan adequate for the purpose of securing a handle to a container is obtained. This may well be due to the fact that the adhesive bond is primarily in shearwhen the handle is utilised.

It will be understood that the above described container assembly is particularly useful as a containerfor paint, filler materials, wood treatment compounds and like products and the handle, whilst being extremely inexpensive, can be used to greatly assist the handling of such containers.

The invention is, however, not confined in any way to containers of this description and may even be applied to metal or, in fact, non-metallic containers of larger dimensions and wherein the bond between the handle and the container is primarily in shear in the operative position.

As illustrated in Figure 2, it is also within the scope of this invention to provide a band 4 which is permanently attached to the handle 5 for a container such thatthe band encircles the container 6. Such a band could be of elastomeric material in which case it is preferably in tension. In this particular instance, the entire band or regions thereof or the end regions of the handle or, in fact, both, can be adhesively secured to the container as provided by this invention.

In either case the handle is preferably dimensioned to fit snugly against the sidewall of the container in an inoperative position as shown in Figure 1 by dotted lines 7. This is achieved by folding the handle at 45" adjacent the regions secured to the container as indicated by numeral 8. In order to facilitate movement of a handle from such a stored condition to an operative position, it is provided with a tab 9 adapted to project upwardly in the operative position of the handle so as to be easily accessible.

Such tab can simply be gripped and pulled to move the bundle to an operative position.

Regarding the application of the method of this invention to an assembly line, it is considered that bonding of a preheated container to a handle or handle attachment in the form of a strap described above can easily be achieved simply by passing the container between a pair of endless belts having means urging them towards each other and wherein the belts are adapted to hold the handle ends or handle attachments or other regions on to the preheated container for a time period sufficient to ensure that a proper bond is obtained. Alternatively, manual holding means may be provided for this purpose, or still further, mechanical means for holding the handle ends to a container individually may be provided.

Turning now to Figure 5 of the accompanying drawings it is within the scope of this invention to provide handle attachments alone on the container with the intention of a handle being associated therewith at a later time. The attachment could take any desired form, usually with formations for cooperation with complementary formations on a handle. In this particular case, injection moulded handle attachments 10 have a base portion 11 attached by means of the thermoplastic adhesive to the container 12.

The base of each attachment has a spaced wall 13 attached thereto by sidewalls 14 with a cut-out 15 shaped to receive, in releasable manner, a shank 16 of a handle 17 whereof the shank is directed inwardly and has a bulbous stop 18 at its free end to prevent lateral withdrawal from the top of the keyhole shaped cut-out.

Clearly numerous different configurations of handle attachments may be used and even include short lengths of sheet or strap material to which a handle can subsequently be attached.

It will be understood that numerous shapes and forms of handle assembly are envisaged within the scope of the invention and also straplike handles can be provided with end regions of any suitable dimension to ensure that sufficient adhesive holding power is provided. Thus, the handle ends may be provided with end regions of larger dimensions to ensure that sufficient surface area is available for the adhesion of the handle to the container.

Claims (21)

1. An assembly of a container having at least two handle attachments which are adhesively secured to the container so that the adhesive, at least in some way, maintains the handle attachments in association with the container, the assembly being characterised in that the adhesive is defined by a thermoplastic material and bonding of the handle attachments to the container has been effected by heating to a temperature at which the adhesive is plastic.

2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which a handle is attached to and extends between the handle attachments.

3. An assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which the handle is of a flexible plastics material.

4. An assembly as claimed in claim 3 in which the flexible plastics material is a spun-bonded polyolefin strap.

5. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the handle and handle attachments are integral and comprise a simple length of strap material whereof the free ends are adhesively secured to the container.

6. An assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 in which the handle attachments are attached to a ring encircling the container.

7. An assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 or 6 in which the handle attachments are adapted for optionally releasable attachment to a separately made handle.

8. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the container is coated over its entire outer surface with thermoplastic adhesive which forms a corrosion resistant coating.

9. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which any handle attached to the handle attachments is flexible and is dimensioned to be maintained, in an inoperative position on the periphery of the container between the positions of attachment thereof to the container.

10. An assembly as claimed in claim 9 in which the handle, in the inoperative position, is folded at about 45Q adjacent each of the handle end regions to enable the handle to be accommodated flush on the periphery of the container.

11. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding clams in which any handle associated with the handle attachments has a tab attached thereto for facilitating movement of the handle from an inoperative to an operative position.

12. An assembly substantially as herein described or exemplified with reference to any one of the accompanying drawings.

13. A container having areas thereof coated with a thermoplastic adhesive and adapted to have a handle attachment secured to at least parts of said areas to form an assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. A container as claimed in claim 13 in which the entire outer surface of the container is coated with a thermoplastic adhesive material, said coating being adapted to form a corrosion resistant coating and protective coating.

15. Handles and handle attachments adapted for forming an assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12 and having areas thereof precoated with a thermoplastic adhesive material.

16. A method of adhesively attaching a handle attachment to a container by means of thermoplastic adhesive and wherein the handle attacment or container or both have cooperating areas precoated with a thermoplastic adhesive, the method comprising the heating of the container, handle or both to a temperature at which the adhesive is in a plastic state and urging the handle attachment and container together to cause bonding of the handle attachment to the container by way of the thermoplastic adhesive.

17. A method as claimed in Claim 16 in which the container is metal and is heated by induction heating.

18. An assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawing.

19. A container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.

20. A method substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

21. Any novel feature or combination of features described herein.