GB2347408A

GB2347408A - An internal pressure rise prevention container

Info

Publication number: GB2347408A
Application number: GB0004388A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Masashi Yamada; Takafumi Fujii; Kunio Matsuda
Original assignee: Japan Oxygen Co Ltd; Nippon Sanso Corp
Current assignee: Japan Oxygen Co Ltd; Nippon Sanso Corp
Priority date: 1999-03-02
Filing date: 2000-02-24
Publication date: 2000-09-06
Also published as: GB0004388D0; JP3068597B1; JP2000245607A; CA2299698A1

Abstract

A container comprises a body 2, a shoulder member 10 attached to an opening of the body having a closure receiving portion 14 formed with a screw thread (14a, fig.3), a cap 20 screwed to the shoulder member 10 and a gas discharge groove (15, fig.3) formed in the shoulder member, discharging into the screw thread. The container can be formed from glass, metal or resin and may be transparent. The container may have a radiant heat prevention member 6 and may have an insulating gas (such as Krypton, Xenon or Argon) or vacuum within the space 5 between its walls 3 and 4. The container may be used as a kettle, insulated bottle or beverage holder. By discharging into the screw thread the discharged gas may be dispersed more effectively.

Description

INTERNA PRESSURE RISE PREVENTION CONTAINER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a container such as a water kettle, a pot or the like and more particularly to an internal pressure rise prevention container for preventing an internal pressure in a container from rising.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Most of containers such as a water kettle, a pot and the like for containing water, tea, coffee and the like and for pouring them to a cup, a rice bowl and the like are respectively provided thereon with a lid or a cap having a good water-tightness or air-tightness to preserve temperature of the liquid therein. By way of example, the cap is equipped with a packing of resilient material, by which a space between the cap and the container is sealed for securing a water-tightness of the container.

However, there is a problem in the container provided with a watertight lid or cap in that a gas (steam) in the container can hardly be discharged outside the container due to water-tightness and air tightness even though internal pressure in the container is increased by certain reasons. Particularly, in case of a container having a large-diametered opening, the lid or the cap receives a great amount of force when the internal pressure of the container is increased.

Therefore, it is required to develop an internal pressure rise prevention container constructed to prevent the internal pressure from increasing higher than the external atmospheric pressure and capable of slowly discharging the gas (steam) within the container even if the internal pressure of the container is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is disclosed to solve the aforementioned problem and it is an object of the present invention to provide an internal pressure rise prevention container constructed to prevent the internal pressure from increasing within a container and capable of slowly discharging a gas (steam) within the container even if the internal pressure is increased.

The above-mentioned object of the present invention is achieved by providing an internal pressure rise prevention container comprising: a container body; a shoulder member attached to an opening of the container body and having a cap receiving portion formed with a screw; a cap screwed to the cap receiving portion of the shoulder member; and a gas discharge groove for discharging the gas (steam) in the container body, the gas discharge groove being provided underneath of the screw at the shoulder member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view for illustrating an embodiment of internal pressure rise prevention container according to the present invention; Figure 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view for illustrating a cap receiving portion of the internal pressure rise prevention container illustrated in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of the cap receiving portion illustrated in Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of a cap of the internal pressure rise prevention container illustrated in Figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view for illustrating an embodiment of an internal pressure rise prevention container according to the present invention, where the container 1 includes a container body 2, a shoulder member 10 mounted at an opening of the container body 2 and a cap 20 for closing the opening of the container body 2.

The container body 2 inclues an inner casing 3 and an outer casing 4, each having an opening at one end and a bottomed cylindrical shape, where the inner casing 3 is accommodated within the outer casing 4 with a space therebetween and ends of openings of the inner casing 3 and the outer casing 4 are joined and integrally formed.

Furthermore, in the space 5 between the inner casing 3 and the outer casing 4, a gas having a low thermal conductivity such as krypton, xenon, argon or the like is charged to be sealed. An external side surface of the inner casing 3 is disposed with a radiant heat prevention member 6 to form an insulated structure.

The inner casing 3 and the outer casing 4 may be made of metal, glass, resin or the like, with no limitation to material thereof, however it should preferably have a high transparency so that inner contents could be seen from outside. Polyethylenenaphthalate resin, methacrylicacidmethyl resin, polyacrylonitrile resin or the like may be preferably used as material of the casings due to excellence in durability, surface gloss and other merits.

Furthermore, as a radiant heat prevention member 6, a polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) deposited by silver, or a metal film such as aluminum, copper, or the like may be used.

The shoulder member 10 mounted at the opening of the container body 2 inclues a ring-shaped body 11 and a handle 12, where the body 11 is formed with an outlet 13 for pouring contents of the container body 2 and a cap receiving portion 14 for receiving a cap 20, while the cap 20 is screwed to the cap receiving portion 14.

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view for illustrating a shoulder member 10 of the internal pressure rise prevention container 1 shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a plan view of the shoulder member 10 and Figure 4 is a crosssectional view of a cap 20.

The cap receiving portion 14 is arranged with a tube 14c disposed with screw 14a intermittently formed along the periphery thereof for screwing the cap 20 to the cap receiving portion 14 and a protruded sealing portion 14b provided along the lower periphery of the tube 14c. The sealing portion 14b is internally protruded from the vicinity of the lower end of the cap receiving portion 14.

The sealing portion 14b is provided with a gas discharge groove 15 dissected at least at one place thereof with a semi-circle shape, a V-shape or the like. The gas discharge groove 15 is preferably provided underneath the intermittently formed screw 14a among the sealing portion 14b provided in the downward periphery of the tube 14c.

The cap 20 screwed to the cap receiving portion 14 is formed at a periphery thereof with a screw 21 screwed to another screw 14a. The cap 20 is equipped peripherally thereunder with a ring-shaped packing 22 made of resilient material such as silicon resin or the like. When the cap 20 is screwed to the cap receiving portion 14, the ring-shaped packing 22 and the sealing portion 14b of the cap receiving portion 14 are closely adhered to thereby seal the opening of the internal pressure rise prevention container 1.

When the cap 20 is screwed to the cap receiving portion 14 of the container 1, the ring-shaped packing 22 of the cap 20 and the sealing portion 14b of the cap receiving portion 14 are closely adhered to thereby seal the opening of the container 1. At this time, since the sealing portion 14b is discontinuous only at the part where the gas discharge groove 15 is provided, the ring-shaped packing 22 is not closely adhered at the part to thereby form a space therebetween. So, even if the cap 20 is screwed to the cap receiving portion 14, the gas can pass in and out of the container 1 through the space.

Furthermore, even if the inner pressure of the internal pressure rise prevention container 1 is abruptly increased due to a certain cause such as generation of carbon dioxide gas contained in beverage of the container 1, thermal expansion of a gas (steam) inside the container 1 or the like, the gas inside the container 1 is swiftly discharged through the gas discharge groove 15.

The inner pressure of the container 1 is therefore decreased immediately up to approximately same level as that of the atmospheric pressure.

At this location, since the gas discharge groove 15 is provided underneath the screw 14a of the cap receiving portion 14, the gas (steam) discharged from the gas discharge groove 15 is upwardly directe to hit the screw 14a of the cap receiving portion 14 or the screw 21 of the cap 20, being dispersed in advancing direction thereof. In other words, part of the gas (steam) advances to the peripheral direction of the tube 14c along the screw-formed direction of the screws 14a, 21 and advances again upwardly from the termination of the screw 14a through the space formed between the cap receiving portion 14 and the cap 20. Furthermore, the other part of the gas (steam) repeats hitting the screw 14a of the cap receiving portion 14 or the screw 21 of the cap 20, spreading to the peripheral direction, and passing a small rugged space formed between the mutually coupled screws 14a and 21, thereby upwardly proceeding.

As mentioned above, the gas (stream) in the container 1 passes the gas discharge groove 15 and advances, repeating peripheral dispersion to thereafter exit outside of the container 1. Therefore, discharging speed of the gas is reduced according as the gas repeats the dispersion toward outside of the container 1 from the gas discharge groove 15, and even if the internal pressure in the container body 2 is increased by a certain cause, the gas (steam) in the container body 2 is not violently spouted in a linear manner, but slowly discharged.

According to the internal pressure rise prevention container 1 thus described, the inner pressure of the container and external atmospheric pressure can be maintained almost at the same level at all times, thereby preventing the internal pressure of the container 1 from rising. Furthermore, the gas discharge groove 15 is provided underneath the screw 14a of the cap receiving portion 14, such that the gas discharged from the gas discharge groove 15 advances being dispersed to the peripheral directions between the screw 14a of the cap receiving portion 14 and the screw 21 of the cap 20. Therefore, even if vapor of high temperature or the like is discharged outside of the container 1, the gas is not violently spouted, thereby making the internal pressure rise prevention container 1 superbly safe.

The present invention has been described in detail with reference to its presently preferred embodiment of the dual-structured insulated beverage pot container. The internal pressure rise prevention container 1 is very effective in a highly insulated container using a vacuum insulation or a gas insulation where a container is charged with a gas having a low thermal conductivity. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to an insulated container but can be applied to water kettles, beverage containers of other types thereof, containers for containing liquid-state food, desk-top pots, thermos bottles or the like, so that the present invention is not to be restricted to the present embodiment.

Furthermore, as long as the gas discharge groove 15 is provided underneath the part where the screw 14a is formed, among the sealing portion 14b peripherally provided underneath the tube 14c, the number and size the groove 15 are not specifically restricted but may be determined by inner volume of the internal pressure rise prevention container 1 or kind of beverage contained therein or the like.

As apparent from the foregoing, since the present invention is an internal pressure rise prevention container including a container body, a shoulder member attached to an opening of the container body and having a cap receiving portion formed with a screw, a cap screwed to the cap receiving portion of the shoulder member, and a gas discharge groove for discharging the gas (steam) in the container body, the gas discharge groove being provided downward of the screw at the shoulder member, there is an advantage in that it can maintain an inner pressure of a container and an outer atmospheric pressure approximately at the same level at all times thereby preventing the inner pressure of a container from rising.

There is another advantage in that the gas discharge groove is disposed underneath the screw of the cap receiving portion, such that a gas discharged from the gas discharge groove progresses, being dispersed in various directions among the cap receiving portion and the screw of the cap, thereby providing a superb safety to the container due to the gas not violently spouting even if vapor of high temperature is discharged from the container.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS : 1. An internal pressure rise prevention container comprising: a container body; a shoulder member attached to an opening of the container body and having a cap receiving portion formed with a screw; a cap screwed to the cap receiving portion of the shoulder member; and a gas discharge groove for discharging the gas in the container body, the gas discharge groove being provided underneath of the screw at the shoulder member.
2. An internal pressure rise prevention container, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to or as illustrated in any of the accompanying drawings.