ITUD20100211A1 - COVER FOR A CONTAINER OF FLUID DYES - Google Patents

Description

Description of the invention having as title:

"LID FOR A CONTAINER OF FLUID COLORING PRODUCTS"

FIELD OF APPLICATION

The present invention relates to a lid for a container of fluid coloring products, such as for example coloring liquids, bases for painting, paints, enamels, inks, or other fluid coloring substances. The lid includes an elastic and waterproof membrane, which can be perforated by one or more dispensing needles, through which coloring pigments can be introduced into the container, without the need to remove the lid from the container beforehand. The elastic membrane closes automatically, returning to be waterproof, when each dispensing needle is removed.

STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE

A lid is known for a container of fluid coloring products, for example a paint base, which is provided with an elastic and impermeable membrane, having the shape of a disc, made of elastomeric material, about 2 mm thick, and pierceable by one or more metal needles. Each needle is able to dispense a dosed quantity of coloring pigments inside the container to obtain the desired coloring product. The elasticity of the material with which the membrane is made allows the holes, made temporarily by the insertion of each needle, to close automatically when the needle itself is removed, restoring the membrane itself to its original impermeability.

The known lid comprises an annular support in plastic material provided with a U-shaped circular internal shoulder to define a circumferential cavity in which the peripheral part of the membrane is arranged. A locking ring nut, also annular, is fixed inside the annular support and keeps the peripheral part of the membrane locked inside the circumferential cavity of the annular support.

Furthermore, the locking ring nut is provided, in its upper surface, with an annular groove with which a corresponding annular projection projecting downwards from the body of the annular support is adapted to cooperate. The coupling of the annular projection with the annular groove allows the known lid to be stacked on another similar lid.

The aforesaid known lid, however, has the drawback of having the stacking elements made on two distinct pieces. In fact, the lower projection is made on the annular support, while the corresponding upper groove is made on the ring nut, with the consequent need to adequately prepare both molds for the realization of the two pieces and to require greater precision in the tolerances of the two pieces. which must then match each other.

Another drawback of the known lid concerns the locking of the membrane on the support element. In fact, the first must be provided with a reinforcing edge, perpendicular to its operating surface and facing downwards, which fits into the circumferential cavity of the second. This also implies an increase in the production costs of the lid as a whole.

A second lid similar to the one described above is also known, in which the support element is laterally provided with a circumferential tooth, or undercut, adapted to cooperate permanently and immovably with the internal wall of the container, or with a hole made in the upper part of the container. Furthermore, in the lower part of the support element there is a deep circumferential groove, which can act as a stacking element, but inside which a certain amount of product contained in the container can be deposited, disadvantageously, compromising the final result of the homogenization between base and dye.

Another drawback of the aforesaid second known lid is determined by the presence of the circumferential tooth, which means that the lid, once coupled to the container, can no longer be removed without being damaged.

An object of the present invention is to provide a lid for a container of fluid coloring products which is simpler and cheaper to make and which allows easy stacking with other identical lids.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lid that can also be applied to the relative container, and can be removed from this, in a simple way, even by the final consumer. In order to obviate the drawbacks of the known art and to obtain these and further objects and advantages, the Applicant has studied, tested and implemented the present invention.

EXPOSURE OF THE FOUND

The present invention is expressed and characterized in the main claim.

The secondary claims disclose other characteristics of the present invention, or variants of the main solution idea.

In accordance with the aforementioned purposes, a lid for a container of fluid coloring products, according to the present invention, comprises a support element, substantially annular in shape and provided with an internal shoulder, on which the peripheral part of a membrane rests. waterproof and elastic, and a locking element, for example an annular ring nut, arranged inside the support element to keep the membrane locked against the aforesaid internal shoulder.

In accordance with a characteristic of the present invention, the aforesaid support element is provided, in its upper part, with an annular groove, and comprises, in its lower part, a corresponding annular protrusion aligned with the aforesaid annular groove. In this way both elements are present in the same support element 12 which allow several lids to be easily stacked one on top of the other.

According to a secondary characteristic of the present invention, anchoring means are provided to keep the membrane in a desired position with respect to a support plane of the aforesaid internal shoulder of the support element. The aforesaid anchoring means comprise teeth and / or pins, made on the support element and / or on the locking element, and able to cooperate with the membrane itself.

Furthermore, in order to keep the membrane constantly on a certain work surface, both during the perforating operations of the membrane by the needles and during the removal of the same needles, the support element and the locking element are both provided of one or more annular ribs, preferably concentric to each other, and of a plurality of radial ribs. According to another secondary characteristic of the present invention, at least the ribs, both annular and radial, of the support element are pointed downwards to prevent the formation of lumps of coloring product contained in the container.

According to another secondary characteristic of the present invention, the support element comprises an external wall, substantially cylindrical and perpendicular to the support plane of the internal shoulder, which is adapted to couple with a corresponding internal wall of the container on which the lid is mounted.

ILLUSTRATION OF DRAWINGS

These and other characteristics of the present invention will become clear from the following description of a preferential embodiment, given by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings in which:

- fig. 1 is a plan view of a lid for a container of fluid coloring products according to the present invention;

- fig. 2 is a section along line II-II of fig. 1;

- fig. 3 is an enlargement of detail III in fig. 2, limited to the lid only;

- fig. 4 is a first variant of the lid of fig. 1;

- fig. 5 is a second variant of the lid of fig. 1;

- fig. 6 schematically shows a plurality of lids according to the present invention, identical to that of fig. 1, stacked on top of each other.

To facilitate understanding of the following description, identical reference numbers have been used, where possible, to identify identical common elements in the figures. It should be understood that elements and features of one embodiment can be conveniently incorporated into other embodiments without further specification.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERENTIAL FORM OF

REALIZATION

With reference to Figures 1, 2 and 3, a lid 10 for a container 11 of fluid coloring products, according to the present invention, comprises a support element 12, for example made of plastic material, of annular shape, which is shaped, for example by molding, so as to have an internal cavity 13, an external wall 15, of a substantially cylindrical or slightly flared shape, smooth and therefore without an undercut, and an internal shoulder 16, having a supporting surface 17 substantially perpendicular to the external wall 15. The latter is suitable for coupling, for example by interference, with an internal wall 19 (fig. 2), also cylindrical, of the container 11. The latter can be of any known type, such as for example of the type described in the Italian patent application for industrial invention N ° UD2010A000126, which the Applicant has filed To facilitate the coupling between the lid 10 and the container 11, the lower part of the wall 15 is slightly flared downwards, for example by a few degrees (from 5 ° to 10 °) and is connected to the lower surface of the support element 12.

The support element 12 is also provided with an upper peripheral edge 20 (fig. 3), substantially perpendicular to the external wall 15 and which defines the external diameter of the lid 10. The lower surface of the edge 20 can advantageously also act as a surface stop to rest a tool, such as a screwdriver, in case you want to remove the lid 10 from the container 11.

The lower surface of the peripheral edge of a membrane 22, impermeable, elastic, having the shape of a disk and having a thickness of about 2-3 mm, rests on the supporting surface 17. The material with which the membrane 22 is made is of a known type and is, for example, an elastomer that can be easily pierced by one or more needles, for example metal, each having a diameter of about 4 mm. The membrane 22 has elastic properties such as to allow the holes made by the needles to close automatically when these have been extracted and thus return to their waterproof condition both in a static situation, for example during storage in a warehouse, and in a dynamic situation, for example during the mixing phase of the fluid coloring products contained inside the container 11, when, for example, the lid 10, already perforated, must withstand sinusoidal cycles with frequencies from 50 to 1000 revolutions per minute and with jumps from 40 to 60 mm.

A locking ring nut 23 is arranged in the internal cavity 13 of the support element 12 and is fixed thereto by means of its own circumferential tooth 25 inserted, for example by snap action, into a corresponding annular space 26, with a V-shaped cross section, of the support element 12. The locking ring nut 23 constantly holds the membrane 22 in the desired position, pressing the peripheral edge of the latter against the internal shoulder 16.

Furthermore, hooking means can be provided to keep the membrane 22 in the desired position with respect to the support element 12.

The aforesaid coupling means, in a preferred embodiment, shown in fig. 3, comprise an adequate number (for example a dozen) of pointed teeth 24, distributed along the lower surface of the locking ring nut 23 and / or of the support surface 17 and facing towards the membrane 22, to penetrate inside it.

According to a variant, shown in fig. 4, in place of the pointed teeth 24, or in addition to them, the internal shoulder 16 of the support element 12 is provided with a series of pegs 27 facing upwards and inserted in corresponding holes 28 made on the upper part of the peripheral edge of the membrane 22. Preferably the pins 27, and consequently the corresponding holes 28, are angularly equidistant from each other and their number is between four and twelve.

According to another variant, shown in fig.

5, the pegs 27, instead of on the support element 12, are made on the locking ring nut 23 and are turned downwards to be inserted in any case in the corresponding holes 28 of the membrane 22

To make the lid 10 stackable easily and safely with other similar lids 10, the support element 12 is provided in the upper part with an annular groove 29 and, in the lower part, with a corresponding annular protrusion 30 (Figures 2, 3 and 4), having the width substantially equal to the width of the annular groove 29. By width here is meant the dimension of the cross section. The annular projection 30 has the lateral sides slightly flared downwards (for example from 5 ° to 15 °), to facilitate its insertion in a corresponding annular groove 29 of another lid 10, when the lids 10 are stacked one above the other (fig. 6).

The annular groove 29 is very deep, of the order of about 9 mm, so that the thickness of the support element 12 has a substantially uniform thickness, thus facilitating its molding.

Furthermore, in order to keep the membrane 22 substantially flat along its entire surface, even during the operations of insertion and removal of the needles, the support element 12 is provided with two annular ribs 31, concentric with the internal cavity 13, and with five radial ribs 32, angularly offset by 72 ° with respect to each other. Similarly, the locking ring nut 23 is provided with two annular ribs 33, superimposed on the annular ribs 31, and with five radial ribs 35, angularly equidistant from each other, but offset by 36 ° with respect to the underlying radial ribs 32.

The annular ribs 33 and the radial ribs 35 are all pointed upwards, both to prevent the dispensing needles from getting stuck thereon, when they are lowered towards the membrane 22 to perforate it, and to guide them. The angle at the apex of the annular ribs 33 and of the radial ribs 35 is approximately 35 °.

The annular ribs 31 and the radial ribs 32, on the other hand, are all pointed downwards, to ensure that the fluid material, contained inside the container 11, does not adhere to the walls of the ribs themselves, and therefore does not form lumps when it dries; lumps that could hinder the proper functioning of the needles. The angle at the vertex of the annular ribs 31 and of the radial ribs 32 is between about 25 ° and about 30 °.

The lid 10 can optionally also comprise an upper layer 40, consisting of a film, or a disc, of plastic material, or of metal, for example aluminum, very thin, with a thickness of a few tenths of a millimeter, for example of type described in the Italian patent for industrial invention No. 1370076, granted to the Applicant on 26.01.2010. The upper layer 40 is fixed to the upper part of the ring nut 23 and acts as a recognition element of the perforation, having the property of indicating, in a clear and visible way, whether the lid 10 has been perforated, or is still intact.

The upper layer 40 can also be customized by the manufacturer, or by the customer, for example by inserting messages on the use of the distribution system, or by affixing the product brand, or other information.

It is therefore clear that the lid 10 described up to now is simple to make and that the same support element 22, on which the membrane 22 rests, is also provided with the means that allow the stacking of the lid itself, constituted in the case in point from the annular groove 29 and from the corresponding annular projection 30.

It is clear that the cover 10 described heretofore may have modifications and / or additions of parts made, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention.

It is also clear that, although the present invention has been described with reference to a specific example, a person skilled in the art will certainly be able to produce many other equivalent forms of lids for containers of fluid coloring products, having the characteristics expressed in the claims and therefore all falling within the scope of protection defined by them.

Claims (10)

CLAIMS 1. Lid for a container of fluid coloring products, comprising a support element (12), substantially annular in shape and provided with an internal shoulder (16), on which the peripheral part of an impermeable membrane (22) rests and elastic, and a locking element (23) arranged inside said support element (12) to keep said membrane (22) locked against said internal shoulder (16), characterized in that said support element (12) is It is provided in its upper part with an annular groove (29) and comprises, in its lower part, a corresponding annular protrusion (30) aligned with said annular groove (29). 2. Cover as in claim 1, characterized in that said internal shoulder (16) of said support element (12) comprises a support surface (17) on which the lower surface of the peripheral part of said membrane rests ( 22), and in that anchoring means (24, 27, 28) are provided to keep said membrane (22) in a desired position with respect to said support surface (17). 3. Cover as in claim 2, characterized in that said anchoring means comprise a plurality of pointed teeth (24), distributed along the lower surface of said locking element (23) and / or of said supporting surface (17) and turned towards said membrane (22), to penetrate inside the latter. 4. Cover as in claim 2, characterized in that said anchoring means comprise a plurality of pegs (27) projecting upwards from said internal shoulder (16) and inserted into corresponding holes (28) made in the peripheral edge of said membrane (22). 5. Cover as in claim 2, characterized in that said anchoring means comprise a plurality of pegs (27) projecting downwards from the lower surface of said locking element (23) and inserted in corresponding holes (28) made in the edge peripheral of said membrane (22). 6. Cover as in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that both said support element (12) and said locking element (23), are provided with one or more annular ribs (31), concentric to each other, and of a plurality of radial ribs (32), and by the fact that at least said ribs, both annular (31) and radial (32) of said support element (12) are pointed downwards. 7. Cover as in claim 6, characterized in that the angle at the vertex of said ribs (31 and 32) is comprised between about 25 ° and about 30 °. 8. Cover as in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said support element (12) comprises an external wall (15), substantially cylindrical and perpendicular to said internal shoulder (16), which is suitable for coupling with a corresponding internal wall (19) of said container 11. 9. Cover as in claim 8, characterized in that the lower part of said external wall (15) is slightly flared downwards and is connected to the lower surface of said support element (12). 10. Cover as in claim 8 or 9, characterized in that said support element (12) further comprises an upper peripheral edge (20), substantially perpendicular to said outer wall (15).