JP2012001265A - Lid for beverage container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a new lid which is a lid for putting the lid on the mouth rim of the container into which a hot beverage is filled up, and which can be used to prevent the hot beverage from overflowing the container by a bumping phenomenon of the hot beverage.SOLUTION: The lid for the beverage container is characterized in that it has a groove-shaped rib fitted into the mouth rim of a container for beverages and an upper wall connected with the inner peripheral side of this rib at least in one place on the plane of this upper wall and a plurality of extremely microscopic holes are drilled and prepared by laser machining.

Description

  The present invention relates to a lid for a container. More specifically, the present invention relates to a plastic lid that is applied to the upper edge of the hot beverage container and can prevent the occurrence of bumping phenomenon due to the hot beverage filled in the container.

  When a hot beverage such as hot coffee, hot chocolate, or tea is purchased at a fast food store, the store clerk fills the paper container or plastic container with hot coffee and then attaches or removes the plastic at the top edge of the container. Cover the possible lid and hand it to the buyer. The lid is generally used to prevent hot coffee or the like in the container from spilling out of the container or foreign matter in the air from entering the container.

  The purchaser can remove the entire lid from the lip of the container when consuming hot drinks such as hot coffee in the container, but recently it can be opened and closed to ingest the contents on the top wall of the lid. There is also provided a lid that is provided with a simple opening so that hot coffee or the like in a container can be drunk without peeling off the lid. For example, see Patent Document 1.

  The lid 10 shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1 has an opening 20 through which the contents can be drunk while being covered on the container body. Opening 20 includes a cover or plug that is removable by the consumer prior to consumption of the container contents. Accordingly, after the container is filled with hot coffee or the like having a temperature of about 70 to 90 ° C., a cover such as that shown in FIG. Or until the plug is removed, the inside of the container is sealed, and the vapor pressure in the container rises. The lid 10 shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1 is provided with a vent hole 38 in the annular ridge 26 in order to release the vapor pressure in the container.

  When eat-in in the store, the vent hole 38 of the lid 10 surely functions to release the vapor pressure in the container as designed. However, in the case of take-out, if a hot coffee filling container with a lid as described above is packaged together with food (for example, hamburger, donut, sandwich, etc.) in the same bag, vibrations during transportation will occur. A bumping phenomenon occurred, and hot coffee was often blown out from the vents to wet foods. When a complaint like this comes from a consumer at a dealer, a new food is provided and the complaint is processed. However, some consumers also have serious problems such as being unable to purchase again at the same dealer.

JP 9-512774 gazette

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is a lid that is applied to the edge of a container filled with a hot beverage, and a novel lid that can prevent the hot beverage from spilling out of the container due to the bumping phenomenon of the warm beverage. Is to provide.

  The subject has a groove-like rib fitted to the mouth edge portion of the beverage container, and an upper wall portion connected to the inner peripheral side of the rib, and at least at one place on the upper wall portion plane. The solution is solved by a lid for a beverage container, wherein a plurality of micro holes are formed by laser processing.

In the lid of the present invention, a plurality of extremely minute holes are formed in order to release the vapor pressure in the container. Compared to conventional vent holes with a relatively large diameter, by forming a plurality of extremely small diameter holes, the contents of the container do not spill out of the container even if a bumping phenomenon occurs in the container. Further, even when the container is turned over, the container contents are not blown out in large quantities from the microscopic holes. This is presumably because the diameter of the hole is extremely small, and the blowing out of the container is effectively suppressed by the surface tension of the contents (liquid).
In addition, since the conventional vent hole is formed with a needle or a mold, the needle may break and remain in the hole portion, or a metal piece may adhere to the hole portion. Furthermore, in the case of a plastic lid, if a vent hole is drilled using a needle or a mold, the plastic surface around the hole is stretched and whitened when the hole is opened, which impairs the aesthetics of the lid. On the other hand, in the lid of the present invention, the microscopic holes are drilled by laser processing, so that no inconvenient phenomenon such as residual metal or whitening of the plastic occurs.

It is a top view of an example of the lid | cover for drink containers of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which opened the drinking mouth of the lid | cover for drink containers shown by FIG. (A)-(C) are the partial top views which show each embodiment of a very minute hole.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view of an example of a beverage container lid according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a drinking mouth of the beverage container lid shown in FIG. 1 is opened. Please refer to FIG. The lid 1 for a beverage container of the present invention basically has a groove-like rib 3 fitted to the rim of the beverage container, and an upper wall portion 5 connected to the inner peripheral side of the rib. A plurality of extremely small diameter holes 7 are formed on the plane of the upper wall portion 5.

  Similarly to the lid described in Patent Document 1, a means for opening an opening (a drinking mouth) on the plane of the upper wall portion 5 can be provided for the convenience of the consumer. However, for the beverage container lid of the present invention, the arrangement of the opening (drinking means) opening means is not an essential requirement.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the opening (drinking mouth) opening means has, for example, a half-cut groove 13 of a substantially U-shaped cut line portion 11 formed in a plane portion near the outer peripheral edge of the upper wall portion 5. A convex knob 15 on the upper side of the U-shape is disposed on the upper surface of the upper wall 5. An accommodation recess 18 for fitting and locking the knob 15 is disposed adjacent to the knob 15. A protruding portion 20 for fitting the knob portion 15 is provided opposite to the substantially central portion of the housing recess 18. The arrangement of the housing recess 18 is not an essential requirement. That is, the entire periphery of the knob portion 15 can be cut off so that the drinking mouth is always open, or the drinking mouth can be opened or closed by leaving a part of the outer periphery of the knob portion 26 as a fold line. You can also

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the beverage container lid 1 shown in FIG. 1 in a state in which the knob 15 is fitted and locked in the housing recess 18 to form the drinking mouth 22. If the knob 15 is gripped with a finger and pulled strongly up and down, the half-cut groove 13 of the cut line portion 11 is broken, and only the upper wall surface portion that is outlined in a substantially U shape in which the knob 15 is formed is opened. The drinking mouth 22 is opened. Since the convex knob 15 is housed in the housing recess 18 and is fitted and locked to the protruding portion 20, the drinking mouth 22 can be kept open.

1 and 2 are formed by laser processing. The diameter and the number of arrangement of the minute holes 7 may be any necessary and sufficient to prevent the bumping phenomenon. The diameter of the micro minute hole 7 also depends on the number of the holes 7 provided. By properly controlling the diameter and the number of arrangement of the minute holes 7, it is possible to effectively prevent the occurrence of bumping phenomenon, which is the object of the present invention. For example, in order to achieve this purpose, the number of the minute micro holes 7 with a small diameter can be increased, while the number of the very small holes 7 with a large diameter can be decreased. The diameter of the micro minute hole 7 in the lid of the present invention is in the range of 0.10 mm to 0.60 mm. In diameter generally vents are drilled by conventional metal working, in the range of 0.7Mm～1.5Mm, therefore, the opening area of the ventilation holes because 0.38mm ² ~1.77mm ^2, With reference to the opening area, the diameter and the number of the minute holes 7 to be disposed in the lid of the present invention can be determined. However, as described above, the diameter of the micro holes 7 can be reduced and the number of holes can be increased so that the total opening area exceeds the opening area of the conventional machined ventilation hole. Although there is no particular limitation, it is more effective to prevent blowing out due to bumping phenomenon of hot beverages by reducing the diameter of the micro minute holes 7 and increasing the number of holes. However, when the number of holes is increased, the appearance becomes worse. For convenience of explanation, the hole diameters of the plurality of ultrafine holes 7 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are shown exaggerated from the actual ones.

  The laser processing machine used for drilling the micro minute hole 7 is not particularly limited. Solid-state laser (for example, ruby laser, YAG laser, Nd: YAG laser, diode-pumped solid-state laser), liquid laser (for example, dye laser), gas laser (for example, carbon dioxide laser, helium-neon laser, argon ion laser, excimer) Laser), a semiconductor laser, a free electron laser, a metal vapor laser, a chemical laser, and the like. A carbon dioxide laser is preferable from the viewpoint of easy handling. As the carbon dioxide laser, for example, an LP400 series carbon dioxide laser commercially available from SUNX Corporation can be used. This carbon dioxide laser can generate laser light having an average output of 10 W to 30 W, a wavelength of 9.3 μm to 10.6 μm, and a beam diameter of 90 μm to 260 μm. The laser power of the laser processing machine used for drilling the minute holes 7 can be changed as appropriate according to the material of the lid 1.

  The lid 1 for beverage containers of the present invention can be formed from plastics such as thermoplastics or thermosetting plastics. Thermoplastics are preferred. As the plastic material for forming the lid 1, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polylactic acid (PLA) and the like are suitable. Needless to say, other materials can also be used to make the beverage container lid 1 of the present invention. The lid 1 can be easily mass-produced by injection molding these plastic materials. The thickness of the lid 1 is not an essential requirement of the present invention, but is generally in the range of about 0.3 mm to 0.5 mm. As the thickness of the lid 1 increases, it is necessary to increase the laser output, decrease the irradiation speed, and increase the number of irradiations. In the case of thermoplastics, the laser beam irradiation time required for drilling the microscopic holes 7 is about 0.1 seconds to 0.3 seconds. By adjusting the irradiation program of the laser processing machine in advance, the micro holes 7 can be individually drilled, or all the micro holes 7 can be drilled all at once.

  The micropores 7 can also be arranged in a shape other than the vertically and horizontally aligned shape as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. For example, it may be a star shape as shown in FIG. 3A, a heart shape as shown in FIG. 3B, or a ring shape as shown in FIG. Therefore, the micro minute hole 7 can function as a part of the design design of the upper surface of the lid.

A lid made of polystyrene having an upper wall thickness of 0.37 to 0.40 mm was prepared, and an extremely small hole 7 shown in FIG. 1 was formed using an LP430U carbon dioxide laser commercially available from SUNX Corporation. .
The average output of the carbon dioxide laser was 22.5 W, and the wavelength was 10.6 μm. The beam diameter of the carbon dioxide laser was adjusted so that the individual diameters of the ultrafine holes 7 were 0.2 mm and the total number was 40 (that is, the total opening area of the ultrafine holes 7 was 1.256 mm ² ). This laser beam was irradiated on the upper wall surface of the polystyrene lid for 0.24 seconds to form the ultrafine holes 7. No whitening phenomenon was observed in any of the micropores.

As a comparative example, a polystyrene lid having an upper wall thickness of 0.37 to 0.40 mm was prepared, a stainless steel needle was inserted into the upper wall surface of the lid, and a steam vent hole with a diameter of 1.28 mm was provided. Individual pieces (that is, a total opening area of 1.268 mm ² ) were drilled. There was a whitening phenomenon that could be clearly seen with the naked eye around the steam vent.

Prepare two paper containers filled with 90 ° C hot water, apply the lid of Example 1 and the lid of the comparative example to the edge of each container, shake the container, and test the occurrence of bumping phenomenon went. In the cover of the comparative example (total opening area of the steam vent hole 1.268 mm ² ) having one steam vent hole with a diameter of 1.28 mm, occurrence of bumping phenomenon in which the contents jump out like a fountain from the steam vent hole was confirmed. However, in the lid of the present invention having the very small holes 7 each having a diameter of 0.2 mm and a total number of 40 (the total opening area of the very minute holes is 1.256 mm ² ), the contents are transferred from the holes to the fountain. Thus, the bumping phenomenon that jumped out did not occur, and the contents only appeared like “crab bubbles” on the upper surface of the micropores 7. This is presumably due to the surface tension of the contents in contact with the micropores 7. Therefore, if a large number of holes having a small diameter are arranged, the occurrence of bumping can be effectively prevented even if the total opening area is small.

A polystyrene lid having an upper wall thickness of 0.37 to 0.40 mm was prepared, and an LP430U carbon dioxide laser commercially available from SUNX Co., Ltd. was used.
The average output of the carbon dioxide gas laser was 22.5 W, the wavelength was 10.6 μm, the individual diameters of the ultrafine holes 7 were 0.6 mm, and two samples with one and two holes were produced.

Two paper containers filled with hot water at 90 ° C. were prepared, and the lids were respectively applied to the rims of the containers, and the containers were shaken to perform a bumping phenomenon test.
In the lid (total opening area of the very minute hole 0.283 mm ² ) with one extremely minute hole having a diameter of 0.6 mm, a bumping phenomenon in which the contents jump out like a fountain from the minute hole is confirmed, and the internal pressure It changed so that the lid shape could rise.
In a lid (total opening area of 0.565 mm ² ) with two ultra fine holes with a diameter of 0.6 mm, the bumping phenomenon in which the contents jump out like a fountain does not occur due to the internal pressure. The change in the lid shape could not be confirmed visually.

  As mentioned above, although the preferable embodiment of the lid | cover for drink containers of this invention has been demonstrated, the lid | cover for drink containers of this invention is not limited only to the illustrated embodiment. In particular, with respect to the shape of the lid, the upper wall portion 5 can be raised higher than the rib 3. In other words, the shape of the lid itself can be formed into an arbitrary shape in consideration of various factors such as the use and strength of the lid. Moreover, although the lid | cover for drink containers of this invention is illustrated as a detachable lid | cover, it can also be a non-detachable lid | cover of a fitting type, a winding type, or a container edge part adhesion type.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cover for drink containers of this invention 3 Rib 5 Upper wall part 11 Process cut line part 13 Half cut groove | channel 15 Convex knob | pick part 18 Storage recessed part 20 Protrusion 22 Drinking mouth

Claims (5)

A groove-like rib fitted to the mouth edge of the beverage container, and an upper wall connected to the inner peripheral side of the rib, and at least one place on the plane of the upper wall A lid for a beverage container, wherein ultrafine holes are formed by laser processing. 2. The lid for a beverage container according to claim 1, wherein the diameter of the micropore is in the range of 0.10 mm to 0.60 mm. The lid for a beverage container according to any one of claims 1 and 2, further comprising an opening (drinking mouth) opening means disposed on the upper wall plane. The lid for a beverage container according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the lid is made of thermoplastic or thermosetting plastic. The lid for a beverage container according to claim 4, wherein the lid is made of a thermoplastic plastic.

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