JP5057699B2 - Flexible container - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a flexible container made of synthetic resin that is used by extruding contents contained in a container body that can be flexibly deformed from a discharge port at the tip of a mouth and neck.

  For example, a flexible container made of a soft synthetic resin is known as a container for storing mayonnaise, ketchup, pizza sauce, soft butter, cream, soft chocolate and the like, which are contents having a relatively high viscosity. The flexible container is formed by continuously forming a mouth and neck portion having a discharge port on a container body that contains contents, and is, for example, a cap screwed through a male screw provided on the outer peripheral surface of the mouth and neck portion Is removed, and the container body is held and pressed to push out the contents from the discharge port.

In order to efficiently extrude the contents from the container main body of the flexible container, it is desirable that the container main body be deformed as flat as possible after discharge. Therefore, the container main body is easily crushed by providing a groove or a reversing portion. Such a flexible container is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
JP 2001-219948 A JP 2003-165551 A JP 2004-299766 A

  In the flexible container of Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2, it is possible to efficiently discharge the contents inside the container body by folding or crushing the container body. In the vicinity of the mouth and neck, the thickness of the synthetic resin is likely to be thick, and since male threads are provided, it is difficult to press and deform, and it is difficult to discharge the contents left in these parts. is there.

  In particular, as a flexible container made of synthetic resin that is used by extruding the contents contained in a container body that can be flexibly deformed, the cross-sectional area of the container body is tapered toward the mouth and neck, such as a mayonnaise container. In a flexible container having a squeezed shape, it is difficult to crush the vicinity of the mouth-neck portion because the thickness of the resin in the vicinity of the mouth-neck portion is thick. Further, in the vicinity of the narrowed mouth and neck portion, the contents are likely to remain, and the user may be forced to perform an unreasonable operation in order to push out the remaining contents.

  On the other hand, unlike a flexible container that uses the contents contained in the container body by pushing it out, a blow-molded container that contains liquid contents with low viscosity has a grooved crease inside the mouth and neck. There is also disclosed a flexible container made of synthetic resin that enables crushing of the mouth-neck portion at the time of disposal (see, for example, Patent Document 3). Even if it is provided in the mouth-and-neck portion of the flexible container, it is difficult to efficiently extrude the contents remaining in the tapered portion near the mouth-and-neck portion.

  The present invention provides a flexible container capable of efficiently and easily extruding the contents remaining in the vicinity of the mouth and neck from a container body having a shape with a reduced cross-sectional area toward the mouth and neck. For the purpose.

  The present invention is a flexible container made of synthetic resin capable of extruding and discharging the contents accommodated in a container body that can be flexibly deformed from the discharge port at the tip of the mouth and neck, wherein the container body includes: A pair of pressing surfaces on the front side and the back side that are pressed in directions close to each other are provided, and the cross-sectional area is narrowed toward the mouth and neck, and the container body includes the pair of pressing surfaces. The above object is achieved by providing a flexible container in which a depression guide line extending downward from the mouth-neck part or the vicinity of the mouth-neck part is provided in the central part of the pressing surface of It is.

  According to the flexible container of the present invention, the contents remaining in the vicinity of the mouth-neck portion can be efficiently and easily pushed out from the container body having a shape with a reduced cross-sectional area toward the mouth-neck portion. .

  A flexible container 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 (a) to 1 (d) is a liquid having a relatively high viscosity as a content, and has an apparent viscosity of 2000 mPa · s, for example. 420000 mPa · s of a relatively high viscosity liquid, for example, mayonnaise containing a soft synthetic resin container. 12. And the flexible container 10 of this embodiment hold | maintains the container main body 11 in the state which inclined the discharge port 13 of the front-end | tip of the mouth-and-neck part 12, for example, after holding the container main body 11 and removing the cap 14, for example. The contents are discharged by pressing. Further, when the contents are discharged, preferably, the remaining contents are stored in an inverted state in which the mouth-and-neck portion 12 is placed downward, so that the remaining contents are guided downward toward the mouth-and-neck portion 12, or the mouth-and-neck portion. The contents guided to 12 are stored as they are, and the contents are smoothly discharged from the discharge port 13 at the next use. Even when the flexible container 10 of the present embodiment has a small amount of contents remaining and is accumulated only in the mouth and neck portion 12 or in the vicinity of the mouth and neck portion 12, the contents remaining in these portions can be smoothed. This is used to reduce the remaining squeezed content.

  And the flexible container 10 of this embodiment is a synthetic resin container which can discharge the content accommodated in the container body 11 which can be deformed flexibly from the discharge outlet 13 of the front-end | tip of the mouth-and-neck part 12. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the container body 11 includes a pair of pressing surfaces 20 a and 20 b on the front side and the back side that are pressed in directions close to each other, and is cut toward the mouth and neck portion 12. The container body 11 has a shape with a narrowed area, and the container body 11 is connected to the central portion of the pair of pressing surfaces 20a and 20b in the vicinity of the mouth and neck portion 12 or in the vicinity of the mouth and neck portion 12. A depression guide wire 19 extending downward is provided.

  In the present embodiment, a male screw 15 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the mouth and neck portion 12. Then, at the pair of opposed positions in the circumferential direction of the mouth-and-neck part 12 (in this embodiment, one pair of opposed positions among the two opposed positions), the protruding strips constituting the male screw 15 are The missing intermittent portion 16 is arranged along the extension line of the depression guide line 19 along the axial direction of the mouth-and-neck portion 12 or the axial direction X of the container, so that the male screw 15 is inserted into the axis of the mouth-and-neck portion 12. An intermittent continuous portion 21 that crosses in the direction X is formed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, in the mouth-and-neck portion 12, the intermittent portion 16 arranged in the axial direction X of the outer peripheral surface is vertically cut, and the concave groove 17 (preferably a thin portion by the concave groove 17) is the intermittent continuous portion 21. It is formed along.

  The container body 11 is formed by blow-molding together with the mouth and neck portion 12 using, for example, LDPE (low density polyethylene) as a soft synthetic resin, and is a flexible container that can be flexibly deformed. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1B, the container body 11 is continuously provided with both ends of the front part 11a and the rear part 11b curved outwardly with the bending guide ribs 18 interposed therebetween. It has a shape. The front part 11a and the back part 11b constitute a pair of pressing surfaces 20a, 20b on the front side and the back side, and the container body 11 is provided on the front side and the back side except for the part close to the mouth and neck part 12. It has a flat cross-sectional shape in which a pair of pressing surfaces 20a and 20b are arranged symmetrically.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, the container main body 11 has a shape in which the cross-sectional area is narrowed toward the mouth-and-neck portion 12, and the thickness of the mouth-and-neck portion 12 whose thickness is increased by reducing the cross-sectional area. In the vicinity, a depression guide line 19 is provided that extends in the axial direction X of the container 10 and is disposed at the center of the pair of pressing surfaces 20a and 20b. As shown in FIG. 1 (c), the depression guide line 19 is composed of, for example, a concave groove formed so as to be depressed inside the container body 11 or a concave groove formed as a thin portion. By pressing in the pressing direction Y while sandwiching the pressing surfaces 20a, 20b in the vicinity of the mouth / neck portion 12 from both sides with the depression guide line 19 as a pressing point, the pressing surface 20a can be easily formed around the depression guiding line 19 as a center. The inner side surface of the container body 11 and the inner side surface of the pressing surface 20b are brought close to each other, and the folding guide rib portion 18 is folded in a mountain while guiding the vicinity of the mouth-neck portion 12 of the container body 11 to be flat and smoothly crushed. .

  Here, the depression guide line 19 provided in the vicinity of the mouth / neck portion 12 of the container body 11 is an axis of the container body 11 from the shoulder portion 22 to the bottom which is a boundary portion with the mouth / neck portion 12 of the container body 11. For example, a region of 10% or more, or a length of 15 mm or more is provided with respect to the length L in the direction X. From the viewpoint of folding the container body 11 flatly, the container body 11 is thick at least in the vicinity of the mouth and neck portion 12. Or a region in the vicinity of the mouth-and-neck portion 12 that is narrowed to a cross-sectional area of 20% to 30% with respect to the maximum cross-sectional area of the container body 11. The depression guide line 19 may be provided to extend from the vicinity of the shoulder portion 22, which is a boundary portion with the mouth neck portion 12 of the container main body 11, to the vicinity of the bottom portion, but the vicinity of the mouth neck portion 12 of the container main body 11 is pushed. It is preferable to be provided in the vicinity of the mouth and neck 12 of the container main body 11 from the viewpoint of being difficult to crush, indicating the point to be pressed, aesthetics, etc., for example, 40% of the length L from the shoulder 22 and preferably 20 % Area.

  The mouth / neck portion 12 integrally formed with the container body 11 has a discharge opening 13 formed at the tip thereof, and the inner diameter of the mouth / neck portion near the tip of the mouth / neck portion 12 is, for example, about 10 to 25 mm. A male screw 15 is provided as an intermittent screw on the outer peripheral surface. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1D and 2, the intermittent portion 16 of the intermittent screw 15 has an oral neck portion at four positions spaced at an equal angular interval of 90 degrees in the circumferential direction of the oral neck portion 12. A pair of intermittently connected portions 21 which are arranged side by side in the 12 axial directions X and face the pressing direction Y of the pair of pressing surfaces 20a, 20b, and the other facing the direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the pressing direction Y A pair of intermittently connected portions (intermittent bent portions) 21 ′ are formed.

  Here, the pair of intermittent connection portions 21 facing the pressing direction Y are formed along an extension line of the depression guide wire 19 provided in the vicinity of the mouth-neck portion 12 of the container body 11, and these intermittent The continuous portion 21 is formed with a concave groove 17 (preferably a thin-walled portion by the concave groove 17) that vertically cuts the intermittent portion 16 in the axial direction X. Further, the pair of intermittent bent portions 21 ′ facing the pressing direction Y in a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the pressing direction Y is disposed on the extension of the bending guide rib portion 18. The concave groove 17 is preferably formed only in the intermittent connection portion 21.

In the present embodiment, a shoulder portion 22 is formed at the boundary between the mouth / neck portion 12 and the container main body 11 for positioning when the flush portion formed during blow molding of the container 10 is cut. As shown in FIG. 2, the portion 22 is provided so as to project the corner portion 22 a only at a portion 90 degrees away from the depression guide line 19 in the circumferential direction and a portion near the portion. That is, for example, in a container made of a soft synthetic resin that contains contents such as mayonnaise and is tapered toward the mouth and neck, the top opening of the mouth and neck is covered with Lectra Seal (registered trademark) . In addition, after blow-molding the container, it is necessary to perform flush cutting as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-66141, for example, so that the tip of the mouth and neck portion is trimmed to a predetermined height from the shoulder portion. For this reason, in a conventional soft synthetic resin container, for the purpose of facilitating the work process of attaching LectraSeal (registered trademark) and flush cutting, for example, a U-shaped plate material is generally pressed from above. A flat surface is provided on the top of the shoulder so that it can be positioned in the height direction, and a corner is formed between the generally flat surface of the top of the shoulder and the peripheral surface of the container body. In addition, the corner portion is provided so as to protrude over the entire circumference of the shoulder portion.

  On the other hand, if a corner is provided on the shoulder, it is difficult to crush the container at the boundary between the mouth and neck and the container body, and it is difficult to efficiently push out the contents remaining in the vicinity of the mouth and neck. become. In the present embodiment, at a portion 90 degrees away from the pressing direction Y that has been easily crushed through the depression guide wire 19 and a portion near the portion, the extension portion of the bending guide rib portion 18 that is folded in the mountain. Positioning in the height direction is made possible by projecting and providing only the corner portion 22a, that is, by projecting and providing the corner portion 22a only at a position facing the circumferential direction of the container body 11. Then, the portions other than the extended portion of the bending guide rib portion 18 of the container main body 11 are curved and chamfered so as to maintain the positioning function by the corner portion 22a, and the depression guide wire 19 is maintained. A device has been devised so that the crushing in the vicinity of the mouth-and-neck portion 12 can be smoothly performed.

  In the flexible container 10 of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, the container body 11 in which the contents are filled and accommodated is gripped and the pair of pressing surfaces 20a and 20b are pressed to form a flexible container. The container body 11 is deformed, and the contents are easily discharged from the discharge port 13 of the mouth / neck portion 12.

  Here, the contents stored in the container body 11 are preferably those having an apparent viscosity of 2000 to 420,000 mPa · s at 20 ° C., particularly those having an apparent viscosity of 2000 to 250000 mPa · s at 20 ° C. In an actual use state, the apparent viscosity of the contents accommodated in the container body 11 is preferably 4000 to 320,000 mPa · s at 10 ° C. That is, the apparent viscosity of the contents stored in the container body 11 varies depending on the temperature. According to the present invention, even when the apparent viscosity of the contents is 4000 to 320,000 mPa · s, Objects can be easily discharged.

  And according to the flexible container 10 of this embodiment, the contents remaining in the vicinity of the mouth-and-neck part 12 are efficiently obtained from the container body 11 having a shape with a reduced cross-sectional area toward the mouth-and-neck part 12. It becomes possible to extrude well. That is, according to the present embodiment, the container body 11 is provided with the depression guide lines 19 extending in the axial direction X of the container 10 in the vicinity of the mouth-and-neck part 12 in the central part of the pair of pressing surfaces 20a and 20b. Therefore, as a pressing point, the portion of the depression guide line 19 provided in the central portion of the pressing surfaces 20a, 20b, which is different from the bending guide rib portion 18 of the container main body 11 to be a mountain-folded bent line portion, For example, by applying a finger to the depression guide line 19 and crushing it in the pressing direction Y, the depression guide lines 19 are folded inward so that the pressing surfaces 20a and 20b are recessed and the inner surface is brought closer to the wall. It is possible to smoothly and flatly deform the vicinity of the mouth-and-neck portion 12 where the thickness is increased, thereby allowing the contents to be used without waste while leaving almost no contents in the vicinity of the mouth-and-neck portion 12. It becomes possible.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, the intermittent portion 16 lacking the protruding strips constituting the male screw 15 extends along the extension line of the depression guide wire 19 at a pair of opposed positions in the circumferential direction of the mouth-and-neck portion 12. Are arranged side by side in the axial direction X of the container 10 to form the intermittently connected portion 21, and therefore, following the operation of flatly crushing the vicinity of the mouth and neck portion 12 via the depression guide wire 19, It becomes possible to perform an operation of crushing the mouth-and-neck part 12, and it becomes possible to flatly crush the vicinity of the mouth-and-neck part 12 and the entire mouth-and-neck part 12. It is possible to smoothly discharge the contents left in the vicinity of the.

  Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the mouth-and-neck portion 12 has a groove 17 or a thin portion formed by the groove 17 by vertically cutting the intermittent portion 16 to the intermittently connected portion 21 along the extension line of the depression guide wire 19. Therefore, the operation of crushing the mouth and neck portion 12 can be performed more smoothly following the operation of flatly crushing the vicinity of the mouth and neck portion 12 via the depression guide line 19. .

  Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the shoulder formed at the boundary portion between the mouth-and-neck portion 12 and the container body 11 is only at the portion that is 90 degrees away from the depression guide line 19 in the circumferential direction and the vicinity thereof. Since the corner portion 22a is provided so as to protrude, and the other portions are curved and chamfered in an arc shape, the chamfered and chamfered portion of the mouth and neck portion 12 is crushed. It is possible to smoothly perform an operation of continuously crushing from the vicinity to the mouth and neck 12.

  In the flexible container 10 of the present embodiment, the bottom 11c of the container body 11 is further placed on the placement surface, and the flexible container 10 can be stored even in an upright state. Yes. Further, it is possible to fold the bottom portion 11c flatly, and the contents accumulated inside the bottom portion 11c can be smoothly pushed out toward the discharge port 13 at the tip of the mouth-and-neck portion 12.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 3, the bottom portion 11 c of the container main body 11 is depressed inside the container main body 11 as a substantially elliptical hollow portion 23, and around the hollow portion 23. Is formed in an arc-shaped cross section having a desired curvature R, and the flexible container 10 is in a stable state with the lowermost end of the arc-shaped cross section as a grounding portion. It can be mounted on the mounting surface. In the present embodiment, the bottom 11c is formed by increasing the curvature R of the arc-shaped cross section and decreasing the depth of the recess 23 so that the annular leg 24 can be easily crushed. The pair of bottom ridge lines 25 have an arcuate cross section so as to branch off from the bending guide rib portion 18 at positions defining the front surface portion 11a and the back surface portion 11b and the bottom portion 11c constituting the pressing surfaces 20a, 20b. It is provided outside the annular leg 24. Further, the front part 11a and the back part 11b are respectively provided with bottom folding guide lines 26 that traverse between the bending guide ribs 18 on both sides from a position close to the branch part of the bottom ridge line 25.

  By providing the bottom folding guide line 26 and the bottom ridge line 25, as shown in FIG. 4, the bottom 11c of the container body 11 can be folded smoothly so as to be folded over the front part 11a or the back part 11b. The bottom portion 11c is coupled with the shape of the bottom portion 11c formed by increasing the curvature R of the arc-shaped cross section of the annular leg portion 24 and decreasing the depth of the depression portion 23. Can be easily deformed into a flat shape, and the contents accumulated inside the bottom portion 11c can be efficiently pushed out toward the mouth-neck portion 12. Further, the bottom ridge line 25 provided on the outer side of the annular leg 24 reinforces the annular leg 24 having an arcuate cross section so as not to be deformed, and stably holds the container body 11 in an upright state. Also demonstrates.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, it is not always necessary to provide a pair of intermittently connected portions in which the intermittent portion lacking the male screw is provided in the circumferential direction of the mouth-and-neck portion. Absent. The container body may have various cross-sectional shapes including a pair of pressing surfaces on the front side and the back side, such as a circle, an ellipse, and an oval, and a pair of pressing surfaces on the front side and the back side. It is not always necessary to have a flat cross-sectional shape arranged symmetrically. Further, the contents may be mayonnaise, various contents such as ketchup, pizza sauce, soft butter, cream, and soft chocolate, or may be high viscosity such as toothpaste.

(A) is a front view of the flexible container which concerns on preferable one Embodiment of this invention, (b) is sectional drawing along AA of (a), (c) is BB of (a). Sectional drawing which followed, (d) is sectional drawing along CC of (a). It is a fragmentary perspective view which shows the vicinity part of the mouth neck part which is the principal part of the flexible container which concerns on preferable one Embodiment of this invention, and a mouth neck part. It is a fragmentary perspective view which shows the bottom part of a container main body. It is a fragmentary perspective view which shows the state which folded the bottom part of the container main body.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Flexible container 11 Container main body 11a Front part 11b Back part 11c Bottom part 12 Neck part 13 Outlet 14 Cap 15 Male screw (intermittent screw)
16 Intermittent part 17 Groove (thin part)
18 Bending guide rib portion 19 Depression guide wires 20a, 20b Pressing surface 21 Intermittent connecting portion 21 'Intermittent connecting portion (intermittent bending portion)
22 shoulder 22a corner 23 recess 24 annular leg 25 bottom ridge line 26 bottom folding guide line X container axial direction Y pressing direction

Claims (5)

A flexible container made of a synthetic resin capable of extruding and discharging contents contained in a container body that can be flexibly deformed from a discharge port at the tip of the mouth and neck,
The container body has a pair of pressing surfaces on the front side and the back side that are pressed in directions close to each other, and has a shape with a reduced cross-sectional area toward the mouth-neck part,
The container body is provided with a depression guide line extending downward from the mouth-neck part or the vicinity of the mouth-neck part at the center part of the pair of pressing surfaces ,
At the boundary between the mouth neck and the container body, a shoulder portion is formed for positioning when the flash portion formed at the time of cutting is cut, and the shoulder portion is 90 degrees in the circumferential direction from the depression guide line. A flexible container provided with protruding corners only in a distant part and in the vicinity thereof .   An external thread is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the mouth-and-neck part, and an intermittent part lacking a protruding line part constituting the external thread is provided at the pair of opposed positions in the circumferential direction of the mouth-and-neck part. The flexible container of Claim 1 arrange | positioned along with the extended direction of a line along with the axial direction of a mouth neck part.   The flexible container according to claim 2, wherein the mouth-and-neck portion is formed with a recessed groove by vertically cutting intermittent portions arranged in the axial direction of the outer peripheral surface. The container body is flexible container according to any one of claims 1 to 3 having a flat cross-sectional shape which are arranged a pair of pressing surfaces of the front and rear side symmetrically. The flexible container according to any one of claims 1 to 4 the apparent viscosity of the contents contained in the container body is a 2000~420000 mPa · s.

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