JP5681295B2 - Blow molded container - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a blow molded container comprising a retention mechanism for attaching the closure to an opening or neck of the container and a portion of the container body having a physical geometry that creates two or more undercuts.

  Various packages have been developed for household products, personal care products, and other products, including packages or containers for dispensing. Containers that give consumers a pleasant aesthetic appearance have a closure design that integrates well with the container design. This conveys a message that the integration of the two components has been fully considered. This is important to enable consumers to intuitively recognize the closure function. An example of a fully integrated container / closure system is one in which the container geometry wraps around the closure to create a shoulder. This geometry is sometimes referred to as a container with a concave neck. This recess geometry serves a variety of purposes, such as overall appearance for the container and closure, and stability of the container in the reverse direction, allowing the consumer to perceive the function of the closure more intuitively.

  It is not possible to blow this container geometry with today's conventional blow molding techniques. This is because the container has an undercut in the recess of the shoulder. This is because the steel that creates the recess is captured when the forming cavity tool is about to be opened. If a blow pin head tool is used to mold the top, you will encounter an undercut under the snap bead mechanism proximate the container shoulder. This is because the blow pin tooling that creates the snap bead cannot be pulled from under the formed bead mechanism.

  When considering containers that are on the market and that use a recess geometry design, it is noticed that they typically have a straight shoulder-to-concave design. It does not require any inventive step to form the recess. This is because there is at least one direction in which the mold can be opened in a linear pulling motion without moving towards any mold material trapped within the container geometry. Furthermore, the recess geometry, which can not be deformed by linear pulling in blow molding, is greatly limited in design and limited integration of the closure and blow molded container, thus limiting all the advantages described above. The

  Although there are other containers currently on the market that have various shoulder geometries, these containers use a neck that is different from the neck found in the present invention. These containers use a closure mounting mechanism where the closure moves quickly over the container from the inside of the dispensing opening. A non-limiting example of a container manufactured by the method described in the present invention may be referred to as having a snap-on closure mechanism that snaps on the outside of the neck of the container. With the discovery of the present invention, the design of the present invention provides greater reliability against leakage. This is because the outer part of the neck is adjusted to provide tighter tolerances compared to the inner part of the container. The inside of the container is not well adjusted, increasing the likelihood of a poor fit between the container and the closure, thus causing a potential leak. This is because the parts blown by the extrusion blow molding method usually have a better controlled geometry on the outside than on the inside of the part. This is because the thickness of the material varies due to the aspect ratio of the part, resulting in different parison stretch ratios in both radial and axial directions. In addition, containers where closures adhere to the container from the inside of the neck require neck trimming and reamer finish as secondary operations. The operation of cutting off excess material is not inherently cost effective and should be avoided. Furthermore, any cutting operation requires continuous access to the part to be cut, limiting the available recess geometry and limiting the integration of the closure and the blowing container, and therefore , Limiting all the advantages described above. A conventional striker plate and blow pin tool design can be used with a closure mounting mechanism where the closure seals from the inside of the neck and snaps onto the container from the outside of the neck. In this case, the blow pin cuts the parison when the parison contacts the seat, creating an adjusted neck, thus eliminating the need for trimming and reaming secondary operations.

  So far, most closures complete the container geometry, so that the dimensions of the closure need to match the container geometry. In the present invention, the size of the closure is minimized, thereby providing several advantages. One of those advantages is to reduce the weight of the closure to the minimum amount of resin required to allow the required closure functionality. This is beneficial for environments where the industry has not so far established a well-established polypropylene recycling stream. Having a closure that is reduced in weight from the overall package allows the container to have improved recyclability. It also reduces the overall cost of the closure, including the costs associated with resin, processing, tooling, injection molding (IM) press selection, and others. Another advantage of minimizing closure dimensions is that the closure is a smaller focus in the design, making it more inductive to use the same closure for different container designs within one brand, It is even possible to use the same closure throughout the entire brand / molding family. This promotes optimization and efficiency, and further reduces costs in return. This further means that the contour of the shape is designed proportionally to scale without adjusting the closure using additional features such as steps, larger radii, or other geometric modifications and angles, etc. Make it possible.

  Another advantage of minimizing the closure size is that it can be integrated in the shape of the container. When the container is in its reverse direction, the integrated design allows the use of the top surface of the container to provide stability while requiring a larger closure To do. It also helps create differentiation between forms (such as shampoos and conditioners) and helps them identify the products that consumers are looking for. This facilitates the scale and development of the container design, which in turn promotes the benefits. A further advantage is that having a recess closure provides a higher level of protection from damage due to the recess closure being protected by the recess geometry. Another advantage of the container having a concave neck that wraps around the closure is that it allows the same closure to be used across various dimensions and is integrated between the container and the closure. Is still having the same appearance. A further advantage of the present invention is the possibility of using the same closure throughout containers made by various molding techniques. Non-limiting examples of molding techniques include extrusion blow molding (EBM), injection blow molding (IBM), and injection stretch blow molding (ISBM). This promotes scale and further reduces costs.

  It is an object of the present invention to describe a container that has a recess in the geometry of the blowing container. Such a recess is an integral part of the closure and the container such that when the closure is connected to the blow molded container, it is substantially level with the apex of the outermost surface of the blow molded container. Make it possible.

  The present invention is directed to a container comprising two or more undercuts, preferably a physical geometry that creates a recess, and a closure retaining mechanism for attachment to the opening or neck of the container.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of the final container shape with a concave neck and a snap bead closure mechanism. An isometric view of a non-limiting example of a miniature closure. A container with a concave neck and a miniature closure, which stands assembled in upright and upside down directions. The top view of the container explaining the direction of a mold function, and a forming parting line. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a container with a concave neck and a miniature closure attached.

  For purposes of the present invention, a suitable recess is one that allows a portion of the article to wrap around at least a portion of the closure when the closure is coupled to the article. Such a recess may allow the closure to remain substantially flush with the top of the outermost surface of the article when the closure is coupled to the article. As used herein, “at least a portion of a closure” means that when the closure is coupled to an article, a portion extends around the closure and is measured from the center of the closure in the xy plane, at least 45 °, Preferably it is intended to form an angle of at least 60 °, more preferably between 60 ° and 360 °.

  As used herein, the term “integrated” means that (i) at least a portion of the closure remains at substantially the same height as at least one surface of the article, preferably the outer surface of the shoulder. And (ii) at least one shoulder of the article is intended to enclose at least a portion of the closure and preferably form at least one recessed surface. The advantage of such a form is the contour desired by the consumer.

  As used herein, the term “undercut” means a physical geometry that prevents an article from being removed from the mold when the mold is opened in a linear direction that intersects at least a portion of the physical geometry.

  The term “without damage” as used herein means that the article retains the final physical geometry created at the end of the molding process.

  The term “scale” as used herein gives negative factors not only to the economic benefits gained by reducing design and development time and resources, but also to consumer acceptance, design aesthetics, etc. It also refers to capital investment obtained through direct reapplication.

  Blow molding is a well-known manufacturing method for manufacturing plastic articles such as containers, fuel tanks and handles. The blow molding process begins with melting a plastic and forming it into a parison or preform. The parison is then secured in a mold and then a pressurized medium (usually air) is blown or fed into it. The air pressure causes the plastic to fit closely with the mold's surrounding geometry. Once the plastic is cooled and cured, the mold is opened and the part is removed.

  There are three main types of blow molding platforms: extrusion blow molding (EBM), injection blow molding (IBM) and stretch blow molding (SBM). Depending on the application, depending on the properties and complexity of the article to be formed, a combination of the above blow molding platforms, such as injection stretch blow molding (ISBM), may be more appropriate.

  The plastic resin material used in the present invention is polyolefin such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polylactic acid (PLA) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). May be.

  As used herein, “polyethylene” includes high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), and ultra low density polyethylene (ULDPE) unless otherwise specified. As used herein, “polypropylene” includes homopolymer polypropylene, random copolymer polypropylene, and block copolymer polypropylene unless otherwise specified.

  Accordingly, there is a need for a new container design having a concave neck (102) and a closure retention mechanism (103). The container (101) can be manufactured by any of the various blow molding methods described above.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the container (101) is a closure retaining mechanism (103) for attaching the closure (106) to the opening or neck (102) of the container (101) comprising a bead, thread, It has a retention mechanism that can be selected from the non-limiting group consisting of bayonet, and mixtures thereof.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the container (101) is also traditionally considered to create two or more undercuts (107), so that when the container is removed from the mold after molding, the shape of the container is reduced. It is difficult to make partial changes or deformations, either temporarily or permanently. This is because the mold material used to create the shape of the container is trapped within the container geometry and does not detract from the linear tensile release action of the mold, as shown in FIG. 1D.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the container (101) has an interface (105) between the closure (106) and the geometry of the container around the neck of the container, concave, convex, linear, non-linear, or It has a geometry that can be selected from a non-limiting group consisting of a mixture of them. The specific shape of the interface geometry (105) can be delimited to mate with the shape of the closure (106) so that it is between the closure (106) and the container (101). An integrated appearance can be created.

  In a further embodiment of the invention, the container (101) has a non-linear geometry around the neck of the container and the closure interface of the container. The curvature of the interface (105) makes it possible to have a container wrap around the closure (106) and allows the fully integrated desired design to be aesthetic. The portion of the container (101) that wraps around the closure (106) may be referred to as the container shoulder (104).

In one embodiment of the present invention, the container (101) has a shoulder (104) geometry, the side of the shoulder wall having an interface (105) with the closure (106) has a convex relief of less than 10 °. It has a geometry with a gradient. In further embodiments, the draft may be further reduced to less than 8 °, and preferably the draft may be further reduced to 5 ° or less. This shoulder surface creates an interface (105) between the container (101) and the closure (106) once the closure (106) is assembled. Having a convex draft of less than 10 ° is important for two main reasons.
1) Customer approval-the smaller the draft, the smaller the space (108) that will exist between the closure (106) and the container (101) after the closure (106) is assembled. Get smaller. Large gaps are typically perceived by consumers as areas where water or product accumulates and the entire assembly feels cluttered. In addition, the large gap may give consumers the perception that the closure and container are not fully integrated, making the overall package look poor. Such a gap (108) also allows the consumer to recognize an internal barrier to product flow when the distance from the shoulder surface (104) to the closure (106) exceeds 7.4 mm.
2) Potential reapplication of the closure (106) across multiple container sizes-Having a small draft on the vertical shoulder interface (105) wall of the container can result in a closure (106 ) Can be used. If the closure (106) has a low vertical draft, the closure (106) is not only a container with a shoulder (104) covering this side of the closure, but also a container with a different shoulder design or shoulder It is possible to use a container that does not have any at all, even if the periphery of the closure is partially or completely exposed. The flexibility to use the same closure throughout the various container designs typically creates a scale that reduces cost and logistic complexity.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the container (101) has a shoulder (104) geometry, and the shoulder shape can be partially altered to form containers of various volume sizes, yet still It has a geometry that allows them to be connected to the same closure (106). By partially changing the shape of the shoulder (104) and mating with the same closure (106), typically the cost is reduced, and all assemblies are in their fully integrated aesthetic appearance A scale is created that makes it possible to maintain

  In further embodiments of the present invention, a portion of the container body can have a physical geometry that creates at least one nonlinear undercut or two or more linear undercuts. In one embodiment, the linear undercut can have a portion of the surface geometry such that the surface is in the same plane. In one embodiment of the invention, the nonlinear undercut can be limited in scope by a portion of the surface geometry such that the surface exists in multiple planes.

  In one aspect of the invention, the container (101) is selected from the non-limiting group consisting of extrusion blow molding (EBM), injection blow molding (IBM), injection stretch blow molding (ISBM), or a mixture thereof. Manufactured by the method.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the container (101) has a shoulder (104) geometry that is integrated with the closure (106), preferably the shoulder (104) geometry and the closure. By integrating with (106), the outline of the container is completed.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the container (100) allows the container neck to be at least partially encased by a portion of the container body.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the container (101) is a closure holding mechanism (103), and the container holding mechanism (103) protrudes due to the outer neck finish of the container. 103) has a closure holding mechanism, sometimes referred to as a "male member". On the other hand, the closure (106) has a "female member". This is because the closure (106) has a recessed area that fits once the container (101) is assembled.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the container (101) includes a closure retention mechanism (103) wherein the container retention mechanism (103) has a depth of less than about 1.5 mm from the tip of the bead to the outer diameter of the neck or the base diameter. ). Having this depth is important. This is because there is a sufficient fit between the closure (106) and the container (101) to prevent unintentional separation of the closure from the container. In another embodiment of the invention, the container has a closure holding mechanism where the holding mechanism of the container may be referred to as a “female member”. Because it has a recess due to the outer neck finish of the container. The closure holding mechanism may be referred to as a “male member”. This is because it protrudes from the closure finish and is once fitted into the assembled container. In one embodiment of the invention, the container has a closure retaining mechanism where the container retaining mechanism has a depth of less than about 1.5 mm from the outer diameter of the neck to the base of the female retaining mechanism. Having this depth is important. This is because there is a sufficient fit between the closure and the container to prevent unintentional separation of the closure from the container.

  In another embodiment of the present invention, the container (101) is made of polyolefin such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polylactic acid (PLA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET). ), Or a mixture selected from a non-limiting group consisting of mixtures thereof. These are typical resins used to make blow molded containers. In one embodiment, the plastic resin material is polyolefin high density polyethylene (HDPE). The plastic materials can be made of petrochemical source monomers or biosource monomers.

  In a further embodiment of the invention, the container (101) has two fixed surfaces (109) in the container geometry. With this geometry, the molded article can be placed in multiple directions, such as upright or reverse. This geometry can further accommodate a non-projecting closure (106) for the molded article.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the container (101) is removed from the molding cavity without permanently or temporarily deforming the molding container mechanism. This is important. This is because any type of deformation is permanent or temporary and will ultimately affect the integrity of the mechanism.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the container (101) is composed of a biodegradable polymer or a mixture of multiple types of biodegradable polymers.

  In a further embodiment of the invention, the container (101) comprises polylactic acid (PLA), polyglycolic acid (PGA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), terephthalic acid based aliphatic-aromatic copolyester, high Consists of a biodegradable polymer material selected from the non-limiting group consisting of aromatic copolyesters with terephthalic acid content, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), thermoplastic starch (TPS), cellulose, or mixtures thereof .

  The dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. Rather, unless otherwise specified, each such dimension is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. For example, a dimension disclosed as “40 mm” shall mean “about 40 mm”.

  All references cited in the “Mode for Carrying Out the Invention” of the present invention are hereby incorporated by reference in the relevant part, and any citation of any reference is accepted as prior art to the present invention. Should not be construed as doing. To the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the same term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition given to that term in this document shall apply And

  While specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.

Claims (15)

a) a retention mechanism for attaching the closure to the opening or neck of the container;
b) a portion of the container body having a physical geometry that creates two or more undercuts;
Equipped with,
In the part of the container, a shoulder that forms a recess on the container by protruding from the container is integrally formed with the container,
A container having a shape that matches the shape of the closure such that an interface between the closure and the container geometry around the opening or neck of the container forms the shoulder covering around the closure .   The portion of the container is the geometry around the neck of the container and the closure interface of the container, comprising a concave, convex, linear, non-linear, mixed linear and non-linear, or a mixture thereof The container of claim 1 having a geometry selected from the group.   A container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the portion of the container has a non-linear geometry around the neck of the container and the closure interface of the container. 4. A container according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the vertical side of the shoulder having an interface with the closure has a convex draft of less than 10 [deg.]. It said neck of said container, by said portion of the container body is surrounded at least partially, the container according to any one of claims 1-4.   6. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the shoulder geometry is partially modified and shaped to allow the same closure to be used throughout containers of various volume sizes.   The container according to any one of claims 1 to 6, which is produced by a method selected from the group consisting of an extrusion blow molding method, an injection blow molding method, an injection stretch blow molding method and a mixture thereof.   The container according to claim 1, wherein the shoulder geometry is integrated with the closure.   The container according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the holding mechanism is a male member in an interface or connection mechanism of the closure. The holding mechanism is from the tip of the bead has a base diameter or less than about 1.5mm to an outer diameter depth of the neck A container according to any one of claims 1 to 9.   The container according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the holding mechanism is a female member in an interface or connection mechanism of the closure.   The container according to claim 1, wherein the holding mechanism has a depth of less than about 1.5 mm from an outer diameter of the neck to a base of the female holding mechanism.   A material selected from the group consisting of polyolefins such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polylactic acid (PLA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or mixtures thereof. The container according to any one of claims 1 to 12, which is configured. 14. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container has two fixed surfaces that allow the container to stand within the container geometry.   15. A container according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container mechanism is not deformed either temporarily or permanently during removal from the molding cavity.

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