JP6240469B2 - Plastic hinge cap - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a stopper-attached resin hinge cap used for a liquid packaging bottle.

  Glass or resin bottles are often used as edible liquids such as seasonings such as soy sauce and miso and edible oil, and as a lid device, the top lid is attached to the main body that fits into the bottle mouth with a stopper. Many hinge caps are used. Naturally, when the bottle is made of glass, the material of the bottle and the hinge cap are different, and even if the bottle is made of resin, the hinge cap is generally made of polyethylene, whereas the bottle is PET or polypropylene is used, and in this case, the material is different.

  Therefore, it is necessary to remove (separate) the hinge cap from the bottle for recycling after using the contents, but as a means to enable easy removal by human hands without using tools. The thin part to be torn by the hinge is formed in the main body, and the upper lid is manually pulled to tear the main body from the base of the hinge along the thin part, thereby releasing the tightening force of the main body against the bottle mouth. It has been broken.

  As an example, in Patent Document 1, a longitudinal groove (first main longitudinal groove) that extends continuously from the upper end to the lower end near the base of the hinge is formed in an outer cylinder that surrounds the bottle mouth from the outside of the main body. Has been disclosed which is torn along an acute-angled longitudinal groove and then torn in the circumferential direction.

Japanese Patent No. 4554785

In this kind of hinge cap, the inner surface of the outer cylinder of the main body is provided with an annular protrusion that engages with the annular recess of the bottle mouth, and when the stopper is plugged, the annular protrusion is once stretched against elasticity. Fits into the annular recess in the bottle mouth. Therefore, the thin wall portion (weakened portion) formed by the longitudinal groove is preferably as thick as possible from the viewpoint of preventing breakage at the time of stoppering and the strength of attachment to the bottle mouth, but from the viewpoint of ease of tearing for separation. Is preferably as thin as possible.

  Therefore, the thickness of the thin wall portion is set so that it can be easily broken to an appropriate strength without being broken at the time of plugging, but there is also a concern that the breakage at the time of plugging cannot be reliably prevented.

  In addition, this type of hinge cap is formed with the upper lid opened at about 180 degrees, and the mold apparatus has an outer mold (cavity) that forms the outer surface of the main body and the main body. It is paired with the inner mold (core) that forms the inner surface, but a thin projection that protrudes downward from the lower surface of the outer mold enters the vertical groove of the outer cylinder. Since the part collided with the inner mold, there was a risk that durability would be reduced.

  The present invention has been made to improve the current situation. In addition, the present application includes other improved configurations with respect to the hinge cap, and these may be the object of the application.

The hinge cap of the present invention is
“ Equipped with a main body that is attached to the bottle mouth by forced fitting, and an upper lid that is integrally connected to the main body via a flexible hinge,
The main body has an outer cylinder that encloses the bottle mouth from the outside, and a spout integrally connected to an upper end of the outer cylinder , and in the vicinity of the hinge root portion of the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder a vertical groove thin portion formed to break the outer tube by pulling the hinge is provided so as to open into an upper and lower of the outer cylinder, "
This is the basic configuration.

And in the above basic configuration,
“The longitudinal groove is a trapezoid in which two inclined surfaces spread at an obtuse angle in plan view,
The diaphragm , which partitions the vertical groove into two upper and lower parts, is integrated in a trapezoidal shape in plan view connected to the inner peripheral surface of the vertical groove at a midway height position between the upper end and the lower end of the vertical groove. The diaphragm is thinner than the outer cylinder so that it can be broken together with the thin portion by pulling the hinge. ' '
It is the composition.

  In this invention, since the diaphragm which partitions a vertical groove plays the role of reinforcement | strengthening of a thin part, the malfunction that a thin part fractures | ruptures at the time of stoppering can be prevented or reduced remarkably. And since a diaphragm is torn off by pulling of a hinge, there is no trouble in the function which removes a main body from a bottle mouth. Therefore, the defect occurrence rate in the filling process can be reduced without impairing the ease of removing the main body for separation.

In addition, since the vertical groove is trapezoidal, it is possible to prevent or remarkably suppress stress from concentrating on a vertically long thin portion (bottom portion of the vertical groove) at the time of plugging, and to prevent or remarkably suppress breakage during the plugging. Furthermore, since the diaphragm is present, the downward projection of the upper mold in the mold apparatus does not collide with the inner mold in the injection molding, which can contribute to the improvement of the durability of the mold apparatus.

It is a top view in the open state of a hinge cap in a 1st embodiment. It is also a front view. It is a bottom view similarly. Similarly, it is a right side view. It is a left side view similarly. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 1. It is the VII-VII line arrow figure of FIG. FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG. 1. It is sectional drawing in the same surface as FIG. 6 in a closed state. (A) is a principal part enlarged view, (B) is BB sectional drawing of (A), (C) is a perspective view of the principal part. It is a partial top view of 2nd-4th embodiment which is another example of a spout. It is a partial top view of 5th-7 embodiment which is another example of a spout. It is a partial top view of 8th-10th embodiment which is another example of a spout.

(1). Basic Structure of First Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. First, a first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 10 will be described. The hinge cap 1 is manufactured by injection molding using a resin such as polyethylene, and the main body 2 and the upper lid 4 are integrally connected via a thin hinge 3 that can be bent. The hinge 3 is mainly composed of a center hinge 3a that controls the bending posture holding function, and two side hinges 3b and 3c that are positioned on both sides of the hinge 3 and control the return function. The center hinge 3a and the two side hinges 3b and 3c are integrally connected, but may be separated from each other through a slit.

  The main body 2 includes an outer cylinder 5 that fits into the bottle mouth (bottle, bottle mouth portion: not shown) from the outside, an inner cylinder 6 that fits into the bottle mouth from the inside, and an outer cylinder located on the bottle mouth. 5 and the inner cylinder 6 have a shoulder 7 integrally connected to the upper ends of the inner cylinder 6 and a spout 8 extending upward from the shoulder 7. The outer cylinder 5 of the main body 2 is formed with an annular protrusion 9 that fits into the annular engagement groove of the bottle mouth. Moreover, the partition 10 which seals a pouring channel | path is arrange | positioned inside the shoulder part 7 (lower end of the spout 8).

The partition wall 10 is connected to the shoulder 7 (or the inner cylinder 7) via an annular (loop-shaped) thinned weakening line 11, and an annular pull ring 12 is provided near the hinge 3 on the outer peripheral edge of the partition wall 10. It is provided via a pillar 13. Partition wall 10 is adapted to open upward the bowl-shaped form. The thin-walled weakening line 11 is formed by a V groove (score) having a downward opening. An annular locking ring 13 that surrounds the spout 8 is provided on the upper surface of the shoulder 12 so as to protrude upward.

  As shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 6, the spout 8 is stepped so that a half of the portion close to the hinge 3 is lowered. A spout-shaped extraction guide portion 15 that is pointed radially outward in plan view is formed on the side of the spout 8 that is farthest from the hinge 3 (see FIGS. 1 and 6). Thus, by providing the pouring guide section 15, the content (liquid) flows like a thread and the directivity (direction) of pouring increases, and also the liquid runs out when pouring is finished. Become good.

  The upper lid 4 is formed in a bowl shape so that its outer peripheral edge overlaps with the shoulder portion 7 of the main body 2 in a closed state, and an inner leg 18 that fits into the spout 8 in a closed state is provided inside. Yes. Further, a tab 19 for hooking a finger is provided on a portion of the upper lid 4 opposite to the hinge 3.

(2). Separation support structure of the first embodiment The hinge cap 1 attached to the bottle mouth is easily removed from the bottle mouth by pulling the upper lid 4 and tearing the main body 2 along the weakened portion ( from the bottle mouth). to separate the hinge cap 1) it can be. This point will be described next.

As shown in FIGS. 1 , 9, 10 (A), a groove 20 having an upward opening extending in the circumferential direction is formed in a portion of the upper end (or shoulder 7) of the outer cylinder 5 connected to the hinge 3. ing. The concave groove 20 is slightly deeper than the lower surface of the shoulder portion 7, and therefore, a first annular thin portion 21 is formed inside the concave groove 20.

As clearly shown in FIG. 10 (A), the groove 20 is formed inside the center hinge 3a and one side hinge 3b, and the shoulder 7 has a portion inside the other side hinge 3b. A first slot 22 communicating with the concave groove 20 and opening up and down is formed. On the other hand, a second slot 23 opened up and down is also formed in a portion of the shoulder 7 opposite to the first slot 22 with the concave groove 20 in between. The outer end of the second slot 23 is slightly removed in the circumferential direction from the end of the one side hinge 3 b, and therefore the circumferential width dimension is smaller than that of the first slot 22.

The outer end of the first slot 22 is slightly off the outside of the end of the other side hinge 3b, and on the inner peripheral surface of the portion located inside the outer end of the first slot 22 in the outer cylinder 5, By forming the first vertical groove 24 corresponding to the vertical groove described in the claims, the first vertically long thin portion (weakened portion) 25 opened above and below the outer cylinder 5 is formed.

A diaphragm 26 that crosses the first vertical groove 25 is formed at a position above the annular protrusion 9 in the portion between the upper end and the lower end of the first vertical groove 24. Accordingly, the first vertical groove 24 is divided vertically by the diaphragm 26 and is not continuous from the upper end to the lower end of the outer cylinder 5. This point is clearly different from Patent Document 1.

Further, the first vertical groove 24 has a trapezoidal shape in plan view, the bottom portion is the first vertically long thin portion 25, and the angle θ formed by the left and right inclined side surfaces is set to about 100 degrees larger than 90 degrees. Has been . Therefore, it is clearly different from the “acute angle” in Patent Document 1. Further, the diaphragm 26 is connected to the two inclined surfaces of the first vertical groove 24 and the first vertically long thin portion 25 and has a trapezoidal shape in plan view.
And since the 1st vertical groove 24 is trapezoid, it can prevent or suppress remarkably that stress concentrates on the 1st vertically long thin part 25 at the time of stoppering, and can prevent or remarkably suppress the fracture at the time of stoppering. And since the diaphragm 26 is reinforced with the 1st vertically long thin part 25, the incidence rate of the failure | rupture which the 1st vertically long thin part 25 fractures | ruptures at the time of stoppering can be reduced significantly.

The hinge cap 1 is manufactured by an injection molding method using an outer mold and an inner mold, and the inner mold is configured to fit inside the main body 2 and is below the diaphragm in the first vertical groove 24. The portion that fits in is a protruding portion that protrudes from the outer periphery of the inner mold, but the portion that fits above the diaphragm in the first longitudinal groove 24 is a protrusion that protrudes downward from the outer die. In the tightened state, the outer mold protrusions overlap the outer peripheral surface of the inner mold.

The presence of the diaphragm 26 prevents the outer projection from colliding with the overhanging portion of the inner mold, thereby improving the durability of the mold. The thickness of the diaphragm 26 may be about 0.1 to 0.2 mm. Also, from the viewpoint of anti-collision of the die, since it is only necessary there is a gap between the outer mold of the projection and the inner mold of the overhang, the diaphragm 26 which is formed have the shape of a Bali-like appearance There is no problem. From the standpoint of easy stripping, the diaphragm 26 is preferably 0.2 mm or less.

  As shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 10C, the diaphragm 26 may have the upper and lower surfaces inclined with respect to the horizontal plane. In other words, the upper and lower surfaces may be in a non-parallel posture with respect to the upper surface of the shoulder 7. By inclining in this way, stress concentration when a downward external force is applied by pulling the hinge 3 can be promoted, and it becomes possible to facilitate pulling.

As shown in FIG. 7,10A, and the point which is exposed to the outer cylinder 5 sac Chi second slot 23, it forms a second vertical groove 27 in plan view trapezoidal shape extending to the top of the annular projection 9, As a result, a second vertically long thin portion 28 is formed in the outer cylinder 5 at a location at the outer end of one side hinge 3b. Further, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 , the main body 2 is formed with a second annular thin portion 29 extending continuously in the circumferential direction toward the opposite side of the hinge 3 continuously from the lower end of the second longitudinal groove 27. . The second annular thin portion 29 is also formed by an inward groove.

When the lid 4 is grasped and pulled downward, the first vertically thin portion 25 and the diaphragm 26 and the first annular thin portion 21 are cut off, and then the second vertically thin portion 28 is cut off (the first vertically thin portion 25 and the first thin portion 25). The second vertically long thin portion 28 may be broken at the same time.) Next, by pulling the upper lid 4 in the circumferential direction, the second annular thin portion 29 is broken, thereby releasing the strong engagement of the main body 2 with the bottle mouth, so that the main body 2 can be easily removed from the bottle mouth. Can do.

(3). Other Embodiments In the hinge cap, it has been proposed to provide a bowl-shaped pouring guide portion at the pouring outlet in order to enhance the directivity of pouring the contents. An example thereof is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3895704 (Reference 1). In this literature 1, the extraction guide part is a triangle in a plan view, and only one is provided in a part opposite to the hinge.

  However, in Document 1, since only one small extraction guide part is provided, it is a case where it is not possible to respond to various usages of consumers. That is, when the amount of pouring per unit time is large with a large-capacity bottle, there is a concern that the guide function is lowered in the structure of Document 1. In addition, when a person has a bottle, the portion directly opposite to the hinge is not necessarily directed directly downward, and the portion shifted from the opposite may be directed directly downward. There is a possibility that the guide function of the part may not be sufficiently exhibited.

  The embodiment below FIG. 11 is made to improve such a current situation. That is, the embodiment of FIGS. 11 to 13 is another example of the form of the extraction guide portion, and the other structure is the same as that of the first embodiment. In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 11A, the extraction guide portion 15 is arranged on the opposite side of the hinge 3 as in the first embodiment, but the extraction guide portion 15 is different from the first embodiment. Is also wide (flat). In this embodiment, since the horizontal width of the pouring guide portion 15 is large, it is suitable when the diameter of the pouring port 8 is large and the amount of pouring per unit time is large.

  In the third embodiment shown in FIG. 11 (B), the extraction guide portion 15 has the same shape as that of the first embodiment, but the extraction guide portion 15 is arranged from the position opposite to the hinge 3 and the hinge. They are provided at two locations, the left side (oblique position). When a right-handed person holds the bottle with his right hand, even if the part directly opposite to the hinge 3 does not face directly below, the pouring guide part 15 at an oblique position should be directed straight down to pour out neatly. Can do.

In the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 11 (C), pouring the guide portion 15 is provided in the total of three locations in the opposite part and the hinge 3, the diagonal positions of the right and left two locations as viewed from the side of the hinge 3 Yes. In this embodiment, regardless of whether the bottle is held with the right hand or with the left hand, the content can be poured out so as to draw the thread neatly with one of the pouring guide portions 15 directed downward.

  In the fifth embodiment shown in FIG. 12A, the extraction guide portions 15 are provided on both the left and right sides of the part opposite to the hinge 3 with the center line connecting the centers of the main body 2 and the upper lid 4 interposed therebetween. Yes. Even if the bottle is held so that the part opposite to the hinge 3 is directly beside, the part directly under the pouring may be a part shifted in the circumferential direction from the opposite side to the hinge 3. Form is also beneficial.

  The sixth embodiment shown in FIG. 12 (B) is basically similar to FIG. 11 (C), but the intervals between the extraction guide portions 15 are reduced so that adjacent extraction guide portions 15 are arranged. They are connected to each other. In the seventh embodiment shown in FIG. 12C, the five extraction guide portions 15 are provided symmetrically, so to speak, it is an omnidirectional system.

  The eighth embodiment shown in FIG. 13 (A) is similar to FIG. 11 (A), and the difference from FIG. 11 (A) is that the extraction guide portion 15 has an angular trapezoidal shape. It is. The ninth embodiment shown in FIG. 13 (B) is basically the same as the embodiment of FIG. 12 (B), and the difference is that the extraction guide portion 15 is angular in a triangle. The tenth embodiment shown in FIG. 13 (C) is basically the same as the embodiment of FIG. 12 (C), and is different only in that the extraction guide portion 15 is angular.

  Although the embodiment of FIGS. 11 to 13 can be an object of design registration, in this case, it is possible to receive registration of a partial design characterized by the extraction guide unit 15 (of course, registration as an overall design is also possible). It is possible.) Although a range where registration as a partial design can be received can be arbitrarily set, as a specific registration request range, the range is clearly described by being surrounded by a dotted line in FIGS. 2 and 11A.

  When a consumer actually pours out with a bottle, the posture of the bottle varies, but by adopting the embodiment of FIGS. 11 to 13, the contents can be poured out beautifully according to the usage of the consumer It becomes possible.

  The present invention is actually applicable to a hinge cap. Therefore, it can be used industrially.

2 Body 3 Hinge 4 Upper lid 5 Bulkhead 5 Outer cylinder 6 Inner cylinder 7 Shoulder part 8 Outlet 10 Bulkhead 12 Pull ring 15 Post 15 Outlet guide part 20 Concave groove 21 First annular thin part 22 First slot 23 Third slot 24 1st vertical groove ( longitudinal groove of claim)
25 First vertically long thin portion 26 Diaphragm

Claims (1)

A main body that is attached to the bottle mouth by forced fitting, and an upper lid that is integrally connected to the main body via a flexible hinge;
The main body has an outer cylinder that encloses the bottle mouth from the outside, and a spout integrally connected to an upper end of the outer cylinder , and in the vicinity of the hinge root portion of the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder In addition, the vertical groove for forming the thin portion for breaking the outer cylinder by pulling the hinge is provided to open above and below the outer cylinder,
The vertical groove is a trapezoid in which two inclined surfaces spread at an obtuse angle in plan view,
The diaphragm , which partitions the vertical groove into two upper and lower parts, is integrated in a trapezoidal shape in plan view connected to the inner peripheral surface of the vertical groove at a midway height position between the upper end and the lower end of the vertical groove. The diaphragm is thinner than the outer cylinder so that it can be broken together with the thin wall portion by pulling the hinge .
Resin hinge cap.

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