NZ247743A - Plastics bottle with snap-on handle - Google Patents

Description

1' Priority' Dati(s): j I I Complete Spec fical'c-'i Filed: ,^! .■?.

Class: ftkST.£ \W^;.. ..

Publ ication Dsio: 2.7. APR .095.

P.O. Journal, No: Patents Form No. 5 «*» ! NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT 1953 , wT ■ . ■ * • « r **• COMPLETE SPECIFICATION BOTTLE WITH EAR WE, A.K. TECHNICAL LABORATORY, INC., a company of Japan, of 4963-3, Ohazaminamijo, Sakakimachi, Hanishina-gun, Nagano-ken, JAPAN hereby declare the invention, for which We pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: (followed by page la) 247743 SPECIFICATION TITLE OF THE INVENTION BOTTLE WITH EAR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 5 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a bottle with an ear made of synthetic resin, said bottle being prepared by injection orientation blow molding. 2. Background Art 10 In a bottle molded by injection molding a preform, and orientation blow molding portions other than a mouth portion of the preform into a thin wall-thickness configuration while holding the mouth portion, it is technically difficult to mold a part of the preform into an 15 ear during orientation blow molding, unlike normal blow molding. Therefore, in case of mounting an ear, the ear is molded below the mouth portion integral with the preform.

Molding of such a bottle can be achieved by a cold parison system which molds a preform using a normal 20 injection mold to mold the preform into a bottle by an orientation blow molding machine. However, this has been difficult to employ in the case of a hot parison system in which an operation from injection molding of a preform to orientation blow molding is carried out by a single 25 apparatus. - la- (followed by page 2) In view of the foregoing, an attempt has been made to mount an ear after a bottle has been molded. In this case, however, a position at which an ear is mounted is limited to a portion above a support ring.

Therefore, the mouth portion of the bottle with an ear is formed longer than that of a normal bottle and a position at which an ear is mounted is high. Therefore, particularly in a large bottle, it is difficult to incline the bottle while holding the ear, often wanting in smooth 10 pouring of contents.

Such a problem as just mentioned can be solved by an arrangement wherein a lower side of a mouth is formed to have a large diameter, and threads are provided in the outer periphery of the large diameter portion, to which the 15 ear is threadedly mounted, as disclosed in British Registered Design No. 1,039,436. However, with injection orientation blow molding, it is impossible to orientation-blow mold portions approaching the large diameter portion without impairing the dimension of the thread formed in the 20 outer peripheral side.

In injection orientation blow molding, the thread of the mouth portion, the support ring and the like remain injection molded with a view to maintaining molding accuracy. The wall portion made thin by the orientation 25 blow molding is carried out from the underside of the support ring. For this reason, in the case where a large diameter portion having threads is formed below the support ring to threadedly mount an ear thereon, portions approaching the large diameter portion to remain thick-5 walled resulting from injection molding. As a result, the use of material per bottle increases, thus increasing cost.

Orientation blow molding has the merit in that since portions other than the mouth portion can be molded to have a thin wall-thickness, there can be obtained a bottle which 10 is lighter than that obtained by the normal blow molding and is excellent in falling strength, because of which an increase of non-oriented portions left to be thin in wall-thickness is not unpreferable, and accordingly, a position of a large diameter portion at which an ear is mounted is 15 limited to a portion near the mouth portion.

Moreover, mounting of an ear by means of a screw causes the ear to be easily loosened due to vibrations or the like, and a lower end of the ear is not connected to the body of a bottle and in a state in which the ear is 20 easily disengaged. When the bottle is inclined to pour the contents, the load is concentrated on a bended portion at the upper portion of the ear to generate a flexure thereat. In case of an ear made of synthetic resin, a gripping portion thereof is separated. 247 M3 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, an ear is mounted on a molded bottle later. A mounting portion of the ear is molded to have a thin wall-thickness and mounted below a 5 support ring whereby a position of the ear mounting portion can be set downwardly- This solving the problem encountered in a conventional bottle with an ear in which the mounting position is apt to be limited to a portion near the mouth portion.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, a mounting portion to be located at a predetermined height which is larger in diameter than that of a mouth portion and of which upper edge is formed to be sharply edged is subjected to orientation blow molding. The upper edge to 15 be sharp maintains its injection molded state and the upper edge and a ring member formed integral to a base end of the ear are fitted with each other whereby the ear is mounted positively and unable to be loosened, thus solving the problem encountered in a conventional bottle with an ear. 20 Moreover, according to the present invention, an ear is mounted on a molded bottle later, but a lower end of the ear can be firmly fixed to the body of the bottle by an extremely simple means, thus solving the problem encountered in a conventional bottle with an ear in which a gripping 25 portion thereof is separated from the bottle due to 247 /ft fg L ' a ^ load when the bottle is inclined.

According to a feature of the present invention for achieving the aforesaid objects, there is provided an arrangement wherein a mounting portion positioned at a 5 predetermined height which has a large diameter and a mounting groove having a predetermined width in an outer periphery thereof, is formed below a mouth portion of a bottle by injection orientation blow molding. An upper edge of the mounting groove is formed to have a sharp edge 10 having a plurality of notches formed at equal intervals. A mounting ring internally provided with a plurality of projecting surfaces is positioned on the mounting groove through the notches and formed integral with a bent end of an ear. The projecting surfaces of the mounting ring 15 and the upper edge of the mounting groove are fitted with each other whereby the ear and the bottle are integrally connected.

According to a further feature of the present invention, the upper portion of the ear mounting portion is 20 composed of an outer wall of a flange injection molded below the mouth portion and an inner wall internally oriented and placed in close contact. The upper edge fitted into the mounting ring is formed so as to be edged by an acute lower edge of the flange.

According to another feature of the present invention the lower end of the ear mounted on the bottle is fixed with a projection formed at the center of the outer edge of the concave portion of the bottle so as to integrate the body of the bottle with the ear.

In the bottle with an ear as described above, since the mounting portion of the ear is formed to have a large diameter, the insertion of a mounting ring is not impaired by the threads in the outer periphery of the mouth portion and the support ring, but when the ear side is slightly 10 turned, the upper edge of the mounting groove formed to have an edge and the upper edge of the projecting surface internally of the mounting ring are firmly engaged with each other. Therefore, mounting is simpler than in the case which replied upon engagement between threads. Even 15 if a load is imposed on the engaging portion, the ear is not disengaged unless the mounting ring is broken.

Furthermore, since the lower end of the ear is fixed to the side of the body, when the bottle is inclined, the load is not concentrated on only the upper portion of the 20 ear by the integration of the lower end of the ear and the body. In addition, the gripping portion is not separated due to the load, and therefore, even a large bottle which is heavy because of the contents can be easily handled.

The present invention will be described in detail by 25 way of embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The drawings show embodiments of a bottle with an ear according to the present invention.

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of an 5 upper half portion of a bottle.

Fig. 2 is a partially developed view of a mounting ring.

Fig. 3 is a side view of a bottle with an ear in which a lower end of the ear is fixed to a side of a body of the 10 bottle.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a side view of another embodiment of a bottle with an ear in which a lower end of the ear is fixed to a side of a body of the bottle.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of essential parts of an injection mold for explaining the injection molding step of an upper edge of an ear mounting portion.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of essential parts of a blow mold for explaining the blow molding step of an ear 20 mounting portion and an upper edge.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the drawings, reference numeral 1 designates a bottle form of polyethyleneterephtalate (PET) subjected to 25 injection orientation blow molding. A support ring 3 is provided below a mouth portion 2.

A portion continuous to a body 11 below the support ring 3 of the bottle 1 is formed with an ear mounting portion 4 positioned at a predetermined height which is 5 larger in diameter than the support ring 3, and a mounting groove 4a having a predetermined width is formed in the outer periphery thereof.

The lower edge of the mounting groove 4a is connected to an upper portion of the body 11, and an upper edge 5 is 10 formed to be sharply edged. At four locations of the upper edge 5, there are formed inserting notches 6 at equal intervals so as to form the upper edge 5 as four projections above the ear mounting portion 4. On one of the projections an attachment mechanism 13 is projected 15 downwardly.

In addition, a curved concave portion 12 is formed from the under side of said mounting groove 4a to the middle body of the bottle and is designed so as to fit an ear 7 at the center of the concave portion 12. 20 The ear 7 formed of PET, at an end of which is integrally formed a mounting ring 8. The mounting ring 8 is internally formed with four projecting surfaces 9 corresponding to the notches 6, and the upper edge of the projecting surfaces 9 is formed into a shoulder 10 which is 25 fitted into the upper edge 5 of the mounting groove 4a. As 2 4 7 7 4 shown in Fig. 2, the upper edge of the projecting surfaces 9 is provided with a recess 14 which is fitted into the attachment mechanism 13 projected on the upper edge 5 of the mounting groove 4a to prevent a lateral deviation of 5 the mounting ring 8.

In the above-described construction, the mounting ring 8 is placed over the mounting portion 4 from the mouth portion while a gripping portion 7a of the ear 7 is positioned at the lateral side of said concave portion 12. 10 Next, positioning between the notches 6 and the projecting surfaces 9 internally of the mounting ring and pushing the mounting ring 8 is accomplished, after which the mounting ring 8 is fitted into the mounting groove 4a. Then the mounting ring 8 is forcibly turned to the lateral direction 15 until the gripping portion 7a is positioned at the center of the concave portion 12. The lateral turning movement of the mounting ring 8 is permitted until said recess 14 at the upper edge of the projecting surface 9 is fitted into the attachment mechanism 13 projected on the upper edge 5 20 of the mounting groove 4a to prevent a lateral deviation of the mounting ring 8. Thereby, as each of the projecting surfaces 9 is positioned at each of the upper edges 5, the mounting ring 8 can be surely attached with the mounting portion 4 and can't easily moved to the lengthwise 25 direction.

Furthermore, according to fitting the recess 14 into the attachment mechanism 13, the lateral deviation of the mounting ring 8 can be almost perfectly prevented. As a result, the ear 7 is rigidly mounted on the side of the 5 bottle and the ear 7 is not disengaged from the bottle 1 unless the bottle 1 is held and the ear 7 is forcibly deviated laterally by a larger force than that of the attachment thereof.

The embodiments shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 show that 10 the end of the ear is attached at the body portion of the bottle in order to prevent the separation of the gripping portion from the bottle due to the load when the bottle is inclined.

The embodiments shown in Figs. 3 and 4 show that a 15 projecting portion 15 is formed in a lateral direction with some length at the center of the outer edge of the lower end of the above-described concave portion 12, while the gripping portion 7a of the ear 7 is formed toward the outer edge of the lower end of the concave portion 12. In 20 addition, the lower end 7c of the gripping portion 7a is formed to be curved so as to be fittedly attached into the inner side of the projecting portion 15 by the lateral movement of the ear when the ear is attached.

In addition, the embodiment shown in Fig. 5 shows that 25 the lower end 7c of the gripping portion 7a is bifurcately formed and thereby a lateral groove 16 of the lower end 7c is formed. The lateral groove 16 of the lower end 7c is attached to the projecting portion 15 from the lateral direction, thereby the projecting portion 15 is caught in 5 the lateral groove 16 of the lower end 7c. After then the lower end 7c of the gripping portion 7a is surely attached to the body of the bottle.

The upper edge 5 of the ear mounting groove 4a is formed from an injection molded member. Figs. 6 and 7 10 explain the molding steps therefor. First, when a neck mold 21, a cavity mold 22 and a core mold 23 are closed to injection mold a preform 24. A flange 27 whose lower edge 26 is acute along with threads 25 in the outer periphery of the mouth portion 2 and the support ring 3 are inwardly 15 integrally molded below the mouth portion by making use of a parting portion between the neck mold 21 and the cavity mold 22.

After the injection molding, the preform 24 is held by the neck mold 21 above the flange 27 and transported to the 20 blow mold 28, where the molds are closed. Thereby, the preform body below the lower edge 26 of the flange 27 is positioned at the blow cavity. Within the blow cavity, a space 29 is formed between the inside of the flange and the wall portion 24a of the preform indicated at the phantom 25 line. 2 47743 Next, air blowing is carried out while longitudinally orienting the preform 24 by means of an orientation rod 30, the preform body is longitudinally oriented from the end of the flange 27 and also laterally expanded to form a bottle 5 1 having an ear mounting portion 4 having a large diameter below the flange. In this bottle 1, the preform wall portion 24a internal of the flange is extended to have a thin wall-thickness coming into close contact with the inside of the flange by the space 29 internal of the flange 10 27, and a constriction thereunder constitutes mounting groove 4a.

Thereby, the flange 27 forms an upper outer wall of the ear mounting portion 4 of the bottle 1, and the lower edge 26 forms the upper edge 5 formed to be edged so that 15 the ear mounting portion 4 has an upper portion composed of an outer wall subjected to injection molding and an oriented inner wall, with other portions being formed to thin walls by way of orientation blow molding.

While molding of notches 6 of the upper edge 5 is 20 omitted in this step, it is to be noted that the notches 6 can be molded during molding of the flange.

Claims (7)

WHAT^WE CLAIM IS:

1. A bottle with an ear, comprising: a mouth portion; a body disposed below said mouth portion; 5 a mounting groove formed at a predetermined height on said body, the mounting groove having a predetermined diameter, an upper edge of said mounting groove being formed with an edge having a plurality of notches at equal intervals; and 10 a mounting jring formed integrally with an end of said ear, said mounting ring being positioned on said mounting groove, said mounting ring having an inner side provided with a plurality of projecting surfaces corresponding with the notches facing said mounting groove, the projecting surfaces of said 15 mounting ring being fitted under the upper edge of said mounting groove to secure the ear to the bottle.

2. A bottle with an ear according to claim 1, wherein each of the projecting surfaces of the mounting ring has an 20 upper edge provided with a recess which is fitted into a corresponding attachment projection on the upper edge of the mounting groove to prevent a lateral deviation of the mounting ring. 25

3. A bottle with an ear according to claim 1, wherein thfe 13 mounting groove has a lower edge which is continuous to a curve of a shoulder which forms an upper portion of the body. 5

4. A bottle with an ear according to claim 1, wherein a curved concave portion is formed from an upper portion of the body of the bottle to a middle portion of the body of the bottle with predetermined width, a projecting portion is formed in a lateral direction with some length at the 10 center of an outer edge of a lower end of said concave portion, a gripping portion of the ear is formed toward the outer edge of the lower end of the concave portion, and a lower end of the gripping portion is curvedly formed so as to be fittedly attached to an inner side of the projecting 15 portion by the lateral movement of the ear when the ear is attached in order to prevent the separation of the gripping portion from the bottle due to the load when the bottle is inclined. 20

5. A bottle with an ear according to claim 4, wherein the lower end of the gripping portion is bifurcately formed, thereby a lateral groove of the lower end is formed, and the lateral groove of the lower end is attached with the projecting portion from the lateral direction so as that 25 the projecting portion is caught in the lateral gtfqQa}4 * F ''' m m 24/ / ^ of the lower end in order to surely attach the ear to the body of the bottle.

6. A bottle with an ear according to claim 1, wherein the 5 upper edge of the mounting groove is composed of a flange disposed below the mouth portion, and wherein the upper edge of the mounting groove, under which the mounting ring is fitted, is formed as an edge by an acute lower end edge of the flange. 10

7. A bottle with an ear substantially as herein described with reference to the Drawings. A.K. TyTO|^L^B0RAT0RY, INC. By Thexr{ BALDWIN, SON & CAREY