US20210163206A1

US20210163206A1 - Vacuum storage container

Info

Publication number: US20210163206A1
Application number: US16/699,323
Authority: US
Inventors: Chia-Yen Huang
Original assignee: Tung Keng Enterprise Co Ltd
Current assignee: Tung Keng Enterprise Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-11-29
Filing date: 2019-11-29
Publication date: 2021-06-03

Abstract

A vacuum storage container includes a container body and a lid, wherein the container body has a top opening, and the lid includes a lid body and a valve plug. The lid body is removably engaged with the container body to cover the top opening to seal a peripheral edge of the top opening. The lid body has a perforation. The valve plug includes a plug body and a poked member. The plug body is disposed in the perforation and is adapted to close or to open the perforation. The poked member is disposed on a top of the plug body. In this way, a user could simply push the poked member to shift the plug body to open the perforation, which is convenient.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a storage container, and more particularly to a vacuum storage container.

Description of Related Art

A storage container is adapted to contain food for preventing the food from external dust and bacteria in order to preserve the food for a longer period of time. The conventional storage container includes a container body and a lid. After put the lid onto the container body, the food in the container body is separated from an outside.
Recently, there are several kinds of vacuum storage containers on the market. The vacuum storage container further includes a valve and a valve plug disposed on the lid, wherein air in the container body could be evacuated through the valve to the outside by installing and using a vacuum pump onto the lid, and then the valve plug plugs into the valve to keep an interior space of the vacuum storage container at negative pressure. The food could be preserved for a longer time by reducing air in the interior space.
A conventional valve plug is integrally formed as a monolithic unit and is made of silicone, and a top portion of the valve plug exposed outside is flat. When a user needs to release vacuum in the storage container, the user needs to pick the flat top portion of the valve plug with the user's fingertip to open the valve. However, it's not easy to apply a force, especially, when the top portion of the valve plug of the vacuum storage container is wet or moist, the fingertip of the user is relatively easy to slip off from the valve plug, so that it's hard to open the valve.
As a result, the conventional vacuum storage container still has room for improvement.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a vacuum storage container including a valve plug that could be easily pushed by a user.
The present invention provides a vacuum storage container including a container body and a lid, wherein the container body has a top opening. The lid includes a lid body and a valve plug, and the lid body is detachably engaged with the container body to cover the top opening. The lid body has a perforation. The valve plug comprises a plug body and a poked member. The plug body is disposed in the perforation for closing or opening the perforation; the poked member is disposed on a top of the plug body.
With the aforementioned design, by disposing the poked member on the plug body, the user could easily push the valve plug to release vacuum and to remove the lid, improving convenience of using the vacuum storage container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram, showing the vacuum storage container of an embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded diagram of the vacuum storage container of said embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exploded diagram, showing the valve plug of said embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a perspective diagram, showing the lid of said embodiment from the bottom side view;

FIG. 5 is a top view, showing the vacuum storage container of said embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the 6-6 line in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the 7-7 line in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view, showing the vacuum pump is installed on the vacuum storage container of said embodiment; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram, showing the plug body inclines when the poked member is pushed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As illustrated in FIG. 1 to FIG. 9, a vacuum storage container 100 of an embodiment according to the present invention includes a container body 10 and a lid 20.
The container body 10 has a storage space 10 a and a top opening 10 b which communicates with the storage space 10 a. Two opposite sides of the container body 10 extend in opposite directions to form two locking projections 12.
The lid 20 includes a lid body 22 and a valve plug 26, wherein the lid body 22 is detachably engaged upon the container body 10 to cover the top opening 10 b. Two locking members 40 are respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the lid body 22 locking members, and are adapted to be engaged with the two locking projections 12 of the container body 10, so that the lid 20 is firmly engaged with the container body 10 and seals a peripheral edge of the top opening 10 b. In the current embodiment, an airtight strip 23 could be diposed on a peripheral edge of the lid body 22 to abut against a peripheral edge of the top opening 10 b of the container body 10 in order to enhance air tightness. In practice, the lid body 22 could directly abut against the peripheral edge of the top opening 10 b of the container body 10 as well.
The lid body 22 has a perforation 222, and the storage space 10 a of the container body 10 communicates with an outside via the perforation 222. In the current embodiment, the lid body 22 has a cavity 224 which is recessed from a top surface 22 a of the lid body 22, wherein the perforation 222 is disposed inside the cavity 224. The lid body 22 has an internal surface 22 b facing the storage space 10 a of the container body 10, and has a protruding ring 24 extending in a direction away from the internal surface 22 b and encircling the perforation 222. An outer surface 242 of the protruding ring 24 has a plurality of protruding ribs 246 which are arranged around a circumference of the outer surface 242 and extends in an axial direction of the protruding ring 24, wherein a portion of each of the protruding ribs 246 extends to the internal surface 22 b.
The valve plug 26 includes a plug body 28 and a poked member 30, wherein the plug body 28 is disposed in the perforation 222 and is adapted to close or to open the perforation 222. The poked member 30 is disposed on a top of the plug body 28, so that a user could poke the poked member 30 to incline the plug body 28 to open the perforation 222 without disengaging from the perforation 222. In the current embodiment, the plug body 28 is made of silicone, and a material of the poked member 30 could be a stiffer material than the silicone, such as plastic. The plug body 28 includes a first protruding portion 282, a second protruding portion 284, and a connecting portion 286 connected between the first protruding portion 282 and the second protruding portion 284. The first protruding portion 282 is located outside a top edge of the perforation 222, and a top surface 282 a of the first protruding portion 282 forms a top surface of the plug body 28. The connecting portion 286 passes through the perforation 222, and the second protruding portion 284 is located outside a bottom edge of the perforation 222. An outer diameter of the second protruding portion 284 is smaller than an outer diameter of the first protruding portion 282. An axial length of the connecting portion 286 is greater than a depth of the perforation 222.
The poked member 30 is detachably engaged with the top of the plug body 28. In the current embodiment, the top of the plug body 28 has an engaging groove 288, and the poked member 30 includes an engaging segment 32 and an extending segment 34, wherein the engaging segment 32 could be inserted into and be engaged with the engaging groove 288; the extending segment 34 is located above the engaging segment 32 and is adapted to be poked by the user. More specifically, the poked member 30 is located in the cavity 224 of the lid body 22, and a top edge of the extending segment 34 of the poked member 30 is lower than a top edge of the cavity 224. The engaging groove 288 includes a first groove section 288 a and a second groove section 288 b which communicates with the first groove section 288 a, wherein the first groove section 288 a is formed by recessing into the top surface of the plug body 28 and is located above the second groove section 288 b. A width of the first groove section 288 a is smaller than a width of the second groove section 288 b. The engaging segment 32 of the poked member 30 includes a head portion 322 and a neck portion 324, wherein when the poked member 30 is engaged with the plug body 28, the head portion 322 is located in the second groove section 288 b, and the neck portion 324 is located in the first groove section 288 a. The plug body 28 is made of silicone and is flexible, so that the head portion 322 could be wedged into the second groove section 288 b via the first groove section 288 a to be restricted in the second groove section 288 b.
In the current embodiment, the poked member 30 further includes a protruding flange 36 which is connected between the engaging segment 32 and the extending segment 34, wherein a bottom surface of the protruding flange 36 faces the top surface 282 a of the first protruding portion 282, and the diameter of the first protruding portion 282 is greater than an outer diameter of the protruding flange 36. Preferably, the bottom surface of the protruding flange 36 is abutted against the top surface 282 a of the protruding portion 282 of the plug body 28. The extending segment 34 is board-shaped and is located at a center portion of the protruding flange 36. The extending segment 34 is extended upward from the protruding flange 36 in a first axial direction Z, and a height of the extending segment 34 is greater than a thickness of the first protruding portion 282. In the current embodiment, the first axial direction Z is an axial direction of the engaging segment 32. The extending segment 34 has two side surfaces 342 in a second axial direction X which is perpendicular to the first axial direction Z, wherein the two side surfaces 342 face opposite directions. In the current embodiment, a distance between the two side surfaces is increased gradually from top down in the first axial direction Z. The protruding flange 36 has two top surfaces 362 respectively connected to the two side surfaces 342. Each of the two top surfaces 362 tilts downward in a direction away from one of the two side surfaces 342. An angle 0 between each of the two top surfaces 362 and one of the two side surfaces 342 is between 90 to 105 degrees. In the current embodiment the angel 0 is 100 degrees.
Moreover, the lid 20 further includes an inner cap 42 which fits around the protruding ring 24, wherein an inner surface 422 of the inner cap 42 abuts against the plurality of protruding ribs 246, thereby to form a gap G between the inner surface 422 of the inner cap 42 and the outer surface 242 of the protruding ring 24 and between the inner surface 422 of the inner cap 42 and the internal surface 22 b of the lid body 22, so that air could flow through.
Referring to FIG. 8, the user could install an air pump 200 on a top of the lid 20 for discharging air in the storage space 10 a of the container body 10 through the perforation 222 of the container body 10 to make it vacuum. When the storage space 10 a of the container body 10 is at negative pressure, the plug body 28 is pressed by an atmospheric pressure to be moved downward to close the perforation 222 (as shown in FIG. 7). A top edge of the poked member 30 is lower than the top edge of the cavity 224 of the lid body 22, so that it could avoid the user touching the poked member 30 carelessly to release vacuum.
Referring to FIG. 9, when the user wants to release vacuum, the user could simply push one of the two side surfaces 342 of the extending segment 34 of the poked member 30 to shift the plug body 28, thereby to allow air in the outside to enter into the storage space 10 a of the container body 10.
In conclusion, through the poked member 30 disposed on the plug body 28, the user could easily push the valve plug 26 to release vacuum and to remove the lid 20, so that convenience is enhanced.
It must be pointed out that the embodiment described above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. All equivalent structures which employ the concepts disclosed in this specification and the appended claims should fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A vacuum storage container, comprising:

a container body having a top opening; and

a lid comprising a lid body and a valve plug, wherein the lid body is detachably engaged with the container body to cover the top opening; the lid body has a perforation;

the valve plug comprises a plug body and a poked member; the plug body is disposed in the perforation for closing or opening the perforation; the poked member is disposed on a top of the plug body.

2. The vacuum storage container of claim 1, wherein the top of the plug body has an engaging groove; the poked member comprises an engaging segment and an extending segment, and the engaging segment is detachably engaged with the engaging groove; the extending segment is located above the engaging segment.

3. The vacuum storage container of claim 2, wherein the engaging groove comprises a first groove section and a second groove section which communicates with the first groove section; the first groove section is located above the second groove section; a width of the first groove section is smaller than a width of the second groove section; the engaging segment of the poked member comprises a head portion and a neck portion; the head portion is located in the second groove section, and the neck portion is located in the first groove section.

4. The vacuum storage container of claim 2, wherein the poked member comprises a protruding flange connected between the engaging segment and the extending segment; a bottom surface of the protruding flange faces a top surface of the plug body.

5. The vacuum storage container of claim 4, wherein the bottom surface of the protruding flange abuts against the top surface of the plug body.

6. The vacuum storage container of claim 4, wherein the plug body comprises a first protruding portion, a second protruding portion, and a connecting portion; the connecting portion is connected between the first protruding portion and the second protruding portion; the first protruding portion is located outside a top edge of the perforation; the top surface of the plug body is located on the first protruding portion; the connecting portion passes through the perforation; the second protruding portion is located outside a bottom edge of the perforation; an outer diameter of the first protruding portion is greater than an outer diameter of the protruding flange.

7. The vacuum storage container of claim 4, wherein the extending segment is board-shaped and extends upward from the protruding flange in a first axial direction; the extending segment has two side surfaces facing opposite directions in a second axial direction which is perpendicular to the first axial direction; the protruding flange has two top surfaces respectively connected to the two side surfaces; an angle between each of the two top surfaces 362 and one of the two side surfaces 342 is between 90 to 105 degrees.

8. The vacuum storage container of claim 7, wherein a distance between the two side surfaces is increased gradually from top down in the first axial direction.

9. The vacuum storage container of claim 1, wherein the lid body has a cavity which is formed by recessing into a top surface of the lid body; the perforation is located inside the cavity; the poked member is located in the cavity, and a top edge of the poked member is lower than a top edge of the cavity.

10. The vacuum storage container of claim 1, wherein the lid body has an internal surface facing an interior space of the container body; the internal surface has a protruding ring extending in a direction away from the internal surface and encircling the perforation; an outer surface of the protruding ring has a plurality of protruding ribs; the lid comprises an inner cap which fits around the protruding ring, and an inner surface of the inner cap abuts against the plurality of protruding ribs, so that a gap is formed between the inner surface of the inner cap and the outer surface of the protruding ring.