WO2001058775A1

WO2001058775A1 - Container comprising a body and a cover

Info

Publication number: WO2001058775A1
Application number: PCT/EP2001/001382
Authority: WO
Inventors: Reinhard Albert Sulzbach; Adolf Klein
Original assignee: Sulo Eisenwerk Streuber & Lohmann Gmbh
Priority date: 2000-02-09
Filing date: 2001-02-08
Publication date: 2001-08-16
Also published as: DE50101984D1; DE10005579A1; ZA200207200B; US20030116571A1; EP1255680B1; CN1420834A; EP1255680A1; CN1197740C; CA2406181A1; RU2002123876A; AU2001240603A1; JP2003522683A

Abstract

The invention relates to a container comprising a drum-like body (1) and a tight cover (2) that fits the same, which protects the contents against contamination during transport and storage, permits a repeated opening and closing without reducing the level of hermeticity, and dispenses of the use of an elastomeric seal as an additional material component. The inventive container is characterized in that the cover (2), at least when in a tensioned state, fits tightly onto the body (1) at at least two interspaced continuous sealing points (4, 5), which encircle the axis of symmetry of the container in an annular manner.

Description

Container with body and lid

I. Field of application

The invention relates to a container with a barrel-like body and a matching, tight lid.

II. Technical background

It is customary today to fill the powdery homo- and copolymers of tetrafluorethylene (TFE) into barrel-like plastic containers or fiber drums, preferably with a pot-shaped body and a matching lid. The purpose of the containers is to protect the polymers mentioned, which are often manufactured and processed under clean room conditions, from dust and moisture as well as pressure loads. Foreign substances of all kinds, moisture and polymer particles compressed by pressure load lead to defects in the molded articles or extrudates made from them when processing the TFE polymers, which are unacceptable, especially in the case of thin-walled products such as wire coatings or foils.

For high-quality end uses, plastic containers, for example made of polypropylene, are preferred to fiber drums for packaging polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) powders because they have a better surface finish and the insertion of a film inner bag to protect the powders can be omitted. The plastic containers are subject to high demands of various kinds: they have to be sufficiently leakproof, even if they are opened and closed several times. According to DE-U-94 08 630, they also have to withstand the loading pressure that occurs when the filled containers are stacked on top of each other. In practice, two to four pallet stacks are stacked on top of each other, which in turn are loaded with two to three layers of containers. The containers are filled with 20 to 50 kg of powder. When filling, certain bulk heights in the container must not be exceeded, otherwise the powder can cake together and error-free processing cannot be guaranteed.

Containers for PTFE powder in their technically complicated, high-quality designs are preferably manufactured by injection molding. Bulk plastics such as polypropylene or polyethylene are used for price reasons. Since a high level of stability of the containers during transport and storage is required, even at temperatures from -20 ° C to 60 ° C, chemically modified propylene copolymers are preferred as the material. The packaging systems have a high value, so that reuse, for example by cleaning and refilling, is aimed for.

Very special requirements are placed on the sealing of the containers for PTFE powder. Compared to the known one-lid system, for example for paint, the packaging system according to EP-B-362 959 is a round three-component system consisting of a container body, lid and clamping ring. The sealing principle consists in that the upper part of the body runs downwards inclined, whereas thin lugs in the inner edge of the lid are pressed onto the upper part of the body with the help of the clamping ring. However, the resilience of these handling flags is low, so that after a first opening and reclosing, the tightness decreases significantly. Reusing the lid and recycling the container is practically impossible. In addition, the manufacture of the sealing thin sealing lips by the injection molding process is technically very complex and prone to failure, since a complex venting must be available in the injection molding tool for the complete injection of the thin sealing lips. In the injection molding process, for example, polymeric deposits can lead to complete or partial clogging of the ventilation areas, which leads to incomplete spraying of the thin lugs and thus the sealing function is no longer guaranteed.

Analogously, this type of sealing with thin lugs inside the lid is described in WO-A-96/37 410 for a rectangular plastic container.

According to US-A-4 674 650, a seal for a round container made of plastic is described, which consists of the container body, lid and clamping ring. Sealing is carried out by an additional sealing ring inserted in the cover, which seals the outer, downward-facing body. The introduction of an additional sealing ring made of an elastic material has several disadvantages: it makes the system more expensive, makes automatic cleaning of the packaging system difficult before use, and must be separated as an additional material component when disposing of the packaging system, provided that the container material is recycled should.

In a commercially available packaging system consisting of a container body, lid and clamping ring from Sulo Plast GmbH & Co. KG, the tightness is achieved by pouring an elastomer seal, for example made of polyurethane, into a groove in the lid. This elastomer seal seals against the upper edge of the body. The main disadvantage of this system is that the seal can be damaged under the load pressure of the elastomer seal during transport and storage. Parts of the seal are removed and can get into the PTFE powder to be protected. In addition, the elastomer component must also be separated here if the container lids are sent to a recycling process after using the packaging system.

III. Presentation of the invention

a) Technical task

It is the object of the present invention to provide a container with a seal which prevents the contents from being contaminated during transport and storage, allows repeated opening and closing without loss of tightness and does not require an elastomeric seal as an additional material component.

b) solving the problem

This object is achieved by the characterizing features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments result from the subclaims.

The at least two spatially separated - and in particular relatively movable - sealing points provide a higher degree of sealing reliability on the one hand and, on the other hand, a high probability due to the relative mobility of the sealing points with respect to one another, that is, either the sealing webs active at the sealing points or the opposing sealing surfaces that there is a seal at both sealing points.

Due to the cup-shaped, one-sided open container and matching lid, the sealing points are always closed all round, regardless of whether the basic shape of the container is round or polygonal. Furthermore, the first sealing point is described below in such a way that the sealing surface (groove) in the lid and the sealing web (upper edge of the body wall) are formed on the container, while this assignment is just reversed at the second sealing point (flange).

At one or both of the sealing points, the assignment of the sealing surface and sealing web to the body or cover can also be reversed, that is to say, for example, the free upper end of the body edge can be V-shaped, in which a suitable projection of the cover engages could.

Due to the high sealing probability of each individual sealing point and thus the high level of sealing reliability of the container due to several separate sealing points and their mobility to one another, the body and lid can be juxtaposed at the sealing points directly, i.e. without the interposition of a special, more elastic sealing material, with the advantage of one Easier recyclability and a reduced risk of contamination of the contents due to detachable components of the sealing material.

With a sufficient axial spacing of the sealing points, the distance can be used for length compensation and thereby the sealing probability at both sealing points can be increased. If, in addition, at least one of the sealing points is divided into several partial sealing points, the sealing probability is further increased, even if the z. B. sealing webs of the partial sealing points are not or hardly movable relative to each other.

The following descriptions always only refer to the cross-sectional shapes of the corresponding locations of the lid or body. However, these are always formed in a circular manner in accordance with the circular shape - round or polygonal or free-formed - of the body, that is to say its peripheral walls, in the plan. In a preferred embodiment, the first sealing point consists of the free upper end of the body edge as a sealing web on which a groove formed in the underside of the cover and preferably having a V-shaped cross section sits. This groove area of the lid forming the groove goes radially inward into the main part of the lid, the central area above and on the outside in a connecting area which is parallel to the outside of the wall or obliquely, e.g. B. with increasing distance, is directed downwards outwards.

At the lower end, the connection area merges into a lid edge which has a fork-shaped or U-shaped cross section with free ends, the sealing webs, which point downward.

These sealing webs can be pressed with their free ends against an upward-facing sealing surface by means of a tensioning device, which represents the upper side of a flange projecting outwards from the body wall.

The annular circumferential sealing surface against which the sealing web or seals press can run horizontally, that is to say exactly perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the container, generally the axis of symmetry of the body and the cover, or inclined thereto, for example radially from the outside inwards sloping, that is, with increasing distance in the longitudinal direction relative to the freely ending edge of the body.

The pressing of the lid and body against one another, in particular at both sealing points, is brought about by a tensioning device, often a tensioning ring encompassing both the edge of the lid and the adjacent flange of the body radially from the outside inwards.

The clamping ring has a groove which is open radially inwards and is equipped with inclined flanks, the inner surfaces of which extend from the bottom of the groove to the open end. de, that is, in the assembled state from radially inward to increasingly apart from each other.

In the same way, the rear sides facing away from the sealing surface of both the lid edge and the flange are also formed obliquely:

The upward-facing rear of the edge of the lid thus slopes downwards from the inside outwards, while the downward-facing rear side of the flange rises obliquely from the inside outwards, corresponding to the inclination of the inner flanks of the clamping ring to one another.

The likelihood of the tight sealing of both sealing points is greatly increased by the mobility of the elements forming the two sealing points either on the side of the cover or on the side of the body.

In practice, the ring flange is arranged 10 mm to 100 mm, in particular 30 mm, under the body edge and projects 10 mm to 50 mm, in particular 20 mm, radially outwards. The circumferential sealing webs, which can be arranged on the ring flange of the body or on the edge of the lid, are 1 mm to 15 mm, in particular 3.5 mm, high and 1 to 10 mm, in particular 3 mm, wide.

c) working examples

Embodiments according to the invention - with different dimensional relationships between the lid and the body edge - are described in more detail in the figures. Show it:

1: the lid located on the body in the relaxed and in the tensioned state with a large axial extension of the lid and 2: the lid located on the body in the relaxed and in the tensioned state with little axial extension of the lid, and

Figures 3: a third variant of the container.

Figures 1 and 2 each show in section along the longitudinal axis, the axis of symmetry 10, body 1 and cover 2, their support against each other, namely in Figures 1a, 2a with a loosely placed lid and in Figures 1b, 2b with against Body clamped lid, a clamping ring 3 serving as the clamping device.

Common to both designs of FIGS. 1 and 2 is the basic design of the cross-sectional shape of the cover, in particular the edge of the cover, and the upper region of the wall of the body 1: when viewed from above, both the cover and the body are symmetrical with respect to the axis of symmetry 10, which at the same time should define the longitudinal direction, so that all-round closed containers are formed in that the only open side of the body can be sealed by the lid. As a rule, the body and lid are rotationally symmetrical.

The wall 7 of the body 1 is preferably smooth on the inside, for easier filling, emptying and cleaning of the inside of the container.

On the outside, set back from the freely ending body edge 1 a, the body has a circumferential ring flange 8 which projects radially outwards.

The body edge 1a, that is to say the wall, in particular above the ring flange, can be made somewhat thicker than below the ring flange, but generally not thicker than 3 mm. The cross-section of the cover 2 in the radial region of the body edge 1a has a U-shape or V-shape with an annular groove 6 which is open at the bottom, that is to say in the direction of the body, and with which the cover 2 can be placed on the body edge 1.

Radially within this U-shaped or V-shaped groove area 2c, the cover merges in one piece into its central area 2d, which is thus lowered relative to the groove area 2c. The radially outer leg of the groove area 2c is either extended in the axial direction or obliquely outwards by means of a connecting area 2b, at the lower outer free end of which the lid edge 2a is in one piece. This is located in the axial direction in the attached state, thus still under the central area 2d of the cover.

The lid edge 2a has downwardly pointing, freely ending and likewise closed circumferential sealing webs 11b, 11c.

If the lid is clamped against the body, the seal should be made at two different sealing points 4, 5:

The free-ended body edge 1a lying in the groove 6 of the lid represents the first sealing point 4. The sealing webs 11b, 11c of the lid edge 2a resting on the top of the ring flange 8 of the body represent the second sealing point, which are concentric with one another Sealing webs 11b, 11c is divided into two partial sealing points 5a, 5b.

The bracing takes place in that at the second sealing point 5 the rear sides pointing away from the sealing point, namely the upward rear side 13 of the lid edge 2a and the downward rear side 14 of the flange 8 run at an acute angle and extend radially from the inside approach each other on the outside. By pushing on a clamping ring 3 with a correspondingly conical clamping groove 19, which is open to the radially inward, and is dimensioned such that when it is pushed inward, it not only bears against the rear sides 13, 14 of the cover edge 2a and flange 8, but in Presses against each other in the axial direction, the tensioning and sealing of the cover 2 with respect to the body 1 is achieved.

It is important, among other things, that the lid edge 2a with its sealing webs 11b, 11c is relatively stable in itself. The same applies to the groove area 2c, which for this purpose can have a wall thickness which is at least doubled compared to the normal wall thickness, for example the central area 2d, in particular in the area of the groove base, and additionally has an additional stabilizing extension 2e on the rear side of the groove, i.e. pointing upwards.

In contrast, the lid edge 2a is quite movable with respect to the groove area 2c, for example due to the reduced material thickness in the course therebetween, in particular at the transition between the groove area 2c and the connection area 2b and the connection area 2b and the lid edge 2a.

As a result, for example, the lid edge 2a can be pivoted somewhat downwards relative to the connection area or the entire connection area can be pivoted somewhat radially inwards relative to the groove area.

It is also important that the body edge 1a, in particular the entire piece of the wall 7 from the flange 8 to the free end, is sufficiently stable, and in particular the wall thickness is thicker than the rest of the wall 7, and thus the body edge 1a its free end can be bent radially inwards or outwards, but only with relatively great effort. The outwardly directed flange 8 is also very stable, and in particular is stabilized by webs 15 running radially outward on the underside.

The clamping ring 3 consists, for. B. made of metal or plastic, and its diameter can be reduced by tangentially applied clamping screws, lever locks or other of the known possibilities.

Figures 1 and 2 differ in the relation of the distances A and B to be defined below for the lid and body:

These distances to be measured in the longitudinal direction, that is to say parallel to the axis of symmetry 10, are defined as follows in the unstressed idle state of the body or cover: Distance A in the case of the cover is the axial extent between the bottom of the groove 6 and the sealing web 11b which projects the most downward , 11c of the lid edge 2a.

For the body, distance B is the distance between the free upper end of the body edge 1a and the upward-facing sealing surface 12b of the flange 8.

While distance B can be seen slightly larger than distance A in FIG. 1, this is just different in FIG. 2a. These different relationships and the resulting situations can be chosen deliberately or can arise due to manufacturing tolerances in the production of the cover or body, which is usually produced by injection molding.

If the lid spacing A is smaller than the body spacing B, as in FIG. 1 a, when the lid is loosely placed, its groove area 2c sits on the free, upward-facing end of the body edge 1 a with a flank or the groove bottom of the groove 6 , without the sealing webs 11b, 11c of the cover edge 2a pointing downward reaching the sealing surface 12b of the flange 8 which points upwards and generally runs at right angles to the axis of symmetry 10. If - due to differences in diameter - the body edge 1a does not lie in the groove base of the groove 6 of the cover 2, but is spaced radially inwards or preferably outwards against one of the flanks of the groove 6, the distance between the cover edge 2a and Flange 8 at the second sealing point 5 may be even larger.

As shown in Fig. 1a, the lower free ends of the concentrically circumferential sealing webs 11 b, 11 c are not at one level, but because of a slightly outward inclined position of the lid edge 2a and also a slightly downward outward inclined position of the connecting area 2b Cover 2, the radially inner sealing web 11 b extends a little further to the sealing surface 12.

By placing the clamping ring 3, i.e. moving radially inwards and thus creating the conical inner flanks of the clamping groove 19 of the clamping ring 3 on the rear sides 13 and 14 of the lid edge 2a and flange 8 of the body 1 facing outwards from the clamping point 5 Lid edge 2a on the one hand moved radially inwards and on the other hand simultaneously and / or instead pressed axially against the sealing surface 12b of the flange, that is to say downwards. This is due to the mobility of the lid edge 2a with respect to the rest of the lid 2, in particular with respect to the groove area 2c, and in particular due to a bending or twisting of the individual parts of the lid around the transitions 17 and 18 on both sides of the wall, which are provided with a smaller wall thickness Connection area 2b.

Alone due to the radial inward movement of the lid edge 2a and the approach of the transition area 2b from the inclined position to the parallel position to the axial direction, at least one of the sealing webs 11b, 11c reaches the sealing surface 12b of the flange 8 with its free end, thereby resulting in the second Sealing point 5 a seal is reached. According to FIG. 1 b, the radially outer sealing web 11 c lies with its entire end face on the sealing surface 12b, while the radially inner sealing web 11b only has line contact with the sealing surface 11b.

Due to the axial movement of the lid edge 2a, the groove 6, in particular its contact point on the flank, is also pressed against the body edge 1a at the first sealing point 4, and thus an increased tightness is also achieved at the first sealing point 4.

If, in addition, the sealing surface 12b does not run perpendicular to the axis of symmetry 10, but instead an increasing distance from the radially outside to the radially inside, the contact point moving under the direction of the groove base and the edge 1a being slightly radially deformed, taking up from the upper free end of the body edge 1a Due to an inclination, as shown in dashed lines in Fig. 2b, this axial bracing effect is further increased.

In contrast, in Fig. 2a, the distance A of the lid 2 is greater than the distance B of the lid 1. When the lid 2 is loosely placed, the lid edge 2a thus lies on the sealing surface 12b of the flange 8, and because of the weight of the lid this causes the lid edge 2a to bend slightly around the transition 18 to the connection region 2b, so that only the radially inner sealing web 11b is in contact and the radially outer sealing web 11c will be slightly raised from the sealing surface 12b.

At the first sealing point 4, the bottom of the groove 6 will furthermore not reach the free end of the edge of the cover 1a, unless the latter is not aligned in the radial direction with the bottom of the groove, but is offset radially outwards or inwards and is therefore already in contact one of the flanks of the groove 6.

By placing the clamping ring 3 from radially outside to radially inside, the cover edge 2a is initially displaced radially inward along the sealing surface 12b, and in addition thereby also causes both sealing webs 11b, 11c of the cover edge 2a on the sealing surface 12b of the web 8 of the Rest body 1. As a result of this displacement radially inward, the connecting region 2b adjoining the lid edge 2a is also displaced radially inward and, as a result, the body edge 1a abuts at least on the radially outer flank of the groove 6, and thus also a seal at this first sealing point 4 entry.

Figures 3a, 3b show another possibility:

While in the solutions of FIGS. 1 and 2 the wall thickness of the body edge 1a was significantly less than the width of the groove base of the groove 6 in the lid 2, the reverse is true for the solution according to FIG. 3:

The wall thickness of the body edge 1a, at least at its free end, is so large that it cannot penetrate into the groove 6 to such an extent that the bottom of the groove is reached.

The body edge 1a thus already lies with its end region on both flanks of the groove 6, while the sealing webs 11 of the lid edge 2a do not yet reach the sealing surface 12b of the flange 8. Only by pushing on the tension ring according to FIG. 3b is the cover edge 2a drawn radially inward, but above all also in the axial direction downward onto the sealing surface 12b, on which the sealing webs 11b, 11c now rest. As a result of this axial bracing, the free end of the body edge 1a is also pushed further into the groove 6, and this is also widened slightly, depending on the stability of the groove area 2c. This leads to a slight deformation of the central region 2d of the cover to a spherical shape on the radially inner side, and to an inclined position of the outer leg of the groove region 2c and of the connecting region 2b on the radially outer side.

However, this is compensated for by the radial inward displacement of the lid edge 2a by the clamping ring 3, and the existing possibility of movement of the lid edge relative to the groove area 2c by the longitudinal extension of the

Connection area 2b and / or the mobility due to the diluted Transitions 17 and / or 18 of the connection area 2b with respect to the adjacent areas.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 body 9

1a body edge 10 axis of symmetry

2 cover 11a ι, b, c sealing web a cover edge 12a, b sealing surface b connecting area 25 13 rear side c groove area 14 rear side d central area 15 webs e extension 16 bottom

Clamping ring 17 transition a groove 30 18 transition

Sealing point 19 Spanut a, b partial sealing point

Ring groove A = cover distance

Wall B = body distance

annular flange

Claims

1. Container with a body (1) and a lid (2) and a tensioning device for tightly tightening the lid (2) with respect to the body (1), characterized in that at least in the tensioned state, the lid (2) with respect to the body ( 1) on at least two spaced apart rings, around the axis of symmetry

(10) of the container tightly running continuous sealing points (4, 5).

2. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the body (1) and the lid (2) each consist only of a single material, in particular plastic, in particular the same plastic.

3. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sealing points (4) and (5) are arranged axially spaced apart.

4. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sealing points (4) and / or (5) are divided into partial sealing points (5a, 5b).

5. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at the sealing points (4) or (5) or the partial sealing points (5a, 5b) each have a sealing web (11) with its outer surface, in particular in the case of a line Touch, presses against a sealing surface (12) and can be moved along this sealing surface (12) due to the tensioning by means of the tensioning device.

6. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at the first sealing point (4) the sealing web (11a) is the freely ending body edge (1a) and the sealing surface (12a) has a cross-sectionally V-shaped annular groove (6) the underside of the cover (2).

7. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at the sealing point (5) the sealing surface (12) is arranged transversely to the axis of symmetry (10), outside the wall (7) of the body (1) arranged on an annular surface radially is the externally facing ring flange (8) and the sealing web (11b) is an annular circumferential sealing web formed in one piece with the outer lid edge (2a).

8. Container according to claim 7, characterized in that the lid edge comprises two radially spaced, concentrically arranged sealing webs (11b, 11c) which rest on the same sealing surface (12b) in the clamped state.

9. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lid edge (2a), at least in the connection area between the sealing webs (11b, 11c), is so stable that no substantial deviation from the ring shape of the Lid edge (2a) can be effected.

10. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sealing surface (12b) extends perpendicular to the axis of symmetry (10).

11. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sealing surface (12b) at an acute angle, in particular with a sealing surface (12b) pointing towards the open end of the body (1), radially from the outside inwards to the bottom of the body ( 1) descending, is arranged.

12. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lid (2) viewed in cross section radially from the inside out from a plate-shaped central region (2d), a U-shaped axially bulging groove region (2c), one at the other There is an annular connecting area (2b) adjoining the radially outer free end and the adjoining lid edge (2a), which are formed in one piece with one another and wherein the transition between the connecting area (2b) to at least one of the adjacent areas has a smaller wall thickness than the other areas ,

13. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lid edge (2a) is arranged radially outside the connecting area (2b).

14. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the connecting region (2b) extends axially.

15. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the annular groove (6) has a semicircular groove base and the groove base is wider than the wall thickness of the body edge (1a), which is also rounded.

16. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the free end of the body edge (1a) as a sealing web (11a) of the first sealing point (4) from the sealing surface (12b) of the second sealing point (5) assumes an axial distance which is slightly larger than in the relaxed state of the cover of the groove base of the annular groove (6) from the free end of the sealing web (11) or (11b) and (11c).

17. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the diameter of the body (1), measured from the center of the wall to the center of the wall at the free end, ie at the edge of the body (1a), deviates from the diameter of the annular groove (6) of the lid (2) , measured from the center of the groove base to the center of the groove base, and the diameter of the body is preferably larger than the diameter of the ring groove (6), so that when the cover is placed without tension, the cover with its outer ring groove flank on the body edge (1a) seated.

18. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the clamping device is a clamping ring (3) with a radially inwardly directed groove (3a), the flanks of which move away from each other towards the free inner end.

19. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the rear side (13) of the lid edge (2a) pointing away from the flange (8) and the rear side (14) of the flange (8) pointing away from the lid correspond to the inner flanks of the annular groove ( 3a) of the clamping ring (3) are conically shaped.

20. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the conical back of the flange (8) of the body (1) is formed at least by webs (15) of the flange (8) which are distributed over the circumference.

21. Container according to one of the preceding claims, 5 characterized in that the wall thickness of the body (1) at the body edge (1a), in particular from the flange (8) to the free end, is greater than between the flange (8) and the bottom (16) of the body.

22. A container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the annular groove (6) has an intermediate angle between its outer flank (6a) and its inner flank (6b) of 5-50 °, in particular 10-30 °.

15 23. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the annular groove (6) in the cover (2) has a groove base which is narrower than the wall thickness of the body edge (1a) at the free end.

24. Container according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the connection area (2b) of the lid widens conically from the groove area (2c) to the lid edge (2a).