WO2007139332A1

WO2007139332A1 - Vacuum container to preserve food

Info

Publication number: WO2007139332A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/002586
Authority: WO
Inventors: Man Hyun Kwon
Original assignee: Man Hyun Kwon
Priority date: 2006-05-29
Filing date: 2007-05-29
Publication date: 2007-12-06
Also published as: KR200424953Y1

Abstract

A vacuum container to preserve food includes a cylindrical guide of a cylinder type formed being recessed downward from an upper center of the cover, with a given diameter and depth, the cover being for covering an opened upper part of the container; a guide pipe having a pipe shape that is formed being protruded upward with a given diameter from a bottom center face of the guide and that has a vertically piercing shape in the interior thereof, the guide pipe having a plurality of first air holes radially formed on a circumference face of an upper end part, a lower- side interior of the first air hole being divided into an upper part and a lower part through a partition wall on which a second air hole is formed; and so on.

Description

VACUUM CONTAINER TO PRESERVE FOOD

[Technical Field]

The present invention relates to vacuum containers, and more particularly, to vacuum containers to preserve food, for improving the airtightness of container and providing an easier vacuum generation manipulation.

[BACKGROUND ART]

In general, food such as various vegetables and fishes is very important to preserve, keeping the freshness of food, and the freshness must be maintained at least until eating, without going bad.

When some time lapses in a state that food of the container is in contact with air, food may be easy to be oxidized and go bad, being in contact with microorganisms or harmful materials contained in the air. In foods, particularly fermentation food must generally be activated through a propagation of microorganisms, but if the fermentation and ripening speed of food is progressed too rapid, there may be caused a problem for the preservation of food.

To relatively more defer such too rapid fermentation and spoilage of food, the contact with air must be cut off. For that, airtight containers, vacuum containers, are provided.

Various vacuum contains have been proposed, including, in particular, USP

No. 6,994,227 with the title of Vacuum Container to Preserve Food, which was issued for the patent on February 07, 2006, by this applicant, in which the interior of container is formed with vacuum using a pumping system so as to preserve food with the freshness for a constant time. In USP No. 6,994,227, as shown in FIG. 1 , in the interior of a sliding flute 111 formed in a cover 110, a piston 150 based on a cap shape is equipped, ascending/descending by a spring 140, makes a first valve 120 and a second valve 130 selective operated by the ascending/descending action, and removes air from the interior of the container through a pumping by force, thereby making the interior of container vacuum and maintained for a given time.

When pressing an upper part of the cap 160, the piston 150 descends, and the first valve 120 is closed, and the second valve 130 is opened, and air from the interior of the sliding flute 111 is discharged outside by force through the second valve 130.

When releasing the pressurized pressure of the cap 160, the piston 150 under the descent state ascends by a restoring force of the spring 140, and the first valve 120 is opened and the second valve 130 is closed, sucking air from the interior of the container and inducing air into the sliding flute 111. Thus, when pressing the cap 160 or releasing the pressed power, it is automatically restored to an original state, and air of the container is getting discharged, thereby making the container vacuum so as to preserve food filled in the container with freshness for a constant time.

However, the above-mentioned patent-issued invention has a problem an ascending/descending action of the piston 150 based on a manipulation of the cap 160 is not smooth.

In the ascending/descending operation of piston 150, a selective open/close operation of the first and second valves 120 and 130, particularly, an ascent f the piston is not smooth, taking much time in forming a vacuum pressure of the container and there is much difficulty in the manipulation. [Disclosure of the Invention]

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a vacuum container to preserve food, which is capable of rapid making an interior of container a vacuum state by a piston operation using a spring, and of reducing a manipulating force for a vacuum formation, thus providing a simple manipulation.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a vacuum container to preserve food in a more sanitary manner.

According to some embodiments of the invention, a vacuum container to preserve food comprises a container having a space of the size in which food can be filled; a cover for covering an opened upper face of the container; a cylindrical guide of a cylinder type formed being recessed downward from an upper center of the cover, with a given diameter and depth; a guide pipe having a pipe shape that is formed being protruded upward with a given diameter from a bottom center face of the guide and that has a vertically piercing shape in the interior thereof, the guide pipe having a plurality of first air holes radially formed on a circumference face of an upper end part, a lower-side interior of the first air hole being divided into an upper part and a lower part through a partition wall on which a second air hole is formed; a ball valve for closing and opening the second air hole in an upper part of the partition wall of the guide pipe; a piston having an outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the cylindrical guide, and having a cylinder shape whose interior is vacant and whose upper part is opened, a bottom face of the piston being pierced through the guide pipe and sealed with the guide pipe through an O-ring; a valve body, whose lower face is combined with an upper end part of the guide pipe, and whose outer face is provided with an O-ring, the O-ring being movable upward and downward along the outer face, tightly coupled to an inner circumference face of the piston, the valve body being formed with a ring flute accepting the O-ring and formed with an inner side space connected through an upper space of the piston through a plurality of third air holes; a cap separably combined with an upper part of the piston, the cap being with a gap in the combination part with the piston, the gap being for allowing air to flow in and out; and a coil spring keeping a constant elasticity between the valve body and the cap.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional side view illustrating a pumping structure for a vacuum pressure formation in a vacuum container according to a conventional art; FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view partially illustrating a vacuum container according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a separated state of pumping unit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a configuration indicating a preserve start date of food according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a vacuum pressure removal member of a vacuum container according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view showing main components in a descent state of piston according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view showing main components in an ascent state of piston according to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view showing an air movement during a movement of O-ring of a valve body when the piston of the vacuum container ascends according to an embodiment of the invention.

[Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention]

Embodiments of the present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 2 to 8, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are more fully described below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 8. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein; rather, these exemplary embodiments are provided so that this disclosure is thorough and complete, and conveys the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art. According to some embodiments of the invention, the interior of container in which food is filled, can be kept vacuumed sanitarily, by discharging air from the interior of airtight container through a use of piston member that is provided with a cover of the container, thereby preventing food from going bad.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view illustrating a portion of a vacuum container to preserve food according to an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a disassembled state referred to in FIG. 2.

According to some embodiments of the invention there may be a configuration of a container 10, a cover 20 and a pumping unit as a large classification. The container 10 has a space in which a given amount of food is filled. An upper part of the container 10 is opened. Food etc. can be put in the interior of the container through the opened upper part.

An outer face of the container 10 may be provided with a specific handle(not shown). The cover 20 has an outer diameter larger than an area of opened part of the container 10, and is closely combined with an upper end part of the container 10 so as to get it sealed.

To get the sealing state with the container 10, an outer surface end part of the cover 20 is put in an upper end part of the container 10 as shown in the drawing, and a bottom face of the outer face end part of the cover is provided with a seal 21 that serves as closely adhering to an inner face of the container 10.

The cover 20 is provided with a pumping unit adapted in a center thereof, and the pumping unit can operate to make the interior of the airtight container 10 a vacuum pressure state. Such configuration has been disclosed in the already patent-applied invention of this applicant.

Meanwhile, the present invention may be most characterized in view of improving such pumping unit.

That is, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the pumping unit is provided as a cylindrical guide 30 in a type of being recessed downward from a center of the cover 20 with a given diameter and depth, and is adapted to allow to ascend and descend by a given height.

It may be most beneficial to form the cylindrical guide 30 with an upper part thereof having a diameter larger than a lower part. The cylindrical guide 30 is formed monolithically with a guide pipe 40 that is formed in a pipe shape with a given diameter from the center of a bottom face of the cylindrical guide 30.

In other words, the guide pipe 40 is a path of pipe shape with a given height from a bottom face of the cylindrical guide 30, through which air is passed. The guide pipe 40 is formed to have an upper part lower than a height of the cylindrical guide 30, and in an outer circumference face of the upper part, a plurality of first air holes 41 are formed radially.

Within the guide pipe 40, a partition wall 42 is formed below the first air holes 41 , isolating between an upper part and a lower part of the guide pipe 40, and in the partition wall 42, a second air hole 43 vertically piercing through the partition wall 42 is formed with a fine diameter.

On an upper part of the partition wall 42 isolating between the upper and lower parts of the guide pipe 40, a ball valve 50 is adapted to control a flow of air through the second air hole formed in the partition wall 42. The ball valve 50 intercepts the second air hole 43 of the partition wall 42 through its self-weight, and when a suction pressure is generated through the first air holes 41 of the guide pipe 40, the ball valve 50 is lifted up by a minute height, thus opening the second air hole 43 that has been blocked.

A valve sheet 51 is mounted on an upper part of the partition wall 42, and a hole formed vertically piercing through the valve sheet 51 is intercepted by the ball valve 50.

In the cylindrical guide 30, a piston 60 is adapted with an outer diameter smaller than the cylindrical guide. The piston 60 whose bottom part has a vertically piercing shape, is formed with a cylinder shape. That is, the piston 60 is vacant in the interior and is upward opened in a cylinder shape, and a bottom center portion of the piston has a vertically piercing shape through which the guide pipe 40 is passed.

Especially, an O-ring 61 for a separation prevention is inserted in the pierced bottom center portion of the piston 60. The O-ring 61 is tightly coupled along an outer circumference face of the guide pipe 40, simultaneously allowing the piston 60 to ascend and descend, stably maintaining an airtight state of the piston 60.

The valve body 70 is combined with, covering an upward opened end part of the guide pipe 40 within the piston 60, and an outer face of the valve body 70 is adapted to be approximate to an inner circumference face of the piston 60. At this time, the outer face of the valve body 70 has an insertion combination with an O-ring 72, an outer circumference face of the O-ring tightly coupled to an inner circumference face of the piston 60.

A ring flute 71 formed to have an insertion of the O-ring 72 in the valve body

70 has a height within which the O-ring 72 can be minutely move upward and downward, and an inner side of the ring flute 71 is formed to have a depth of space through which air can flow.

In the valve body 70, a plurality of third air holes 73 are formed piercing upward from the inner-side space of the ring flute 71.

An opened upper end part of the piston 60 is separably combined with a cap 80.

A combination portion between the piston 60 and the cap 80 has a gap formed being minutely spaced therebetween, and air flows in and out through the gap.

A coil spring 90 is elastically installed between an upper face of the piston 60 whose upper end part is covered by the cap 80, and a lower face of the cap 80.

The coil spring 90 is a restoring unit of the piston 60.

In the configuration described above, in au upper face of the cylindrical guide(30) side of the cover 20; a display unit 22 directly representing months and days may be adapted on an outer circumference face of the cap 80 combined with an upper end part of the piston 60, so as to be checked and clarified to the naked eye from the upper side. Unlike it, a display plate indicating months and days may be adapted in the same method as the specific display unit 22. At this time, the cap 80 is provided with a pointer 81 indicating a month and a pointer 82 indicating a day in the display unit 22, to be rotatable as shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 illustrates a vacuum pressure removal member according to an embodiment of the invention. The vacuum pressure removal member 100 is configured to be adapted in the cover 20 in one side of pumping unit.

The vacuum pressure removal member 100 is configured to rapidly release a vacuum pressure state formed in the interior of the container 10. In the vacuum pressure removal member 100, a valve 101 formed being movable vertically blocks an upper end part of a hole 103 formed vertically piercing in the cover 20, by a spring 102. When pulling out upward the valve 101 , an upper end part of the hole 103 is opened, and air induces into the container 10, thereby releasing the vacuum pressure from the interior of container 10. That is, the vacuum pressure removal member 100 is adapted to make air flow into the interior of the container 10. In the vacuum pressure removal member 100, as described above, the interior of container 10 may be connected through the outside in a method of pulling out upward the valve 101 in the upper part of the cover 20, and the interior of container 10 may be connected through the outside in a method of pressing the valve as a contrary method to that, thereby making air flow into the interior.

On the other hand, the vacuum pressure removal member 100 is provided with an O-ring 104 to maintain a sealing state of the container 10 using the valve 101 , thereby keeping the sealing state of the container sanitarily. Operation according to an embodiment of the invention is described in detail, as follows. FIGS. 6 and 7 are enlarged sectional views showing main components for a pumping operating structure to get a vacuum pressure formation of the container to preserve food, according to an embodiment of the invention.

By manipulating the pumping unit adapted in a center portion of the cover 20, operation of the invention may be obtained. First, the container 10 is filled with food to be preserved, and an upper part of the container 10 is covered by the cover 20, thus making the interior of the container 10 be airtight.

The pumping unit is assembled with an upper center portion of the cover 20 in an upper part of the airtight container 10. In the pumping unit, as described above, a valve sheet 51 and a ball valve 50 are sequentially inserted into the guide pipe 40 from an upper part The piston 60 is inserted into the guide pipe 40, to be ascendable/descendable. An upper end part of the guide pipe 40 is closely combined with a valve body 70, so that the O-ring 71 is tightly coupled to an inner circumference face of the piston 60. An upper end part of the piston 60 is covered through a combination with the cap 80, and a bottom face of the cap 80 is elastically supported by coil spring 90 that is adapted between the bottom face thereof and an upper face of the valve body 70.

With the configuration described above, according to some embodiments of the invention, by pressing the cap 80 with a given pressure or by a manipulation to release the pressure, air is discharged by force from the interior of container 10, thus the interior of the container 10 becomes a vacuum pressure state.

As shown in FIG. 6, when pressing the cap 80 with a given pressure, the piston 60 moves downward, together with the cap 80. The movement of piston 60 moves the O-ring 72 provided with an outer face of the valve body 70 tightly coupled to an inner circumference face of the piston 60, toward a lower part of the ring flute 71 , thereby cutting off between upper and lower spaces of the valve body 70.

When the piston 60 descends, air in the upper part of the valve body 70 is discharged outside through a gap formed in a combination face between the piston 60 and the cap 80.

Through the ascent of piston 60, the upper space of the valve body 70 is reduced, while, the lower space is extended, by a generation of suction pressure, and at this time, the ball valve 50 adapted within the guide pipe 40 ascends by a given height by the suction pressure. At a moment when the piston 60 descends, air from the interior of container 10 is induced into the lower space of the valve body 70, thus dropping the piston 40.

When the piston 60 descends at maximum, a large amount of air is filled in the lower space of the piston 60, rapidly dropping an internal pressure of the container 10.

When releasing the pressurized pressure for the cap 80 in the midst of the maximum drop of the piston 60, the piston 60 undergoes an ascend operation by a restoring force of the coil spring 90 adapted between the valve body 70 and the cap 80. When the piston 60 ascends, the O-ring 72 of the valve body 70, which is tightly coupled to the inner circumference face of the piston 60, moves upward from the lower part in the ring flute 71 as shown in FIG. 8.

At this time, pressure more than air pressure is applied to a lower side space of the piston 60, thus this pressure is transferred to the ball valve 50 through the first air hole 41 and the ball valve 50 is tightly coupled to the valve sheet 51 , thus blocking the first air hole 43 and producing an isolation state from the interior of the container 10.

While, in between an inner circumference face of the piston 60 and an outer face of the valve body 70, air from the lower space of the valve body 70 is induced into an upper space of the piston 60 in an upper side of the valve body 70, through the ring flute 71 and the third air hole 73 for connecting between the ring flute 71 and an upper part of the valve body 70, as shown in FIG. 8.

Air is induced from the lower space to the upper space of the valve body 70, and also the piston 60 can simply actively ascend by the restoring force of the coil spring 90. The piston 60 ascends until the restoring force of the coil spring 90 is removed as shown in FIG. 7, and as described above, operations of applying pressure to the cap 80 and releasing the pressure are again repeated, thereby discharging air from the interior of the container 10 at maximum and so maintaining the interior as a vacuum pressure state.

The greater the vacuum forming pressure is, a combination force between the container 10 and the cover 20 becomes stronger, more improving a sealing state.

When food is preserved in such state the vacuum pressure is maintained, food can be sanitarily preserved with freshness even in a long-time period preserve.

In order to take out food in the midst of keeping the vacuum pressure, air flows into the container 10 by simply manipulating the vacuum pressure removal member 100 adapted in one side of the pumping unit, and then the interior pressure of the container 10 increasingly rises and the combination force between the container 10 and the cover 20 rapidly falls, thereby the cover 20 can be easily separated from the container 10.

Meanwhile, to preserve food, a preserve start date may be indicated by properly manipulating pointers 81 and 82 adapted in an upper part of the cap 80, so that food may not let be too long. As described above, according to some embodiments of the invention, maintaining the interior of container 10 to preserve food as a vacuum pressure state with pumping structure adapted in the cover 20 of the container 10, may be similar to the above-mentioned patent-issued invention of this applicant, but the present invention has a characteristic that when pressing the cap 80 and so dropping the piston 60 down, air from the container 10 is discharged, thereby forming a vacuum pressure relatively rapid and more easily.

That is, in the existing technique, air from the interior of piston is discharged by a pressurized pressure, and air from the interior of container is induced into the interior of piston by a restoring force of spring, thus forming a vacuum pressure; meanwhile, according to some embodiments of the present invention, air from the interior of container 10 is discharged with a formation of vacuum pressure in a step of pressing the cap 80, accordingly a vacuum pressure formation efficiency in the present invention can relatively increase.

In particular, according to some embodiments of the invention, even when pressure of the container 10 gradually decreases, the manipulation force of the cap 80 is almost constant, thereby providing an easy dealing therefor.

As described above, according to some embodiments of the invention, under a pressurizing operation, air is discharged from the interior of container and simultaneously a portion of air gathered within a piston is discharged outside, and air can simply move from a lower part of a valve body to an upper part thereof by a restoring force of spring within the piston, accordingly a constant manipulation force can always be kept regardless of a magnitude of vacuum pressure of the container interior, thereby making the manipulation and dealing easier.

In addition, the restoring force of spring is speedy and constant, thus substantially reducing a vacuum pressure formation time, and particularly, a sealing characteristic is prominent and so even though the vacuum pressure state is maintained for a long time period, there is little change for vacuum pressure with a sanitary preserve of food.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without deviating from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover any such modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. Accordingly, these and other changes and modifications are seen to be within the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed typical embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A vacuum container to preserve food, comprising: a container having a space of the size in which food can be filled; a cover for covering an opened upper of the container; a cylindrical guide of a cylinder type formed being recessed downward from an upper center of the cover, with a given diameter and depth; a guide pipe having a pipe shape that is formed being protruded upward with a given diameter from a bottom center face of the guide and that has a vertically piercing shape in the interior thereof, the guide pipe having a plurality of first air holes radially formed on a circumference face of an upper end part, a lower-side interior of the first air hole being divided into an upper part and a lower part through a partition wall on which a second air hole is formed; a ball valve for intercepting or opening the second air hole in an upper part of the partition wall of the guide pipe; a piston having an outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the cylindrical guide, and having a cylinder shape whose interior is vacant and whose upper part is opened, a bottom face of the piston being pierced through the guide pipe and sealed with the guide pipe through an O-ring; a valve body, whose lower face is combined with an upper end part of the guide pipe, whose outer face is provided with an O-ring, the O-ring being movable upward and downward on the outer face, tightly coupled to an inner circumference face of the piston, the valve body being formed with a ring flute accepting the O-ring and formed with an inner side space connected through an upper space of the piston through a plurality of third air holes; a cap separably combined with an upper part of the piston, the cap being with a gap in the combination part with the piston, the gap being for allowing air to flow in and out; and a coil spring keeping a constant elasticity between the valve body and the cap.

2. The container of claim 1 , wherein an upper end part of the guide pipe is covered through a combination with the valve body, the first air hole formed on an outer circumference face thereof being connected through an interior space of the piston provided in a lower part of the valve body.

3. The container of claim 1 , wherein in one side of the cover, a valve vertically formed to be movable is supported elastically by a spring, and an upper end part of a hole vertically formed piercing through the cover is intercepted by a close adhesion with an O-ring, and the upper end part of the hole is opened by pulling out upward the valve.

4. The container of claim 1 , wherein in an upper inner circumference part of the cylindrical guide side of the cover, a display unit directly representing months and days is adapted on an outer face of the cap combined with an upper end part of the piston, so as to be checked and clarified to the naked eye from the upper side.

5. The container of claim 4, wherein the cap is provided with a pointer indicating a month and a pointer indicating a day in the display unit, to be rotatable.

6. The container of claim 1 , wherein a bottom face of the outer face end part of the cover is provided with a seal closely adhering to an inner circumference face of the container.