JP2001114318A - Container having nonplanar seal between base and cover - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a nonplanar seal for a container having a base and a cover. SOLUTION: A base comprises a rim 22 having a first seal structural element 28. A cover comprises a rim 26 having a second structural element 30. The first and second seal structural elements construct, for instance, a watertight seal when the cover is fitted to the container, and contents in the container are protected therewith. The seal is formed in a nonlinear plane, namely along a locus of points forming a curved surface. The first and second seal structural elements are directed so as to become virtually perpendicular against the nonlinear plane at optional points. With the structure as mentioned above, restrictions regarding positions for arrangement of the seal structural elements are eased while an excellent seal-up characteristic is kept for the container, thereby enlargigng the degree of freedom or versatility in designing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to closed containers for storage. In particular, the present invention relates to an improved structure for sealing a container around a locus of points constituting a non-planar surface.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Hermetic containers, particularly for domestic use and also for storing food, are generally well known. Examples of such containers include certain quantities of articles,
Typically, there is a container of a brand known as Tupperware (registered trademark) having a base constituting a volume for containing food and a lid fixed to the base to seal the base. The fit between the base and the lid is typically designed to form a liquid-tight seal, and in some cases a gas-tight seal. This sealing is accomplished by a variety of methods well known in the art.

[0003] These containers come in a variety of shapes, with perimeters ranging from relatively square to round, with bases ranging from relatively flat platforms to deep depressions, or from deep inverted depressions. Over a flat cover. However, despite this variety in shape, the actual contact between the base and the lid, the actual seal, is typically configured along a trajectory of points that make up a plane. In other words, despite the shape of the base and lid in the assembled state, the base and lid were joined along a primary or linear plane passing through the assembly. This linear plane allowed the lid to be placed on the base by moving the lid in a direction perpendicular to such a plane.

This approach limits the design freedom or flexibility of the container. Make this plane at an angle,
It is also known to arrange them in various vertical positions. It is also known to draw a gentle curvature about a plane about one axis. Each of these various approaches increases design flexibility or flexibility, but has limitations.
In particular, in the case of a gentle curved seal, the components forming the seal were vertically oriented. In other words,
The lid was still resting on the base by a completely vertical movement (ie in the sealing direction) (this is a way that does not take into account the radial deflection of the plastic component). This is acceptable for the smallest curvature in the sealing surface, but if the magnitude of the curvature is more pronounced,
As a result, the fit of the seal was not good.
According to the present invention, design flexibility or flexibility is further expanded. In the design of the present invention, the curvature of the plane is very large. Because the sealing direction changes around the plane. This change in the sealing direction generally requires changing the sealing component so that the sealing component is perpendicular to the plane of the seal.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a container having a base with a sealing lid.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a base and lid in which the seal between the base and the lid occurs along the trajectory of points forming a non-linear plane.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a base and lid wherein the sealing components are oriented substantially perpendicular to a non-linear plane.

These and other objects are achieved by a non-planar seal formed between a container having a base and a lid. The base has a rim with a first sealing component. The lid has a rim that includes the second seal component. The first and second seal components constitute a seal, for example, a watertight seal, when the lid is attached to the container, thus protecting the contents of the container. The seal is formed along a trajectory of points constituting a non-linear plane, that is, a curved surface. The first and second seal components are oriented substantially perpendicular to the non-linear plane at any point along the seal. This configuration allows for greater design flexibility or flexibility, as the constraints on the location of the sealing components are relaxed while still providing good sealing characteristics for the container.

Next, the objects and features of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same parts.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, a first embodiment of a container of the present invention is indicated generally by the numeral 10. The container 10 has a base 12 and a lid 14. The base 12 and the lid 14 cooperate with each other to define an interior 16 (FIG. 3) for receiving items stored in the container 10.
The interior 16 is constituted by one or both of a concave base 12 and a lid 14, typically the base 12 as shown in FIG.

In the first embodiment, the base 12 has a bottom wall 18 having an outer periphery and one or more side walls 20 extending upwardly from the bottom wall 18 to form a base rim 22. The lid 14 has a top wall 24 having an outer peripheral portion forming a lid rim 26. It will be apparent that if these components are reversed, lid 14 will serve as a base and base 12 will serve as a lid. Alternatively or additionally, lid 14 has a depth that helps to make interior 16 somewhat larger by adding sidewalls (not shown) in a manner similar to that shown for base 12. It may be.

The base rim 22 and lid rim 26 are shaped such that when they are combined with each other, they form a mating seal. For this purpose, the base rim 22 is
The lid rim 26 has a first seal component 28 and the lid rim 26 has a second seal component 30. In the first embodiment, the first sealing component 28 is in the form of a vertically extending rib and the second sealing component 30 is in the form of a downwardly open groove that closely receives the rib. You are. As best shown in FIG. 4, it is known in the prior art to form this groove, the width of which is varied, for example, by a projection 32. As can be imagined, this protrusion serves to pinch the rib when assembled. Although the ribs fit snugly in the groove everywhere, it is at this projection 32 that the actual seal is formed so as to obtain a strong seal, for example a watertight seal.

To achieve an interference fit and a good seal, the first seal component 28 and / or the second
It is preferable that at least one of the sealing components 30 has at least an elastic material. This elasticity may be relatively small and may be obtained by forming the second sealing component 30 from sheet metal. However, for ease of manufacture and maintenance, this elastic material is preferably plastic.
For example, the lid 14 may be made of one piece of plastic material, for example polyethylene.

As mentioned above, in the prior art, these seal components lie along a linear plane (similar to the portions of the seal components shown in FIGS. 3 and 4). Further, it is known in the prior art to obtain a good seal by forming the seal components at a slight angle to the vertical. This is indicated by the angle A in FIG. In the present invention, the conventional sealing components are:
The plane of the seal (ie the horizontal plane in FIGS. 3 and 4)
It can be seen that they are arranged at a slight angle to, and thus not perpendicular to such a plane. For the purposes of the present invention, this angle is expressed in terms of "substantially perpendicular" when referring to the trajectory of the points that make up the seal. Thus, the portion of the seal component shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is substantially perpendicular to the linear horizontal plane.

In the prior art, the locus of the points that make up the seal (ie, the point of contact between the protrusion 32 and the base rim 22) typically forms a linear horizontal plane. Further, the seal components (ie, base rim 22 and lid rim 26) extend vertically in a parallel relationship with one another. In one conventional container known to the applicant that the trajectory of the points making up the seal is not a linear plane, the curvature of the plane is gentle and small,
The sealing components still extend vertically in a parallel relationship to one another.

The first seal component 28 and the second seal component 30 may take other forms known in the art. Examples of other seal components are shown in FIGS. In FIG. 5, a conventional container 34 has a base 36 and a lid 38. The base 36 has an upper rim 40 and the lid 38 has a depending skirt 42 sized to closely surround the upper rim 40. In this embodiment, the first sealing component 28
Peripheral protrusion 44 extending laterally outward from upper rim 40, and second seal component 30 is the inner face of skirt 42. As can be imagined, in the assembled state, the projections 44 press against the inner face of the skirt 42 to form the actual seal.

In this configuration, the trajectories of the points that make up the seal again form a linear horizontal plane, and the seal components (ie, upper rim 40 and skirt 42) also extend vertically in a parallel relationship to one another. ing.

Alternatively, the arrangement of FIG. 5 may be reversed so that the skirt is received in the upper rim and the skirt has a raised ridge that abuts the inner face of the upper rim.
This is similar to the conventional structure shown in FIG. In this configuration, the container 46 has a base 48 and a lid 50. The base 48 again has an upper rim 52,
In this case, the upper rim has an inwardly extending peripheral rim forming a downward facing shoulder 54. The lid 50 has a concave top wall 5.
8 has a lid rim 56 surrounding it. The inner face of the lid rim 56 has raised ridges or protrusions 60 positioned to sit under the shoulders 54 when the lid 50 is attached to the base 48. The contact between the projection 60 and the shoulder 54 forms a seal in this structure.

Again, the trajectory of the points that make up the seal forms a linear horizontal plane, and the seal components (ie, upper rim 52 and lid rim 56) extend vertically in a parallel relationship to one another. .

A variety of other seal component structures are known in the prior art. However, in each case, the trajectory of the points making up the seal is considered to lie in a linear, typically horizontal plane. Further, the seal components are considered to extend in a flat relationship to one another, typically in a vertical direction. However,
To the extent that these other seal components can be used in accordance with the present invention, they are within the scope of the present invention.

So far, the description of the container 10 has focused on the same features as in the prior art. However,
The present invention differs from the prior art in important respects.
The difference is that the seal component is formed such that the trajectory of the points forming the seal constitutes a non-linear plane and the seal component extends at any particular point along the seal in a direction perpendicular to such a plane. is there.

As shown in FIG. 2, the height of the side wall 20 adjacent to the left end is reduced, and
Is inclined downward toward this end.
Similarly, lid 14 and lid rim 26 are also similarly downwardly sloped. As can be imagined, the trajectory of the points thus constituting the seal is a non-linear plane. In this simple example,
The non-linear plane has a single curvature line between the two linear plane portions. Other, more complex forms can of course be used. This nonlinear plane is the first plane of the present invention.
It is a feature of. The second feature is the orientation of the seal component best shown in FIG.

As shown, the base rim 22 and lid rim 26 (with associated projections 32) slope downwardly adjacent this end of the container. However, the seal component does not extend vertically, but extends substantially perpendicular to the non-linear plane at each point along the seal.
In other words, the line N that is truly perpendicular to the non-linear plane extends perpendicular to the edge of the base rim 22. However, the seal component is offset by a small angle A from this true normal N to improve the effectiveness of the seal, as is known in the art. Thus, the seal component extends substantially vertically as described above. However, this shift is not required for all forms, and of course a true vertical orientation,
It is included in the term “substantially vertical”.

As mentioned above, this is a simple example showing only one curvature line between two linear planar parts. However, the principles of the present invention can be applied to more complex configurations with many curvature lines extending in many directions at many radii. In each case, the trajectory of the points that make up the seal constitutes a non-linear plane, and in any case the seal component extends in any direction along the seal in a direction substantially perpendicular to such a plane. This configuration allows a good seal to be formed around the entire base while significantly improving the design freedom or flexibility of the container.

Although this principle is relatively simple, the actual manufacture of the container of the present invention is more cumbersome. Specifically, when molding such a container using an injection molding method,
Problems with plugging and demolding occur. For example, in FIG. 7, for the base, it can be seen that a representative dividing line between the linear portions is at the edge of the base rim 22. No problem arises in this case. However, a problem arises with the outwardly extending tongue 62. This tongue 62
The upper face extends inward, and the mold part forming the upper face is formed by releasing the base from the mold (FIG. 7).
In the vertical direction). Similar problems may be encountered with the molding of the lid 14, particularly with the lid rim 26. However, these issues are
This can be solved by using a movable mold part as is known in the art. It is not possible in all applications to use a movable mold part, which allows the production of a wide variety of containers according to the invention.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that the present invention is self-evident and provides other advantages inherent in the above-described structure and achieves all of the above-mentioned objects.

It should be understood that some features and sub-combinations have utility and can be used independently of other features and sub-combinations.
This is within the scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Since many design modifications of the present invention can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention, all matters described in the accompanying drawings are illustrative and not restrictive of the present invention. It should be understood that there is no.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a container according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the container of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a detailed sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the assembly of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, but illustrating a conventional sealing structure.

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4, but showing another conventional sealing structure.

FIG. 7 is a detailed view taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 1 in a state where constituent elements are disassembled.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A container having a base with a first seal component and a lid with a second seal component, wherein the first and second seal components are:
When the lid is attached to the base, it cooperates to form a seal, the seal extending along a trajectory of points forming a non-linear plane, wherein the first and second seal components are attached to the seal. A container extending substantially perpendicular to the non-linear plane at any particular location along the vessel. 2. The base has a base rim, the lid has a lid rim, the first seal component has a face of the base rim, and the second seal component has a face on the base rim. The container of claim 1, further comprising a protrusion extending from said lid rim for abutment. 3. The base has a base rim, the lid has a lid rim, the second sealing component has a face of the lid rim, and the first sealing component has the lid rim. The container of claim 1, further comprising a protrusion extending from the base rim to abut the face.