Patent Application
20120298546
The present invention relates to the field of containers for stackable items, such as coins.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,338 discloses a reusable container for a stack of coins. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,338, a container for a stack of coins is formed from a length of flexible plastic lay-flat tubing. The container has the form of a hollow cylinder that is open at both ends. The coins are prevented from falling out of the retainer by toggle retainers formed at both ends of the tube by cutting and scoring or perforating operations performed on the container while it is in the flattened condition. These operations can conveniently be carried out on a flexographic converting system. The toggle retainers can readily be opened for removal of the coins, after which the flexibility of the walls of the container permit it to be flattened, thereby saving space during transport and storage of the empty containers. This encourages reuse, which makes the container attractive from the standpoint of both economics and ecology.
While the container of the '338 patent represents a significant advancement in the art, there remains a general desire to improve the manufacturability and usability of such a container.
The present invention provides a container for stackable items. In an embodiment, a container for stackable items is disclosed. A hollow cylinder of resilient material having at least one closed end retains stackable items. The closed end is formed by opposite sides of the cylinder being cut perpendicularly to the length of the cylinder so as to form retainers and the retainers are attached to each other such that the retainers extend across the end of the cylinder thereby forming the closed end. The retainers of the closed end can lay flat when the hollow cylinder is collapsed.
The hollow cylinder can be openable at an end opposite the closed end for the insertion and removal of the stackable items.
The present invention is described with respect to particular exemplary embodiments thereof and reference is accordingly made to the drawings in which:
In developing the container of U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,338, the present inventor set out to devise a reusable plastic container for a stack of coins that, when empty, could be flattened for economical storage and transport, so as to encourage reuse.
The inventor determined that in order for the container to be collapsible into a lay-flat position, both ends needed to be openable. This is because prior designs for containers having closed ends could not be flattened. Thus, the inventor developed a closable toggle mechanism for both ends of the container. Employing this toggle mechanism at both ends of the container allowed the container to be collapsed into a lay-flat position when both ends where opened. This container disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,338, functioned satisfactorily in most conditions.
The inventor determined that only one openable end was necessary to insert the contents into the container and to remove the contents. The second openable end increased the possibility of the contents accidentally falling out of the container and increased the complexity involved in automating the process of filling the containers. However, the inventor did not have a solution based on his understanding that in order to be collapsible, both ends needed to be openable. Indeed U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,338, teaches away from the possibility of a closed end through its teachings that its elimination is “essential” for the container to be flattened and that the presence of a closed end would prevent the container from being flattened.
The inventor has now invented a novel and non-obvious container having at least one closed end. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a practical container has been devised having a closed end and being capable of being flattened when empty, along with a practical low-cost process for manufacturing it.
Novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention, both as to its structure and method of manufacture, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will be better understood from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.
The container is preferably composed of a flexible and resilient film material which can be translucent plastic. The translucency of some plastic materials can also be exploited to give visual verification of the contents, which is especially important in money handling applications. In such embodiments, mono- or copolymer polypropylenes may be used because of their excellent hinge properties and translucency. Nonetheless, injection molding allows for use of a plurality of materials, some of which may be appropriate to special packaging applications. For example, anti-static plastic compounds may be desired for retaining electronic components, such as RFID tags, or high-density polyethylene for static control of ceramic pills.
The material may include post-consumer recyclates. Thus, resins may also be used to enhance the environmental benefits of reusable packaging (e.g. by waste source reduction). For example, post-industrial recyclates, post-consumer recyclates, and/or biodegradable organic plastics may be used. Hybrid materials, such as plastic and wood-flour compounds, may also be injection molded. These hybrid organic materials may be suitable for certain specialty packaging applications, such as “plantable” containers made from organic plastics and fertilizer compounds that self-compost to fertilize small plants and seedlings as they decay underground.
The operable end 102 includes first and second toggle retainers 106, 108, which can be identical to the toggle retainers described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,338. The first and second toggle retainers 106, 108 are bi-stable elements in which the mechanism has at least two stable equilibrium states within their range of motion and require no power input to remain stable at each equilibrium state. The retainers 106, 108 are thus able to snap from an open position to a closed position shown in
The closed end 104 includes first and second attached retainers 110, 112. The retainers 110, 112, are preferably formed from the sidewalls of the container 100 itself. More particularly, the retainers 110, 112, are formed by opposite sides of the cylindrical container 100 being cut perpendicularly to the length of the container 100 near the end from which the closed end 104 is formed. Thus, the cuts extend parallel to the end from which the closed end 104 is formed. The cuts each extend approximately one fourth of the circumference of the container 100 and are equally spaced. These cuts are illustrated in
Optionally, the container 100 can include lines of weakness 116, 118 which extend the length of the container 100 on opposite sides. These longitudinal lines of weakness 116, 118 can be creases which are present in lay-flat tubing or can be some other lines of increased flexibility such as scored or perforated lines. These lines of weakness 116, 118 can act as hinges which fold closed when the container 100 is in its collapsed position and tend to reduce the force need to collapse the container 100 and to hold it in its collapsed position. Thus, when the container is in its collapsed position, it preferably lays flat such that its thickness is no more that than twice the thickness of the sidewalls of the container (since the flattened cylinder is composed of two overlapping layers). When the container is in its opened, non-collapsed position, these hinges formed by the lines of weakness 116, 118 are in an open position.
Thus, the container 100 of the present invention can easily be flattened for storage and transport, and therefore is likely to be reused until it wears out. A force of less than 0.5 pound applied uniformly to squeeze the coin container of the present invention may be applied to flatten it. In its flattened condition, the coin container of the present invention is easier to print on than a curved wall. Additionally, the cylindrical wall of the container of the present invention can be paper thin, approximately 0.007 inch, which makes the cylindrical wall flexible and easily flattened, though thicker wall thicknesses can be utilized.
In an embodiment, the lines of weakness 116, 118, can be omitted. In this case, the container tends to retain its cylindrical shape in absence of outside flattening forces. However, because the container is preferably formed of a flexible material, it can still be collapsed by the application of force. The omission of lines of weakness means that the container will not fold as completely flat and as easily as in embodiments having the lines of weakness.
In a preferred embodiment, the container is composed of HDPE (high-density polyethylene). This is because recycled feedstocks are readily available from curbside recycling and due to properties of HDPE such as flexibility and durability that make it suitable for the hinges incorporated into the container. In alternative embodiments, the container is composed of polyethylene, polyvinylchloride, polypropylene or other polyolefins.
As shown in
An exemplary embodiment of a method of making the containers 100 can start with the provision of a roll of lay-flat flexible film plastic tubing. This material is widely available and is supplied in rolls. Practical use of such tubing is found in agricultural drip tape widely used for irrigation purposes.
This unique starting material can be run through a rotary processing machine, such as a flexographic web converting system. An example of such a machine is the Mark Andy Model No. 830 Converting System manufactured by Mark Andy, Inc. of Chesterfield, Mo.
A roll of lay-flat flexible film plastic tubing can be inserted into the flexographic converting system. During the operation of the system, the tubing can retain its flattened condition. At a first station, a repeating pattern of pairs of opposed transverse blind cuts can be inflicted on the lay-flat tubing. These cuts are “blind” in that the ends of the cuts terminate within the tubing material.
Next, normally at a subsequent station, a number of lines of perforation 64, 66, 68 and 70 can be imposed on the lay-flat tubing 50. As best seen in
In a first alternative embodiment, shown in
As best seen in
The attachments 114 can be made prior to, or in conjunction with, performance of the sheeting cuts. The attachments 114 can be formed by heat or chemical weld, glue (e.g. hot melt glue) or other attachment means.
Some users of the containers will prefer to receive the containers connected end-to-end, either in a single roll or zig-zag folded, in accordance with the user's dispensing device. To accommodate this possibility, the sheeting cuts 80 and 82 can be replaced, in an alternative embodiment shown in
Any of the steps shown in
A legend 88 can be printed on each container 100. For example, the flexographic converting machine also prints a legend 88 on each container 100.
Although the lay-flat tubing can be composed of an extruded seamless plastic, in other embodiments the lay-flat tubing can be composed of other materials, such as paper or metal and may include a seam. Typically, paper has not been favored because of the difficulty of producing a seamless tube and because of its lack of resiliency; and metal has not been used because of its cost. However, for certain applications these alternative materials might have advantages that outweigh their disadvantages.
In alternative embodiments, rather than commencing the process with lay-flat tubing, the process may begin with a flat sheet of material (e.g. in a roll). In this case, the cuts, perforations and/or score lines can be applied to sections the flat sheet of material. For example, the material may be removed from the roll and cut into sections that are approximately three feet long where each section yields seven to ten containers. Then, the material can be folded and welded or glued to form the tubular structure with a seam along its length. In this case, the side walls of the containers 100 can be overlapped in the area of the welding or gluing. Then, the material can be cut into the individual containers. The attachments 114 can be made as a separate step or during the welding or gluing step.
To avoid having an excessive number of claims to include all of the possible combinations of score lines and lines of perforations, a generic term “lines of weakness” is used in the claims. The term “lines of weakness” includes score lines and lines of perforations but not cuts. Both score lines and lines of perforations may be thought of as incomplete cuts, and both weaken the film along the line of weakness, thereby justifying the generic use of the term.
In some embodiments, lines of weakness may be extended for greater utility or ease of manufacture, such that they do not interfere with the mechanical opening and closing of the container. For example, in alternate embodiments, the hinges of any of the retainers 106, 108, 110, 112 may be extended lines of weakness that extend the full axial length of the container 100.
As shown and described herein, the axis of the hinges of the toggle retainers 106, 108 can be parallel to the long axis of the container 100. This results in an acceptable snap from an open position to a closed position as well as retaining of the objects. In an alternative embodiment, the axis of the hinges of toggle retainers 106, 108 are slightly angled inward toward the centerline axis the container 100 (e.g. by 2-4 degrees). This tends to provide a more perceptible and possibly audible snap when the retainers 106, 108 are moved from an open position to a closed position. This also projects the retainers 106, 108 slightly downward (toward the retained objects) as they close the throat of the container 100.
This is useful because the retainers 106, 108 are then slightly sprung and take up any small amounts of slack in the stack of objects. Where the objects are coins or similar items, the height of a given number of coins can vary somewhat based on combined wear of the coins. Thus, it is possible to audibly validate a stack of coins in the container 100 with a quick shake of the filled container 100. A short coin stack (i.e. one that is missing one or more coins) will be audibly detectable by a ‘clack’ sound. With the angled ‘sprung’ ends, a coin stack having the correct number of coins will tend to be quiet when shaken. This assumes that the combined wear of the coins in the stack is within expected tolerances. Additionally, the coins are more secure during handling because greater force and energy is needed to be applied to the toggle retainers 106, 108, both to move them from an open position to a closed position, and to move them from the closed position to the open position. The hinges for the retainers of the closed end can also be angled in the same way so that the attached retainers 110, 112 are angled upward when the container is expanded.
The widest market presently seen for the containers of the present invention is for coins. However, it can be appreciated that specialized markets exist where instead of a stack of coins the container encloses a stack of casino tokens or a stack of indigestion tablets. Nor are the uses limited to stacks of disc-like objects. Cylindrical objects such as flashlight batteries or fluorescent lamps could also be packaged in the container of the present invention. The inventor's rights are, of course, limited only by the structures recited in the appended claims, and not by what the structure is later called or used for.
While the embodiments of the container described above include an openable end and a closed end, in some embodiments, the container can be closed at both ends after it is filled with objects. This may be desired to ensure that the contained objects do not fall out of the container, for example, for coin storage and transportation. In this case, at least one of the closed ends may be non-permanently closed, such as by a snap fastener. Such a snap fastener can be in the location of the attachment 114. Alternatively, both ends may be permanently closed such that at some destruction of the container is required to access the contents.
The containers can be utilized for manual object handling (e.g., manual insertion of coins into the container), for semi-automated handling (e.g., manual loading of the containers into a coin-counting machine), as well as for fully-automated handling (e.g., where the coins are counted and sealed at both ends into a destructible tube).
Thus, there has been described a container as well as a method for making such a container. The resulting container includes structural features that distinguish it from containers, including coin containers, known in the prior art. Specifically, the container is closed at least one end with the closed end being such that it does not prevent the container from being flattened. The container can be openable at one end or closed at both ends.
The foregoing detailed description of the present invention is provided for the purposes of illustration and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the embodiments disclosed. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/489,232, filed May 23, 2011, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61489232 | May 2011 | US |
