BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A clearer understanding of the invention will be gained from reading the following detailed description of certain preferred embodiments presented purely as examples, without implying any limitation. In this description, reference is made to the appended drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a side view of a container provided with a body being substantially prismatic in shape with a substantially triangular cross section, arranged in accordance with the invention;
FIG. 2 is a side view of a container in which only the middle part of the body is substantially prismatic with a substantially triangular cross section and arranged in accordance with the invention;
FIG. 3 is a highly schematic view in cross section on the line III-III in FIG. 1 and in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4A is a side view of an advantageous alternative embodiment of the container shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4B is a perspective view from above the container of FIG. 4A, allowing a better view of the precise shaping of a groove all the way down; and
FIGS. 5A to 5D are partial schematic sections through the bodies of the containers shown in FIGS. 2 and 4A at various locations.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The features according to the invention will now be explained with reference initially to FIGS. 1 and 3. In FIG. 1 is shown in a side view a container 1 such as a bottle, made of a thermoplastic material, especially PET. The container 1 comprises a body 2 joined up, via a shoulder 3, to a neck 4 and below to a bottom 5 which may have any shape appropriate to the use of the container. For approximately its entire height, the body 2 is substantially prismatic in shape, with a substantially triangular cross section, as can be seen in FIG. 3; in other words the body 2 has three faces 6 joined to each other by three edges 7; in the example shown, the three faces 6 are rounded with a convexity directed outwards.
According to the invention, each edge 7 has a complex structure and is shaped in the form of a groove 8 which is open outwards and whose rear wall 9 has a reversed curvature with a convexity directed outwards. In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 3, it is provided that the apex 10 of the convexity of the rear wall 9 of the groove 8 is positioned substantially level with the sides 11 of the groove 8 so as to minimize discontinuities in the outer surface of the body 2.
Therefore, each edge 7 is shaped in cross section very approximately like a W with a rounded central part, forming a sort of bellows with an excellent elastic deformability, particularly when the walls 6 are subjected to radial forces which would change the shape thereof.
The advantages conferred by edges arranged in accordance with the invention are not limited to just the case of a body with grooves running its entire height as shown in FIG. 1 as an example, and any part of the body which is substantially prismatic in shape with an substantially triangular cross section can, independently of the configuration of the rest of the body of the container, be constructed in accordance with the invention.
So, in FIG. 2 a container 1 of the bottle type is illustrated, in which the body 2′ has a complicated shape: the body 2′ is substantially prismatic in shape only in its middle part 12, which is flanked by an upper part 13 and a lower part 14, both being substantially cylinders of revolution (possibly with reinforcing channels of any appropriate shape) and having transverse dimensions substantially greater than the transverse dimension of said middle part 12. The cross section shown in FIG. 3 is taken through said middle part 12; FIG. 5B shows part of the same cross section.
Being so arranged, the middle part 12 is a handgrip portion which not only helps in gripping the container because of its reduced transverse dimensions, but sits very well in the hand because of its approximately triangular shape.
In this context, it can be provided that each groove 8 extends as far as the join of the middle part 12 and the upper part 13 of the body 2′; then it can be provided that near this join the depth of the groove 8 decreases gradually; in this region the rear wall 9 of the groove 8 may have any appropriate shape, for example to be substantially flat or, in a preferred embodiment, to merge approximately with the shape of the upper part 13 (FIG. 5A, the sides 11 of the groove continue to be marked distinctly to ensure the visual continuity on aesthetic grounds).
It can also be provided that each groove 8 extends as far as the join of the middle part 12 and the lower part 14 of the body 2′; then it can be provided that near this join the depth of the groove 8 decreases gradually; in this region the rear wall 9 of the groove 8 may have any appropriate shape, for example to be substantially flat or, in a preferred embodiment, to merge approximately with the shape of the lower part 14 (FIG. 5C); in addition, as shown in FIG. 3, it can be provided that each groove 8 extends partially into the lower part 14 of the body 2′ and that the rear wall 9 of the groove 8 merges with the shape of the lower part 14.
A useful alternative embodiment may relate to a container 1′, such as a bottle, as shown in FIG. 4A, in which the base 5′ of the container, located at the base of the lower part 14, has reinforcing ribs 15 which partially rise up the sides of said bottom 5′ of the container. In this case, with the body 2′ of the container being constructed in other respects as described above with reference to FIG. 2, it may be helpful to have the groove 8 extending as far as the bottom 5′ of the container 1′ so as to form one of the ribs 15 of said bottom 5′ of the container. In this case, the rear wall 9 of the groove 8 has a reversed curvature, with a concavity directed outwards (FIG. 5D).
In FIG. 4B which shows the container 1′ of FIG. 4A in perspective from above, the development of the shape of the rear wall 9 of the groove 8 can be clearer viewed, with the reversal of the curvature from the middle part 12 to the lower part 14 where the groove 8 begins to form a rib 15.
It would be seen too that the groove 8 can be of variable width; in particular, as visible in FIG. 4A, the groove 8 maintains an approximately constant width in the middle part 12 of the body 2′ of the container, but the width thereof narrows down in the lower part 14 of the body 2′ until becoming the width of a rib 15.
It should be observed, too, that the design of the edges constructed in accordance with the invention leads to a structure without projections, of very unfussy lines and which does not detract from the aesthetic appearance of the container.
Patent Application
20080073315
