Containers often include a body and a neck finish extending axially from the body to accept a closure. The body usually includes a base, a sidewall extending axially away from the base, and a shoulder between the sidewall and the neck finish. The neck finish typically includes circumferentially extending threads or lugs to cooperate with corresponding features of the closure. U.S. Patents that illustrate glass containers of this type include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,688,823 and 3,738,524.
A general object of the present disclosure, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure, is to provide a container having a pour spout to direct flow of product through the pour spout and out of the container.
The present disclosure embodies a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or in combination with each other.
A container in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure includes a body and a neck finish for securement of a closure, the neck finish including a lower portion adjacent to the body, and a non-cylindrical portion remote from the body with laterally opposed indents forming a pour spout.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a container that includes a body including a base and a sidewall extending from the base, and a neck finish extending from the body. The neck finish includes a cylindrical portion extending completely circumferentially around the neck finish and having an outer surface and at least one closure engagement feature on the outer surface. The neck finish also includes a non-cylindrical portion extending from the cylindrical portion and including spout walls disposed radially inwardly with respect to the cylindrical portion to form a pour spout. The neck finish further includes ledges disposed between the spout walls and the outer surface of the cylindrical portion.
In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a container that includes a body including a base and a sidewall extending from the base, a neck finish extending from the body and including a pour spout, and at least one thickened wall portion extending radially inwardly to form an internal trough to direct flow of product toward the pour spout.
In accordance with an additional aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a container that includes a body including a base and a sidewall extending from the base, and a neck finish extending from the body and including a pour spout. The sidewall includes a spout indicator circumferentially corresponding to the pour spout.
The disclosure, together with additional objects, features, advantages and aspects thereof, will be best understood from the following description, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in which:
The container 22 may be composed of glass, or any other material suitable for containing food products. The container 22 may be provided in any suitable sizes, and may be a wide mouth type of container. The container 22 includes a body 26 including a base 28, and a sidewall 30 extending in a direction axially away from the base 28. The body 26 also may include a shoulder 32 extending from the sidewall 30, as illustrated in the Figures. In other embodiments, however, the container body 26 need not include a shoulder. As used herein, directional words such as top, bottom, upper, lower, radial, circumferential, lateral, longitudinal, transverse, vertical, horizontal, and the like are employed by way of description and not limitation.
Referring to
The lower portion 36 may extend completely circumferentially around the neck finish 34, and has an outer surface 40 and one or more closure engagement features that may include lugs, bayonets, thread segments 42, or any other suitable features, on the outer surface 40. As used herein, the term thread segment includes whole, partial, multiple, and/or an interrupted thread and/or thread segment. The thread segments 42 may include two, three, four, or any suitable quantity of thread segments 42. In any case, the thread segments 42 may extend completely circumferentially around the neck finish 34. The lower portion 36 also may include a capping flange 44 extending completely circumferentially around the neck finish 34 and disposed axially between the thread segments 42 and the body shoulder 32.
The upper portion 38 includes indents or spout walls 46 disposed radially inwardly with respect to the lower portion 36 and laterally opposed from one another on either side of a second, radial axis B (
The upper portion 38 also may include a rear wall 50 extending between the spout walls 46 at rear ends of the spout walls 46. The rear wall 50 may be semi-circular or semi-cylindrical in shape and may be an extension of a corresponding portion of the lower portion 36 of the neck finish 34.
The upper portion 38 further may include a trough wall 52 extending circumferentially between the spout walls 46 at forward ends of the spout walls 46, and disposed on an opposite side of a third, transverse radial axis C from the rear wall 50. The trough wall 52 also may be semi-circular or semi-cylindrical in shape and may extend axially from a corresponding part of the lower portion 36 of the neck finish 34. The trough wall 52 may include a lip or projection 51 and a recessed portion 53, for example, to aid in pouring contents from the container 22 in a clean or anti-drip manner. The projection 51 may extend from the sealing surface 54 in an axial direction toward the thread segments 42. The recessed portion 53 may be disposed axially between the projection 51 and the thread segment(s) 42, and the recessed portion 53 may disposed radially inward of a radially outermost portion of the projection 51. For example, a radially outer surface of the projection 51 may have the same radial dimension as a corresponding radially outer surface of the rear wall 50, whereas a radially outer surface of the recessed portion 53 may have a radial dimension that is smaller than the radially outer surfaces of the projection 51 and/or the rear wall 50.
In other embodiments, the rear and trough walls 50, 52 may be of any other suitable shapes. Also, the spout walls 46 alone or together with other portions of the container 22 (e.g. the trough wall 52) may form a pour spout 47.
The walls 46, 50, 52 of the upper portion 38 of the neck finish 34 may terminate in a planar sealing surface 54. At least for the reason that the spout walls 46 may be disposed radially inwardly of the rear wall 50, the planar sealing surface 54 may be non-circular. In particular, the spout walls 46 may be incurvate with respect to the first axis A. Also, the upper portion 38 may be clamshell-shaped when viewed from above the upper portion 38 along the axis A.
One or more of the thread segments 42 may be disposed in a circumferential overlapping relationship with the spout walls 46, the rear wall 50, and the trough wall 52. Accordingly, the securement of the closure 24 may be symmetrical, and uninterrupted or continuous, around the container 22.
Referring to
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The container 22 also includes interior surfaces 68 of the container neck finish 34 at locations corresponding to the spout walls 46. The thickened wall portions 66 may include those interior surfaces 68. In addition, the thickened wall portions 66 may form interior surfaces 58′ of a thickened body sidewall portion 30′ that are disposed radially inward of the interior surfaces 58 of the sidewall 30. The thickened wall portions 66 also may form interior surfaces 60′ of a thickened body shoulder portion 32′ that are disposed radially inward of the interior surfaces 60 of the shoulder 32. In any case, the thickened wall portions 66 extend radially inwardly, for example toward the axis A with respect to one or more of the interior surfaces 58, 60, 62, 64, to form an internal trough to direct flow of product toward the pour spout.
The container 122 includes a body 126 including a base 128, a sidewall 130 extending in a direction axially away from the base 128, and a shoulder 132. The container 122 also has a first, longitudinal axis A, and includes a neck finish 134 extending from the shoulder 132 of the body 126. The neck finish 134 may be the same as that described above with respect to
The sidewall 130 includes a spout indicator 149 circumferentially corresponding to the pour spout 147, for instance, to indicate to a user the location of the pour spout 147 when a closure (not shown) applied to the container 122 obscures the circumferential orientation of the pour spout 147. Accordingly, when using the container 122, a user first may see the spout indicator 149 and then grip the container 122 in a suitable location and manner to enable the user to remove the closure and pour contents from the container 122 without having to adjust the user's grip to reorient the pour spout 147. The spout indicator 149 may be circumferentially aligned with the pour spout 147.
The spout indicator 149 may be provided in any suitable manner. For example, the spout indicator 149 may be formed from the same material as the rest of the sidewall 130. More specifically, the spout indicator 149 and the rest of the sidewall 130 may be formed of glass in a glass container manufacturing process. In other examples, the spout indicator 149 may be a separate component separately applied to the sidewall 130.
Referring to
In the embodiment of
With reference to
The sidewall 230 may include a spout indicator 249 circumferentially corresponding to the pour spout 247. For example, as best shown in
The sidewall 230 also may include a circumferentially extending grip 255. The grip 255 may extend continuously, circumferentially, entirely around the container 222 and may be radially recessed. The grip 255 may be of the same smooth surface finish as the rest of the body 226 or, as shown, may be textured to provide a surface finish that is coarser than rest of the body 226. The grip 255 may be a relatively narrow band, for example, having a width or height less than one-quarter of the height of the body 226. In a more particular example, the height of the grip 255 may be less than one-inch.
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With reference also to
With reference to
Also, the sidewall 330 may include a grip, which may include multiple grip portions, for example, two discrete or individual grip portions 355a, 355b. The grip portions 355a, 355b may be disposed on opposite sides of the container body 326, for instance, diametrically opposed from one another on either side of radial axis B as best shown in
The sidewall 330 may have an outer surface portion 329 that may be recessed as shown, for instance, to accept a product label. The grip portions 355a, 355b may be provided in the recessed portion 329.
There thus has been disclosed containers that may provide improved product flow and that fully satisfies all of the objects and aims previously set forth. The disclosure has been presented in conjunction with several illustrative embodiments, and additional modifications and variations have been discussed. Other modifications and variations readily will suggest themselves to persons of ordinary skill in the art in view of the foregoing discussion. The disclosure is intended to embrace all such modifications and variations as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.