The present invention relates to a container for dispensing a material. More particularly, the present invention relates to a container shaped and configured to facilitate orienting the container in a desired position, such as for dispensing material.
Containers with contoured walls that facilitate gripping of the container are well-known in the art and have become increasingly popular. One common type of container with a contoured wall is a container with a diameter too large to be gripped readily with one hand. Shaping the container to have an integrally formed contoured grip facilitates gripping of the container with a single hand to dispense the contents of the container. An example of such a container is a juice bottle with an integrally formed grip section in the side wall of the container.
Hand-held containers with diameters small enough to permit the container to be readily grasped and held in a single hand have also been formed with contours to further facilitate gripping of the container. In contrast with larger-diameter containers having a gripping section along only one side thereof, such hand-held containers typically are contoured about their entire circumference. In other words, the contouring extends completely around the container, such that the container is essentially symmetrical about its central axis.
The present invention relates to a container with surfaces that not only facilitate grasping thereof but also facilitate orienting the container in a desired position for dispensing the product contained therein. In particular, a container formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention has contours that result in essentially automatic orientation of the container upon grasping the contoured areas on the container. Visual assessment of the container to orient the container in a particular position thus is not required.
The container may be shaped and dimensioned to be grasped and held in a single hand. Contours formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention may be readily felt upon grasping the container in the user's palm, and the user may readily reorient the container by rotating the container in his/her palm.
Such automatic ready orientation of a container upon simply grasping the container is particularly beneficial with containers having a dispensing orifice offset from a central axis of the container such that proper orientation of the container is important for use thereof. However, orientation of the container in a particular direction may be desirable for other purposes instead.
An additional optional feature of a container formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention is the provision of a dispensing end that is asymmetrical about at least one axis to further facilitate orienting of the container in a particular desired direction. Such configuration of the dispensing end permits the user to distinguish the orientation of the container with reference to the dispensing end as well, and thus further contributes to the ability of the shape of the container to guide orientation of the container upon grasping.
It will be appreciated that the contouring of the container body and dispensing end formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention, either individually or in combination, permit orientation of the container without visual assessment of the container. Thus, the container may readily be oriented by a visually impaired user or in low lighting situations that impair visual assessment of the container.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention, the scope of the invention being set out in the appended claims.
The detailed description will be better understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters represent like elements, as follows:
An exemplary container 100 formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention is illustrated in
Grasping of container 100 in a particular orientation may be desirable for any number of reasons. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, side surface 134 of the exemplary embodiment of
Although contours 150, 152 may be said to differentiate otherwise indistinguishable sides of a container, it will be appreciated that a container formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention may alternatively have a side surface with sides that are clearly differentiated independent of contouring, such as a container with a square cross-section. The principles of the present invention may be applied to a container with distinct to further distinguish the sides into grasping sides such that upon grasping such sides, the container is automatically oriented in a desired direction. If desired, at least one of sides 140, 142, 144, 146 (whether or not readily differentiated from one another without the aide of contours 150, 152) may be formed as a label panel (e.g., contoured to readily receive a label, such as by virtue of not having compound curvatures).
The precise curvature of contours 150, 152 may be selected to comfortably fit a user's finger or fingers. Preferably, a concave curvature with smooth transitions to side surface 134 is provided. However, it will be appreciated that other curvatures are within the scope of the present invention. Moreover, it will be appreciated that contours 150, 152 may be in any other form that achieves the desired effect of a tactile guide to orient container 100 upon grasping container 100. For instance, contours 150, 152 may be in the form of raised areas (e.g., such as ribs or bumps or dots or any type of pattern extending from surface 134), or a textured area (e.g., an etched area increasing friction, a rubberized region, or any other change to the tactile qualities of side surface 134). If desired, though not essential to the present invention, the contours may be shaped so that a user may readily distinguish one from the other upon mere grasping of the contours without the need for visual inspection of the contours or the container.
Referring to the exemplary embodiment of
One example of a situation in which grasping of container 100 in a particular orientation is desirable is to achieve dispensing of material therefrom in a desired direction. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, as may be appreciated with reference to the exemplary embodiment of
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, contours 150, 152 may facilitate orientation of container 100 in a user's hand such that upon grasping container 100, dispensing end 122 is automatically positioned for ready dispensation of material from container 100 in the desired direction. Specifically, side surface 134 is contoured to facilitate grasping of container 100 such that dispensing end 122 is positioned between the user's grasping thumb and the at least one other grasping finger, and opposite the palm of the grasping hand.
A container formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention, such as exemplary container 100 of
In the exemplary embodiment of
Although exemplary container 100 preferably is a hand-held container (i.e., a container that readily fits in a user's hand and may be grasped and held readily by one hand), it will be appreciated that the principles of the present invention may be applied to larger containers of which only a portion may be grasped and held in a user's hand. In the preferred hand-held embodiment, a further feature that may be provided to facilitate grasping is the contouring of side surface 134 to enhance grasping comfort when container 100 is held in the palm of a user's hand. In particular, as may be appreciated with reference to
In accordance with a separate and independent aspect of the present invention, a closure may be designed to address specific issues relating to the material contained within body portion 110 of container 100. An exemplary closure 200 is illustrated in
Because silicone is known to flow readily through miniscule cracks, tight fits of all parts of closure 200 are desirable to reduce, if not eliminate, leakage and/or seepage. There are several critical places at which fluid flow must be blocked or sealed in or out (depending on the point of reference on closure 200).
First, the coupling of closure 200 to the body of the container on which closure 200 is to be provided should have as close a fit as possible to minimize if not eliminate leakage. As illustrated in
The second critical location for blocking undesired or inadvertent fluid flow is at the flow path from the fluid reservoir in the container through closure 200, closure actuator 220, and dispensing orifice 222 in actuator 220. In the embodiment illustrated in
A third feature that may be provided to block undesired or inadvertent fluid flow is the formation of closure body 210 and actuator 220 to result in a close fit between these parts of closure 200 so that fluid exiting dispensing orifice 222 does not seep between actuator 220 and outer wall 216 of closure body 210 and down into closure body 210 below actuator 220 without returning to the material reservoir in the container on which closure 200 is provided. In the embodiment illustrated in
Another feature of a closure formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention is the modification of the dispensing orifice to control performance of dispensation of the fluid. In particular, it is desirable that fluid is dispensed from a container cleanly without dribbling or otherwise trickling in an undesired direction. Toggle-type actuators as in the embodiment of
In addition, provision of a channel around the exit opening of the dispensing orifice with a circular cross-section to create a lip further contributes to a more precise fluid flow. It has been determined that provision of such a lip as the last surface the fluid sees before leaving the container results in a precise, crisp drop-off point for the fluid, preventing dribble of product along the outer surface of the closure and the container. In particular, the circumferential wall forming the channel around the dispensing orifice preferably has as thin a wall as possible to provide less surface area for the product to cling to than would be provided if a substantially planar surface surrounds the exit opening of the dispensing orifice. Fluid thus readily drops off from the defined edge of the circumferential wall as a defined drop of liquid, rather than clinging, spreading, and dribbling along the outer surface of the closure to the outside of the container. It will be appreciated that this feature may be used in conjunction with the features of the embodiment of
A container formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention material is particularly suitable for dispensing a material such as a fluid. However, it will be appreciated that a container formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention may dispense any of a variety of different material, the particular material not affecting the automatic orienting features of the inventive container.
It will further be appreciated that the directional references “top,” “bottom,” “front,” and “rear” do not limit the respective sides or faces to such orientation, but merely serve to distinguish these sides or faces from one another.
Finally, it will be appreciated that the various independent inventive features described herein may be used in any combination or individually without detracting from the benefits of each feature.
While the foregoing description and drawings represent an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood that various additions, modifications and substitutions may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In particular, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms, structures, arrangements, proportions, and with other elements and components, without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be used with many modifications of structure, arrangement, proportions, and components and otherwise, used in the practice of the invention, which are particularly adapted to specific environments and operative requirements without departing from the principles of the present invention. The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims, and not limited to the foregoing description.
The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. design patent application Ser. No. 29/275,159, filed Dec. 15, 2006.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 29275159 | Dec 2006 | US |
Child | 12002151 | US |