Patent Application
20250091784
The present invention relates to a double container, a method for attaching a refill in a double container, and a connecting part used for connecting the double container.
In recent years, from the viewpoint of reducing resins used as container materials, containers for various applications have been increasingly reduced in thickness or have been being formed in a film shape. However, since inner containers reduced in thickness alone cannot help reduction in the content and cannot keep themselves self-standing, double containers in which inner containers (refill containers) reduced in thickness and outer containers that can be used repeatedly are combined are being popularized.
As an example of such a double container, PTL 1 discloses a configuration including an outer cap 83 configured to be screw-threadedly engaged with the upper end of the side wall of a tubular outer container 82 while pressing a flange 811 of an inner container 81 from above, to thereby facilitate engagement between the inner container 81 and the outer container 82.
However, according to the configuration of PTL 1, pressing the flange 811 from above is the only action that is applied by the outer cap 83 to the inner container 81. Therefore, when removing a mouth cap 85, which is a pumping outlet through which a pump mechanism 84 is inserted, by rotating the mouth cap relative to the inner container 81, the inner container 81 may rotate conjunctively with the mouth cap 85 and the mouth cap 85 may not loosen open, if the outer container 82 is held in a grasping manner.
As illustrated in
Here, in a double container in which an inner container is prepared as a refill, an inner container is replaced with a new inner container (refill container) and discarded when its content is used up, whereas the outer container is repeatedly used. When the inner container includes, as an integrated part, a fit-in tube 92 having a bend part as in PTL 2, the amount of refill-side resin that is discarded without being repeatedly used after the content is exhausted increases.
In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a double container that can inhibit conjunctive rotation of an inner container and a cap, while minimizing the amount of resins used in a refill inner container.
In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of the present invention provides a double container, including:
According to one aspect, a double container can inhibit conjunctive rotation of a cap and an inner container while minimizing the amount of resins used in the refill inner container.
An embodiment for carrying out the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same components in the drawings may be denoted by the same reference numerals and duplicate descriptions may be omitted.
The present invention relates to a double container, a method for attaching a refill in a double container, and a connecting part included in the double container. An inner container of the double container is a container made of a resin or paper, and may be a self-standing type or a non-self-standing type. An outer container of the double container is a self-standing container made of glass, wood, resin, silicon, metal, and the like.
It is preferable that the content to be contained in the inner container held by the outer container of the double container according to the present invention is a liquid or powder substance that is used dividedly in several portions such as a cosmetic material, a fragrance, a detergent, a seasoning, and the like, rather than something that is for one-time serving.
First, a schematic configuration of the double container of the present invention will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
The inner container 1 includes a bottle body 10 for containing a content and a mouth part 14. The bottle body (also referred to as a bottle part or a containing part) 10 has a bottomed tube shape having a bottom 11 and a trunk 12, and has a shoulder part 13 having a center hole O1 in the center of the upper surface. The mouth part 14 of the inner container 1 is a standing tubular part standing upright on the rim of the center hole O1 formed in the shoulder part 13 of the bottle body 10.
The inner container 1 is made of, for example, a resin or paper. The resin of which the inner container 1 is made is composed of, for example, polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polybutylene terephthalate (PBS), polyacetal (POM), polyester-based resins such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), biodegradable resins, and the like. Alternatively, the paper of which the inner container 1 is made is, for example, a laminate using paper as a base material.
The outer container 2 is a bottomed tube-shaped self-standing container with an opening O4 formed at the upper end, wherein the outer container is configured to accommodate the inner container 1 in a replaceable manner, and serves as an outer container that is on the outer side in the double container 100. The outer container 2 has a bottom 21 and a side wall (outer wall) 22. The side wall 22 includes an upper-end thin side wall 23 at the upper end thereof. The upper-end thin side wall 23 has screw threads 24 on the outer surface thereof, and has a jagged surface 25, in which a plurality of indentations extending in the longitudinal direction are formed, on the inner surface thereof. The inner jagged surface 25 is a rotation restricting part of the outer container 2.
The outer container 2 of the present invention is made of, for example, resin, glass, wood, silicon, metal, paper, and the like. In a case of resin, the outer container 2 is made of, for example, resin such as PP, PE, ABS, PBS, POM, PET, or polyester-based resins, biodegradable resins, and the like, similarly to the inner container 1 described above. Examples of wood include: wood of needle-leaf trees such as cedar, cypress, pine, and the like; wood of broad-leaf trees such as oak, walnut, black cherry, alder, rubberwood, and the like; and bamboo. An example of paper is self-standing cardboard.
The first connecting member 4 of the connecting part 3 is a two-stage tube-shaped member and has an opening O3 that is larger than the outer diameter of the mouth part 14 and through which the mouth part of the inner container can be inserted. As illustrated in
The second connecting member 5 of the connecting part 3 is an approximately tube-shaped rotation restricting member that has an opening O2, through which an upper part of the mouth part 14 of the inner container 1 is inserted, and that is situated on the inner side of the first connecting member 4. The second connecting member 5 can be engaged with the first connecting member 4 while being restricted from rotation relative to it. The second connecting member 5 can also be engaged with a part of the mouth part 14 of the inner container 1 while being restricted from rotation relative to it.
The first connecting member 4 and the second connecting member 5 are made of resin such as, for example, PP, PE, ABS, PBS, POM, PET, or polyester-based resins, biodegradable resins, and the like.
The inner plug 6 is a discharge amount adjusting part that is attached in the center hole O1 of the mouth part 14 of the inner container 1, and in which a discharge port for discharging the content in an adequate amount is formed. The inner plug 6 is made of, for example, elastic rubber or resin (for example, PP, PE).
The cap 7 is a capping part of the inner container 1, and is configured to cover the upper part and the circumference of the mouth part 14 of the inner container 1. The cap 7 is made of, for example, resin such as PP, PE, ABS, PBS, POM, PET, or polyester-based resins, a biodegradable resin, and the like. 25
The first connecting member 4 has an outer tube 41, an outer annular plate 43, an upright tube 44, and an upper-end ring 45. The first connecting member 4 has a two-stage tube shape including: the outer tube 41 having a larger diameter; and the upright tube 44 having a smaller diameter.
The outer tube 41 is an outer tubular part that can be threadedly engaged with the outer container 2, and screw threads 42 are provided on the inner circumferential surface of the outer tube 41. The screw threads 42 of the outer tube 41 are threadedly engaged with the screw threads 24 of the outer container 2. Further, an annular projection 46 is provided on the inner circumferential surface of the outer tube 41 above the screw threads 42. A portion sandwiched between the annular projection 46 and the lower surface of the outer annular plate 43 at the upper end of the inner circumferential surface of the outer tube 41 is a fitting groove 47 (see
The outer annular plate 43 is an annular plate extending inward from the upper end of the outer tube 41 so as to reduce the diameter of the outer tube. The upright tube 44 stands upright on the inner rim of the outer annular plate 43. The upper-end ring 45 is a small-diameter upper-end annular plate extending inward from the upper end of the upright tube 44 so as to reduce the diameter of the upright tube.
The second connecting member 5 includes a fit-in tube 51, an annular support plate 53, an upright tube 54, an upper-end diameter-reducing ring 56, and a plurality of locking hooks 58. Outer ribs 52 are formed on the outer circumferential surface of the fit-in tube 51. A plurality of inner ribs 57 are provided on the inner circumferential surface of the upright tube 54 under the upper-end diameter-reducing ring 56.
In the second connecting member 5, the upright tube 54 stands upright on the inner rim of the annular support plate 53, which is an annular plate, and the fit-in tube 51 is suspended from the lower surface of the annular support plate 53 at a position that is slightly on the inner side of the outer rim of the annular support plate. The outer rim of the annular support plate 53 is located on the outer side of the upper end of the fit-in tube 51.
Regions of the upright tube 54 that face the locking hooks 58 are arc-shaped diameter-increasing regions 55 located at positions that are more outward than the remaining regions of the upright tube. The upper-end diameter-reducing ring 56 is a small-diameter upper-end annular plate extending inward from the upper end of the upright tube 54 and from the upper ends of the diameter-increasing regions 55 so as to reduce their diameters.
The plurality of linear outer ribs 52 provided on the outer surface of the lower fit-in tube 51 of the second connecting member 5 are an outer-circumference rotation restricting part configured to restrict rotation relative to the outer container 2. On the other hand, the inner ribs 57 provided on the inner surface of the upper upright tube 54 are an inner-circumference rotation restricting part configured to restrict rotation relative to the inner container 1, and include a plurality of plate-shaped ribs. The inner-circumference rotation restricting part and the outer-circumference rotation restricting part of the second connecting member 5 may be structured in other forms, and, for example, different numbers of linear ribs may be provided, or the inner surface or the outer surface may have a polygonal cross-sectional shape.
As illustrated in
The plurality of locking hooks 58 are provided in the circumferential direction.
During manufacture of the connecting part 3, thrusting the second connecting member 5 with a strong force against the first connecting member 4 from beneath causes the annular support plate 53 of the second connecting member 5 to climb past the annular projection 46, and then causes the outer rim of the annular support plate 53 of the second connecting member 5 to become fitted into the fitting groove 47 that serves as an inner boundary between the outer tube 41 and the outer annular plate 43 of the first connecting member 4 (see the cross-sectional view of
In the state of the connecting part 3 illustrated in
In this state of the connecting part 3, many parts of the first connecting member 4 and the second connecting member 5, i.e., (the fitting groove 47 and the outer rim of the annular support plate 53), (the lower surface of the upper-end ring 45 and the upper surface of the upper-end diameter-reducing ring 57), and (the inner surface of the upright tube 44 and the outer surfaces of the diameter-increasing regions 55) are in snug contact with each other. Therefore, in the connecting part 3 before the double container assembly, the second connecting member 5 can rotate relative to the first connecting member 4 while being under a moderate resistance owing to friction over the wide contact area.
The lower flange 15 and the upper flange 16 are annular members extending outward from the outer circumferential surface of the mouth part 14. The outer diameter of the outer rim of the lower flange 15 is larger than that of the upper flange 16.
The plurality of plate-shaped ribs 17 and 18 are plate-shaped ribs that are continuous in the vertical direction so as to be continuously joined with the lower flange 15 and the upper flange 16, and provided so as to extend outward from the outer circumferential surface of the mouth part 14. Of the plate-shaped ribs, the lower one is the lower rib 17 projecting long, and the upper one is the upper rib 18 projecting short. The upper rib 18 extends outward by the same length as the upper flange 16, and the lower rib 17 extends outward slightly shorter than the lower flange 15 and longer than the upper rib 18, such that the upper rib 18 and the lower rib 17 are bounded as a step. The upper end of the lower rib 17, which constitutes the step, is a rib top 170.
Of the mouth part 14, the lower flange 15 and the rib top 170 of the lower rib 17 function as a position restricting part.
The lower rib 17 is a mouth part rotation restricting part of the inner container 1, and is configured to contact the inner ribs 57 of the second connecting member 5 to restrict rotation of the inner container 1 and the second connecting member 5 relative to each other.
The upper flange 16 is an intrusion inhibiting member configured to inhibit the content from intruding into the connecting part 3, and the upper rib 18 is a member configured to adjust the connecting part 3 so as not to be inclined in the thickness direction during assembly.
Here, the inner container (refill container) 1 and the cap 7, which are illustrated in
The upper end of the side wall 22 is the upper-end thin side wall 23 reduced on the outer side, and the upper-end thin side wall 23 is provided with the screw threads 24 on the outer surface, and with the jagged surface 25 on the inner circumferential surface, recesses and projections extending in the longitudinal direction being repeatedly provided in the jagged surface. The jagged surface 25 is a rotation restricting part of the outer container 2. The rotation restricting part provided on the inner surface of the outer container 2 may be structured in any other form, and, for example, liner ribs or liner slits may be provided in a less number, or the top-view shape may be a polygonal shape.
As illustrated in
Therefore, in the assembled state in which the inner container 1 and the outer container 2 are connected via the connecting part 3, the user can use the assembled double container 100 without any discomfort because there are few recesses or projections exposed to the outside.
Here, as illustrated in the cross-sectional view of
In addition, as illustrated in the cross-sectional view of
In the assembled state, by the second connecting member 5 being engaged as illustrated in
As illustrated in
Only the first connecting member 4 of the connecting part 3 of the present invention can suffice in connecting the outer container 2 and the inner container 1. However, with provision of the second connecting member 5, the inner container 1 is restricted from rotation relative to the outer container 2 because the second connecting member 5 is restricted from rotation relative to both of the outer container 2 and the inner container 1 as illustrated in
Thus, when the cap 7 is rotated relative to the mouth part 14, the inner container 1 does not rotate relative to the outer container 2. That is, with the double container 100, conjunctive rotation of the cap 7 and the inner container 1 can be inhibited when the cap 7 is opened or closed.
Next, replacement of refills will be described with reference to
The first connecting member 4 and the second connecting member 5 are previously engaged as a state before being put on sale, and the connecting part 3 is in a disassemblable state.
When replacing the current inner container with a new refill since the content has decreased, the connecting part 3 is first rotated relative to the outer container 2 in the step S1 to free the connecting part 3 and the outer container 2 from threaded engagement (i.e., to free the screw threads 42 of the first connecting member 4 and the screw threads 24 of the outer container 2 from engagement).
In the step S2, the connecting part 3 is lifted to remove the connecting part-attached inner container β from the outer container 2. The state in the step S2 is illustrated in
In the step S3, the connecting part 3 is pushed upward with a force applied to a part thereof, to free the locking hooks 58 of the connecting part 3 from engagement with the position restricting part (lower flange 15) of the inner container, one by one. The state in the step S3 is illustrated in
In the step S4, the connecting part 3 is lifted and removed from the inner container 1 having no remaining content or a low remaining content.
In the step S5, while covering an inner container 1 (cap-attached inner container), which is a substituted refill, with the connecting part 3 from above the inner container, the mouth part 14 of the substituted inner container 1 is inserted through the openings O2 and O3 of the connecting part 3.
In the step S5, in the state in which the mouth part 14 of the substituted inner container 1 is inserted into the openings O2 and O3 of the connecting part 3, the locking hooks 58 and the lower flange 15 of the inner container 1 are engaged, to thereby engage the connecting part 3 and the inner container 1.
In the step S6, in the state in which the mouth part 14 of the inner container 1 is inserted into the openings O2 and O3 of the connecting part 3, the connecting part 3 is pushed downward to engage the locking hooks 58 and the lower flange 15 of the inner container 1. As a result, the connecting part 3 and the inner container 1 are engaged.
In the step S7, while covering the outer container 2 with the connecting part 3 of the connecting part-attached refill container, the upper-end thin side wall 23 of the outer container 2 is fitted between the outer-side outer tube 41 and the inner-side fit-in tube 51 of the connecting part 3.
In the step S8, the screw threads 42 of the first connecting member 4 and the screw threads 24 of the outer container 2 are threadedly engaged to complete the engagement between the inner container 1 and the outer container 2 via the connecting part 3.
By the screw threads 24 of the outer container 2 and the screw threads 42 of the first connecting member 4 being threadedly engaged in the step S8, the distance between the outer tube 41 and the inner-side fit-in tube 51 becomes short in the connecting part 3, and the jagged surface 25 of the outer container 2 and the outer ribs 52 of the second connecting member 5 are engaged. In the state in which the connecting part 3 is threadedly engaged with the outer container 2 by this engagement, the connecting part 3 is restricted from rotation relative to the outer container 2.
When removing the connecting part 3 from the inner container 1 in the step S2, a force is applied upward to a part of the connecting part 3 as illustrated in
On the other hand, when engaging the connecting part 3 with the inner container 1 in the step S6, as illustrated in
By changing how to apply the force, it is possible to easily attach or detach the locking hooks 58 of the second connecting member 5 to or from the lower flange 15, which is the position restricting part of the inner container 1, making it possible to repeatedly attach or detach the connecting part 3 to or from the inner container 1.
Therefore, in the double container according to the present invention, the inner container can serve as a refill that can be replaced, together with its content, with respect not only to the outer container but also to the connecting part made of the first connecting member and the second connecting member.
Therefore, the connecting part can also be removed from the inner container and reused repeatedly together with the outer container. Therefore, there are more parts that can be reused, and it is possible to reduce resin loss. Therefore, the double container according to the present invention can inhibit conjunctive rotation of the cap and the inner container while minimizing the amount of resins used in the refill inner container.
Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment, and various changes and modifications are applicable within the scope of the spirit of the embodiment of the present invention described in the claims.
The present international application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-022377 filed Feb. 16, 2022, and the entire contents of 2022-022377 are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-022377 | Feb 2022 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2023/004234 | 2/8/2023 | WO |
