Patent Application
20070272651
Various embodiments of the invention will be understood from the following description, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring in more detail to the drawings,
Referring in more detail to
The container 12 may be substantially of any shape and material, e.g., a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) beverage bottle or the like, to define an interior volume in which a product is to be received. The container 12 can be blow molded, injection molded, extrusion blow molded, or the like. The handle attachment 30 is formed separately from the container 12, and can be prepared by injection molding, extrusion molding, compression molding, or the like. The handle attachment 30 may be formed of a different plastic material and/or color than the container 12, thereby increasing the choice of materials available and potentially reducing the material cost of the overall container and handle assembly. For example, the handle attachment 30 may be formed of polypropylene or the like. Providing the handle attachment 30 separately from the container 12, and attaching it after the container is formed, can simplify the design of the container 12 and of the mold used to make it.
The external thread 26 on shoulder 25 can be of the same material as the neck and formed by injection molding and the like. External thread 26 can be continuous or interrupted (segmented), e.g., having two or more of sloped segments, which provide a threaded pathway, like a continuous thread but with interrupted sections. As used herein, “thread” includes a single continuous thread, a portion thereof (e.g., segment), or multiple portions (e.g., segments) of threads.
Shoulder 25 contains at least one notch 28 to ensure that the container and handle assembly does not unthread, as discussed in more detail below. Notch 28 is positioned in a manner that does not interfere with the threaded engagement between shoulder 25 and ring 32.
Ring 32 comprises inner wall 34 having at least one internal thread 36 and at least one internal radially extending projection 38. The at least one internal thread 36 can be segmented or continuous and is complementary with external thread(s) 26 to allow shoulder 25 to engage ring 32. After the engagement, the tip or end of projection 38 is received by the recess of notch 28. Projection 38 can take any shape or form, e.g., a finger (as shown in
In one embodiment, the locking engagement between projection 38 and notch 28 can be further secured by the use of two or more corresponding projections 38 and notches 28. In one embodiment, the at least one projection 38 can comprise a plurality of projections 38 around the circumference of inner wall 34, e.g., each projection 38 can be equally spaced from another, in a manner that corresponds to the number and spacing of notches 28.
Referring again to
When forming assembly 10, ring 32 of handle attachment 30 is lowered around neck 20 of container 12, until positioned adjacent shoulder 25, and then turned (screwed) into a locked position. The diameter of internal thread(s) 36 (and thus, ring 32) is greater than that of the external closure threads 21 to enable ring 32 to access shoulder 25. Ring 32 is then turned to cooperatively fit internal thread(s) 36 with external thread(s) 26 until projection(s) 38 are retained and locked in the recess of notch(s) 28.
In one embodiment, locking mechanisms can be provided on handle attachment 30 and/or container 12 to prevent ring 32 from completely rotating down shoulder 25 and bottoming out onto container 12. In one embodiment, ring 32 contains at least one lip 37.
Alternatively, an appropriately designed lip or protrusion can be placed along inner wall 34 of ring 32 (and corresponding protuberance along wall of shoulder 25) so long as the lip or protrusion does not substantially interfere with the rotation of ring 32 to engage corresponding threads with shoulder 25 and insertion of projection 38 into notch 28.
In another embodiment,
Another embodiment provides a preform having a neck 20 as described above for container 12. The preform can be initially prepared by injection molding, in which the neck features are implemented, e.g., an annular shoulder including at least one external thread and at least one notch. The neck further comprises at least one external closure thread above the shoulder, for securing a closure. The preform can be subsequently inserted into a blow molding apparatus to form the blow molded container. Shoulder 25 (or flange 29, if present) can doubly function as a supporting flange to facilitate handling the preform during blow molding.
There has thus been described embodiments of a container and handle assembly that provides various benefits. Forming a handle attachment separately from the container enables the container to be of a simpler design and permits the use of a standard blow molder. Providing a handle attachable to the container neck, rather than to the container body, facilitates ease of pouring and handling of the container assembly, e.g., one-handed pouring. Also, the handle attachment may be clamped onto the container with conventional packaging assembly equipment. The material used for the container body can be different from the material used for the handle attachment. Desirably, a less expensive material can be chosen for each part to provide a more economical manufacture while still achieving the desired functions. The handle and container may also be formed by different methods as desired for a wide range of applications.
A number of modifications and variations will readily suggest themselves to persons of ordinary skill in the art in view of the foregoing description. Directional words such as top, bottom, upper, lower, radial, circumferential, lateral, longitudinal and the like are employed by way of description and not limitation. The invention is intended to embrace all modifications and variations that fall within the scope of the appended claims.
