Patent Application
20120085782
The present invention relates to a holder for a flexible pouch container.
A flexible pouch container which is made of a deformable flexible sheet and in which a liquid such as a beverage or a liquid detergent can be filled is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3,268,537. This flexible pouch container is a so-called stand-pack type, which stands by itself upon the bottom thereof being placed on a flat plate, or the like, and an opening through which the liquid inside the container is discharged is formed at the top of the container.
Manually pressing a lower part of the flexible pouch container causes the liquid pressure of the liquid to increase, thus causing the liquid to be discharged from the top opening.
When an excessive force is exerted on the flexible pouch container, more than a desired amount of liquid flows out of the opening; however, it is not easy to exert an appropriate pressing force on the flexible pouch container. In the case where a lower part of the flexible pouch container is pressed particularly with a large amount of liquid filled in the flexible pouch container, even when the pressing force exerted on the flexible pouch container becomes slightly greater than an appropriate pressing force, more than a desired amount of liquid flows out of the opening.
In addition, when the flexible pouch container filled with a beverage is stored in a side pocket of a refrigerator, it is sometimes the case that the beverage leaks from the opening when a hard object that is stored in the refrigerator next to the flexible pouch container presses the flexible pouch container.
The present invention provides a holder which is simple in structure, used for a flexible pouch container, which makes it possible to exert an appropriate pressing force on the flexible pouch container and also makes it possible to prevent the liquid inside the container from leaking from the opening of the container even when an unintentional external force is exerted on the holder.
A holder for a flexible pouch container according to the present invention is characterized in that the holder is made of resin and used for a flexible pouch container, which is made of a deformable flexible sheet and has an opening in an upper portion of the flexible pouch container, a liquid contained inside the flexible pouch container being discharged through the opening, the holder including a bottom support portion which supports a bottom of the flexible pouch container; and a peripheral support portion which is higher in rigidity than the flexible pouch container, has elasticity, is open at a top of the peripheral support portion and continuous with the bottom support portion, and surrounds a portion of the flexible pouch container which is positioned below the opening when the bottom of the flexible pouch container is placed on the bottom support portion.
The bottom support portion and the peripheral support portion can be made of, e.g., polypropylene.
A through-hole can be formed in an upper part of the peripheral support portion.
The flexible pouch container holder can be composed of a pair of parts which can be connected and disconnected to and from each other.
It is possible for an engaging projection to be formed on one of mutually opposed surfaces of the pair of parts and for an engaging recess in which the engaging projection is engaged to be formed on the other of the mutually opposed surfaces of the pair of parts.
In this case, it is possible for the engaging projection and the engaging recess are formed on portions of the bottom support portions which are opposed to each other, respectively, wherein an engaging hole which is communicatively connected to the engaging recess is formed on a lower surface of the bottom support portion, and an engaging claw, which engages in the engaging hole, is formed on a lower surface of the engaging projection.
It is possible for the pair of parts to each include the engaging projection and the engaging recess and to be mutually identical in shape.
According to the present invention, upon the peripheral support portion of the holder, which surrounds a portion of the flexible pouch container which is positioned below the opening thereof, being pressed, part of this pressing force is absorbed by the peripheral support portion while the remaining pressing force extends to a side of the flexible pouch container, and accordingly, the possibility of an excessive pressing force being exerted on the flexible pouch container is small. Therefore, even in the case where the flexible pouch container is filled with a large amount of liquid, a desired amount of liquid can be discharged from the opening.
In addition, if, for example, the flexible pouch container filled with a beverage is stored in a side pocket of a refrigerator and even if a hard object stored adjacent to the flexible pouch container in the refrigerator abuts against and presses the flexible pouch container, the possibility of the beverage leaking from the opening is small because the abutting force is absorbed by the peripheral support portion of the holder.
According to the structure claimed in claim 2, the holder can be manufactured at a low cost.
According to the structure claimed in claim 3, the liquid can be discharged from the opening of the flexible pouch container by directly pressing the flexible pouch container through the through-hole of the holder. Moreover, when an upper part of the flexible pouch container is pressed, it is generally the case that a desired amount of liquid is discharged from the opening even if the pressing force exerted on the flexible pouch container is somewhat strong, so that the possibility of more than a desired amount of liquid being discharged from the opening is small.
According to the structure claimed in claim 4, the holder can be easily attached to the flexible pouch container even in the case where the distance between the upper ends of the pair of parts, when the pair of parts are put together, is smaller than the maximum width of the flexible pouch container.
According to the structure claimed in claim 5, the pair of parts can be easily put together.
According to the structure claimed in claim 6, the engaging projection can be effectively prevented from coming out of the engaging recess.
According to the structure claimed in claim 7, the bonding strength between the pair of parts can be enhanced.
Moreover, the pair of parts can be of the same type since the pair of parts are mutually identical in shape. Accordingly, is possible to reduce the production cost of the holder.
An embodiment of the present invention will be hereinafter discussed with reference to
In addition, the flexible pouch container 20 is provided, on a side thereof in the vicinity of the upper end of the flexible pouch container 20, with a discharge projection 24 which projects laterally from the body of the flexible pouch container 20, and the internal space of the discharge projection 24 is communicatively connected with the internal space 21 of the body of the flexible pouch container 20. Although the end of the discharge projection 24 is closed, perforations 25 are formed in a middle part of the discharge projection 24 as shown in
As shown in the drawings, since the flexible pouch container 20 is viewed from a side thereof with the internal space 21 filled with the liquid A to the maximum, the shape of a portion of the flexible pouch container 20 which ranges from the bottom end to an intermediate portion (portion positioned slightly below the upper end) of the flexible pouch container 20 in the vertical direction is uniform (the width of the same portion in the forward/rearward direction is constant); however, the portion from the intermediate portion above is in the shape of a substantially isosceles triangle (the width of which decreases in the upward direction).
The holder 10 of the present embodiment is configured of a pair of parts 11 which are mutually identical in shape (have a symmetrical shape).
The pair of parts 11 are integrally molded parts made of polypropylene which are each provided with a bottom support portion 12 in the shape of a semicircular flat plate and a peripheral support portion 13 which extends upward while curving from an outer edge of the bottom support portion 12. The bottom support portion 12 and the peripheral support portion 13 are elastically deformable. In addition, the bottom support portion 12 is greater in thickness than the peripheral support portion 13, so that the bottom support portion 12 is greater in rigidity than the peripheral support portion 13 while the peripheral support portion 13 is greater in rigidity than the flexible pouch container 20 (including the circumferential mounting portion 23). A pair of semispherical projections 14 project from the bottom of the bottom support portion 12. The pair of parts 11 are provided, on lower halves of mutually opposed surfaces of the bottom support portions 12, with engaging projections 15, respectively, each of which is rectangular in plan view and trapezoidal in cross section. The thickness of the engaging projections 15 is approximately a half of the thickness of the bottom support portion 12, and the engaging projections 15 are parallel to the bottom support portion 12. In addition, the bottom support portion 12 is provided on a lower surface thereof with an engaging recess 16 which is recessed adjacent to the engaging projection 15 and has the same shape as the engaging projection 15. Additionally, a through-hole 17 having a circular shape in a front view is formed through an upper part of the peripheral support portion 13.
To attach the holder 10 (the pair of parts 11) to the flexible pouch container 20, the engaging projection 15 and the engaging recess 16 of one of the parts 11 are made to face the engaging recess 16 and the engaging projection 15 of the other part 11, respectively, as shown in
As shown in
The holder 10 in a completed state, to which the flexible pouch container 20 has been attached in the aforementioned manner, can be placed on a horizontal plate in an upright position by placing the four semispherical projections 14 on the horizontal plate.
In addition, the width in the forward/rearward direction of a lower half of the flexible pouch container 20 (a portion thereof which is greater in width than the upper part of the flexible pouch container 20 as viewed from a side thereof) in a state before being inserted in between the pair of peripheral support portions 13 is broader than the width in the forward/rearward direction of the upper end opening of the holder 10 which has been assembled, and accordingly, the upper ends of the pair of parts 11 slightly press (dent) the corresponding portions of the flexible pouch container 20 on both the front and rear sides thereof. This causes a contact pressure to be exerted on the upper ends of the parts 11 from the aforementioned corresponding portions of the flexible pouch container 20 via the liquid pressure of the liquid A inside the flexible pouch container 20, and accordingly, if one holds and lifts an upper part of the flexible pouch container 20, the holder 10 also moves upward with the flexible pouch container 20.
If each engaging projection 15 is disengaged from the associated engaging recess 16 by linearly moving the pair of parts 11 in directions away from each other, the parts 11 can be separated from each other to be removed from the flexible pouch container 20.
For instance, if the liquid A is a beverage that completely fills the internal space 21, and if one desires to pour a desired amount of the beverage A into a glass, not shown in the drawings, from the opening 26 of the flexible pouch container 20, he or she holds part of the pair of peripheral support portions 13 below the through-holes 17 by one hand as shown in
In addition, with a finger/thumb inserted into the through-hole 17 of a peripheral support portion 13, an upper part of the flexible pouch container 20 can be directly pressed by the finger/thumb. Pressing the flexible pouch container 20 in this manner causes part of the beverage A which faces the through-hole 17 in the flexible pouch container 20 to increase, so that the beverage A can be poured into a glass from the opening 26. Since the upper ends of the pair of parts 11 have dented both the front and rear sides of the flexible pouch container 20 as described above, the width of a portion of the flexible pouch container 20 in the forward/rearward direction which is positioned immediately below the dented portion that faces the through-holes 17 is smaller than the width of a lower part of the flexible pouch container 20 (which corresponds to the pressed portion in
In addition, when the flexible pouch container 20 with the holder 10 is stored in a side pocket of a refrigerator so that each semispherical projection 14 is placed on the bottom plate of the side pocket, even if another object, which is hard, (e.g., a PET bottle or a glass bottle) stored next to the flexible pouch container 20 with the holder 10 in the refrigerator abuts against the holder 10 (the peripheral support portions 13), this abutting force is absorbed by the peripheral support portions 13, so that the possibility of the beverage A in the flexible pouch container 20 leaking from the opening 26 is small.
As described above, if the present embodiment of the holder 10 is attached to the flexible pouch container 20, such effects are obtained.
In addition, since the present embodiment of the holder 10 is made of polypropylene, the holder 10 can be produced at a low cost.
Additionally, since the present embodiment of the holder 10 is configured of the pair of parts 11 that are mutually identical in shape (symmetrical shape), the pair of parts 11 can be of one type. Therefore, the production cost can be reduced as compared with the case where the holder 10 is composed of two types of parts having different shapes.
Although the present invention has been described based on the above illustrated embodiment, it is possible to make various modifications to the above illustrated embodiment.
For instance, the present invention can be embodied as a modified embodiment shown in
The basic structure of this holder 30 (including the material thereof) is to the same as that of the holder 10, configured of a pair of parts 31 which are mutually identical in shape (symmetrical shape). The pair of parts 31 are each provided with a bottom support portion 12 and a peripheral support portion 13.
The bottom support portion 12 is provided on a lower surface thereof with a pair of linear projections 32 that are members which come into contact with a horizontal plate when the holder 30 is placed thereon.
The pair of parts 31 are provided on mutually opposed surfaces of the bottom support portions 12 with engaging projections 33, respectively, which are thinner than the bottom support portions 12 and each of which is trapezoidal in plan view, and the pair of parts 31 are provided, on lower surfaces of the engaging projections 33 in the vicinity of the ends thereof, with engaging claws 34, each of which is rectangular in plan view. As shown in
Additionally, each bottom support portion 12 is provided, on a lower surface thereof on one lateral side of one linear projection 32, with a bottom lug 37, an end of which projects from the aforementioned opposed surface of the bottom support portion 12. The amount of projection of the bottom lugs 37 in the downward direction is smaller than that of the linear projections 32.
Similar to the parts 11 of the holder 10, the pair of parts 31 are coupled to each other (integrated) by making mutually opposed surfaces of the bottom support portions 12 come in contact with each other upon facing the engaging projections 33 and the engaging recesses 35 towards each other. Once the engaging projections 33 are fitted into the opposed engaging recesses 35, the engaging claws 34 are engaged in the engaging holes 36, respectively, and accordingly, the parts 31 do not separate from each other unless the engaging claws 34 are intentionally disengaged from the engaging holes 36. Additionally, once the parts 31 are connected to each other, the end of the bottom lug 37 of each part 31 comes in contact with a lower surface of the bottom support portion 12 of the other part 31 to thereby increase the frictional resistance between the pair of parts 31, which makes it more difficult for the parts 31 to separate from each other.
In addition, the material of the holders 10 and 30 is not limited to the above described material and can be molded of a resin material other than polypropylene as long as the peripheral support portions 13 are greater in rigidity than the flexible pouch container 20.
Additionally, the holders 10 and 30 can each be formed as an integral object consisting of a single member or be configured from three or more parts. Additionally, in either case where the holders 10 and 30 are formed as an integral object or configured from a plurality of parts, the peripheral support portions 13 can be shaped like a ring in plan view.
Additionally, in the case where a lower half of the flexible pouch container 20 is smaller in width in the forward/rearward direction than the upper end opening of the assembled holder 10 or 30, the flexible pouch container 20 can be inserted into the inside of the holder 10 or 30 after assembling of the holder 10 or 30.
The holder according to the present invention is usable as a holder for a flexible pouch container and capable of exerting an appropriate pressing force on the flexible pouch container, and can prevent the liquid inside the container from leaking from the opening of the container even if an unintentional external force is exerted on the holder.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-152078 | Jun 2009 | JP | national |
This is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/JP2009/071403, with an international filing date of Dec. 24, 2009, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2009/071403 | Dec 2009 | US |
| Child | 13328304 | US |
