Patent Grant
11827441
This disclosure relates to an insulated bag for conveying an article while keeping it cold or warm, and a foldable insulated bag mainly used for outdoor activities such as fishing and hiking.
Various foldable insulated containers are known. An example of such a known insulated container includes a structure provided with heat insulating materials on the inner side, and can be folded together with the heat insulating materials on side and bottom surfaces.
JP-U-Sho 59-141072 discloses an example of such an insulated container. JP-U-Sho 59-141072 discloses a foldable insulated container formed as a substantially rectangular parallelepiped container having outer walls formed by soft bag bodies. The container has a lid openable relative to the main body. Rigid plate-shaped heat insulating materials are inserted into the bag bodies forming the respective outer walls of the container. A part of the heat insulating materials can be taken out from the bag body.
Conventionally, an insulated box has heat insulating materials laid on an outer box having a box shape, for conveying food, medicine and the like while keeping them cool or warm. An example of such an insulated box employs a structure in which left, right, front, and rear insulating inner wall materials, an insulating inner bottom material, and an insulating lid material are provided on the inner side of the outer box.
JP-U-Hei 6-24478 discloses an example of such an insulated box. JP-U-Hei 6-24478 discloses a fishing cooler having a heat insulating material provided between an outer case and an inner case forming a cooler main body. The heat insulating material uses, as a material, a base material obtained by immersing a foaming agent in a copolymer including vinylidene chloride as a main component.
JP-A-2003-182777 discloses an insulated box comprising: an outer box having an opening in an upper surface, the outer box being formed in a shape of a box defined by side walls and a bottom wall; plate-shaped insulating inner wall materials arranged adjacent to the side walls; a plate-shaped insulating inner bottom material placed on the bottom wall; and a plate-shaped insulating lid material that closes the opening. The insulated box comprises an edge member including: a joining piece that faces and is joined to the side walls; an upper surface portion extending inward from upper ends of the joining pieces to form a flat surface in contact with the lid material; and a hook piece bent downward from the upper surface portion. The edge member is joined and fixed to the side walls to make the upper surface portion have a substantially uniform height along an inner circumference of the upper side of the side walls. The insulating inner wall material is joined and fixed to the side walls, with an upper end surface of the insulating inner wall material fit in a rectangular U-shaped space defined by the joining pieces and the hook piece, and the insulating lid material is placed on the upper surface portion to close to opening.
Unfortunately, the foldable insulated container according to the mode disclosed in JP-U-Sho 59-141072 may not be easily foldable because the heat insulating material in the bag body corresponding to each surface needs to be taken out when the insulated container is folded. Furthermore, the structure is plagued by a gap formed between the heat insulating materials for the respective surfaces, resulting in a largely compromised cooling effect.
With the structure of the insulated bag according to the mode disclosed in any of JP-U-Hei 6-24478 and JP-A-2003-182777, the cold air inside leaks through gaps between the insulating members for the respective surfaces, even when the insulating members are in close contact with each other, meaning that cooling effect is difficulty to reliably maintain. In view of this, the insulating members for the respective surfaces may be integrally formed to improve the cooling effect. However, the integrated forming requires cost and labor. Furthermore, when the integrally formed insulating member is removed, it has to be always removed entirely.
It could therefore be helpful to provide an insulated bag to be easily folded, while improving the cooling effect, and insulating members for respective surfaces to be formed more easily and at a lower cost, and to reliably reduce the leakage of cold air between the insulating members for the respective surfaces to improve the cooling effect.
I thus provide:
A foldable insulated bag may include: a bag main body including a bottom surface portion and a side surface portion; a lid body attached to the bag main body; and a bottom surface insulating member and a side surface insulating member provided to the bag main body, wherein the side surface insulating member has an end portion, closer to the bottom surface insulating member, provided with a fold back portion that is configured to be provided to cover at least a part of the bottom surface insulating member during use of the insulated bag.
The fold back portion may be configured to be provided to cover an end portion of the bottom surface insulating member.
The fold back portion may be configured to have a length of 5 mm to 170 mm.
The fold back portion may be formed over entire circumference of the side surface insulating member.
The fold back portion may be notched at boundary regions among a first side surface insulating member, a second side surface insulating member, and a third side surface insulating member adjacent to each other.
The fold back portion may cover 5% to 100% of a surface area of the bottom surface insulating member.
The fold back portion may cover the bottom surface insulating member.
An insulated bag may include: a bag main body including a bottom surface portion and a side surface portion; a lid body attached to the bag main body; a bottom surface insulating member and a side surface insulating member provided to the bag main body; and one or both of an extending portion extending in a vertical direction from the side surface insulating member and a step portion formed in the bottom surface insulating member for increasing a contact area between the side surface insulating member and the bottom surface insulating member during use of the insulated bag.
The extending portion may cover an end portion of the bottom surface insulating member.
The extending portion may have a length of 5 mm to 170 mm.
The extending portion may be configured to be formed over entire circumference of the side surface insulating member.
The extending portion may be notched at boundary regions among a first side surface insulating member, a second side surface insulating member, and a third side surface insulating member adjacent to each other.
The extending portion may cover 5% to 100% of a surface area of the bottom surface insulating member.
The extending portion may cover the bottom surface insulating member.
When the extending portion and the step portion are provided, the step portion may have a side surface in contact with a side portion of the extending portion.
When the extending portion and the step portion are provided, the step portion may be in contact with an upper portion of the extending portion and a side portion of the side surface insulating member.
The step portion may have a side surface in contact with a side portion of the side surface portion insulating member.
With my foldable insulated bag described above, the insulated bag can be easily folded and the leakage of cold air between insulating members for respective surfaces is reliably reduced, whereby the cooling effect can be improved. The insulating members for the respective surfaces can be formed more easily and at a lower cost, and the leakage of the cold air between the insulating members for the respective surfaces is reliably reduced, whereby the cooling effect can be improved.
Examples of my insulated bags will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Elements common to a plurality of figures are denoted by the same reference numerals through the plurality of figures. For the sake of description, the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.
One example of my foldable insulated bag will be described with reference to
A fastener portion surrounding the outer circumference of the bottom surface of the bag main body 23 extends along the outer circumference. The bottom surface of the bag main body 23 is coupled via a hinge member (not illustrated) made of a synthetic resin sheet (such as a nylon or polyester woven cloth, for example). The bottom surface can be opened closed by being pivoted with respect to the bag main body 23 about the hinge member. The bottom surface is configured to be arrangeable to be adjacent to a side portion of the outer surface of the bag main body 23 when the insulated bag 1 is folded. Similarly, a lid body 27 described later is also configured to be arrangeable to be adjacent to a side portion of the outer surface of the bag main body 23, when the insulated bag 1 is folded. The bag main body 23 is formed by a soft material to be foldable together with the insulating members.
The lid body 27 formed of the same material as the bag main body 23 is coupled to one side (a rear surface side surface 35 described later) via a hinge member (not illustrated) made of a synthetic resin sheet. The lid body 27 has a circumference edge portion provided with a fastener portion 29 that surrounds an upper portion outer circumference of the bag main body 23 when the storage port is covered by the lid body 27 (when the storage port is closed by the lid body 27). The fastener portion 29 extends along the outer circumference. The inner surface of the lid body 27 is provided with the insulating member accommodating the heat insulating material as an upper surface insulating member. The attachment of the heat insulating material to the lid body 27 may be implemented in various possible ways, and thus is not limited to a particular mode.
The insulated bag 1 may include a handle 33 including a pair of both end portions attached to the bag main body 23. The handle 33 is attached to upper portion outer circumferences of a front surface side surface 31 and the rear surface side surface 35 of the bag main body 23 as illustrated in
The insulated bag 1 may further include a shoulder belt 53 both end portions of which are attached to the bag main body 23. In this configuration, the shoulder belt 53 may be formed as a single thin belt-shaped shoulder belt 53 that is made of woven cloth or synthetic resin (molded product), fabric, leather, or the like and is spun between left and right side surfaces 49 and 51 of the bag main body 23 as illustrated in
The shoulder belt 53 of the insulated bag 1 has a length long enough for the center portion, in the longitudinal direction, to touch the ground when the shoulder belt 53 hangs down from the insulated bag 1 placed on the ground. A plate-shaped shoulder pad 55 having a dimension (length L) that is substantially ⅓ of the entire length of the shoulder belt 53 is attached to the center portion of the shoulder belt 53. Further details will be omitted.
Next, the foldable insulated bag 1 will be described more in detail with reference to
The fold back portion is thus provided so that the insulated bag can be easily folded, and the leakage of the cold air between the insulating members for the respective surfaces can be reliably reduced so that the cooling effect can be reliably improved.
It has been known that the cooling effect of the insulated bag depends on two factors: a thermal effect from the ground on which the insulated bag is placed; and leakage of the cold air from the internal of the insulated bag (leakage of the cold air from a portion around the bottom portion in particular). To reduce the impact of the former factor, the bottom portion insulating member may be made thick, but this approach is limited by restrictions in terms of weight and dimensions. On the other hand, regarding the latter, I found that effective prevention of the leakage of the cold air between the bottom surface insulating member and the side surface insulating member individually formed is important, and I found a specific measure to achieve this. The side surface insulating member 28 may be formed by forming a single plate-shaped insulating member, bending the insulating member, and appropriately coupling/bonding both end portions of the insulating member.
As illustrated in
The length of the fold back portion 41 may be 5 mm to 170 mm. I found that the leakage of the cold air in the insulated bag and a thermal effect from the ground can be suppressed with such a configuration. A test has revealed that the percentage of ice remaining after a predetermined period of time has increased by 7% or more.
With the fold back portion 41 having a length within such a range, when the insulated bag 1 is folded, the size after the folding based on the size of the box can be downsized. Thus, the insulated bag can be easily folded, and can have a reduced thickness in a folded state.
The fold back portion 41 may be configured to be formed over the entire circumference of the side surface insulating member 28. Thus, the cold air can be prevented from leaking between the bottom surface insulating member and the side surface insulating member, whereby the cooling effect can be further improved.
Next, the foldable insulated bag 1 will be described with reference to
The fold back portion 41 may cover the bottom surface insulating member 26. Thus, the leakage of the cold air in the insulated bag and a thermal effect from the ground can be more effectively suppressed.
The fold back portion 41 may cover 5% to 100% of the surface area of the bottom surface insulating member 26. Thus, the leakage of the cold air in the insulated bag and a thermal effect from the ground can be suppressed.
As described above, when the insulated bag 1 is folded, the fold back portion 41 can be substantially parallel to the side surface insulating member 28 so that the insulated bag folded would not have the thickness unnecessarily increased.
Thus, the fold back portion is provided so that the insulated bag can be easily folded, and the leakage of the cold air between the insulating members for the respective surfaces can be reliably reduced so that the cooling effect can be reliably improved.
An example of my insulated bag is described with reference to
The lid body 27 formed of the same material as the bag main body 23 is coupled to one side (a rear surface side surface 35 described later) via a hinge member (not illustrated) made of a synthetic resin sheet (for example, nylon, polyester woven cloth or the like). The lid body 27 has a circumference edge portion provided with a fastener portion 29 that surrounds an upper portion outer circumference of the bag main body 23 when the storage port is covered by the lid body 27 (when the storage port is closed by the lid body 27). The fastener portion 29 extends along the outer circumference. The inner surface of the lid body 27 is provided with the insulating member accommodating the heat insulating material as an upper surface insulating member. The attachment of the heat insulating member to the lid body 27 may be implemented in various possible ways, and thus is not limited to a particular mode.
The insulated bag 10 may include a handle 33 including a pair of both end portions attached to the bag main body 23. The handle 33 is attached to upper portion outer circumferences of a front surface side surface 31 and the rear surface side surface 35 of the bag main body 23 as illustrated in
The insulated bag 10 may further include a shoulder belt 53 both end portions of which are attached to the bag main body 23. In this configuration, the shoulder belt 53 may be formed as a single thin belt-shaped shoulder belt 53 that is made of woven cloth or synthetic resin (molded product), fabric, leather, or the like and is spun between left and right side surfaces 49 and 51 of the bag main body 23 as illustrated in
The shoulder belt 53 of the insulated bag 10 has a length long enough for the center portion in the longitudinal direction to touch the ground, when the shoulder belt 53 hangs down from the insulated bag 10 placed on the ground. A plate-shaped shoulder pad 55 having a dimension (length L) that is substantially ⅓ of the entire length of the shoulder belt 53 is attached to the center portion of the shoulder belt 53. Further details will be omitted.
Next, an insulated bag 10 according to an example will be described more in detail with reference to
The bottom surface insulating member and the side surface insulating member do not need to be integrally formed, whereby insulating members for respective surfaces can be formed more easily and at a lower cost, and leakage of cold air between the insulating members for the respective surfaces can be reliably reduced so that the cooling effect can be improved.
It has been known that the cooling effect of the insulated bag depends on two factors: a thermal effect from the ground on which the insulated bag is placed; and leakage of the cold air from the internal of the insulated bag (leakage of the cold air from a portion around the bottom portion in particular). To reduce the impact of the former factor, the bottom portion insulating member may be made thick, but this approach is limited by restrictions in terms of weight and dimensions. On the other hand, regarding the latter, I found that effective prevention of the leakage of the cold air between the bottom surface insulating member and the side surface insulating member individually formed is important, and I found a specific measure to achieve this. The side surface insulating member 28 may be formed by forming a single plate-shaped insulating member, bending the insulating member, and appropriately coupling/bonding both end portions of the insulating member.
As illustrated in
The length of the extending portion 30 may be 5 mm to 170 mm. I found that the leakage of the cold air in the insulated bag and a thermal effect from the ground can be suppressed with this configuration.
In the insulated bag 10, the extending portion 30 may be configured to be formed over the entire circumference of the side surface insulating member 28. Thus, the cold air can be prevented from leaking between the bottom surface insulating member and the side surface insulating member, whereby the cooling effect can be improved.
Next, the insulated bag 10 according to an example will be described with reference to
The extending portion 30 may be provided to cover the bottom surface insulating member 26. Thus, the leakage of the cold air in the insulated bag and a thermal effect from the ground can be more effectively suppressed.
The extending portion 30 may cover 5% to 100% of the surface area of the bottom surface insulating member 26. Thus, the leakage of the cold air in the insulated bag and a thermal effect from the ground can be suppressed.
Next, the insulating member of the insulated bag 10 according to an example will be described with reference to
Next, the insulating member of the insulated bag 10 according to an example will be described with reference to
Next, the insulating member of the insulated bag 10 according to an example will be described by referring back to
The dimensions, material, and arrangement of each component described herein are not limited to those explicitly described in the examples, and each of these components can be modified to have any desirable dimensions, material, and arrangement that can fall within the scope of this disclosure. Components that are not explicitly described herein may be added to the described examples, and some of the components described in each example may be omitted.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-101890 | Jun 2020 | JP | national |
| 2020-101891 | Jun 2020 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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| 8919082 | Cataldo | Dec 2014 | B1 |
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| 20160145029 | Ranade et al. | May 2016 | A1 |
| 20180194532 | Ranade et al. | Jul 2018 | A1 |
| 20180290815 | Waltermire et al. | Oct 2018 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2018260901 | May 2020 | AU |
| 2603787 | Feb 2004 | CN |
| 108602606 | Sep 2018 | CN |
| 111153052 | May 2020 | CN |
| S53140962 | Nov 1978 | JP |
| S59-141072 | Sep 1984 | JP |
| 01047619 | Mar 1989 | JP |
| H6-024478 | Apr 1994 | JP |
| H09165073 | Jun 1997 | JP |
| 2000130924 | May 2000 | JP |
| 2003-182777 | Jul 2003 | JP |
| 2004175368 | Jun 2004 | JP |
| 2006123914 | May 2006 | JP |
| 3122643 | Jun 2006 | JP |
| 2009113822 | May 2009 | JP |
| 2010208644 | Sep 2010 | JP |
| 20100058235 | Jun 2010 | KR |
| WO-2017007197 | Jan 2017 | WO |
| Entry |
|---|
| Machine translation of JP-2000130924-A. |
| GOOGLE translation of JP01047619. |
| Extended European Search Report for related European Application No. 21161078.7; action dated Jan. 11, 2022; (9 pages). |
| Taiwanese Office Action in connection with Taiwanese Patent Application No. 110109152; action dated Aug. 17, 2021; (13 pages). |
| Extended European Search Report for related European Application No. 21212408.5; action dated Feb. 9, 2022; (8 pages). |
| Chinese Office Action for related Chinese Application No. 202110244202.0; action dated Oct. 14, 2022; (24 pages). |
| Office Action for related Korean Application No. 10-2021-0027853; action dated Oct. 12, 2022; (15 pages). |
| Second Office Action in connection with Chinese Patent Application No. 202110244202.0; action dated Feb. 11, 2023; (22 pages). |
| Final Rejection in connection with related Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0027853; action dated Feb. 3, 2023;(8 pages). |
| Office Action in connection with Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-101890; action dated Jul. 11, 2023; (10 pages). |
| Office Action in connection with Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-101891; action dated Jul. 11, 2023; (10 pages). |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20210387790 A1 | Dec 2021 | US |
