The disclosure concerns a receptacle comprising a container and a cap, the cap being repeatedly attachable to the container for closure of the receptacle.
Receptacles of this kind are used for many applications including the packaging of beauty products such as mascara. For attaching the cap to the container, multiple systems are known, e.g., profiled threads, a bayonet lock, a swiveling cap in combination with snap on, a wire hanger as clip lock, an eccentric handle to compress a sealing, or a bistable snap cover.
It has been determined that the systems mentioned above are complex in shape, are difficult to produce, or need more parts. Therefore, it has been determined that there is a need for a receptacle which enables attaching the cap to the container in a simple, fast and reliable manner.
This need is satisfied by a receptacle comprising a container and a cap, the cap being repeatedly attachable to the container for closure of the receptacle, the cap having a passage having an opening formed therein, the container having a neck for insertion into the passage via the opening of the cap along a longitudinal axis of the receptacle, wherein the opening of the cap has a non-circular shaped inner contour formed complementary to a non-circular shaped outer contour of the neck,
The disclosure is based on the concept that the cap and the container are attached to each other by first generating a form-fitting engagement—e.g. similar to a thread—in the axial direction and then generating a press-fitting engagement which—different to a thread—is generated in a radial direction between the inner circumferential surface of the passage and the outer circumferential surface of the neck by rotating a non-circular section of the passage in the cap relative to a non-circular section of the neck of the container.
Embodiments of the receptacle are defined by the dependent claims and described in the following disclosure.
The non-circular shaped inner contour of the cap can extend along a subsection of the passage or along substantially the whole passage. Accordingly, the non-circular shaped outer contour of the neck can extend along a subsection of the neck or along substantially the whole neck.
According to an embodiment, the outer circumferential surface of the neck is formed as an outer circumferential surface of a twisted non-circular element: and the inner circumferential surface of the passage is correspondingly formed as an inner circumferential surface of a twisted non-circular pipe, in particular a twisted non-cylindrically shaped pipe that is twisted so that sections of this pipe in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis are non-circular, so that the cap can be attached onto the neck of the container. In other words, the neck has non-circular shaped cross-sections with constant sizes along the longitudinal axis, but the orientation of the non-circular cross-sections changes constantly so that points of the surface that are equally distanced from the longitudinal axis of the neck are arranged along a helix.
According to a second aspect, a receptacle comprising a container and a cap is pro-vided, wherein the cap being repeatedly attachable to the container for closure of the receptacle, the cap having a passage having an opening formed therein, the container having a neck for insertion into the passage via the opening of the cap along a longitudinal axis of the receptacle, wherein the opening of the cap has a non-circular shaped inner contour formed complementary to a non-circular shaped outer contour of the neck,
According to an embodiment, the non-circular contour of the neck and/or the passage has a symmetrical circumferential shape. The circumferential shape can be mirror-symmetrical, e.g., can have an oval shape. This allows the cap to attach onto the neck starting in two different angular positions. Alternatively, the circumferential shape can be rotationally symmetrical, e.g., can be shaped like a hyperbolic polygon, e.g., trigon. This simplifies attaching the cap to the neck because it allows the cap to be placed onto the neck in, e.g., three, different angular positions.
According to a further embodiment, the inner circumferential surface of the passage and the outer circumferential surface of the neck are formed and/or configured so that by rotating the cap relative to the container around the longitudinal axis, the cap is forced towards the container along the longitudinal axis. This allows the cap to be attached onto the neck of the container easily.
In order to generate a press-fitting engagement between the neck of the container and the cap in a radial direction, the inner circumferential surface of the passage can have multiple concave surfaces and the outer circumferential surface of the neck can have corresponding convex circumferential surfaces that allow jamming the cap onto the neck by rotating the cap relative to the neck of the container. In particular, this should be only possible in regular operation when the cap is fully attached onto the neck of the container.
Generally, in order to be able to fairly quickly attach the cap onto the container and detach the cap from the container, the outer circumferential surface of the neck can be formed as an outer circumferential surface of a non-circular element twisted by 360° or less and the inner circumferential surface of the passage can be correspondingly formed as an inner circumferential surface of a non-circular pipe twisted by 360° or less.
In order to create a quick lock function, i.e. in order to be able to quickly attach the cap onto the container and detach the cap from the container, the outer circumferential surface of the neck can be formed as an outer circumferential surface of a non-circular element twisted about 180° and the inner circumferential surface of the passage can be correspondingly formed as an inner circumferential surface of a non-circular pipe twisted about 180°, This allows to fully attach the cap onto the neck of the container by rotating the cap relatively to the neck by about half of a turn. The press-fitting engagement can be generable ley proceeding to rotate the cap relative to the neck by 5° to 20° after being fully attached onto the neck.
In order to have a smooth outer surface on the neck that can be cleaned easily, the contour of the neck along the longitudinal axis and/or the circumferential direction can be continuous.
Furthermore, an even smoother surface can be achieved if a pitch of the contour of the neck along the longitudinal axis and/or the circumferential direction is continuous. In particular, the contour of the neck along the longitudinal axis and/or the circumferential direction can be continuous in curvature and gradient. This creates a smooth and easy to clean surface.
In other words, the neck can have a continuous outer peripheral extent in a majority of sectional planes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, in particular in all of its sectional planes. Furthermore, the outer circumference of the neck in these sectional planes can be formed by non-concentric sections.
Similarly, in order to be able to clean the inner circumferential surface of the passage of the cap more easily, the contour of the passage along the longitudinal axis and/or the circumferential direction can be continuous. Furthermore, for the reasons mentioned above, a pitch of the contour of the passage along the longitudinal axis and/or the circumferential direction can be continuous. In particular, the contour of the passage along the longitudinal axis and/or the circumferential direction can be continuous in curvature and gradient.
Furthermore, the inner contour of the passage can be continuous in a majority of sectional planes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, in particular in all of its sectional planes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The inner contour of the passage in these sectional planes can be formed by non-concentric sections.
According to an embodiment, the non-circular shaped inner contour of the opening of the cap and/or the non-circular shaped outer contour of the neck is selected from the group of shape members consisting of an oval shape, an elliptical shape, a hyperbolic shape, and a hyperbolic trigon, i.e., a triangle with rounded edges. In general, the non-circular contour preferably is symmetrical and/or does not form any sharp edges.
According to a further embodiment, a ratio of the width to height of the non-circular shaped inner contour of the opening in a plane transverse to the longitudinal axis of the receptacle is selected in the range of: 80-95% dependent on the diameter of the receptacle. In other words, a smallest diameter of the contour is between 0.8 to 0.95 times as long as a longest diameter of the contour.
According to an embodiment, the inner contour of the cap and the outer contour of the neck form a clearance fit when the cap attached onto the neck. In particular the inner contour of the cap is 0.5% to 2.0% larger than the outer contour of the neck. In other words, each inner diameter of the passage is 0.5%, to 2.0% larger than the respective outer diameter of the neck.
According to an embodiment, one or more seals are arranged between the neck and the cap for sealing between the neck and the cap when the cap is installed at the container. The seal is preferably arranged between an inner surface of the neck and the cap, in particular an inner support structure of the cap.
In order to be able to apply content of the container, e.g., a beauty product, more pre-cisely, an applicator can be arranged at the cap. In this case, the seal can be arranged between an inner surface of the neck and a support structure for the applicator.
According to an embodiment, the receptacle further comprises a securing device, the securing device configured to provide at least one of an audible click and a tangible resistance when the cap is completely installed at the neck. This securing device can comprise an undulating surface, in particular a plurality of peaks separated by a plurality of valleys. Alternatively, or additionally, the securing device can comprise one or more domes. The securing device can be formed on the inner circumferential surface of the passage and the outer circumferential surface of the neck. The securing device can break through the general conti-nuity of the inner and outer circumferential surfaces as long as they do not disturb the attach-ability of the cap onto the neck.
The container can have a material stored therein, with said material being a liquid, a paste, or a pourable solid material. In particular, said material can be selected from the group of members including: a beauty product, a cosmetic product, a cleaning product, a skin care product, a medical product, a dental product, a pharmaceutical product, an adhesive, a paint, and a building material. In other words, the container is configured to hold at least one of said materials.
Exemplary embodiments and functions of the present disclosure are described herein in conjunction with the following drawings, showing schematically:
As can be seen e.g., by comparing the sectional views of
Accordingly, the neck 18 has an outer circumferential shape along the longitudinal axis, an outer contour 22, that is non-circular shaped. The outer contour 22 is shaped complementary to the inner contour 20, to enable the cap 14 to be attached to the neck 18 by rotating the cap 14 relative to the container 12.
The non-circular shaped outer contour 22 varies along the longitudinal axis so that points on the contour being equidistant to the longitudinal axis A form a helix 23 (see
As can be seen from
The outer contour 22 of the neck 18 comprises a surface which includes both the convex outer surface 22a and the concave outer surface 22b, with a relative position of the different shapes of the outer contour 22 varying both radially and axially relative to the longitudinal axis A to form an engagement surface 22c that interacts with the inner contour 20 of the cap 14 for attachment of the cap 14. The inner contour 20 has a correspondingly shaped counter engagement surface 20c.
The outer contour 22 of the neck 18 and the corresponding inner contour 20 of the cap 14 allow the cap 14 to be attached to the neck 18 creating a form-fitting engagement in the axial direction without having a classical thread present.
Next, referring to
In order to create a continuous outer surface of the neck 18, as can be seen in
Alternatively, the continuous outer surface of the neck 18 can be described functional-ly as an ellipsoid 22 controlled by a helix 23 extending in the longitudinal direction A.
It is noted that the general shape of the rings 24 and therefore the contour 22 does not have to be oval, but could have other shapes as well. This results in a continuous outer surface with points being equidistant to the longitudinal axis A forming the helix 23.
The inner contour 20 of the cap 14 is formed 1w correspondingly shaped rings having an inner surface shaped complementary to the outer shape of the neck 18, depicted by the oval rings 24.
The securing device 26 is configured to provide multiple defined locking positions for the cap 14 relative to the neck 18 with each locking position providing an audible click and a tangible resistance when the cap is rotated into said locking position after the cap 14 is fully attached onto the neck 18.
It should be noted that also only one valley or groove 26a can be disposed at the inner contour 20 of the cap 14, with also only one correspondingly shaped elevation or peak 26b formed on the outer circumferential surface of the neck 18.
In this connection it should be noted that the securing device 26 can comprise one or more valleys or grooves 26a arranged at least substantially in parallel to one another or in parallel to one another at the inner circumferential surface of the cap 14.
It should further be noted that the securing device 26 can comprise one or more elevations or peaks 26b arranged at least substantially in parallel to one another or in parallel to one another the outer circumferential surface of the neck 18.
It should yet further be noted that the securing device 26 can be arranged at least substantially in parallel to at least one of the respective helices 21, 23.
In
Similarly,
In
Generally speaking, the ratio between the smallest diameter of the oval shape and the largest diameter of the oval shape is selected in the range of 0.9 to 0.96, in particular 0.91 to 0.95, especially of 0.92 to 0.94. In particular, the ratio between the smallest diameter of the oval shape and the largest diameter of the oval shape can be 0.926.
The neck 18 also has an inner circumferential surface 28 which defines an inner cross-sectional shape which is a circular shape. The inner circumferential surface 28 defines a passage 30 that leads to a volume 32 (
In
As can be seen in
On attaching the cap 14 to the neck 18, the convex shaped part of the of the engagement surface 22c engages the concave shaped part of the counter engagement surface 20c, similarly the concave shaped part of the engagement surface 22c engages the convex shaped part of the counter engagement surface 20c, and by rotating the cap 14 relative to the neck 18 to the cap is attached to the neck 18 of the container 12. On rotating the cap 14 relative to the container 12, the cap not only engages the neck 18 in a form fitting engagement, but also in a press-fitting engagement in a radial direction between the inner circumferential surface of the passage 16 and the outer circumferential surface of the neck 18 to secure the cap 14 at the container 12. Use of a common thread would produce a form-fitting engagement in the radial direction but no such press-fit.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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21162751.8 | Mar 2021 | EP | regional |
This application is a U.S. National Stage application of International Application No. PCT/EP20221053344, filed Feb. 11, 2022, which claims priority to European Application No. 21162751.8, filed Mar. 16, 2021, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2022/053344 | 2/11/2022 | WO |