The present invention relates to a container formed of resin in which a concave portion is provided adjacent a vertical center portion of a body portion, the concave portion includes a bottom face, an upper inclined face continuous from an upper side of the bottom face and a lower inclined face continuous from a lower side of the bottom face, and the upper inclined face and the lower inclined face are inclined such that these upper and lower inclined faces are located closer to each other toward the bottom face side.
As a container formed of resin, there is known one having a configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1 for instance. In this, in a PET bottle having a relatively large inner contents capacity of 2 liters approximately, for facilitating a consumer's gripping of the bottle at the time of drinking, adjacent vertical center portions of a body portion, there are provided concave portions on which the consumer can places the thumb and the middle finger (or the index finger), respectively for gripping.
On the other hand, in recent years, with increasing awareness of environmental problems, weight reduction has been aggressively promoted for containers formed of resin also.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-88973
However, with decrease in the wall thickness of the container resulting from weight reduction, the strength of the container per se is reduced. Namely, when the concave portions are exposed to application of a force from the inside of the container to the outside due to the contents contained in the container, the concave portions would bulge toward the outside, which makes holding of the container difficult.
Further, when a shock or a load is applied to the lateral face of the container during commercial distribution for example, deformation would tend to occur in the periphery of the concave portions also.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a resin container which is highly resistant against deformation in e.g. concave portions provided in the container and which yet allows realization of weight reduction.
According to a first characterizing feature of a resin container relating to the invention, in a resin container in which a concave portion is provided adjacent a vertical center portion of a body portion, the concave portion includes a bottom face, an upper inclined face continuous from an upper side of the bottom face and a lower inclined face continuous from a lower side of the bottom face, and the upper inclined face and the lower inclined face are inclined such that these upper and lower inclined faces are located closer to each other toward the bottom face side, inclination of the lower inclined face is set smaller than inclination of the upper inclined face, and there is provided a vertical groove extending from the bottom face to the lower inclined face.
[Function and Effect]
In the above-described configuration, in the concave portion provided adjacent a vertical center portion of the body portion, there is provided a vertical groove extending from the bottom face to the lower inclined face. With this, it becomes possible to improve the strength of the concave portion for preventing deformation of this concave portion, without increasing the wall thickness of the container.
According to a second characterizing feature, in the bottom face of the concave portion, there is provided a lateral groove extending in a lateral direction.
[Function and Effect]
In the above-described configuration, in the bottom face of the concave portion, there is provided a lateral groove extending in a lateral direction. With this, the strength of the concave portion can be further improved.
According to a third characterizing feature of the present invention, on the right side and the left side of the concave portion, respectively, there are provided vertical ridge portions extending in the vertical direction.
[Function and Effect]
In the above-described configuration, on the right side and the left side of the concave portion, respectively, there are provided vertical ridge portions extending in the vertical direction. With this, the strength of the concave portion can be further improved.
According to a fourth characterizing feature, to the lower inclined face of the concave portion, and in at least in a face of the body portion where the concave portion is formed, a lower wavelike inclined face having a wavelike shape extends continuously.
[Function and Effect]
With the above-described configuration, when a shock or a load is applied to the body portion of the container, thanks to the lower wavelike inclined face having a wavelike shape, stress concentration can be restricted and deformation of the periphery of the concave portion as well as the concave portion per se can be restricted.
According to a fifth characterizing feature, to the upper inclined face of the concave portion, an upper wavelike inclined face having a wavelike shape extends continuously along entire circumference of the body portion.
[Function and Effect]
With the above-described configuration, when a shock or a load is applied to the body portion of the container, thanks to the upper wavelike inclined face having a wavelike shape, stress concentration can be restricted and deformation of the periphery of the concave portion as well as the concave portion per se can be restricted.
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Next, there will be explained, with reference to the accompanying drawings, a plastic bottle filled with an amount of liquid such as beverage, as one preferred embodiment of a resin container relating to the present invention.
Firstly, various languages used in this detailed disclosure are defined as follows, respectively.
A language “vertical direction” as used herein means a direction of a center axis X-X of the plastic bottle 1 shown in
A language “lateral direction” or “horizontal direction” means a direction perpendicular to the center axis X-X.
A language “circumferential direction” refers to a direction along the contour of the cross-sectional shape.
A language “radial direction” refers to a radial direction of a circle which centers around a desired point on the center axis X-X.
A language “height” or “width” refers to a length along the center axis X-X.
A language “depth” refers to a length along the radial direction.
A language “cross-sectional shape” refers to a cross-sectional shape of the bottle 1 in a plane (cross-sectional plane) perpendicular to the center axis X-X.
As shown in
The bottle 1 can be manufactured with using a thermoplastic resin such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, etc. as a principal material thereof, by e.g. a known molding technique such as biaxial orientation blow molding technique.
Incidentally, the bottle 1 can be filled with beverage such as drinking water, tea, juice, coffee, chocolate drink, soft drink, alcoholic drink, milk-based drink, soup as well as liquid seasoning such as sauce, soy sauce, etc. Further, the inner capacity of the bottle 1 is not particularly limited, but can be variably set, depending on e.g. the kind of liquid to be filled therein, ranging from a relatively small capacity in the unit of a few or several milliliters, a few or several hundreds of milliliters, to a relatively large capacity of a few or several liters, such as a few liters. However, a beverage bottle having a capacity of 1 liter to 2 liters is preferred, for instance.
(Mouth Portion)
As shown in
(Shoulder Portion)
The shoulder portion 3 is a generally rounded, approximately quadrangular pyramid-like portion whose diameter is progressively increased from the lower end of the mouth portion 2 to the upper end of the body portion 4.
(Body Portion)
The body portion 4 includes, in the order from the upper side, a straight body portion 5, a constricted portion 11, and a cushion portion 27.
As shown in
[Straight Body Portion]
As shown in
As shown in
The protruding portions 7 includes a first protruding portion 7a which protrudes to the inner side in the form of a ridge, and a second protruding portion 7b whose protrusion amount is smaller than that of the first protruding portion 7a. The first protruding portions 7a are provided at respective lateral center portions of the front face, the back face, the right face and the left face of the straight body portion 5. The second protruding portions 7b are formed in continuation on the left and right opposed sides of the first protruding portions 7a. Adjacent second protruding portions 7b extend continuous with each other via the non-protruding portion 8 therebetween. The non-protruding portions 8 are provided at the four corners in the cross-sectional shape of the straight body portion 5.
The first protruding portions 7a, the second protruding portions 7b, and the non-protruding portions 8 are disposed in line symmetry, relative to a symmetry axis formed by a center line Y-Y extending through the lateral centers of the front face and the back face of the straight body portion 5, or relative to a symmetry axis formed by a center line Z-Z extending through the lateral centers of the right face and the left face of the straight body portion 5.
Further, in the convex portions 9 of the straight body portion 5, at the respective lateral center portions of the front face, the back face, the right face and the left face of the straight body portion 5, there are formed dent portions 10 which are recessed with gentle slope toward the inner side of the straight body portions 5. These dent portions 10 are provided at same positions as the first protruding portions 7a of the first groove 6 described above, in the vertical direction.
[Constricted Portion]
As shown in
The constricted portion 11 is provided adjacent the vertical center portion of the body portion 4. As shown in
As shown in
The upper inclined face 14 and the lower inclined face 15 are inclined such that they are positioned closer to each other toward the bottom face 13 side. The right inclined face 16 and the left inclined face 17 are inclined such that they are positioned closer to each other toward the bottom face 13 side.
The inclination of the right inclined face 16 is substantially same as the inclination of the left inclined face 17. Whereas, the inclination of the lower inclined face 15 is set smaller/gentler than the inclination of the upper inclined face 14.
The concave portion 12 further includes a vertical groove 18 extending from the bottom face 13 to the lower inclined face 15. Further, in the bottom face 13 of the concave portion 12, there is provided a lateral groove 19 extending in the lateral direction.
On the right side and left side of the concave portion 12 respectively, there are provided a right vertical ridge portion 20 and a left vertical ridge portion 21 which extend in the vertical direction. The right vertical ridge portion 20 extends continuously with the right inclined face 16 of the concave portion 12, and the left vertical ridge portion 21 extends continuously with the left inclined face 17 of the concave portion 12. The right vertical ridge portion 20 and the left vertical ridge portion 21 are disposed in parallel with each other.
Two circumferential grooves 22 juxtaposed in the vertical direction extend respectively from the right vertical ridge portion 20 and the left vertical ridge portion 21 of the front face to the left vertical ridge portion 21 and the right vertical ridge portion 20 of the back face, respectively. Incidentally, the depths of these circumferential grooves 22 are same and constant along the entireties thereof. As shown in
To the upper inclined face 14 of the concave portion 12, an upper wavelike inclined face 25 with a gentle inclination extends, and to the lower inclined face 15 of the concave portion 12, a lower wavelike inclined face 26 with a gentle inclination extends. The upper wavelike inclined face 25 and the lower wavelike inclined face 26 are inclined such that they are positioned closer to each other toward the bottom face 13 side of the concave portion 12. The upper wavelike inclined face 25 presents a wavelike curved face along the entire circumference of the constricted portion 11. Whereas, the lower wavelike inclined face 26 presents wavelike curved faces (see
Incidentally, as sole requirement for the upper wavelike inclined face 25 and the lower wavelike inclined face 26, these should be wavelike inclined faces at least in the front face and the back face of the bottle 1 where the concave portions 12 are formed. These can be e.g. straight inclined faces on the lateral faces, or can present wavelike curves along the entire circumference thereof. The wavelike curve arrangement is advantageous for dispersing stress more effectively, so that deformation of the container when a load is applied thereto can be restricted.
[Cushion Portion]
As shown in
As shown in
In the instant embodiment, the arcuate portion 32 is formed at each one of the four corner portions in the cross-sectional shape of the V-shaped concave portion 28. However, it will suffice if the arcuate portion 32 is formed at least in one of the four corner portions.
Further, though not shown, the cross-sectional shape of the V-shaped concave portion 28 is not limited to the above-described shape, but can omit the two short side portions 31. In this case, the two arcuate portions 32 disposed on the right side will be continuous with each other and also the two arcuate portions 32 disposed on the left side will be continuous with each other, so that the cross-sectional shape of the V-shaped concave portion 28 as a whole will present a shape like an athletic track field.
As shown in
Incidentally, the cushion portion 27 in this embodiment includes the three grooves, i.e. the V-shaped concave portion 28 and the two small concave portions 29, 29, as grooves extending along its entire circumference. However, the invention is not limited thereto. Alternatively, the cushion portion 27 can include one V-shaped concave portion 28 alone or a plurality thereof, or can include one or more small concave portions 29 upwardly and downwardly of the V-shaped concave portion 28 respectively or can include a plurality of V-shaped concave portions 28 and one or more small concave portions 29, and so on.
(Bottom Portion)
As shown in
The circumferential wall 38 is a portion which extends from the circumferential edge of the bottom wall 39 having a generally rounded, approximately rectangular shape and becoming wider upwards. The bottom wall 39 includes a contact portion 40 formed along its edge, a rising portion 41 rising gently from the inner edge of the contact portion 40 toward the center of the bottom wall 39, and a circular dent 42 formed at the center of the rising portion 41 and protruding upwards. Meanwhile, when the bottle 1 is placed erect on e.g. a flat desk, the contact portion 40 will come into contact with the desk, etc.
As shown in
As shown in
The first wavelike circumferential groove 44 and the second wavelike circumferential groove 45 each is a groove having a constant depth comprising sets of an upper curved portion 47 and a lower curved portion 48 in alternation along the entire circumference of the body portion 4, meandering in a waveform as seen laterally. In the instant embodiment, the first wavelike circumferential groove 44 and the second wavelike circumferential groove 45 are disposed with an offset in the circumferential direction from each other, such that at a position where the upper curved portion 47 of the first wavelike circumferential groove 44 is disposed, the lower curved portion 48 of the second wavelike circumferential groove 45 is disposed. The lower circumferential groove 46 is a groove having a constant depth provided along the entire circumference of the body portion 4. These first wavelike circumferential groove 44, the second wavelike circumferential groove 45, and the lower circumferential groove 46 all have the function as reinforcing rib for reinforcing strength of the lateral face of the bottle 1.
The resin container according to the present invention can be used as a container to be filled with not only such non-carbonated drink such as water, green tea, oolong tea, juice, etc., but also carbonated drink or a food product such as sauce.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2012-264607 | Dec 2012 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2013/081644 | 11/25/2013 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2014/087867 | 6/12/2014 | WO | A |
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Entry |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20150314907 A1 | Nov 2015 | US |