Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6783024
-
Patent Number
6,783,024
-
Date Filed
Monday, November 4, 200222 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, August 31, 200420 years ago
-
Inventors
-
-
Examiners
Agents
- Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus P.A.
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 220 705
- 220 707
- 220 708
- 220 710
- 220 709
- 220 703
- 220 713
- 229 1031
- 383 80
- 383 100
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
The present invention relates to a spout assembly for thin-film containers having an upper side end, a lower side end, a right side end, a left side end and a rounded corner side end comprising a fixing support fixed to the rounded corner side end, a spout portion extended from the fixing support to the outside of the container, a cap coupled with the spout portion, and a fluid guide member extended from the fixing suport to the lower side end of the container.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a spout assembly, and more particularly, to a spout assembly for thin-film liquid container.
BACKGROUND ART
Generally, containers using a pouch, or the like are not provided with a spout. As the user cuts the corner of the container, the user can drink the beverage through the cutting corner.
But, it is not convenient to draw thebeverage of the container because the cutting corner is easily shrunk and closed by an outer air pressure.
Therefore, a thin-film container having a spout is disclosed in a prior art so as to easily draw or dispense the beverage of the thin-film container.
FIG. 12
shows a thin-film container having a spout assembly according to the prior art.
Referring to
FIG. 12
, the container C is provided with an upper end portion, a lower end portion, a right side portion and a left side portion. Further, the container C is provided at its corner with an inclined portion
11
. The spout assembly
1
is fixed to a sealed surface of the inclined portion
11
.
The spout assembly
1
comprises a fixing support
100
fixed to the sealed surface, a fluid guide member
13
vertically extended from the sealed surface to the interior of the container, and a spout portion(not shown) vertically extended from the sealed surface to the exterior of the container and coupled with a cap
200
. That is, the spout portion and the fluid guide member
13
are formed along the longitudinal axis line X.
Therefore, the bottom end of the fluid guide member
13
is faced with the right side portion of the container along the axis line X. In this case, the liquid beverage of the container below the horizontal line L is not easily dispensed from the container owing to the shrink of the container C.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
Therefore, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problem. It is an objective of the present invention to provide a spout assembly for thin-film containers and a thin-film container having a spout assembly that the user can easily and entirely sucks the beverage of the container.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a construction of a cap and a spout portion easily opening the spout assembly.
Further, it is still another object of the present invention to provide a spout assembly preventing the pollution of the spout portion.
To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a spout assembly for thin-film containers having an upper side end, a lower side end, a right side end, a left side end and a rounded corner side end comprising a fixing support fixed to the rounded corner side end, a spout portion extended from the fixing support to the outside of the container, a cap coupled with the spout portion; and a fluid guide member extended from the fixing support to the lower side end of the container.
The rounded corner side end is tilted at a predetermined angle from the lower side end of the container, the fixing support is paralleled with the rounded corner side end, and the fluid guide member includes a first guide portion that is extended from the rounded corner side end and whose axis line intersects the right and left side ends and a second guide portion that is curved from the first guide portion at a predetermined angle and intersects the lower side end of the container.
The section of the fluid guide member is shaped of “+”, or the fluid guide member is shaped of a straw.
The container is further provided with a cover member that covers the spout portion and the cap for preventing their pollution and is connected to the rounded corner side end where a cutting line is interposed.
The spout portion is integrally formed and coupled with the cap whereby the cap can be easily separated from the spout portion by one-touch manner.
The cap is formed at its bottom surface with a protrusion inserted into the interior of the spout portion so that the spout portion can be sealed again.
The spout portion has an elliptic section and the cap has a rectangular section so that the thickness of the spout assembly can be reduced.
The rounded corner side end has a horizontal corner end and a vertical corner end, the fixing support is fixed to the horizontal corner end and the fluid guide member is extended from the fixing support to the lower side end of the container.
The cap is provided with a wing knob for easily removing the cap from the spout portion.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention, and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention:
FIG. 1
is a front view a thin-film container having a spout assembly in a first embodiment according to the present invention,
FIG. 2
is a front view a spout assembly of a first embodiment according to the present invention;
FIG. 3
is a sectional view taken along line III—III of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 4
is a sectional view taken along line IV—IV of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 5
is a front view of a spout assembly of the second embodiment according to the present invention;
FIG. 6
is a front view of a thin-film container having a spout assembly of the third embodiment according to the present invention;
FIG. 7
is a sectional view of a spout assembly of the third embodiment according to the present invention;
FIG. 8
is a plane view of a spout assembly of the third embodiment according to the present invention;
FIG. 9
is a front view of a thin-film container having a spout assembly of the fourth embodiment according to the present invention;
FIG. 10
is a front view of a thin-film container having a spout assembly of the fifth embodiment according to the present invention;
FIG. 11
is a perspective view of a spout assembly of the sixth embodiment according to the present invention; and
FIG. 12
is a front view of a thin-film container having a spout assembly of the prior art.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIGS. 1
to
4
show a thin-film container having a spout assembly of the first embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, the thin-film container C has an upper side end
3
, a lower side end
5
, a right side end
9
, a left side end
7
and a rounded corner side end
11
.
A spout assembly
1
a
of the first embodiment according to the present invention is fixed to the rounded corner side end
11
of the container C. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the spout assembly
1
a
comprises a fixing support
100
fixed to the rounded corner side end
11
, a spout portion
101
extended from the fixing support
100
to the outside of the container C and formed with a screw thread
102
, and a fluid guide member
103
extended from the fixing support
100
to the lower side end of the container C. The fixing support
100
and the spout portion
101
is formed with an outflow hole
105
communicated with the fluid guide member
103
along an axis line X tilted at a predetermined angle with a vertical axis line Y of the container C.
The fluid guide member
103
includes a first guide portion
103
a
that is extended from the fixing support
100
along the axis line X, and a second guide portion
103
b
that is extended from the first guide portion
103
a
to the lower side end portion at a predetermined angle and intersects the lower side end
5
of the container C and faced with the lower side end
5
of the container C at a predetermined angle with respect to the axis line X.
The section of the fluid guide member
103
, as shown in
FIG. 3
, is shaped of “+”.
In this state, when opening a cap
200
threaded with the spout portion
101
, a cutting line
201
is cut and a skirt
202
is removed from the cap
200
.
At this point, when sucking the beverage through the spout portion
101
, the container is shrunk and a first fluid guide hole
104
a
shown in
FIG. 3
is formed with the second fluid guide portion
103
a
and the container. Further, as shown in
FIG. 4
, a second fluid guide hole
104
b
that communicates with the first fluid guide hole
104
a
is formed under the second fluid guide portion
103
a
. As a result, the beverage of the container C can be entirely dispensed through the first and second fluid guide holes
104
a
and
104
b
and the outflow hole
105
.
FIG. 5
shows a spout assembly of the second embodiment according to the present invention.
In the second embodiment, the spout assembly
1
b
is provided with a fluid guide member
103
′ shaped of a straw. The fluid guide member
103
′ is formed with a pleated bending portion
108
, a first fluid guide portion
103
′ and a second fluid guide portion
13
b
′. A guide member fixing support
106
for fixing the fluid guide member
103
′ is formed under the fixing support
100
.
FIGS. 6
to
8
show a spout assembly of the third embodiment according to the present invention.
A spout assembly
1
c
is provided with first and second fluid guide portions
303
a
and
303
b
of a fluid guide member
303
and has a rectangular section.
The container C is further provided with a cover
300
that covers the spout portion
301
and the cap
300
for preventing their pollution and is connected to the rounded corner side end where a cutting line is interposed
Further, as shown in
FIG. 7
, the spout portion
301
is integrally formed and coupled with the cap
300
whereby the cap
300
can be easily separated from the spout portion
301
by one-touch manner. The cap
300
is formed at its bottom surface with a protrusion
305
inserted into the interior of the spout portion
301
so that the spout portion
301
can be sealed again.
Referring to
FIG. 8
, the spout portion
301
has an elliptic section and the cap
300
has a rectangular section so that the thickness of the spout assembly
1
c
can be reduced and save space.
FIG. 9
shows a thin-film container having a spout assembly of the fourth embodiment according to the present invention.
In this embodiment, the construction of a spout portion
401
and a cap is similar that of the third embodiment. The spout portion
401
is upwardly extended from the fixing support
100
coupled to an inclined portion of the rounded corner side end, and a fluid guide member
400
is downwardly extended from the fixing support
100
.
FIG. 10
shows a thin-film container having a spout assembly of the fifth embodiment according to the present invention.
In this embodiment, the spout assembly
1
e
is designed that the corner side end is composed of a horizontal end
11
a
and a vertical end
11
b
. The fixing support
100
is fixed to the horizontal end
11
a.
FIG. 11
shows a spout assembly of the sixth embodiment according to the present invention.
A spout assembly
1
f
is provided with a spout portion
601
upwardly protruded from a fixing support
2
and the fluid guide member
500
including a first guide portion
500
a
that is upwardly extended from the fixing support
2
and a second guide portion
500
b
that is curved from the first guide portion
500
a
at a predetermined angle and faces the lower side end of the container. The fluid guide member
500
is shaped of a side-open straw. A cap
604
is provided with a wing knob
605
for easily removing the cap
604
from the spout portion
601
. The cap
604
is provided with a first seal portion
602
and a second seal portion
607
.
While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and referred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Claims
- 1. A spout assembly for thin-film containers having an upper side end, a lower side end, a left side end and a rounded corner side end comprising:a fixing support fixed to the rounded corner side end; a spout portion extended from the fixing support to the outside of the container; a cap coupled with the spout portion; and a fluid guide member extended from the fixing support to the lower side end of the container, wherein the rounded corner side end is tilted at a predetermined angle from the lower side end of the container, the fixing support is paralleled with the rounded corner side end, and the fluid guide member comprises a first guide portion that is extended from the rounded corner side end and whose axis line intersects the right and left side ends and a second guide portion that is curved from the first guide portion at a predetermined angle and intersects the lower side end of the container.
- 2. A spout assembly for thin-film containers as claimed in claim 1, wherein a section of the fluid guide member is shaped of “+”.
- 3. A spout assembly for thin-film containers as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spout portion is formed at its outer circumference with a screw thread and the cap is formed at its inner circumference with a screw thread to be coupled with the screw thread of the spout portion.
Priority Claims (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
10-2000-0024507 |
May 2000 |
KR |
|
10-2000-0041770 |
Jul 2000 |
KR |
|
10-2000-0042275 |
Jul 2000 |
KR |
|
PCT Information
Filing Document |
Filing Date |
Country |
Kind |
PCT/KR01/00740 |
|
WO |
00 |
Publishing Document |
Publishing Date |
Country |
Kind |
WO01/98167 |
12/27/2001 |
WO |
A |
US Referenced Citations (6)