The present invention relates to a tubular case that receives, for example, a stick of solid glue, which is an item to be received, in an advanceable and retractable manner through an opening of the case, and more particular, a tubular case that can selectively perform coupling release of a cap mounted on a case, and removal of a refill case receiving an item to be received, by using a common operating member.
Conventionally, there is known a tubular case having a cylindrical shape in appearance, the tubular case receiving a stick of solid glue, which is an item to be received, such that the solid glue can be advanced and retracted through an opening formed in one end of the case. The tubular case is provided with a cap covering the opening of the case, the cap configured to engage with an outer periphery on the opening side of the case.
The cap of this kind can be prevented from accidental falling-off from the case by using a structure for engagement with the case. However, since the cap has a relatively short cylindrical shape relative to the entire length of the tubular case, the cap has disadvantage such that fingers are slippery while releasing the cap from the coupling, which causes a burdensome operation in removing the cap.
To solve the above problem, the applicant proposed a tubular case that allows easy removal of a cap from a case by releasing coupling of the cap to the case.
The tubular case disclosed in Patent Document 1 is configured such that the cap can be easily released from coupling by exerting an operating force on an operating member, and a case body and a refill case (a cartridge) can be disengaged to remove the refill case by pressing-operation of a pressing member provided in an outer peripheral (peripheral wall) portion of the case.
However, the tubular case disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires the operating member and the pressing member to perform coupling release of the cap and removal of the refill case. This results in disadvantage in that the arrangement is complicated, and moreover there are different operation locations between the case of the coupling release of the cap and the case of the removal of the refill case. Therefore, from the point of view of usability, there is slight room for improvement.
An object of the present invention is to provide a tubular case that can selectively perform, using a common operating member, coupling release operation of a cap coupled on the opening side of a case, and removal operation of a refill case received in a case body.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tubular case that can prohibit the operation of the operating member as needed.
To achieve the object, the present invention adopts an arrangement defined by claims. In particular, the present invention adopts the following arrangement: a tubular case comprises a case including a case body having an opening at one end thereof, and a refill case for supporting an item to be received in an advanceable and retractable manner with respect to the case body, a cap provided to be coupled to the case to close the opening, and an operating member mounted on the outer periphery side of the case body,
wherein the operating member is configured to selectively perform coupling release of the cap, and removal of the refill case by carrying out a predetermined operation.
The present invention adopts the following arrangement: the operating member includes an annular body supported rotatably about two points, which are the center of rotation, on an imaginary straight line crossing an axial direction of the case body,
rotational operation in one direction of the operating member enables the cap to be released from coupling, whereas rotational operation in the counter direction enables removal of the refill case.
Preferably, such an arrangement is adopted that the operating member is provided on a closed loop shape surrounding an outer peripheral surface of the case body.
Also, the present invention adopts the following arrangement: the tubular case further comprises a locking member for prohibiting operation of the operating member.
The present invention adopts the following arrangement: the locking member has a ring shape provided on the outer periphery side of the case body and under the operating member, and provided rotatably along a circumferential direction of the case body so as to be capable of being selectively stopped at each of positions including an operation prohibition position of the operating member, a coupling release permission position of the cap, and a removal operation permission position of the refill case.
The present invention may adopt the following arrangement: the locking member comprises an inclined portion within a predetermined angular range along the circumferential direction, and the operation prohibition position, the coupling release permission position, and the removal operation permission position are selected by changing the position of the inclined portion along an outer peripheral of the case body.
Also, the present invention, preferably, adopts the following arrangement: a rotatable operating portion of the locking member integrally protrudes on the opposite side of the inclined portion.
According to the present invention, the coupling release of the cap and the removal operation of the refill case can selectively be performed by common use of the single operating member.
Also, since either the coupling release of the cap or the removal of the refill case can be performed only by rotating the operating member either in one direction or in the counter direction, the convenience of the operation can be provided.
Further, the operating member having the closed loop shape enables the strength of the operating member to be increased, and the operating member to be prevented from dropping off from the case body.
Moreover, an adopted arrangement including the locking member can prevent the possibility of release of the cap from coupling and ejection of the refill case from the case body, even if an unexpected operating force is applied to the operating member.
Furthermore, by holding the ring member in a predetermined position along the circumferential direction of the case body, the operation prohibition position, the coupling release permission position, and the removal operation permission position can be selected.
Further, in an arrangement in which the inclined portion is formed in the locking member, since a user only has to select the position of the inclined portion from the above positions, it is possible to visually identify the position of the locking member, and provide, using a simple arrangement, an aspect in which the permission and the prohibition of operation of the operating member can be easily selected.
Furthermore, in an arrangement of the rotatable operating portion protruding on the opposite side of the inclined portion, it is facilitated to apply an operating force to the rotatable operating portion.
An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a tubular case with a stick of solid glue which is an item to be received will now be described below with reference to drawings.
As shown in
The case body 11, as shown in
A bottom portion 30 of the case body 11 has a shape having a hole 32 passing through the bottom portion 30 in a vertical direction via a step portion 31. With passing through the hole 32, a rotary member 35 having a screw shaft 34 extending in the solid glue 12 is arranged. The operating knob 16 arranged under the bottom portion 30 engages with a lower part of the rotary member 35. An up/down movement member 37 for supporting a lower portion of the solid glue 12 is relatively rotatably arranged on the outer periphery side of the rotary member 35. Upward and downward movement of the up/down movement member 37 allows the solid glue 12 to freely advance and retract through an opening 40 located in an upper end of the case 15.
The rotary member 35, as shown in
An inner periphery on the case body 11, as shown in
The refill case 13, as also shown in
At a position shifted by 90 degrees in a circumferential direction with respect to the concave groove 52, hooking members 54 are provided in a lower end portion of the refill body 45. The hooking members 54 are engageable with the protruding portions 44 provided in the inner periphery of the case body 11.
Moreover, above the hooking members 54 and directly below the large diameter portion 45, protruding pieces 55 which projecting in a plane are provided at 180 degrees symmetrical positions in a circumferential direction.
The operating knob 16, as shown in
The cap 18, as shown in
The operating member 20 is configured to selectively perform coupling release of the cap 18 by rotational operation in one direction, and removal of the refill case 13 by rotational operation in the counter direction. The operating member 20, as shown in
The locking member 21 has a ring shape provided on the outer periphery side of the case body 11 and under the operating member 20. The locking member 21 is provided rotatably along a circumferential direction of the case body 11, with having ability to selectively stop at each of positions including an operation prohibition position of the operating member 20, a coupling release permission position of the cap 18, and a removal operation permission position of the refill case 13. In more particular, the locking member 21 has a shape generally similar to an outer shape of the operating member 20. On the upper edge side, the locking member 21 includes an inclined portion 90, the height of an upper end of which is gradually decreased within a certain angular range along a circumferential direction. On the opposite side, the locking member 21 is integrally provided with a rotatable operating portion 91 of the locking member 21. In this arrangement, the length of the inclined portion 90 in front view is designed to be longer than that of the inclined upper edge portion 84 of the operating member. Also, the rotatable operating portion 91 has a piece-like shape, and protrudes in a state that a face of the rotatable operating portion 91 is in a vertical plane. A projection 94 is provided in a portion of an inner periphery surface of the locking member 21 located on the opposite side to the rotatable operating portion 91. The projection 94 is provided to be engageable with any recess 28 formed in the mounting area 11A of the case body 11 with a click action such that the projection 94 can keep a stationary position at each predetermined angle, in the embodiment, at each 90 degrees in a circumferential direction of the outer periphery of the case body 11.
Next, an assembling method of the tubular case 10 in the embodiment is described, and then a procedure for coupling release of the cap 18 and removal of the refill case 13 will be described with reference to
In assembling the tubular case 10, the shaft 66 of the operating knob 16 is inserted into the hole 32 formed in the bottom portion 30 of the case body 11. Moreover, the locking member 21 and the operating member 20 are mounted in this order on the upper mounting area 11A from the upper end of the case body 11 to combine them with the case body 11.
On the other hand, while the stick of solid glue 12 is supported by the up/down movement member 37, the rotary member 35 is screwed into the inner cylinder 59 of the up/down movement member 37 to pass through it so that the rotary member 35 is received within the refill case 13.
Then, after the refill case 13 is received in the case body 11 and the cap 18 is mounted, the assembly of the tubular case 10 can be completed. In this case, as shown in
When the refill case 13 is removed from the case body 11 after the solid glue 12 has been consumed, as shown in
In this way, when the position of the locking member 21 is rotated, the inclined portion 90 of the locking member 21 is in a corresponding position under the inclined upper edge portion 84 of the operating member 20. Then, by exerting an operating force so as to push up the operating force imparting portion 82 upward, since engagement of the protruding piece 55 of the refill case 13 in such a way that the protruding piece 55 of the refill case 13 seats on the step-down portion 83 of the operating member 20, the refill case 13 is pushed up upward, while the engagement between the lower hooking members 54 and the protruding portions 44 of the inner periphery surface of the body case 11 is released so that the refill case 13 relatively projects from the top of the body case 11. Therefore, the refill case 13 and the up/down movement member 37 and the rotary member 35 which are combined with the refill case 13 can be integrally removed by picking up the projected portion with fingers and pulling it out. Thus, another refill case 13 can be received into the body case 11 again.
In the case of using the solid glue 12, i.e., of releasing the coupling of the cap 18 without removing the refill case 13, as shown in
Therefore, according to this embodiment, such advantage is obtained that coupling release of the cap 18 and removal of the refill case 13 can be selectively performed in a situation of common use of the single operating member 20.
Also, such convenience can be provided that the locking member 21 provided enables the prohibition of unintended coupling release of the cap and removal of the refill case 13, while the operation for canceling such prohibition can also be performed only by rotational operation of the locking member 21.
The best arrangement, method, item to be received, and the like for carrying out the present invention have been disclosed, and however, the present invention is not limited to the above.
That is, the present invention has been illustrated and described mainly about a specific embodiment. However, those skilled in the art can add various modifications to the above-described embodiment with respect to the shape, position and/or other detailed arrangements without departing from the technical spirit and the range of the object of the present invention.
Thus, the above descriptions defining shapes, positions and the like are given as examples for facilitating understanding the present invention but not intended to limit the present invention. Therefore, any descriptions using appellations of articles precluding a part/all of the limitations such as the shapes and the like should be understood to be included within the present invention.
In the above-mentioned embodiment, for example, the case where the operating member 20 is provided together with the locking member 21 has been described and illustrated. However, the present invention does not exclude a tubular case without the locking member 21. Moreover, an arrangement for prohibiting operation of the operating member 20 is not limited to the locking member 21 as illustrated, and may perform the operation of prohibition of the operating member and the release thereof by moving the locking member 21 itself relative to the case body 15, by changing the position of the operating member 20 itself, and so on.
Also, in order to hold the refill case 13 in a predetermined location within the case body 11, such an arrangement that the hooking members 54 are provided in the lower portion of the refill case 13 and the hooking members 54 engage with protruding portions 44 of the body case 11 has been illustrated and described. However, the present invention is not limited to it, but may be configured such that a suitable convex portion is formed in the upper outer peripheral of the refill case 13, and a concave portion to be coupled to the convex portion is formed in a portion of the inner periphery surface of the case body 11.
Furthermore, although the operating member 20 has been formed into the closed-loop shaped annular body 80, the annular body 80 may be C-shaped with a portion of the annular body 80 cut off.
Moreover, the item to be received is not limited to the solid glue 12, but may be cosmetics and the like.
The present invention may be applied to, e.g., tubular cases that can advance and retract a stick of solid glue, and the like.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2010/059195 | 5/31/2010 | WO | 00 | 10/4/2012 |