JP3549618B2 - Snap hinge cap - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial applications]
The present invention relates to an improvement in a snap-operated hinge cap used to open and close an outlet for container contents.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a snap hinge cap used for opening and closing the outlet of the contents of the container, the one shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-53182 is already known.
[0003]
As shown in FIG. 8, a strap B is disposed slightly below both sides of a film hinge A, and the main body C and the cap D are connected by the film hinge A and the strap B as shown in FIG. Have been.
[0004]
However, the snap hinge cap is such that when the cap D is in the open position, the strap B is substantially straight, and the length of the strap B is shorter than the length of the arc when the cap D rotates. , Which extend to act as a spring during movement, and are under tension when the cap D occupies an intermediate position between the closed position and the open position.
[0005]
That is, as shown in FIG. 8, when the cap D rotates around the rotation axis O of the film hinge A as the rotation axis, the connection point F between the strap B and the cap D is , And draw a circular arc E.
[0006]
On the other hand, assuming that the connection point F is a free end, the strap B should rotate along the arc H around the connection point G with the main body C when the strap B rotates.
[0007]
However, in reality, the connecting point F must be rotated in an arc E integrally with the cap D, and the strap B needs to be extended by the length L.
[0008]
The extension of the length L is satisfied by the amount of deformation L1 due to the deformation of the connection points F and G of the strap B bent in a key shape, and the amount of extension L2 of the strap B that should produce the spring action. It should be.
[0009]
When the cap D occupies the closed position with respect to the main body C, the strap B is held in a curved state as shown by a chain line I in FIG.
[0010]
Due to the generation of the elongation amount L2, the strap B repeatedly receives a strong tensile external force repeatedly, and the mechanical strength is degraded, the surface peels off, and the strap B is broken.
[0011]
Further, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 7-2502, the skirt portion of the cap lid, to which the film hinge and the strap are connected, is elastically bent outward in the radial direction when the lid is opened and closed, and only when the snap action is performed. Some act as springs.
[0012]
The structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-2502 has a structure in which one strap is disposed between a pair of flexible hinges. The skirt must be relatively thick and strong in order for the narrow range of skirt to have the sole spring action, and a large pulling force is applied to the strap as a reaction. It cannot be prevented from acting, and has the same problem as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-53182.
[0013]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In view of the problems of the conventional snap hinge cap, according to the present invention, even when the cap is repeatedly opened and closed, a strong external pulling force is not applied to the strap, and mechanical strength deterioration, surface peeling, etc. may occur on the strap. In addition, it has a snap hinge function for a long time, does not involve structural complexity or increase in the amount of synthetic resin used, does not adversely affect capping and packaging work, and also has a cap skirt An object of the present invention is to provide a snap hinge cap that does not damage a strap even when the height of the portion is low.
[0014]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the invention of claim 1, the center line length of the bent strap on both sides of the film hinge connecting the main body and the cap is determined by the length between the connection points of the strap, the main body and the cap. The length of the outer periphery of the cap top plate and the outer peripheral area including the connection point between the film hinge and the strap on the skirt portion of the cap are formed to be thinner than the thickness of other portions of the cap top plate.
[0015]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, a configuration is provided in which the peripheral wall of the cap near the connecting point between the film hinge and the strap in the skirt portion in the circumferential direction is thinner than the peripheral wall of the other portion of the skirt portion. did.
[0016]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, a portion of the thin peripheral wall of the skirt portion of the cap is provided between the film hinge connecting the cap of the snap hinge cap and the main portion and the straps located on both sides thereof. The configuration of being positioned with a circumferential length capable of elastic bending is added to the first or second aspect of the invention.
[0017]
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the height of the skirt portion of the cap in the snap hinge cap is such that, when the cap is opened and closed, the tensile force that causes the strap to expand is elastically deformed radially inward of the skirt portion. The configuration in which the height is so low that it cannot be absorbed and erased is added to the invention of claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3.
[0018]
[Action]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the center line length of the strap is longer than the linear length between the connecting points of the strap, the main body portion, and the skirt portion of the cap, and the cap around the outer periphery of the cap top plate. The outer peripheral area including the connection point between the film hinge of the skirt portion and the strap is formed to be thinner than the thickness of the other part of the cap top plate, so that the length of the strap necessary for opening and closing the cap is increased. The shortage is satisfied by the elastic bending of the strap and the radially inward elastic bending of the skirt due to the elastic bending of the thin portion of the cap top plate, and excessive tensile external force is applied to the film hinge and the strap. The strap is prevented from acting, and the elasticity of restoring the strap to its original shape produces a good snap action.
[0019]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the elastic bending of the skirt portion inward in the radial direction is made larger, and the effect of an external tensile force on the film hinge and the strap can be further reduced.
[0020]
According to the invention of claim 3, the cap top plate portion facing the skirt portion connected to the film hinge is easily elastically bent.
[0021]
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, even if the height of the cap of the snap hinge cap, that is, the height of the lid body is extremely reduced, a good snap action of the cap can be maintained, and the degree of freedom in design design increases.
[0022]
【Example】
FIGS. 1 to 7 show an embodiment in which the first, second, third and fourth aspects of the present invention are applied together, but the present invention is not limited to these shapes and dimensions.
[0023]
In the illustrated example, the main body 1 of the snap hinge cap 100 is fitted and fixed to the mouth-and-neck portion 101 of the cylindrical container with the undercut structures 102 and 103. However, the fixing structure may be screw fixing. It goes without saying that the main body 1 may be a container opening edge integral with the container.
[0024]
In the illustrated example, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the snap hinge cap 100 has a cylindrical main body 1 and a cap 2 formed by integral molding of a thermoplastic synthetic resin such as polyethylene. The hinge 3 and the straps 4 and 5 arranged on both sides thereof are integrally connected.
[0025]
The film hinge 3 has a lower edge 7 of the skirt portion 6 of the cap 2 and an upper edge 9 on the peripheral wall 8 of the main body 1 where the lower edge 7 contacts when the cap 2 occupies the closed position. The upper surface portion 10 is located in a plane, and the lower surface portion has an inverted V-shaped concave portion 11.
[0026]
As shown in FIGS. 2, 5 and 6, the straps 4 and 5 are recessed from the contact surface 12 where the lower end edge 7 and the upper end edge 9 are in contact with each other up and down in the axial direction of the circumferential surface. The concave portions 13 and 14 are connected to the ends 15 and 16 by connecting portions 17 and 18 which are bent portions.
[0027]
The center line length S of the straps 4 and 5 is set to be longer than the linear length T between the coupling portions 17 and 18.
[0028]
As is clear from FIGS. 5 and 6, the straps 4 and 5 of the illustrated example cause the bent portions 19 to protrude upward when the cap 2 is in the open position, except for the coupling portions 17 and 18. When the cap 2 is in the closed position, it has a substantially flat V-shaped side surface shape that protrudes the bent portion 19 toward the center of the cap. The thickness of the band is gradually reduced toward the end, and the band is formed as a thick band as a whole.
[0029]
As is clear from FIGS. 1 and 3, the skirt portion 6 of the cap 2 has a circumferential wall 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 near the connecting point of the film hinge 3 and the straps 4, 5. Is thinner than the peripheral wall 25 of the other portion, and is easily elastically deformed by a radial pressing force.
[0030]
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the outer periphery of the cap top plate 26 of the cap 2 is an outer peripheral region including a joint portion between the film hinge 3 and the straps 4 and 5, that is, the thin peripheral walls 20, 21 and 22. , 23 and 24 are formed as thin portions 28 which are thinner than the thickness of the other portion 27 of the cap top plate 26.
[0031]
In the illustrated example, the thin portion 28 of the cap top plate 26 is recessed on the inner surface of the top plate 26, but may be recessed on the upper surface of the top plate 26.
[0032]
Further, between the film hinge 3 and the straps 4 and 5 on both sides thereof, as shown in FIG. 3, portions 29 and 30 of the thin skirt portion 6 are located.
[0033]
The thinned portions 29 and 30 of the skirt portion 6 have a circumferential length W that can elastically bend without being hindered by the film hinges 3 and the straps 4 and 5.
[0034]
The first embodiment according to the present invention has the configuration described above and functions as shown in FIGS.
[0035]
When the cap 2 is in the open position shown by a solid line in FIGS. 5 and 7, the film hinge 3 is opened in a plane, and the strap 4 bends the bent portion 19 upward to keep the stationary state.
[0036]
When the cap 2 is turned in the closing direction as shown by the arrow X from this state, the cap 2 starts to turn about the turning axis OO of the film hinge 3 as a turning axis, and the skirt portion of the strap 4 and the cap 2 The connecting portion 18 with the base 6 starts rotating about the connecting portion 17 with the peripheral wall 8 of the other main body 1 as a turning point.
[0037]
If the connecting portion 18 of the strap 4 is a free end, the connecting portion 18 rotates by drawing a rotation locus P. Conversely, if the connecting portion 17 is a free end, the connecting portion 18 According to the above, the rotation should be made while drawing the rotation trajectory Q.
[0038]
However, the connecting portions 17 and 18 are both connected to the main body 1 and the cap 2, and the rotation of the strap 4 is restrained by the skirt 6 of the cap 2 to perform the following movement.
[0039]
That is, as the cap 2 rotates, the bent connecting portions 17 and 18 of the strap 4 and the bent portion 19 elastically deform substantially linearly, and the length of the strap 4 becomes longer as indicated by the symbol T in FIG. .
[0040]
However, the length of the strap is insufficient with respect to the rotation trajectory Q by the reference numeral U in FIG. 7, so that the shortage of the length indicated by the reference numeral U is satisfied in the skirt portion 6 of the cap 2. Tensile force acts.
[0041]
The pulling tension acts to draw the entire skirt portion 6 toward the main body portion 1, and the thin peripheral walls 20 to 24 are elastically deformed toward the center of the cap 2 by the pulling action of the entire skirt portion 6 and displaced. This displacement is caused by the fact that the thin portion 28 of the cap top plate 26 is easily elastically deformed, and the portions 29 and 30 of the thin peripheral wall of the skirt portion 6 between the film hinge 3 and the straps 4 and 5. Due to the presence, the length of the film hinge 3 is short and easy to bend, so that it becomes more prominent.
[0042]
The elastic deformation of the peripheral walls 20 to 24 is such that initial elastic deformation occurs when the connecting portions 17, 18 and the bent portion 19 of the strap 4 are elastically deformed to be almost linear.
[0043]
Due to the elastic deformation of the peripheral walls 20 to 24, the shortage of the length indicated by the reference symbol U in FIG. 7 is satisfied, and the coupling portion 18 of the strap 4 rotates while defining a rotation locus R, and FIGS. 7 is led to the closed position of the cap 2 indicated by the chain line.
[0044]
As can be seen from FIGS. 6 and 7, the straight length between the connecting portions 17 and 18 of the strap 4 has the cap 2 in the closed position compared to the length when the cap 2 is in the open position. At this time, the strap 4 is slightly short, and the strap 4 is pressed, and the V-shaped bending is slightly strengthened, and the repulsive force causes the cap 2 to slightly move in the closed position in the direction indicated by the arrow Y in the closed position. A rotating force acts.
[0045]
The elastic deformation of the thin peripheral walls 20 to 24 of the skirt portion 6 during the rotation of the cap 2 described with reference to FIG. 7 is shown in FIG. The thick peripheral wall 25 is partially displaced toward the main body 1, and the peripheral walls 20 to 24 are elastically deformed toward the center of the cap 2, and the skirt portion 6 has a slightly elliptical shape as a whole.
[0046]
In the deformation of the illustrated example, the rotation of the cap 2 is maximized when the rotation angle of the cap 2 is の of the total rotation angle, and a snap action occurs at this point, but the positions of the bent portions 19 of the straps 4 and 5 are deviated from the center of the strap. By doing so, it is possible to change the rotation angle position where the strap action occurs.
[0047]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the thin portion formed in the outer peripheral region of the cap top plate including the joining point between the film hinge and the strap in the skirt portion of the cap reduces the shortage of the length of the strap required when opening and closing the cap. The skirt portion can be satisfied by the elastic bending of the skirt portion inward in the radial direction of the cap due to the elastic bending of the thin portion, so that excessive tensile external force can be prevented from acting on the film hinge and the strap. This has the effect that a good snap action can be exhibited by the resilient elasticity.
[0048]
According to the second aspect of the invention, the elastic bending of the skirt portion inward in the radial direction is further increased, and there is an effect that the effect of an external tensile force on the film hinge and the strap can be significantly reduced.
[0049]
According to the invention of claim 3, there is an effect that the skirt portion of the cap and the cap top plate portion connected to the film hinge are easily elastically bent by the action of a light external force.
[0050]
According to the invention of claim 4, even when the height of the cap of the snap hinge cap, that is, the lid portion, is reduced, a good snap action can be maintained, and the effect of increasing the degree of freedom in designing the snap hinge cap can be obtained. is there.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing a cap according to an embodiment as an open position.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of only the snap hinge mechanism shown in FIG. 1 with a cap in a closed position.
FIG. 3 is a plan view of what is shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a deformed state of the skirt portion when the cap of FIG. 1 is operated to be closed on a plane.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing a structural relationship between a film hinge and a strap at a cap open position.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing the one shown in FIG. 5 at a cap closed position.
FIG. 7 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing an operation state of the strap shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 8 is a side view showing an operating state of a conventional snap hinge cap as a partial cross section.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main part 2 Cap 3 Film hinge 4,5 Strap 6 Skirt part 7 Lower edge 8 Peripheral wall 12 of main part Contact surface 17,18 Joining part 20-24 Thin peripheral wall 25 Other peripheral wall 26 Cap top plate 27 Other part of cap 28 Thin portion 29, 30 of cap Part of thin skirt portion S Length of strap center line T Length between connection points W Length of circumferential portion of skirt portion 29, 30

Claims (4)

In the hinge cap in which the main body and the cap are integrally formed of a thermoplastic synthetic resin, the lower end of the skirt portion of the cap is partially connected to the peripheral wall of the main body with a film hinge in a hinge cap that is connected via a film hinge. On both sides of the film hinge, a bent strap having a connecting portion at a position vertically spaced from the contact surface between the lower end edge of the skirt portion and the main portion when the cap is in the closed position, in the circumferential axis direction. The center line length of the strap is set to be longer than the linear length between the connecting portions, and the connecting point between the film hinge and the strap on the skirt portion of the cap around the outer periphery of the cap top plate. The outer peripheral area including the snap hinge cap is formed to be thinner than the thickness of other parts of the cap top plate. 2. The snap hinge cap according to claim 1, wherein a circumferential wall of the cap near the connecting point between the film hinge and the strap in the skirt portion is formed thinner than a peripheral wall of another portion of the skirt portion. Between the film hinge connecting the cap and the main body of the snap hinge cap and the straps located on both sides of the snap hinge cap, a part of the thinned peripheral wall of the skirt portion of the cap can be elastically flexed in the circumferential direction. The snap hinge cap according to claim 1, wherein the snap hinge cap is positioned with a height. The height of the skirt portion of the cap in the snap hinge cap cannot absorb or eliminate the tensile force that causes the strap to elongate when the cap is opened and closed by elastic deformation of the skirt portion inward in the radial direction. 4. The snap hinge cap according to claim 1, wherein the height is as low as possible.

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