JP7473418B2 - Container with cap - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a capped container that includes a container for storing contents and a cap that is attached to the mouth of the container.

There are many types of capped containers in use, each of which comprises a container for storing contents and a cap that is attached to the mouth of the container. For example, Patent Document 1 shows a capped container in which a threaded portion (e.g., formed in a female thread) on the cap is screwed into a threaded portion (e.g., formed in a male thread) on the mouth.

In the capped container of Patent Document 1, a mounting step is provided on the shoulder of the container, where the outer edge of the shoulder is recessed downward. This mounting step is where the lower end of the outer wall of the cap fits when the screw part and the threaded part are screwed together and the cap is tightened. In this capped container, the body of the container and the outer wall of the cap are formed in the same flat shape. In containers and caps that are flat, if the amount of tightening of the threaded part relative to the screw part changes due to variations during molding, for example, the shapes of the container and the cap will not be the same. However, by configuring the lower end of the outer wall of the cap to fit into the mounting step as described above, such a problem can be prevented.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-236498

On the other hand, when the cap of the above-mentioned capped container is tightened, the lower end of the outer wall of the cap moves while rubbing against the shoulder of the container. For this reason, if a synthetic resin with a high hardness is used to form the cap, there is a risk that the shoulder will be scratched or scraped off, resulting in debris. In recent years, there has been a demand for such capped containers to be highly decorative, and in order to meet this demand, it has been considered to form the cap from a transparent or translucent synthetic resin. However, such synthetic resins are generally hard, and there are concerns that the shoulder will be scratched, etc.

In view of these points, the present invention aims to provide a capped container that is not only highly decorative, but also prevents scratches on the shoulder of the container.

The present invention provides a container with a cap, the container having a mouth portion that is open at the top and a shoulder portion that is connected to a lower portion of the mouth portion, and a cap that is attached to the mouth portion,
The cap is
an inner cap having an inner peripheral wall having a threaded portion that fits the threaded portion provided in the mouth portion, and an outer peripheral wall located radially outward of the inner peripheral wall;
an outer cap having an outer peripheral wall surrounding the outer peripheral wall and attached to the inner cap;
The outer cap is made of a transparent or translucent synthetic resin,
The inner cap is made of a synthetic resin having a lower hardness than the outer cap,
The outer peripheral wall has a lower surface portion extending in a horizontal direction and a convex portion protruding downward from the lower surface portion and extending along an inner edge portion of the lower surface portion,
The convex portion protrudes downwardly beyond the lower end of the outer wall, and when the cap is attached to the mouth portion , is radially spaced from the shoulder portion and is close to or abuts in the vertical direction .

The container has a body portion that is connected to an outer edge of the shoulder portion and has a flat shape with a width greater than a thickness,
The outer peripheral wall preferably has a flattened shape having a width greater than a thickness, and is aligned with the body when the cap is attached to the mouth.

It is preferable that either the container or the inner cap has a protrusion that overcomes a protrusion provided on the other of the container or the inner cap at the end of the screwing, and a stopper that abuts against the protrusion at the end of the screwing.

The capped container of the present invention has excellent decorativeness because the appearance of the inner cap is visible through the transparent or translucent outer cap. In addition, since the lower end of the outer peripheral wall of the inner cap protrudes downward further than the lower end of the outer peripheral wall of the outer cap, it is the lower end of the outer peripheral wall that is close to or abuts the shoulder when the cap is attached to the mouth. In other words, since the inner cap is made of a synthetic resin that is softer than the outer cap, scratches on the shoulder can be suppressed.

1A and 1B are a plan view and a side view, respectively, showing one embodiment of a capped container according to the present invention, and a cross-sectional view of the same. 2 is a partially enlarged view of the vicinity of a shoulder portion of the capped container shown in FIG. 1 .

One embodiment of a capped container according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that "upper" and "lower" in the following description refer to the positional relationship when the capped container is held upright as shown in Figure 1.

The capped container 1 of this embodiment comprises a container 2 (made up of a container body 3 and a nozzle member 4) and a cap 5 (made up of an inner cap 6 and an outer cap 7). These components that make up the capped container 1 are basically formed into a shape centered on an axis O that is oriented vertically. The details will be described later, but all of these components are made of synthetic resin.

The container body 3 has a plate-like bottom 3a extending horizontally, a cylindrical body 3b extending upward from the outer edge of the bottom 3a, and a shoulder 3c extending from the upper end of the body 3b in a direction approaching the axis O. The cross-sectional shape of the outer surface of the body 3b and the shape of the bottom 3a and shoulder 3c in a plan view are the same as the top wall 7a shown in Figure 1 (a) and described later, and are flat shapes whose width is greater than their thickness. The inner edge of the shoulder 3c is provided with a cylindrical mouth 3d that is open at the top. The outer peripheral surface of the mouth 3d is provided with a threaded portion 3e formed in a male screw shape. Various contents can be stored inside the container body 3 formed in this way.

At the base of the mouth portion 3d, as shown in the partial enlarged view and the A-A cross-sectional view of FIG. 1, a protrusion 3f is provided that protrudes radially outward.

The nozzle member 4 has an inclined wall 4a that tapers upward. The outer edge of the inclined wall 4a is shaped to be placed on the upper end of the mouth 3d. The lower surface of the inclined wall 4a is provided with a cylindrical fitting wall 4b that is inserted into and fitted into the mouth 3d. The center of the inclined wall 4a is provided with a pouring hole 4c that leads to the inside of the container body 3, and below the pouring hole 4c is provided with a cylindrical inner tube wall 4d that extends downward from the lower surface of the inclined wall 4a.

The inner cap 6 has a top wall 6a that extends horizontally above the nozzle member 4. Although not shown, the top wall 6a has a flat shape in plan view that is slightly smaller than the top wall 7a shown in FIG. 1(a). The central part of the top wall 6a is provided with an annular seal wall 6b that is inserted into the spout hole 4c. The bottom surface of the top wall 6a is provided with a cylindrical inner peripheral wall 6c that surrounds the mouth 3d. The inner peripheral surface of the inner peripheral wall 6c is provided with a female-threaded threaded portion 6d that fits the threaded portion 3e. In this embodiment, the threaded portion 3e and the threaded portion 6d are double-threaded, and the angle from the threading start region where they start to thread together to the threading end region where the threading ends is approximately 180 degrees.

As shown in the partial enlargement and A-A cross section of FIG. 1, the lower end of the inner peripheral wall 6c is provided with an arc-shaped protrusion 6e that protrudes radially inward, and a rectangular stopper 6f that is spaced apart in the circumferential direction from the protrusion 6e. When the threaded portion 6d is threaded into the threaded portion 3e and reaches the end of threading, the protrusion 6e overcomes the protrusion 3f, as shown in the A-A cross section of FIG. 1. In addition, the side surface of the stopper 6f abuts against the side surface of the protrusion 3f in the end of threading, stopping the threaded portion 6d from being threaded into the threaded portion 3e.

An outer peripheral wall 6g is provided radially outward from the inner peripheral wall 6c. The outer peripheral wall 6g extends downward from the outer edge of the top wall 6a, and the cross-sectional shape of the outer surface is a flat shape that is one size smaller than the top wall 7a shown in FIG. 1(a), similar to the above-mentioned top wall 6a. A rib 6h is provided between the inner peripheral wall 6c and the outer peripheral wall 6g to connect them to each other. As shown in FIG. 2, an outward claw portion 6j is provided on the outer peripheral surface below the outer peripheral wall 6g. As shown in FIG. 2, the outer peripheral wall 6g has a lower surface portion 6k extending horizontally and a protruding portion 6m protruding downward from the lower surface portion 6k. In this embodiment, the protruding portion 6m extends along the inner edge of the lower surface portion 6k, and the outer surface shape when cut by a plane including the axis O is an arc shape as shown in the figure. In this embodiment, when the screw-in end region is reached, the protrusion 6m is close to the shoulder 3c with a small gap as shown in FIG. 2, but it may be in contact with the shoulder 3c as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 2. The protrusion 6m is the portion that corresponds to the "lower end of the outer peripheral wall 6g" in this specification.

The inner cap 6 is made of a synthetic resin that is less hard than the outer cap 7. In this embodiment, the inner cap 6 is made of polypropylene (PP). In terms of the hardness of the synthetic resin that forms the outer cap 7, the inner cap 6 is generally non-transparent (colored), but it may be transparent or translucent. As will be described later, the appearance of the inner cap 6 is visible through the outer cap 7, so the surface of the inner cap 6 may be decorated by engraving, vapor deposition, or the like.

The outer cap 7 has a top wall 7a that extends horizontally above the top wall 6a (specifically, extends at a slight downward incline as it moves away from the axis O). As shown in FIG. 1(a), the top wall 7a has a flat shape in plan view with a width greater than a thickness. The outer edge of the top wall 7a is provided with an outer peripheral wall 7b that surrounds the outer peripheral wall 6g. The inner peripheral surface below the outer peripheral wall 7b is provided with an engagement protrusion 7c that engages with the outward claw portion 6j as shown in FIG. 2. The outer cap 7 is held integrally with the inner cap 6 by the engagement of the outward claw portion 6j and the engagement protrusion 7c. As shown in FIG. 2, the outer peripheral wall 7b has a lower end 7d that extends horizontally. In this embodiment, the lower end 7d is at the same height as the lower surface portion 6k of the inner cap 6, while the convex portion 6m protrudes downward more than the lower end 7d.

The outer cap 7 of this embodiment is made of a transparent or semi-transparent synthetic resin that is harder than the inner cap 6. Examples of such synthetic resins include polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and acrylonitrile styrene (AS, SAN). The outer cap 7 is made of a transparent or semi-transparent synthetic resin, and the outer appearance of the inner cap 6 is visible through the outer cap 7, providing excellent decorativeness. Note that the entire outer cap 7 does not need to be transparent or semi-transparent; for example, a part of the outer cap 7 may be painted so that the outer appearance of the inner cap 6 is partially visible.

In a capped container 1 having such a configuration, the contents contained in the container body 3 can be poured out from the pouring hole 4c by removing the cap 5 from the container 2 and pressing the body 3b while the container 2 is in an inclined position.

After use, the cap 5 is attached to the container 2, and the pouring hole 4c is closed by the sealing wall 6b, thereby maintaining the quality of the contained contents. However, when attaching the removed cap 5 to the container 2, depending on the amount of force applied to rotate the cap 5 and the variation in shape due to mass production, even after the protrusion 6e overcomes the protruding portion 3f and the stopper 6f abuts against the protrusion 6e, the cap 5 may rotate excessively and the convex portion 6m may move while rubbing against the shoulder portion 3c. However, since the convex portion 6m of this embodiment is formed of a synthetic resin with a lower hardness than the synthetic resin used in the outer cap 7, even in such a case, it is possible to effectively prevent problems such as scratches on the shoulder portion 3c or scraping of the shoulder portion 3c to generate debris. Furthermore, for example, if the variation in shape extends to the threaded portion 3e or the threaded portion 6d, the cap 5 may be tightened excessively against the container 2, causing a misalignment of the body 3b and outer peripheral wall 7b, which will become flattened. However, in this embodiment, the aim is for the convex portion 6m to be close to or in contact with the shoulder 3c at the end of the screwing region, so even if the cap 5 is rotated excessively against the container 2, the convex portion 6m will press against the shoulder 3c. This effectively prevents misalignment of the body 3b and outer peripheral wall 7b, which will become flattened.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment, and various modifications and alterations are possible within the scope of the spirit of the present invention described in the claims unless otherwise specifically limited in the above description. Furthermore, the effects of the above embodiment are merely examples of the effects resulting from the present invention, and do not mean that the effects of the present invention are limited to the above effects.

For example, in this embodiment, the protrusion 3f is provided on the container body 3, and the protrusion 6e and the stopper 6f are provided on the inner cap 6, but the protrusion 3f may be provided on the inner cap 6, and the protrusion 6e and the stopper 6f may be provided on the container body 3. In addition, the container 2 and the cap 5 are not limited to being flattened, and may be circular.

1: Container with cap 2: Container 3: Container body 3a: Bottom 3b: Body 3c: Shoulder 3d: Mouth 3e: Threaded portion 3f: Protrusion 4: Nozzle member 4a: Inclined wall 4b: Fitting wall 4c: Spout hole 4d: Inner cylinder wall 5: Cap 6: Inner cap 6a: Top wall 6b: Sealing wall 6c: Inner peripheral wall 6d: Threaded portion 6e: Protrusion 6f: Stopper 6g: Outer peripheral wall 6h: Rib 6j: Outward claw portion 6k: Underside portion 6m: Convex portion (lower end of outer peripheral wall)
7: Outer cap 7a: Top wall 7b: Outer peripheral wall 7c: Engagement projection 7d: Lower end O: Axis

Claims (3)

A container with a cap, comprising: a container having an upper open mouth and a shoulder connected to a lower part of the mouth; and a cap attached to the mouth,
The cap is
an inner cap having an inner peripheral wall having a threaded portion that fits the threaded portion provided in the mouth portion, and an outer peripheral wall located radially outward of the inner peripheral wall;
an outer cap having an outer peripheral wall surrounding the outer peripheral wall and attached to the inner cap;
The outer cap is made of a transparent or translucent synthetic resin,
The inner cap is made of a synthetic resin having a lower hardness than the outer cap,
The outer peripheral wall has a lower surface portion extending in a horizontal direction and a convex portion protruding downward from the lower surface portion and extending along an inner edge portion of the lower surface portion,
A capped container, wherein the convex portion protrudes downwardly beyond the lower end portion of the outer wall and is radially spaced from the shoulder portion and comes close to or abuts in the vertical direction when the cap is attached to the mouth portion. The container has a body portion that is connected to an outer edge of the shoulder portion and has a flat shape with a width greater than a thickness,
2. The capped container according to claim 1 , wherein the outer peripheral wall has a flat shape with a width greater than a thickness, and is aligned with the body when the cap is attached to the mouth. A capped container as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein either the container or the inner cap has a protrusion that overcomes a protrusion provided on the other of the container or the inner cap at the end of screwing, and a stopper that abuts the protrusion at the end of screwing.

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