JP7541743B2 - Double container - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a double container that allows the inner container to be easily removed from the outer container.

In recent years, double containers, which have an inner container for storing the contents and an outer container for detachably housing the inner container, have been increasingly adopted as containers for cosmetics to be applied to makeup. In the case of double containers, the inner container is a refill container that can be inserted and removed from the outer container, and after using up the contents, the user can remove the inner container from the outer container and replace it with a new inner container, thereby reusing the outer container and addressing environmental issues such as the mass disposal of plastic.

In other words, in recent years, due to environmental considerations and other factors, there has been an increasing demand for containers whose contents can be refilled or replaced. Such containers consist of at least two parts, and when the contents run out, the container with the used-up contents can be replaced with a new one.
A technique relating to a double container is disclosed in Patent Document 1.

Patent Document 1 discloses a double container comprising an inner container for accommodating contents and an outer container that houses the inner container, in which a container body thread is provided on the neck of the outer container, and a threaded portion is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the neck by making the container body thread an intermittent thread structure, and the inner container has an annular peripheral wall portion suspended from the edge of an outer brim-shaped flange portion, and further has a roughly rectangular plate-shaped gripping portion extending downward, and the gripping portion is provided on the outer surface with a non-slip surface that is continuous with the container body thread and has the same thread shape as the container body threading portion.

JP 2018-34836 A

In a double container such as that disclosed in Patent Document 1, if the inner container is difficult to grasp or pull up when replacing it, a person will unconsciously insert their index finger into the inside of the inner container as shown in Figure 2(a) and place their thumb near the upper edge of the inner container, and then grasp the inner container and pull it upward.
However, the inner wall of the inner container is flat, and the index finger tends to slip over the inner wall of the inner container, making it often impossible to reliably grasp and pull up the inner container.

In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a double container with an inner container that can be easily and reliably grasped and pulled up when replacing the inner container after the contents have been used up.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solutions.
That is, in a double container having an inner container formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape and filled with a content, and an outer container formed in a cylindrical shape and capable of containing the inner container therein,
An opening and an engagement portion surrounding the opening are formed in the upper portion of the outer container,
The upper part of the inner container has a flange part that protrudes outward and a hanging wall that hangs down from the tip of the flange part in a skirt-like shape to the lower side, forming a folded part that fits into the engagement part from above,
A hook portion for providing finger resistance is formed on the inner wall of the inner container at a position below the hanging wall ,
The hanging wall and the hook portion of the inner container are formed so that a user can place his or her thumb and finger on them when pinching and pulling up the inner container .

Preferably, the hook portion is formed in the form of a plurality of convex or concave portions arranged in the circumferential direction and in the vertical direction on the inner wall of the inner container.
Preferably, the hook portion is formed around the entire circumferential circumference of the inner wall of the inner container.

The double container of the present invention makes it easy and reliable to grasp and lift the inner container when replacing it after the contents have been used up.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of a double container according to the present invention. FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view showing how the inner container of a conventional double container is pinched and pulled up, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view showing how the inner container of the double container of the present invention is pinched and pulled up. 11A to 11C are diagrams showing specific examples of the hook portion. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic appearance of a double container of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a double container 1 according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the following description, a double container 1 used as a cosmetic container containing cosmetics will be taken as an example.
As shown in Figures 1 and 4, the double container 1 of this embodiment is composed of an inner container 2 (sometimes called a refill container 2) formed into a cylindrical shape with a bottom, an outer container 3 inside which the refill container 2 is stored, and a lid body 4 (sometimes called a cap 4) that covers and seals an opening formed on the upper side of the refill container 2 and an opening formed on the upper side of the outer container 3.

1 and 4, the outer container 3 is formed in a cylindrical shape with a bottom, and is configured so that the refill container 2 can be fitted into it from above. In this embodiment, the outer container 3 is formed in the shape of a wide-mouthed bottle whose inner diameter is the same as or slightly larger than the outer diameter of the refill container 2, and is circular in plan view.
More specifically, the outer container 3 has a cylindrical body 5S with a bottom that houses the refill container 2 therein, and an engagement part 8 provided on the upper part of the body 5S. The body 5S has a plate-shaped (disk-shaped, polygonal plate-shaped, elliptical plate-shaped, etc.) bottom 7A and an outer tube 7B provided so as to surround the bottom 7A. The upper part of the outer tube 7B is an opening, and the engagement part 8 is formed so as to surround this opening.

The lower side of the engagement portion 8 is the lid engagement portion 9 that engages with the lid, and has an outer diameter smaller than that of the outer tube portion 7B. A male thread portion 10 is provided around the outer wall of the lid engagement portion 9. The male thread portion 10 screws into a female thread portion 11 provided on the inside of the cap 4, which will be described later, to maintain the airtightness of the double container 1 and to allow the cap 4 to be attached and detached to the outer container 3.

The upper side of the engagement portion 8 is a refill engagement portion 12 that engages with the refill container 2. The refill engagement portion 12 is in the shape of a short cylindrical ring, and a folded portion of the refill container 2 (described later) fits into this refill engagement portion 12, thereby reliably fixing the refill container 2 to the outer container 3.
The refill engagement part 12 has an outer diameter smaller than that of the lid engagement part 9, and naturally, the outer diameter is smaller than that of the outer tube part 7B. However, the inner walls of the outer tube part 7B, the lid engagement part 9, and the refill engagement part 12 are flush with each other, and the diameters of the inner walls are all the same, which is the same as the outer diameter of the body part 5S of the refill container 2. Therefore, the refill container 2 can be fitted downward from the opening of the outer container 3.

Referring to FIG. 1, the inner container 2, i.e., the refill container 2, is replaceable and contains semi-solid or paste-like cosmetics. The refill container 2 has a cylindrical body 5N with a bottom that contains cosmetics. The body 5N is integrally formed with a plate-shaped (disk-shaped, polygonal plate-shaped, elliptical plate-shaped, etc.) bottom 13A and an inner tube 13B that surrounds the bottom 13A, and has a certain depth to contain a predetermined amount of cosmetics.

A flange 14 is provided on the upper edge of the inner tube 13B so as to extend outward from the inner tube 13B. A hanging wall 15 hangs downward from the tip of the flange 14 in a skirt-like shape. Therefore, a folded portion is formed by the flange 14 and the hanging wall 15 at the top of the refill container 2, and a fitting gap is formed inside the hanging wall 15 to correspond to the width of the flange 14. This fitting gap fits into the refill engagement portion 12 described above from above.

1, the depth, i.e., the vertical dimension, of the refill container 2 is shorter than the vertical dimension of the internal space of the outer container 3. In other words, the dimension from the lower surface of the flange 14 of the refill container 2 to the lower surface of the bottom 13A of the refill container 2 is shorter than the dimension from the upper end of the refill engagement portion 12 of the outer container 3 to the upper surface of the bottom 7A. The vertical dimension of the refill container 2 may be the same as the vertical dimension of the internal space of the outer container 3.

In this embodiment, a hook portion 20 is formed on the inner wall of the refill container 2 to provide resistance to the user's finger F when replacing the refill container 2. The hook portion 20 will be described in detail later.
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, in this embodiment, a cap 4 (lid body 4) is provided for closing the upper openings of the outer container 3 and the refill container 2 by screwing onto the outer container 3.

The cap 4 has a disk-shaped top wall 16 that is provided so as to be in contact with the openings formed at the top of the outer container 3 and the refill container 2, and a cylindrical peripheral wall 17 that is formed so as to hang down from the edge of the top wall 16. The peripheral wall 17 is long enough to cover the lid engagement part 9 of the outer container 3, and engages with the lid engagement part 9 provided on the outer container 3. A male screw part 10 is provided around the outer wall of the lid engagement part 9. The male screw part 10 screws into a female screw part 11 provided in the cap 4, thereby maintaining the airtightness of the double container 1 and allowing the cap 4 to be attached and detached to the outer container 3.

The aforementioned female thread portion 11 is formed on the entire circumference of the inner wall of the peripheral wall portion 17, and the male thread portion 10 formed on the outer wall of the lid engagement portion 9 and the female thread portion 11 are screwed together. Therefore, by turning the cap 4 in a horizontal plane and screwing the male thread portion 10 and the female thread portion 11 together, the double container 1 is kept sealed and the cap 4 can be attached to the outer container 3.
In addition, in order to make the seal provided by the cap 4 more solid, a gasket 18 is placed on the underside of the top wall portion 16 of the cap 4, and the refill container 2 is sealed when the gasket 18 comes into contact with at least the upper end of the refill container 2 (the upper surface of the flange portion 14).

The materials for the outer container 3, refill container 2, and cap 4 described above can be metals such as aluminum, but synthetic resin materials such as PET are preferable. A transparent or translucent synthetic resin material may be used for the outer container 3. A colored synthetic resin material may be used for the refill container 2, or a transparent synthetic resin material whose outer surface is decorated with a glossy finish by surface treatment may be used. It is also preferable that the color of the outer container 3, refill container 2, and cap 4 can be adjusted to match the design, and in addition to the coloring and coloring, a decorative material may be mixed in (for example, a glitter fixing agent). The outer container 3, refill container 2, and cap 4 may be molded, for example, by injection molding.

Now, the most characteristic configuration of the double container 1 of this embodiment is that a hook portion 20 is formed on the inner wall (the inner wall of the inner tube portion 13B) of the refill container 2 that constitutes the double container 1, which provides resistance to the finger F of a user attempting to replace the refill container 2.
In the double container 1 of this embodiment, when the cosmetic is used up, the refill container 2 is pinched and pulled up to remove it, and replaced with a new refill container 2 filled with the cosmetic. Conventionally, in many cases, the refill container 2 is difficult to pinch or pull up, and the user unconsciously places the index finger F inside the refill container 2 as shown in Fig. 2(a), places the thumb B on the outer edge of the flange of the refill container 2 (the flange 14 or the hanging wall 15), and pinches the refill container 2 to pull it up. However, the finger F is easily slippery on the inner wall of the refill container 2, and it is often impossible to pinch and pull up the refill container 2 reliably.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2(b), a finger F (e.g., an index finger F) gets caught on the hook portion 20, increasing the resistance, making it possible to easily and reliably pinch and pull up the refill container 2.
1 and 3(a) show an example of the hook portion 20. This hook portion 20 is a convex protrusion 21 formed on the inner wall of the refill container 2. The protrusions 21 protrude radially inward, and are formed at regular intervals around the entire circumference.

The diameter of the convex projection 21 is, for example, 0.5 to 2 mm, and the projection height is about 0.01 to 1 mm.
Such convex protrusions 21 are formed in multiple rows (three rows in FIG. 3(a)) in the vertical direction. That is, the convex protrusions 21 in this example are a dot pattern in which multiple circular bulges are formed at regular intervals around the circumference. The hook portions 20 may also be circular depressions.

The user's finger F can be hooked on the convex protrusion 21, allowing the user to easily and reliably pinch and pull up the refill container 2. The hook 20 does not need to be formed on the entire circumference of the inner wall of the inner tube 13B, and may be formed on only a portion of the circumference. The vertical position of the convex protrusion 21 (hook 20) may be any position on the body 5N (13B) of the refill container 2, and may be formed at all positions in the vertical direction. For example, if the hook 20 is formed in the vertical center of the refill container 2, the user can recognize that "the amount of cosmetics has been halved" when the top surface of the cosmetics reaches the position of the hook 20, which is very beneficial. In addition, if the hook 20 is formed on the entire inner wall of the refill container 2, it will be superior in design and will be able to create a sense of luxury.

The hook portion 20 is not limited to the above-described convex protrusion portion 21, and may have another shape.
For example, as shown in Fig. 3(b), the hooking portion 20 may be formed in stripes in the circumferential direction on the inner wall of the inner tube portion 13B of the refill container 2. In the example shown in Fig. 3(b), three hooking portions 20 are formed in the up-down direction, and the inner wall of the inner tube portion 13B is recessed in the radially outward direction to form a concave stripe portion 22. The hooking portion 20 may be a convex stripe portion.

Also, as shown in Fig. 3(c), the hook portion 20 may be formed in a band shape in the entire circumferential direction on the inner wall of the refill container 2. In the example shown in Fig. 3(c), the hook portion 20 is formed on the upper side of the inner wall of the refill container 2, and the vertical width is approximately 1/2 of the depth direction of the refill container 2. Within this band-shaped region, a diamond-shaped protrusion 23 that is diamond-shaped and convex in the radial inward direction is formed, and the diamond-shaped protrusions 23 are arranged in a tile-like pattern with no gaps.

In other words, the diamond-shaped protrusion 23 is formed by alternating diamond-shaped portions that make up the ridge line 23A (convex) extending to the left and right and diamond-shaped portions that make up the valley portions 23B (concave) formed above and below the ridge line 23A, resulting in repeated projections and recesses between the overlapping diamond edges, forming a continuous diamond-shaped projection and recess (like a diamond cut).
The hook portion 20 having such a shape particularly makes the refill container 2 excellent in design and can create a sense of luxury. For example, in the case of the diamond-shaped protrusion 23 shown in Fig. 3(c), if it is decorated with a gloss such as plating or glitter, light will be reflected in various directions, and it will be possible to create a sense of luxury and design. If the hook portion 20 is provided on the inner wall of the inner tube portion 13B of the refill container 2 as in the present invention, it will be rich in design, and the appearance of the inner wall of the inner tube portion 13B will be improved even when the cosmetic is reduced.

Next, in the double container 1 having the above-mentioned configuration, the replacement operation (particularly the removal method) of the refill container 2 that is performed after the cosmetic has been used up will be described.
As shown in Fig. 2(a), the user picks up the refill container 2, for example, with the thumb B and index finger F. Specifically, the thumb B is placed against the flange 14 or the hanging wall 15, and the index finger F is placed against the inner wall of the inner tube portion 13B. In this state, the index finger F and the thumb B are brought close to each other, and the refill container 2 is held and pulled upward. At that time, the index finger F hits the hook portion 20 as shown in Figs. 3(a) to 3(c), so that resistance is applied to the index finger F, preventing the index finger F from slipping on the inner wall of the inner tube portion 13B, and the refill container 2 can be easily and reliably picked up and pulled up.

After removing the used refill container 2, a new refill container 2 filled with cosmetics is pushed from above the outer container 3 into the internal space (inside the outer tube portion 7B) formed in the center of the outer container 3. The refill container 2 then moves into the interior of the outer container 3, and the two containers become one. If necessary, the cap 4 is then closed to close the opening that opens upward.

As described above, the double container 1 of the present invention comprises a refill container 2 formed into a cylindrical shape with a bottom and filled with contents, an outer container 3 formed into a cylindrical shape with a bottom and capable of housing the refill container 2 inside, and a lid body 4 that seals an opening formed at the top of the outer container 3 housing the refill container 2.The inner wall of the refill container 2 has a structure in which a hook portion 20 is formed to provide resistance to the user's fingers F when the refill container 2 is pinched and pulled up, so that the refill container 2 can be easily and reliably pinched and pulled up when replacing the refill container 2 after the contents have been used up.

It should be noted that the embodiments disclosed herein should be considered as illustrative in all respects and not restrictive.
In particular, in the embodiments disclosed herein, matters that are not explicitly stated, such as operating conditions, operating conditions, dimensions and weights of components, etc., do not deviate from the scope of ordinary practice by a person skilled in the art, and are matters that a person of ordinary skill in the art could easily imagine.

1. Double container 2. Inner container (refill container)
3 Outer container 4 Lid (cap)
5N Body of inner container 5S Body of outer container 7A Bottom of outer container 7B Outer tube 8 Engagement portion 9 Lid engagement portion 10 Male thread portion 11 Female thread portion 12 Refill engagement portion 13A Bottom of inner container 13B Inner tube 14 Flange portion 15 Hanging wall 16 Top wall portion 17 Peripheral wall portion 18 Gasket 20 Hook portion 21 Convex projection portion 22 Concave rib portion 23 Diamond-shaped projection portion 23A Ridge line 23B Valley portion F Finger (index finger)
B Thumb

Claims (3)

A double container having an inner container formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape and filled with a content, and an outer container formed in a cylindrical shape and capable of accommodating the inner container therein,
An opening and an engagement portion surrounding the opening are formed in the upper portion of the outer container,
The upper part of the inner container has a flange part that protrudes outward and a hanging wall that hangs down from the tip of the flange part in a skirt-like shape to the lower side, forming a folded part that fits into the engagement part from above,
A hook portion for providing finger resistance is formed on the inner wall of the inner container at a position below the hanging wall ,
The double container is characterized in that the hanging wall and the hook portion of the inner container are formed so that a user can place his or her thumb and finger on them when pinching and pulling up the inner container . 2. The double container according to claim 1, wherein the hook portion is formed by providing a plurality of convex or concave portions in the circumferential direction and in the vertical direction on the inner wall of the inner container. 3. The double container according to claim 1, wherein the hook portion is formed on the entire circumferential circumference of the inner wall of the inner container.

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