JP7631171B2 - Compact container and push piece - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a compact container and a push piece.

Some compact containers have a push piece that slides against the container body so that the rearward protrusion of the lid can be pushed in by the push piece to release the engagement between the rearward protrusion of the lid and the forward protrusion of the container body (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2020-050400 A

On the other hand, the bottom surface (lower surface) of the push piece of the compact container is flat, so in order to reduce the frictional resistance caused by contact between the push piece and the container body, silicone was applied to the bottom surface of the push piece by post-processing such as manual work.

The object of the present invention is to provide a compact container and push piece in which the frictional resistance that occurs when the push piece is pushed in is reduced without the need for applying silicone.

The compact container according to the present invention has a rear portion of a lid body connected to a rear portion of a container body by a hinge, and when the container body is covered with the lid body, the rearward protrusion of the lid body removably hooks onto the lower end of the forward protrusion of the container body, while a push piece housed in the container body pushes the rearward protrusion of the lid body rearward, thereby releasing the hooking between the forward protrusion and the rearward protrusion. The bottom surface of the push piece is composed of a front bottom surface that slidably contacts the container body, and a rear bottom surface that is separated from the front bottom surface by a step formed on the bottom surface, and further, the push piece has two protrusions on the rear bottom surface that are spaced apart in the left-right direction and slidably contact the container body.

In the compact container of the present invention, the protrusions are arranged on the rear bottom surface so as to contact the rear edge of the rear bottom surface when viewed from the bottom, and can be arranged on the rear bottom surface so as to contact the outer edges of the rear bottom surface in the left and right directions.

In the compact container of the present invention, the convex portion is arranged on the rear bottom surface so as to be in contact with the rear edge of the rear bottom surface when viewed from the bottom, and can be arranged at a position between the outer left-right edges of the rear bottom surface and the left-right bisector of the rear bottom surface.

In the compact container of the present invention, the convex portion is arranged on the rear bottom surface so as to be in contact with the front edge of the rear bottom surface when viewed from the bottom, and can be arranged at a position closer to the outer left and right edges of the rear bottom surface than the left and right bisector of the rear bottom surface.

In the compact container of the present invention, the convex portion is arranged on the rear bottom surface so as to be in contact with the front edge of the rear bottom surface when viewed from the bottom, and can be arranged at a position closer to the left-right bisector of the rear bottom surface than the left-right outer edges of the rear bottom surface.

In the compact container of the present invention, it is preferable that the height of the convex portion is equal to the height of the front bottom surface.

In the compact container of the present invention, it is preferable that the protrusion has an arcuate cross-sectional shape and extends in the front-to-rear direction.

The push piece according to the present invention is a push piece as described in any one of the above items.

The present invention provides a compact container and push piece that reduces the frictional resistance that occurs when the push piece is pushed in without applying silicone.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a compact container from above according to one embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the compact case of FIG. 1 along the line AA. FIG. 2 is a front view showing a push piece according to the first embodiment of the present invention, from the front side. FIG. 4 is a side view of the push piece of FIG. 3 from the right side. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the push piece of FIG. 3 from above. FIG. 4 is a bottom view showing the push piece of FIG. 3 from below. FIG. 4 is a rear view showing the push piece of FIG. 3 from the rear side. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the push piece of FIG. 5 along the line BB. FIG. 11 is a bottom view showing the push piece according to the second embodiment of the present invention from the underside. FIG. 11 is a bottom view showing the push piece according to the third embodiment of the present invention from the underside. FIG. 13 is a bottom view showing the push piece according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention from the underside. FIG. 1 is a bottom view showing an example of a conventional push piece from the underside. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a region R in FIG.

Next, a compact container according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, "front" refers to the side where the push piece is located, and "rear" refers to the opposite side. In the following description, "right" and "left" refer to the front side of the compact container as the front. In the following description, "width" refers to the width in the left-right direction. In the following description, "top" refers to the side of the lid in addition to its usual meaning. In the following description, "bottom" refers to the side of the container body in addition to its usual meaning.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a compact container according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the compact container 10 according to this embodiment is a round compact container.

Figure 2 shows a cross section of the compact case 10 of Figure 1 taken along the line A-A. The compact case 10 has a rear part of the lid 11 connected to the rear part of the case body 12 by a hinge 13.

In this embodiment, the lid 11 can be rotated around the hinge 13 in the up-down direction relative to the container body 12. In this embodiment, the lid 11 is made of resin. An example of the resin is polypropylene. The lid 11 has a recess C11 formed on the lower surface of the lid 11. For example, a mirror can be attached to the recess C11. In this embodiment, the container body 12 is also made of resin. An example of the resin is polypropylene. The container body 12 has a recess C12 formed on the upper surface of the container body 12. For example, the contents can be stored in the recess C12. Specifically, an inner plate containing the contents can be attached to the recess C12. The hinge 13 can be configured by, for example, a pin.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the container body 12 is covered with the lid 11, the rearward protrusion 11a of the lid 11 (hereinafter also referred to as the "lid side protrusion 11a") removably hooks onto the lower end of the forward protrusion 12a of the container body 12 (hereinafter also referred to as the "body side protrusion 12a"), as shown in FIG. 2. Meanwhile, the push piece 1 housed in the container body 12 pushes the lid side protrusion 11a of the lid 11 rearward, thereby releasing the hook between the body side protrusion 12a and the lid side protrusion 11a.

Figure 3 shows the push piece 1 from the front side. In this embodiment, the front wall 2 of the push piece 1 is a pushing portion for pushing the push piece 1 into the container body 12. In this embodiment, the outer surface of the front wall 2 is configured by a flat surface.

Figure 4 shows the push piece 1 from the right side. In this embodiment, the outer surface of the right wall 3 of the push piece 1 is a flat surface. In this embodiment, the left wall 4 of the push piece 1 is configured symmetrically with the right wall 3.

Figure 5 shows the push piece 1 from above. In this embodiment, the upper wall 5 of the push piece 1 can be brought into sliding contact with the container body 12. In this embodiment, the outer surface of the upper wall 5 is configured by a flat surface. In this embodiment, the upper wall 5 is formed with a notch portion C5 in which the rear end of the upper wall 5 is cut out.

Figure 6 shows the push piece 1 from the bottom side. The bottom wall 6 of the push piece 1 can also be slidably contacted with the container body 12. In this embodiment, the bottom wall 6 of the push piece 1 has corners on both the left and right sides of the rear end of the bottom wall 6 cut out to form the corners as missing parts C6, and an extension part 6c is formed between the missing parts C6. In this embodiment, the bottom wall 6 has two guide protrusions 6b. The two guide protrusions 6b are arranged on the bottom surface F6 of the bottom wall 6 so as to contact the missing part side rear end edge 6eb1 of the bottom wall 6, and are also arranged on the bottom surface F6 so as to contact the left and right outer end edges 6es1 (right wall 3, left wall 4) of the bottom surface F6. The two guide protrusions 6b slidably fit into the guide grooves 12G formed in the container body 12, as shown in Figure 13. This allows the push piece 1 to slide easily along the front-rear direction.

Figure 7 shows the push piece 1 from the rear side. As shown in Figure 7, the push piece 1 according to this embodiment has an internal space S that is open at the rear end of the push piece 1. The internal space S is partitioned by the right wall 3, the left wall 4, the upper wall 5, and the bottom wall 6, and the front side is closed by the front wall 2. A push-up piece 8 is disposed in the internal space S. Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view of B-B in Figure 5. The push-up piece 8 is a cantilever support piece that protrudes rearward from the inner surface (rear surface) of the front wall 2. The upper side of the push-up piece 8 is opened by a notch C5 formed in the upper wall 5. Referring to Figure 13, the push-up piece 8 pushes the lid-side protrusion 11a of the lid body 11 rearward by pushing the push piece 1, thereby pulling the lid-side protrusion 11a of the lid body 11 upward. At this time, the lid-side protrusion 11a of the lid body 11 moves upward so as to overcome the main body-side protrusion 12a of the container main body 12. This releases the engagement between the lid side protrusion 11a of the lid body 11 and the body side protrusion 12a of the container body 12.

The bottom surface F6 of the bottom wall 6 is composed of a front bottom surface F61 that is in sliding contact with the container body 12, and a rear bottom surface F62 that is separated from the front bottom surface by a step 63 formed on the bottom surface F6.

Referring to FIG. 6, in this embodiment, the front bottom surface F61 and the rear bottom surface F62 are flat surfaces. In this embodiment, the front bottom surface F61 (step 63) is arranged to surround the front, right and left sides of the rear bottom surface F62 in a bottom view, as shown in FIG. 6. Specifically, the front bottom surface F61 extends in the left-right direction along the front wall 2 of the bottom wall 6 to the left-right outer edge 6es1 (right wall 3) and the left-right outer edge 6es1 (left wall 4) of the bottom wall 6, and extends toward the rear along the left-right outer edge 6es1 of the bottom wall 6. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the right-side extending portion of the front bottom surface F61 and the left-side extending portion of the front bottom surface F61 are each connected to the guide protrusion 6b, as shown in FIG. 6.

Furthermore, the push piece 1 has two protrusions 7 on the rear bottom surface F62. The two protrusions 7 are arranged at a distance in the left-right direction. Each of the two protrusions 7 is in slidable contact with the container body 12, as shown in FIG. 13.

6, the push piece 1 has a step 63 formed on the bottom surface F6 of the bottom wall 6, so that the bottom surface F6 is divided into a front bottom surface F61 that contacts the container body 12 and a rear bottom surface F62 that does not contact the container body 12. In addition, the push piece 1 has two convex parts 7 on the rear bottom surface F62 that does not contact the container body 12, and the two convex parts 7 are the contact parts with the container body 12. In this case, as shown in FIG. 13, the only parts of the bottom wall 6 that come into contact with the container body 12 are the front bottom surface F61 of the bottom wall 6 and the top wall of the convex part 7, except for the guide protrusion 6b. That is, the push piece 1 can reduce the contact area with the container body 12 compared to when the entire bottom surface F6 of the bottom wall 6 is in contact with the container body 12. As a result, the push piece 1 can reduce the frictional resistance caused by the contact between the push piece 1 and the container body 12 without applying silicone to the bottom surface F6 of the bottom wall 6. Therefore, this embodiment can provide a compact container 10 and a push piece 1 in which the frictional resistance that occurs when the push piece 1 is pushed in is reduced without the need for applying silicone.

Also, referring to FIG. 7, in this embodiment, the height of the convex portion 7 is equal to the height of the front bottom surface F61. Specifically, the height of the convex portion 7 from the rear bottom surface F62 is equal to the height of the front bottom surface F61 from the rear bottom surface F62. In this case, the front bottom surface F61 of the bottom wall 6 and the top wall of the convex portion 7 are in even contact with the container body 12. Therefore, in this case, the frictional resistance that occurs when the push piece 1 is pushed in can be further reduced.

Referring to FIG. 7, in this embodiment, the protrusion 7 has an arcuate cross-sectional shape and extends in the front-to-rear direction. In this case, the protrusion 7 is in close to line contact with the container body 12 along the front-to-rear direction, but is unlikely to come into one-sided contact with the container body 12. Therefore, in this case, the frictional resistance that occurs when the push piece 1 is pushed in can be further reduced.

Also, as shown in FIG. 6, in this embodiment, the protrusions 7 are arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the rear end edge of the rear bottom surface F62 in a bottom view, and are arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the left-right outer end edge of the rear bottom surface F62. Specifically, the protrusions 7 are arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the extension side rear end edge 6eb2. In addition, one of the two protrusions 7 is arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the missing portion side left-right outer end edge 6es2 (the left-right outer end edge of the rear bottom surface F62), and the other of the two protrusions 7 is also arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the missing portion side left-right outer end edge 6es2.

9 is a bottom view of the push piece 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, the protrusion 7 is arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the rear end edge of the rear bottom surface F62 in a bottom view, and is arranged between the left-right outer edge of the rear bottom surface F62 and the left-right bisector LC of the rear bottom surface F62. Specifically, the protrusions 7 are arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the extension side rear end edge 6eb2, as in the first embodiment. In addition, one of the two protrusions 7 is arranged at a position between the left-right outer edge 6es2 on the defect side and the left-right bisector LC, and the other of the two protrusions 7 is also arranged at a position between the left-right outer edge 6es2 on the defect side and the left-right bisector LC. That is, the two protrusions 7 are arranged at positions that contact the rear end edge 6eb2 of the extension portion, excluding the positions of the outer left-right end edge 6es2 of the defect portion and the left-right bisector LC.

10 is a bottom view of the push piece 1 according to the third embodiment of the present invention, as seen from below. In this embodiment, the protrusions 7 are arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the front edge of the rear bottom surface F62 in a bottom view, as shown in FIG. 10, and are arranged closer to the outer left-right edge of the rear bottom surface F62 than the left-right bisector LC of the rear bottom surface F62. Specifically, the protrusions 7 are arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the front portions 63a of the steps 63. In addition, one of the two protrusions 7 is disposed closer to one of the two left-right outer parts 63s (left-right outer edges of the rear bottom surface F62) of the step 63 than the left-right bisector LC (for example, when one of the two protrusions 7 is on the right side, the right left-right outer part 63s), and the other of the two protrusions 7 is disposed closer to the other of the two left-right outer parts 63s of the step 63 than the left-right bisector LC (for example, when the other of the two protrusions 7 is on the left side, the left left-right outer part 63s). In this embodiment, the front part 63a of the step 63 is a curved part that protrudes toward the front in a bottom view, as shown in FIG. 10. Also, in this embodiment, the left-right outer part 63s of the step 63 is a part that extends in the front-rear direction.

11 is a bottom view of the push piece 1 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, as seen from below. In this embodiment, the protrusions 7 are arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the front edge of the rear bottom surface F62 in a bottom view, as shown in FIG. 11, and are arranged closer to the left-right bisector LC of the rear bottom surface F62 than the left-right outer edge of the rear bottom surface F62. Specifically, the protrusions 7 are arranged on the rear bottom surface F62 so as to contact the front portion 63a of the step 63, as in the third embodiment. In addition, one of the two protrusions 7 is positioned closer to the left-right bisector LC than one of the two left-right outer parts 63s of the step 63 (e.g., when one of the two protrusions 7 is on the right side, the right-side left-right outer part 63s), and the other of the two protrusions 7 is positioned closer to the left-right bisector LC than the other of the two left-right outer parts 63s of the step 63 (e.g., when the other of the two protrusions 7 is on the left side, the left-side left-right outer part 63s).

Table 1 below shows the results of an analysis of the opening action of the lid using a push piece, using a compact container as an analytical model.

Table 1 shows comparative data between the comparative model and practical models 1 to 4, with the comparative model being taken as 100%. In Table 1, practical models 1 to 4 are analytical models corresponding to the compact container 10 according to the first to fourth embodiments, respectively. The comparative model is an analytical model of a compact container using a conventional push piece 100 as a comparative example, as shown in FIG. 12. Referring to FIG. 12, the configuration of the push piece 100 is generally the same as the push piece 1 of practical models 1-4, except for the bottom surface F6. The bottom surface F6 of the push piece 100 is composed of a plane F61 that contacts the container body 12, and a recessed surface F63 formed on the plane F61.

In Table 1, F1 is the load (N: Newton) applied to the push piece 1 in the backward direction when the lid body 11 is opened. In Table 1, F2 is the upward load (N: Newton) applied by the lid side protrusion 11a to the body side protrusion 12a when the hook between the lid side protrusion 11a of the lid body 11 and the body side protrusion 12a of the container body 12 is released. In Table 1, F2/F1 is the ratio (%: percentage) of the load F2 to the load F1. To the right of the analytical values obtained from these analysis results, the ratio (%) based on the analytical values obtained from the comparative model is shown in parentheses. For example, in the case of the relationship between the comparative model and the practical model 1, when the comparative model's F1 = 8.3 (N) is 100%, the ratio of the practical model 1 to the comparative model's F1 = 6.037 (N) is 72.7%, as shown in parentheses. In addition, for the load F2, when the comparative model's F2 = 3.901 (N) is taken as 100%, the ratio of the practical model 1 to F2 = 3.533 (N) is 90.6%, as shown in parentheses. Furthermore, in terms of the F2/F1 ratio, when the comparative model's F2/F1 = 47.00 (N) is taken as 100%, the ratio of the practical model 1 to F2/F1 = 58.52 (N) is 124.5%, as shown in parentheses.

Referring to Table 1, it can be seen that in comparison with the comparative model, the working models 1 to 4 are able to obtain a push-up load F2 that is roughly equivalent to that of the comparative model while keeping the load F1 applied to the push piece 1 small. In other words, in the working models 1 to 4, the load F1 applied to the push piece 1 pushes up the lid-side protrusion 11a of the lid body 11 more efficiently than in the comparative model. This is thought to be because the frictional resistance that occurs when the push piece is pushed in is reduced.

The analysis results in Table 1 tend to show that a better effect is obtained when the protrusion 7 is located on the rear side of the push piece 1 and on the outer side in the left-right direction of the push piece 1, and that the effect tends to be weaker when the protrusion 7 is located on the front side of the push piece 1 and on the central side in the left-right direction of the push piece 1. According to the analysis results in Table 1, the effect increases from Example Model 4 (fourth embodiment), to Example Model 3 (third embodiment), to Example Model 2 (second embodiment), to Example Model 1 (first embodiment).

The above describes exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the claims. As described above, it is preferable to arrange the two protrusions 7 as in the first to fourth embodiments, but according to the present invention, the two protrusions 7 can be arranged at any position on the rear bottom surface F62. Furthermore, when the compact case 10 is used as a cosmetic compact case, cosmetics such as foundation and cosmetic tools such as puffs can be stored between the case body 12 and the lid 11. Furthermore, the external shape of the case body 12 is not limited to being circular in plan view. Furthermore, the various configurations adopted in each of the above-mentioned embodiments can be appropriately replaced with each other or combined.

1: push piece, 2: front wall, 3: right wall, 4: left wall, 5: upper wall, 6: bottom wall, 6eb1: rear edge of missing portion, 6eb2: rear edge of extension portion (rear edge of rear bottom surface), 6es1: outer edge of bottom wall in left-right direction, 6es2: outer edge of missing portion in left-right direction (outer edge of rear bottom surface in left-right direction), 63: step, 63a: front part of step, 63s: outer part of step in left-right direction (outer edge of rear bottom surface in left-right direction), 7: convex part, 8: push-up piece, 10: compact container, 11: lid, 11a: lid side protrusion (rearward protrusion), 12: container body, 12a: body side protrusion (forward protrusion), 13: hinge, F6: bottom surface, F61: front bottom surface, F62: Rear bottom surface,

Claims (8)

A compact container, the rear of which is connected to the rear of a container body by a hinge, and when the container body is covered with the lid, a rearward protrusion of the lid removably hooks onto a lower end of a forward protrusion of the container body, while a push-up piece of a push piece housed in the container body pushes the rearward protrusion of the lid rearward, thereby releasing the hooking between the forward protrusion and the rearward protrusion,
a bottom surface of the bottom wall of the push piece is composed of a front bottom surface that is in slidable contact with the container body, and a rear bottom surface that is separated from the front bottom surface by a step formed on the bottom surface;
Furthermore, the push piece has two protrusions on the rear bottom surface that are arranged at a distance from each other in the left-right direction and that slidably contact the container body. The compact container according to claim 1, wherein the convex portion is disposed on the rear bottom surface so as to contact the rear edge of the rear bottom surface when viewed from the bottom, and is disposed on the rear bottom surface so as to contact the outer edges of the rear bottom surface in the left and right directions. The compact container according to claim 1, wherein the convex portion is disposed on the rear bottom surface so as to be in contact with the rear edge of the rear bottom surface when viewed from the bottom, and is disposed at a position between the outer left-right edges of the rear bottom surface and the left-right bisector of the rear bottom surface. The compact container according to claim 1, wherein the convex portion is disposed on the rear bottom surface so as to be in contact with the front edge of the rear bottom surface when viewed from the bottom, and is disposed at a position closer to the outer left and right edges of the rear bottom surface than the left and right bisector of the rear bottom surface. The compact container according to claim 1, wherein the convex portion is disposed on the rear bottom surface so as to be in contact with the front edge of the rear bottom surface when viewed from the bottom, and is disposed at a position closer to the left-right bisector of the rear bottom surface than the left-right outer edges of the rear bottom surface. A compact container as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, in which the height of the convex portion is equal to the height of the front bottom surface. A compact container as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, in which the convex portion has an arcuate cross-sectional shape and extends in the front-to-rear direction. A push piece according to any one of claims 1 to 7.