Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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INJECTION MOUNDED CONTAINER
This invention relates to injection mounded contain-
ens.
Paint and similar materials are usually sold in met-
at containers of the type having a body, a cylindrical
side wall and a mouth at the top defined by a radially
inwardly projecting rim This rim defines a drip channel
and tightly receives a plug-fitting lid. A carrying
handle is mounted in yoke fashion on the side wall with
opposite end parts of the handle pivotal mounted on
external projections on the side wall. The external sun-
face of the side wall is directly printed.
Printing is carried out on a blank of sheet metal
prior to forming of the side wall of the container from
the sheet. A pair of projections is riveted to the side
wall after printing and each projection extends to the
exterior of the side wall with a formation for receiving
a respective end part of the handle.
It has become desirable for container of this type
to be manufactured by injection mounding without losing
the character of the metal container. Such a container
has to be printed on a cylindrical side wall and it is
important that the exterior surface of the side wall is
smooth to facilitate printing. Any projections on the
exterior surface of the side wall would interfere with
the printing process or make this difficult to carry out.
This has been avoided by welding projecting formations
onto the surface after printing and then pivotal ail-
aching the handle to the formations
This has the disadvantages that two welding steps
30 have to be carried out on each container and the result-
ant weld is liable to break, so that, after filling the
container there are a number of rejects.
The present invention is concerned with eliminating
the welding step and providing a more reliable connection
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of the handle to the container body, without making the
printing process more difficult to carry out.
The present invention is characterized in that,
prior to fitting of the handle, the circumferential en-
vernal surface of the side wall is smooth without any projections, a pair of diametrically opposite internal
projections extend radially inwardly from the inner sun-
face of the side wall, each projection having a recess
open to the exterior of the body, each end part of the
handle having a spigot which pivotal seats in the corn-
responding one of the recesses, and retaining means no-
twining each spigot in the recess.
French Certificate d'Utilite' No. 7411108 discloses a
barrel-shaped plastics mounding, whose body is made in
two halves sealed together along their edges A separate
top is secured to the body and has a narrow neck for no-
ceiling a stopper. The neck has inwardly extending pro-
sections which receive trunnions of a handle. This is a
complicated construction, which could not be made in one
piece by injection mounding and has no relation to the
type of container with which the invention is concerned.
It would not be obvious to a skilled person faced with
the problem solved by the present invention, to injection
- mound the container with inward projections in the body
side wall, if this French publication was available to
him. The problem is not relevant to this publication and
adaption of a container of the type for holding paint to
the construction shown in this publication would render
the container useless for its intended purposes, as well
as making it impossible to produce by injection mounding.
Furthermore, it would be impossible to make a con-
trainer of the type envisaged by the present invention by
blow-moulding. In addition, blow-moulding produces a
container with walls of uneven thickness, so that very
thick walls would be required for a container of suffice
tent strength, as compared with -the very thin and strong
walls which can be achieved by injection mounding in
polypropylene. The external finish of a blow-moulded
container is also poor and the smooth printed finish ail-
Anabel by the present invention is not attainable byblow-moulding techniques.
In the preferred construction, pivotal movement is
facilitated by the provision of spaced annular ribs on a
spigot of the handle, which ribs define bearings mourn-
ailed in the recess. This ensures that the handle cannot bind and be held in a raised position, which would inter-
lore with automatic handling of the containers, e.g. dun-
in filling. One of these ribs co-operates with a
shoulder at the entrance to the recess to retain the
handle in the recess. The arrangement is such that the
spigots can automatically be pushed into the recesses to
provide the pivotal inter-connections, the shoulder
and/or the ribs being resilient to provide for snap-
engagement
The spigot is pivotal movable relative to the body
of the container and this could cause a problem in mock-
apical handling for filling the container. There is some
vibration during conveyance and the handles could move
into positions where they interfere with the process.
This is prevented by providing the end of each spigot and
the adjacent end wall of the respective recess with rest
iliently interengageable parts, which define location
means for resiliently holding the handle in a given post-
lion. The handle may be held positively in a precise
position, or resiliently prevented from passing a precise
position until small force is applied to the handle.
Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings,
wherein:-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a body of a contain-
or according to the invention, shown partly in cross-
- -
section;
Figure 2 is an underneath plan view of the container
body;
Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view in cross-section
showing how a handle is attached to the body of the con-
trainer; and
Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view, partly in
section, of a detail of the container showing a connect
lion of the handle to the body.
The container shown in Figure 1 is a one-piece in-
section mounding and has a bottom 11, a main cylindrical
wall 12 and an open mouth 13 surrounded by an inwardly
extending peripheral rim 14, formed as a drip channel.
As shown in Figure 2 the bottom 11 is reinforced by
a pattern of integral radial and circular ribs 15, 16.
The cylindrical wall 12 is provided internally with
integral vanes 17 adjacent the rim 14, the vanes being
spaced around the wall.
elbow the vanes, two diametrically opposite bosses
20 are provided projecting inwardly of the body. As
shown in Figures 3 and 4, each boss 20 is hollow, define
in a recess 21 open to the exterior of the body, but
closed to the interior of the body by an end wall 22. At
the inner end of the recess, a shallow depression 23 is
provided in the end wall 22. The mouth of the recess is
constricted by an annular rim I whose surface is fad-
fussed in cross-section.
The container includes a carrying handle 30, only
part of which is illustrated in Figures 3 and 4. The
handle is also mounded and is of the yore type, convent
tonal in paint cans, in which the handle is generally of
inverted U-shape and bridges the mouth of the can in the
carrying position, the free end of each leg of the U be-
in pivotal mounted on the cylindrical wall ox the can.
In Figure 3, the end part- of one leg 31 of the
handle 30 is shown, and this carries a spigot 32 extend-
in axially perpendicularly -to the length of the leg 31.
The other leg of the handle (not shown) is similarly
formed, with the two spigots lying on a common axis and
extending towards each other. Each spigot engages in a
corresponding one of -the recesses 21.
Each spigot 32 is provided with a pair (or more) of
axially spaced peripheral ribs 33, 34, each of which is
roadside in cross-section. These ribs engage and slide
on the internal peripheral wall of the respective recess
21 to facilitate pivotal movement of the spigots in the
recesses.
Each annular rim 24 similarly slid ably engages with
the external surface of the respective spigot and serves
to retain the spigot in the recess by cooperation with
one of the peripheral ribs 33. The material of the main
wall and/or the handle is sufficiently resilient to allow
for snap-engagement of each spigot in its recess.
On the free end wall of each spigot is a detent 35,
which is engage able with the depression 23 in the end
wall 22 of the recess. This locates the handle relative
to the body in a given position and resiliently resists
movement from that position. This prevents the handle
from being moved by vibration during conveyance ox the
containers for filling and fitting of lids.
The vanes 17 prevent swirling of liquid in the con-
trainer, during handling, and thereby prevent spillage
Before fitting of the handle, the cylindrical wall
of the container has a smooth exterior, with no project
lions, which can easily be printed
The handle I may comprise a resiliently flexible length of material having -the spigots 32 formed on each
end, the flexibility allowing for bending of the spigot
ends relative to the adjacent parts of the handle, in-
stead of the spigots being formed perpendicularly to the adjacent parts of the handle.
