Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02035902 1998-04-lS
SYNTHETIC RESIN BOTTLE-SHAPED CONTAINER
This invention relates to a relatively large synthetic
resin bottle-shaped container.
Biaxially-oriented blow-molded bottle-shaped containers
made of acrylonitrile resin or polyethylene terephthalate
resin are popularly used because of their mechanical
strength, transparency and other excellent properties.
Such biaxially-oriented blow-molded bottle-shaped
containers are generally divided into two groups: those
having a semispherically bulged bottom for an enhanced
internal pressure resistivity and provided with a base cup
that serves as a stand, and those having a bottom with an
internally depressed central area that serves as a stand for
self-standing without a base cup.
A bottle-shaped body having a self-standing capability
is advantageous over a bottle-shaped body provided with a
base cup in terms of easy cleaning, sterilization, molding
and assembling, as well as of overall appearance.
However, a self-standing bottle-shaped body has only a
small bottom area that supports the bottle-shaped body
relative to the cross sectional area of a body portion and
therefore is less stable when it stands by itself.
More specifically, when a circular peripheral portion of
the bottom that serves as a stand for the bottle-shaped body
is formed by depressing the central area of the bottom by
blow-molding, the circular peripheral portion of the bottom
is inevitably located nearer to the center of the bottom than
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CA 0203S902 1998-04-1~
the outer circumference of the body portion. This fact
results in the reduced bottom area that supports the bottle-
shaped body in an upright condition.
Moreover, when a high internal pressure is applied to
such a self-standing bottle-shaped body, the bottom portion
forming a stand is subjected to a relatively large expansion,
which in turn adversely affects the self-standing capability
of the bottle-shaped body to a significant extent. Such an
expansion can result in deformation.
On the other hand, in a bottle-shaped body provided with
a base cup for keeping it upright, the height of the base cup
is required to be of a relatively large size in order to
accommodate the outwardly-projecting semispherical bottom
portion of the bottle-shaped body, so that the overall
appearance of the bottle-shaped container will be
aesthetically poor because of the disproportional large base
cup. Moreover, the bottom of such a bottle-shaped body can
not protect expansion and deformation when a large internal
pressure is applied thereto.
Besides, a biaxially-oriented blow-molded bottle-shaped
container made of acrylonitrile resin is insufficiently
resistive to shocks applied to the bottom and can produce
cracks and fissures on the bottom when it is inadvertently
dropped.
In view of the above described problems, it is therefore
an object of the present invention to provide a bottle-shaped
container having a depressed area at the center of the bottom
provided with a pedestal useful as self-standing means,
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wherein the bottom has an enhanced and stable self-standing
capability and protects any expansion and deformation, and at
the same time is highly resistive to shocks.
According to the invention, the above object is achieved
by providing a synthetic resin bottle-shaped container
comprising a biaxially-oriented blow-molded bottle-shaped
body having a relatively long press-fit recess on a curved
outer peripheral surface area of a curved bottom portion and
a cylindrical pedestal body having a straight and cylindrical
upper half portion with an outer diameter substantially equal
to that of a body portion of the bottle-shaped container.
The upper portion has a curved inner peripheral surface
closely engaged with the press-fit recess. The cylindrical
pedestal body further has a hollow pedestal-shaped lower half
portion for accommodating the bottom of the bottle-shaped
body portion, so that a lowest end of the lower half portion
of the pedestal body is positioned below a lowest end of the
bottom portion of the body portion.
The press-fit recess preferably is formed to be
progressively deeper toward the lower end thereof, on the
curved outer peripheral surface area of the bottom portion,
and the matching curved inner peripheral surface of the upper
half portion of the cylindrical pedestal body is tapered
toward the upper end thereof. Therefore, the bottom of the
bottle-shaped body is closely engaged with the pedestal body
by simply pressing downward the bottle-shaped body until the
curved outer peripheral surface area of the bottom of the
bottle-shaped body is completely in contact with the matching
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curved inner peripheral surface area of the upper half
portion of the cylindrical pedestal body.
When the press-fit recess formed on the curved outer
peripheral surface area of the bottle-shaped body is so
configured that the recess is progressively deeper toward the
lower end thereof and a relatively high projecting portion is
provided at the lower end of the press-fit recess, a press-
fit rib projecting at the lower end of the curved inner
peripheral area of the cylindrical upper half portion of the
pedestal body is closely engaged with the high projecting
portion to produce a firm and stable engagement between the
bottle-shaped body and the pedestal body.
With such an arrangement, since the curved outer
peripheral surface of the bottom of the bottle-shaped body is
closely engaged with the inner surface of the pedestal body,
an enhanced inner pressure is supported by the inner surface
of the pedestal body, and the bottom of the bottle-shaped
body is protected against any undesirable expansion and
de ormation due to such an enhanced inner pressure.
Besides, since the lowest end of the lower half portion
of the pedestal body is always positioned below a lowest end
of the bottom of the bottle-shaped body, the lowest end
surface of pedestal body provides a firm and stable support
for the bottle-shaped body regardless of expansion and
deformation of its bottom.
Moreover, since the pedestal body is not integral with
the bottle-shaped body and the pedestal body serves as a
shock absorber that effectively protects the bottom of the
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bottle-shaped body from cracks and fissures, the bottom of
the bottle-shaped body has sufficiently high sensitivity to
any shocks even if the bottle-shaped container is made of
acrylonitrile resin and it is dropped from a high position.
Now a preferred embodiment of the present invention will
be described in detail, by referring to the accompanying
drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a front view of the embodiment showing the
pedestal body in partial longitudinal cross section.
Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view
showing only the encircled area in Fig. 1.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In Figs. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a
biaxially-oriented blow-molded bottle-shaped body made of
synthetic resin having a bottom portion 3 integrally formed
at a lower end of the body portion 2 of the bottle portion 1.
The bottom portion 3 has a depressed area 6 at the center
thereof and a peripheral projecting area surrounding the
depressed area which can serve as a stand or support
structure in a conventional hollow bottle-shaped body of the
self-standing type.
Now referring to Fig. 2, a relatively long press-fit
recess 4 is formed on the outer peripheral surface area of a
curved surface of the bottom portion 3 near the body portion
2 and is so configured that the depth of recess 4 is
progressively increased as it approaches a lower end thereof,
thus forming an annular groove 4a. A relatively high
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projecting portion 5 is formed at the lower end of the press-
fit recess 4.
On the other hand, a pedestal body 7 for supporting the
bottle-shaped body 1 is formed as a whole in the form of a
short and straight cylinder, i.e. having a substantially
vertical outer perimeter, and an upper half cylindrical
portion 9 of the pedestal body 7 is provided with a curved
inner surface area 10 matching the outer peripheral surface
area of the press-fit recess 4. Since the both curved
surfaces have a same radius of curvature, they are closely
engaged with each other in a press-fit manner when assembled.
A press-fit rib 11 is projected at the lower end of said
curved inner surface area 10 of the upper half cylindrical
portion 9 of the pedestal body 7 and is closely engaged with
the lower edge of the press-fit recess 4 when assembled.
With such an arrangement, a step 12 is formed at the
boundary between the press-fit cylindrical upper half portion
9 and the lower half pedestal portion 8 of the pedestal body
7, such that the projecting portion 5 does not constitute any
obstacle when the bottle-shaped body 1 and the pedestal body
7 are assembled.
The press-fit rib 11 is so sectionally constructed in a
sharp top shape that it can be resiliently deformed. The
curved inner surface area 10 is so tapered toward the upper
end thereof that it provides a guide surface for properly
engaging the bottle-shaped body 1 with the pedestal body 7.
The press-fit rib 11 can be resiliently deformed and can
easily pass over the projecting portion 5 for engagement of
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the bottle-shaped body 1 and the pedestal body 7 when they
are assembled together.
Because of the engagement between the rib 11 and the
projecting portion 5, the pedestal body 7 is strongly fitted
to the bottom portion 3 of the bottle-shaped body 1 once they
are assembled.
The pedestal body 7 is made of a synthetic resin
material which is highly resistive against shocks and
therefore can provide satisfactory protection for the bottle-
shaped body 1 against external shocks even when the bottom
portion 3 of the bottle-shaped body 1 is made of
acrylonitrile resin.
Because of the construction described above, the present
invention provides the following advantages.
Firstly, since the pedestal body is formed in the form
of a short and straight cylinder having an outer diameter
substantially identical with that of the body portion of the
bottle-shaped container, a flat bottom surface of the lower
end of the pedestal body provides the stable support for the
bottle-shaped body in its upright position.
Secondly, since the overall height of the pedestal body
is only slightly greater than that of the bottom portion
having a depression at the center thereof, the pedestal body
has a sufficiently reduced height relative to that of the
elongated bottle-shaped main body. ~onsequently, the
pedestal body does not provide poor impression of the
container in appearance.
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Thirdly, since the pedestal body is tightly press fitted
to the recess forming the outer peripheral area of the bottom
portion of the bottle-shaped body, it can effectively prevent
any expansion and deformation of the bottom portion occurring
due to an enhanced internal pressure. Consequently, the
resistance against the inner pressure of the bottle-shaped
body having a depressed central area at the bottom portion
can be considerably increased.
Additionally, since the bottle-shaped body is closely
engaged with the pedestal body by a simple press-fit
operation, the two bodies can be assembled without any
difficulty. Moreover, since the two bodies are conveniently
and mutually guided to a proper position, they can be
accurately assembled.
Finally, since the pedestal body is made of a highly
shock-absorbing synthetic resin material, it can effectively
protect the bottom portion of the bottle-shaped body from
external impacts, and prevent the bottle-shaped body from
damages when the container is dropped even if the container
is made of a material having a relatively poor shock
resistivity such as acrylonitrile resin.
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