Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
WO90/11229 PCT/GB90/00426
~9~31'7
Plastics CoAntainers
This invention relates to containers made of
plastics material, hereinafter referred to as plastics
containers. The invention is particularly concerned
with plastics containers for holdinq paint, but
containers according to the invention may be used for
any other purpose that may be desired.
It is proposed to form the open top of such a
container by way of a separately formed shroud secured ;~
around the top of the container body. Such a shroud can
serve various purposes, for example to provide a sealing
surface ~or a lid of the container, which makes a plug
15 fit in the shroud. ~owever, when the container is to be
provided with a carrying handle, it may be
disadvantageous to mount the handle by connec~ing it
only to the said shroud, becausc o~ prohlems whlch will
then arise in connecting the shroud to the conta'iner
body securely enough to reliably support the weight of
the container body and its contents in all
circumstances, particularly under sudden strain.
Thus viewed from one aspect the present invention
provides a plastics container having a carrying handle ,
mounted thereto at a plurality of locations, the
container having an open top which is defined by a
separately formed shroud secured around the top of the
container body, the,container body and the shroud
together providin~ wall regions of double thickness at ~-
least at the said handle mounting locations, and the
handle being connected to the container by way of holes
extending'through said double thickness;wall regions.
Preferably the handle,is provided.with mounting
lugs which extend into,the said holes, from tha outside.
When the container, is prov,ided with a lid, as-will o~
course be the case,with a container for paint, the saal
between the lid and the container body should be located '
.' ,,
wos~ 229 204~s ~ ~ PCT/GB90/00426
inwardly of, i.e. below, the said holes ~or mounting the
handle, so as to ensure that no leakage of the container
contents'can occur through the said holes when the lid
is in place,'and also that there can be no inward
leakage of air to the contents. However, means for
securing the lid in its closed condition, separate from
the lid seal, may conveniently be located outwardly of,
i.e. above, the said holes.
If an air-tight seal is re~uired, for example when
the container is for solvent-borne paints, the lid seal
may be provided by means of a ~lowed-in gasket of
polymeric material on either the lid or the container
body in the sealing zone therebetween, which gasket is
different in material ~r composition from the said lid
or body and is, in its working condition, softer than
the material of the latter; further details o~ this
sealing concept may be obtained from our British Patent
Application No. ~20393~O.
The concept of locating the lid seal inwardly of
the handle holes is not necessarily bound up with the
provision of a shroud on the container body. Thus viewed
from another ~spect the invention provides a plastics
container having a carrying handle mounted thereto at a
plurality of locations, and having a Iid arranged ko
make sealing engagement inside the mouth of the
container, wherein the lid is connected to the container
by way of holes extending through thë body of the
container, and--the lid'--makes~sealing engagement with the
container inwardly of the said holes. With such an
arrangement, lid securing means separate from the lid
seal may again be provided a~ a location outwardly of
the seal. Furthermore','the'seal itself may be of the
flowed~in kind already mentionèd'.'''
Furthermore~:the concept of''providing separate
securing and sealing means''for''the lid ie not necesarily
bound up with the provision of a handle. Thus viewed
from a further aspect the invention provides a plastics
W090~ll229 P?CT/~ B90/00426
93 17
container having an open top which is defined by a
separately formed shroud secured around the to~ of the
container body, and a lid arranged to ~it in the said
open top, wherein the lid makes securing engagement with
s the said shroud and, inwardly thereof, sealing
engagement with the container body.
An embodiment of the invention will now be
described by way of example and with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which:-
Figure ~ is a side elevation view of a plastics
container according to the invention, particularly for
containing paint;
Figure 2 is a top plan view of the container; and
Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view on the
line III-III of Figure 2, including an enlarged view.
~ eferring to the drawings, the container basically
comprises a generally square-section open-topped body 1
provided w?ith a reinforcing shroud 2 around its top, a
pivotally mounted handl~ 3, and a lid ~. ~'iguir?c 1 shows
the handle 3 in full lineæ in its stowed position, and
in ghost lines in a partially raised position. Referring
now particularly to Figure 3, the body 1 of the
container has a radially inset portion 6 around its top,
arranged to provide an inwardly facing sealing surface 7
for the lid 4 and terminating in an upwardly directed
annular wall portion 8 which provides a mounting for the
shroud 2.
The shroud is received in the annular space
provided by the inset portion 6 of the container body,
and includes a central vertical wall portion 9 w?hich
engages face to face with the wall 8 of the body to form
a double thickness wall and is formed with an inwardly
facing annular hook portion 10 which engages under'thé
bottom,~edge of the body.wall:8 to `se`cureIy attach the'
shroud to the..body.;. The..shroud 'further--includes'`a lower
annular wall portion ll'which ~its flush with th'e top of
the side wall 12 of the body 1 to def?ine a substantially
.
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WOgo/ll229 PCT/CB90/00426
4 ;~-
continuous outer surface therewith, and an upper annularwall portion 13 of inverted V-shape which terminates in
an inwardly directed lid securing ~lange 14.
The handle is formed with an integral, inwardly
s facing, mounting lug 15 at each end thereof, which
mounting lugs are rotatably received in holes 16
extending through the double thickness wall defined by
the wall portions 8 and 9 of the body and shroud
respectively, barbs lSa being provided on the inner ends
of the lugs to prevent disengagement. Thus, the handle
is mounted to a double thickness wall defined in
combination by the container body 1 and the shroud 2.
The lid 4 o~ the container comprises a
substantially ~'lat top 17 formed with a depending
annular side wall 18. ~n oukwardly and upwardly
projecting annular flange 19 of the lid is formed with
an annular rece~s 20, which snaps over the lid securing
flange 1~ of thz shroud to secure thc lid in its ~loscd
position. The lid ~al is provided by way of a ~lowed-in
gas~et 21 provided all around the outside surface of the
lower region of the lid side wall 18. An outwardly
extending annular shoulder 22 is formed on the wall 18
to define the upward termination of the flowed- in
gasket 21, the e~fect of which is that at its top
2s adjacent the shoulder 22, and as clearly shown in the
enlarged view, the outwardly-facing sealing surface of
the gasket is of arcuate shape so as make a particularly
efficient seal with a similarly shaped inwardly facing
sealing surface of the shroud wall 9.: To secure the lid
in its closed position it:-is simply pushed into the
mouth of the container until the lid holding flange 14
on the shroud springs into the recess 20 in the lid,
while at the same time the sealing gasket '21 fits 'into
the annular. sealing.~surface defined by:thè' shroud.' `''
. It will be noted:~that the seal between;the lid and
the container body is located inwardly~of, i.e`. below,
the holes 17 provided in the body to mount the handle,'
WO90/11229 PCT/~B90/00426
2~4~
s
thus ensuring that the contents of the container cannot
leak out through the holes and that air cannot gain
access to the contents by the same route.
A brush wiping bar 23 extends across the open mouth
of the container body, being spot welded at its opposite
ends to a shoulder 24 on the inset portion of the body,
below the lid seal.
It is to be clearly understood that there are no
particular ~eatures o~ the foregoing specification, or
of any claims appended hereto, which are at present
regarded as being essential to the performance of the
present invention, and that any one or more of such
features or combinations thereo~ may therefore be
included in, added to, omitted ~rom or deleted from any
of such clai~s if and when amended during the
prosecution o~ this application or in the ~ilin~ or
prosecution o~ any divisional appliaation based therQon.
Furthermore the manner in which any o~ such ~ea~ures Oe
the speci~iaation or claims are described or d~ined may
be amended, broadened or otherwise modified in any
manner which ~alls within the knowledge of a person
skilled in the relev~nt art, for example so as to
encompass, either implicitly or explicitly, e~uivalents
or generalisations thereof.
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