Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02209837 1997-07-08
COLLAPSIBLE TUBULAR CONTAINER
WITH PROTECTIVE SHOULDER
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a collapsible tubular
container, such as a plastic squeeze tube, having a closure cap and
a protective shoulder about the head of the tube.
Background of the Invention
Collapsible plastic tubes are used in the packaging and
dispensing of a myriad of consumer products such as cosmetics,
toothpaste, shampoo, foodstuffs and the like. The collapsible
plastic tubes are usually formed from a cylindrical tubular plastic
body which has a head portion, on which a neck is provided having a
dispensing orifice formed therethrough, the head secured to and
closing off one end of the tubular body. A closure cap is releasably
secured to the neck to close off the dispensing orifice and the tube
is filled with the desired consumer product and the opposite end of
the tube sealed, such as by heat sealing. In use, the user removes
the cap and squeezes the tubular plastic body to force tube contents
through the dispensing orifice in the neck. After use, the cap is
re-secured to the neck to protect the tube contents from the
environment.
Since the collapsible tubes are primarily used for
packaging and retail sale of consumer products, the appearance of the
tubular container is important. Often, when the closure cap is
secured to the head of a tubular body, a slight spacing or gap is
present between the bottom edge of the closure cap and the head of
the tube, which gap is magnified by any pressure on the wall of the
tubular plastic body. The elimination or concealment of such a gap
is desirable in order to provide a most aesthetically appealing
consumer package.
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It is an object of the present invention to provide a
collapsible tubular container where a bottom edge of a closure cap
and adjacent area of the head of a tubular body are protected from
view under normal conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A collapsible tubular container having a closure cap is
provided where the bottom edge of the closure cap is hidden from view
by a protective shoulder on the neck of the tubular container.
The tubular container, preferably formed from a
thermoplastic such as polyethylene, has a tubular body portion with
a cylindrical wall and a head portion that is sealed to the tubular
body portion at one end. The head portion is usually in the shape
of a truncated cone and has a neck extending upwardly therefrom, the
neck having a dispensing orifice formed therethrough for dispensing
contents of the tube from the tubular container by pressure on the
wall of the tubular body. A peripheral sealing portion of the head
portion is secured to the tubular body and the head portion has an
upwardly extending flange on the head portion that is spaced from the
neck, the flange terminating at an upper end. A closure cap is
provided that is securable to the neck of the head portion to close
off the dispensing orifice, which closure cap has a top wall and
downwardly depending skirt which terminates as a bottom edge. The
upwardly extending flange is sized such that, upon securement of the
closure cap on the neck of the tubular body, the bottom edge of the
closure cap is below the upper end of, and within the confines of,
the upwardly extending flange on the head portion of the tubular body
and hidden from view. Preferably, an external surface of the
downwardly depending skirt of the closure cap is closely adjacent an
inner vertical wall of the upwardly extending flange on the head
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portion of the tubular container. A vertical outer surface of the
upwardly extending flange on the head portion of the tubular
container may be in the form of various shapes, such as oval,
circular, polygonal, such as hexagonal, octagonal or otherwise, or
vertically grooved to give a knurled effect, or other shape as
desired. The head portion of the tubular container may be of a
different color than the cylindrical wall of the tubular body, which
will provide a band of the different color of the upwardly extending
flange between the tubular body and the flange and, if desired, the
closure cap.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be more fully understood by
reference to the following description and the accompanying drawings
illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof, wherein;
Figure 1 is an elevational view of the assembled
collapsible tubular container of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a plan view of the tubular body of the
collapsible tubular container with the closure cap removed;
Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines III-
III of Figure l;
Figure 4 is a top plan view of the collapsible tubular
container of Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a top plan view on a smaller scale than Figure
4 showing an embodiment where the outer vertical wall of the upwardly
extending flange has angularly offset segments to give an octagonal
shape;
Figure 6 is a top plan view similar to Figure 5 showing
grooves in the outer vertical wall of the upwardly extending flange
to give a knurled shape; and
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Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment
of a collapsible tubular container of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention provides a collapsible tubular
container where the bottom edge of a closure cap skirt, the closure
cap used to seal an orifice through the neck of the container, is
hidden from view by a protective shoulder formed adjacent the
periphery of the head of the tubular body.
Referring now to the drawings, a collapsible tubular
container 1 with a closure cap 2 and a tubular body 3 are shown. The
tubular body is preferably formed of a thermoplastic polymer such as
a high density polyethylene, a low density polyethylene, a
polypropylene, a polyester such as polyethylene terephthalate, a
polycarbonate, a polyvinyl chloride, or the like. The tubular body
may be formed from a single layer of thermoplastic polymer or from
multi-layers or laminates of various polymers, such as a layer of an
oxygen-impermeable material comprising a polyamide, such as nylon,
an ethylene polyvinyl alcohol, a polyvinylidene chloride or the like
sandwiched between two thermoplastic polymer layers. Five layer
compositions may also be used, such as spaced outer layers of
polyethylene, polypropylene or polyester, a central layer of an
oxygen-impermeable material, and adhesive layers between each of the
outer layers and the central layers to bond the same. The tubular
body will generally be cylindrical and have a wall thickness of
between about 0.010 to 0.040 inch.
The collapsible tubular container 1 has a tubular body 3
with a tubular wall 4 and a head portion 5 which are sealed together
at one end, or which may be formed as an integral unit. The head
portion 5 has a truncated conical portion 6 with a neck 7, the neck
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7 extending upwardly from one end of the conical portion and having
means for securing a closure cap thereto, such as neck threads 8.
The neck 7 is generally coaxial with the tubular body and has a
dispensing orifice 9 formed therethrough. The head portion 5 of the
tubular body 3 will usually be thicker than the tubular wall 4, and
of a thickness of between about 0.035 to 0.045 inch.
Preferably, the tubular wall 4 is formed as a
thermoplastic, extruded, longitudinally stretched cylinder and the
head portion 5 secured thereto at one end by known processes, such
as those described in U.S. 3,047,910 to Downs, U.S. 5,069,856 to
Holoubek and Rhoades or other method for sealing a head to a tubular
member. With such methods, a peripheral sealing portion of the head
portion 5 is secured to the tubular wall 4.
In accordance with the present invention, an upwardly
extending flange 10 is provided on the head portion 5, the flange
having inner vertical wall 11, outer vertical wall 12 and an upper
end 13. The outer vertical wall 12 may be of any shape desired by
the producer, such as a circular shape as illustrated in Figures 1-4,
or other shape. For example, as shown in Figure 5, the outer wall
12 of the upwardly extending flange 10 may have a plurality of
angular segments 12a-12h to form a polygonal shape such as an
octagon. Or the outer wall 12 may have vertical grooves 14 formed
therein to provide a knurled affect, such as is shown in Figure 6.
The upwardly extending flange 10 is spaced from the neck 7 and also
preferably spaced from the periphery 15 of the head portion 5.
The closure cap 2 has a top wall 16 and a downwardly
depending skirt 17 which terminates as a bottom edge 18. The closure
cap has means therein for securement to the neck 7 of the tubular
container 1, such as cap threads 19 which are threadably engageable
with the neck threads 8 on the neck 7. The downwardly depending
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shirt 17 has a vertical inner surface 20 and vertical outer surface
21.
When the closure cap 2 is secured to the tubular body 3 to
seal the orifice 9, as best seen in Figure 3, the bottom edge 18 of
the downwardly depending skirt 17 of closure cap 2 is below the upper
end 13 of the upwardly extending flange 10 on the head portion 5 of
the tubular body 3 and within the confines of the upwardly extending
flange 10, and is hidden from view. In a preferred embodiment the
outer surface 21 of the downwardly depending skirt 17 of closure cap
2 is closely adjacent the inner wall 11 of the upwardly extending
flange 10 of the head portion 5 of tubular body 3.
Another embodiment 1' of the present invention is
illustrated in Figure 7, where the tubular body 3 and closure cap 2
are shown assembled. The tubular body, as previously described has
a tubular wall 4 and head portion 5 at one end, the head portion
having a truncated conical portion 6 and neck 7, the neck having
threads 8 and an orifice 9. In embodiment 1', an upwardly extending
flange 10 has an upper end or inclined surface 13 which extends from
the tubular body 3 upper end 22 upwardly towards the neck 7 and ends
at terminus 23, the flange 10 having an inner vertical wall 11. In
this embodiment, the upwardly extending flange does not have an outer
vertical wall, such as wall 12, of embodiment 1, but rather upper end
13 slopes outwardly and downwardly from the vertical inner wall 11
to the peripheral portion secured to the tubular body 3. The bottom
edge 18 of a downwardly depending skirt 17 of a closure cap 2 will,
upon securement to the container body 3 be below the terminus 23 of
the upper end 13 of the upwardly extending flange 10 on the head
portion 5 of the tubular body 3 and within the confines of the
upwardly extending flange 10, and hidden from view along a horizontal
plane. As in embodiment 1, the downwardly depending skirt 17 of
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closure cap 2 is preferably closely adjacent the inner wall 11 of the
upwardly extending flange 10 of the head portion 5 of tubular body
3.
A decorative feature that is provided by the present
invention lies in the fact that the head portion 5 of the tubular
body 3, with the upwardly extending flange 10, may be a different
color or texture than the tubular wall 4, in which case a ring of
color different than the tubular wall 4, and the same or different
than the closure cap 2 will be present to enhance the appearance of
the collapsible tubular container 1.
