AN EXPANDABLE CONTAINER

RECIPIENT EXTENSIBLE

English Abstract

An expandable container has a bellows portion within its body that permits the container to change volume as the bellows portion expands or collapses.

French Abstract

Récipient extensible dont le corps comporte une partie en soufflet qui fait varier le volume dudit récipient qu'elle se déplie ou se replie.

Claims

7
CLAIMS
1. An expandable container comprising:
a. a body having a first width, a variable body height, a bottom portion, a
top portion and a
single expandable bellows portion disposed between said bottom portion and
said top
portion, wherein said variable body height is variable between a fully
expanded bellows
configuration and a fully collapsed bellows configuration;
b. a scalable mouth having a second width that is substantially the same as
said first width of
said body so that the bottom portion of said expandable container is easily
accessible by a
utensil from said sealable mouth when the expandable container is in said
fully collapsed
bellows configuration; and,
c. wherein said single expandable bellows portion comprises a contiguous
series of interlocking
discs.
2. The container of claim 1 wherein the variable body height in said fully
expandable bellows
configuration is approximately twice the variable body height in the fully
collapsed bellows
configuration.
3. The container of claim 1 wherein when in the fully expanded bellows
configuration each of said
contiguous series of interlocking discs comprises a protruding ring member, a
top wall having a top
wall length, and extending in a diagonally upwards and inwards disposition
from an inside surface of
said protruding ring member and a bottom wall having a bottom wall length and
extending in a
diagonally downwards and inwards disposition from an outside surface of the
protruding ring
member.
4. The container of claim 3 wherein each of the contiguous series of
interlocking discs are joined
between said top wall, and said bottom wall at generally right angles.
5. The container of claim 4 wherein said top wall length is greater than said
bottom wall length.
6. The container of claim 5 wherein when in the fully collapsed bellows
configuration the top wall.
retains said, diagonally upwards and inwards disposition and the bottom wall
is folded upwards and
around said inside surface of the disk member so that it rests substantially
parallel to the top
member.
7. The container of claim 1 wherein said, contiguous series of interlocking
discs comprises seven discs.
8. The container of claim 1 wherein the contiguous series of interlocking
discs comprises less than
seven discs.

8
9. The container of claim 1 wherein the contiguous series of interlocking
discs comprises more than
seven discs.
10. An expandable container comprising;
a. a body having a first width, a bottom portion, a top portion and a single
expandable bellows
portion disposed between said bottom portion and said top portion, wherein
said body has a
height in a fully expanded bellows configuration that is approximately half
said height in a
fully collapsed bellows configuration;
b. a sealable mouth having a second width that is substantially the same as
said first width of
said body so that the bottom portion of said expandable container is easily
accessible by a
utensil from said sealable mouth when the expandable container is in said
fully collapsed
bellows configuration; and,
c. wherein when in said fully expanded configuration said single expandable
bellows portion
comprises a contiguous series of interlocking discs each comprising a
protruding ring
member, a top wall having a top wall length and extending in a diagonally
upwards and,
inwards disposition from an inside surface of said protruding ring member and
a bottom wall
having a bottom wall length and extending in a diagonally downwards and
inwards
disposition from an outside surface of the protruding ring member;
d. so that each of the contiguous series of interlocking discs are joined
between said top wall
and said bottom wall at generally right angles.
11. The container of claim 10 wherein said top wall length is greater than
said bottom wall length.
12. The container of claim 10 wherein when in the fully collapsed bellows
configuration the top wall
retains said diagonally upwards and inwards disposition and the bottom wall is
folded upwards and
around said inside surface of the disk member so that it rests substantially
parallel to the top
member.
13. The container of claim 10 wherein said contiguous series of interlocking
discs comprises seven
discs.
14. The container of claim 10 wherein the contiguous series of interlocking
discs comprises less than
seven discs.
15. The container of claim, 10 wherein the contiguous series of interlocking
discs comprises more than.
seven discs.
6

Description

CA 02800703 2012-11-23
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Description
Title of Invention: AN EXPANDABLE CONTAINER
Technical Field
[ 1 ] The invention is within the field of containers. Specifically the
invention is an ex-
pandable container.
Background Art
[2] Containers, such as peanut butter containers, typically come in a rigid
form. That is,
the container is unable to expand or contract to accommodate a variable volume
of
material inside the container. To use a peanut butter container as an example,
as the
contents of the container are consumed it becomes increasingly difficult to
obtain
peanut butter from the bottom of the container. Alternatively, it may be
necessary to
transfer a volume of material from, for example, a metal container, to a
container that
does not corrode once exposed to air. The transferring container may be larger
than the
receiving container and so it is necessary to search for a container having
sufficient
volume to hold all of the contents of the can. In both cases it would be
beneficial to
have a container that was expandable or collapsible. For an expandable
container, the
volume can change from small to larger. For a collapsible container the volume
can
decrease and move the floor of the container closer to the mouth of the
container to
access contents in the bottom of the container.
Disclosure of Invention
Technical Problem
[3]
Technical Solution
[4] The present invention overcomes the shortcomings noted above by providing
an ex-
pandable container. The container has a first configuration which is a
collapsed con-
figuration and a first volume. The container has a second configuration which
is an
expanded configuration with a second volume that is larger than the first
volume. The
body of the container is a continuous membrane with a bellows portion formed
in the
side of the body that is able to expand and contract as desired.
Advantageous Effects
[5] The invention has the following advantages:
[6] 1. The expandable container has a changeable volume.
[7] 2. The expandable container permits access to material contained in the
bottom of the
container.
[8] 3. The expandable container can be sold empty as a storage container
having a
varying volume or the container can be sold with contents in the expanded con-

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figuration that is able to collapse as the contents are emptied from the
container.
Description of Drawings
[9] Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention in an
expanded
configuration.
[10] Figure 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment of Figure 1 in a
collapsed con-
figuration.
[ill Figure 3 is a side view of one embodiment of the invention in an expanded
con-
figuration.
[12] Figure 4 is a side view of the embodiment of Figure 3 in a collapsed
configuration.
Best Mode
[13]
Mode for Invention
[14] Referring now to the figures, the invention 10 is an expandable container
shown
generally as 10 comprising a body 12 having a bottom portion 14, a top portion
16 and
a bellows portion 18 disposed between the bottom portion 14 and the top
portion 16.
Figure 1 and Figure 3 show the bellows portion 18 in a fully expanded
configuration as
it would appear when filled with a consumable material such as peanut butter.
The
consumable material would have a full level 20within the expandable container
proximate to the top portion 16. The container would assume a partially
collapsed con-
figuration (not illustrated) between the fully expanded configuration shown in
Figure 1
and the fully collapsed configuration shown in Figure 2 when the consumable
material
was partially depleted. In Figure 2 and Figure 4 there is illustrated a fully
collapsed
configuration wherein the bellows portion 18 is fully compressed. In the
configuration
shown in Figure 2 and Figure 4 the consumable material would be nearly
depleted
however the top surface of the consumable material within the container would
remain
at a level 20 proximate to the top portion 16 of the container.
Advantageously, this
permits access to the contents of the container even when the contents are
depleted
without having to resort to long handled implements and ensure little wastage
of the
consumable.
[15] To collapse the expandable container it is only required to apply an
axial 22 com-
pressive hand force on the top surface 24 of the container that is sufficient
to overcome
the natural resiliency of the bellows portion 18. Similarly, to expand the
container, a
similar axial tensile hand force is required to expand the bellows. The
ability to
collapse the bellows 18 as the consumable is depleted permits the level of
consumable
material remains proximate to the top portion and easily extracted from the
expandable
container.
[16] In the embodiments shown in the figures, the expandable container body 12
is

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cylindrical as this is a typical shape of a consumable container. However, it
is possible
to adopt other shapes such as ovoid and even rectangular.
[17] The bottom portion 14 comprises a floor 26 and a non-expandable wall 28.
The non-
expandable wall 28 further comprises a first indentation 30 and a first band
32. First in-
dentation 30 provides more flexibility to the bottom portion wall when axial
forces are
being applied compressively so that the wall 28 is not over stressed and
fractured. The
band 32 provides a suitable boundary layer between the bottom portion 14 and
the
bellows portion 18.
[18] The top portion 16 comprises an open mouth 40 for receiving and
extracting the
consumable material. The top portion 16 further comprises a threaded neck 42
disposed contiguously below the open mouth 40 for accepting a threaded closure
(not
illustrated) to seal the open mouth. The threaded neck 42 also comprises an
abutment
44 to create an air-tight sealing engagement with the threaded closure to
maintain the
consumables fresh.
[19] The top portion 16 further comprises an outwardly flared non-expandable
wall
section 46 disposed contiguously from the abutment. Below the flared wall
section 46
there is a second band 48 disposed contiguously from the flared wall section
and a
second indentation 50 disposed contiguously from the second band 48. The
second in-
dentation 50 provides additional flexibility and force absorption during the
application
of an axial hand force. This helps to ensure that the hand force does not
damage the
bellows or over-compress the bottom portion 14. Beneath the second indentation
is a
third band 52 disposed contiguously from the second indentation 50. The third
band 52
forms a boundary between the top portion 16 and the bellows portion 18.
[20] The bellows portion 18 is disposed contiguously between the third band 52
and the
first band 32.
[211 The bellows portion comprises a contiguous series of interlocking discs
60 so that the
bellows portion 18 remains in a desired configuration until a sufficient hand
force is
applied axially either compressively to further collapse the bellows or in
tension to
expand the bellows. Each disc of the series of interlocking discs comprises a
top wall
62, a bottom wall 64 and a protruding ring 66 disposed between the top wall
and the
bottom wall. The ring 66 is adapted to permit the bottom wall 64 to fold
upwards into
the top wall 62 as illustrated by arrow 69 and retain the bottom wall in
folded con-
figuration as shown in Figure 2 and Figure 4.
[22] In one embodiment the invention the container is a moulded plastic
container.
[23] In another embodiment of the invention the container is sufficiently
flexible to permit
hand grasping.
Industrial Applicability
[24]

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Sequence List Text
[25]

Representative Drawing