Upper container and container set equipped with the same

Abstract

To prevent falling of a food together with an upper container (10) and leakage of a drink when the container is used together with a lower container (20A or the like).SOLUTION: In an upper container 10, a bottom surface part (16) is formed in which a plurality of coupling parts (16c or the like) coupleable with openings (22a or the like) of a lower container (20A or the like) having the openings (22a or the like) different from each other in type and positionable on a lower side during use, function as a lid of the lower container (20A or the like).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an upper container and a container set including the same, and mainly to a container set including an upper container for accommodating food and a lower container for further accommodating a drink.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a food and drink integrated container that can be comfortably used for eating and drinking by holding it with one hand by integrating a beverage container and a food container, and can be used not only for eating and drinking but also for advertising by placing an advertisement on the container.

[0003] Specifically, it is integrated by stacking a food container on top of a beverage container so that eating and drinking can be done with one container. Further, this food and drink integrated container is said to be able to provide benefits to all parties, including companies that want to advertise, companies that want to use the container to offer new products, and customers who pick up the beverage container and actually eat and drink, by placing an advertisement on the beverage container.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Disclosure of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, since the food and drink integrated container disclosed in Patent Document 1 has not been described in detail, assuming that it can be grasped mainly from the content shown in the drawings, there is room for improvement in the following points.

[0006] First, although it is unclear whether the beverage container 3 and the food container 1 are combined, it only appears that the edge of the food container 1 is placed on the edge of the beverage container 3, and they do not seem to be combined. From the description in Cited Document 1, "Since it is only a matter of stacking the food container on the beverage container, it is a very simple operation and does not take much time. ((0013) paragraph)", it seems that the beverage container 3 and the food container 1 are not combined.

[0007] If it is assumed that the beverage container 3 and the food container 1 are not combined as expected, Cited Document 1 assumes "when eating while walking in crowded places such as festivals and leisure lands" ((0004), (0012) paragraphs). In such places, it cannot be denied that there is a possibility of colliding with others. In that case, there is a possibility that the food in the food container 1 that the user's gripping force cannot reach may fall, or the drink may spill from the lidless beverage container 3.

[0008] In addition, when "stacking the food container on the beverage container" in a manner that can be grasped from FIGS. 3 and 4, the food container 1 will be located inside the beverage container 3. Therefore, in the beverage container 3, not only can it not accommodate the originally planned volume of beverage, but also unnecessary container materials are required, which is not preferable from the perspective of SDGs.

[0009] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an upper container and a container set including the same that can solve all such problems.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0010] In order to solve the above problems, the upper container of the present invention has openings of different types from each other, and a plurality of coupling portions that can be coupled to the respective openings of the lower container that can be located below during use are formed on the bottom surface portion that functions as the lid portion of the lower container.

[0011] The type can be the diameter and / or strength of each opening.

[0012] The above connection can be a clamping connection, a twisting connection, or a fitting connection.

[0013] The lower container may have a single-layer structure or a multi-layer structure.

[0014] Moreover, the container set of the present invention includes the above upper container and the above lower container.

[0015] Furthermore, the container set may include a lid portion attached to the upper container. Embodiments of the invention

[0016] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0017] FIGS. 1 to 5 are configuration diagrams of a container set 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the container set 100, FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the container set 100, FIG. 3 shows a side view of the container set 100, FIG. 4 shows a bottom view of the container set 100, and FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the container set 100, respectively.

[0018] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the container set 100 is roughly divided into an upper container 10 that can be located on the upper side during use and a lower container 20A that can be located on the lower side during use. Usually, the upper container 10 and the lower container 20A can be used in a state where they are coupled to each other in the vertical direction, but they can also be used in a state where they are not, and either one of them can be used alone.

[0019] The upper container 10 and the lower container 20A are each made of, for example, plastic, and both can be integrally molded using a mold or the like. However, the upper container 10 and the lower container 20A are not limited to such materials and manufacturing methods.

[0020] The upper container 10 is typically suitable for containing food. Such food types are not limited, but for example, they can include side dishes such as fried chicken and French fries, fried confectionery such as doughnuts, and snack foods such as popcorn. However, the upper container 10 can also contain various food and drinks such as drinks, shaved ice, and jelly.

[0021] The lower container 20A is mainly a part for containing drinks. The types of drinks that can be contained are not limited, and examples include water, tea, juice, coffee, beer, etc. However, the lower container 20A can also contain various food and drinks such as shaved ice and jelly.

[0022] Next, the configurations of the upper container 10 and the lower container 20A will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, first, the upper container 10 includes an opening 12, a side surface portion 14, a bottom surface portion 16, and a communication portion 18, and the lower container 20A includes an opening 22a, a side surface portion 24a, and a bottom surface portion 26a. Further, coupling portions 16a to 16d are formed on the bottom surface portion 16 of the upper container 10.

[0023] FIGS. 6 to 9 are configuration diagrams showing the upper container 10 in the container set 100 shown in FIG. 1 and the like in more detail, and respectively correspond to FIGS. 2 to 5. Regarding the side views of FIGS. 3 and 7, the container set 100 and the upper container 10 have a symmetrical shape when viewed from the front, back, right side, and left side, respectively.

[0024] The upper container 10 generally has a frustum of a cone shape, for example. The typical functions and sizes of the respective parts constituting the upper container 10 are not limited to these, but can be exemplified as follows.

[0025] The opening 12, together with the side surface portion 14 and the bottom surface portion 16, is a part for taking in the object to be contained. Although not limited to this, the outer diameter of the opening 12 can be about 15 cm to about 20 cm (for example, 16 cm).

[0026] The side surface portion 14 is a portion that receives the object to be accommodated on its inner surface, and on its outer surface, designs and advertisements including various characters, figures, symbols, etc. can be displayed by thermal transfer printing or the like. Although not limited thereto, the height of the side surface portion 14 can be about 5 cm to about 10 cm (for example, 6.5 cm).

[0027] The bottom surface portion 16 is a portion that receives the object to be accommodated on its upper surface and covers the opening of the lower container 20A on its lower surface. That is, the bottom surface portion 16 also functions as a lid portion of the lower container 20A. Although not limited thereto, the outer diameter of the bottom surface portion 16 can be about 10 cm to about 15 cm (for example, 10.5 cm). The coupling portions 16a to 16d will be described with reference to FIG. 10.

[0028] The communication portion 18 is, for example, cylindrical, and is a portion through which a straw (not shown) can be passed through its cylinder. Although not limited thereto, the large outer diameter (outer diameter at the lower end in FIG. 9) of the communication portion 18 can be about 2.5 cm to about 3.5 cm (for example, 4.0 cm), the small outer diameter (outer diameter at the upper end in FIG. 9) of the communication portion 18 can be about 1.0 cm to about 2.0 cm (for example, 1.5 cm), and the height of the communication portion 18 can be about 4.0 cm to about 9.0 cm (for example, 5.5 cm).

[0029] FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of an example of the coupling of the upper container 10 and the lower container 20B shown in FIG. 1 and the like. The container set 100 of the present embodiment can be coupled to the lower container 20A as shown in FIG. 1 and the like, but can also be coupled to the lower container 20B as shown in FIG. 10 and the lower container 20C as shown in FIG. 12.

[0030] That is, the upper container 10 of the present embodiment forms a plurality of coupling portions 16a to 16d on the bottom surface portion 16 of the upper container 10 on the premise that the types such as the diameter and / or strength of the openings 22a to 22c of the lower containers 20A to 20C are not necessarily constant.

[0031] The joint portion 16a can be suitably adapted to a lower container 20C which is, for example, a general-purpose PET bottle beverage container as shown in Fig. 12. The joint portion 16a has a thread 16aa which is tightened with a thread portion attached to the opening 22b of the lower container 20B. The distance between the opposing top portions of the thread 16aa can be, for example, 2.7 cm in accordance with the mouth portion of a general-purpose PET bottle container.

[0032] The joint portion 16b can be suitably adapted to a lower container 20B having a form as shown in Fig. 10. Here, the lower container 20B is assumed to be a beverage container of S size with an opening 22b of, for example, 80 mm.

[0033] The upper container 10 and the lower container 20B have guide portions 16ba and 22ba which function when they are aligned and then screwed together, and claw portions (protrusions) 16bb and claw portions (recesses) 22bb which are respectively formed on the guide portions 16ba and 22ba and engage with each other.

[0034] In particular, when the lower container 20B has a two-layer structure having a first container 20B1 and a second container 20B2 as shown in Fig. 11(b), the vicinity of the opening 22b has an increased thickness due to its structure and becomes relatively high-strength. For this reason, since the vicinity of the opening 22b is difficult to deform, one method is to adopt a configuration such as the joint portion 16b. Of course, regardless of the structure, when it is relatively high-strength, it is also possible to take measures such as reducing the unevenness difference between the claw portions 16bb and 22bb.

[0035] On the other hand, the joint portions 16c and 16d can be suitably adapted to a lower container 20A having a form as shown in Fig. 11(a). Here, the lower container 20A is assumed to be a beverage container of M size / L size with an opening 22a of, for example, 86 mm / 90 mm.

[0036] The upper container 10 and the lower container 20A have claw portions 22ca and claw portions 16ca, 16da that function when they are aligned and then fitted together. Note that at the coupling portion 16d, when the lower container 20A is an L-sized beverage container, a contact portion 16db that receives the outer surface of the side surface portion 24a of the lower container 20A is provided in consideration of the weight of the drink contained therein. Originally, such a contact portion may also be provided at the coupling portion 16c, or may not be provided at either the coupling portions 16c and 16d.

[0037] In particular, when the lower container 20A has a single-layer structure as shown in Fig. 11(a), the vicinity of the opening 22b does not increase in thickness due to its structure and becomes relatively low in strength. For this reason, since the vicinity of the opening 22b is easily deformed, one method is to adopt a configuration such as the coupling portion 16b. Of course, regardless of the structure, when it is relatively low in strength, it is also possible to take measures such as increasing the unevenness difference between the claw portions 16bb and 22bb.

[0038] Note that the number and form of the coupling portions 16a to 16d are examples and are not limited thereto. For example, regardless of the layer structure, depending on the strength of the openings of the lower containers 20A to 20C, the coupling portion 16c can be made like the coupling portion 16b, or conversely, the coupling portion 16b can be made like the coupling portion 16c, or a portion corresponding to the contact portion 16db can be provided at the coupling portion 16c, or conversely, the contact portion 16db can be excluded from the coupling portion 16d. Also, when the lower containers 20A to 20C are LL-sized or SS-sized, a coupling member may be provided.

[0039] Fig. 11 is an explanatory view of the lower container 20 that can be coupled to the upper container 10 shown in Figs. 6 to 10. As already described, Fig. 11(a) and Fig. 11(b) show the single-layer structure lower container 20A and the multi-layer structure lower container 20B. The lower container 20 has a generally frustoconical shape, for example. Note that each part shown in Fig. 11(a) and Fig. 11(b) is labeled with a reference numeral including an alphabetic subscript for the corresponding part in Fig. 5.

[0040] The lower container 20A shown in Fig. 11(a) has, for example, an opening 22a having a claw portion 22aa that is fitted with one of the claw portions 16ca, 16da (either one) of the coupling portions 16c, 16d shown in Fig. 10 at a portion that serves as an inlet for a drink, a side surface portion 24a where an advertisement or the like is displayed by thermal transfer printing or the like, and a bottom surface portion 26a that can serve as a placement surface on a tabletop or the like, and has a single-layer structure.

[0041] The lower container 20B shown in Fig. 11(b) has, for example, a two-layer structure in which the first container 20B1 and the second container 20B2 are integrated in such a manner that the former is on the inside and the latter is on the outside, and includes openings 22b1, 22b2, side surface portions 24b1, 24b2, bottom surface portions 26b1, 26b2, and screwing portions 28b1, 28b2. The screwing portions 28b1, 28b2 are portions where the first container 20B1 and the second container 20B2 are screwed together.

[0042] By using the lower container 20B having a multi-layer structure as shown in Fig. 11(b), it is possible to provide an air layer between the first container 20B1 and the second container 20B2, and there is an advantage that the object to be accommodated is less likely to change in temperature.

[0043] In addition, another method is to make the second container 20B2 transparent or semi-transparent so that a printed matter such as an advertisement can be inserted between the side surface portion 24b of the first container 20B1 and the side surface portion 24c of the second container 20B2.

[0044] If a fixed print or the like by thermal transfer is applied to the side surface portion 24a and the printed matter can be inserted into the side surface portion 24b2, for example, when a plurality of types but a small number of advertising media are desired to be used, a multi-layer structure as shown in Fig. 11(b) can be used, and if not, a single-layer structure as shown in Fig. 11(a) can be used, giving the freedom to the business operator who orders the container set 100 when purchasing.

[0045] FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a container set 100 including a lower container 20C which is a PET bottle beverage container. Those skilled in the art should be able to understand the usage method including the coupling method between the upper container 10 and the lower container 20C through FIG. 12 without detailed description, so it is omitted.

[0046] FIG. 13 is an explanatory view of a lid portion 30 attached to the container set 100 shown in FIG. 1 and the like. The lid portion 30 shown in FIG. 13(a) includes an opening portion 32 to be attached to the opening portion 12 of the upper container 10, an upper surface portion 36 which becomes the upper end surface during use, a side surface portion 34 connecting the opening portion 32 and the upper surface portion 36, and a communication portion 38 through which a straw can pass in the same way as the communication portion 18.

[0047] The lid portion 30 has the advantage that when it is attached to the upper container 10 during the movement of the container set 100 in which food or drink is stored or during a meal break, it is possible to avoid food or the like from falling out of the upper container 10. In addition, there are also advantages such as avoiding dust or dirt from being mixed into the food or the like, and delaying the oxidation of the food or the like.

[0048] The lid portion 30 shown in FIG. 13(b) is provided with an opening / closing portion 36a with respect to the upper surface portion 36 etc. of the lid portion 30 shown in FIG. 13(a). Although it also varies depending on the type of the object to be stored in the upper container 10, when the object to be stored is food, the opening / closing portion 36a can be opened only when taking out the food from the upper container 10.

[0049] The upper container 10 of the present embodiment can be used alone, but can also be used in combination with various types of lower containers 20A to 20C, so it is convenient because the user can purchase a drink in a size desired by the user.

[0050] Note that it should be noted that each embodiment of the container set 100 described in this specification is merely exemplary and not restrictive. For example, the shapes of the upper container 10 and the lower container 20 are not limited to a cylindrical shape, and at least one of them can be a rectangular tube shape.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0051]

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Explanation of reference numerals

[0052] 10 Upper container 12 Opening 14 Side surface portion 16 Bottom surface portion 16a to 16d Coupling portion 16aa Thread 16ba Guide portion Claw parts 16bb, 16ca, 16da Contact part 16db Communication part 18 Lower containers 20A~20C Openings 22a, 22b, 22b1, 22b2 Guide parts 22ba, 22ca Claw part 22bb Side faces 24a, 24b, 24b1, 24b2 Bottom faces 26a, 26b, 26b1, 26b2 Threaded joints 28a, 28b, 28b1, 28b2 Cover part 30 Opening 32 Side face 34 Upper face 36 Opening / closing part 36a Communication part 38

Claims

1. An upper container in which a plurality of coupling portions that can be coupled to respective openings of a lower container having openings of different types from each other and that can be positioned on the lower side during use are formed on a bottom surface portion that functions as a lid portion of the lower container.

2. The upper container according to Claim 1, wherein the type is the diameter and / or strength of each of the openings.

3. The upper container according to Claim 1, wherein the coupling is clamping, screwing, or fitting.

4. The upper container according to Claim 1, wherein the lower container has a single-layer structure or a multi-layer structure.

5. A container set including the upper container according to Claim 1 and the lower container.

6. The container set according to Claim 4, further including a lid portion attached to the upper container.

Images