Refill container

Abstract

To create a refill container for a HDV container allowed to easily refill a content a plurality of number of times (two times or more).SOLUTION: A refill container for a container 1 for discharging a highly viscous content P comprises a cylindrical main part 11 that accommodates a content P, a discharge part 12 that has a discharge-cylinder portion 12a and is mounted on an upper end of the main part 11, an inside dish part 13 that is provided movably along an axial direction within the main part 11 and directly supports the content P, a press member 14 that is for pressing the inside dish part 13 to discharge the content P within the main part 11 from the discharge-cylinder portion 12a, and a cap 15 that seals the discharge-cylinder portion 12a. The main part 11 is formed therein with a guide protrusion 11b and the press member 14 is formed therein with a guide groove 14C having a plurality of steps 14a, 14b, 14c to guide the guide protrusion 11b, so that refilling of the content P can be done by the same number of times as the number of the steps.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention is a high voltage dynamic dynamic (HVD) This relates to a refill container for a Viscosity Dispenser. [Background technology]

[0002] As a container for discharging contents such as highly viscous liquids, an HDV container is known, which has a pump that is operated by pressing a head attached to the top end of the container body, and an inner tray that slides up and down at the bottom inside the container body, so that the inner tray rises as the contents inside the container body decrease due to operation of the pump (for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-362659 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, with the HDV container, once the contents are used up to the last drop, the inner tray of the HDV container rises to the top of the container body, making it impossible to refill the contents. If you were to refill the contents, you would need to use a stick or something similar to push the inner tray down to its initial position (the bottom of the container body), which is a complicated operation. Furthermore, conventional refill containers were only available as single-use containers because it was necessary to prevent the contents from coming into contact with air, and there was a demand for the development of a refill container that could be refilled multiple times.

[0005] The present invention aims to solve the problems of the prior art described above by creating a refill container for HDV containers that allows the contents to be easily refilled multiple times (two or more times) when the HDV container is empty. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] Among the means for solving the above problems, the first means of the present invention is: A refill container for a container that dispenses high-viscosity contents, The container is configured to include a cylindrical main body portion in which the contents are accommodated, a discharge portion having a discharge tube portion and attached to the upper end of the main body portion, a central dish portion that is provided within the main body portion so as to be movable along the axial direction and that directly supports the contents, a pressing member that presses the central dish portion to discharge the contents within the main body portion from the discharge tube portion, and a cap that seals the discharge tube portion. The main body is formed with a guide protrusion, and the pressing member is formed with a guide groove having multiple steps to guide the guide protrusion, and the contents can be refilled the number of times equal to the number of steps. In the first aspect of the present invention, the contents can be refilled multiple times (two or more times).

[0007] The second means of the present invention is the first means plus the means that each step has a constant angle in the circumferential direction and is evenly distributed along the axial direction on the guide groove. With the above configuration, a constant amount of contents can be refilled in each refilling operation.

[0008] The third aspect of the present invention is the first or second aspect, which further comprises a biasing member provided on the second and subsequent steps to elastically bias the guide protrusions.

[0009] A fourth aspect of the present invention is the third aspect, plus the additional feature that the biasing member is formed to have a dome portion. In the above-described means, the liquid leakage from the discharge tube portion can be prevented by sucking back.

[0010] Furthermore, the fifth means of the present invention is the first or second means plus the addition of a cylindrical extrusion member extending in the axial direction at the center of the bottom of the inner dish portion. With the above means, at the final refilling, all of the contents of the refill container can be refilled into the bottle body. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] In the present invention, when the HDV container is emptied, it can be easily refilled multiple times (two or more times). [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an example of an HVD container. [Figure 2] 1A and 1B show a refill container according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a front view of the refill container, and FIG. 1B is a transverse half cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refill container as seen from the side. [Figure 4] The steps involved in transferring from a refill container to an HVD container are shown: (a) is the installation stage, (b) is the stage of pushing it up to the second step, (c) is the stage of pushing it up to the third step, and (d) is the stage of pushing it all the way in (to the bottom end of the guide groove). [Figure 5] This shows the relationship between the guide groove on the container body side and the guide protrusion on the pressing cylinder side, where (a) is a partial front view of the refill container, (b) is an enlarged view of part I in (a), and (c) is a half-sectional view in the horizontal direction showing the relationship between the main body part and the pressing cylinder part. [Figure 6] The figure shows the relationship between the guide groove on the container body side and the guide protrusion on the pressing cylinder part side, where (a) is a partial front view of the refillable container, (b) is an enlarged view of part II in (a) showing the urging member before deformation or when restored, and (d) is an enlarged view of part II in (a) showing the urging member when deformed, and (d) is a half horizontal cross-sectional view showing the relationship between the main body part and the pressing cylinder part. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the HDV container into which the contents are refilled will be described. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an example of an HVD container. As shown in Figure 1, a container for dispensing highly viscous contents (hereinafter referred to as an HVD container) 1 is configured with a bottle portion A and a pump portion B, and is used as a container for dispensing relatively viscous liquid contents such as emulsion.

[0014] The bottle section A has a cylindrical bottom member 2 with a bottom wall 2A and a short cylindrical bottom side wall 2B extending from the outer periphery of the bottom wall 2A, and a cylindrical bottle body 5 with a narrow-diameter mouth 4 extending from the upper end of the body 3 via a shoulder. The bottle is constructed by inserting and connecting the lower end of the body 3 inside the bottom side wall 2B. A cylindrical support cylinder 2a protrudes from the inner surface of the bottom wall 2A, and a movable bottom plate 6 is provided inside the body 3, slidable in the vertical direction (axial direction) along the inner circumferential surface 3A. The movable bottom plate 6 is integrally formed with a recess 6a, a flange 6b extending radially outward from the upper end of the recess 6a, a cylindrical sliding portion 6c connected to the outer periphery of the flange 6b and with its upper and lower ends slidably in contact with the inner circumferential surface 3A of the body 3, and a cylindrical abutment portion 6d protruding from the lower end of the recess 6a.

[0015] The pump section B is composed of an attachment cap 7 that is detachably attached to the male thread formed on the outer surface of the mouth section 4 of the bottle section A, a cylinder 8 that is suspended from the lower end of the attachment cap 7 toward the inside of the mouth section 4, and a push-down head 9 that is movable up and down within the attachment cap 7, and is composed of a known pump mechanism that pushes down the push-down head 9 to suck up the contents within the bottle section A and sprays the contents outward from a spray outlet 9a provided in the push-down head 9.

[0016] In the HVD container 1, when the push-down head 9 is operated to eject the contents of the bottle section A through the nozzle 9a, the interior becomes negatively pressurized as the contents decrease, causing the movable bottom plate 6 to rise. This allows the contents to be pumped out by operating the pump section B even if the remaining amount of contents in the bottle body 5 decreases. Note that in Figure 1, the position of the movable bottom plate 6 is indicated by solid and dashed lines, with the solid line position indicating the fully used state in which the movable bottom plate 6 has been raised to the top (the state in which the contents have been used up to the very end), and the dashed line position indicating the initial state in which the movable bottom plate 6 has been lowered to the bottom.

[0017] Next, a refill container for refilling the HVD container 1 with the contents will be described. FIG. 2 shows a refill container as an embodiment of the present invention, where (a) is a front view of the refill container, (b) is a horizontal half cross-sectional view taken along line AA in (a), and FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the refill container as seen from the side. In the following, the direction along the container axis O will be referred to as the axial direction, the vertical direction, or the height direction, the direction perpendicular to the container axis O will be referred to as the radial direction, and the direction circumferentially around the container axis O will be referred to as the circumferential direction.

[0018] As shown in Figure 2(a) or Figure 3, the refill container 10 is composed of a cylindrical main body 11 in which the contents are stored, a discharge part 12 having a discharge tube part 12a and attached to the upper end of the main body 11, a middle tray part 13 that is arranged within the main body 11 so as to be movable in the vertical (axial) direction and directly supports the contents, a cylindrical pressing member 14 that pushes up the middle tray part 13 to discharge the contents within the main body 11 from the discharge tube part 12a, and a cap 15 that seals the discharge tube part 12a, and these are formed, for example, by injection molding a predetermined synthetic resin material.

[0019] The main body 11 is a member in which a short cylindrical small diameter portion 11B is integrally connected to the lower end of a long cylindrical large diameter portion 11A, an undercut-shaped locking portion 11a is provided around the outer circumferential surface of the upper end of the large diameter portion 11A, and a pair of guide protrusions 11b protruding radially inward are provided on the inner circumferential surface of the lower end of the small diameter portion 11B at two axially symmetrical positions. Note that Fig. 2(a) shows a state in which a part (front portion) of the small diameter portion 11B is cut away so that the guide protrusions 11b can be seen.

[0020] The discharge portion 12 is formed with a top wall portion 12A and a short cylindrical side wall portion 12B suspended from the outer edge of the top wall portion 12A. The discharge tube portion 12a is erected from the center of the top wall portion 12A. An undercut-shaped locking portion 12b is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the side wall portion 12B to engage with the locking portion 11a. An outer tube portion 12c with a female thread formed on its inner peripheral surface is erected at a position radially outward from the discharge tube portion 12a. The inner diameter of the outer tube portion 12c is approximately the same as the outer diameter of the mouth portion 4 on the bottle body 5, allowing the outer tube portion 12c to be screwed onto the mouth portion 4 as described below. A ring-shaped packing 16 is disposed on the upper surface of the top wall portion 12A between the discharge tube portion 12a and the outer tube portion 12c.

[0021] The middle dish portion 13 is formed integrally by having a middle dish bottom portion 13A which is circular and flat in cross section, a middle dish side wall 13B which hangs down from the outer peripheral end of the middle dish bottom portion 13A, a connecting tube portion 13C which also hangs down from the outer peripheral end of the middle dish bottom portion 13A and is arranged outside the middle dish side wall 13B, and a short cylindrical sliding portion 13D which is connected to the outer peripheral end of the connecting tube portion 13C and whose upper and lower ends are arranged to be slidable while in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the large diameter portion 11A of the main body portion 11.

[0022] The pressing member 14 is formed with an operating portion 14A formed in a circular plate shape in cross section and a pressing side wall portion 14B formed in a cylindrical shape and erected on the operating portion 14A. A pair of guide grooves 14C having multiple steps (three steps in this embodiment) extending axially from the operating portion 14A is formed at two axially symmetrical positions on the pressing side wall portion 14B. In FIG. 2(a), the step provided at the top is the first step 14a, the next is the second step 14b, and the last is the third step 14c. The first step 14a, the second step 14b, and the third step 14c are formed at a constant angle θ in the circumferential direction (in this embodiment, θ = 15° every, over a range of 45° overall). In addition, the distance in the axial direction between the first step 14a and the second step 14b, the distance between the second step 14b and the third step 14c, and the distance from the third step 14c to the lower end 14d of the guide groove 14C are constant, and each step is evenly distributed along the axial direction on the guide groove 14C, so that in this embodiment it is possible to perform three refills, the same number as the number of steps.

[0023] The pressing member 14 is assembled by inserting the tip of the pressing side wall portion 14B into the small diameter portion 11B of the main body portion 11, and at this time, by circumferentially aligning the main body portion 11 and the pressing member 14, the pair of guide protrusions 11b each enter into the pair of guide grooves 14C. The guide protrusions 11b are configured to be able to move up and down and in the circumferential direction along the guide groove 14C and the first step 14a, second step 14b, and third step 14c.

[0024] The cap 15 is formed to have a hat portion 15A having an inverted concave cross section, an outer flange portion 15B extending radially outward in an annular shape from the lower end of the hat portion 15A, and an insertion tube portion 15C protruding from the lower surface of the outer flange portion 15B. A cylindrical inner seal portion 15a that fits onto the tip of the discharge tube portion 12a is formed on the inner surface of the upper end of the hat portion 15A, and a male thread that screws into a female thread formed on the outer tube portion 12c of the discharge portion 12 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the insertion tube portion 15C.

[0025] To assemble the refill container 10, first insert the tip of the pressing side wall portion 14B of the pressing member 14 into the small diameter portion 11B of the main body 11, and then rotate the pressing member 14 circumferentially so that the pair of guide protrusions 11b fit into the pair of guide grooves 14C. Next, insert the inner dish 13 from the open end of the large diameter portion 11A side of the main body 11, and attach the inner dish 13 to the tip of the pressing side wall portion 14B by undercut fitting. Next, after filling the main body 11 with the contents, fit the upper end of the main body 11 (large diameter portion 11A) with the discharge portion 12, with the discharge tube portion 12a sealed with the cap 15. At this time, the engaging portion 12b engages with the locked portion 11a, thereby attaching the discharge portion 12 in a non-detachable manner.

[0026] When sealing the discharge tube portion 12a with the cap 15, the insertion tube portion 15C is inserted into the outer tube portion 12c and screwed in, whereby the inner seal portion 15a fits over and seals the tip of the discharge tube portion 12a. At the same time, the outer flange portion 15B abuts against the upper end of the outer tube portion 12c, and the lower end of the insertion tube portion 15C abuts against and further presses against the packing 16. This makes it possible to reliably prevent liquid leakage from the discharge tube portion 12a.

[0027] Next, the refilling operation using the refill container 10 will be described. Figure 4 shows the steps involved in transferring from a refill container to an HVD container, with (a) showing the installation stage, (b) showing the stage of pushing it up to the second step, (c) showing the stage of pushing it up to the third step, and (d) showing the final stage (pushing it all the way to the bottom of the guide groove).

[0028] (1) First refill When the contents are used up, the HVD container 1 is set in a state where the movable bottom plate 6 is raised to the uppermost position (see the solid line in Figure 1). In this state, the operator detaches the pump part B from the bottle part A to open the mouth part 4. Next, after unscrewing and removing the cap 15, the refill container 10 is held in an inverted position, as shown in Figure 4(a), and the outer tube portion 12c of the refill container 10 is attached to the mouth portion 4 of the bottle body 5 to combine them. At this time, the tip of the discharge tube portion 12a inserted into the mouth portion 4 is set in a state where it is close to or in contact with the inner surface of the recess 6a of the movable bottom plate 6. In this state, the guide protrusion 11b is positioned within the first step 14a (see Figure 2(a)).

[0029] Next, the operator manually rotates the operating portion 14A in one circumferential direction to push the pressing member 14 into the main body 11. The guide protrusion 11b then moves laterally within the first step 14a and then axially within the guide groove 14C to reach the second step 14b (see FIG. 6(a)). This causes the inner tray bottom 13A to move axially from the first step 14a to the second step 14b. As shown in FIG. 4(b), the inner tray bottom 13A pushes a certain amount of content P from the large-diameter portion 11A down toward the discharge tube 12a, allowing the certain amount of content P to be dispensed into the bottle main body 5 via the discharge tube 12a (refilling). Furthermore, the content P dispensed into the bottle main body 5 pushes the movable bottom plate 6, located at the top, into the bottle main body 5, returning it to its lowest position (initial state (see the dashed line in FIG. 1)).

[0030] (2) Second and third refills As with the first time, in the HVD container 1 in which the contents P have been used up, the operator detaches the pump part B from the bottle part A to open the mouth part 4, and then attaches the outer tube part 12c on the refill container 10 side, which is in an inverted position, to the mouth part 4 on the bottle main body 5 side to combine them. Next, the operator manually rotates the operating portion 14A in one circumferential direction while pushing the pressing member 14 into the main body portion 11. Then, the guide protrusion 11b moves laterally in the circumferential direction within the second step 14b, and then moves vertically in the axial direction within the guide groove 14C to reach the third step 14c. Therefore, as shown in Figure 4(c), a certain amount of the contents in the large diameter portion 11A is pushed down in the same way as the first time, and a certain amount of the contents P can be dispensed into the bottle main body 5 (refilling). Furthermore, for the third refill, similarly to the above, by operating the operating part 14A to move the guide protrusion 11b laterally in the circumferential direction within the third step 14c, and then moving it vertically in the axial direction within the guide groove 14C until it reaches the lower end 14d of the guide groove 14C, a certain amount of contents P can be ejected into the bottle body 5 (see Figure 4(d)). Furthermore, for the second and third refills, as with the first refill, the movable bottom plate 6 located at the top of the bottle body 5 can be returned to the bottom position (initial state (see dashed line in Figure 1)).

[0031] Fig. 5 shows the relationship between the guide groove on the container body side and the guide protrusion on the pressing cylinder side, where (a) is a partial front view of the refill container, (b) is an enlarged view of part I in (a), and (c) is a half lateral cross-sectional view showing the relationship between the body part and the pressing cylinder. Note that Fig. 5(a) shows a state in which a part (front part) of the small diameter part 11B is cut away so that the guide protrusion 11b can be seen. 5(a) and 5(b), a configuration is preferred in which the first step 14a provided at the top is formed with a raised portion 21 that slightly narrows the vertical width of the first step 14a. In this configuration, the raised portion 21 can restrict the movement of the guide protrusion 11b that attempts to move laterally within the first step 14a. This prevents the guide protrusion 11b from unintentionally moving laterally within the first step 14a and then vertically within the guide groove 14C to reach the second step 14b, thereby preventing the contents P from being accidentally discharged.

[0032] 6 shows the relationship between the guide groove on the container body side and the guide protrusion on the pressing cylinder side, where (a) is a partial front view of the refill container, (b) is an enlarged view of part II in (a) showing the urging member before deformation or when restored, and (d) is an enlarged view of part II in (a) showing the urging member when deformed, and (d) is a half cross-sectional view showing the relationship between the body part and the pressing cylinder. Note that Fig. 6(a) also shows a state in which a part (front part) of the small diameter part 11B is cut away so that the guide protrusion 11b can be seen. 6(a), a configuration is preferred in which the second step 14b and the third step 14c are provided with elastically deformable biasing members 22. As the biasing members 22, for example, a member having a dome portion 22a that is elastically deformable due to having a cavity therein is preferred.

[0033] In this configuration, when the pressing member 14 is pressed into the main body 11, for example, when the guide protrusion 11b moves vertically from the first step 14a through the guide groove 14C and continues to be pressed even after it reaches the second step 14b, the guide protrusion 11b can cause the dome portion 22a of the biasing member 22 provided on the second step 14b to collapse (see FIG. 6(c)). Then, when the hand is suddenly removed from the operating unit 14A in this state to release the pressing operation, the dome portion 22a attempts to return to its original shape and resiliently presses against the guide protrusion 11b. At this time, the pressing member 14 provided with the biasing member 22 instantaneously moves in a direction away from the guide protrusion 11b (downward in FIG. 6(b)), thereby rapidly creating a negative pressure inside the main body 11. When returning from the state of Figure 6(c) to the state of Figure 6(b), the inner dish portion 13 rises, so that the contents P remaining in the discharge tube portion 12a can be pulled back into the main body portion 11 (sucked back), thereby preventing dripping from the tip of the discharge tube portion 12a.

[0034] Furthermore, as shown by the dashed line in Fig. 3, a cylindrical pushing member 23 extending along the axial direction may be erected at the center of the inner tray bottom portion 13A. In this configuration, during the final, third refill (see Fig. 4(d)), when the guide protrusion 11b reaches the lower end 14d of the guide groove 14C, the inner tray bottom portion 13A abuts or approaches the top wall portion 12A of the discharge portion 12, and at this time, the pushing member 23 can be inserted into the discharge tube portion 12a. This allows the content P remaining in the discharge tube portion 12a to be pushed outward, making it possible to refill all of the content P in the refill container 10 into the bottle body 5.

[0035] The configuration and effects of the present invention have been described above in accordance with the examples, but the present invention is not limited to the above examples. For example, in the above embodiment, a configuration having three steps (first step 14a, second step 14b, and third step 14c) and capable of being refilled three times, the same number as the number of steps, was described, but the number of steps and the number of refills are not limited to this, and a two-step (two times) configuration or a four-step (four times) or more configuration is also possible.

[0036] In the above embodiment, the biasing member 22 is described as having the dome portion 22a, but it may also be formed of other components such as a leaf spring. [Industrial Applicability]

[0037] The present invention can be used in a wider range of applications in the field of refill containers for HDV containers. [Explanation of symbols]

[0038] 1: HVD container 2:Bottom member 2A:Bottom wall 2B:Bottom side wall 2a: Support cylinder part 3: Body 3A: Inner surface 4: Mouth 5: Bottle body 6: Movable bottom plate 6a: Recess 6b: Flange part 6c: Cylindrical sliding part 6d: Cylindrical contact part 7: Mounting cap 8: Cylinder 9: Pressing head 9a: spout 10: Refill container 11: Main body 11A: Large diameter section 11B: Small diameter part 11a:Locked part 11b: Guide protrusion 12:Discharge part 12A:Top wall part 12B: Side wall part 12a:Discharge cylinder part 12b: Locking part 12c: Outer cylinder 13: Middle plate 13A: Bottom of medium plate 13B: Side wall of inner tray 13C: Connecting cylinder part 13D: Sliding part 14: Pressing member 14A:Operation unit 14B: Pressing side wall 14C: Guide groove 14a: First step 14b: Second step 14c: 3rd step 14d: Lower end of guide groove 15: Cap 15A: Hat section 15B: Outer flange 15C: Insertion tube 15a: Inner seal part 16: Packing 21: Protuberance 22: biasing member 22a: Dome section 23: Extrusion member A: Bottle part B: Pump section O: Container axis P:Contents θ: angle

Claims

1. A refill container for a container (1) that dispenses a highly viscous content (P), The device is configured to include a cylindrical main body (11) in which contents (P) are accommodated, a discharge part (12) having a discharge cylindrical part (12a) and attached to the upper end of the main body (11), a middle dish (13) provided in the main body (11) so as to be movable along the axial direction and directly supporting the contents (P), a pressing member (14) that presses the middle dish (13) to discharge the contents (P) in the main body (11) from the discharge cylindrical part (12a), and a cap (15) that seals the discharge cylindrical part (12a). A refillable container characterized in that a guide protrusion (11b) is formed on the main body (11), and a guide groove (14C) for guiding the guide protrusion (11b) is formed on the pressing member (14) with a plurality of steps (14a, 14b, 14c), and the contents (P) can be refilled the number of times equal to the number of steps.

2. 2. A refill container according to claim 1, wherein each of the steps (14a, 14b, 14c) has a constant angle (θ) in the circumferential direction and is evenly distributed along the axial direction on the guide groove (14C).

3. 3. A refill container according to claim 1, wherein the second and subsequent steps (14b, 14c) are provided with a biasing member (22) for elastically biasing the guide projection (11b).

4. 4. A refill container according to claim 3, wherein the biasing member (22) is formed with a dome portion (22a).

5. 3. A refill container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a pushing member (23) extending cylindrically along the axial direction is provided upright at the center of the inner tray bottom (13A) of the inner tray portion (13).

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