Tube container

Abstract

To provide a thin-walled tube container that is hard to bend and fall over even when it is turned upside down with only a small amount of content. [Solution] The device comprises a thin-walled tube body 2 having an open end 4 on its upper side, a discharge cap 12 joined to the open end 4 and having a spout 18, an upper lid 20 that closes the spout 18 and has a support surface 25 for the tube body 2 when in an inverted position, and a stiffening means 30 that is integrally connected to the discharge cap 12, extends downward along the inner surface i of the tube body 2, and is joined to this inner surface i to help the tube body 2 stand upright in the inverted position. The stiffening means 30 is formed by a pair of stiffening posts 32 that protrude from the lower peripheral edge 15 of the discharge cap 12 and are joined to the inner surface i of the tube body 2. The pair of stiffening posts 32 are located on either side of the lower peripheral edge 15 in the radial direction D of the tube body 2 when viewed vertically.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a tube container, and more particularly to an invertible tube container. [Background technology]

[0002] A tube container is known that includes a thin-walled tube body with a mouth and neck portion on the upper side, a discharge cap that is attached to the mouth and neck portion and has a spout, and an upper lid that closes the spout and has a mounting surface that can be placed on an external installation surface in an inverted position of the tube body (Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2022-81931 [Patent Document 2] Patent Publication No. 2023-46674 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In recent years, there has been a demand for thinner and lighter tube containers as an environmental measure, but Patent Document 1 does not meet this demand. On the market, there is a container in which film used for pouches is processed into a cylindrical shape and a plastic molded spout is attached to the tip (Patent Document 2). However, the film itself is not stiff, and when placed upside down with only a small amount of content, the container bends (hereinafter referred to as "buckling" as necessary) and falls over, making it difficult for the container to stand on its own.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a thin-walled tube container that is unlikely to bend and fall over even when it is turned upside down with only a small amount of content. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The first means comprises an elongated, thin-walled tubular body 2 having an upper open end 4 and a lower closed end 6; a dispensing cap 12 joined to the open end 4 and having a spout 18; an upper cover (20) that closes the spout (18) and has a mounting surface (25) that can be placed on an external mounting surface (T) with the tube body (2) in an inverted position; and stiffening means 30 which is integrally connected to the discharge cap 12, extends downward along the inner surface i of the tube body 2, and is joined to this inner surface i to assist the tube body 2 in standing upright.

[0007] This means is provided with a stiffening means 30 that helps the tube body 2 stand upright in an inverted position. As shown in Figure 1(A), this stiffening means 30 is integrally connected to the discharge cap 12 and is joined to the inner surface i of the tube body 2. This structure provides the tube body 2 with stiffness when in an inverted position, reducing the risk of bending and tipping over.

[0008] The second means comprises the first means; and The tube body 2 is formed of a thin film and is integrally joined to the discharge cap 12 by insert molding. The stiffening means 30 is formed by a pair of stiffening posts 32 that protrude from the lower peripheral edge 15 of the discharge cap 12 and are joined to the inner surface i of the tube body 2, The pair of stiffening columns 32 are disposed on both sides of the lower peripheral edge 15 in the radial direction D of the tube body 2 when viewed vertically.

[0009] In this means, the stiffening means 30 is formed by a pair of stiffening posts 32 that are arranged on both sides of the lower peripheral edge 15 of the discharge cap 12 in the radial direction D of the tube body 2 when viewed vertically, and that protrude from the lower peripheral edge 15. According to this structure, when squeezing the tube body 2, the middle part M between the pair of stiffening posts 32 can be pressed with the fingers to squeeze, so that the pair of stiffening posts 32 do not come into contact with the fingers during the squeezing operation and get in the way, making it easy to use.

[0010] the third means includes the first means or the second means, and the protruding lengths L2 of the pair of stiffening posts 32 from the lower peripheral edge 15 of the discharge cap 12 are equal to each other; The protruding length L2 is set to be half or more of the hanging length L1 of the tube body 2 from the open end 4.

[0011] In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1(B), the protruding length L2 of the pair of stiffening columns 32 from the discharge cap 12 is set to be half or more of the hanging length L1 of the tube body 2 in the vertical direction. This structure can reliably avoid the inconvenience (buckling) of the stiffening columns 32 being too short to fulfill their reinforcing role and breaking near the trunk 3.

[0012] The fourth means includes the first means or the second means, and the pair of stiffening posts 32 are formed as elongated plate portions joined along the inner surface of the tube body 2.

[0013] In this means, the pair of stiffening posts 32 are formed as elongated plate portions joined along the inner surface of the tube body 2 as shown in FIG. 2(A). This structure allows saving of materials, and since the stiffening columns 32 do not take up much space inside the tube body 2, excessive reduction in the internal volume of the tube body 2 can be avoided. [Effects of the Invention]

[0014] According to the present invention, the risk of a thin-walled tube container bending and falling over can be reduced even when the container is turned upside down with only a small amount of content. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1]1A and 1B show the overall configuration of a tube container according to an embodiment of the present invention, with FIG. 1A being a side view and FIG. 1B being a front view. [Figure 2] 2 shows the configuration of the main part of the container shown in FIG. 1, where FIG. 2(A) is an enlarged side view of the main part, and FIG. 2(B) is a cross-sectional view taken along II(B)-II(B). [Figure 3] 2 is a cross-sectional view of a product (intermediate product) in the middle of the manufacturing process of the container shown in FIG. [Figure 4] The operation of the container shown in Figure 1 is shown, where (A) is a side view of the container standing upright in an inverted position, (B) is a front view of the container standing upright in an inverted position, and (C) is an explanatory diagram of the stage in which the body is squeezed to dispense the contents. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0016] 1 to 4 show a tube container according to an embodiment of the present invention. This tube container is composed of a tube body 2, a closure 10, and a stiffening means 30.

[0017] The tube body 2 is an elongated, thin-walled tube body having an open end 4 on its upper side and a closed end 6 on its lower side. The tube body 2 is flexible and is formed so that the contents can be poured out from a pouring outlet 18, which will be described later, by squeezing its vertically middle part (body part 3). The tube body 2 of this embodiment is formed by processing a thin film having a layer structure (not shown) into a cylindrical shape, like a known pouch container. Here, "thin" means that the wall is thin enough that it may buckle under its own weight in an inverted position unless reinforced with stiffening columns 32, which will be described later. In the illustrated example, as shown in FIG. 1(A), the closed end 6 is a thin sealed end that is elongated in the front-to-rear direction X, and the tube body 2 is formed in a shape that gradually tapers from the wide-mouthed open end 4 to the closed end 6, as shown in FIG. 1(B), but the structure can be modified as appropriate. For ease of explanation, the right side of FIG. 1(A) will be referred to as the "rear", the left side as the "front", and the directions perpendicular to the paper surface as the "left and right". When molding a tube container, as shown in FIG. 3, a straight cylindrical film material (cylindrical film body 2A) is set in a mold and joined to a discharge cap 12 and a pair of stiffening columns 32 (described below) by insert molding. One end 4A of the tubular film 2A, which becomes the opening end 4, is joined to the cap peripheral wall 14. Then, after closing the top lid 20, the contents are filled from the other end 6A side of the inverted tubular film body 2A. After this filling operation, the other end 6A is pressed inward from both sides perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. 3 and joined by a method such as welding to form the closed end 6. The tube body in the illustrated example is formed by deforming a flat film into a cylindrical shape and joining it, but a sleeve-shaped tube body (one that uses a sleeve extruded into a cylindrical shape as the body) can also be used.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 1(A), the closure 10 is composed of a discharge cap 12 and a top cover 20. In the illustrated example, the rear portions of the discharge cap 12 and the top cover 20 are connected via a hinge 19 . However, these structures can be modified as appropriate.

[0019] The dispensing cap 12 is joined to the open end 4 and has an upwardly opening spout 18 . 1(A) and 1(B), the joint width between the discharge cap 12 and the open end 4 is indicated by the symbol j. This joint width j is designed so that the closure 10 can hold the tube body 2 in an inverted state. In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 2(A), the discharge cap 12 has a top plate 16 attached to the upper end of a short cylindrical cap peripheral wall 14, and a cylindrical spout (spout tube 18) standing upright at an appropriate position on this top plate 16 (the front half in the illustrated example). The rear portion of the cap peripheral wall 14 is connected via a hinge 19 to a lid peripheral wall 22 of an upper lid 20, which will be described later. As shown in FIG. 2(A), a recess r is formed on the front surface of the cap peripheral wall 14 and the lid peripheral wall 22, and the recess r is continuous with each other. The top plate 16 in the illustrated example has a lower plate portion 16a, which is the outer periphery, raised via a step portion 16b to a higher plate portion 16c. However, these structures can be modified as appropriate.

[0020] The top lid 20 is disposed on the discharge cap 12 so as to be able to open and close the spout 18 . The upper cover 20 of this embodiment is formed by attaching a top plate 24 to the upper end of a lid peripheral wall 22 disposed on the lower plate portion 16 a, and the hinge 19 is connected to the rear part of the lid peripheral wall 22 . The top plate 24 is formed as a horizontal plate, and its upper surface is formed as a mounting surface 25 on which the tube body 2 can be placed on an external mounting surface T in the inverted posture shown in FIG. 4(A). A fitting tube 26 that fits fluid-tightly onto the outer surface of the dispensing tube 18 and a stopper tube 27 that fits into the inner surface of the dispensing tube 18 are provided downward from the back surface of the top plate 24 . A finger hook 28 is attached to the upper front surface of the lid peripheral wall 22.

[0021] The stiffening means 30 is a member provided to help the tube body 2 stand upright in an inverted position. The stiffening means 30 is integrally connected to the discharge cap 12, extends downward along the inner surface i of the tube body 2, and is configured to be joined to this inner surface i. The stiffening means 30 can impart stiffness to the tube body 2. In this specification, "stiffness" refers to the strength to resist buckling (anti-buckling strength). In this specification, "stiffening" means the degree of "resistance to deformation" when the tube body is bent. In this embodiment, the stiffening means 30 and the closure 10 are integrally molded from a synthetic resin material. The stiffening means 30 is formed by a pair of stiffening posts 32 that protrude from the lower peripheral edge 15 of the cap peripheral wall 14 of the discharge cap 12 and are joined to the inner surface i of the tube body 2 . The pair of stiffening columns 32 has a rigidity large enough to prevent the tube body 2 from buckling. As shown in FIG. 2(A), the pair of stiffening posts 32 in the illustrated example are formed as elongated plate portions (stiffening plates) joined along the inner surface of the tube body 2. According to this structure, the stiffening columns 32 do not take up much space inside the tube body 2, so that the internal volume of the tube body 2 is prevented from being excessively reduced. The number and arrangement of the stiffening columns 32 can be changed as appropriate.

[0022] The pair of stiffening columns 32 are preferably provided vertically in parallel from both sides of the cap peripheral wall 14 in the radial direction D. This allows the tube body 2 to be reinforced in a well-balanced manner. In this embodiment, the radial direction D is set to the front-rear direction X of the tube container. That is, the pair of stiffening posts 32 are connected to a proximal end Ep of the lower rim 15 that is close to the hinge 19 and a distal end Ed that is far from the hinge 19, respectively. By doing so, when the body 3 of the tube container is squeezed from both sides in the left-right direction Y with the top lid 20 moved in the opening direction around the hinge 19, the middle part M of the body 3, which is away from the pair of stiffening posts 32, can be squeezed with the fingers as shown in Figure 1 (B), and the stiffening posts 32 do not get in the way of the squeezing operation. When opening the top cover 20, the finger hook 28 located on the opposite side of the top cover 20 from the hinge 19 is hooked with the finger and pulled up, and the presence of the stiffening pillars 32 on both the front and rear sides of the tube body 2 makes it easier to open the top cover. In this embodiment, the radial direction D coincides with the longitudinal direction of the tube body 2 when viewed from below (the direction in which the closed end portion 6 extends).

[0023] As shown in FIG. 1(B), it is desirable that the protruding length L2 of the stiffening column 32 is longer than half the hanging length L1 of the tube body 2. If the stiffening column 32 is too short, it will not perform its stiffening function and the tube body 2 may break midway. The "projection length" refers to the length by which the stiffening post projects downward from the discharge cap. The "hanging length" is the length of the tube hanging from the open end, and refers to the entire length of the tube. In this embodiment, the pair of stiffening columns 32 are symmetrical in the front-rear direction, and therefore the lengths (projection lengths) of these stiffening columns 32 are equal to each other. This is to reinforce both the front and rear halves of the tube body 2 equally. Each stiffening column 32 has the shape of a vertically long plate that follows the inner surface i of the tube body 2. The stiffening column 32 is designed so that the width w in the circumferential direction (left-right direction) shown in Fig. 1(B) is larger than the thickness d in the radial direction (front-rear direction) shown in Fig. 1(A). As shown in FIG. 2(B), these stiffening columns 32 are located in the vicinity of the proximal end Ep to the distal end Ed when viewed from below. The reason for this configuration is as follows: In the configuration of this embodiment in which the tube body 2 is formed to be long in the front-rear direction X when viewed from below, the tube body 2 is easily bent in the left-right direction Y (the short side direction of the tube body 2) when the tube container is in a reduced volume state as shown by the imaginary lines in Figure 4(B). Therefore, by providing plate-shaped stiffening columns 32 having a certain width w in the left-right direction Y, a large stiffening effect can be achieved with a small amount of material. As shown in Fig. 1(B), the stiffening pillar 32 is formed in a tapered shape that gradually decreases in width from the base end 33 to the tip 34. The tapered tip makes it easier to crush the tube body 2 when the remaining amount becomes small, and makes it less likely that the remaining amount will remain. The tube body 2, the closure 10 and the pair of stiffening posts 32 are preferably configured to be suitable for being integrally molded with one another by insert molding. In this embodiment, the pair of stiffening posts 32 are suspended from the underside of the lower peripheral edge 15 of the cap peripheral wall 14, and in the cross-sectional shape shown in Figure 2(B), the tube body 2 and stiffening posts 32 are designed so as not to extend beyond the contours of the inner surface p and outer surface q of the cap peripheral wall 14. However, these structures can be modified as appropriate.

[0024] In the above configuration, when storing the tube container, as shown in Fig. 4(A), it can be placed in an inverted position on an external installation surface T via the placement surface 25 of the top cover 20. At this time, the inverted position of the tube body 2 is supported by a pair of stiffening columns 32 joined to the discharge cap 12. Therefore, even when the contents are low, buckling of the tube body can be prevented. The length (projection length L2) of the stiffening column 32 is equal to or greater than half the hanging length L1 of the tube body 2, so that buckling can be appropriately restricted. To dispense the liquid, the top cover 20 is rotated in the opening direction around the hinge 19 attached to the rear side of the discharge cap 12, the body 3 of the tube body 2 is grasped from the rear side, and the liquid is squeezed from both the left and right sides. Since the pair of stiffening posts 32 are located on the front and rear sides of the tube body 2, the middle part M of the body 3 that is distant from the stiffening posts 32 can be squeezed.

[0025] According to the above-described configuration and operation, since the stiffening means 30 is provided to assist the tube body 2 in standing upright, the risk of the tube body 2 bending and falling down in the upright position can be reduced. The pair of stiffening posts 32 constituting the stiffening means 30 are arranged at the proximal end Ep side close to the hinge 19 and at the distal end Ed side far from the hinge 19, respectively, so that the tubular body 2 can be easily squeezed. The protruding length L2 of the pair of stiffening columns 32 is set to be half or more of the hanging length L1 of the tube body 2 in the vertical direction, so that breaking near the body portion 3 can be reliably prevented. [Explanation of symbols]

[0026] 2...tube body 2A...cylindrical film body 3...body portion 4...open end portion 4A...one end portion 6...Closed end 6A...Other end 10... Closure 12... Discharge cap 14... Cap peripheral wall 15... Lower peripheral edge 16...Top plate 16a...Low plate part 16b...Step part 16c...High plate part 18...Spout (spout tube) 19...Hinge 20... Upper lid 22... Lid peripheral wall 24... Top plate 25... Placement surface 26... Fitting tube 27... Stopper tube 28...Finger rest part 30...Stiffening means 32...Stiffening column 33...Base end 34...Tip D...radial direction d...thickness of stiffening column Ed...distal end Ep...proximal end i...Inner surface of tube body j...Joint part L1...Dropping length L2...Protruding length M...Middle part p...Inner surface of the cap peripheral wall q...Outer surface of the same r...Recess T...Installation surface w...Width of the stiffening column X…front and rear direction Y…horizontal direction

Claims

1. an elongated, thin-walled tubular body (2) having an open upper end (4) and a closed lower end (6); a dispensing cap (12) joined to the open end (4) and having a dispensing outlet (18); an upper cover (20) that closes the spout (18) and has a placement surface (25) that can be placed on an external placement surface (T) with the tube body (2) in an inverted position; and a stiffening means (30) that is integrally connected to the discharge cap (12), extends downward along the inner surface (i) of the tube body (2), and is joined to this inner surface (i) to help the tube body (2) stand upright in an inverted position.

2. The tube body (2) is made of a thin film and is integrally joined to the discharge cap (12) by insert molding. The stiffening means (30) is formed by a pair of stiffening posts (32) that protrude from the lower peripheral edge (15) of the discharge cap (12) and are joined to the inner surface (i) of the tube body (2), 2. The tube container according to claim 1, wherein the pair of stiffening posts (32) are arranged on both sides of the lower periphery (15) in the radial direction (D) of the tube body (2) when viewed vertically.

3. The protruding lengths (L2) of the pair of stiffening posts (32) from the lower peripheral edge (15) of the discharge cap (12) are equal to each other, 3. The tube container according to claim 1, wherein the protruding length (L2) is set to be at least half the hanging length (L1) of the tube body (2) from the open end (4).

4. 3. The tube container according to claim 1, wherein the pair of stiffening posts (32) are formed as longitudinal plate portions joined along the inner surface of the tube body (2).

Images