Bendable neck container

Abstract

To provide a bent-neck container that is excellent in stability when laid on its side.SOLUTION: A bent-neck container 1 has a flat circular shape with the long axis direction as the front-back direction and the short axis direction as the width direction when viewed from the side of a bottom 2; a body 3 where the width of a long axis direction portion 3a is narrower than the width of a long axis direction portion 3b; a neck 4 having a bent portion 4a that bends toward the long axis direction of the body 3; and a mouth portion that is oriented in the bending direction of the neck 4. A ground surface F1 is formed on the bent portion 4a of the neck 4, which is grounded together with a short axis direction portion 3c formed between the long axis direction portion 3a and the long axis direction portion 3b of the body portion 3 when the neck-bent container 1 is laid on its side.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a flexible neck container. [Background technology]

[0002] A known example of a conventional container with a bent neck is a container used in an applicator (see Patent Document 1). The container includes a bent portion in the neck, and its outer shape is formed to form a smooth curve so that it fits comfortably in the hand when held. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-268536 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, if the basic cross-sectional shape of the bent portion of the neck of a bent-neck container is non-circular, for example, when blow molding is performed using a bent parison, the air supplied to the interior of the parison may swirl, causing air turbulence at the end of the parison. Such air turbulence may affect the bottom side of the bent-neck container as a molded product, reducing the formability of the bottom side. Therefore, it is desirable that the basic cross-sectional shape of the bent portion of the neck of a bent-neck container be circular.

[0005] On the other hand, when a bendable neck container with a circular cross-sectional basic shape at the bend of the neck is turned on its side, the outer circumferential surface of the bend of the neck may come into contact with the ground. If such a bendable neck container is transported in a turned-on position before being filled with contents, the outer circumferential surface of the bend may come into contact with the ground, causing problems such as the entire bendable neck container shaking or rotating.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a container with a bendable neck that is highly stable when turned on its side. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The bendable neck container of the present invention is a container with a bendable neck, the contour of which when viewed from the bottom side is a flattened circular shape with the long axis direction as the front-to-back direction and the short axis direction as the width direction, and which comprises a body portion whose width on one side in the long axis direction is narrower than the width of the part on the other side in the long axis direction, a neck portion having a bent portion that bends toward one or the other side in the long axis direction of the body, and a mouth portion that faces in the bending direction of the neck, and when the bendable neck container is placed on its side in the short axis direction, a contact surface is formed at the bent portion of the neck that comes into contact with the short axis direction part formed between the part on one side in the long axis direction of the body and the part on the other side.

[0008] In the container with a bendable neck according to the present invention, the bending direction of the neck may be the other side of the longitudinal axis direction of the body.

[0009] In the bendable neck container according to the present invention, the contact surface may have a contour shape that follows the contour shape of the short axis direction portion of the body when viewed from the bottom side. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a container with a bendable neck that is highly stable when turned on its side. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a side view schematically illustrating a flexible neck container according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 2 is a bottom view showing the bendable neck container of FIG. 1 from the bottom side. FIG. [Figure 3] 2 is a plan view schematically showing the bent-neck container of FIG. 1 from above. FIG. [Figure 4]FIG. 1 is a side view schematically showing a container with a bent neck as a comparative example of the present invention. [Figure 5] 5 is a bottom view showing the bent-neck container of FIG. 4 from the bottom side. FIG. [Figure 6] 5 is a plan view showing the bent-neck container of FIG. 4 from above. FIG. [Figure 7] 5 is a cross-sectional view of the bent-neck container shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 along the line AA. [Figure 8] 2 is a cross-sectional view of the bent-neck container of FIG. 1 along the line B-B. [Figure 9] 5 is a cross-sectional view of the bent-neck container shown in FIG. 4 taken along the line CC. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Hereinafter, a bendable neck container according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0013] In this disclosure, the terms "front-rear direction," "width direction," and "up-down direction" are directions perpendicular to each other. However, in this disclosure, "front side" includes cases where it means the side toward which the mouth of the flexible neck container faces, and "rear side" includes cases where it means the side opposite to the side toward which the mouth of the flexible neck container faces. In this disclosure, "width direction" is synonymous with "left-right direction." Furthermore, in this disclosure, "lower side" includes cases where it means the side toward the bottom of the flexible neck container, and "upper side" includes cases where it means the side opposite to the bottom of the flexible neck container. Furthermore, "basic cross-sectional shape" refers to the cross-sectional shape that represents the basic shape of the target part when the target part is cut in a plane perpendicular to the extension axis of the flexible neck container.

[0014] 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a container with a flexible neck according to one embodiment of the present invention. The container with a flexible neck 1 can be molded, for example, by extrusion blow molding using a parison made of a curved resin.

[0015] Referring to FIG. 1 , the flexible neck container 1 comprises a bottom 2, a body 3 connected to the bottom 2, a neck 4 connected to the body 3, and a mouth 5 connected to the neck 4. In the present disclosure, symbol O1 denotes a first extension axis that extends vertically through the center of the neck 4 of the flexible neck container 1. Also, in the present disclosure, symbol O2 denotes a second axis that passes through the center of the mouth 5 of the flexible neck container 1 and defines the orientation of the mouth 5. The extension axis of the flexible neck container 1 defines the extension direction of the flexible neck container 1. In the present disclosure, the extension axis of the flexible neck container 1 is formed by the first extension axis O1 and the second extension axis O2. In the present disclosure, the second extension axis O2 is bent at the neck 4 with respect to the first extension axis O1. In the present disclosure, the intersection of the first extension axis O1 and the second extension axis O2 is the bending point of the neck portion 4. As a result, the neck portion 4 is formed with a bending portion 4a.

[0016] In FIG. 2, the flexible neck container 1 is shown from the side of the bottom 2 .

[0017] As shown in Figure 2, the outline shape of the body 3 when viewed from the bottom 2 side is a flattened circular shape with the long axis direction as the front-to-back direction and the short axis direction as the width direction, and the width of the portion 3a on one side in the long axis direction (hereinafter also referred to as the "long axis direction one side portion 3a") is narrower than the width of the portion 3b on the other side in the long axis direction (hereinafter also referred to as the "long axis direction other side portion 3b").

[0018] Here, in the present disclosure, the long axis direction coincides with the front-to-rear direction, and the short axis direction coincides with the width direction (left-to-right direction). Furthermore, in the present disclosure, the relative positional relationship between one side and the other side in the long axis direction is determined by the relative size of the width (left-to-right width) of the body portion 3. In the present disclosure, the side to which the mouth portion 5 points is the front side, as described above. Furthermore, in the present disclosure, the one side portion 3a in the long axis direction is located opposite the side to which the mouth portion 2 points, as described below, and the other side portion 3b in the long axis direction is located on the side to which the mouth portion 2 points. Therefore, in the present disclosure, the one side in the long axis direction is the rear side, and the other side in the long axis direction is the front side. In FIG. 3, the symbol L1 indicates the front-to-rear direction (long axis direction), and the symbol L2 indicates the width direction (short axis direction).

[0019] In the present disclosure, the one longitudinal side portion 3a is formed by a curve (curved surface) with a radius of curvature ra and a center Oa inside the bendable-neck container 1, as shown in Fig. 2. In the present disclosure, the other longitudinal side portion 3b is formed by a curve (curved surface) with a radius of curvature rb and a center Ob inside the bendable-neck container 1, as shown in Fig. 2. In the present disclosure, the radius of curvature ra is smaller than the radius of curvature rb.

[0020] Furthermore, the body 3 has a short axis portion 3c formed between the one long axis side portion 3a and the other long axis side portion 3b. In the present disclosure, the one long axis side of the short axis portion 3c is connected to the one long axis side portion 3a, and the short axis portion 3c is a tangent to the one long axis side portion 3a. In the present disclosure, the other long axis side of the short axis portion 3c is connected to the other long axis side portion 3b, and the short axis portion 3c is also a tangent to the other long axis side portion 3b. That is, in the present disclosure, the short axis portion 3c is formed by a straight line (which is a "plane" when the bendable-neck container 1 is viewed from the short axis direction) connecting the one long axis side portion 3a and the other long axis side portion 3b, as shown in FIG. 2 . However, in the present disclosure, the straight line (plane) includes a slightly curved straight line (plane).

[0021] In the present disclosure, the body 3 tapers toward the neck 4 as shown in Fig. 1. Specifically, as shown in Fig. 1, the other longitudinal side portion 3b tapers more than the one longitudinal side portion 3a.

[0022] The bent portion 4a of the neck 4 is bent toward one side or the other in the longitudinal direction of the body 3. In the present disclosure, the bent portion 4a is bent toward the other side in the longitudinal direction of the body 3.

[0023] As shown in Fig. 1, the mouth portion 5 is oriented in the bending direction of the neck portion 4. In the present disclosure, the front side is the side to which the mouth portion 5 faces, as described above. That is, in the present disclosure, the bending direction of the neck portion 4 faces toward the front side, the other longitudinal side portion 3b is located on the front side, and the one longitudinal side portion 3a is located on the rear side.

[0024] In addition, a contact surface F1 is formed at the bent portion 4a of the neck 4. When the bendable-neck container 1 is turned on its side in the minor axis direction, the contact surface F1 comes into contact with the ground together with the minor axis direction portion 3c. The contact surface F1 can be a flat plane or a slightly curved surface, as long as it can come into contact with the ground together with the minor axis direction portion 3c when the bendable-neck container 1 is turned on its side in the minor axis direction of the body 3.

[0025] As disclosed herein, if the bent portion 4a of the neck 4 is formed with a contact surface F1 that contacts the ground together with the short-axis portion 3c of the body 3 when the bendable container 1 is turned on its side, then, as shown in FIG. 2, when the bendable container 1 is turned on its side, the short-axis portion 3c of the body 3 and the contact surface F1 of the bent portion 4a of the neck 4 simultaneously and planarly contact a ground-side contact surface, such as a work surface or a conveying surface. In this case, even if the bendable container 1 is swayed back and forth while turned on its side, the bendable container 1 is less likely to sway. Furthermore, even if the bendable container 1 sways back and forth along the curved surface of the long-axis side portion 3a or the long-axis side portion 3b of the body while turned on its side, the short-axis portion 3c of the body 3 and the contact surface F1 are in planar contact with the ground-side contact surface, and the shaking of the bendable container 1 converges and then stops in a relatively short time. Therefore, the bendable neck container 1 of the present disclosure is highly stable when placed on its side, particularly when placed on its side without any contents inside.

[0026] Fig. 3 shows a schematic view from above of the bent-neck container 1. In the present disclosure, the contact surface F1 can be formed by removing the portion of the bent portion 4a of the neck 4 that protrudes beyond the body 4 (the portion indicated by the two-dot chain line in Fig. 3) when viewed from above, as shown in Fig. 3.

[0027] In addition, in the present disclosure, the ground contact surface F1 has a contour shape that follows the contour shape of the minor axis direction portion 3c of the trunk 3 when viewed from the side of the bottom portion 2, as shown in Fig. 2. That is, in the present disclosure, the ground contact surface F1 matches the contour shape of the minor axis direction portion 3c of the trunk 3, as shown in Fig. 2. In this case, the ground contact surface F1 becomes a straight line (flat surface) when the contour shape of the minor axis direction portion 3c of the trunk 3 is a straight line (flat surface), and becomes a curved line (curved surface) when the contour shape of the minor axis direction portion 3c of the trunk 3 is a curved line (curved surface).

[0028] As in the present disclosure, when the contour shape of the contact surface F1 when viewed from the bottom 2 side is made to match the contour shape of the minor axis portion 3c of the body 3, the contact between the minor axis portion 3c of the body 3 and the contact surface F1 on the ground side becomes more stable. Therefore, in this case, the stability of the bendable neck container 1 can be further improved.

[0029] In addition, in the present disclosure, as described above, the bending direction of the neck 4 is the direction toward the other side in the longitudinal direction of the body 3. That is, in the present disclosure, the other side portion 3b in the longitudinal direction of the body 3 is positioned on the front side. In this case, the stability of the bendable neck container 1 can be further improved.

[0030] Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a flexible neck container 10, which is a comparative example for comparison with the present invention. Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of the flexible neck container 10 from the side of the bottom 2. Fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of the flexible neck container 10 from above. In the following description, the same reference numerals are used for items that are substantially the same as those in the flexible neck container 1.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 4, in the bendable neck container 10, there is no contact surface F1 at the bent portion 4a of the neck 4. In the bendable neck container 10, the outer peripheral surface of the bent portion 4a, which has a circular cross-sectional basic shape, functions as the contact surface F2 at the bendable neck portion 4a of the neck 4, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the contact surface F2 does not come into contact with the short-axis portion 3c of the body 3 at the same time. Instead, the contact surface F2, which is the outer peripheral surface of the bendable neck portion 4a of the neck 4, and the short-axis portion 3c of the body 3 each come into contact with the ground-side contact surface at different positions in the front-to-back direction. Therefore, when the bendable neck container 10 is placed on its side, it is prone to swaying in the front-to-back direction due to the balance of its center of gravity in the front-to-back direction. Furthermore, when the bendable neck container 10 is placed on its side and swayed in the front-to-back direction, the swaying of the bendable neck container 10 is greater than that of the bendable neck container 1 because the contact surface F2 is the outer peripheral surface of the bendable neck portion 4a of the neck 4, making it more likely to flip over. Furthermore, even when the bendable neck container 10 is laid on its side and sways back and forth, the swaying of the bendable neck container 10 converges and stops over a longer period of time than the bendable neck container 1, because the contact surface F2 is the outer peripheral surface of the bent portion 4a of the neck 4. As a result, the bendable neck container 10, which is the comparative example, is prone to swaying back and forth (wobbling) and flipping over when, for example, the bendable neck container 1 is transported after molding or during product assembly, and there is room for improvement in terms of achieving smooth line transport and production operations.

[0032] In contrast, as described above, in the bendable neck container 1 of the present disclosure, the minor axis portion 3c of the body 3 and the contact surface F1 of the bent portion 4a of the neck 4 simultaneously and planarly contact the contact surface on the ground side, resulting in excellent balance of the center of gravity in the front-to-back direction and improved stability when the container is laid on its side without any contents. This makes the bendable neck container 1 of the present disclosure less likely to sway (wobble) or flip over in the front-to-back direction, for example, during transport of the bendable neck container 1 after molding or during transport during product assembly, enabling smooth line transport and production operations. In particular, when the weight of a bendable neck container is reduced, it tends to rotate more easily when laid on its side due to the balance of its center of gravity. In contrast, the bendable neck container 1 of the present disclosure is less likely to rotate when laid on its side, even when the thickness (wall thickness) of the bendable neck container 1 is reduced and the weight of the bendable neck container 1 is reduced. Therefore, the flexible neck container 1 of the present disclosure is more effective when the weight of the flexible neck container 1 is reduced.

[0033] 7 shows the AA cross section of the bendable neck container 1 and the AA cross section of the bendable neck container 10. As shown in Fig. 7, the basic cross-sectional shape of the neck portion 4 of the bendable neck container 1 is circular, similar to the basic cross-sectional shape of the neck portion 4 of the bendable neck container 10. Therefore, the basic cross-sectional shape of the internal passage R formed in the neck portion 4 is also circular.

[0034] In contrast, Fig. 8 shows a BB cross section of the container 1 with a bent neck. The BB cross section is a cross section cut along a horizontal plane passing through the bent portion 4a of the neck 4. Fig. 9 shows a CC cross section of the container 10 with a bent neck. Like the BB cross section, the CC cross section is a cross section cut along a horizontal plane passing through the bent portion 4a of the neck 4.

[0035] 8 and 9, the cross-sectional shape of the contents passage R1 formed in the bent portion 4a according to the present disclosure in Fig. 8 is maintained substantially circular, similar to the cross-sectional shape of the contents passage R2 formed in the bent portion 4a according to the comparative example in Fig. 9. Therefore, the bendable neck container 1 according to the present disclosure has excellent shapeability on the bottom side of the body 3, almost equivalent to that of the bendable neck container 10, even during blow molding. [Example]

[0036] The following table shows the results of a test in which a flexible-neck container 1 as Example 1 of the present invention and a flexible-neck container 10 as Comparative Example 1 for comparison with Example 1 were each shaken back and forth from an unfilled, sideways position, and the time from when the shaking started to when the shaking stopped (hereinafter also referred to as "shaking time") was measured. In this test, Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 were the same size and capacity.

[0037] [Table 1]

[0038] This test was performed five times for each of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1. The unit of measurement time is "seconds." The average shaking time is the average of the shaking times of the five tests. The difference in average shaking time is the value obtained by subtracting the average shaking time of Comparative Example 1 from the average shaking time of Example 1.

[0039] In this test, Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 were each placed on their sides on a smooth surface (a surface plate) with the flat surface as the ground surface. Next, in this test, from the side-on position, the other longitudinal side portion 3b of the body 3 was pressed down with a finger so that the one longitudinal side portion 3a of the body 3 was tilted higher than the other longitudinal side portion 3b of the body 3. Then, in this test, the finger was removed from the other longitudinal side portion 3b of the body 3, thereby shaking the bendable-neck container back and forth. The shaking time was measured by measuring the time from the moment the finger was removed from the other longitudinal side portion 3b of the body 3 until the shaking stopped. Furthermore, in this test, for both Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, shaking was induced by tilting the bendable-neck container's body until the long axis of the bendable-neck container was at a 45-degree angle with respect to the front-to-back direction when the container was placed on its side.

[0040] Table 1 shows that in all five tests, the time until shaking stopped was shorter for Example 1 than for Comparative Example 1. For example, in the first test, the shaking time for Example 1 was 5.2 seconds, while the shaking time for Comparative Example 1 was 10.1 seconds. Table 1 also shows that the average shaking time for the five tests was shorter for Example 1 (4.52 seconds) than for Comparative Example 1 (9.54 seconds). Incidentally, the difference in average shaking time was -5.02 seconds, that is, the average shaking time for Example 1 was 5.02 seconds shorter than the average shaking time for Comparative Example 1.

[0041] As described above, the present invention can provide a bendable-neck container that is highly stable when turned on its side.

[0042] The above describes a round bottle-shaped container according to one embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be modified in various ways within the scope of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0043] 1: container with bent neck (embodiment of the present invention), 2: bottom, 3: body, 3a: one side portion of the body in the longitudinal direction, 3b: other side portion of the body in the longitudinal direction, 3c: short axis portion of the body, 4: neck, 4a: bent portion, 5: mouth, 10: container with bent neck (comparative example), F1: ground surface (embodiment of the present invention), F2: ground surface (comparative example), O1: first extension axis (container extension axis), O2: second extension axis (container extension axis)

Claims

1. A container with a bendable neck, the contour of which, when viewed from the bottom side, is a flattened circular shape with the long axis direction as the front-rear direction and the short axis direction as the width direction, and the container has a body with a rear portion having a narrower width than the front portion, a neck having a bent portion that bends toward the front side of the body, and a mouth portion that faces in the bending direction of the neck, a portion in a minor axis direction is formed between the rear portion of the body portion and the front portion of the body portion, The bent portion of the neck has a shape in which the portion of the bent portion of the neck that protrudes beyond the body when viewed from the bottom has been removed, and when the bent portion of the neck is turned sideways in the minor axis direction, a contact surface is formed that comes into contact with the minor axis direction portion of the body.

2. 2. The container according to claim 1, wherein the contact surface has a contour that follows the contour of the portion of the body in the minor axis direction when viewed from the bottom side.

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