Stackable metal cup

Abstract

To provide a metal cup which effectively prevents formation of a sealed space and has improved stacking property.SOLUTION: A stackable metal cup 1 has a body part 3 having a hollow opened upper part and such a shape that an upper end inner diameter becomes larger than a lower end outer diameter and the inner diameter or the outer diameter is reduced downward, and a bottom part 7 having a ground contact part 5 continuous to a lower end of the body part 3 through a curvature part R, wherein in a stacked state, a region P where an angle to a horizontal surface of the body part 3 is within a range of 85-90 degrees so as to form a gap t of 0.5 mm or more between an inner diameter of the body part 3 of a lower metal cup 1b and an outer diameter of the body part 3 of an upper metal cup 1a, and a region Q where the angle is smaller than that of the region P and is within a range of 80-88 degrees are alternately continuous in a height direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to metal cups that can be stacked for storage. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, cup-shaped containers used for drinking and other purposes have been widely made of paper or plastic. Containers made from these materials are lightweight and easy to mold, making them inexpensive and suitable for disposable use. However, in recent years, metal cups have been attracting attention from environmental perspectives, such as resource depletion and waste issues. Metal cups are stronger and more durable than paper or plastic cups, are suitable for repeated use, and can significantly reduce resource depletion and waste generation.

[0003] However, metal cups have difficulties with stackability due to their high strength and resistance to deformation. To achieve stackability, the inner diameter of the top opening must be larger than the outer diameter of the bottom, and the sidewalls must be tapered from the top to the bottom. However, with this configuration, when metal cups are stacked, the outer surface of the sidewall of the upper cup adheres to the inner surface of the sidewall of the lower cup, making it difficult to remove the upper cup (i.e., the stacked cup). This requires a large force, and the printed surface on the outer surface of the sidewall can be easily rubbed and become unclear. This problem does not arise with paper or plastic cups, as the sidewalls of the cups can be easily deformed.

[0004] As a metal cup that solves the above problems, Patent Documents 1 and 2 propose a metal cup in which steps are formed on the inner and outer surfaces of the side wall portion. These metal cups are stacked using a step, which creates a gap between the outer surface of the side wall of the upper cup and the inner surface of the side wall of the lower cup that holds it, significantly reducing the area where the two come into close contact. This makes it easier to pull out the stacked cups, significantly improving stackability. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Special Publication No. 2015-506842 [Patent Document 2] Special Publication No. 2020-508874 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, even with cups having such a step, there is room for improvement in stackability. Specifically, the step of the cup is formed on the inner and outer surfaces by horizontal walls extending horizontally or at an angle close to horizontal on the body. Therefore, when stacked, the bottom of the upper cup rests on the horizontal wall of the lower cup, creating an enclosed space below the bottom of the stacked cups. This creates a pressure difference between this enclosed space and the outside space. Even if the side walls are prevented from sealing together, this internal and external pressure difference makes it difficult to remove the upper cup from the stack. This requires improvement. Furthermore, the formation of such an enclosed space means that there is no escape route for air, resulting in the difficulty of stacking. Furthermore, increasing stackability by providing a step with a horizontal wall portion can easily impair the stability of the cups, making them unstable when standing on the ground and making them more likely to fall over.

[0007] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a metal cup in which the formation of an enclosed space is effectively prevented and stackability is improved. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] According to the present invention, there is provided a stackable metal cup having a hollow shape with an open top, a body portion having an inner diameter or an outer diameter tapering downward so that the inner diameter at the upper end is larger than the outer diameter at the lower end, and a bottom portion having a grounding portion connected to the lower end of the body portion via a curvature portion, In the stacked state, a gap t of 0.5 mm or more is formed between the inner diameter of the body of the lower metal cup and the outer diameter of the body of the upper metal cup, and a region P where the angle of the body with respect to the horizontal plane is in the range of 85 to 90 degrees and a region Q where the angle is in a range smaller than that of region P are alternately arranged in succession in the height direction. The boundary between the region P and the region Q is rounded, there is no horizontal step in the body, and the contact area between the upper metal cup and the lower metal cup is a line contact with an extremely small contact area. A stackable metal cup is provided.

[0009] In the stackable metal cup of the present invention, (1) The regions Q and P are alternately arranged in the order of region P1, region Q1, region P2, . . ., region Pn-1, region Qn-1, region Pn (n ≥ 3) in the height direction from the bottom of the body, and the curvature of the lower end of the upper metal cup is located at the boundary between region P1 and region Q1 of the lower metal cup, and the body consisting of region Qn-1 and region Pn-1 of the upper metal cup and the body consisting of region Pn and region Qn-1 of the lower cup, and the a gap is formed between the body portion consisting of the region Qn-2 and the region Pn-2 and the body portion consisting of the region Pn-1 and the region Qn-2 of the lower cup, and the contact portions are present between the upper end of the region Qn-1 of the upper metal cup and the upper end of the region Pn of the lower metal cup, between the upper end of the region Qn-2 of the upper metal cup and the lower end of the region Qn-1 of the lower metal cup, and between the upper end of the region Qn-3 of the upper metal cup and the lower end of the region Qn-2 of the lower metal cup; ( 2 ) the region Q is in the range of 80 to 88 degrees; ( 3 ) When stacked, the stack width d must be 20 mm or less. , at the bottom the region P extends upward from the curvature portion; is preferred. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] In stackable metal cups, the inner diameter (inner diameter of the opening) of the upper end of the side wall forming the hollow portion is set larger than the outer diameter of the lower end of the side wall, and the inner and outer diameters of the body portions taper downward, so that when the metal cups are stacked, the upper cup enters and is held within the space of the lower cup. In such stackable metal cups, in the present invention, the body portions are alternately divided in the height direction into regions P where the angle of the body portion with respect to the horizontal plane is in the range of 85 to 90 degrees and regions Q where the angle is 80 to 88 degrees. These regions form a gap t of 0.5 mm or more between the inner diameter of the body portion of the lower metal cup and the outer diameter of the body portion of the upper metal cup when stacked. That is, in the metal cups of the present invention, no horizontal step is formed in the body portions, and when stacked, the outer surface of the body portion of the upper cup contacts the inclined surface of the body portion of the lower cup, forming a large gap t (the distance between the bodies). Therefore, the upper cup can be easily moved left and right, it is difficult to form an enclosed space, stacking is easy, and stacked metal cups can be easily pulled out.

[0011] Furthermore, since a large gap t as described above is formed, there is less rubbing on the outer surface of the body when inserting or removing the metal cup during stacking, and damage to the printing surface due to rubbing can be effectively suppressed. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing an example of a metal cup of the present invention. [Figure 2] 2 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional side view showing the lower end of the body of the metal cup of FIG. 1. FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing a state in which the metal cups of FIG. 1 are stacked. [Figure 4] 4 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional side view showing the state of the body portions of the upper cup and the lower cup in the stacked state of FIG. 3; FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] In Fig. 1, the metal cup of the present invention, generally designated by 1, comprises a body 3 and a bottom 7 having a ground contact portion 5. The upper end of the body 3 is usually formed with a curled portion 9 to prevent sharp edges from being exposed to the outside. The lower end of the body 5 is connected to the ground contact portion 5 via a curved portion R. The bottom 7 has a dome-shaped recess in the center, and the periphery of this dome-shaped recess forms the grounding portion 5. With this configuration, the metal cup 1 can be stably maintained in an upright position. The body 3 forms a hollow portion 10 that is open at the top end, and this hollow portion 10 is closed by the bottom portion 7, and is designed to contain a liquid such as a beverage depending on the application.

[0014] In the metal cup 1, in order to ensure stackability, the opening diameter at the upper end of the hollow portion 10 (i.e., the inner diameter at the upper end of the body portion 3) is the largest, and the diameter decreases toward the bottom.

[0015] The metal constituting the metal cup 1 may be various metals or alloys, such as aluminum, copper, iron, or alloys containing these metals, or may be a surface-treated steel sheet such as a tin-plated steel sheet or a chemically treated aluminum sheet. Generally, steel, stainless steel, aluminum, or an aluminum alloy is suitable, but aluminum or an aluminum alloy is particularly suitable from the viewpoints of lightness and workability. Furthermore, an organic resin coating may be laminated on the inner surface of the metal cup 1. The organic resin coating may be a coating derived from paint such as acrylic paint, urethane paint, silicone paint, or fluorine paint, or a thermoplastic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and is provided to provide corrosion resistance and to prevent surface roughness during severe molding processes.

[0016] Such a metal cup 1 is manufactured, for example, by punching, drawing, redrawing, and ironing a thin metal blank (the inner surface of which may be coated with the organic resin described above), then doming the bottom, followed by washing and drying, printing on the exterior, applying and baking a finishing varnish, applying and baking a paint on the interior, curling, etc. The diameter of the body 3 can be reduced from the top end downward by performing redrawing multiple times.

[0017] In the metal cup 1 described above, the thickness of the center portion of the bottom 7 corresponds to the thickness of the blank used to form the cup 1, and although it varies depending on the use of the cup 1, it is generally 0.10 to 0.50 mm. The thickness of the body 3 and the height H of the cup (the height from the contact portion 5 to the top end of the body 3) vary depending on the degree of ironing; as the ironing rate is gradually increased and the ironing process is performed in multiple stages, the body 3 becomes thinner and the height H becomes higher.

[0018] 1 and 2, the present invention is notably characterized in that the body 3 of the cup 1 has a configuration in which region P, where region P has a large angle with respect to the horizontal plane, and region P, where region P has a relatively large angle with respect to the horizontal plane, and region Q, where region P has a relatively small angle with respect to the horizontal plane, are alternately arranged in a vertical direction. For example, the inclination angle α of the body 3 in region P is in the range of 85 to 90 degrees, and the inclination angle β of the body 3 in region Q is in the range of 80 to 88 degrees, provided that it is smaller than α. Such regions P and Q are alternately arranged in a vertical direction, so that the body 3 has a configuration in which the diameter decreases from the upper end downward. Note that it is preferable that the boundary between region P and region Q is rounded by R rather than forming a corner. This is because, since the cup is made of metal, it is desirable to avoid sharp corners.

[0019] As can be seen from Figure 3, which shows the state in which the metal cups 1 are stacked as described above, and Figure 4, which shows an enlarged view of a portion thereof, the metal cup 1 of the present invention has an area P at the bottom, and this area P is connected to an area Q. For example, this chain can be shown as follows: P1 Q1 P2 Q2 Q n-2 P n-1 Q n-1 P n In the above, P1 is the lowest position of the trunk 3, and P n is the upper limit, and n is a number greater than or equal to 3. Furthermore, for multiple regions P and regions Q, the inclination angle α or inclination angle β may be different for each region P or region Q, but adjacent regions P and regions Q must satisfy α>β.

[0020] That is, this type of body portion 3 has no horizontal portion at all. As can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, when the cups are stacked, the contact portion X (see FIG. 4) of the body portion 3 between the upper cup 1a and the lower cup 1b is present on the inclined surface of at least region Q. Therefore, the contact between the cups 1a and 1b is linear, and the contact area is extremely small. Given that such a chain of regions P and Q is formed, in the present invention, the inclination angle α in region P and the inclination angle β in region Q, as well as the size (length) of each region P and Q, are set so that, in the stacked state, a gap t (horizontal distance between adjacent contact portions X) of 0.5 mm or more, particularly 0.7 to 1.5 mm, is formed between the inner diameter of the body portion 3 of the lower metal cup 1b and the outer diameter of the body portion 3 of the upper metal cup 1a. That is, these parameters are set so that the gap t is formed, taking into account the thickness of the body portion 3.

[0021] In the present invention, the regions P and Q are linked together to form such a large gap t, so that the contact area between the cups 1a and 1b in the stacked state is extremely small and the gap t formed in the contact area (near the contact area X) is also set large. This means that, unlike conventional metal cups that have a horizontal step in the body, the upper cup 1a can be easily moved left and right in the stacked state, making it difficult to form an enclosed space and making stacking easier. In addition, stacked metal cups 1a can be easily pulled out, and when pulled out, there is little rubbing on the outer surface of the body 3, effectively preventing damage to the printed surface due to rubbing.

[0022] In addition, in the present invention, it is preferable that the stack width d (see FIG. 3 ) in the stacked state be set to 20 mm or less. This stack width d corresponds to the distance between the top ends (or the distance between the bottoms 7) of the upper and lower stacked cups 1a and 1b. A small stack width d allows a large number of metal cups 1 to be stacked. To achieve the small stack width d, it is desirable to set the inclination angle α in the lowermost region P extending upward from the curvature portion R to a value smaller than 90 degrees, particularly an angle smaller than 90 degrees (especially 88 degrees or less) depending on the thickness of the lowermost body portion 3. In other words, if the inclination angle α is 90 degrees, the upper metal cup 1a to be stacked cannot be inserted up to the portion where the lowermost region P is located, and as a result, the stack width d described above cannot be ensured. In region P, by slightly tilting the body 3, the upper end of region P opens more than the thickness of region P, and the lower metal cup 1b penetrates to a position closer to the bottom 7 by the amount of opening more than the thickness, making it possible to set the stack width d small.

[0023] The metal cup 1 of the present invention described above has excellent stackability and can be stacked and held in large numbers, making it excellent in terms of storage and transportability, and is suitable for use, for example, as a container for drinking various beverages, and is also suitable for commercial use. In the above example, the curled portion 9 is formed at the top end, but a horizontal flange or the like can be formed in place of the curled portion 9, and after food or the like is placed inside, a lid can be attached by heat sealing or the like. In this case, it is advantageous for storing the cup when it is reused after use. [Explanation of symbols]

[0024] 1: Metal cup 1a: In the stacked state, the upper cup 1b: In a stacked state, the lower cup 3: Torso R: Curvature part 5: Grounding part 7: Bottom 9: Curl section 10: Hollow part

Claims

1. A stackable metal cup having a hollow shape with an open top, a body portion having an inner diameter or an outer diameter tapering downward so that the inner diameter at the upper end is larger than the outer diameter at the lower end, and a bottom portion having a grounding portion connected to the lower end of the body portion via a curvature portion, In a stacked state, a region P in which the angle of the body with respect to the horizontal plane is in the range of 85 to 90 degrees and a region Q in which the angle is in a range smaller than that of region P are alternately arranged continuously in the height direction so that a gap t of 0.5 mm or more is formed between the inner diameter of the body of the lower metal cup and the outer diameter of the body of the upper metal cup, The boundary between the region P and the region Q is rounded, The body portion does not have a horizontal step portion formed thereon, A stackable metal cup characterized in that the contact area between the upper metal cup and the lower metal cup is a line contact with an extremely small contact area.

2. The regions Q and P are alternately arranged successively in the order of region P1, region Q1, region P2, ..., region Pn-1, region Qn-1, region Pn (n≧3) in the height direction from the bottom of the body, and the curvature portion of the lower end of the upper metal cup is located at the boundary between region P1 and region Q1 of the lower metal cup, Gaps are formed between the body portion consisting of region Qn-1 and region Pn-1 of the upper metal cup and the body portion consisting of region Pn and region Qn-1 of the lower cup, and between the body portion consisting of region Qn-2 and region Pn-2 of the upper metal cup and the body portion consisting of region Pn-1 and region Qn-2 of the lower cup, 2. The stackable metal cup according to claim 1, wherein the contact portions are between the upper end of the region Qn-1 of the upper metal cup and the upper end of the region Pn of the lower metal cup, between the upper end of the region Qn-2 of the upper metal cup and the lower end of the region Qn-1 of the lower metal cup, and between the upper end of the region Qn-3 of the upper metal cup and the lower end of the region Qn-2 of the lower metal cup.

3. 3. The stackable metal cup according to claim 1, wherein the region Q is in the range of 80 to 88 degrees.

4. 4. The stackable metal cup according to claim 1, wherein the region P at the bottom extends upward from the curved portion so that the stack width d is 20 mm or less in a stacked state.

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