Collapsible Spout With Concentric Pleats for Stable Extension
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing collapsible spouts for industrial containers are limited in height and require manual extension, making pouring difficult and prone to spills due to their roll sock configuration.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible spout with a plastic body featuring molded-in concentric pleats and a U-shaped channel for secure engagement with the closure deck, along with a pull-ring for easy extension and a secondary seal for content protection, allowing for stable and asymmetric extension.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a roll sock configuration is used for the spout, then the spout can be manually extended, but the spout height is limited and pouring is difficult and prone to spills
Solution Approach 1:
The spout body is divided into multiple concentric pleats that can be sequentially extended. Each pleat acts as an independent segment that unfolds in sequence, allowing the spout to achieve greater height than a simple roll sock configuration while maintaining manual extension capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The spout transitions from a two-dimensional rolled configuration to a three-dimensional extended structure through concentric pleats. This dimensional transformation allows the spout to achieve greater height and stability when extended, resolving the limitation of the roll sock configuration.
2Ease of operation
If the spout is extended for pouring, then access to container contents is improved, but spill risk increases due to instability
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of extending the spout uniformly in all directions, the concentric pleats are designed to unfold in a controlled sequence from the inside out. This inverted extension mechanism provides structural stability during extension, preventing spills while maintaining access to contents.
Solution Approach 2:
The cross-sectional area of the spout body changes along its length, with thinner sections at hinge points and thicker sections at stable regions. This parameter variation allows the spout to be flexible where needed for extension while maintaining stability in regions that support the extended structure.
3Volume of moving object
If the spout is made collapsible for storage, then space efficiency is improved, but the structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The concentric pleats are designed to nest within each other when collapsed, similar to a nested doll structure. Each pleat fits inside the previous one, achieving maximum space efficiency while the molded-in construction keeps the overall structure relatively simple despite the complex collapsed form.
4Ease of operation
If thinner cross-sectional areas are used at hinge points for flexibility, then extension capability is improved, but structural strength is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The spout body has non-uniform thickness with thinner sections at hinge points for flexibility and thicker sections at stable regions for strength. This local quality variation allows the spout to be flexible where needed for extension while maintaining structural integrity in load-bearing regions.
Data Source
AI summary
The combination of molded plastic closure for an open top container and an extensible plastic spout adapted to be joined to the deck of the closure in either of two ways. In one way, the spout is molded with a U-shaped peripheral channel which receives a downwardly extending flange surrounding an aperture in the deck. In another way, the spout is pre-molded and then used as an insert when molding the closure.