Metal Container Sliding Lid With Plastic Inserts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manufacturing metal containers with easily openable and closable lids is challenging, especially when a smooth outer periphery is desired, as forming a hinge between metal parts is difficult and creating a sliding metal lid relative to a metal bottom is complex.
Innovation Solution
The use of plastic inserts, such as a plastic lid insert attached to the metal lid and a plastic bottom insert attached to the metal bottom, provides a sliding engagement between the metal components, allowing for low-cost manufacturability and smooth operation, with features like sliding channels and lugs for limited linear motion and orientation arrangements to secure the components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If metal parts are used to form a hinge or sliding connection between lid and bottom, then the container maintains high metal content and quality perception, but the manufacturing complexity and difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
A plastic insert is introduced as an intermediary component between the metal lid and metal bottom. The plastic insert includes a lid portion attached to the lid and a bottom portion attached to the bottom, with sliding channels and lugs that enable the sliding connection. This intermediary plastic component simplifies the manufacturing process while maintaining the metal aesthetic and quality perception.
Solution Approach 2:
The container employs a composite structure combining metal components (lid and bottom) with a plastic insert. The plastic insert serves as a functional element providing the sliding mechanism, while the metal parts maintain the container's quality perception. This composite approach resolves the contradiction by allowing easy manufacture of the sliding mechanism without compromising the metal appearance.
2Shape
If a smooth outer periphery is desired for the container, then the aesthetic quality improves, but the structural complexity for achieving sliding action increases
Solution Approach 1:
The plastic insert acts as a hidden intermediary that contains all the sliding mechanism components (channels, lugs, ribs) internally. The metal lid and bottom can maintain smooth outer peripheries since the complex sliding structures are contained within the plastic insert, not visible on the exterior metal surfaces.
3Ease of manufacture
If plastic inserts are used to provide sliding engagement, then the ease of manufacture and sliding operation improve, but the metal content of the container decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The container is segmented into distinct functional zones: metal components (lid and bottom) that maintain quality perception and aesthetic appearance, and a plastic insert that provides the sliding mechanism. This segmentation allows each material to be used where it is most effective, minimizing plastic usage while achieving the desired functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The plastic material is applied locally only where the sliding mechanism is needed (in the insert), while the lid and bottom remain metal to maintain quality perception. This localized use of plastic resolves the contradiction by limiting material usage to the minimum necessary for functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
A metal container having a metal and a metal bottom that slide relative to one another along a sliding axis is provided. The metal container includes a plastic lid insert attached to the metal lid and a plastic bottom insert attached to the metal bottom that operably couple the metal lid to the metal bottom and provide the structures allowing for a relative sliding motion between the metal lid and the metal bottom.