Portable Container and Dispenser With Docking Lid for Secure, Easy Handling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing portable containers and dispensers for solids and liquids lack a design that efficiently accommodates both solids and liquids, provides easy access, and ensures secure closure and portability.
Innovation Solution
A portable container and dispenser with a three-dimensional unitary body featuring a hollow storage cavity, a first opening, a lid docking station, and a grab handle, allowing for secure attachment and detachment of a detachable lid, and optionally including a lid retention tether, to facilitate easy access and portability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a detachable lid with docking station is used, then secure closure is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lid is made detachable and separable from the container body, allowing the lid docking station to be an integrated feature of the container while the lid itself remains a separate component. This segmentation enables secure closure through the docking station mechanism without requiring the entire container structure to be complex.
Solution Approach 2:
The lid docking station integrates multiple functions into a single structure: it provides the closure mechanism, includes external and internal threads for secure attachment, and serves as the interface between the lid and container body. This merging reduces the need for separate closure components, thereby managing device complexity while achieving reliable closure.
2Quantity of substance
If a three-dimensional unitary body with hollow storage cavity is used, then storage capacity is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lid docking station with its internal cavity and thread structure is formed within the three-dimensional unitary body during the blow molding process. The hollow storage cavity and the docking station features are nested within the same molded structure, allowing complex geometry to be achieved through a single manufacturing operation rather than assembly of multiple parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The blow molding process automatically forms the complex three-dimensional unitary body with integrated hollow storage cavity and lid docking station features in a single step. The molding process itself creates the nested structures and threaded features without requiring secondary operations or assembly, thereby reducing manufacturing complexity despite the complex geometry.
3Reliability
If a lid retention tether is added, then reliability of lid attachment is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lid retention tether is implemented as a flexible cord or tether that connects the detachable lid to the container body. This flexible element provides continuous retention and prevents accidental separation without requiring rigid mechanical linkages or complex locking mechanisms, thereby improving lid attachment reliability while adding minimal structural complexity.
4Ease of operation
If external and internal threads are integrated into the unitary body, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The blow molding process inherently creates the external and internal thread structures as integral features of the three-dimensional unitary body. The molding process itself forms the precise thread geometries required for lid attachment without requiring separate machining or assembly operations, thereby enabling easy user operation while the manufacturing precision is achieved through the molding process capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable container and dispenser includes a container capable of holding a solid or a liquid and a detachable lid. The container includes a unitary body including a three-dimensional shape, an interior, hollow storage cavity, a first opening, a first lid docking station, and a grab handle. The first opening is disposed on the outer surface of the unitary body and provides access to the storage cavity. The first lid docking station is disposed adjacent to the first opening. The detachable lid is configured to be removably secured to the unitary body at the first lid docking station, which is configured to retainably accept the detachable lid.