Reversible Paint Liner with Interlocking Seal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Paint containers often face issues with contamination and drying out of coatings when left unattended, and existing liners do not effectively prevent spillage during transportation or storage.
Innovation Solution
A paint container liner design that can be flipped to form a liner-lid combination, featuring mirrored male and female features with ribs for a secure seal and a through-opening for utensil handles, allowing for a nested and interlocked enclosure that prevents spillage and contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a paint container is left unattended, then the coating may be contaminated or dry out, but adding a separate lid increases device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the liner and lid into a single integrated component by making the liner reversible. The liner can be flipped over to serve as both the container bottom and the lid, eliminating the need for a separate lid component. This merging resolves the contradiction by maintaining contamination prevention while reducing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The liner is designed to perform multiple functions: it serves as the container bottom when in its normal orientation and as the lid when flipped over. The mirrored male and female locking features enable the liner to securely lock in either orientation. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction by providing protection against contamination and drying without requiring additional components.
2Reliability
If a liner is designed to prevent spillage during transportation, then sealing effectiveness improves, but accessibility for utensil insertion deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is segmented into discrete male and female features distributed around the liner's perimeter. These features are positioned such that they provide effective sealing while leaving specific areas open for utensil insertion. The segmentation allows the locking mechanism to provide spillage prevention without completely enclosing the liner, thus maintaining utensil accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking features are strategically positioned at specific locations around the liner's rim rather than providing continuous enclosure. This local quality approach allows the liner to have enhanced sealing at critical points while maintaining open areas for utensil insertion, resolving the contradiction between spillage prevention and operational accessibility.
3Adaptability or versatility
If separate lids and liners are manufactured and inventoried, then functionality is provided, but manufacturing and inventory costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The liner is designed to serve dual purposes: as the container bottom and as the lid. This eliminates the need to manufacture and inventory separate lids, reducing manufacturing complexity and inventory requirements. The single-component design maintains full container functionality while simplifying production and supply chain management.
Solution Approach 2:
By merging the liner and lid functions into a single component, the patent reduces the total number of parts that need to be manufactured, assembled, and inventoried. This consolidation decreases manufacturing costs and simplifies inventory management while preserving the essential container functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
A container liner that can be flipped on top of another same liner to provide a liner-lid combination that forms an enclosure for storing a coating and/or coating utensil therewithin. The sidewalls of the liner provide an upper rim with upper mating face which engages against the corresponding upper mating face of another same liner to form a face seal along a majority of the upper rim. The opposingly interfaced liners form a section in which the ribs of the respective liners are in juxtaposition to each other in a laterally spaced apart relationship to define a through-opening that is configured to permit a portion of a coating utensil such as a paintbrush to extend therethrough. In addition, the liners may have a feature which allows the same liners to be nested while facing the same direction, allowing for ease of storage while the liners are not forming an enclosure.