Container Spout Crush Resistance via Localized Support Protrusions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Containers used to transport fluids often face challenges in balancing strength against material cost and weight, leading to potential breakage under stress conditions such as dropping or axial crushing forces.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a support region around the spout with protrusions and indentions that redirect crushing forces to the container's corners, enhancing crush resistance while minimizing material usage by using a combination of bumper rolls and support protrusions with specific curvatures to distribute forces effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If strengthening features are incorporated into the container to maximize strength against breakage, then the container's resistance to crushing forces improves, but the cost and weight of materials increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by positioning support protrusions at specific locations around the spout perimeter rather than uniformly throughout. The protrusions are strategically placed to intercept crushing forces at critical points, providing localized reinforcement where needed most while leaving other areas with minimal material, thus resolving the contradiction between overall strength and material weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The strengthening feature is segmented into multiple discrete support protrusions distributed around the spout rather than using a single continuous reinforcement structure. This segmentation allows the container to achieve adequate crush resistance through distributed support points while minimizing total material usage, as each protrusion handles a specific portion of the crushing load.
2Strength
If strengthening features are incorporated into the container to maximize strength against breakage, then the container's resistance to crushing forces improves, but the cost of materials increases
Solution Approach 1:
By concentrating material only at the support protrusions where crushing forces are most critical rather than uniformly throughout the container wall, the design achieves adequate crush resistance with minimal total material quantity, thereby reducing material cost while maintaining strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The reinforcement is divided into discrete segmented protrusions rather than a continuous structure, allowing material to be placed only where structurally necessary to intercept crushing forces, minimizing overall material consumption and associated costs.
3Quantity of substance
If the spout radius is reduced to minimize material usage, then the amount of material in the container decreases, but the spout becomes more susceptible to crushing forces
Solution Approach 1:
The support protrusions act as intermediary elements between the spout and the crushing forces. These protrusions intercept and redirect axial crushing forces away from the spout wall, allowing the spout to maintain a smaller radius with less material while still achieving adequate crush resistance through the protective action of the protrusions.
Solution Approach 2:
By providing localized support at the spout through protrusions positioned at critical locations, the design enables the spout to have reduced overall dimensions and material quantity while maintaining strength at the specific locations where crushing forces are applied.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments are directed to a container spout secured relative to a hollow container body. The container spout includes a cap region configured to accept a container cap (e.g., a snap-on cap), and a support region positioned between the cap region and the hollow container body. The support region comprises one or more bumper rolls positioned around an exterior of the support region and one or more support protrusions extending between a bottom edge of the cap region and a bottom edge of the support region, wherein each of the one or more support protrusions defines a substantially horizontal convex curvature having a radius smaller than a radius of the container spout. The support protrusions are aligned with corners of the container, and thereby transfer axial crushing forces applied to the container spout onto the container corners to increase the axial crush resistance of the container.