Container for pressurized fluids

A container having a tubular body including a side wall, a bottom wall in the form of a spherical dome projecting to the interior of the container, and an upper wall in the form of an annular spherical dome, inferiorly attached to the side wall by an upper double seam. The bottom wall includes at least one seating region having a predetermined circumferential extension along a plane extending transversely with respect to an axis of the container and being axially spaced inwardly within the side wall of the container, the seating region being configured to be fitted around a respective circumferential extension a upper double seam of an identical and adjacent container inferiorly disposed in a vertical stack, and axially seated on said upper double seam, so as to define a single contact region between two vertically stacked containers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a US National Phase Application under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/BR2008/000270 filed Sep. 3, 2008, which claims priority from Brazilian Patent Application No. PI0703846-1, filed Sep. 3, 2007, each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. The International Application published in the English language as WO 2009/030009 A1 on Mar. 12, 2009.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a container constructed in sheet metal and of the type usually used as a device for containing and applying gas pressurized fluids, by means of a spray valve, as it occurs with the aerosols. The invention is particularly related to the construction of the container lower wall, which is usually configured in an inwardly-facing spherical dome, so that the container can be safely vertically stacked onto the other containers presenting the same construction.

PRIOR ART

There are well known from the prior art the containers for aerosols, gases and similar fluid mixtures, presenting a tubular body formed in sheet metal and comprising: a cylindrical side wall; a bottom wall in the form of a spherical dome projecting to the interior of the container and attached to the side wall by a lower double seam; and an upper wall, in the form of an annular spherical dome, projecting outwardly from the container, and inferiorly attached to the side wall by an upper double seam and defining a central opening in which is adapted the typical valve to be actuated by the final user, to release a jet of sprayed fluid.

The known container construction mentioned above, presenting lower and upper walls in the form of a spherical dome, causes difficulty in stacking said containers in the vertical position, with the bottom wall of a container seating onto the upper wall or on the lid of the container immediately below in the stack.

The vertical stacking of these containers is desirable in different moments, from the formation of the container, still without the spray valve, until its placement in the point of sale to the consumer.

As is known, these containers are produced in sheet metal, and packaged and sent to the filling company (filler) to be filled with the product (pressurized fluid), still deprived of the spray valve. The packaging of these containers at the can manufacturer, to be transported to the filling company, requires the provision of sheets, generally made of cardboard, which are seated on the upper wall of each layer of containers (still without the valve and the lid) which are disposed vertically side by side in the interior of a box or other type of package, the upper layer of containers being seated on the intermediary support sheet, and then successively until the number of layers in each package is completed.

Although allowing stacking multiple layers of vertically disposed containers, this prior art solution presents the inconveniences of requiring the provision of the intermediary support sheet and not providing a mutual retention or locking against relative horizontal (radial) displacements between the containers stacked on top of one another, permitting the occurrence of undesirable shocks between the side walls, which are externally lithographed with the promotional messages that identify the stored product and its manufacturer. These shocks can damage the outer finishing of the cylindrical side wall of these containers, particularly when the lower double seam of a container hits the side wall of an adjacent container. As a consequence of this inconvenience, it is generally applied a solution to reduce the degree of damage of the containers, due to the side shocks which occur in the handling and shipping to the filler. The solution consists in deforming the lower double seam inwards, to maintain it inside the axial projection of the cylindrical contour of the can, which requires an additional and relatively complex operation in the production of said containers. Besides not allowing a safe vertical stacking between the containers still deprived of the spray valve, as a function of the spherical dome shape of the bottom wall and the upper wall, particularly the shape of the bottom wall, the containers of the type considered herein are not safely vertically stackable as well, after receiving the spray valve and the known upper lid in the filler.

Although the upper lid presents a general cylindrical inverted cup shape, with a side wall fitted around the upper double seam and with a flat top wall covering, with an axial gap, the upper wall and the valve already installed therein, the spherical dome shape of the bottom wall of the container prevents it from being safely fitted, with radial locking, on the lid of a container disposed immediately below, in a vertical stack. This feature of the current containers jeopardizes and increases the cost of packaging and transportation of the containers, from the filler to the point of sale, and further leads to limitations in the arrangement of the containers to be displayed to the final consumer, for example, in gondolas or shelves.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As a function of the limitations of stacking the known containers for pressurized fluids, it is an object of the present invention to provide a type of container which is structurally resistant to high inner pressure, without requiring increasing the sheet metal thickness and which can be safely stacked in a vertical position, directly over an identical container stacked below, both in a condition deprived of the spray valve and upper lid and in a condition in which the already filled containers are provided with the usual upper lid covering the spray valve.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a container, as mentioned above and which can present its lower double seam projecting radially outwards from the axial projection of the side wall contour of the tubular body of the container, without this fact incurring damage to the outer lithography of these containers when stored and transported in side-by-side vertical stacks.

The above-mentioned objects, and others to be treated along the present specification, are achieved with a container of the type which comprises: a cylindrical side wall, having a lower edge and an upper edge which presents a reduced diameter; a bottom wall in the form of a spherical dome projecting to the interior of the container and attached to the lower edge of the side wall by a lower double seam; an upper wall in the form of an annular spherical dome, which is inferiorly attached to the upper edge of the side wall by an upper double seam and defining a central opening.

According to the invention, the bottom wall is conformed to define, in a single piece, at least one seating region having a determined circumferential extension disposed according to a plane transversal to the axis of the container and axially spaced back in relation to the lower double seam, said seating region being fitted and axially seated, respectively, around and on a respective circumferential extension of the upper double seam of an identical and adjacent container inferiorly disposed in a vertical stack, so as to define a single contact region between two vertically stacked containers.

The seating region of the bottom wall of a container is constructed so as to be also fitted around a respective circumferential extension of an upper edge region of the side wall of a lid mounted on a container inferiorly disposed in a stack, said seating region being also axially seated on a peripheral region of a top wall of said lid.

The construction proposed herein allows the bottom wall of a container to be fitted and locked, in the radial direction, on the upper double seam of a container, still without the spray valve and the lid, and which is disposed immediately below in a stack or also on the upper edge region of a lid fitted on said inferiorly disposed container, preventing the relative transversal displacement between the two containers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As illustrated and previously mentioned, the invention refers to a container R of the type used for storing and applying pressurized fluids, such as aerosols and the like, which require containers in the form of cylindrical cans constructed to resist high inner pressures.

The container R, of the type considered herein, presents a tubular body1, formed in sheet metal and comprising a cylindrical side wall10which is externally provided with messages allusive to the packaged product and its manufacturer and generally obtained by lithography, said side wall10having a lower edge10aand an upper edge10bwith a reduced diameter in relation to the diameter of the side wall10.

These containers R have the side wall10thereof occupying two-third of the total height of said container R, the upper one-third area of the container R presenting an upper cylindrical portion11with a reduced diameter in relation to the diameter of the side wall10of the tubular body1, said upper cylindrical portion11superiorly presenting a diametrical reduction, generally in a convex arc11a, for transition to a cylindrical neck11b, in whose upper end is defined the upper edge10bof the side wall10. Therefore, the upper edge10bof the side wall10presents a substantially reduced diameter in relation to the diameter of the side wall10, as well illustrated inFIGS. 1,2and3.

The tubular body1further comprises a bottom wall20, in the form of a spherical dome projecting to the interior of the container R, which is attached to the lower edge10aof the side wall10, by a lower double seam Ri formed in a conventional way, i.e., projecting radially outwards from the axial projection of the contour of the side wall10of the tubular body1. The tubular body1further comprises an upper wall30in the form of an annular spherical dome, projecting outwards from the tubular body1, inferiorly attached to the upper edge10bof the side wall10by an upper double seam Rs and defining a central opening A positioned in a plane transversal to the longitudinal axis of the container R and upwardly displaced in relation to the plane in which is situated the upper edge10bof the side wall10.

As better illustrated inFIGS. 3,3A and3B, the container R is provided with a lid40in the form of a generally cylindrical inverted cup, having a side wall41whose lower portion is removably tightly fitted around the upper double seam Rs of the container R, and a top wall42, which is spaced from the upper wall30of the container R, covering the central opening A, in which is usually mounted, by the filling company of the product to be contained in the container R, a spray valve (not illustrated) of known construction and which does not form part of the present invention. Considering the height in which said spray valve projects upwards from the central opening A, the lid40presents a height sufficient to be simultaneously seated on the transition portion11aof the upper cylindrical portion11of the side wall10and superiorly spaced from the spray valve.

As illustrated inFIGS. 1,1A,1B and1C, in a first constructive embodiment, the container R has its bottom wall20provided, in a single piece, with only one seating region21which continuously circumferentially extends along the whole circular contour of the container R and comprising an annular axial stop portion21a, to be seated onto the upper double seam Rs of a container R inferiorly disposed in a vertical stack of said containers, and also a guiding skirt portion21bpending from the annular axial stop portion21ato be fitted around the upper double seam Rs of said container R inferiorly disposed in the stack. The construction described above allows the container R to have its bottom wall20safely fitted and retained against relative radial displacements, on the upper double seam Rs of a container disposed immediately below, said seating region21defining a single contact region between the two containers R. It should be understood herein that the stacking solution illustrated inFIGS. 1A and 1Bis related to those containers R produced by the can manufacturer and still deprived of the spray valve and the lid40, since these elements will be afterwards mounted in the container R by the filler of the product to be stored. In the construction illustrated inFIGS. 1,1A,1B and1C, in which the bottom wall20presents only one continuous seating region21, said bottom wall20presents a lower peripheral edge20aradially extending, in a single piece, in said annular axial stop portion21a, the guiding skirt portion21bbeing inferiorly connected to the lower double seam Ri, through an annular wall portion23spaced back in relation to the lower edge10aof the cylindrical side wall10of the container R.

As better illustrated inFIG. 1B, the radial width of the annular wall portion23is larger than the diametral reduction of the upper edge10bof the side wall10in relation to the adjacent upper cylindrical portion11thereof, so as to maintain the lower double seam Ri of a container R radially outwardly spaced from said upper cylindrical portion11of the side wall10and another container R disposed immediately below the former, when said containers are vertically stacked.

Preferably, the guiding skirt portion21bof the seating region21presents a substantially frusto-conical shape, with the smaller inner diameter being substantially identical or slightly superior to the outer diameter of the upper double seam Rs. This construction of the guiding skirt portion21bpermits obtaining a tightly fitting between the bottom wall of the upper container R on the upper double seam Rs of the immediately lower container R, even considering the determined dimensional tolerances used in the manufacture of said container and, particularly, in the double seams thereof.

In the construction illustrated inFIGS. 1,1A,1B and1C, it may be observed that the bottom wall20presents its spherical dome portion occupying only a median region of the whole contour of the base of the container R, since the seating region21, in conjunction with the annular wall portion23, complement the radial extension of the median central spherical dome. In other words, the bottom wall20has its spherical dome defined radially internal to the annular region defined by the junction of the single seating region21with the annular wall portion23. As may be observed inFIGS. 1aand1B, the construction of the bottom wall20, by incorporating the seating region21, allows stacking two of these containers R deprived of the spray valve and the lid40, in a way as to prevent any contact with the upper wall30of the lower container R with the bottom wall20of the upper container R in the stack, and also any contact of the region of the lower double seam Ri of the upper container R in relation to the side wall10of the lower container R.

FIGS. 3,3A,3B and3C illustrate the container R ofFIGS. 1,1A,1B and1D, when provided with the lid40and to be vertically stacked in this condition, as desired by the filling company of the product and also by the points of sales, since the solution proposed herein permits that the containers R provided with the lid40, surrounding the upper part of the container and the spray valve, can be safely stacked without risk of dropping and damaging the side surface finishing of said containers.

As may be better noted inFIGS. 3,3a,3B and3C, the annular axial stop portion21aof the bottom wall20of a container R is axially seated on a peripheral region of the top wall42of the lid40of a container R inferiorly disposed in a vertical stack of said container R, whereas the guiding skirt portion21bof the bottom wall20of the upper container R is tightly fitted around an upper edge region of the side wall41of the lid40of the container R immediately inferiorly disposed in said stack.

As can be seen, the frusto-conical shape of the guiding skirt portion21bof the seating region21, allows the latter to be seated around the lid40, producing a mutual radial locking between the two containers, even considering the dimensional tolerance variations of the elements constitutive of these containers. Thus, the guiding skirt portion21bof frusto-conical shape presents the smaller inner diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the side wall41of the lid40and the larger inner diameter larger than the inner diameter of said side wall41of the lid40, in an upper edge region of the latter, in which it is connected to the top wall42.FIGS. 2,2A,2B and2C illustrate a second constructive form for the bottom wall20of the container R. In this second embodiment, the bottom wall20presents at least three seating regions21which are equally and angularly spaced apart along the circular contour of the container R, said seating regions21projecting downwards from the contour of the bottom wall20in the form of a spherical dome. As may be observed in this embodiment, the bottom wall20has the lower edge of its spherical dome shape directly connected to the lower double seam Ri, the multiple seating regions21being obtained by localized deformations of said spherical dome shape of the bottom wall20.

The construction of each seating region21is the same as that already previously described for the first embodiment illustrated in the other figures commented herein. However, in this second embodiment, the annular axial stop portion21aof each seating region21is connected to the bottom wall20, by an arched wall portion22superiorly coincident with the bottom wall20and inferiorly coincident with the annular axial stop portion21a, the guiding skirt portion21b, of each seating region21also being inferiorly connected to the lower double seam Ri by an annular wall portion23spaced back in relation to the lower edge10aof the cylindrical side wall10.

It should be understood that the seating of the multiple seating regions21, on the upper double seam Rs or on the lid40of a container R disposed immediately below in a vertical stack of said containers, is carried out exactly in the same way already described in relation to the first embodiment of the bottom wall20. However, it should be considered that the support region between the bottom wall of the upper container and the upper double seam Rs or the lid40of the lower container is defined not around the whole circumference of the containers, but only in the circumferential extensions defined in each of the seating regions21.

As illustrated in the enclosed drawings, and independently of the embodiment of the seating region21, either single or multiple, its incorporation, in a single piece, to the bottom wall20is made through the arched interconnection regions, in order to prevent stress concentrations which are harmful to the resistance required for said bottom wall20as a function of the pressure levels maintained in the interior of this type of container R.

While only two embodiments of the invention have been illustrated herein for the construction of the bottom wall20of the containers R of the present invention, it should be understood that alterations can be made in the form and physical arrangement of the elements used in the formation of said seating regions21, without departing from the constructive concept defined in the claims accompanying the present specification.