PET intermediate article

Abstract: This invention provides a wide mouth container (10) and intermediate article (12) formed by stretch blow-molding an injection-molded preform (13) of polyethylene terephthalate suitable for packaging tennis balls or other contents under pressure. The container (10) includes an improved base construction (16) which will withstand internal pressure with controlled minimal distortion and an improved flange construction (17) surrounding the wide mouth which provides desired strength and thickness for receiving a metal end closure (14) by double seaming operations and which is formed by a unique accommodation portion (18) in the intermediate article (12) which has a stepped wall construction (a, b, c, d, e).

Description: Field of The Invention This invention relates to an intermediate article formed by stretch blow-molding an injection-molded preform of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for fabrication into a wide mouth container suitable for packaging tennis balls or other contents under pressure according to the preamble of claim 1 (US-A-3,733,309). Background of The Invention It has heretofore been established that many material characteristics of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are improved by high biaxial molecular orientation of the plastic during blow-molding, particularly when manufacturing containers for packaging contents under pressure, such as disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,733,309. In practice, the injection-molded preform design is such that molecular orientation may take place in both axes of the container by holding the preform in a mold cavity having the volumetric configuration of the desired article, stretching the preform longitudinally within the mold and expanding the preform transversely with high pressure air into the final shape of the article and mold cavity. Prior container designs of biaxial molecular oriented PET, particularly for carbonated beverages, utilize a free-standing highly oriented base design which purportedly lends strength and rigidity necessary to withstand elevated pressures. The methodology for formation of freestanding pressure-resisting bases for these types of PET biaxial molecular oriented containers is described in US-A-3,598,270 for a "petaloid" type base and in US-A-4,465,199 for a "champagne" type base. However, both of these types of bases in a stretch blow-molded PET container are difficult to form, since they require high blowing pressures and/or secondary mold motions in order to stretch and blow the PET material into tight and highly defined annular spaces. It has also been determined, in wide-mouth stretch blow-molded PET containers, that it is desirable to have a high biaxial molecular oriented flange of desired strength and thickness extending radially outwardly from around the wide open mouth for receiving a metal end closure by conventional double seaming operations to close the stretch blow-molded PET container with pressurized contents, such as tennis balls, therein. Such a stretch blow-molded wide-mouth PET flanged container is disclosed in US-A-4,496,064 and 4,576,843 which is described as requiring complete biaxial molecular orientation for adequate performance. The method described in this patent discloses the formation of an intermediate article utilizing an oblique truncated cone type of accommodation area, including the flange portion surrounding the wide open mouth of the tubular body, which imparts a gradual increase in biaxial molecular orientation from a neck area at the top to the flange portion at the bottom of the accommodation portion. The accommodation portion is then removed by cutting through the flange to provide a container having a flange around the open mouth with biaxial molecular orientation. However, the design of the accommodation portion in the form of the oblique truncated cone makes it difficult to consistently control the degree of biaxial molecular orientation and the thickness of the flange material which often results in undesirable strength and thickness in the flange for receiving a metal end closure by double seaming operations. Objects And Summary Of The Invention An object of the present invention is to provide an intermediate article formed by stretch blow-molding an injection-molded preform of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for fabrication into a wide-mouth container suitable for packaging tennis balls or other contents under pressure which has an improved flange portion surrounding the wide mouth of desired strength and thickness for receiving a metal end closure by double seaming operations, and which is formed by a unique accommodation portion in the intermediate article. According to the present invention there is provided an intermediate article formed by stretch blow-molding an injection-molded preform of polyethylene terephthalate for fabrication into a wide-mouth container having a flange construction surrounding the container mouth of desired strength and thickness for receiving a closure, and suitable for packaging tennis balls or other contents under pressure, said intermediate article comprising a tubular body portion of high biaxial molecular orientation extending integrally upwardly from a base closure portion and an accommodation portion integrally extending from the upper open end of said tubular body portion, the accommodation portion defining a flange of biaxial molecular orientation extending around and radially outwardly from the upper open end of said tubular body portion and being adapted to be annularly cut to remove the remainder of said accommodation portion during fabrication of the wide-mouth container from said intermediate article, characterised in that the accommodation portion comprises a stepped wall portion of decreasing biaxial molecular orientation extending around and upwardly and inwardly from said flange and including at least two successive upwardly and inwardly extending step means for collecting a quantity of polyethylene terephthalate during blow-molding and for increasing biaxial molecular orientation and controlling the thickness of said flange. Brief Description Of The Drawings While some of the objects and advantages, along with a summary, of this invention have been set forth above, other objects and advantages, along with a detailed description of a preferred embodiment, of this invention will be described below in conjunction with the following drawings, in which: Figure 1 is perspective view of a container constructed in accordance with this invention and containing tennis balls under pressure and having a metal end closure double seamed thereto and protective top shown exploded therefrom; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the intermediate article as it comes from the stretch blow-molding equipment and from which the container of Figure 1 is fabricated; Figure 3 is a sectional view in elevation of the injection-molded preform used to stretch blow-mold the intermediate article of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a schematic sectional view in elevation of a typical mold of a stretch blow-molding apparatus showing the preform of Figure 3 secured therein immediately prior to stretch blow-molding the intermediate article of Figure 2; Figure 5 is an elevational view of the intermediate article of Figure 2 with half of the article broken away and shown in section; Figure 6 is a partial perspective view of the top portion of the container article of Figure 1, without the metal end closure, after the accommodation portion of the intermediate article of Figures 2 and 3 has been cut and removed; Figure 7 is a sectional view in elevation of the base portion of the container article and intermediate article of Figures 1, 2 and 5; Figure 8 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the base portion illustrated in Figure 7 and showing further details of radiuses, dimensions and angles of segments thereof; Figure 9 is a section view of a portion of the base portion of Figure 7 illustrating particularly thicknesses in the various segments of the base portion; Figure 10 is a partial sectional view of one side of the base portion showing schematically the hinge means in the base portion for controlled minimal distortion of the base portion under internal pressures; and Figure 11 is a view, like Figure 10, showing a partial section of the base portion after controlled minimal distortion has occurred. Preferred Embodiment of The Invention Referring now to the drawings, a container 10 (Figure 1) is fabricated from an intermediate article 12 (Figure 2) which is formed by stretch blow-molding an injection-molded preform 13 (Figure 3) of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The container 10, as illustrated in the drawings and described in connection with this preferred embodiment, is a wide-mouth container suitable for packaging tennis balls under pressure (Figure 1) by closing the wide mouth open end of the container 10 using a metal end closure 14 which is covered by a protective cap 15. The container 10 and intermediate article 12 have a base 16 construction which will withstand internal pressure with controlled minimal distortion and a flange 17 construction (Figure 6) surrounding the wide mouth and providing desired strength and thickness for receiving the metal end closure 14 by contentional double seaming operations and formed by a unique accommodation portion 18 (Figures 2 and 5) in the intermediate article 12, as described more fully below. However, it is to be understood that while the preferred embodiment of the container 10 described herein is in the form of a wide mouth container for packaging tennis balls (Figure 1), other contents may be packaged under pressure. Also, the improved flange construction 17 may be utilized with wide-mouth containers which utilize other types of base constructions. As mentioned above, the intermediate article 12, from which the wide-mouth container 10 is fabricated, is formed by stretch blow-molding an injection-molded preform 13 of PET. As is well known by those with ordinary skill in the art and as more fully described in the above mentioned U.S. Patent 3,733,309, the injection-molded preform 13 is placed in the mold M (Figure 4) of a stretch blow-molding apparatus and is then mechanically stretched in the longitudinal direction and expanded in the transverse direction by high pressure air into the final shape of the intermediate article 12 and the shape of the cavity of the mold M which has the volumetric configuration of the desired article. As a result, biaxial molecular orientation of the PET material and resulting intermediate product 12 is obtained. However, as will be described below, this biaxial molecular orientation varies, particularly in the top accommodation portion 18 and the bottom base portion 16 of the intermediate product 12. This stretch blow-molding operation is well understood by those with ordinary skill in the art and further explanation and discussion is not believed to be necessary for an understanding of the present invention. The resulting stretch blow-molded PET intermediate product 12 (Figures 2 and 5) include a tubular body portion 20 of high biaxial molecular orientation by both longitudinal and trasnverse stretching of the PET material during stretch blow-molding. The intermediate article 12 further includes an accommodation portion 18 integrally extending from an upper end of the tubular body portion 20 and defining the flange 17, which has a high biaxial molecular orientation, extending around and radially outwardly from the upper open end of the tubular body portion 20 and which is adapted to be annularly cut at an intermediate location to remove the remainder of the accommodation portion 18 while leaving a portion of the flange 17 intergrally connected to the body portion 20 of the container 10 (Figure 6) for receiving the closure 14. The accommodation portion 18 further includes a stepped wall portion, indicated by the reference characters a, b, c, d, e, (Figure 5) of decreasing biaxial molecular orientation extending around and upwardly and inwardly from the flange 17 and including at least two successive upwardly and inwardly extending stepped areas a, b, c and c, d, e. This stepped wall portion a, b, c, d, e terminates in a neck portion 22 which has no biaxial molecular orientation since it is utilized (Figure 4) to secure the preform 13 within the mold M of the stretch blow-molding apparatus. This unique stepped wall accommodation portion 18 is designed to allow for controlled biaxial molecular orientation of the PET material in the flange 17 and to control thickness of the flange 17. The stepped wall a, b, c, d, e acts to collect an amount of PET during stretch blow-molding and captures an increasing amount of PET material in each of the steps a, b, c and c, d, e during the stretch blow-molding operation. Thus, the step c, d, e contains more PET material and has less biaxial molecular orientation than does the step a, b, c. This unique stepped wall also provides distinct points of demarkation between such levels of biaxial molecular orientation resulting in a high degree of biaxial molecular orientation in the flange 17 and a controlled uniform thickness in the flange 17, both of which characteristics improve the ability to attach a metal end closure by double seaming operations to the flange 17. In contrast, prior wide-mouth container articles fabricated from an intermediate article formed by stretch blow-molding an injection-molded preform of PET utilized an accommodation portion in the form of an oblique truncated cone, as shown in the above mentioned U.S. Patents 4,496,064 and 4,576,843. This type of conical wall would be in the cross-sectional shape defined a line extending from reference character b to c to e (a portion of which is indicated by a dotted line in Figure 5) and would result in a gradual increase in biaxial molecular orientation of the accommodation portion from the neck at the top to the flange at the bottom. This variance in degree of biaxial molecular orientation through the flange and, thus, thickness in the flange does not always produce a flange of desired strength and thickness for receiving a metal end closure by double seaming operations. The container 10 and intermediate article 12 both include an improved base portion 16 of low biaxial molecular orientation which integrally extends from a lower end of the tubular body portion 20 and includes means, to be described below, for providing free-standing ability to the container 10 and for controlling distortion by internal pressure. This base portion 16 is preferably of the "champagne" type and comprises (Figure 7) an outer peripheral wall 25 integrally extending at one end from the lower end of the tubular body portion 20 and defining a spherical segment of two bases having a predetermined radius R1 . The base further includes a standing ring 26 integrally extending at one end from the other end of the outer peripheral wall 25 and defining an annual toroidal segment of a predetermined radius R2 (Figure 8). This standing ring 26 provides the free-standing ability to the container 10. The base portion 16 further includes an inner standing wall 27 integrally extending at one end from the other end of the standing ring 26 and defining a frustum of a right circular cone. Lastly, the base portion 16 includes a central dome 28 of non-biaxial molecular orientation and integrally extending from the other end of the inner standing wall 27 and defining a spherical segment of one base having a predetermined radius R3 to close the bottom of the base portion 16. The dynamics of the above described design of this base portion 16 are such that the juncture of the central dome 28 and the inner standing wall 27 and the juncture of the outer peripheral wall 25 and the standing ring 26 form first and second pivot or hinge means, indicated schematially at P1 and P2 (Figures 10 and 11), located at the points of accumulation of stresses on the base portion 16 as a result of internal pressure applied downwardly on the central dome 28 for allowing controlled distortion of the base portion by outward and downward movement of the first hinge means P1 and outward movement of the second hinge means P2 , as shown schematically by the arrows in Figure 10, from the position indicated in Figure 10 to that indicated in Figure 11 without significantly changing the volume of the container 10 or the free standing ability of the base portion 16. Thus, the hinge means P1 , P2 react to bending moments of the base and the arm connecting hinge means P1 , P2 increases in angle to the vertical as a result of the controlled distortion of the base portion 16 and urges the formation of a compound radius in the outer peripheral wall means 25 with the resultant deformation of the base portion 16, as shown in Figure 11. The free standing ability of the base portion 16, as provided by the standing ring 26, does not change, as may be clearly seen from a comparison of Figures 10 and 11. The following dimensional relationships have been determined to be preferable to the above functioning of the base portion 16 to provide controlled minimal distortion. The diameter D2 , which is the maximum diameter of the base 16, is preferably greater than the diameter D3 of the tubular body portion 20. The radius R1 of the outer peripheral wall 25 should preferably be identical to the radius R3 of the central dome 28. The radius R2 of the standing ring 26 is preferably between 4 to 6 percent of the radius R1 of the outer peripheral wall 25 and the radius R3 of the central dome 28. The sum of the surface areas of the outer peripheral wall 25, the standing ring 26, the inner standing wall 27 and the central dome 28 is preferably equal to the surface area of a perfect hemisphere having a radius equal to the radius R1 of the outer peripheral wall 25 or the radius R3 of the central dome 28. The ratio of the maximum diameter D2 of the base portion 16 to the inside diameter D1 of the standing ring 26 is preferably between 1.5 to 1.7. The height H1 of the inner standing wall 27 can be adjusted to meet the preferable surface area requirements set forth above and is preferably equal to the height H2 of the central dome 28. The inner standing wall 27 is at an angle  preferably of from 7 to 10 degrees to the vertical or to a longitudinal axis through the article 10. As mentioned above, the central dome 28 essentially has no biaxial molecular orientation and, therefore, is of a thickness greater than the thickness of the remaining segments 25, 26, 27. As may be seen in Figure 9, the thicknesses of the outer peripheral wall 25, the standing ring 26, the inner standing wall 27 and the central dome 28 progressively increase. On a weight basis, the central dome 28, inner standing wall 27 and standing ring 26 comprise between 15 and 20 percent of the total weight of the container 10. Thus, there has been described a wide mouth container 10 and an intermediate article 12 formed by stretch blow-molding an injection-molded preform 13 of PET which is suitable for packaging tennis balls or other contents under pressure and which comprises a base construction 16 which will withstand internal pressure with controlled minimal distortion and has a flange construction 17 surrounding the wide mouth which provides desired strength and thickness for receiving a metal end closure 14 by double seaming operations and which is formed by a unique accommodation portion 18 in the intermediate article 12 which has a stepped wall construction. In the drawings and specification there have been set forth a preferred embodiment of this invention, and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention is defined in the following claims.

Claims: An intermediate article (12) formed by stretch blow-molding an injection-molded preform (13) of polyethylene terephthalate for fabrication into a wide-mouth container (10) having a flange construction surrounding the container mouth of desired strength and thickness for receiving a closure (14), and suitable for packaging tennis balls or other contents under pressure, said intermediate article (12) comprising a tubular body portion (20) of high biaxial molecular orientation extending integrally upwardly from a base closure portion (16) and an accommodation portion (18) integrally extending from the upper open end of said tubular body portion (20), the accommodation portion (18) defining a flange (17) of biaxial molecular orientation extending around and radially outwardly from the upper open end of said tubular body portion (20) and being adapted to be annularly cut to remove the remainder of said accommodation portion (18) during fabrication of the wide-mouth container (10) from said intermediate article (12), characterised in that the accommodation portion (18) comprises a stepped wall portion (a,b,c,d,e) of decreasing biaxial molecular orientation extending around and upwardly and inwardly from said flange (17) and including at least two successive upwardly and inwardly extending step means (a,b,c) (c,d,e) for collecting a quantity of polyethylene terephthalate during blow-molding and for increasing biaxial molecular orientation and controlling the thickness of said flange (17). An intermediate article (12) as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the base portion (16) is of low biaxial molecular orientation and has means for providing free-standing ability to the article (12) and for controlling distortion by internal pressure. An intermediate article (12) as claimed in either preceding claim, characterised in that the maximum diameter (D2) of said base portion (16) is greater than the diameter (D3) of said tubular body portion (20). An intermediate article (12) as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that said base portion (16) comprises a "champagne" type base including an outer peripheral wall (25) integrally extending at one end from the lower end of said tubular body portion (20) and defining a spherical segment of a predetermined radius (R1), a standing ring (26) integrally extending at one end from the other end of said outer peripheral wall (25) and defining an annular toroidal segment of a predetermined radius (R2), an inner standing wall (27) integrally extending at one end from the other end of said standing ring (26) and defining a frustum of a right circular cone, and a central dome (28) of essentially non-biaxial molecular orientation and integrally extending from the other end of said inner standing wall (27) and defining a spherical segment of a predetermined radius (R3). An intermediate article (12) as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that the radius (R1) of said outer peripheral wall (25) of said base portion (16) is substantially identical to the radius (R3) of said central dome (28) of said base portion (16). An intermediate article (12) as claimed in claim 4 or 5, characterised in that the radius (R2) of said standing ring (26) of said base portion (16) is between 4 to 6 percent of the radius (R1) of said outer peripheral wall (25) and said central dome (28) of said base portion (16). An intermediate article (12) as claimed in any one of claims 4-6, characterised in that the juncture of said central dome (28) and said inner standing wall (27) and the juncture of said outer peripheral wall (25) and said standing ring (26) comprise respective first and second hinge means (P1,P2) located at the points of accumulation of stresses on said base portion (16) as a result of internal pressure applied downwardly on said central dome (28) for allowing controlled distortion of said base portion (16) by outward and downward movement of said first hinge means (P1) and outward movement of said second hinge means (P2) without significantly changing the volume of the article (12) or the free-standing ability of said base portion (16). An intermediate article (12) as claimed in any one of claims 4-7, characterized in that the sum of the surface areas of said outer peripheral wall (25), said standing ring (26), said inner standing wall (27) and said central dome (28) of said base portion (16) is substantially equal to the surface area of a perfect hemisphere having a radius equal to the radius (R1) of said outer peripheral wall (25). An intermediate article (12) as claimed in any one of claims 4-8, characterised in that the ratio of the maximum diameter (D2) of said base portion (16) to the inside diameter (D1) of said standing ring (26) of said base portion (16) is between 1.5 to 1.7. An intermediate article (12) as claimed in any one of claims 4-9, characterised in that the height (H1) of said inner standing wall (27) and the height (H2) of said central dome (28) of said base portion (16) are substantially equal. An intermediate article (12) as claimed in any one of claims 4-10, characterised in that said inner standing wall (27) of said base portion (16) is at an angle of from 7 to 10 degrees to a longitudinal axis through said article (12). An intermediate article (12) as claimed in any one of claims 4-11, characterised in that the wall thickness of said base portion (16) progressively increases from said outer peripheral wall (25) to said standing ring (26) to said inner standing wall (27) to said central dome (28).

Inventors: GREENWOOD DONALD L, HAYWARD DONALD W, GREENWOOD, DONALD L., HAYWARD, DONALD W.
Applicants: SONOCO PRODUCTS CO, SONOCO PRODUCTS COMPANY
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B65D1
IPC codes: B29L23, B29C69, B29C49, B65D1, B29B11, B65D79