Synthetic resin bottle-shaped container

Abstract: A biaxially oriented blow-moulded bottle-shaped container made of synthetic resin, the container comprising a rectangular cylindrical body (2) including flat walls (6). Each of the flat walls (6) has a central recessed portion (7) having a bottom wall comprising a shaped panel wall (8) for taking up deformation due to reduced pressure in the container (1), and a shaped peripheral groove (9) invertedly curved around the shaped panel wall (8). The shaped panel wall (8) has ribs (21) traversing the shaped panel wall (8) in parallel to each other, a crest (22) of each of the ribs (21) having a larger radius of curvature than that of a root (23) thereof. Opposite ends of the root (23) are shallow along a large radius of curvature.

Description: The present invention relates to a large bottle made of synthetic resin, especially to the body wall structure of a large square bottle made of polyethene terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as "PET") biaxially oriented blow-moulded, and to the structure from a body upper end to a shoulder and the wall structure of a ridge-line portion, which gives a serious influence upon the external appearance and configuration of a bottle by bending and connecting two wall surface portions. The biaxial oriented blow-moulded bottle of polyethene terephthalate resin is excellent in various durabilities with respect to for instance contents, chemicals, weather, or further shock resistance and the like, and has high mechanical strength, transparency, no pollution and further gas barrier properties. Therefore, such a bottle has been used on a large scale for containing various kinds of liquids. Such a PET biaxial oriented blow-moulded large bottle does not have sufficient mechanical strength in its body, such as self configuration sustaining capability or buckling strength, since the body wall as a main portion of the bottle is thin in thickness. Particularly, a bottle having a square cylindrical body is poor not only in buckling strength but also in self configuration sustaining capability. Therefore, there are inconveniences such as a large incorrect depressed deformation on the body caused by negative pressure generated within the bottle after a liquid is contained and sealed therein. In order to solve such an inconvenience in such a square-shaped PET bottle, a central circumferential groove is provided at substantially the centre of the body for increasing buckling strength against any depression force applied on the bottle from the outside, and increasing the self configuration sustaining capability of the body against external force applied in the diametrical direction. At the central portion of a flat wall divided into the upper and lower portions by the central circumferential groove there is provided a recessed portion having a depression deformable shaped panel wall as a bottom wall for taking up the negative pressure generated in the bottle by a certain depression deformation of the shaped panel wall to prevent any incorrect depression deformation from occurring in the body, and increasing self configuration sustaining capability of the flat wall portion. The increase of mechanical configuration sustaining capability by providing the central circumferential groove and the recessed portion formed in the shaped panel wall can be obtained by providing inclined groove sidewalls for the central circumferential groove and inclined groove sidewalls for the recessed portion as reinforcing rib wall pieces with respect to the diametrical direction of the body. Hitherto, in order to increase function of inclined groove sidewalls and recess sidewalls of the central circumferential groove and the recessed portion as reinforcing rib wall pieces, the oblique angles of the groove sidewalls and recessed sidewalls with respect to the central axis of the bottle have been set at large values. Therefore the self configuration sustaining capability of the body of the bottle, particularly in the vicinity of the central circumferential groove, which is grasped by the hand, is actively reinforced by setting the oblique angles of the groove sidewalls and recessed sidewalls to large values. However when more than certain pressure is applied to the body of the bottle either at the time of handling the bottle or at the time of casing and transporting bottles, the portion from the groove sidewalls and recessed sidewalls to the flat wall is sharply bent and/or depressedly deformed, and the deformed portion does not return to the original configuration even if the pressure is removed. The bent and/or depressed deformation becomes a permanent deformation and causes such a problem that any commercial value of the bottle is lost The above-described conventional negative pressure taking-up recessed portion is constructed by forming the shaped panel wall of its bottom wall into a shape which is easily deformable by negative pressure, thus absorbing negative pressure generated in the bottle by large depressed deformation in the central portion of the shaped panel wall. This results in the negative pressure deformation of this shaped panel wall appearing as part of the external appearance of the bottle. This problem lowers the external appearance and style of the bottle as goods. Moreover, the shaped panel wall occupying a large surface area of each flat wall of the body is liable to deform, so that when grasping the bottle by the hand, the shaped panel wall where finger tips are in contact is easily deformed, and the bottle becomes unstable to handle by hand. Furthermore, as described above, the shaped panel wall occupies a large surface area of each flat wall of the body, but the wall structure of this shaped panel wall mainly comprises a deformable flat structure, so that its external appearance becomes simple. This problem makes the external appearance of the bottle dull. As stated above, the concave and convex shaped panel wall is moulded in the flat wall portion of the body of the large PET square bottle, so that it is extremely difficult to print a commercial name or a company name or to stick and display a label. Hence, the commercial name or the company name is displayed with the aid of a shrunk label made of a heat-shrinkable sheet. Since this shrunk label was originally a simple sheet, it is easy to print a pattern and display on it and to form it into a cylindrical body, and it is further advantageous to strongly attach it to the bottle by simple but secure heat treatment. As a result of certain shrinking deformation made by a heat-shrinkable sheet, the portion attached to the flat wall of the square cylinder has large shrinkage as compared with the portion attached to the ridge-line, the end of a shrunk label wound around the bottle is wrinkled, which deteriorates the external appearance and style of the goods. When the shoulder portion, the extension provided by which is not sufficient as compared with the body, is a square cylinder, there is generated a large difference of extension between the ridge line of the shoulder and the flat wall portion, resulting in incorrect thermal deformation at the shoulder portion caused by this non-uniform extension. Among numerous characteristics inherent to the above PET bottle, transparency is extremely good and effective for increasing the clear appearance of the goods. Thus, the PET bottle has excellent transparency, but as compared with a glass bottle exhibiting the same good transparent appearance, the PET bottle is simply clear, but does not exhibit any crystal effect due to refraction of transmitted light, so as to be poor in visual change. One of the big reasons why a crystal effect is small in the PET bottle with its good transparency is because the PET bottle is a biaxially oriented blow-moulded product, so that its thickness is thin and transmitted light cannot sufficiently be refracted. It has therefore been suggested that the PET bottle be manufactured with thick walls to give a sufficient crystal effect. However if the walls of the PET bottle are made thicker in thickness, the use of expensive PET material is therefore increased in amount for the moulding of one product, and as a result, the unit price becomes high. The biaxially oriented blow-moulding technique becomes extremely difficult, sufficient transparency cannot be obtained without biaxially oriented deformation, and the synthetic resin moulded bottle is light in weight. US-A-4,805,788 describes a biaxially oriented blow-moulded bottle shaped container. The container has a circumferential groove, and a number of deformable panels on its lower half. This bottle has problems with non-elastic deformation on its upper half and the application of shrunk labels. An aim of the present invention is to extend the function of the groove sidewall of a central circumferential groove and the recess sidewall of a recessed portion as reinforcing rib wall pieces, and to make the deformation not a bending depressed deformation but self recoverable curve depressed deformation at the time of deformation. Accordingly the present invention is directed to a biaxially oriented blow-moulded bottle-shaped container made of synthetic resin, the container comprising a rectangular cylindrical body including flat walls; each of the flat walls having a central recessed portion having a bottom wall comprising a shaped panel wall for taking up deformation due to reduced pressure in the container, and a shaped peripheral groove invertedly curved around the shaped panel wall; the shaped panel wall having ribs traversing the shaped panel wall in parallel to each other, a crest of each of the ribs having a larger radius of curvature than that of a root thereof; and opposite ends of the root being shallow along a large radius of curvature. Since the shaped panel wall comprises a number of transversal ribs, the shaped panel wall is liable to curve in the vertical direction, but hardly curve in the lateral direction by functioning as a reinforcing rib. Moreover, the shaped peripheral groove moulded around the shaped panel wall has a reverse curved wall structure, so that it is easily deformed in the curved direction, that is, the vertical direction with respect to the flat wall surface. Therefore, when negative pressure is generated in the bottle, the shaped panel wall is largely curved in the vertical direction, and along the shaped central circumferential groove to depress and displace as the whole volume within the bottle, so as to take up the reduced pressure with sufficient volume. As mentioned above, the shaped panel wall can be deformed with a large curve in the vertical direction and can also be depressed or displaced as the whole in order to take up the reduced pressure generated in the container, so that the deformation due to the reduced pressure does not appear in the external appearance of the bottle. The shaped panel wall has a number of ribs extending transversely. These ribs serve as reinforcing ribs and have sufficient strength to support compressive pressure applied by the finger tips and to generate an appropriate friction resistance between the bottle and the finger tips when the bottle is grasped by the hand. The rib comprises crest and root portions and these portions are formed by the curved wall structure, respectively, so that their mouldability in blow-moulding is excellent. Each of the opposite ends of the root portion is made gradually shallower along a curve having a large radius of curvature so that the corner portion between the flat walls is of improved mouldability. The ribs thus forming the shaped panel wall provide a number of small concave and convex areas on the surface of the shaped panel wall. Therefore the shaped panel wall has substantially different wall thickness in any direction owing to the many ribs. Consequently, when the bottle is made of a clear synthetic resin having high transparency such as polyethene terephthalate, an optical crystal sense appears in the external appearance of the shaped panel wall due to the large variation of wall thickness. Moreover, when the height of the crest portion is at least three times the radius of curvature of the root, the degree of the concave and convex shape of the shaped panel wall can be made deeper. As a result the self configuration sustaining capability in the transverse direction of the shaped panel wall is improved and the apparent crystal sense is enhanced. An example of a bottle made in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of such a bottle; Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line II-II of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a portion enclosed by a circle in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of a body of the bottle shown in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a partial enlarged cross-sectional view of a flat wall of the bottle shown in Figure 1; Figure 6 is a partial enlarged vertical sectional view illustrating a rib on a modified panel wall; Figure 7 is a plan view of the bottle shown in Figure 1; Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on line III-III of Figure 1; Figure 9 is an enlarged front view of the bottom portion of the bottle shown in Figure 1; Figure 10 is a bottom plan view of the bottle shown in Figure 1; Figure 11 is a sectional view of the wall taken on line IV-IV of Figure 9; and Figure 12 is an enlarged detail of a protruded ridge-line portion shown in the sectional view of Figure 11. In the drawings, a bottle 1 has a body 2 formed in the form of a square cylinder. The body has four ridged-line walls 13 at corners thereof, respectively, each of which is formed by an arched wall having a radius of curvature of a length of a half of a diagonal line. The body has also a central circumferential groove 3 which is formed at a central position slightly higher than half the height of the whole bottle to divide each of four flat walls 6 into upper and lower half portions, respectively. The body 2 further has a bottom having a central curved recess retracted inwardly into the bottle 1 and an upper end portion having a diameter which is gradually reduced from a shoulder 11 having a semispherical shape and has an opening 12 at the upper end thereof. Each of the upper and lower portions of the flat wall 6, which are divided by the central circumferential groove 3, has a recessed portion 7 formed in the centre portion thereof. The recessed portion 7 has a shaped bottom panel wall 8 at the central portion thereof and a deformed sidewall 9 at the peripheral portion. A portion of the sidewall 9 of the recessed portion 7, adjacent to the central circumferential groove 3, that is the upper portion of the sidewall 9 of the lower recessed portion 7 and the lower portion of the side wall in the upper recessed portion 7 extend approximately straight along the central circumferential groove 3 so that the portions of the flat wall 6 between the central circumferential groove 3 and the recessed portions 7 can be easily bent as the whole. The central circumferential groove 3 has a flat bottom wall 5 and corners having a large radius of curvature in cross section as shown in Figure 2. Thus the central circumferential groove 3 has smaller depth at a portion opposed to the flat wall 6 than that at a portion opposed to the ridgeline wall 13, as a result the portion opposed to the ridge-line wall 13 of the central circumferential groove 3 is hardly deformed, while the portion opposed to the flat wall 6 is easily bent or depressed. Therefore, when portions of the central circumferential groove 3 and the flat wall 6 are bent or deformed by depressing, the ridge-line walls 13 act as strong supporting portions, so that the deformation of the groove and the flat wall is effected in a stable mode. Figure 3 illustrates an embodiment of a wall structure near the central circumferential groove 3 in vertical section. A bottle 1 including such a wall structure has an internal space of 1.5 liters and is shaped such that the diameter of the lower body portion 7 is larger than that of the upper body portion 7 positioned above the central circumferential groove 3. In such a wall structure, since the lower side wall 4 of the central circumferential groove 3 is mainly subjected to a depressing force by grasping when the bottle is handled, the lower side wall 4 of the central circumferential groove 3 is set at the maximum angle of inclination of 27°, while the upper side wall 4 of the central circumferential groove 3 is set at an angle of inclination of 24° and angle of inclination of the sidewall 91, 92 of the recessed portion 7 opposed to the central circumferential groove 3 is set at an angle of 21°. The angle of inclination of the groove sidewall 4 and the recess sidewall 91, 92 and their combination may be selectively set in a range of 21°-27°. But since the purpose of providing the central circumferential groove 3 is to enhance the self configuration sustaining capability, preferably the angle of inclination of the lower groove side wall 4 which is subjected to the depression force upon handling of the bottle 1 may be set at the maximum to enhance the self configuration sustaining capability of the body 2 owing to the central circumferential groove 3. It has been found from results of many experiments that when all of the groove sidewalls 4 and the recess sidewalls 91, 92 are set at an angle of inclination of 27°, a higher self configuration sustaining capability than that of the embodiment shown in Figure 3 is obtainable. But the mode of a self returning operation from a bent reversed deformation is not smooth and especially such a tendency is remarkably enhanced as the angle of inclination of the lower sidewall 91 of the central circumferential groove 3 is set at a larger angle. It is advantageous from the results of experiments and the main purpose of providing the deformed panel wall 8 in the recessed portion 7 that the angle of inclination of the recess sidewall 9 is set to a small angle. A number of ribs 21 extending parallel to each other are transversely formed on the shaped panel wall 8. These ribs 21 define crests 22 and roots 23 and the radius of curvature of the crest 22 is set to four times the radius of curvature of the root 23 to thereby enhance the mouldability of each of the ribs 21. The ridge-line of the crest of each of the ribs 21 is set to the same height as that of the inner peripheral edge of the deformed peripheral groove 9 so as to connect the opposite ends of the rib to the inner peripheral edges of the deformed peripheral groove 9 directly, respectively, and the opposite ends of the root 23 becomes gradually shallower along a curve having a large radius of curvature to connect to the inner peripheral edges of the deformed peripheral groove 9, respectively. Thus, the opposite ends of the root 23 become gradually shallower along a curve of a large radius of curvature, so that it is capable of enhancing the mouldability of the ridge-line wall 13 which is continuously elongated after the flat wall 6 has been deformed during the blow-moulding of the bottle. The upper end portion of the bottle body is preferably shaped as a regular polygon having twice as many corners as the main portion of the body by forming the ridge-line walls at the corners of the upper end portion of the body to shape arched walls to thereby provide a regular polygonal cylindrical shape by the flat walls and the ridge-line walls and then gradually reducing the diameter of the upper end portion of the body to decrease the width of the flat walls and increase the width of the ridge-line walls. In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the diameter of the upper end portion of the body 2 is gradually reduced to decrease the width of the flat walls 6 and increase the width of the ridge-line walls 7 to thereby shape the upper end portion of the body of a regular octagon. It is desirable in view of external appearance and moulding that the body is moulded in a square cylindrical shape. The lower end portion 31 of the shoulder 11 continued to the upper end of the regular octagonal portion of the body 2 has a shape of a low regular octagonal truncated pyramid extended directly from the upper end of the body 2. The upper end of the lower end portion 31 is continued to a main portion 33 in the form of a semispherical shell as a remainder of the shoulder 11 through a narrow stage portion 32 and the main portion 33 is provided with an opening 12 at the upper end thereof. The lower end portion of the semi-spherical main portion 33 has inclined flat wall portions 34 continued to the flat walls in the lower end portion 31, respectively and ridge-line 35 are formed in a boundary between the inclined flat wall portions 34 and the semi-spherical surface. A shrunk label printed with a display, such as a commercial name, contents and for other material, is applied to the upper half portion defined by the central circumferential groove 3 of the body 2 with the lower edge of the shrunk label being positioned in the central circumferential groove 3 and the upper edge being positioned on the stage portion 32 of the shoulder 11. By positioning the lower edge of the shrunk label in the central circumferential groove, i.e. on the upper groove surface of the central circumferential groove, the shrunk label is hardly acknowledged as the external appearance of the bottle. Therefore, for example, even if the lower edge of the shrunk label has been slightly wrinkled, the external appearance of the bottle will not be affected by the wrinkle. Similarly, since the upper edge of the shrunk label is located on the stage portion 32 which forms a flat surface along the radial direction, the upper edge of the shrunk label is hardly wrinkled. Moreover, since both the upper and lower edges are located in areas which are sharply reduced in diameter, the shrunk label is very strongly and stably attached to the bottle 1. The shoulder 11 and the bottom portion 10 of the bottle 1 are in accordance with a biaxially oriented blow-moulded bottle-shaped container made of synthetic resin having a high clarity; the container including two sets of wall surface portions of first wall surface portions and second wall surface portions which are formed at the shoulder and the bottom, respectively, and are connected through a curved lines to each other; a connecting edge of the first wall surface portion connected to the second wall surface portion being slightly extended toward the second wall surface portion; the extended edge of the first wall surface portion being connected to a connecting edge of the second wall surface portion through a ridge-line wall portion which is reversely curved with a small radius of curvature. In the case of the shoulder 11, the main portion 33 of the shoulder constitutes the second wall surface portion and the flat wall portion 34 constitutes the first wall surface. While, in the case of the bottom 10, as shown in Figures 9 and 10, the peripheral wall of the base portion 10 which is the tapered cylindrical wall portion extending upwardly from the bottom constitutes the second wall surface portions 42 and a flat wall portion 41 which is formed by obliquely cutting the upper half portion of the second wall surface portion 42 and is continued to the flat wall portion of the body 2. An embodiment of the wall structure is illustrated in a sectional view of Figure 11 which is section taken on line IV-IV in Figure 9 illustrating the embodiment of the bottom portion 10. A portion of a protruded ridge-line 43 shown in Figure 11 is illustrated in Figure 12 in enlarged scale. It will be seen by comparing the portion of the protruded ridge-line 43 of the wall structure shown by a solid line with a prior art wall construction of a ridge-line wall portion shown by a dotted line, a protruding amount of the protruded ridge-line 43 is greatly larger than that of the prior art ridge-line structure and the ridge-line wall portion 44 constituting the protruding ridge-line 43 is bent over with a small radius of curvature to locate a portion of the ridge-line wall portion as a standing rib wall. According to the above arrangement of the present invention, the following effects are obtained. By controlling the angle of inclination of the groove sidewall, any bent and/or depressed deformations which could not be restored can be perfectly prevented from occurring in the junction between the groove sidewall and the flat wall portion, as a result there is not the inconvenience of the loss of commercial value of a bottle caused by the occurrence of a bent and/or depressed permanent deformation. Since any bent and/or depressed deformation occurring in the junction between the groove sidewall and the flat wall portion is an elastic deformation over all the range of its deformation, when the bottle is grasped by the hand and consequently bent and/or depressed by depressing force, the finger tips of the hand applying the depressing force is always reacted by a rebound so that a stable grasping operation is achieved even if the bent and/or depressed deformation occurs. By controlling the angle of inclination of the groove sidewall and the recess sidewall to a relatively small angle, the depth of the central circumferential groove and the recessed portion can be made shallow and the degree of concave and convex shape in the body can be made small and therefore the amount of elongation in the flat wall portion can be made uniform to provide a bottle having a good mouldability and less deformation. The shaped panel wall can be deformed for taking up the negative pressure caused by a large bent deformation of the whole shaped panel wall and an inward depressed deformation of the whole shaped panel wall. Therefore such a negative pressure taking up deformation in the recessed portion is not observed in the external appearance of the bottle thereby preventing degradation of the external appearance caused by the deformation for taking up negative pressure and preserving the excellent external appearance of the bottle. The ribs serve as reinforcing ribs to enhance the self configuration sustaining capability in the transverse direction of the modified panel wall portion. Accordingly, when the bottle is grasped by hand, the shaped panel wall which is in pressure contact with the finger tips is hardly depressed by the pressure of the finger tips and supports the urging pressure and therefore the bottle can be stably grasped by hand and smoothly and stably handled as the whole. The modified panel wall comprises a number of ribs to form a wall structure having a violent concave and convex shape and thereby giving a strong optical action to transmitted light. Therefore, the body of the bottle can produce an appearance having a crystal like decoration effect by optical action and then the external appearance of the bottle can be satisfactorily improved. When the shrunk label is attached around the body of the bottle, the upper edge of the shrunk label is located on the lower end portion of the shoulder of a regular polygonal cylindrical shape having twice as many corners as the body, as a result the upper edge of the shrunk label is hardly wrinkled. Therefore, a disadvantage such as a degradation of the external appearance of the bottle caused by wrinkles in the edge of the shrunk label can be prevented from occurring on the body. The upper edge of the shrunk label locates on the lower end portion of the shoulder having a reduced diameter and the lower edge locates in the central circumferential groove having a reduced diameter. Therefore, the shrunk label can be strongly and stably attached to the body by simple shrinkage. Since the lower end portion of the shoulder is formed in the shape of a regular polygonal truncated pyramid having corners in the body, the elongation along the circumferential direction of the lower end portion of the shoulder is substantially uniformly achieved. Therefore, even if the shoulder is thermally deformed, this thermal deformation occurs uniformly over the shoulder and then there is no strain causing some degradation of the external appearance of the shoulder. The ridge-line at the boundary between the first wall surface portion and the second wall surface portion can be greatly protruded and then the corner formed by the thus protruded ridge-line can be sharply observed. Therefore, any difference of degree of refraction of transmitted light between both the wall surface portions is emphasized and then the crystal effect is enhanced. A part of the ridge-line wall portion where the ridge-line is curved over can be located in the form of a ribbed wall piece standing with respect to both the wall surface portions to provide a thicker portion to the transmitted light and thereby sufficiently refracting the transmitted light. Consequently, the ridge-line wall portion can give more remarkable crystal effect. The protruded ridge-line slightly extends the connecting edge of the first wall surface portion and thus extended connecting edge is only connected to the connecting edge of the second wall portion at the curved over ridge-line wall portion. Accordingly, the bottle can be easily and accurately moulded in the conventional moulding operation irrespective of whether a new or an existing moulding die is used.

Claims: A biaxially oriented blow-moulded bottle-shaped container made of synthetic resin, the container comprising a rectangular cylindrical body (2) including flat walls (6), characterised in that (a) each of the flat walls (6) has a central recessed portion (7) having a bottom wall comprising a shaped panel wall (8) for taking up deformation due to reduced pressure in the container (1), and a shaped peripheral groove (9) invertedly curved around the shaped panel wall (8); (b) the shaped panel wall (8) has ribs (21) traversing the shaped panel wall (8) in parallel to each other, a crest (22) of each of the ribs (21) having a larger radius of curvature than that of a root (23) thereof; and (c) opposite ends of the root (23) are shallow along a large radius of curvature. A container according to claim 1, characterised in that a height of the crest (22) of the rib (21) is at least three times the radius of curvature of the root (23).

Inventors: SUGIURA HIROAKI, YAKA TOSHIO, SUGIURA, HIROAKI, YAKA, TOSHIO, SUGIURA, HIROAKI, C/O YOSHINO KOGYOSHO CO., LTD., YAKA, TOSHIO, C/O SHIGA PLANT, YOSHINO KOGYOSHO
Applicants: YOSHINO KOGYOSHO CO LTD, YOSHINO KOGYOSHO CO., LTD.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B65D1
IPC codes: B65D1