PLASTICS CONTAINERS

Abstract: A plastic container, in particular for paint or the like is formed from a container body (1) and a separate reinforcing shroud (2). A handle (3) is pivotally mounted by lugs (15) received in holes (16) extending through a double thickness wall defined by the shroud and container body. A lid (4) is in sealing engagement with the container body below the level of the handle and is in securing engagement with the shroud.

Description: Plastics Containers This invention relates to containers made of plastics material, hereinafter referred to as plastics containers. The invention is particularly concerned with plastics containers for holding paint, but containers according to the invention may be used for any other purpose that may be desired. It is proposed to form the open top of such a container by way of a separately formed shroud secured around the top of the container body. Such a shroud can serve various purposes, for example to provide a sealing surface for a lid of the container, which makes a plug fit in the shroud. However, when the container is to be provided with a carrying handle, it may be disadvantageous to mount the handle by connecting it only to the said shroud, because of problems which will then arise in connecting the shroud to the container body securely enough to reliably support the weight of the container body and its contents in all circumstances, particularly under sudden strain. Thus viewed from one aspect the present invention provides a plastics container having a carrying handle mounted thereto at a plurality of locations, the container having an open top which is defined by a separately formed shroud secured around the top of the container body, the container body and the shroud together providing wall regions of double thickness at least at the said handle mounting locations, and the handle being connected to the container by way of holes extending through said double thickness wall regions. Preferably the handle is provided with mounting lugs which extend into the said holes from the outside. When the container is provided with a lid, as will of course be the case with a container for paint, the seal between the lid and the container body should be located inwardly of, i.e. below, the said holes for mounting the handle, so as to ensure that no leakage of the container contents can occur through the said holes when the lid is in place, and also that there can be no inward leakage of air to the contents. However, means for securing the lid in its closed condition, separate from the lid seal, may conveniently be located outwardly of, i.e. above, the said holes. If an air-tight seal is required, for example when the container is for solvent-borne paints, the lid seal may be provided by means of a flowed-in gasket of polymeric material on either the lid or the container body in the sealing zone therebetween, which gasket is different in material or composition from the said lid or body and is, in its working condition, softer than the material of the latter; further details of this sealing concept may be obtained from our British Patent Application No. 8820393.0. The concept of locating the lid seal inwardly of the handle holes is not necessarily bound up with the provision of a shroud on the container body. Thus viewed from another aspect the invention provides a plastics container having a carrying handle mounted thereto at a plurality of locations, and having a lid arranged to make sealing engagement inside the mouth of the container, wherein the lid is connected to the container by way of holes extending through the body of the container, and the lid makes sealing engagement with the container inwardly of the said holes. With such an arrangement, lid securing means separate from the lid seal may again be provided at a location outwardly of the seal. Furthermore, the seal itself may be of the flowed-in kind already mentioned. Furthermore the concept of providing separate securing and sealing means for the lid is not necesarily bound up with the provision of a handle. Thus viewed from a further aspect the invention provides a plastics container having an open top which is defined by a separately formed shroud secured around the top of the container body, and a lid arranged to fit in the said open top, wherein the lid makes securing engagement with the said shroud and, inwardly thereof, sealing engagement with the container body. An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1- is a side elevation view of a plastics container according to the invention, particularly for containing paint; Figure 2 is a top plan view of the container; and Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view on the line III-III of Figure 2, including an enlarged view. Referring to the drawings, the container basically comprises a generally square-section open-topped body 1 provided with a reinforcing shroud 2 around its top, a pivotally mounted handle 3, and a lid 4. Figure 1 shows the handle 3 in full lines in its stowed position, and in ghost lines in a partially raised position. Referring now particularly to Figure 3, the body 1 of the container has a radially inset portion 6 around its top, arranged to provide an inwardly facing sealing surface 7 for the lid 4 and terminating in an upwardly directed annular wall portion 8 which provides a mounting for the shroud 2. The shroud is received in the annular space provided by the inset portion 6 of the container body, and includes a central vertical wall portion 9 which engages face to face with the wall 8 of the body to form a double thickness wall and is formed with an inwardly facing annular hook portion 10 which engages under the bottom edge of the body wall 8 to securely attach the shroud to the body. The shroud further includes a lower annular wall portion 11 which fits flush with the top of the side wall 12 of the body 1 to define a substantially continuous outer surface therewith, and an upper annular wall portion 13 of inverted V-shape which terminates in an inwardly directed lid securing flange 14. The handle is formed with an integral, inwardly facing, mounting lug 15 at each end thereof, which mounting lugs are rotatably received in holes 16 extending through the double thickness wall defined by the wall portions 8 and 9 of the body and shroud respectively, barbs 15a being provided on the inner ends of the lugs to prevent disengagement. Thus, the handle is mounted to a double thickness wall defined in combination by the container body 1 and the shroud 2. The lid 4 of the container comprises a substantially flat top 17 formed with a depending annular side wall 18. An outwardly and upwardly projecting annular flange 19 of the lid is formed with an annular recess 20, which snaps over the lid securing flange 14 of the shroud to secure the lid in its closed position. The lid seal is provided by way of a flowed-in gasket 21 provided all around the outside surface of the lower region of the lid side wall 18. An outwardly extending annular shoulder 22 is formed on the wall 18 to define the upward termination of the flowed- in gasket 21, the effect of which is that at its top adjacent the shoulder 22, and as clearly shown in the enlarged view, the outwardly facing sealing surface of the gasket is of arcuate shape so as make a particularly efficient seal with a similarly shaped inwardly facing sealing surface of the shroud wall 9. To secure the lid in its closed position it is simply pushed into the mouth of the container until the lid holding flange 14 on the shroud springs into the recess 20 in the lid, while at the same time the sealing gasket 21 fits into the annular sealing surface defined by the shroud. It will be noted that the seal between the lid and the container body is located inwardly of, i.e. below, the holes 17 provided in the body to mount the handle. thus ensuring that the contents of the container cannot leak out through the holes and that air cannot gain access to the contents by the same route. A brush wiping bar 23 extends across the open mouth of the container body, being spot welded at its opposite ends to a shoulder 24 on the inset portion of the body, below the lid seal. It is to be clearly understood that there are no particular features of the foregoing specification, or of any claims appended hereto, which are at present regarded as being essential to the performance of the present invention, and that any one or more of such features or combinations thereof may therefore be included in, added to, omitted from or deleted from any of such claims if and when amended during the prosecution of this application or in the filing or prosecution of any divisional application based thereon. Furthermore the manner in which any of such features of the specification or claims are described or defined may be amended, broadened or otherwise modified in any manner which falls within the knowledge of a person skilled in the relevant art, for example so as to encompass, either implicitly or explicitly, equivalents or generalisations thereof.

Claims: CLAIMS : 1. A plastics container having a carrying handle mounted thereto at a plurality of locations, the container having an open top which is defined by a separately formed shroud secured around the top of the container body, the container body and the shroud together providing wall regions of double thickness at least at the said handle mounting locations, and the handle being connected to the container by way of holes extending through said double thickness wall regions. 2. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said handle is provided with mounting lugs which extend into the said holes from the outside. 3. A container as claimed in claim 2, wherein the said handle is pivotally mounted by way of two said mounting lugs arranged on a common axis. 4. A container as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, which is provided with a lid arranged to make sealing engagement in the said open top of the container, wherein the seal between the lid and the container is located inwardly of, i.e. below, the said holes for mounting the handle. 5. A container as claimed in claim 4, including means separate from the said lid seal for securing the lid in its closed condition, said securing means being located outwardly of, i.e. above, the said holes. 6. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the container body is formed with an outwardly facing inset shoulder around its top which receives the said shroud. 7. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the outside wall of the shroud is flush with the outside wall of the container body. 8. A container as claimed in claim 7, wherein the handle has a stowed position in which an outside surface thereof is flush with the outside wall of the shroud. 9. A plastics container having a carrying handle mounted thereto at a plurality of locations, and having a lid arranged to make sealing engagement inside the mouth of the container, wherein the lid is connected to the container by way of holes extending through the body of the container, and the lid makes sealing engagement with the container inwardly of the said holes. 10. A container as claimed in claim 9, including means separate from the said lid seal for securing the lid in its closed condition, said securing means being located outwardly of, "i.e. above, the said holes. 11. A plastics container having an open top which is defined by a separately formed shroud secured around the top of the container body, and a lid arranged to fit in the said open top, wherein the lid makes securing engagement with the said shroud and, inwardly thereof, sealing engagement with the container body. 12. A container as claimed in claim 11, wherein the said securing engagement is by means of an inwardly projecting annular flange on the shroud which snaps into an annular recess in the lid.

Inventors: EDWARDS BRIAN, SWORN CHRISTOPHER HOWARD, EDWARDS, BRIAN, SWORN, CHRISTOPHER, HOWARD
Applicants: REED PACKAGING LTD, REED PACKAGING LIMITED
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B65D25
IPC codes: B65D25, B65D43