Modular bottle

Abstract: The bottle is composed by a series of consecutively adjoining watertight modules (sections) which can be singly detached without any alteration of the structure and of the functionality of the container. Nowadays, containers for liquid goods are constituted by simple bottles of glass or plastic , or tins that don't allow an optimal conservation of drinks or liquids, once these containers are partially emptied . In order to avoid this drawback , this invention is composed by a series of consecutively adjoining watertight modules . Once a module is empty it can be detached and removed allowing to keep full the rest of the container . Optimal conservation of every kind of drinks such as sparkling or not sparkling drinks, wine, water, milk etc. is thus achieved, even if the only content of a single section (or module) is consumed .

Description: The present invention consists of a modular container made of plastic or other material, able in particular to contain and conserve liquids charged with gas or other sort of liquids. Thanks to its modular structure, this container allows to maintain inaltered effervescence and organoleptic characteristics of the contained liquids. The container may be used to contain various kinds of liquids, e.g. wine, milk, fruit-juices, sauces, etc; these are long-life products and, after opening of the container, they should be completely consumed in a short time and stored in a cool place to maintain their natural fragrance, their organoleptic characteristics in order not going bad. It could be also used to contain liquids that are detrimental to human health such as acids or other chemical substances. The known containers for liquids or drinks, which, after opening of the container can go bad, cannot be used for a long storage of their content which, for this reason, has to be rapidly consumed. We can cite as an exemple bottles containing sparkling drinks. After uncorking, these drinks lose their characteristics "sparkles" in a short time ; such bottles presently on sale force buyers to a rapid consumption of their content. Another exemple is that of bottles or containers used at present for long-life products . Once they have been opened, they no more perform their main aim, that is the long-time preservation of their residual contents and, as a consequence, they need to be stored in a cool place . In fact, when residual liquids or drinks are in contact with air, or they are not preserved at certain temperatures,their chemical composition changes and as a consequence the product could go bad. Moreover, it should be pointed out that, nowadays the customer is only given two chances to deal with presently sold containers : either he can buy a small package suitable for one person only, or a big family package, but in any case he meets the aforesaid drawbacks . The aim of this invention is to eliminate those disadvantages by using a container with a special structure and modularity that allows the better preservation of the contained liquids. The container according to the invention is composed by modular elements which are consecutively joined together and may be easily unhooked and separated from one another. After emptying the content of one of its modules, the latter can be separated without alteration of the container's functionality and the container can be reclosed allowing at the same time to keep full the remaining part of the container (not permitting air entrance ) and to preserve the original characteristics of the liquid therein contained. Furthermore the aperture in the neck of every moular element can be closed with a removable watertight membrane to prevent flowing of liquid from the upper to the lower modular element. Reference is here made to the following documents: FR-A-2 684 072 and FR-A-2 207 065. The invention has the same aim of containers for single usage, but without the drawbacks of them. Another aim is to allow the realization of a "bottle" (container) of high convenience and security, made of plastic or other materials specially suitable for liquids . This bottle can be obtained with usual method of production in order to achieve low costs of designing and production. These purposes are reached by a container of plastic or other materials, characterized by the features defined in claim 1 . Further characteristics and advantages come out from the detailed description of the device, that is illustrated in the enclosure where fig.1 is a side view of the container. Referring to fig. 1, the "modular bottle" that is made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or other materials, is composed preferentially by four elements indicated by the references 1-2-3-4 : 1 upper, 4 lower, 2 and 3 intermediate . The first element, i.e. the upper module 1 is provided with a screw cap to close it hermetically. The bottom of the module is concave and in its central part is provided a circular opening that is internally threaded and can be screwed tight in the upper opening of module 2, that is externally threaded. An aperture is provided in the neck of module 2. The neck is externally threaded and its margin is inserted (screwed) in the aperture under the concave bottom of the upper module 1(a). The bottom of module 3 is identical to that of module 2 and is connected in the same way to the neck of lower module 4. The bottom of last module 4 does not have any aperture but it can be provided with strenghtening structures that ensure resistance and stability. Obviously the number of intermediate modules can be suitably changed. The purpose of the "modular bottle" is to allow e.g. the possibility of separating module 1 from module 2, once it is depleted, unscrewing it and closing module 2 with the screw cap t. This operation can be repeated with the other modules thus reducing air presence in the container and avoiding outgassing, evaporation, oxygenation or alteration of the original content. It should be now evident the advantages of the industrial production and marketing of the modular container according to the invention.

Claims: A container for liquid formed by a number of separate modular elements, each of said elements comprising a body, an upper portion and a bottom portion, the upper portion comprising a neck and an aperture in the neck for filling the element or emptying liquid from it, the bottom portion being provided with a structure for engaging fixedly a below element, the bottom portion of the last element forming the container being closed and forming a strengthening structure for resistance and stability, characterized in that the bottom portion of each element above the last element has an aperture which permits flowing of liquid from one element to the other. Container according to claim 1 in which the aperture in the neck of eachof the modular elements forming the said container is closed with a removable watertight membrane so as to prevent flowing of liquid from the upper to the lower element. Container according to the preceding claims characterized in that the engagement between different modular elements is made trough screw-hooking or grooves and ribs structure. Container according to the preceding claims characterized in that it is made of plastic or metal material.

Inventors: IMPERATO GIUSEPPE, IMPERATO, GIUSEPPE
Applicants: IMPERATO GIUSEPPE, IMPERATO, GIUSEPPE
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B65D21
IPC codes: B65D21