CONTAINER

Abstract: The present invention relates to a container (1) having walls (2-7), an upper spout (8) at the one side (5) and a hollow handle (10), which extends, with a first end, from the spout region to the other side (6) of the container with a second end, the interior of the handle communicating with the interior (29) of the container, a passage (28) being isolated within the area of the pour spout for inflow of air for replacing the liquid discharged from the container, which air flows via said spout through the hollow handle into the container, below said handle (10) being formed a lower handle wall (17), a portion (24) of which forming said first handle end being bent upwards to screen off a tray (26), the bottom of which communicates with the interior of the container through a drain passage (30). According to the invention, said drain passage (30) extends obliquely downwards along the essential length of the upper side of the container within the region of the handle to the region of said second handle end to form a discharge zone.

Description: CONTAINER The present invention relates to a container of the type, which is described in more detail in the preamble of claim 1. The invention relates particularly to cans designed for viscous petro-chemical products such as oil. Particularly cans, which in most cases are made in one piece of a plastic material by injection molding or blow molding, may bring about various problems and drawbacks as regards an even, waste- free, reasonably quick and complete discharge of the contents. An even discharge of the contents can be achieved, provided the speed of the change of the inclination angle of the can is carefully ba- lanced. Also a person, who is used to handling a certain type of can with liquid having a certain viscosity, finds it very difficult to discharge a certain liquid quantity in an even flow and without waste. The main reason for these problems is, that the pour spout of the can and portions of the can connected to the pour spout usually do not allow simultaneously an outfow of liquid as well as an inflow of air, which is to replace the decreasing liquid volume in the can due to the outflow. Often the pour movement will be temporarily too strong and liquid flows out through the entire cross- section of the pour spout, which consequently is blocked by liquid, until the increasing negative pressure in the can sucks back liquid from the pour spout, so that a gurgle occurs and consequently an uneven liquid discharge, often accompanied by waste. Another problem may be caused by the fact, that the can is not provided with any direction means, which facilitate the finding of a proper grip- ping position, and also lateral edge rings may be present, which make a faultless discharge difficult. In order to neutralize these drawbacks special air intake means within the pour spout have been suggested, e.g. an enclosed passage and/or a hollow can handle, by means of which air can flow into the can at the same time as the liquid is discharged. However, these solutions do not remove the above-mentioned problems in a satisfactory manner and usually do not allow a complete emptying of the can of its contents, but residual liquid will remain in the air passage, which within the can actually must be bent or angled away from the pour spout as well as the liquid, which during pouring flows towards the pour spout, in order to avoid, that liquid will penetrate into the air passage from the interior of the can. US-A-4 412 633 relates to a can with ventilated discharge. According to Figs. 4 and 5 the interior of a hollow handle extends from the rear upper area of the can up to the base of a pour spout, a tray-like portion being formed, which is drained through a vertical passage. Since the interior of the handle is not screened off from pratically all of the interior of the pour spout, the entire cross- section of the pour spout can, when the contents in the can is discharged, be filled with liquid, which due to a negative pressure developed in the can practically will be sucked into the interior of the handle and lead to the above-mentioned problems . In order to prevent that the sucked-in liquid will remain in said tray-like portion, said drainage has been arranged, which however due to its immediate closeness to the pour spout area always may be blocked and serve as an inlet for liquid in said tray-like portion, when liquid is poured from the can. The liquid, which in this way has penetrated from the interior of the can and into the tray-like portion, will also render difiicult and perhaps impossible the desired suction of atmospheric air through the handle. The described drawbacks will probably be particularly remarkable, if the contents in the can is a viscous liquid. Consequently, this can design is ob- jectionable in two senses and sure enough it has not been available in retail trade. The object of the present invention is to counteract and as far as possible eliminate the above-mentioned problems and drawbacks. Also, another object of the invention is to develop the state of the art in this technical field in various respects . These objects are realized in accordance with the present invention by means of a container of the type described in the introduction, which is designed in the way set forth in the characterizing clause of claim 1. Additional characterizing features and advantages of the invention are described in the following description, reference being made to the enclosed drawings, which show a somewhat schematically de- picted but not limiting embodiment of a container according to the invention. The drawings show in detail: Fig. 1 in a lateral view a container according to the invention; Fig. 2 in a vertical sectional view the container according to Fig. 1 along the symmetry plane of the container; Fig. 3 in a planar view from above the same container; and Fig. 4 the container in a view from the right in Fig. 1. In the drawings a container 1 according to the present invention is shown in its entirety. The container preferably is made of a plastic material, all in one piece, by blow molding. The container suitably is parallelepiped-shaped with a bottom 2, side walls 3 and 4, a front wall 5 and a rear wall 6 as well as a top portion 7. On the top portion 7 and close to the front wall 5 a pour spout 8 is arranged, suitably extending straight upwards and having e.g. an external thread 9, designed to allow a screwing on of a screw cap (not shown) . From the area behind the pour spout 8, seen from the front wall 5, a hollow handle 10 extends with a first end quite softly or weakly upwards, then horizontally as a portion 21 or parallel to the bottom 2 and finally it extends with a second end, shaped as a soft curving 22, downwards at an angle of 90° and joins its upper or ou- ter wall 11 at the rear wall 6. The front portion of the wall 11, arranged close to the pour spout 8, suitably has an obliquely downwardly directed, mainly plane surface 12, which below, with a short straight portion 13, joins the pour spout base and which at the top forms a rounded tip 14 but then via a minor recess 15 and a joining portion 16, which is directed weakly obliquely upwards, is transformed into a horizontal handle portion 21, in a more uniform way shaped like a tube, tip 14, recess 15 and the weakly obliquely upwardly directed portion 16 fonning a gripping notch, for an ergo- nomic seizing, adjusting and pouring, preferably designed for the index finger. In the area of the portions 12 and 13 the handle, jointly with the bottom wall 17 of the handle, comprehesively tapers off towards the pour spout 8, i.e. the hollow space 18 in the handle is reduced substantially to only a fraction, e.g. 1-30%, preferably roughly 10%, of the cross-sectional area of the hollow space through the handle, when this area is at its maximum. The lower handle wall 17 also follows at a distance at least principally the extension of the upper handle wall 11, in the direction from the pour spout a weak rise 19 up to the horizontal portion 21 of the lower handle wall 17 being arranged. However, a weak rise 23 is also arranged in the other direction, up to a wall portion 24, which is formed by the lower handle wall 17 and extends upwards along almost the full height of the pour spout 8 to the immediate vicinity of the external end of the pour spout with a transversal screening off from the interior of the pour spout 8. This upwardly extended wall portion 24 extends inside the pour spout 8 around its base 27 and at a distance from the interior wall, a passage 28 with a preferably circular or oval cross-section being enclosed and a guide wall 32, which leans, seen from above, obliquely into the shoulder area of the pour spout and successively reduces the cross-sectional area of the pour spout, being fonned. This reduction is particularly important close to the end of the passage facing the atmosphere, i.e. a larger distance between the air intake area to the end of the passage and the liquid outlet zone 25 of the pour spout is obtained, the risk of penetration of liquid into the end of the passage being reduced to almost non-existence. The inclined guide wall also facilitates the insertion of e.g. a funnel, e.g. designed to fill the container in a factory, higher filling speeds being achieved, because a filling spout or the like can be directed against the inclined wall and be automatically guided by it to the correct position. The rises 19 and 23 in mutually opposite directions and also in a transversal direction in opposite directions form a shallow tray 26, from the lowermost portion of which a drain passage 30 extends in a e.g. on top of the top portion 7 designed portion 31 of the container and follows the slope of the top portion obliquely downwards along at least a substantial length of the upper side of the container within the area of the handle all the way down to the area of said second handle end, and in this way it can be far- reachingly guaranteed, when the liquid is poured from the container, that the interior end 20 of the drain passage 30 will escape from the contents in the container. Such a container will function in the following way: The handle 10 is first of all seized in the right way, particularily by pressing an index finger against the portions 14-15, and in this way the can can be automaticly, in a simple way, quickly and correctly put in the right position, the exposed pour spout being directed against a tank opening or the like. The can is then inclined and the inclination degree is successively increased to allow the contents in the container to flow from the pour spout, air at the same time being allowed to penetrate into the container through the passage 28, through the hollow space 18 in the handle and into the interior 29 of the container via the rear portion of the handle. Thanks to said screening off and the limited outflow of the contents in the container caused thereby as well as the constantly guaranteed inflow of air to replace the decreasing liquid volume in the container, it is not of vital importance any more, whether the pour movement is somewhat faster or slower or uneven, but in practice no gurgle or any in any other way obstructed even outflow of liquid can occur. Thanks to the tray 26 and the drain passage 30, wich extends between the tray and the rear upper interior 29 of the container, no liquid can in any practical phase be accumulated in the tray, but it will, regardless of where it came from, flow downwards through the drain passage and back to the interior 29 of the container. In this way the air inflow paths into the container are always open. It is important to realize the significance of the fact, that the drain passage leads to precisely the rear portion of the interior of the upper portion of the container, because exactly due to this positioning end 20 of the drain passage will, within this area, when the liquid is poured, in practice always be placed above the liquid surface within the container, even if the container perhaps is filled to its maximum. In this way it is almost guaranteed, that, during the pour process, at least subsequent to a started pouring, no liquid will flow backwards and into the drain passage and the passage 28, which latter consequently always will be free, allowing air intake, and therefore be able to meet the requirement it has been designed for. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the enclosed drawings, which only are to be vie- wed as non-limiting examples, which can be modified and supplemented in an arbitrary manner within the scope of the inventive idea and according to the following claims .

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A container (1) for a liquid, particularly a can designed for viscous petro-chemical products, which comprises container walls (2-7), an upper, closeable pour spout (8), arranged at the one side (5) of the container as well as an upper hollow handle (10), which extends, with a first end, from an upper area of the container close to the pour spout up to the other side (6) of the container, with a second end, the interior of the handle communicating with the interior (29) of the container, a passage (28) being isolated within the area of the pour spout for inflow of air, which is to replace that the liquid amount in the container, which has decreased due to the pouring of liquid, which air is to flow via the pour spout into the hollow handle, through it and into the upper portion of the container, turned away from the pour spout, and the handle (10) below being formed and limited by a lower handle wall (17), the portion (24) of which, which forms said first handle end, being bent upwards to screen off a tray (26), the bottom of which communicates with the interior of the container through a drain passage (30), c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said handle wall portion (24) extends upwards along substantially the entire height of the pour spout (8) up to the immediate vicinity of the outer end of the pour spout with a transversal screening off from the interior of the pour spout, and in that the drain passage (30) extends obliquely downwards along at least the essential length of the upper side of the container within the area of the handle all the way to the area of said second handle end to fonn a discharge zone (20), which is during pouring far-reachingly guaranteed to be distanced from the conents in the container. 2. A container according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the foremost portion of the upper wall (11) of the handle, which is situated close to the pour spout (8), has a obliquely downwardly directed, mainly plane surface (12), which below, with a short straight portion (13), joins the base of the pour spout and which at the top forms a rounded tip (14) and then, via a small recess (15) and a joining portion (16), which extends weakly obliquely upwards, is transformed into the horizontal handle portion (21), which is more uniformly shaped like a tube, the tip (14), the recess (15) and the weakly obliquely upwardly extended portion (16) forming a gripping notch, preferably designed for the index finger and for an ergonomically approriate seizing, positioning and pouring. 3. A container according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that within the area of the substantially plane surface (12) and the short straight portion (13) the handle together with its lower wall (17) all-around tapers off towards the pour spout with a considerable reduction of the cross-sectional area of the hollow space (18) in the handle to just a fraction, namely 1-30%, preferably 10%, of the cross-sectional area of the hollow space through the handle, in which the cross-sectional areas is at its maximum. 4. A container according to any of claims 1-3, c h a r a c t e - r i z e d in that the hollow handle (10) extends from the area behind the pour spout (8), seen from the front side (6), firstly softly or weakly upwards, then horizontally or parallel as a portion (21) to the bottom (2) and finally, with its second end, shaped as a soft rounding, at an angle of 90°, extends downwards and joins, with its upper or outer wall (11), the rear wall (6) of the container. 5. A container according to claim 4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that also the lower handle wall ( 17 ) at a distance follows the extension of the upper handle wall (11), a weak rise (19), extended away from the pour spout (8) being formed up to said horizontal portion (21) of the lower handle wall (17) and in that there is a weak rise (23) also in the other direction up to said wall portion (24), formed by the lower handle wall (17). 6. A container according to any of claims 1-5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the upwardly extended wall portion (24) extends within the pour spout (8) around its base (27) and at a distance from the inner wall of the pour spout, said, in cross-section, preferably circular or oval passage (28) being enclosed and a guide wall (32) being formed, which seen from above is inclined inwards, obliquely downwards and into the shoulder area of the pour spout and which successively reduces the cross-sectional area ofthe pour spout, and which also is designed to obtain a larger distance between the air intake area to the outer area of the passage (28) and the liquid discharge zone (25) of the pour spout and to in this way additionally reduce penetration of liquid into said outer passage area and which also is designed to facilitate the insertion of a funnel, a spout or the like, particularly when the container is to be filled in the factory.

Applicants: NILSSON HUGO, NILSSON, HUGO
Application year: 1998
Main classification: B65D1
IPC codes: B65D1