Abstract:
A container cap according to the present invention includes a lower cap combined with a container and comprising an opening communicating with an inside of the container; and an upper cap combined with the lower cap to cover the opening. Further, the upper cap includes a cover covering the opening; a rim provided around the cover and partly connected to the cover; a connection part connecting the rim and the cover; and a handle connected to the rim and having a round shape, which curves outwards from a center of the cover, viewed on a plane.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a national stage application of International Application No. PCT/KR2012/001098, filed Feb. 14, 2012, which claims benefit of Korean Application No. 20-2011-0001482, filed Feb. 22, 2011. All disclosures of the document(s) named above are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a container cap and more particularly to a container cap which is easy for a user to open and close and has a simple structure of discharging contents stored in a container. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    A container cap is combined with a discharge hole of a container to seal up materials stored in the container when the container cap is closed. Also, when the container cap is open, a user can discharge the materials out of the container through an opening formed in the container cap. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Technical Goals 
       [0006]    An aspect of the present invention provides a container cap which is easy for a user to open and close and has a simple structure of discharging contents stored in a container. 
       Technical Solutions 
       [0007]    According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a container cap including a lower cap and an upper cap. The lower cap is combined with a container and includes an opening communicating with an inside of the container, and the upper cap is combined with the lower cap to cover the opening. 
         [0008]    Further, the upper cap includes a cover, a rim and a handle. The cover covers the opening, and the rim is provided around the cover and partly connected to the cover. The connection part connects the rim and the cover, and the handle is connected to the rim and has a round shape, which curves outwards from a center of the cover, viewed on a plane. 
         [0009]    Also, the lower cap includes a cut part formed with the opening; a second coupling part surrounding the cut part and combined with a first coupling part; a packing part combined with a discharge hole of the container and providing a space into which the first coupling part is inserted; and an auxiliary packing part facing the packing part with the discharge hole of the container disposed therebetween. 
         [0010]    According to another embodiment of the present invention, the auxiliary packing part includes holes defined by partly removing the auxiliary packing part. 
       Advantageous Effects 
       [0011]    According to a container cap of the present invention, a handle is provided in an upper cap, so that a user conveniently combines the upper cap with a lower cap or detaches the upper cap from the lower cap. Further, a width of an open side of the opening of the lower cap is designed to be narrower toward one side, thereby minimizing a remaining amount of materials in a container when discharging materials out of the container. 
         [0012]    In addition, as holes are formed in an auxiliary packing part of the lower cap, contents stored in the container outside smoothly move around the lower cap due to the holes when turning the container upside down to discharge the contents, thereby facilitating discharge of the contents out of the container. 
         [0013]    Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]    These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a container cap combined with a container according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a plan view of an upper cap of the container cap shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is a base view of the upper cap of the container cap shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0018]      FIG. 4A  is a plan view of a lower cap of the container cap shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0019]      FIG. 4B  is a perspective view of the lower cap of the container cap shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view illustrating a section, taken along line I′-I′ shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0021]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a lower cap of a container cap according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       [0022]    Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures. 
         [0023]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a container cap combined with a container according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0024]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , the container cap  300  is combined with a discharge hole  5  of a container  1 . In the embodiment of the present invention, the container cap  300  may be used as a cap of a container which stores liquid materials, such as cooking oil, and has a high capacity of about 18-L. 
         [0025]    The container cap  300  includes an upper cap  100  and a lower cap  200  combined with the upper cap  100 . The lower cap  200  is combined with the container  1  to cover the discharge hole  5  and includes an opening  245  ( FIG. 4A ) formed therein, so that materials stored in the container  1  may be provided out of the container  1  via the discharge hole  5  and then the opening  245 . 
         [0026]    The upper cap  100  is combined with the lower cap  200  to cover the opening of the lower cap  200 . In the embodiment of the present invention, the upper cap  100  and the lower cap  200  may be combined with each other by screw threads formed on the upper cap  100  and the lower cap  200 . 
         [0027]    Meanwhile, to conveniently handle the upper cap  100  when detaching the upper cap  100  from the lower cap  200 , the upper cap  100  includes a first handle  20  and a second handle  30 . A structure of the upper cap  100  will be described in detail with reference to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , and a structure of the lower cap  200  will be described in detail with reference to  FIGS. 4A ,  4 B and  5 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 2  is a plan view of the upper cap of the container cap shown in  FIG. 1 , and  FIG. 3  is a base view of the upper cap of the container cap shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0029]    Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the upper cap  100  includes a cover  10 , a rim  40 , connection parts  45 , a first coupling part  50 , a first screw thread  55 , a first handle  20 , and a second handle  30 . 
         [0030]    The cover  10  covers the opening of the lower cap  200  ( FIG. 1 ) and has a size schematically corresponding to a size of the discharge hole  5  ( FIG. 1 ). 
         [0031]    The rim  40  is provided around the cover  10  and partly connected to the cover  10  by the connection parts  45 . Further, the first coupling part  50 , as shown in  FIG. 5 , extends from a lower part of the cover  10  and includes the first screw thread  55  formed on an internal wall thereof. Thus, the upper cap  100  may be combined with the lower cap  200  ( FIG. 1 ) by the first screw thread  55 . 
         [0032]    The first handle  20  and the second handle  30  are connected to the rim  40 , facing each other. In the embodiment of the present invention, the first handle  20  and the second handle  30  may be formed in a single body with the rim  40 , and each of the first handle  20  and the second handle  30  includes two convex parts with a round shape, which curve outwards in a first direction D 1  from a center of the cover  10 , viewed on a plane. 
         [0033]    In detail, the first handle  20  includes a first convex part  21  and a second convex part  22  adjacent to the first convex part  21 , and the second handle  30  includes a third convex part  31  and a fourth convex part  32  adjacent to the third convex part  31 . In structures of the first handle  20  and the second handle  30 , a first distance L 1  between each of the first to fourth convex parts  21 ,  22 ,  31  and  32  and the cover  10  is longer than a second distance L 2  between the rim  40  and the cover  10 . 
         [0034]    Meanwhile, the rim  40 , the first handle  20 , and the second handle  30  are partly connected to the cover  10  by the connection parts  45 . Thus, as shown in  FIG. 5 , the rim  40 , the first handle  20 , and the second handle  30  may be bent in a second direction D 2  on the connection parts  45  as an axis to slant to the cover  10 . Accordingly, when the upper cap  100  is detached from the lower cap  200  ( FIG. 1 ), a user can grip the bent first and second handles  20  and  30  to conveniently handle the upper cap  100 . 
         [0035]    Further, when a user grips the first and second handles  20  and  30 , the user may have fingers conveniently supporting round portions of the respective first to fourth convex parts  31 ,  32 ,  41  and  42 , and thus the user may simply handle the upper cap  100 . 
         [0036]    Meanwhile, as described above, when the rim  40 , the first handle  20  and the second handle  30  are bent in the second direction (D 2 ) on the connection parts  45  as an axis, it is preferable that the first and second handles  20  and  30  face each other and any one of the connection parts  45  is positioned opposite to the other connection part  45  between the first handle  20  and the second handle  30  so as to easily grip the first and second handles  20  and  30 . 
         [0037]      FIG. 4A  is a plan view of the lower cap of the container cap shown in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 4B  is a perspective view of the lower cap of the container cap shown in  FIG. 1 , and  FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view illustrating a section, taken along line I′-I′ shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0038]    Referring to  FIGS. 4A ,  4 B and  5 , the lower cap  200  includes a cut part  240 , a second coupling part  230 , a second screw thread  210 , a covering part  248 , a lower connection part  235 , an auxiliary packing part  255  and a packing part  250 . 
         [0039]    In the cut part  240  is formed an opening  245  through which materials stored in the container  1  is discharged. The second coupling part  230  surrounds the cut part  240 , and the second screw thread  210  is provided on an outside of the second coupling part  230 . 
         [0040]    Further, the packing part  250  is combined with the discharge hole of the container  1  and is spaced away from the second coupling part  230  to provide an insertion hole  220  into which the first coupling part  50  is inserted. Thus, in the state that the lower cap  200  is combined with the discharge hole  5  of the container  1 , a user inserts the upper cap  100  into the insertion hole  220  so that the first coupling part  50  is disposed between the packing part  250  and the second coupling part  230 , and the user rotates the upper cap  100  to combine the upper cap  100  with the second cap  200  using fastening force between the first and second screw threads  55  and  210 . 
         [0041]    Meanwhile, before using the lower cap  200 , the cut part  240  and the covering part  248  may be formed in a single body, and the opening  245  may be formed in the cut part  240  by separating the covering part  248  from the cut part  240 . 
         [0042]    In the embodiment of the present invention, a width of one side of the opening  245  is shorter than a width of another side facing the one side, and the other side of the opening  245  may have a round shape. Accordingly, when the container  1  is tipped, materials in the container  1  may be gathered in one side of the opening  245  and discharged, thereby facilitating control of position in which the materials are discharged as well as minimizing a remaining amount of materials in the container  1  after discharging the materials. 
         [0043]    The lower connection part  235  connects a lower part of the second coupling part  230  and the auxiliary packing part  255 . Further, the packing part  250  is combined with the discharge hole  5  of the container  1  together with the auxiliary packing part  255 , thereby preventing materials stored in the container  1  from leaking outside. Specifically, in the embodiment of the present invention, the discharge hole  5  may have a shape bent upwards in a cross-section view, and the auxiliary packing part  255  is spaced away from and faces the packing part  250 . Thus, the discharge hole  5  of the container  1  is interposed between the packing part  250  and the auxiliary packing part  255 , so that the lower cap  200  may be combined with the discharge hole  5 . 
         [0044]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a lower cap of a container cap according to another embodiment of the present invention. Meanwhile, the container cap according to the other embodiment of the present invention includes the upper cap  100  ( FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3 ), described above with reference to  FIGS. 1 to 5 , and a lower cap  201 . Thus, in description of the other embodiment of the present invention with reference to  FIG. 6 , the upper cap, described in the foregoing embodiment, is not repeatedly depicted. 
         [0045]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , comparing a structure of the lower cap  201  with that of the lower cap  200  ( FIGS. 4A ,  4 B and  5 ) in the foregoing embodiment, a plurality of holes are formed in an auxiliary packing part  258  included in the lower cap  201 . 
         [0046]    In the embodiment of the present invention shown in  FIG. 6 , four holes including a first hole H 1  and a second hole H 2  may be formed in the auxiliary packing part  258  in total, and in this case a third hole (not shown) may be formed in an opposite position to the first hole H 1  and a fourth hole (not shown) may be formed in an opposite position to the second hole H 2 . 
         [0047]    Meanwhile, from a lateral side, the lower cap  201  has a step shape by its components, and a lowest part of the lower cap  201  communicates with the opening. Accordingly, when the container  1  ( FIG. 1 ) is turned upside down to discharge contents stored in the container outside through the opening  245  ( FIG. 4A ), part of the contents not discharged through the opening may not actively move around the lower cap  201 . However, according to the embodiment of the present invention, due to the first to fourth holes, the contents smoothly move between the lower connection part  235  and the auxiliary packing part  258  or between the auxiliary packing part  258  and the packing part  250 . 
         [0048]    Thus, the first to fourth holes facilitate discharge of the contents from the container, thereby minimizing a remaining amount of contents in the container when discharging the entire contents stored in the container outside. 
         [0049]    Meanwhile, although the embodiment of the present invention shown in  FIG. 6  illustrates that four holes are formed in total in the auxiliary packing part  258 , a greater number of holes may be used or larger-sized holes may be formed depending on a size of the lower cap  201 . 
         [0050]    Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.