Abstract:
An interior anchor structure for a vacuum preservation container has a closed and resilient pouch filled with gas located therein. When the preservation container holds a preserving article and is vacuumized, the resilient pouch inflates because of the interior pressure of the preservation container decreases. The elasticity and flexibility of the resilient pouch may be deformed to squeeze and hold the preserving article securely in a still manner without shaking and damaging.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to an interior anchor structure for a vacuum preserving container and particularly to an interior anchor structure for holding an article in a preserving container through a closed and deformable resilient pouch filled with gas and inflatable due to air pressure variation.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Damp-resistant, mold-resistant and corrosion-proof techniques are commonly used in people&#39;s daily life. Refer to  FIG. 1  for a simple and safe technique now being widely used. It is a vacuum preserving container  1  that has a vacuum apparatus  2  to withdraw air from a housing compartment in the preserving container  1  and reduce the air pressure of the housing compartment to hold articles in a vacuum environment. The relative humidity in the vacuum preserving container  1  is lower, therefore the articles may be stored for a long period of time without exposing to moisture and molds and may be free from corrosion.  
         [0003]     The conventional technique mentioned above has been widely used for preserving foods, musical instruments, electronic devices, optical equipment, and other articles needed to be protected from damping. While the conventional technique mentioned above can protect articles from being damaged by damping, mold infliction or corrosion, the articles held in the preserving container  1  might hit the interior of the preserving container  1  when the container is moved by users and result in damage. To remedy this problem, some preserving container  1  has a pliable padding matching the article to be held embedded in the container as a lining to reduce the possible impact when the preserving container  1  is moving. It still cannot fully overcome the problem. Moreover, when the article and the padding are fitted tightly with a too small gap or no gap, the article is difficult to be removed from the container, and the article might be damaged if it is removed forcefully. The damage of the preserving article caused by shaking still cannot be totally eliminated. Hence there is room for improvement.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     Therefore, the primary object of the invention is to provide an anchor structure to prevent articles held in a preserving container from being damaged by shaking.  
         [0005]     Another object of the invention is to provide an anchor structure adaptable to a preserving article of any shape.  
         [0006]     The preserving container according to the invention includes a plurality of closed and resilient pouches filled with gas in the interior, a lid and a chest. The chest has a housing compartment. The lid can cover and close the chest tightly. The preserving container further has a vacuum apparatus to vacuumize the housing compartment. The housing compartment can hold preserving articles. According to Boyle&#39;s law, when a fixed amount of gas at a constant temperature, its volume and pressure form an inverse ratio, indicated by an equation of PV=K (where P is the pressure, V is the volume and K is a constant). Hence when the vacuum apparatus starts vacuumizing, the volume of the resilient pouch grows gradually as the pressure of the housing compartment decreases. Hence the resilient pouch can squeeze and hold the article to prevent the article from shaking and damaging.  
         [0007]     The resilient pouch is made from an elastic material and is flexible, and may be deformed according to the shape of the preserving article, thus can hold and anchor different shapes of preserving articles.  
         [0008]     The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a conventional preserving container.  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view of a first embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 3A  is a schematic view of a second embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3B  is a cross section taken on line  3 B- 3 B in  FIG. 3A .  
         [0013]      FIG. 3C  is a schematic view of  FIG. 3B  in a vacuum condition.  
         [0014]      FIG. 4A  is a schematic view of a third embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 4B  is a schematic view of the resilient pouch arrangement of the third embodiment.  
         [0016]      FIG. 5A  is a schematic view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 5B  is a schematic view of the fourth embodiment in use. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]     Please refer to  FIG. 2  for a first embodiment of the present invention. A preservation container  10  includes a chest  11  and a lid  12  that may be coupled to form a housing compartment  13 . The preservation container  10  further has a vacuum apparatus (not shown in the drawing) to vacuumize the housing compartment  13  through a suction vent  15 . The preservation container  10  also has a gas release valve (not shown in the drawing) to release the vacuum condition of the housing compartment  13  through the suction vent  15 . The dimension of the housing compartment.  13  is larger than the preserving article to be housed and formed in a shape matching the preserving article.  
         [0019]     Take a violin as an example of the preserving article to be held. A housing space for holding the violin is reserved in the housing compartment  13 . The housing compartment  13  has an inner wall lined with a closed and resilient pouch  20  filled with gas and formed in an annular fashion around the housing compartment  13 . Once the violin is held in the housing compartment  13 , and the housing compartment  13  is vacuumized, according to Boyle&#39;s law, the resilient pouch  20  is inflated to squeeze the violin and deformed according to the shape of the violin. Thus the resilient pouch  20  presses the violin in various directions without creating damage, and the violin is securely held in the housing compartment  13  without shaking and damaging even if the preservation container  10  is moved. When the vacuum condition of the housing compartment  13  is released, the resilient pouch  20  deflates, and user can easily remove the violin from the housing compartment  13 .  
         [0020]     Refer to  FIGS. 3A, 3B  and  3 C for a second embodiment of the invention. It also has a vacuum apparatus (not shown in the drawings), a suction vent  15  and a release valve (not shown in the drawings). It is constructed largely like the first embodiment, and the dimension of the housing compartment  13  is larger than the preserving article to be housed and formed in a shape matching the preserving article. The resilient pouch  20  is held in a hollow space  32  of an anchor board  31 . The anchor board  31  is substantially flat and has an opening  33  on the surface communicating with the hollow space  32  so that a portion of the resilient pouch  20  may be extended above the opening  33 . The anchor board  31  is lined on the peripheral side of the housing compartment  13  with the opening  33  directing towards the preserving article. According to Boyle&#39;s law, when the housing compartment  13  is vacuumized, the resilient pouch  20  gradually inflates (from what is shown in  FIG. 3B  to  FIG. 3C ), and expands in the direction from the periphery of the housing compartment  13  towards the center thereof. Take the violin as an example for the preserving article. The violin held in the housing compartment  13  may be squeezed by the inflated resilient pouch  20  in a still manner without shaking.  
         [0021]     Refer to  FIGS. 4A and 4B  for a third embodiment of the invention. It also has a vacuum apparatus (not shown in the drawings), a suction vent  15  and a release valve (not shown in the drawings). It has a housing compartment  13  larger than the preserving article to be held and formed in a shape not necessary matching the preserving article. The resilient pouches  20  are formed in a cylindrical shape distributed on the entire housing compartment  13 . The unnecessary resilient pouches  20  are removed to hold the preserving article. The drawings show a violin as the preserving article. Users can change the configuration of the resilient pouches  20  according to the preserving article. After the violin has been held in the housing compartment  13  and the housing compartment  13  is vacuumized, the resilient pouches  20  inflate to squeeze and hold the violin securely in a still manner without shaking.  
         [0022]     Refer to  FIGS. 5A and 5B  for a fourth embodiment of the invention. It also has a vacuum apparatus (not shown in the drawings), a suction vent  15  and a release valve (not shown in the drawings). It has a housing compartment  13  larger than the preserving article to be held and formed in a shape not necessary matching the preserving article. The resilient pouch  20  is held in a hollow space  32  of an anchor board  31  which is substantially flat. The anchor board  31  has an opening  33  on the surface communicating with the hollow space  32  to enable a portion of the resilient pouch  20  to extend above the opening  33  (as shown in  FIG. 3B ).  
         [0023]     The anchor board  31  is distributed on the entire bottom of the housing compartment  13  with the opening  33  directing upwards. A portion of the anchor board  31  may be removed according to the requirement for holding the preserving article. In this embodiment the preserving article is a violin to serve as an example. In practice, users can configure by themselves according to the requirement of different preserving articles. Referring to  FIG. 5B , when the housing compartment  13  is vacuumized, the resilient pouch  20  in the housing compartment  13  inflates gradually to squeeze and hold the preserving article such as the violin held therein securely without moving.  FIG. 5B  shows the chest  11  and the lid  12  are in an open condition to facilitate discussion. In practice, they are closed when in use for vacuumizing of the housing compartment  13 .  
         [0024]     In the embodiments set forth above, the resilient pouch  20  is made from rubber or the like, preferably Thermoplastic Ployurethane (TPU). TPU is an environment-friendly material without toxicity. It also is an elastic polymer resistant to wearing, stretching, and low temperature without cracking. Hence the resilient pouch  20  of the invention can hold the preserving article securely in the preservation container  10  in a still manner without damaging, and is adaptable to different shapes of preserving articles.