Abstract:
A plate-exchangeable compact container having a mounting chamber which can store a large plate or a pair of small plates, and a plate spring that applies a force in a forward direction. The spring force applies a pressure to both the left and right sides of the large plate or to the small plates. When the small plates are mounted in the mounting chamber, engagement protrusions are attached in a manner which allows them to contact the side regions of each small plate back panel.

Description:
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY 
   The present invention relates to a plate exchangeable compact container. 
   DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART 
   Several plate exchangeable compact containers are commonly known, and for instance, there are containers where the container body bottom beneath a plate storage chamber is an elastically deformable pressing part, and a plate which has been mounted in the storage chamber can be pushed up and out by pressing the press part (Patent Citation 1). 
   Furthermore, commercial products are known where a mounting chamber which can exchange and store a large plate or a left and right pair of small plates, a plate spring which applies a force in the forward direction is established in the front surface on the left and right sides of the back wall of said mounting chamber, and when a large plate is mounted into said mounting chamber, the tips of both plate springs press against the back surface on the left and right sides of the back panel of the large plate, and when small plates are mounted, press against the center region in the left and right direction of the back surface of the back panel, such that the front panel of the plates is able to be pressed against the front wall of the mounting chamber. 
   Patent Citation 1 Japanese Patent Application H8-56745 
   DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
   Of the aforementioned publicly known examples, the latter compact container does not have a problem when the large plate is mounted, but when the small plates are mounted, [the small plates] readily fallout from the mounting chamber. 
   The present invention was established to overcome these problems so that when the left and right pair of small plates are mounted, the small plates will not inadvertently fallout, and when necessary, removal of the small plate can easily be performed. 
   MEANS TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEMS 
   The No.  1  means is a plate exchangeable compact container having a mounting chamber  7  which can store a large plate  31  and a pair of left and right small plates  41  in a condition which can be exchanged, the left and right side of the front surface of the rear wall of said mounting chamber having a plate spring  10  which applies a force in a forward direction, such that when the large plate is mounted in said mounting chamber, the tips of both plate springs  10  apply pressure to both the left and right sides of the large plate back panel  33 , and when small plates  41  are mounted, apply a pressure to the middle region in the left and right direction of each small plate back panel  43  such that the front panel of each plate can be pressed against a front wall of the mounting chamber, and when the small plates are mounted in the mounting chamber, a left and right pair of engagement protrusions  11  in the middle region in the left and right direction of the front surface of said back wall  2  are attached in a manner which can contact to the side regions of each small plate back panel  43 . 
   The No.  2  means is comprising the No.  1  means and is formed such that a No.  2  locking rib is laterally established on the left and right side outer surfaces of both of the front and back panels of said large plate and the outer surface middle region in the left and right direction of both the front and back panels of said small plates, and a No.  1  locking rib  9  is laterally established on the inside surface of the left and right sides of both the front and back walls of the mounting chamber, and when the large plate  31  is mounted, the No.  2  locking rib  34  of the large plate is able to lock to the bottom surface of said No.  1  locking rib  9  and when the small plates are mounted, the No.  2  locking rib  34  of the small plate is able to lock to the surface of said No.  1  locking rib  9 . 
   The No.  3  means comprises the No.  1  means and the No.  2  means and the mounting chamber front wall is made lower than the front panel  32 ,  34  of said large and small plates, and a finger clip  46  is established for each plate on each front panel region which protrudes in the direction of the front wall. 
   The No.  4  means is comprising said No.  2  and No.  3  means, and said compact container is formed such that an axial support panel  22  which is suspended down from a back part of a lid body  21  is mounted into the relief concave region  3  of the top surface and back surface which have a hole formed in the back surface of the part excluding the left and right side regions of the back wall  2  of the container body, said axle support panel and concave left and right outer back wall part are pivotally attached, and the container body is formed to freely open and close by rotation of the lid body around said pivotally attached part, and a back wall region of the front part of the concave region  3  is formed from a thin elastic panel as a chamber back wall that mounts to said container body back wall  2 , a plate spring  10  and a No.  1  locking rib  9  are attached to the left and right sides of said elastic panel and a left and right pair of stopping protrusions  11  are attached to the center region in the left and right direction of said elastic panel. 
   Effect of Invention 
   By forming according to Claim  1 , when the small plates are mounted, the back panel  43  region of the small plates will be in contact with the plate spring  10  and the stopping protrusion  11 , and therefore the small plate mounting force from the mounting chamber will be stronger than if only a plate spring was in contact and the small plate can be made more difficult to remove. Furthermore, when removing the small plates when necessary, the small plate back panel  43  will move toward the back as a support point for supporting the back panel and side regions which contact said stopping protrusion  11  because the small plate front panel  42  is pushed backward, and nearly all of the panel will become separated from the front wall of the mounting chamber, so removal can be simplified and inadvertently removal will become more difficult, and yet the small plates  41  can easily be removed by human intervention. 
   By forming according to Claim  2 , the previously mentioned effect of Claim  1  can be made even more effective by engaging and separating both the No.  1  locking rib  9  and a No.  2  locking rib  34 . 
   By forming according to Claim  3 , the operation of mounting and unmounting in the mounting chamber can be easily performed by pressing the plate backwards and pulling upwards. 
   By forming according to Claim  4 , when the small plates  41  are pushed backwards, the mating chamber back wall region which has stopping protrusions  11  will also elastically deform and move towards the back so that the effect shown in Claim  1  can be further increased. 
   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   The drawings will be described below. First, the conventional and publicly known section will be briefly described. Numeral  1  represents a container body, and said container body has a surrounding wall which rises up from the outer circumference of a bottom panel, and a back part of a back wall  2  which forms a part of said surrounding wall has a concave region  3  opening on both the top and bottom surfaces and on the back surface excluding the left and right ends, and furthermore, the center region in the left and right direction of the front surface of a front wall  4  has a locking part  54  locking plate which is suspended down from the front part of a lid body which will be discussed later, and a partition wall  6  is established in the center region in the front and back direction of the container body, and the region between said partition wall and said back wall is a plate mounting chamber  7 , and the region between the partition wall and the front wall  4  is a cosmetic apparatus storage chamber  8 . 
   A No.  1  locking rib  9  is laterally established on both the left and right side surfaces of the back wall  2  and of the partition wall  6  which form both the front and back walls of said plate mounting chamber  7 , and a plate spring is attached on both sides, sandwiching the No.  1  locking rib of the back wall. 
   Numeral  21  represents a lid body, and an axial support panel  22  which mates into the aforementioned concave region  3  of the container body back wall is suspended down from the back region of said lid body, the axial support panel and the left and right sides of the back wall of the container body are pivotally attached in a manner which can rotate, and by rotating around said pivot region, lid body  21  can freely open and close the top surface of the container body. A locking panel  23  which engages the aforementioned locking part is suspended down from the front part of the lid body. 
   The large plate  31  shown in  FIG. 1  and the left and right pair of small plates  41  are mounted in a manner which can be exchanged into the aforementioned mounting chamber. The small plates are the same shape and same size, and the left and right combination is nearly the same size as the large plate. 
   The No.  2  locking ribs  34  are attached to the left and right side outer surface of the front and back panels  32 ,  33  of the large plate, and these No.  2  locking ribs can lock to the aforementioned No.  1  locking rib  9  bottom surface. Furthermore, the No.  2  locking ribs  34  are attached to the outside surface of the center region in the left and right direction of the front and back panels  42 ,  43  of the small plates and can lock to the bottom surface of the No.  1  locking ribs  9  when [the small plates are] mounted in the mounting chamber. 
   The tip of the plate spring  10  pushes the back panels  33 ,  34  of the large plate  31  and the small plates  41  in the forward direction, and pushes the front panels  32 ,  42  toward the partition wall  6  as the front wall of the mounting chamber. In this condition, a small gap is formed between the back panels  33 ,  43  and the back wall  2 , as shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , and when the plates are pressed backwards from said mounting condition, the plates will move backwards, the locking of said front side No.  1  and No.  2  locking ribs  9 ,  34  will be released, and therefore, the plate can be removed by pulling up on the front panel  32 ,  42  of the plate. 
   With the present invention, a left and right pair of stopping protrusions is vertically established as shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  in the front surface of the middle region in the left and right direction of the back wall  2 . These stopping protrusions are established such that no contact will be made with the back panel  33  of the large plate when the large plate is mounted in the storage chamber as shown in  FIG. 1 , and contact will only be made with the back part of the back surface of the back panel of the adjacent small plates as shown in  FIG. 2  when the small plates  41  are mounted. Said stopping protrusions  11  may also be established to contact the small plate back panel  43  through a protrusion panel part  44  attached to the back panel of the small plates as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , a protruding ridge  14  is established from both the front and back walls of the mounting chamber in the front and back center direction in the center region in the left and right direction of the bottom wall of the mounting chamber, concave regions  45  for mating with these ridges are established in the bottom surface of the small plate bottom panel, and are distinguished as being for a right mount or a left mount in the mounting chamber. The aforementioned concave region  45  for mating with the protrusion ridge is also established in the bottom surface of the bottom panel of the large plate. 
   The forward facing back wall section of the concave region  3  may be made from a thin elastic panel, the plate spring  10  and the No.  1  locking ribs  9  open a window  12  in the bottom part on the left and right sides of the elastic panel as shown in  FIG. 5 , and the plate springs  10  may be formed to rise from the left and right sides of the bottom edge of said window, and the elastic panel  13  which has the No.  1  locking ribs  9  attached may be formed to rise from the center region between these plate springs. 
   The front wall of the mounting chamber leaves both sides in the left and right direction as shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 6 , and the center region between the sides is formed to be lower than the height of the front panel of the plate, and the front panel part of the big plate that protrudes upward higher than the center part which is made to be lower forms a finger clip  46  for the plate. 
   With the above construction, when the big plate  31  is mounted in the mounting chamber as shown in  FIG. 1 , the No.  2  locking ribs  34  which are attached to the left and right outside surfaces of the front and back panels of the large plate will lock with the bottom surface of the No.  1  locking ribs  9  attached to the left and right inside surfaces of the front and back walls of the mounting chamber and the plate springs  10  which are established in the left and right sides of the back wall  2  will push the back surface of the back panel  33  of the large plate and will push the front panel  32  of the large plate toward the partition wall  6  as the front wall of the mounting chamber, and the left and right pair of stopping protrusions which are attached to the center region in the left and right direction of the rear wall will be separated from the back panel  33  of the large plate by a gap. 
   Therefore, when the large plate is mounted as shown in  FIG. 1 , the mounting of the large plate will be maintained by the force pressing on the large plate by the plate springs at the left and right region of the back wall and by the locking at the four front, back, left, and right regions by the No.  1  and No.  2  locking protrusions similar to the conventional case, and mounting and unmounting of the large plate will be performed similar to the conventional manner. 
   When the small plates are mounted as shown in  FIG. 2 , the left and right pair of small plates will be locked to the front and back of the center region in the left and right direction by the locking of said No.  1  and No.  2  locking protrusions, and the plate springs  10  on the left and right regions of the rear wall  2  will press the center region in the left and right direction of the rear panels of both small plates so that the small plate mating condition will be maintained, and [the small plates] will be held to the back surface of the back panel edge on the side adjacent to the small plates by the contact with said stopping protrusions  11 , and the stopping protrusions  11  contacting the rear surface of the rear panel end side of the side adjacent to the small plates is the point that differs from the conventional case. 
   When the small plate front panel  42  is pushed to the back from said mounting condition, the locking of the No.  1  and No.  2  locking ribs  9 ,  34  on the mounting chamber front wall side will be disengaged, so the small plates  41  can be removed by pulling up on the front panel in this condition, and when mounting the small plates, the back part of the small plate is first placed in the mounting chamber, and the small plate front part is pressed downward while the small plates are pushed backwards. 
   Note, as shown in  FIG. 2 , when the small plates are mounted, it is preferable for a small gap to also be formed between the outward side panel of the small plates and the side wall  15  of the mounting chamber, and by so doing, the small plates can easily be mounted and unmounted. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a plain view of the container of the present invention showing the lid open and the large plate mounted; 
       FIG. 2  is a plain view of the container of  FIG. 1  showing the lid open and the small plates mounted; 
       FIG. 3  is a plain view of the container body of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-section view of the container body of  FIG. 3  cut along the front and back direction; 
       FIG. 5  is a cross-section view showing the container body of  FIG. 3  cut along the left and right direction; 
       FIG. 6  is an expanded cross-section view looking from the direction of the arrow of line A-A′ of  FIG. 2  showing the conditions where the small plates are engaged into the mounting chamber of the container body; 
       FIG. 7  is an expanded cross-section view looking from the arrow direction of the B-B′ line of  FIG. 2 ; and 
       FIG. 8  is an expanded cross-section view looking from the arrow direction of the line C-C′ of  FIG. 1 . 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF FLAGS 
   
       
         1  CONTAINER BODY 
         2  BACK WALL 
         3  CONCAVE REGION 
         6  PARTITION WALL (MOUNTING CHAMBER FRONT WALL) 
         7  MOUNTING CHAMBER 
         9  NO.  1  LOCKING RIB 
         10  PLATE SPRING 
         11  STOPPING PROTRUSION 
         21  LID BODY 
         31  LARGE PLATE 
         32  FRONT PANEL 
         33  BACK PANEL 
         34  NO.  2  LOCK RIB 
         41  SMALL PLATE 
         42  FRONT PANEL 
         43  BACK PANEL