Patent ID: 7654402

Claim:
A collapsible container comprising a base, a top ring and a wall peripherally fixed to said base and top ring and extending therebetween, said container being adjustable between an expanded position with the top ring spaced upward from said base and forming a container interior, and a collapsed position with said top ring surrounding said base in outwardly spaced substantially concentric relation thereto, said wall comprising multiple upwardly extending peripherally continuous sections which, in the expanded position of said container, angle alternately outward and inward relative to the container interior, said sections, in the collapsed position of said container, being folded on each other and concentrically received generally between the base and the top ring with the sections encircling the base and in turn being encircled by said top ring, wherein the container includes flexure zones joining adjacent sections, the adjacent sections being of limited flexibility relative to the flexure zones, wherein said sections each have a thickness greater than the thickness of the flexure zones; and wherein each flexure zone is independently activatable for movement between a first, open natural state in which adjacent sections are unfolded, and a second, closed natural state in which the respective adjacent sections are folded; and wherein the container is adjustable to a fixed, partially expanded position between said expanded position and said collapsed position.