JP7541917B2 - Plastic Bottles - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a plastic bottle that is filled with a beverage, and more specifically, to a plastic bottle that has a body to which a label can be attached.

Conventionally, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example, plastic bottles are known that are primarily composed of a mouth into which a liquid such as a beverage is filled, a body having a generally rectangular cross section, a shoulder connecting the mouth and body, and a bottom that closes the body on the side opposite the mouth.

A shrunken waist section is formed at the vertical center of the torso, extending circumferentially, with the upper part of the shrunken waist section forming the upper torso and the lower part of the shrunken waist section forming the lower torso. A roll label is affixed to the upper torso to display various markings such as the product name.

This type of plastic bottle is used as a container with a relatively large capacity of about 2 liters, and is filled with various beverages such as tea drinks, mineral water, and sports drinks.

JP 2011-105323 A

In the case of plastic bottles, attempts have been made to mold the containers as thin-walled as possible in order to reduce weight and costs by reducing the amount of resin used, and this demand is particularly high for so-called large plastic bottles with a capacity of around 2 liters.

However, as thinner walls decrease rigidity, there is a need to make them thinner while maintaining their rigidity. In other words, there is a need to achieve both thinner walls and improved rigidity.

When the molded plastic bottles are transported along a filling line or the like, it is expected that the bottles may collide with each other or come into contact with the equipment on the line, and there is concern that the action of various loads may cause dents in the bottle surface. This is a problem that will become a concern as bottles continue to become thinner in the future.

As mentioned above, a label is attached to the upper body of a plastic bottle, but if a dent occurs on the surface of this upper body, the label cannot be attached properly, and there is a risk of the label not being attached properly.

In addition, the boundary between the upper torso and the shoulders is a corner, so this corner is particularly susceptible to dents when an impact is applied.

In light of the above, the present invention proposes a new technology for preventing dents from forming on the surface of an upper body of a plastic bottle having an upper body to which a label is attached.

The problem that the present invention aims to solve is as described above, and the means for solving this problem will be explained next.

In one aspect of the present invention,
A container having a mouth, a shoulder, a body, and a base;
A plastic bottle having a body portion including an upper body portion and a lower body portion,
In the upper torso,
A plurality of circumferential ribs extending in a horizontal direction are arranged vertically spaced apart from each other, and a band-shaped protrusion is formed between the circumferential ribs;
The belt-like protrusion has a plurality of vertical grooves arranged in the vertical direction so as to connect the upper and lower circumferential ribs with each other, the vertical grooves being spaced apart in the circumferential direction,
A small convex square block portion is formed in the area defined by the two vertical grooves and the upper and lower circumferential ribs.

In addition, in one embodiment of the present invention,
A circumferential rib is arranged between the lower end of the shoulder and the upper end of the upper body, the lower end of the shoulder is arranged closer to the central axis of the plastic bottle than the outer peripheral surface of the band-shaped convex portion arranged at the upper end of the upper body, and the boundary between the shoulder and the upper body is arranged closer to the central axis of the plastic bottle than the outer peripheral surface of the band-shaped convex portion.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the plastic bottle is configured as a rectangular bottle having a rectangular cylindrical shape, and small square block portions are formed at the corners between the front and side, and at the corners between the back and side.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the upper body is reinforced with small square blocks, making it less likely that dents will form on the surface of the upper body when plastic bottles collide with each other while being transported on the line. This also reduces the risk of poor label attachment due to dents on the surface.

Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the boundaries of the plastic bottle are prevented from coming into contact with each other, and the boundary between the shoulder and the upper body, which is particularly susceptible to deformation, is prevented from becoming concave.

Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to effectively prevent the plastic bottle from becoming dented, particularly in the corners where dents are likely to occur.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the front side of a plastic bottle. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing the configuration of a side surface of a plastic bottle. FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the boundary between the shoulder and the upper torso. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing small square block portions arranged at corner portions.

Below, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. For ease of explanation, the upper side of the paper in Fig. 1 will be referred to as the upper position, the lower side as the lower position, the left side as the left position, the right side as the right position, the up-down direction as the height direction, and the left-right direction as the width direction. Similarly, the left side of the paper in Fig. 2 will be referred to as the front side, the right side as the back side, and the left-right direction as the front-rear direction. Also, in Figs. 1 and 2, the central axis 1C of the plastic bottle 1 is shown to be in the up-down direction.

Figure 1 shows the shape of the front and back of a plastic bottle 1, which are configured to be substantially identical and face each other. Figure 2 shows the shape of two side faces of a plastic bottle 1, which are configured to be substantially identical and face each other.

The plastic bottle 1 according to this embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2 is suitable for use as a relatively large, thin-walled container with a capacity of approximately 2 liters, and is particularly suitable for aseptic filling of various beverages such as tea beverages, mineral water, and sports drinks.

The plastic bottle 1 has a mouth 2, a shoulder 3, a body 4, and a bottom 5, and is a so-called square bottle in which the body 4 is formed into a square tube shape.

The plastic bottle 1 can be manufactured by molding a preform made of a thermoplastic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate into a desired container shape using biaxial stretch blow molding or the like.

The mouth 2 is a cylindrical portion through which the contents are poured, and a cap (not shown) is removably attached to the mouth 2 to seal the inside of the container. The lower end of the mouth 2 is connected to the upper end of the shoulder 3.

The shoulder portion 3 is configured to expand in diameter from the lower end side of the mouth portion 2 toward the upper end side of the body portion 4, and to connect the mouth portion 2 and the body portion 4.

The body 4 constitutes the section from the lower end of the shoulder 3 to the bottom 5. The corners of the body 4 are rounded and formed into a square tube with a rectangular cross-sectional shape.

The body 4 is composed of an upper body 4a, a lower body 4b, and a contracted body 4c. The contracted body 4c constitutes the area between the upper body 4a and the lower body 4b near the center of the height of the body 4, and is configured with a smaller diameter than the upper body 4a and the lower body 4b, and is formed so as to contract inward of the container.

The upper body 4a is provided with a number of circumferential ribs 12 that are recessed horizontally along the circumferential direction, and the rigidity of the upper body 4a is improved by the circumferential ribs 12. In this embodiment, five circumferential ribs 12 are arranged at approximately equal intervals in the vertical direction, and a band-shaped protrusion 41 is formed between each of the circumferential ribs 12.

The lower body 4b is provided with multiple circumferential ribs 14 recessed to form a wave shape along the circumferential direction, and the circumferential ribs 14 improve the rigidity of the lower body 4b. In this embodiment, five circumferential ribs 14 are arranged at approximately equal intervals in the vertical direction, and a band-shaped protrusion 42 is formed between each of the circumferential ribs 14.

Circumferential ribs 18, 19 are recessed horizontally along the circumferential direction in the contracted body portion 4c. In this embodiment, two circumferential ribs 18, 19 are formed, and a band-shaped protrusion 20 is formed between the two circumferential ribs 18, 19.

The contracted body portion 4c is provided with a gripping recess 6 for the fingers to hook, ensuring gripping ability.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, multiple circumferential ribs 12 extending horizontally are arranged vertically spaced apart on the upper body portion 4a, and band-shaped protrusions 41 are formed between the circumferential ribs 12.

A vertical groove 44 is formed in the band-shaped convex portion 41 in the vertical direction so as to connect the upper and lower circumferential ribs 12. A plurality of vertical grooves 44 are provided at intervals in the horizontal direction, and a small convex square block portion 51 is formed in the area defined by the two vertical grooves 44 and the upper and lower circumferential ribs 12.

The small square block portions 51 are provided on each band-shaped protrusion 41, and as shown in Figures 1 and 2, are arranged in multiple locations over a wide area of the upper body portion 4a.

By providing small square block portions 51 in multiple locations in this manner, the surface of the upper body portion 4a is reinforced, and deformation of the surface of the upper body portion 4a can be prevented even when plastic bottles come into contact with each other when being transported on a filling line or the like.

In addition, because the small square block portion 51 is surrounded on all four sides by grooves (ribs that protrude toward the inside of the bottle), the rigidity of the small square block portion 51 itself can be increased, and the small square block portion 51 itself is less likely to deform when the small square block portions 51 come into contact with each other.

Figure 5 shows that a small square block portion 51 is positioned at the corner portion 4d between the front surface 4F (or back surface) of the contracted body portion 4c and the side surface 4S.

The corner portion 4d is particularly prone to deformation compared to the front surface 4F and side surface 4S, but by reinforcing the corner portion 4d with the small square block portion 51, the possibility of dents occurring in the corner portion 4d can be effectively reduced.

As shown in Fig. 4, a circumferential rib 12 is disposed between the lower end 3m of the shoulder 3 and the upper end 4m of the upper body 4a, and the lower end 3m of the shoulder 3 is disposed closer to the central axis 1C of the plastic bottle 1 than the outer peripheral surface 41g of the band-shaped protrusion 41 disposed on the upper end 4m of the upper body 4a. Note that the imaginary line 41n in Fig. 4 indicates an extension of the outer peripheral surface 41g, and indicates that the lower end 3m of the shoulder 3 is disposed closer to the central axis 1C than the outer peripheral surface 41g.

This positions the boundary portion K between the shoulder portion 3 and the upper body portion 4a (the lower end portion 3m of the shoulder portion 3 in this embodiment) inside the outer peripheral surface 41g of the band-shaped protrusion 41, preventing contact between the boundary portions K of the plastic bottles and preventing the boundary portion K from becoming concave.

In particular, the boundary portion K is more susceptible to deformation than the areas above and below it, but since the band-shaped protrusion 41 is positioned outside the boundary portion K, the band-shaped protrusion 41 collides first, which can prevent, for example, the boundary portions K of adjacent plastic bottles from colliding with each other.

The present invention can be carried out as described above.
That is, as shown in FIGS.
The container has a mouth portion 2, a shoulder portion 3, a body portion 4, and a bottom portion 5,
A plastic bottle 1 having a body portion 4 including an upper body portion 4a and a lower body portion 4b,
The upper body portion 4a has:
A plurality of circumferential ribs 12 extending in the horizontal direction are arranged vertically spaced apart from each other, and a band-shaped protrusion 41 is formed between the circumferential ribs 12,
The belt-like protrusion 41 has a plurality of vertical grooves 44 arranged in the vertical direction so as to connect the upper and lower circumferential ribs 12 with each other at intervals in the circumferential direction.
A small convex square block portion 51 is formed in the area defined by the two vertical grooves 44 and the upper and lower circumferential ribs 12 .

With this configuration, the small square block portion 51 reinforces the upper body portion 4a, making it less likely that dents will form on the surface of the upper body portion 4a when plastic bottles collide with each other while being transported along the line. This also reduces the risk of poor label attachment due to dents on the surface.

Also, as shown in FIG. 4, a circumferential rib 12 is disposed between the lower end 3m of the shoulder 3 and the upper end 4m of the upper body 4a, the lower end 3m of the shoulder 3 is disposed closer to the central axis 1C of the plastic bottle 1 than the outer peripheral surface 41g of the band-shaped protrusion 41 disposed at the upper end 4m of the upper body 4a, and the boundary portion K between the shoulder 3 and the upper body 4a is disposed closer to the central axis 1C of the plastic bottle 1 than the outer peripheral surface 41g of the band-shaped protrusion 41.

This prevents the boundary portions K of the plastic bottles from coming into contact with each other, and prevents the boundary portions K, which are particularly susceptible to deformation, from becoming dented.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the plastic bottle is configured as a rectangular bottle having a rectangular cylindrical shape, and small square block portions 51 are formed at the corner portions 4d between the front and side faces, and at the corner portions 4d between the back and side faces.

This effectively prevents the plastic bottle from becoming dented, especially in the corners where dents are more likely to occur.

Reference Signs List 1 Plastic bottle 1C Central axis 2 Mouth 3 Shoulder 3m Lower end 4 Body 4a Upper body 4b Lower body 4c Shrinking body 4d Corner 4F Front 4m Upper end 4S Side 5 Bottom 6 Gripping recess 12 Circumferential rib 14 Circumferential rib 18 Circumferential rib 19 Circumferential rib 20 Band-shaped protrusion 22 Vertical rib 41 Band-shaped protrusion 41g Outer peripheral surface 42 Band-shaped protrusion 44 Vertical groove 51 Small square block portion

Claims (3)

A container having a mouth, a shoulder, a body, and a base;
A plastic bottle having a body portion including an upper body portion and a lower body portion,
The upper body portion includes:
A plurality of circumferential ribs extending in the horizontal direction are arranged vertically spaced apart from one another,
A band-shaped protrusion is formed between the circumferential ribs,
The belt-like protrusion has a plurality of vertical grooves arranged in the vertical direction so as to connect the upper and lower circumferential ribs, the vertical grooves being spaced apart in the circumferential direction,
A small convex square block portion is formed in an area defined by the two longitudinal grooves and the upper and lower circumferential ribs,
Each of the circumferential ribs is formed continuously in the circumferential direction,
Each of the longitudinal grooves is divided by each of the circumferential ribs,
The top and bottom sides of the small rectangular block are horizontal.
Plastic bottle. The circumferential rib is disposed between a lower end of the shoulder portion and an upper end of the upper body portion,
The lower end of the shoulder portion is disposed closer to the central axis of the plastic bottle than the outer peripheral surface of the belt-shaped protrusion disposed at the upper end of the upper body portion,
The boundary between the shoulder portion and the upper body portion is disposed closer to the center axis of the plastic bottle than the outer peripheral surface of the belt-shaped protrusion.
2. The plastic bottle according to claim 1. The plastic bottle is made into a rectangular bottle with a square shape.
The small square block portions are formed at the corners between the front and side surfaces and at the corners between the back and side surfaces.
3. The plastic bottle according to claim 1 or 2.