Receptacles – Receptacle having means to facilitate maintaining contents... – Thermally insulated receptacle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-04
2001-08-07
Castellano, Stephen (Department: 3727)
Receptacles
Receptacle having means to facilitate maintaining contents...
Thermally insulated receptacle
C220S840000, C220S004220
Reexamination Certificate
active
06269966
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
Hinges for blow-molded double-walled containers with lids.
BACKGROUND
Blow-molded double-walled resin bodies and lids can serve as insulated containers when filled with an insulation material. A hinge between the body and lid allows the lid to pivot open for access to the interior of the container, and at least parts of the hinge are preferably formed in the blow molding process that creates the body and lid.
After a blow-molded double-walled body and lid are filled with insulation material, the lid becomes heavier, which requires that the hinge supporting the lid for pivotal motion relative to the body be made robust and durable so as not to fail during the life of the product. Hinges for such blow-molded, insulated containers must also meet many other requirements, including low cost of manufacture, ease of assembly, reliable operation, and resistance to customer abuse.
Hinges have been formed in blow-molded double-walled containers by boring recess holes in either the body or lid so that projections mating with the holes can be snap fit into place. For several reasons, this is unacceptable for a container that will be filled with a fire-resistant insulation material. Such insulation is preferably pourable into the interwall spaces of the container and lid and later sets to a solid state. Hinge projections cannot simply extend through recess holes into interwall spaces of a double-walled container, because they would not be able to pivot after an insulation material becomes solid. Inserts must be arranged in the bore holes to receive the projections and separate the projections from any bond with the insulation material, but this requires extra parts that must be positioned to complete hinge assembly.
Another serious problem is that any holes bored into interwall spaces to accommodate hinge projections allow insulation material to leak out around the inserts at the edges of the holes when the insulation material is freshly poured and still flowable. Leaks around the hinge holes spoil the appearance of the container and require either an expensive cleanup or scrapping of a product.
We have devised a hinge that meets the requirements of low cost, reliability, and durability without requiring bore holes in a hinge region. Our hinge and its assembly aim at all the desired advantages implemented in a configuration that gives a container an attractive appearance.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Our improved hinge applies to blow-molded double-walled resin containers having a body and lid each having outer and inner walls that are separated to form respective interwall spaces filled with a fire-resistant material. The blow molding process that forms the body and lid also configures a hinge formed of projections and mating recesses. These are formed integrally with walls of the body and lid without penetrating the walls in the hinge region to form any opening into either interwall space.
The projections and recesses are dimensioned to allow the projections to be snap fit into the recesses when the recesses are still warm from blow molding. When the hinge parts are snapped together, the projections may be cooler than the recesses or may also be warm from the blow molding. After the projections are snapped into the recesses, the fire-resistant material is poured into the interwall spaces of the body and lid to fill these spaces; and as the insulation material sets to a solid state, it rigidities the snapped-together projections and recesses and prevents the projections from being unsnapped from the recesses without destroying the hinge.
DRAWINGS
FIGS. 1 and 2
are isometric views of a preferred embodiment of a container body taken respectively from a front corner in FIG.
1
and from a rear corner in
FIG. 2
, to show a hinge region and a blow molded hinge recess.
FIGS. 3 and 4
are isometric views of a preferred form of lid for the body of
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the lid being viewed from a front corner in FIG.
3
and from a rear corner in
FIG. 4
, to show a hinge region and a pair of blow-molded projections formed to fit in the blow-molded recesses of the body of
FIGS. 1 and 2
.
FIG. 5
is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of one of a pair of the lid's hinge projections and the body's recesses assembled in snapped-together relation.
FIG. 6
is a schematic diagram of steps involved in forming and assembling a container with a hinge such as shown in FIGS.
1
-
5
.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3612335 (1971-10-01), Schurman
patent: 4340139 (1982-07-01), Wilcox et al.
patent: 4624557 (1986-11-01), Winn
patent: 5769260 (1998-06-01), Killinger et al.
patent: 6073789 (2000-06-01), Lundblade
Avery, Jr. Roland M.
Masseth, Jr. James E.
Pallo R. David
Castellano Stephen
Eugene Stephens & Associates
John D. Brush & Co., Inc.
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