Special receptacle or package – For eyeglass or spectacle – Contact lens
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-25
2001-09-11
Bui, Luan K. (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
For eyeglass or spectacle
Contact lens
C206S205000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06286666
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention concerns a container for storing contact lenses which can be filled with a liquid for wetting the contact lenses.
PRIOR ART
Containers for storing contact lenses are known in various designs. Usually such containers are filled with a disinfecting liquid and for their storage, in particular for overnight storage, the contact lenses are put into the liquid and the container is closed. The removal of contact lenses from such containers filled with liquid is not always easy, since on the one hand the contact lenses when immersed in liquid are difficult to see with the naked eye and on the other, to grasp the contact lenses in the liquid is not always easy. It is therefore suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,323 that the contact lenses should be placed in a kind of basket-like container and to connect this basket-like container thereafter with a vessel open at the top. This connection, for example, takes place by screwing on a cover which has on its underside the container. But with such a procedure there is still the danger that the contact lenses will not be completely immersed in the liquid if the container is not filled exactly to its minimal level with disinfecting liquid. When opening the container to remove the contact lenses, there is furthermore the danger that the liquid will drip outside the container, and then this causes the necessity for cleaning.
In addition, a container for storing contact lenses is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,959, which comprises two compartments disposed adjacent to each other and separate from each other. Each compartment is provided for the accommodation of one contact lens and can be closed by one cap each. Each compartment has a removal device with convex surface to place a contact lens on it. The removal device can be removed from the container filled with liquid by opening and closing the covers or it can be lowered into the container. Thus it is possible to remove a contact lens from the compartment concerned without the fingers coming into contact with the liquid. However with this known container a complete rinsing of the contact lenses is not guaranteed, if there is not a sufficient liquid level in the individual compartments. Moreover the removal device which can be lowered and raised requires a comparatively complicated structure of the container and therefore high production costs.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention now consists of providing a container of the type mentioned above, which guarantees in a simple manner that after the closing of the container the contact lenses do in fact arrive below the liquid level and that they are completely rinsed by liquid. In addition, the invention is based on the object of simplifying substantially the handling and of providing the possibility to place contact lenses in the container and to remove them from the container in a way such that the fingers do not come into contact with the liquid.
The solution of these problems is carried out by the container described herein for the storage of contact lenses.
Consequently the container in accordance with the invention can be filled with a liquid which wets the contact lenses and comprises a bottom part and an upper part of the container. The top container part can be closed in sealing manner with the bottom container part, for example by means of a hinge or a knuckle or link connection with a closing device. The container is preferably made of any type of discretionary plastic material, to achieve an especially light construction. The bottom container part defines a hollow space for the accommodation of the liquid and has an accommodation part for the contact lenses. The contact lens accommodating part in one position of the container, in which the contact lenses can be removed from the container or can be put into it, projects above a maximal liquid level in the bottom container part. By analogy the accommodating part for the contact lenses, after the opening of the container, i.e. with opened or unhinged top container part, or shortly before the opening, i.e. with the top container part resting on the bottom container part, is above the liquid level in the bottom container part, so that the contact lenses can be removed in the opened state of the container without direct contact with the liquid. Accordingly the contact lenses by analogy may be inserted without coming into contact with the liquid. In addition, it is possible to insert the storage liquid separately in the bottom part of the container, with the contact lenses not being wetted by the liquid.
In addition, the accommodating part interacts in the closed state of the container with a cover part arranged in the top part of the container. The accommodating part and the cover part each have openings to accommodate the contact lenses, with the edges of the openings for accommodation of the accommodating part and the cover part abutting each other preferably on their periphery and the cover part being contiguous and interacting in this manner. The accommodating part and the cover part are advantageously designed each in the form of a basket. Thus it is possible to form a closed hollow space for the accommodation of the contact lenses which is preferably adapted to the dimensions and contours of the contact lenses. Therefore safe storage of the contact lenses between the accommodating and cover parts is guaranteed.
After closing the container, a compact state of the container results. In this compact state, by pivoting the container through 180°, a stable pivoting position is at once ensured, so that the contact lenses are rinsed by the cleaning or disinfecting liquid. Thereby during pivoting into the stable pivot position, the lower part of the container arrives above the upper part of the container, so that the liquid which had originally been placed in the container lower part flows into the upper part of the container. Thereby it is ensured that the accommodating part and the cover part come to rest with the contact lenses below the level of the liquid in the zone of the upper part of the container. Due to the pivot movement, which takes place relatively suddenly like a “roly-poly”, it is ensured simultaneously that no air bubbles remain enclosed between the contact lenses and the liquid which wets them, because these bubbles are washed away during the pivot movement. Because in accordance with the invention the complete immersion of the contact lenses only takes place in the stable pivot position, small amounts of the wetting liquid, which are inadequate to wet the contact lenses, can be used. In this context, by corresponding design of the cavities in the upper part and lower part of the container, sufficiently deep immersion of the contact lenses is ensured in the liquid.
The necessary tilting moment to achieve the stable pivot position can be attained in a simple manner in that the upper part of the container consists of a specifically heavier material than its lower part and/or it contains inlays of specifically heavier material, in particular of metal.
By “the lower part of the container” what is meant is that part of the container which in the open state of the container or immediately after the closure of the container is under the upper part of the container. On the other hand, in the stable pivot position of the closed, compact container, the lower part of it is above the upper part of the container. In accordance with the invention it is sufficient correspondingly to characterize or to design a container part, in order to make it discernible in which way the container has to be opened, i.e. which container part forms the upper part and which forms the lower part.
For opening the container it in turn has to be tilted back into a metastable pivot position, i.e. initial position for opening and closing. During opening, unintended escape of the liquid is prevented without difficulty, because the liquid is caught in the lower part of the container. At the same time, in the opened state, the contact lenses are in turn easily
Bui Luan K.
Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery
Stefen Umdasch Design KG
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