Receptacles – Sidewall structure – Collapsible wall feature
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-15
2001-05-01
Moy, Joseph M. (Department: 3727)
Receptacles
Sidewall structure
Collapsible wall feature
C215S382000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223932
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plastic bottle for containing liquid, and more specifically to a crushable plastic bottle which can be easily crushed to reduce the volume thereof, for convenience of collection whenever disused after the contained liquid has been used.
2. Description of the Prior Art
PET (polyethylene terephtalate resin) bottles, for instance are now widely used. Although these plastic bottles are usually disused after use, there exists a problem in that cost for disusing these plastic bottles is relatively high. In other words, since being not crushable easily after use, these plastic bottles are disused as they are in the original large volume and then carried to a plastic disposal plant in such an undesirable state that air is contained in these plastic bottles. This requires a relatively large cost for transportation although it is preferable to reduce the cost for disposal of these plastic bottles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With these problems in mind, therefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide a crushable plastic bottles whose volume can be easily reduced after use.
In order to achieve the above object, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a crushable plastic bottle formed with a spout portion, wherein a plurality of foldable creases are formed on a wall surface of a body of the plastic bottle so as to in a longitudinal direction thereof in parallel, the foldable creases being formed so that wide and narrow creases are arranged alternately so as to form inequilateral lambda's (&Lgr;'s), and the plastic bottle having an non-circular section in a direction perpendicular to a crushing direction. In this configuration, when the foldable creases are folded, the narrow creased are roughly turned over in such a way that each inner surface of the narrow crease is brought into contact with the inner surface of each outward adjacent wide crease. Thus, with each narrow crease sandwiched between the two adjacent wide creases, the wide crease are overlapped with each other and fixed in shape as they are. This facilitates to minimize the final shape of the plastic bottle when crushed so that the plastic bottle can be crushed into a very compact shape.
Preferably, when seen from above, the plastic bottle is oval in shape, and when seen from front, the heights of both shoulder portions of the plastic bottle are reduced gradually toward both sides thereof, and both outside surfaces of a bottom portion of the plastic bottle are chamfered. This further facilitates to minimize the final shape of the plastic bottle when crushed so that the plastic bottle can be crushed into a very compact shape.
Preferably, the body has also a spout portion.
Preferably, in each of the creases, a cutoff or groove portion is formed extending along each ridge line thereof. This facilitates folding of the creases when the plastic bottle is crushed.
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Laff, Whitesel & Saret, Ltd.
Moy Joseph M.
Whitesel J. Warren
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