Bottles and jars – Sidewall structure – Pressure-responsive structure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-27
2001-07-10
Shoap, Allan N. (Department: 3727)
Bottles and jars
Sidewall structure
Pressure-responsive structure
C215S384000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257433
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to grippable blow-molded plastic containers, and more particularly, the present invention relates to hot-fillable blow-molded plastic containers having grip features that facilitate lifting and pouring.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The conventional hot-fillable blow-molded PET container is generally characterized by a body portion having a series of vertically elongate vacuum flex panels disposed in spaced relation about its periphery for accommodating volumetric shrinkage in the container due to the vacuum created after the container has been hot-filled with liquid, capped and cooled to ambient temperature. The upper portion, or dome, of the container has been generally characterized by a circular cross-section having a waist. Some people use the waist to grip the container for pouring with one hand, but this is not satisfactory because the waist is too large to be gripped readily. A stepped dome is easier to grip, but does not facilitate pouring from the container because it is too far from the filled container center of gravity.
At present, it has been necessary to make the vacuum flex panels relatively long in order to accommodate the amount of vacuum induced shrinkage required to provide a commercially satisfactory container. Examples of such containers are disclosed in the following U.S. patents owned by the assignee of the present application: D366,416; D366,417; D366,831.
Efforts have been made to incorporate grips in hot-fillable containers to afford both ease of pouring and to accommodate the vacuum induced shrinkage of the container. An example of such a container manufactured by the assignee of the present application is disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. D344,457; 5,392,937; and 5,598,941.
The aforementioned containers have certain advantages and certain disadvantages. The conventional vacuum panel has the advantage of enabling relatively large size containers with large labelable areas to be produced; however, it has disadvantage of making such containers difficult to handle. Grip panel containers, on the other hand, have the advantage of providing relatively easy pourability for certain sizes; however, grip panels are difficult to provide in large size containers, and labelable areas are reduced. It is apparent, therefore, that there is a need for a blow-molded plastic container that provides both the ready gripability and pourability afforded by grip-panel containers while providing large labelable areas and avoiding the limitations associated with conventional vacuum-panel containers.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
With the foregoing in mind, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a novel grippable container that provides facile gripping and pouring of its contents.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hot-fillable blow-molded container which utilizes conventional vacuum panels in combination with a specially configured grip dome that cooperates with the vacuum panels to accommodate the requisite vacuum induced shrinkage of the container due to hotfilling, capping and cooling.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a container having grips formed in its dome to facilitate gripping and pouring of contents from the container while utilizing shorter conventional vacuum panels to thereby provide the container with an ergonomically-improved lifting and pouring balance.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a plastic blow-molded container having a reinforced grip dome which resists distortion from forces caused by hot-fill processing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
More specifically, the present invention provides a blow-molded grippable container having a body portion with a series of vacuum panels and a dome portion which incorporates grip panels to facilitate gripping and pouring of contents from the container. In the illustrated embodiment, the dome portion has a non-circular transverse cross-section with opposed elongate sides in which are provided an opposed pair of grip surfaces connected at their opposite ends by a recess extending around opposed peripheral portions of the dome. The grip surfaces are adapted to be engaged between a finger and thumb of the user while the user's hand portion is engaged in the recess. The dome is configured to enable the opposed grip surfaces to flex toward one another to accommodate a predetermined amount of volumetric shrinkage due to hot-filling, capping and cooling. The vacuum flex panels provided in the body portion below the dome accommodate another predetermined amount of volumetric shrinkage.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the peripheral recess of the dome includes a peripheral “anti-racking link”, or rib, to prevent unwanted distortion of the dome. The rib permits a controlled amount of dome flexure so that the dome can accommodate a predetermined amount of volumetric shrinkage, but resists so-called “racking”, or twisting, of the dome which would distort the appearance of the dome.
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Ogg Richard K.
Smith Marvin Lee
Graham Packaging Company L.P.
Howson and Howson
Mai Tri M.
Shoap Allan N.
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