Liquid container

Coating implements with material supply – Including means to apply material-moving force – Piston-provided reservoir

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C401S174000, C401S194000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06227739

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid container which houses liquid, such as cosmetic liquid, writing ink, correcting liquid, etc. and, more particularly, to a liquid container which has a liquid supply port at its tip.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional container housing such kinds of liquid is shown, for example, by Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-14844. This conventional liquid container includes a tubular body having an applying liquid storage part formed inside, a screw rod disposed in a protruding fashion in a piston slidably fitted inside the storage part, and a rotation cylinder comprising an inner cylinder member and an outer cylinder member which are integrally bound. A ring protrusion and an engaging ratchet being elastic at the front portion in the axial direction are integrally formed on the outer cylinder member of the rotation cylinder. The ring protrusion is urged into and fitted to a ring groove at the rear end of the tubular body so that the rotation cylinder is rotatably joined with the tubular body.
Further, a ratchet structure is configured so that the engaging ratchet of the outer cylinder member is brought into elastomeric contact engagement with ratchet gear teeth integrally formed in the tubular body in an inner circumferential direction. A screw hole is provided in the inner cylinder member of the rotation cylinder so as to be threadably engaged in the screw rod. Two planar portions formed on both sides over the whole length of the screw rod are slidably fitted into a slide hole formed in a partition wall at a rear end of the storage portion of the tubular body. The screw rod moves forward without rotating with the rotation of the rotation cylinder so that the piston is pushed in the axial direction and the applying liquid is supplied.
As discussed above, the screw rod is slidably fitted into the slido hole formed in the partition wall at the rear end of the storage portion of the tubular body. Therefore, when the rotation cylinder rotates relative to the tubular body, a relative rotation between the inner cylinder member of the rotation cylinder and the screw rod is produced so that the fitting between the screw hole and the screw rod makes the screw rod move forward, thereby push-pressing the piston in the axial direction and supplying the applying liquid to the tip of the tubular body.
However, in the conventional liquid container, the partition wall must be provided at the rear end of the storage portion of the tubular body, and the slide hole for engagement fitting with the two planar portions of the screw rod must be formed in the partition wall. Moreover, the ratchet gear teeth must be integrally formed in the inner circumferential direction of the tubular body. Therefore, it is difficult to manufacture the tubular body by molding.
In addition, during assembly, the piston as well as the screw rod are inserted into the tubular body from a front side of the tubular body, the screw rod is put into the slide hole of the partition wall, the rotation cylinder is inserted into the tubular body from rearward of the tubular body, in such a manner that the screw rod is engaged with the inner cylindrical member of the rotation cylinder. Thus, assembly becomes difficult, and it is difficult to mass-produce the conventional liquid container.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing and other problems, disadvantages, and drawbacks of the conventional liquid container, the present invention has been devised, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid container which is molded, assembled, mass-produced, and put to practical use easily and efficiently.
In order to attain the above-described object, a liquid container according to the present invention includes a body having a tank portion for housing a liquid, and a liquid supply port at a front side thereof, a piston movable forwardly inside the tank portion, an operation cylinder being attached to a rear part of the body in a relatively rotatable fashion, a piston rod being disposed within an assembly comprising the body and the operation cylinder, the piston rod integrally connected to the piston and extending rearwardly, the piston rod being disposed within the assembly and adapted to be rotated integrally with the operation cylinder, the piston rod guide having an internal thread hole which is engaged with the external thread of the piston rod, and a ratchet cylinder being fixed in the rear inside of the body and having a bore through which the piston rod is pierced in a relatively unrotatable fashion. Serrated gear teeth are formed at a front end of the operation cylinder, and the ratchet gear tooth, which is brought into engagement with the serrated gear teeth and can selectively protrude or retract in the axial direction. The ratchet gear tooth is adopted to be selectively protruded or retracted in an axial direction upon the rotation of the operation cylinder relative to the body.
When the operation cylinder rotates relative to the body, the piston rod guide rotates integrally with the operation cylinder. On the other hand, the piston rod is unrotatably inserted through the ratchet cylinders fixed to the body and does not rotate. A relative rotation takes place between the piston rod guide and the piston rod so that thread engagement between the internal thread hole of the piston rod guide and the external thread of the piston rod causes the piston rod to move forwardly. Thus, the piston moves forwardly in the tank portion, and thus liquid inside the tank portion, which is pushed into the liquid supply port provided at the tip side of the body, can be supplied.
The serrated gear teeth formed at the front end of the operation cylinder are brought into engagement with the ratchet gear tooth formed in the ratchet cylinder so that the user experiences a feeling of control in operating the serrated gear teeth and the ratchet gear tooth, and also the operation cylinder is prevented from rotating in the opposite direction (e.g., a direction in which the piston moves rearwardly). The ratchet gear teeth which can protrude/retract in the axial direction, as well as the insertion through hole pierced by the piston rod, are formed in the ratchet cylinder and manufacturing thereof is easy.
In addition, assembly can be implemented by inserting into the body from the rear of the body the unit comprising the ratchet cylinder, the piston, the piston rod, the piston rod guide and the operation cylinder all together. Thus, these components are modular (e.g., unitary) so that assembly can be implemented easily.
The body may has an inner step portion formed on an inner peripheral surface thereof and the ratchet cylinder may have an outer step portion for contact with the inner step portion of the body. The container may includes a rotation preventive structure on the body and the ratchet cylinder for preventing relative rotation between the body and the ratchet cylinder.
The above-described rotation preventive structure may include a polygonal bore formed around the inner peripheral surface of the body and a polygonal outer peripheral surface formed around the outer peripheral surface of the ratchet cylinder. The polygonal bore of the body and polygonal outer peripheral surface of the ratchet cylinder are engaged with each other.
According to the present invention, the ratchet cylinder is preferably provided separately from the body so that not only ratchet gear teeth (which can protrude/retract in the axial direction) are formed at a rear end of the ratchet cylinder, but also a bore (into which a piston rod is inserted in a relatively unrotatable fashion) is formed. Thus, a liquid container can be provided which is excellent for molding, assembly mass production, and practical use,
The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application 2000-120269, filed Apr. 21, 2000, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5085352 (1992-02-0

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