JP7540964B2 - Hinge Cap - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a hinge cap.

One known hinge cap of this type is one which comprises a cap body having a top wall with a pouring outlet covering the upper surface of the mouth and neck of a container body and an outer peripheral wall hanging down from the top wall, and a top lid having a lid peripheral wall connected to a part (rear) of the cap body via a hinge, and which is provided with a locking mechanism to keep the top lid in a closed state (Patent Document 1).
The locking mechanism is located at appropriate circumferential positions (on both the left and right sides) of the hinge cap, and a part of the outer peripheral wall is formed into a movable plate that can be pushed inward by drilling a pair of slits on both sides, and a locking protrusion is attached to the upper end of this movable plate to engage from the inside with an engagement hole drilled in the peripheral wall of the cover.
Also known is a cap that is not separate from the container body, but has a top wall with a pouring outlet attached to the upper end of an outer peripheral wall connected to the barrel of a tube container body, and a lid peripheral wall of an upper lid is connected to the outer peripheral wall via a hinge, and on the opposite side of the hinge, a part of the outer peripheral wall is recessed inward to form a storage recess, and a movable plate stands from the lower end of this storage recess, and a locking protrusion is attached to the upper end of this movable plate to engage from the inside with an engagement hole drilled in the lid peripheral wall (see Figure 2 of Patent Document 2).

Patent No. 3735643 JP 2001-10647 A

The hinge cap of Patent Document 1 engages the engaging portion of the movable plate from the inside with an engagement hole drilled in the peripheral wall of the lid, making it difficult to visually check the engaged state, which can lead to the risk of forgetting to close the top lid.
In the case of the device described in Patent Document 2, when the device is carried around inside a handbag or the like, if an object hits the lower end of the peripheral wall of the lid on the opposite side of the hinge, the locking protrusion may come out of the engagement hole, causing the lid to open.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a hinge cap capable of preventing the top lid from coming into contact with an object and opening.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a hinge cap which reduces the likelihood of forgetting to fasten the top lid.

The first means is a cap body 2 that is formed so as to be attachable to the mouth/neck portion 102 of the container body 100, and in this attached state, has a top wall 4 that covers the upper surface of the mouth /neck portion 102, an outer peripheral wall 14 is vertically provided from the top wall 4, and a spout 6 is opened in the top wall 4;
and an upper cover 30 having a cover peripheral wall 34 connected to the cap body 2 via a hinge 29.
A lock mechanism L for holding the top cover 30 in a closed state is formed by an elastic locking plate 16 formed by a part of the outer peripheral wall 14 and a lockable protruding piece 40 hanging down from the cover peripheral wall 34.
The elastic locking plate 16 is formed as a movable plate that can be pushed inward like a push button by drilling a pair of slits 22 on both sides in the circumferential direction of a portion of the outer peripheral wall 14 and making the upper end of the portion a free end e, and the upper cover 30 is locked by engaging an engagement portion 20 provided on an upper half portion 16b of the elastic locking plate 16 with the locking projection 40 from the inside.
Between the lower half 16a and the upper half 16b of the elastic engagement plate 16, an upward step 18 is formed, which is disposed below the upper end of the outer peripheral wall 14 of the cap body 2,
In the locked state, the outer surface 17 of the lower half 16a of the elastic locking plate 16 is formed so as to be substantially flush with the outer surface 43 of the locking projection 40 or to be located outside the outer surface 43 .
The lock mechanism L is located on the opposite side to the hinge 29, and the lower end of the engaged projection 40 is a push-up end 45, which is located close to the upper surface of the step portion 18,
By pushing the lower half 16a of the elastic locking plate 16 inward, the engagement of the engaging portion 20 with the locking protrusion 40 is released, and the lid can be opened by pushing up the push-up end 45 from the pressed-in state of the lower half 16a of the elastic locking plate 16.

In this means, as shown in FIG. 1(A), a locking mechanism L is provided which is composed of an elastic locking plate 16 formed from a part of the outer peripheral wall 14 of the cap body 2 and an engaged protrusion 40 hanging down from the lid peripheral wall 34 of the top lid 30.
The elastic locking plate 16 has a pair of slits 22 drilled on both sides of the circumferential direction of a portion of the outer wall 14, so that it can be pushed inward, and the upper cover 30 is locked by engaging an engagement portion 20 attached to the upper half 16b of the elastic locking plate 16 with the locking protrusion 40 from the inside.
According to this structure, the engaging projection 40 is located below the lid peripheral wall 34, and it is easy to visually confirm that the top lid 30 is locked from its positional relationship with the engaging portion 20, so that it is less likely that the top lid 30 will be left unfastened.
In addition, in the locked state, the outer surface 17 of the lower half 16a of the elastic locking plate 16 is formed so as to be in a position that is approximately flush with the outer surface 43 of the locking projection 40, or in a position outer than the outer surface 43, thereby preventing the locking state from being released due to an unexpected collision of the lower end of the locking projection 40 with another object.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1A, the lock mechanism L is located on the opposite side to the hinge 29, and the lower end of the locked projection 40 serves as a push-up end 45. As shown in FIG.
Then, as shown in Figure 5 (B), by pushing the lower half 16a of the elastic locking plate 16 inward, the engagement of the engaging portion 20 with the locking projection 40 is released, and from the pressed-in state of the lower half 16a of the elastic locking plate 16, the push-up end 45 can be pushed up, as shown in Figure 5 (C), to open the lid.
This structure allows the top cover 30 to be easily operated with one hand.

The second means includes the first means, and further includes body reinforcing ribs R1 formed on the circumferentially outer edges of the pair of slits 22 for reinforcing the peripheral wall portion adjacent to the elastic engaging plate 16.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1B, a main body reinforcing rib R1 for reinforcing the peripheral wall portion adjacent to the elastic engaging plate 16 is formed on the outer peripheral edge of the pair of slits 22.
With this structure, distortion and deformation of the outer peripheral wall 14 caused by the pressing operation of the elastic locking plate 16 can be reduced.

The third means includes the first means or the second means , and further includes a push button reinforcing rib R2 formed on the inner circumferential edge of the pair of slits 22 for reinforcing the elastic engagement plate 16 which is a push button.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1B, a push button reinforcing rib R2 for reinforcing the elastic engaging plate 16 serving as a push button is formed on the inner circumferential edge of the pair of slits 22.
This structure can reduce elastic fatigue of the elastic engagement plate 16 caused by the pushing operation.

According to the invention relating to the first means, a locking mechanism L is provided, which consists of an elastic locking plate 16 formed from a part of the outer peripheral wall 14 of the cap body 2 and a lockable protrusion 40 hanging down from the lid peripheral wall 34 of the top lid 30, making it easy to visually confirm the locking point and making it less likely that the cap will be forgotten to be tightened.
Furthermore, when the top cover 30 is in the locked state, the outer surface 17 of the lower half 16a of the elastic locking plate 16 is located in a position that is approximately flush with the outer surface 43 of the locking projection 40 or in a position outside the outer surface 43, thereby preventing the lower end of the locking projection from being accidentally hit by another object and releasing the locked state.
Furthermore , according to the invention relating to the first means, the locking mechanism L is positioned on the opposite side to the hinge 29, and the lower end of the engaged protrusion 40 serves as a push-up end 45. Also, the lid can be opened by pushing up the push-up end 45 after pushing in the lower half 16a of the elastic engaging plate 16 to release the lock, so that it can be easily operated with one hand.
According to the invention relating to the second means, a main body reinforcement rib R1 is formed on the circumferential outer edge of the pair of slits 22 to reinforce the peripheral wall portion adjacent to the elastic locking plate 16, thereby reducing distortion and deformation of the outer peripheral wall 14 caused by the pushing operation of the elastic locking plate 16.
According to the invention relating to the third means, a push button reinforcement rib R2 that reinforces the elastic locking plate 16, which is the push button, is formed on the circumferentially inner edge of the pair of slits 22, thereby reducing elastic fatigue of the elastic locking plate 16 due to the pushing operation.

1A and 1B show the structure of a hinge cap according to an embodiment of the present invention in a closed state, with FIG. 1A being a cross-sectional view seen from the side, and FIG. 1B being a front view. 2A and 2B show the structure of the hinge cap shown in FIG. 1 in an open state, with FIG. 2A being a cross-sectional view seen from the side, and FIG. 2B being a plan view. FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the hinge cap shown in FIG. 1 in an open state. 3 shows the structure of the main part of the hinge cap shown in FIG. 2, in which FIG. 3A is a half sectional view of the cap body, and FIG. 3B is a half sectional view of the upper cover in a vertically inverted state. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the hinge cap shown in FIG. 1, in which (A) shows the state in which the top lid is locked in the closed position, (B) shows the state in which the lock is released by pressing the elastic locking piece with a finger, and (C) shows the state in which the top lid is opened by pushing up the locking protrusion with the finger.

1 to 5 show a hinge cap according to an embodiment of the present invention.
This hinge cap is composed of a cap body 2 and an upper cover 30. The hinge cap can be made of, for example, a synthetic resin.

The cap body 2 is formed so as to be attachable to the mouth/neck portion 102 of the container body 100, as shown in FIG.
In this embodiment, the cap body 2 has a top wall 4 that covers the upper surface of the mouth neck portion 102 in the attached state, and a large-diameter outer peripheral wall 14, a medium-diameter inner peripheral wall 24, and a small-diameter sealing cylinder portion 28 are vertically arranged in a triple cylindrical shape from the top wall 4. However, these structures can be appropriately changed.
The inner peripheral wall 24 is a mounting tube for fitting onto the outer surface of the mouth/neck portion 102. In the illustrated example, a female screw portion 26 is formed on the inside of the inner peripheral wall 24.
The tubular seal portion 28 is a portion for liquid-tightly fitting to the inner surface of the mouth/neck portion 102. In the illustrated example, the tubular seal portion 28 has a length shorter than that of the inner peripheral wall 24.
The outer peripheral wall 14 is vertically extended from the peripheral end of the top wall 4. In the illustrated example, the cylindrical length of the outer peripheral wall 14 is longer than the cylindrical length of the inner peripheral wall 24.
The upper end of the rear wall portion of the outer peripheral wall 14 is connected to the upper cover 30 via a hinge 29 .
For convenience of explanation, in this specification, the left side of FIG. 1A is referred to as the "rear", the right side of the figure is referred to as the "front", and the direction perpendicular to the figure is referred to as the "left and right".
Located below the hinge 29, the upper half of the rear wall of the outer peripheral wall 14 is formed into a thick wall portion 15 that protrudes inward.
An elastic locking plate 16 that can be pushed inward is formed on the front side of the outer peripheral wall 14 (the side opposite to the hinge 29).
The gap between the outer peripheral wall 14 and the inner peripheral wall 24 is set to a size corresponding to the pressing width of the elastic engaging plate 16 .
The structure of the elastic engaging plate 16 will be described later.
A pouring outlet 6 is opened in the top wall 4 , positioned inside the cylindrical seal portion 28 .
In the illustrated example, a through hole 7a is drilled in the top wall 4, and a pouring tube 7 is erected around the through hole 7a. A pouring outlet 6 is formed at the upper end of the pouring tube 7. The inner surface of the pouring tube 7 is formed into a tapered surface with a smaller diameter at the lower end.
2B, the top wall 4 is formed in an elliptical shape that is long in the left-right direction together with a top plate 32 of an upper cover 30 described later. However, this shape can be changed as appropriate.

The upper lid 30 has a lid peripheral wall 34 connected to the cap body 2 via a hinge 29 , and a top plate 32 attached to the upper end of the lid peripheral wall 34 .
A long, rod-shaped plug portion 36 and a short surrounding cylinder portion 38 surrounding the plug portion 36 hang down from the top plate 32. The tip of the plug portion 36 is tightly fitted into the through hole 7a.

In the present invention, a lock mechanism L for holding the top cover 30 in a closed state is provided on the opposite side (front side) to the hinge 29 .
The locking mechanism L is composed of an elastic locking plate 16 formed by a part of the outer peripheral wall 14 and a locked projection 40 extending downward from the lid peripheral wall 34 .

The elastic locking plate 16 is a movable plate including a push button that can be pushed inward.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1(B), the elastic locking plate is formed by drilling a pair of slits 22 on both circumferential sides of a portion of the outer peripheral wall 14, and by cutting off the upper end of the portion from the top wall 4 so that it becomes a free end e, the lower end side is formed to be able to swing around a central tube.
As shown in FIG. 2B, a slit n is provided between the upper end (free end e) of the elastic engaging plate 16 and the top wall 4.
A pair of notches 10 are formed on both the left and right ends of the slit n, cutting rearward, and are provided so that, in the closed state, an auxiliary plate 46 (described later) can be stored in these notches 10. The top wall portion between these notches 10 serves as a closing plate 12 that closes the inside of the cap body 2.
2A, the elastic locking plate 16 is formed by rising from a lower half 16a that follows the contour of the outer peripheral wall 14 via an upward step 18 to an upper half 16b that is positioned inwardly by a certain width D from the contour of the outer peripheral wall 14. The width D corresponds to a thickness T of a main plate portion 42, which will be described later.
An engagement portion 20 is formed on the front surface of the upper half portion 16b of the elastic engagement plate 16. The engagement portion 20 in this embodiment is formed so as to be hooked (i.e. latched) into an engagement hole 44 described below, but the structure thereof can be modified as appropriate.
2A, the engaging portion 20 in the illustrated example is formed as a protrusion having a triangular cross section. The front surface of the protrusion is an inclined surface 21 that slopes from the upper rear to the lower front, and is formed so that when the top cover 30 is rotated in the closing direction from the open state, the lower end of the engaging projection 40 abuts against the inclined surface 21, causing the elastic engaging piece 16 to move backward.
The lower half 16a of the elastic engaging plate 16 functions as a push button, and is formed wider than the upper half 16b of the elastic engaging plate 16, as shown in FIG. 4(A).

The engaging projection 40 is a linking means with the elastic engaging plate 16 and also serves as a push-up piece for opening the top cover 30.
In other words, when the connection with the elastic locking plate 16 is released, the top cover 30 can be opened by placing a finger on the push-up end 45, which is the lower end of the locking protrusion 40, and pushing it up, as shown in Figure 5 (C).
2(B), the engaging projection 40 is formed of a main plate portion 42 hanging down from the front wall portion of the peripheral cover wall 34, and a pair of auxiliary plate portions 46 protruding inwardly from both sides of the main plate portion 42. However, the auxiliary plate portions 46 may be omitted.
In this embodiment, the main plate portion 42 is formed in a horizontally elongated, generally rectangular shape (in the illustrated example, a trapezoid that is slightly narrower at the lower end side) when viewed from the front, as shown in FIG. 1B.
An outer surface (front surface) 43 of the main plate portion 42 is formed to be substantially flush with an outer surface portion 17 of a lower half portion 16a of the elastic engagement plate 16, which will be described later.
The main plate portion 42 has an engagement receiving portion 44 for receiving the engagement portion 20 of the elastic engagement plate 16 .
In the illustrated example, the engagement receiving portion 44 is an engagement hole that is a horizontal hole that is long in the left-right direction, but the shape of the engagement receiving portion 44 can be changed as appropriate. Also, instead of an engagement hole, an engagement recess formed in the rear surface of the main plate portion 42 may be used.
2A, a padding portion t is formed on the inside of the lid peripheral wall 34, continuing from the main plate portion 42. However, the padding portion does not necessarily have to be provided.
The length of the engaging projection 40 is designed so that when the top cover 30 is closed, the upper surface of the step 18 and the push-up end 45 come close to each other, making it impossible to push up the push-up end 45. Therefore, there is no risk of the push-up end 45 accidentally hitting another object and opening the cover.

With the above-mentioned configuration, the locking mechanism L is formed to lock the upper cover 30 by engaging the engagement portion 20 attached to the upper half 16b of the elastic locking plate 16 with the locked protrusion 40 from the inside.
In this locked state, the outer surface 17 of the lower half 16a of the elastic locking plate 16 is formed so as to be substantially flush with the outer surface 43 of the locked projection 40, as shown in FIG.
By doing so, the lower end of the engaged projection 40 , which is the push-up end 45 , faces the upper surface of the step portion 18 .
Therefore, when the hinge cap is attached to the mouth and neck portion 102 of the container body 100, it is possible to prevent the top lid 30 from opening due to an object hitting the push-up end portion 45.
The same effect can be obtained even if the outer surface portion 17 is designed to be located at a position outside the outer surface 43 of the engaging projection 40.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a main body reinforcing rib R1 is formed on the outer edge of the pair of slits 22 in the circumferential direction.
The pair of main body reinforcing ribs R1 are intended to reinforce the peripheral wall portion adjacent to the elastic locking plate 16, and these main body reinforcing ribs reduce distortion or deformation of the outer peripheral wall 14 caused by the pushing operation of the elastic locking plate 16.
In the illustrated example, the pair of main body reinforcing ribs R1 are parallel plate portions protruding inward from the outer edge portions of the slit 22, and are formed over the entire length of the slit 22 in the vertical direction.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, push button reinforcing ribs R2 are formed on the inner circumferential edges of the pair of slits 22 (on both sides of the elastic locking plate 16).
The pair of push button reinforcing ribs R2 reinforce the elastic engagement plate 16 which is the push button, and these push button reinforcing ribs can reduce elastic fatigue of the elastic engagement plate 16 caused by the pushing operation.
In the illustrated example, the push button reinforcing rib R2 is formed from the upper half 16b of the elastic engaging plate 16 through the step portion 18 to the lower half 16a.

In the above-described configuration, in the closed state shown in FIG. 5(A), the engaging portion 20 attached to the upper half 16b of the elastic engaging plate 16 is engaged from the inside with the engaging hole 44 of the engaging protrusion 40, thereby locking the top lid 30.
Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, by pushing the lower half 16a of the elastic locking plate 16 inward, the locking of the engaging portion 20 with the locked projection 40 is released, and the locked state of the upper cover 30 is released.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5C, when the lower half 16a of the elastic engaging plate 16 is in the pressed-in state, the push-up end 45, which is the lower end of the engaged projection 40, is pushed up, thereby opening the top cover 30.
In the above procedure, one finger of one hand can be used to successively push inward the lower half 16a of the elastic locking plate 16 and push up the push-up end 45, so that the cap can be easily opened with one hand.
When the pushing force is released, the elastic locking plate 16 elastically returns to its original position.
When the container body 100 is tilted, the liquid in the container body 100 is poured out from the pouring outlet 6. When the top lid 30 is rotated in the closing direction after the pouring operation is completed, the engaging portion 20 engages with the engaging hole 44, and the top lid 30 is locked.

2...Cap body 4...Top wall 6...Spout spout 7...Spout tube 7a...Through hole 10...Notch part 12...Closing plate part 14...Outer peripheral wall 15...Thick wall part 16...Elastic locking plate 16a...Lower half Part 16b... Upper half part 17... Outer surface part 18... Step part 20... Engagement part 21... Inclined surface 22... Slit
24...Inner peripheral wall (mounting tube) 26...Female thread part 28...Seal cylinder part 29...Hinge 30...Upper lid 32...Top plate 34...Lid surrounding wall 36...Plug part 38...Enclosing cylinder part 40...Locked projection piece 42 ...Main plate part 43...Outer surface 44...Engagement receiving part (engagement hole)
45: Push-up end portion 46: Auxiliary plate portion
100: container body 102: mouth and neck portion
D: Width e: Free end R1: Main body reinforcement rib R2: Push button reinforcement rib L: Lock mechanism n: Cutout T: (Main plate) thickness t: Padded portion

Claims (3)

a cap body (2) that is formed so as to be attachable to the mouth and neck portion (102) of a container body (100), and that has an outer peripheral wall (14) extending vertically from a top wall (4) that covers the upper surface of the mouth and neck portion (102) in this attached state, and has a spout (6) opened in the top wall (4);
and an upper cover (30) having a cover peripheral wall (34) connected to the cap body (2) via a hinge (29),
A lock mechanism (L) for holding the top cover (30) in a closed state is formed by an elastic locking plate (16) formed by a part of the outer peripheral wall (14) and a lockable protrusion (40) hanging down from the cover peripheral wall (34),
The elastic locking plate (16) is formed into a movable plate which is a push button that can be pushed inward by drilling a pair of slits (22) on both sides in the circumferential direction of a portion of the outer peripheral wall (14) and making the upper end of the portion a free end (e), and the upper cover (30) is locked by engaging an engagement portion (20) attached to the upper half portion (16b) of the elastic locking plate (16) with the locking projection (40) from the inside.
An upward step portion (18) is formed between the lower half portion (16a) and the upper half portion (16b) of the elastic engagement plate (16) and is disposed below the upper end of the outer peripheral wall (14) of the cap body (2).
In the locked state, the outer surface portion (17) of the lower half portion (16a) of the elastic locking plate (16) is formed to be in a position substantially flush with the outer surface (43) of the locking projection (40) or in a position outside the outer surface (43) ;
The lock mechanism (L) is located on the opposite side to the hinge (29), and the lower end of the engaged projection (40) is a push-up end (45), and this push-up end (45) is located close to the upper surface of the step portion (18),
This hinge cap is characterized in that, by pushing the lower half (16a) of the elastic locking plate (16) inward, the engagement of the engagement portion (20) with the lockable protrusion (40) is released, and the hinge cap can be opened by pushing up the push-up end portion (45) from the pressed-in state of the lower half (16a) of the elastic locking plate (16) . 2. The hinge cap according to claim 1, wherein a main body reinforcing rib (R1) is formed on the circumferential outer edge of the pair of slits (22) to reinforce the peripheral wall portion adjacent to the elastic locking plate ( 16 ). 3. The hinge cap according to claim 1, wherein a push button reinforcing rib (R2) for reinforcing the elastic locking plate (16) which is a push button is formed on the circumferentially inner edge of the pair of slits ( 22 ).

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