CONTAINER WITH COVER

Abstract

A container includes a base, and a jacket adjoining the base and having a peripheral flange which defines an opening cross section which can be closed by a cover. The cover includes first snap-fit hooks distributed about a periphery of the cover for engagement in complementing first latching openings in the peripheral flange to thereby establish a form fit that prevents a movement away from the base and parallel to a vertical axis of the container in perpendicular relation to the base. The peripheral flange has four corner regions, each provided with a second latching opening for engagement of a second snap-fit hook of the cover. The second latching opening has at least one portion configured curved or inclined in relation to both a transverse axis and a longitudinal axis of the container, or has at least two straight portions extending at an inclination in relation to one another.

Claims

1.-5. (canceled)

6. A container, comprising: a base; a jacket configured to adjoin and encircle the base, said jacket having a circumferential and outwardly projecting peripheral flange at an end that faces away from the base and defines an opening cross section to permit access to an internal volume of the container; and a cover configured to tightly close the opening cross section to thereby prevent access to the internal volume of the container, said cover including first snap-fit hooks distributed in circumferential spaced-apart relation about a periphery of the cover in a plane of the peripheral flange for engagement in complementing first latching openings in the peripheral flange to thereby establish a form fit that prevents a movement away from the base and parallel to a vertical axis of the container in perpendicular relation to the base, wherein the peripheral flange has four corner regions, each provided with a second latching opening for engagement of a second snap-fit hook of the cover, said second latching opening configured in one of two ways, a first way in which the second latching opening has at least one portion configured curved or inclined in relation to both a transverse axis and a longitudinal axis of the container, a second way in which the second latching opening has at least two straight portions extending at an inclination in relation to one another.

7. The container of claim 6, wherein the first snap-fit hooks are elongate and the first latching openings are elongate.

8. The container of claim 6, wherein the jacket has the shape of a rounded rectangle in mutually parallel sectional planes which each run perpendicular to the vertical axis of the container, said peripheral flange having pairs of opposite straight portions in which the first latching openings are disposed, and four arcuate portions in the corner regions to correspondingly interconnect those straight portions that extend orthogonal to one another, with the second latching openings being disposed in the arcuate portions.

9. The container of claim 8, wherein the peripheral flange has the shape of a rounded rectangle.

10. The container of claim 6, wherein each of the first and second snap-fit hooks includes a lug-type tongue portion which faces the cover, and a hook portion which adjoins the tongue portion at an end facing away from the cover.

11. The container of claim 10, wherein the tongue portion is elastically deformable in a direction which is perpendicular to the vertical axis of the container.

12. The container of claim 6, wherein the first and second latching openings each have on a side which faces the vertical axis of the container a spacing from the jacket that is smaller than 5 mm.

13. The container of claim 12, wherein the spacing is smaller than 2 mm.

14. The container of claim 12, wherein the spacing is smaller than 1 mm.

15. The container of claim 6, further comprising a seal received in a circumferential sealing groove in the cover, and an encircling sealing web disposed at an end of the container facing away from the base and bearing in a sealing manner on the seal, when the cover closes the opening cross section.

16. The container of claim 15, wherein the sealing web is formed as an extension of the jacket that defines an encircling container wall.

17. The container of claim 15, wherein the sealing web has an end portion sized to extend into the sealing groove.

Description

EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

[0021] The invention described above will be discussed in more detail hereunder by means of exemplary embodiments which are illustrated in the figures in which:

[0022] FIGS. 1a and 1b show three-dimensional views of a container according to the invention;

[0023] FIGS. 2a to 2c show a front view, a view from below, and a plan view of the container from FIG. 1;

[0024] FIG. 3 shows a plan view of the container from FIG. 1, without a cover;

[0025] FIGS. 4a to 4f show three-dimensional and two-dimensional views of the cover from FIG. 1; and

[0026] FIG. 5 shows a vertical section through the cover and the container, in the region of a snap-fit hook and of a latching opening.

[0027] An embodiment for a container 1 according to the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1a and 1b which show a three-dimensional view of the container 1 in the closing position 2 thereof from above and from below, respectively. The container 1 is assembled from a base 3, a jacket 4 which adjoins thereto in an encircling manner, and a cover 5, wherein the cover 5 closes an opening cross section 6 (cf. FIG. 3) to an interior volume of the container 1 that is defined by an end 7 of the jacket 4 that faces away from the base 3. A vertical axis 8 of the container 1 is congruent with the vertical. Snap-fit hooks 9, 9′ which are distributed in an encircling manner, each being disposed so as to be mutually spaced from the other, on peripheries 10 of the cover 5, in the shown closing position 2 of the container 1 engage in corresponding latching openings 11, 11′ of an encircling and outwardly projecting peripheral flange 12 of the jacket 4. The arrangement and the geometry of the peripheral flange 12 with its latching openings 11, 11′ and of the snap-fit hooks 9, 9′ of the cover 5 will be clarified in more detail in the following figures.

[0028] On each of mutually opposite short sides, the container 1 is equipped with a carrying lug 13 on an upper side. In order to enable comfortable engagement in the carrying lugs 13, and in order to enhance the stability of the container 1 in the region of the carrying lugs 13, said container 1 has on the short lateral faces thereof a vertically running inward bulge 14, the width of which on the upper side of the container 1 approximately corresponds to a length of the carrying lug 13, whereas the width of said inward bulge 14 on the base 3 of the container 1 is larger. Consequently, two mutually opposite ribs 15 of the inward bulge 14 run so as to be mutually oblique.

[0029] The jacket 4 of the container 1 with its peripheral flange 12 and also the cover 5 each have in all horizontal sections the shape of a rounded rectangle, this also being readily identifiable from FIGS. 2a to 2c.

[0030] FIG. 2a shows a front view of the container 1 onto a long lateral face thereof, from which it becomes clear that the vertical axis 8 runs so as to be perpendicular to the base 3 of the container 1. The peripheral flange 12, in latching openings 11, 11′ which are not identifiable in FIG. 2a, is penetrated by the snap-fit hooks 9, 9′ of the cover 5 such that irreversible tight closing of the container 1 is achieved.

[0031] The peripheral flange 12 with its latching openings 11, 11′ which are distributed in an encircling manner, each being disposed so as to be mutually spaced from the other, can be seen from FIG. 2b which shows a view of the container 1 from below, the engaging snap-fit hooks 9, 9′ being located in each case in the latching openings 11, 11′. When viewed in the longitudinal direction of the latching openings 11, 11′ and of the snap-fit hooks 9, 9′, said longitudinal direction running in each case in the circumferential direction of the peripheral flange 12, the latching openings 11, 11 have a larger length than the snap-fit hooks 9, 9′ such that small intermediate spaces 14 in relation to transverse walls of the latching openings 11, 11′ remain beside the snap-fit hooks 9, 9′ in both directions. The latching openings 11, 11′ are differentiated into latching openings 11 which are configured so as to be straight, and latching openings 11′ which are configured so as to be arcuate. In an analogous manner thereto, there are snap-fit hooks 9 which run in a straight manner, and arcuate snap-fit hooks 9′, the arcuate latching openings 11′ and snap-fit hooks 9′ being located in the four rounded corners of the peripheral flange 12 and of the cover 5. The latching openings 11′ and the snap-fit hooks 9′ overall thus run in a curved manner and so as to be inclined to a transverse axis Q and a longitudinal axis L of the container 1.

[0032] It can likewise be derived from FIG. 2b that the base 3 of the container 1 has a centrally disposed depression 15 which in terms of the dimensions thereof is adapted to a handle 16 on the cover 5 which is to be seen in FIG. 2c.

[0033] The peripheral flange 12, the peripheries 10 of the cover 5, the snap-fit hooks 9, 9′, and the latching openings 11, 11′ may also be derived from FIG. 2c which shows a plan view of the container 1 which is closed with the cover 5. Moreover, the handle 16 is shown in a central region of the cover 5.

[0034] In order to be able to explore the geometry of the latching openings 11, 11′ in more detail, FIG. 3 shows a plan view of the container 1 without the cover 5. Firstly, the peripheral flange 12 has on portions 17 which run in a straight manner a plurality of latching openings 11 which are mutually opposite in pairs and which are configured in an elongate manner and likewise have a straight profile. Four latching openings 11 are in each case provided along the long portions 17 of the peripheral flange 12, and only three latching openings 11 are in each case provided along the short portions 17. The peripheral flange 12, by virtue of the shape thereof as a rounded rectangle, furthermore comprises four arcuate portions 18 which each interconnect two straight portions 17 which run so as to be mutually perpendicular, that is to say each connect a short straight portion to a long straight portion 17. One latching opening 11′ is also located in each of the arcuate portions 18, which latching openings 11′ run in an arcuate manner analogous to the curvature of the arcuate portion 18. A side 19 of the latching openings 11, 11′ that faces the vertical axis 8 does not have any spacing from the jacket 4 in any case, meaning that the side 19 of the latching openings 11, 11′ that faces the vertical axis 8 is flush with the jacket 4.

[0035] FIGS. 4a to 4f merely depict the cover 5 from various perspectives, FIG. 4a being a three-dimensional plan view, FIG. 4b being a three-dimensional view from below, FIG. 4c being a front view, FIG. 4d being a side view, FIG. 4e being a view from below, and FIG. 4f being a plan view of the cover 5. The cover 5 has in sectional planes which are perpendicular to the vertical axis 8 of the container in each case the shape of a rounded rectangle such that an encircling periphery 10 of the cover 5 is also assembled from four straight portions 20 and four arcuate portions 21. Four snap-fit hooks 9 which are elongated in the circumferential direction and are configured so as to be straight are disposed on each of the two long straight portions 20, and three are disposed on each of the two short straight portions 20. One snap-fit hook 9′ which in the circumferential direction is elongate and is correspondingly arcuate is molded to each of the four arcuate portions 21.

[0036] It is a common feature of all snap-fit hooks 9, 9′ that the former are assembled from a lug-type tongue portion 22 and a hook portion 23, the hook portion 23 adjoining an end of the tongue portion 22 that faces away from the cover 5. In order for the snap-fit hooks 9, 9′ to be better introduced into the latching openings 11, 11′, the tongue portions 22 are elastically deformable in a direction which is perpendicular to the vertical axis 8 of the container 1.

[0037] FIG. 5 shows a vertical section through the container 1 and the cover 5 from FIG. 1, in the region of a snap-fit hook 9, 9′ and of a latching opening 11, 11′, respectively, the cover 5 and the container 1 not being joined together. The construction of the snap-fit hook 9, 9′ having the tongue portion 22 thereof and the hook portion 23 thereof is clearly identifiable. It may furthermore be seen that the cover 5 is equipped in an encircling manner with a sealing groove 24 in which a seal 25 is disposed.

[0038] The container 1 has at an end that faces away from the base 3 an encircling sealing web 26 which in the present case is formed by an extension of the jacket 4 of the container 1. If and when the cover 5 and the container 1 are joined together, the sealing web 26 bears on the seal 25 in the sealing groove 24.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0039] 1 Container [0040] 2 Closing position [0041] 3 Base [0042] 4 Jacket [0043] 5 Cover [0044] 6 Opening cross section [0045] 7 End of the jacket [0046] 8 Vertical axis [0047] 9, 9′ Snap-fit hook [0048] 10 Periphery of the cover [0049] 11, 11′ Latching opening [0050] 12 Peripheral flange [0051] 13 Carrying lug [0052] 14 Intermediate spaces [0053] 15 Depression [0054] 16 Handle [0055] 17 Straight portion of the peripheral flange [0056] 18 Arcuate portion of the peripheral flange [0057] 19 Side of the latching opening [0058] 20 Straight portion of the periphery of the cover [0059] 21 Arcuate portion of the periphery of the cover [0060] 22 Lug-type tongue portion [0061] 23 Hook portion [0062] 24 Sealing groove [0063] 25 Seal [0064] 26 Sealing web [0065] L Longitudinal axis of the container [0066] Q Transverse axis of the container