COSMETIC CASE FOR EASY REPLACEMENT AND ASSEMBLY OF PALLETS

Abstract

Provided is a cosmetic container including: a container body having a compartment frame formed on top thereof to provide one or more compartmented exposed spaces and a mounting space open downward; a cap openable and closable with respect to the container body by means of a hinge disposed on one side thereof; and a pallet coupled or separated to or from the mounting space of the container body and having one or more compartmented cosmetic material filling spaces filled with cosmetic materials.

Claims

1. A cosmetic container comprising: a container body having a compartment frame with one or more compartmented exposed spaces and a mounting space open downward from the compartment frame; a cap configured to be opened or closed with respect to the container body by means of a hinge disposed on one side thereof; and a pallet configured to be coupled to or separated from the mounting space of the container body and having one or more compartmented cosmetic material filling spaces filled with cosmetic materials, wherein the pallet has elastic control pieces disposed on both side walls thereof, and the container body has elastic control grooves formed on the-inner surfaces of the both side walls thereof to be coupled to the elastic control pieces, such that the container body is directly pressurized against the pallet to allow the mounting space to be coupled to the pallet, and as the elastic control pieces are released from the elastic control grooves, the pallet is separable from the mounting space of the container body to be replaced with a refill pallet, wherein each of the elastic control pieces comprises: an elastic support piece spaced apart from a facing wall of the pallet and extending downward from a top portion of the pallet in a vertical direction to have a free bottom end; and an elastic locking projection protruding from an outer peripheral surface of the elastic support piece and positioned at an intermediate region between the top portion of the pallet and the free bottom end to be inserted into the respective elastic control groove.

2. The cosmetic container according to claim 1, wherein the elastic locking projection has an inclined support surface formed on top thereof, and each of the elastic control grooves has an initial inclined entry portion with an inclined surface corresponding to the inclined support surface of the elastic locking projection, such that when the pallet is pushed toward the mounting space, the inclined support surface of the elastic locking projection slides along the initial inclined entry portion to be inserted into the respective elastic control groove, thereby allowing the elastic control pieces to be elastically locked onto the elastic control grooves.

3. The cosmetic container according to claim 1, wherein the cosmetic materials, which are filled in the cosmetic material filling spaces of the pallet, are filled directly or in dishes separably disposed on the pallet.

4. The cosmetic container according to claim 1, wherein the cosmetic material filling spaces of the pallet are formed correspondingly to the exposed spaces formed on the compartment frame of the container body.

5. The cosmetic container according to claim 1, wherein the pallet has locking edges extending outward from the-outer sides of an underside thereof, and the container body has base stepped projections formed stepped inward by a thicknesses of the locking edges on the-inner surfaces of an open underside of the mounting space to seat the locking edges thereinto.

6. The cosmetic container according to claim 3, wherein areas of the cosmetic material filling spaces of the pallet are larger than the-areas of the exposed spaces of the container body, so that the-edges of the cosmetic materials accommodated in the cosmetic material filling spaces or tops of the dishes for filling the cosmetic materials are locked onto an underside of the compartment frame of the container body to be prevented from escaping upward.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0016] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cosmetic container according to the present invention, to which a pallet is coupled;

[0017] FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the cosmetic container according to the present invention, from which the pallet is separated;

[0018] FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views showing a state where a cap is open after the pallet has been separated from the cosmetic container according to the present invention;

[0019] FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5A-5A of FIG. 1 ;

[0020] FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a state before a container body is coupled to the pallet in the cosmetic container according to the present invention;

[0021] FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the pallet in the cosmetic container according to the present invention;

[0022] FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a state where cosmetic materials are directly filled in cosmetic material filling spaces of the pallet in FIG. 7;

[0023] FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a state where dishes in which the cosmetic materials are filled are accommodated in the cosmetic material filling spaces of the pallet in FIG. 7;

[0024] FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line 10A-10A of FIG. 1;

[0025] FIG. 11 is a sectional views showing a state where the cap is open in FIG. 10;

[0026] FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing an example where one or more exposed spaces are formed in the cosmetic container according to the present invention; and

[0027] FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing an example where a hinge is formed integrally with the cosmetic container according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0028] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[0029] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 7, a cosmetic container 100 with a pallet 130 replaceable on the underside thereof includes: a container body 110 having a compartment frame 114 formed on top thereof to provide one or more compartmented exposed spaces 112 and a mounting space 116 open downward; a cap 120 openable and closable with respect to the container body 110 by means of a hinge 122 disposed on one side thereof; and the pallet 130 coupled or separated to or from the mounting space 116 of the container body 110 and having one or more compartmented cosmetic material filling spaces 132 filled with cosmetic materials 140, wherein the pallet 130 has elastic control pieces 134 facingly disposed on both side walls thereof, and the container body 110 has elastic control grooves 118 facingly formed on the inner surfaces of the side walls thereof correspondingly to the elastic control pieces 134, so that in a state where the cap 120 is closed, the container body 110 is directly pressurized against the pallet 130 to allow the mounting space 116 open downward to be coupled to the pallet 130, and as the elastic control pieces 134 elastically operate with an artificial force, the pallet 130 is separable from the mounting space 116 of the container body 110, thereby enabling the pallet 130 to be replaced with a refill pallet very conveniently.

[0030] The hinge 122, which serves to allow the cap 120 to be open and closed with respect to the container body 110, may have various shapes.

[0031] For example, as shown in FIGS. 4, 10, and 11, an injection pin is used as the hinge 122. In the case where the injection pin is used as the hinge 122, the injection pin is not made of a metal material, unlike conventional practices, and accordingly, the injection pin as the hinge 122 is separately collected, without any inconvenience. Further, the injection pin is eco-friendly, and even if it is thrown away, no environmental pollution occurs.

[0032] Further, as shown in FIG. 13, the hinge 122 is formed integrally with the container body 110 and the cap 120. In this case, the hinge 122 is made of the same material as the container body 110 and the cap 120 and integrally formed with them by means of injection molding.

[0033] If the hinge 122 is formed integrally with the container body 110 and the cap 120, it is possible that the hinge 122 is made as a single injection molded product together with the container body 110 and the cap 120, thereby reducing a mold manufacturing cost, requiring no coupling among them, and remarkably lowering a manufacturing cost of a product.

[0034] As shown in FIGS. 3 and 10, further, the cap 120, which is open and closed with respect to the container body 110, is prevented from being arbitrarily open by means of the interlocking between locking projections 119 and 124 formed correspondingly to each other on the container body 110 and the cap 120.

[0035] The locking projections 119 and 124 may be freely replaced with other components only if they have the same functions as the locking projections 119 and 124.

[0036] According to the present invention, the elastic control pieces 134 include elastic support pieces 134a spaced apart from both side facing walls of the pallet 130 and having freely extending bottom ends in a vertical direction, elastic locking projections 134b protruding from the outer peripheral surfaces of the elastic support pieces 134a, and inclined support surfaces 134c formed on tops of the elastic locking projections 134b, and the elastic control grooves 118 are adapted to allow the elastic locking projections 134b to be elastically locked and unlocked thereon and therefrom and include initial inclined entry portions 118a with inclined surfaces corresponding to the inclined support surfaces 134c formed on tops of the elastic locking projections 134b, so that the mounting space 116 of the container body 110 is directly pressurized against top of the pallet 130, and otherwise, when the pallet 130 is pushed and fitted to the open underside of the mounting space 116, the inclined support surfaces 134c formed on tops of the elastic locking projections 134b stably slide along the initial inclined entry portions 118a and come into contact with the elastic control grooves 118, thereby allowing the elastic control pieces 134 to be elastically locked onto the elastic control grooves 118.

[0037] According to the present invention, further, the cosmetic materials 140, which are filled in the cosmetic material filling spaces 132 of the pallet 130, are directly filled, as shown in FIG. 8, and otherwise, the cosmetic materials 140 are filled in dishes 150 separately prepared so that the dishes 150 are accommodated in the cosmetic material filling spaces 132.

[0038] In the case where the cosmetic materials 140 are accommodated after filled in the dishes 150, the dishes 150 are made of the same material as the pallet 130 or a recyclable synthetic resin or metal, thereby providing advantages of separate collection or recycling.

[0039] According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 12, the one or more cosmetic material filling spaces 132 compartmented on top of the pallet 130 are formed correspondingly to the exposed spaces 112 formed on the compartment frame 114 of the container body 110, and otherwise, they may have various shapes.

[0040] Accordingly, the cosmetic material filling spaces 132 are exposed to the outside through the exposed spaces 112 of the container body 110 and do not cause any interference when the cosmetic materials 140 are used, so that in a state where the cap 120 of the container body 110 is open, it is possible that the cosmetic materials 140 are applied to a makeup tool through the exposed spaces 112.

[0041] According to the present invention, the pallet 130 has locking edges 136 extending outward from the outer sides of the underside thereof, and the container body 110 has base stepped projections 117 formed on the inner surfaces of the open underside of the mounting space 116 to insertedly seat the locking edges 136 thereonto, so that when the pallet 130 is coupled to the mounting space 116 of the container body 110, the locking edges 136 are stably fitted to the base stepped projections 117.

[0042] When the pallet 130 is coupled to the mounting space 116 of the container body 110, the locking edges 136 are supportedly seated onto the base stepped projections 117, thereby making the coupled state maintained stably.

[0043] According to the present invention, further, the areas of the cosmetic material filling spaces 132 of the pallet 130 are larger than those of the exposed spaces 112 of the container body 110, so that the edges of the cosmetic materials 140 accommodated in the cosmetic material filling spaces 132 or tops of the dishes 150 for filling the cosmetic materials 140 are locked onto the underside of the compartment frame 114 of the container body 110 and thus prevented from escaping upward.

[0044] Under the above-mentioned configuration, if the cosmetic materials 140 are accommodated in the cosmetic material filling spaces 132 of the pallet 130, especially in the state of being filled in the dishes 150, the tops of the dishes 150 are locked onto the underside of the compartment frame 140, as shown in FIG. 5, and thus prevented from escaping upward. Accordingly, the dishes 150 are stably accommodatedly supported against the container body 110, even without any bonding to the bottoms of the cosmetic material filling spaces 132 by means of the adhesive in the conventional practice, thereby causing no environmental pollution and requiring no separate coupling process using the adhesive.

[0045] Moreover, the dishes 150 are accommodatedly supported against the cosmetic material filling spaces 132 of the pallet 130, without any separate attaching means, so that after the cosmetic materials 140 are consumed up, the pallet 130 and the dishes 150 are quickly and easily separately collected from the container body 110.

[0046] Now, an explanation of the coupled state of the pallet 130 filled with the cosmetic materials 140 to the mounting space 116 formed on the container body 110 in the cosmetic container 100 according to the present invention will be given.

[0047] According to the present invention, the mounting space 116 of the container body 110 is open downward. Accordingly, if necessary, it is possible to push the pallet 130 under the mounting space 116 toward the mounting space 116 and thus fit the pallet 130 to the mounting space 116, but according to the present invention, basically, it is desirable that the container body 110 is directly pressurized against the pallet 130 and coupled to the pallet 130.

[0048] In specific, the mounting space 116 is open downward with respect to the container body 110, and accordingly, the cosmetic materials 140 are first filled in the cosmetic material filling spaces 132 of the pallet 130, or the dishes 150 filled with the cosmetic materials 140 are accommodated in the cosmetic material filling spaces 132 of the pallet 130. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, in the state where the cap 120 is closed with respect to the container body 110, the container body 110 is directly pressurized against the pallet 130 to allow the pallet 130 to be coupled to the mounting space 116 open downward.

[0049] In the case where the container body 110 is directly pressurized against the pallet 130, the initial inclined entry portions 118a of the elastic control grooves 118 come into contact with the inclined support surfaces 134c formed on tops of the elastic locking projections 134b protruding from the elastic support pieces 134a of the elastic control pieces 134 and thus move to be forcedly pressurized inwardly. Simultaneously, the elastic locking projections 134b protruding from the elastic support pieces 134a, while moving over the initial inclined entry portions 118a, are elastically locked onto the elastic control grooves 118.

[0050] According to the present invention, the mounting space 116 is open downward with respect to the container body 110, and accordingly, even if the container body 110 is provided in the state where the cap 120 is closed with respect to the container body 110, the container body 110 is directly pressurized against the pallet 130 and coupled to the pallet 130 in the state where the cap 120 is not open, so that the packaging work of the pallet 130 can be performed quickly, easily, and conveniently. Further, the pallet 130, which is coupled to the interior of the mounting space 116, is forcedly elastically locked onto the mounting space 116 by means of the elastic control pieces 134 and the elastic control grooves 118, so that unless the elastic control pieces 134 are artificially released from their locked state, they can be kept elastically locked onto the elastic control grooves 118.

[0051] In the case where the cosmetic materials 140 filled in the pallet 130 coupled to the mounting space 116 of the container body 110 are used to apply make-up, as shown in FIG. 11, the cap 120 is open, and next, the cosmetic materials 140, which are exposed to the outside through the exposed spaces 114 of the compartment frame 114, are applied appropriately to the makeup tool.

[0052] If the cosmetic materials 140 filled in the pallet 130 are consumed up, the pallet 130 has to be replaced with a refill pallet, and in this case, the elastic support pieces 134a of the elastic control pieces 134 exposed to the outside are pressurized inward (in the direction of an arrow of the enlarged portion of FIG. 5) to allow the elastic locking projections 134b to be released from the locked states onto the elastic control grooves 118, so that the pallet 130 is separated from the mounting space 116 of the container body 110 and thus replaced with the refill pallet.

[0053] In this case, even if any one of the elastic support pieces 134a of the elastic control pieces 134 or both of them are pressurized inward, the pallet 130 is separated from the mounting space 116 of the container body 110 and thus replaced with the refill pallet.

[0054] According to the present invention, the container body 110 and the cap 120 are used permanently, and only the pallet 130 is replaced with the refill pallet, thereby having some advantages of the reduction of waste parts through recycling, the prevention of waste of resources, the enhancement of reuse or recycling rate of the resources, and the suppression of environmental pollution. Further, consumers purchase only the pallets, thereby having economical advantages of the reduction of cosmetic product purchasing costs.

[0055] In the case where the dishes 150 filled with the cosmetic materials 140 are accommodated in the cosmetic material filling spaces 132 of the pallet 130, it is possible that if necessary, only the dishes 150 are replaced with new ones, and in this case, it is possible to permanently use the pallet 130, thereby greatly improving the recycling rate of the resource.

[0056] As described above, the cosmetic container according to the present invention has the elastic control pieces facingly formed on both side walls of the pallet and the elastic control grooves facingly formed on the corresponding inner surfaces of the side walls of the container body with the mounting space open on the underside thereof, so that in the packaging line, even in the state where the cap coupled to the container body is not open, the container body can be directly pressurized against the pallet filled with the cosmetic materials to thus couple the pallet to the mounting space, thereby ensuring high assemblability of the product and the improvement in the coupling process of the product, and the elastic control pieces artificially operate elastically from the underside of the container body, thereby ensuring the quick, easy, and simple replacement of the pallet with the refill pallet.

[0057] Moreover, even if the dishes filled with the cosmetic materials are accommodated in the pallet, they are not bonded to the pallet using the adhesive, so that the dishes can be separately collected after the cosmetic container has been used up, thereby enhancing the recycling or reusable rate of the resources and providing eco-friendly effectiveness such as reduction of environmental pollution.

[0058] While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.