EP1329394A1

EP1329394A1 - Toy container for alimentary products

Info

Publication number: EP1329394A1
Application number: EP02425014A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Stefano Casebasse
Original assignee: Casebasse Stefano
Current assignee: Casebasse Stefano
Priority date: 2002-01-18
Filing date: 2002-01-18
Publication date: 2003-07-23
Anticipated expiration: 2022-01-18
Also published as: DE60235953D1; EP1329394B1; PT1329394E; DK1329394T3; ES2344628T3; ATE464249T1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a toy container (1) for alimentary products, comprising an outer tub (2) and an inner tub (3) which is housed in said outer tub (2) and has the function of an actual container, and also comprising movable elements (12) mounted in an articulated manner on the outside of said outer tub (2) and relating to the toy function.

Said toy container (1) advantageously allows the provision of movable elements (12), thus being extremely attractive for children, while ensuring a seal against the leakage of food or beverages.

Description

The present invention relates to a toy container for alimentary products and, in particular, to a tub for ice-cream.
Numerous containers for alimentary products, which have varying shapes suitable for any type of requirement, exist.
The most commonly used containers consist of small pots of various shapes and sizes which may be closed by a lid often in a sealed manner so as to prevent the leakage of the food or beverage contained inside said pots.
Some of the abovementioned containers, usually bottles or small receptacles for drinks, are shaped so as to represent, for example, puppet-like figures or real or imaginary characters which are styled to a greater or lesser degree.
Usually this type of container is used for children's food with the aim of attracting the attention of the children so that, once the contents have been consumed, the container may also be used as a toy.
A toy container such as that described above is usually formed by a body of the puppet-like figure, which forms substantially the actual container for the food or beverage, and by limbs rigidly connected as one piece to the said body.
It is obvious that, once it has been emptied, the abovementioned toy container becomes a totally rigid toy since, as explained above, it is constructed entirely as one piece and is therefore is not very appealing to children.
In order to make the container more attractive as a toy, it is possible to envisage arms mounted on its walls in a movable manner. This mounting operation could be performed by means of joints making the limbs movable with respect to the body of the container.
It is obvious that these joints must be necessarily designed so as to ensure that the toy container is sealed against the leakage of food or beverage.
At the same time, however, the toy container in question should advantageously be easy and low-cost to produce.
Consequently, there is a pressing need to provide a container for alimentary products, which is able to contain any type of food or beverage and which may be used, once the food or beverage contained therein has been consumed, as a toy provided with movable parts, while nevertheless retaining the characteristic of remaining sealed so as to prevent the leakage of the food or beverage contained therein.
The problem forming the basis of the present invention is therefore that of devising a toy container for alimentary products, which has structural and functional characteristics such as to satisfy the abovementioned requirements.
This problem is solved by a toy container for alimentary products, as cited in the accompanying main claim.
Further characteristic features and advantages of the toy container for alimentary products according to the present invention will emerge from the following description of a preferred example of embodiment thereof, provided by way of a non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

Figure 1 shows an exploded view of a toy container according to the invention;
Figure 1A shows a partially sectioned view of a detail of the toy container according to Figure 1;
Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the toy container according to the invention in the assembled condition.

With reference to the accompanying figures, 1 denotes overall a toy container for alimentary products, comprising an outer tub 2, an inner tub 3 and a lid 4.
The outer tub 2 has a general shape which is substantially in the form of an overturned truncated cone with a substantially disk-shaped base 5 from which a wall 7 extends upwards.
Preferably, the base 5 has an octagonal shape, the sides 6 of which are in the form of arcs of a circle so as to create an undulating pattern which is also reproduced by the wall 7 of said outer tub 2.
On the opposite side to the base 5, the outer tub 2 has a flared opening 8 delimited by an edge 9 projecting towards the outside of said outer tub 2. Said edge 9 also reproduces the undulating pattern of the base 5 and the wall 7 and, moreover, has an undulating circular surface 26 located opposite to said base 5.
The internal surface 10 of the wall 7 of the tub has concavities which follow in a complementary manner the undulating pattern of the wall 7. Moreover, said internal surface 10 is provided with a step 11 which also has an undulating pattern matching the undulating pattern of the wall 7. Said step 11 is moreover positioned in the vicinity of the edge 9.
The outer tub 2 is also provided with movable elements 12 which are articulated with the wall 7 and project from the latter towards the outside.
In accordance with a particular embodiment as shown in the figures, said movable elements 12 are two arms 13 with styled hands and two legs 14 with styled shoes.
Advantageously the movable elements 12 are connected to the wall 7 of the outer tub 2 in a rotatable manner by means of a cylindrical end portion 27 thereof.
As can be seen in the detail of Figure 1A, in fact, each cylindrical portion 27 is inserted into the wall 7 with precision through a corresponding cylindrical hole 15 thereof. Said end portions 27 are also provided with a rivet 16 which is formed as one piece and is positioned so as to bear against the internal surface 10 of the wall 7.
From that which has been described, it is evident that the movable elements 12 are able to rotate freely with respect to the wall 7 of the outer tub 2.
The inner tub 3 has a general shape substantially identical - although with slightly smaller dimensions - to that of the outer tub 2, with a base 17, a wall 18 and an edge 25 which mate respectively with the base 5, wall 7 and step 11 of said outer tub 2.
The lid 4 is formed by an end surface 19, a wall 20 and an edge 21.
In particular, the wall 20 is a circular band which reproduces the undulating pattern of the wall 7 of the outer tub 2. Said wall 20 is moreover connected continuously to the end surface 19, which is a substantially flat disk, by means of a lobed connecting zone 22.
The edge 21 projects towards the outside of the lid 4 at the end of the wall 20 opposite to the connecting zone 22 so as to create a step 23.
Preferably, moreover, said edge 21 also comprises an undulating rim 24 directed towards the outside.
Hereinbelow assembly of the toy container for alimentary products in accordance with the present invention will now be briefly described.
First of all the outer tub 2 is formed by means of injection-moulding or thermoforming of a suitable plastic material such as, for example, PP/PS. Subsequently or during the said forming of said outer tub 2, the holes 15 passing through the wall 7 are formed.
Then, the movable elements 12, or arms and legs with respective hands and shoes, are formed separately by means of injection-moulding of a suitable plastic material, such as PVC for example.
These movable elements 12 thus formed are then inserted through the holes 15 of the wall 7 of the outer tub 2 so that their cylindrical end portion 27 projects slightly from the internal wall 10 of said outer tub 2.
At this point, the abovementioned cylindrical portion 27 of said movable elements 12 is heated to a temperature such as to obtain softening of the plastic material which, compressed, forms the rivet 16 as one piece with the movable elements 12.
Alternatively, it is possible to remove the movable elements 12 from the corresponding forming mould when they are still hot and insert them rapidly into the aforementioned hole 15 so as to perform compression of their cylindrical portion 27 when the material thereof is still pliable, and produce said rivet 16.
Now the outer tub 2 is ready to receive the corresponding inner tub 3 also created by means of injection-moulding or thermoforming of a suitable plastic material.
The inner tub 3 is inserted inside the outer tub 2 until the edge 25 of the inner tub 3 comes into bearing contact against the step 11 of the internal surface 10 of the wall 7 of the outer tub 2.
From that described hitherto, it is obvious that the external surface of the inner tub 3 produces a form-fit with the internal surface 10 of the outer tub 2.
The two tubs, i.e. inner tub 3 and outer tub 2, may be retained in this position by means of simple interference between points of the respective external and internal surfaces or alternatively ultrasound welding or bonding of the two tubs, i.e. outer tub 2 and inner tub 3, may be performed to ensure perfect assembly thereof.
In particular, the connection created is in any case such as to allow the rivets 16 of the movable elements 12 to rotate freely and, at the same time, avoid the displacement of the movable elements themselves towards the inside of the toy container 1.
Finally, the lid 4 is rested on the outer tub 2 and pressed against it until the step 23 of the lid comes into bearing contact against the flat surface 26 of the edge 9 of said outer tub 2, forming a snap-engaged connection.
In order to open the toy container 1, it is sufficient to apply with the fingers, on the rim 24 of the lid 4, a light force directed away from the outer tub 2.
Preferably a self-adhesive label or a silkscreen printed effect which reproduces a face may be applied onto the external surface of the outer tub 2.
It is now evident that the toy container 1 for alimentary products is advantageously provided with movable elements 12 connected rotatably to the toy container itself so as to become a very attractive toy for children, compared to containers of the known art.
At the same time, owing to the provision of an inner tub 3 which is simple to manufacture, the problems of ensuring a seal against possible leakage of food or beverage contained inside the toy container are solved.
Numerous variations of embodiment of the present invention are possible depending on particular requirements or preferences.
For example, the shape of the inner tub 3 and outer tub 2 may be square, rectangular or patterned and likewise the lid 4 may be made to match these shapes or may be different or may also not be provided.
The movable elements 12 may for example reproduce animal legs or imaginary limbs, which may also be styled and may be mounted on any part of the outer tub 2, also at the base 5.
In Figure 2, moreover, the external surface of the wall 7 of the outer tub 2 has a printed design representing a puppet-like face. Alternately, other illustrations may be printed using widely known methods.
The materials used for the manufacture of each part of the toy container for alimentary products may be those normally used in the food sector.
The toy container for alimentary foods described above is particularly suitable for containing portions of ice-cream. However, said toy container may also be easily adapted so as to contain different alimentary products, such as beverages for example. In fact, it may be provided with mating flaps which are positioned on the end surface 19 of the lid and which can be opened so as to allow the insertion of a straw for sucking a beverage.
In accordance with a variation of embodiment of the present invention, the provision of an inner tub may be avoided by providing sealing elements mounted around the holes 15 of the wall 7 of the outer tub 2 so as to prevent the leakage of liquids from any gaps between said holes and the movable elements 12. These sealing elements may for example consist of special sleeve-type seals which surround the cylindrical portions 27 of the movable elements 12 located inside the thickness of the hole 15.
Alternatively, it is possible to provide a seat in the wall of the outer tub which is open towards the outside such as to receive in an articulated manner said movable elements.
As can be appreciated from that described, the toy container for alimentary products according to the invention is able to satisfy the requirements referred to in the introductory part of the present description.
Obviously a person skilled in the art, in order to satisfy contingent and specific requirements, may make numerous modifications and variations to the toy container for alimentary products described above, all of which are moreover contained within the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims

Toy container (1) for alimentary products, comprising an outer tub (2) and an inner tub (3) which is housed in said outer tub (2) and has the function of an actual container, and also comprising movable elements (12) mounted in an articulated manner on the outside of said outer tub (2) and relating to the toy function.
Toy container (1) according to Claim 1, in which said movable elements (12) are articulated with the wall (7) of said outer tub (2).
Toy container (1) according to Claim 1 or 2, in which said movable elements (12) comprise a cylindrical end portion (27) able to engage rotatably inside a circular through-hole (15) of said outer tub (2).
Toy container (1) according to Claim 3, in which said cylindrical portion (27) terminates on the internal wall (10) of said outer tub (2) in a rivet (16) formed as one piece so as to bear against said internal wall (10).
Toy container (1) according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, in which said inner tub (3) can be inserted inside said outer tub (2) so as to produce a form-fit respectively between their corresponding external and internal surfaces.
Toy container (1) according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, in which said outer tub (2) comprises a base (5), a wall (7), an edge (9) located opposite to said base (5), directed towards the outside and provided with a flat surface (26) also located opposite to said base (5) and a step (11) positioned on the internal wall (10) of said outer tub (2) and in the vicinity of said edge (5).
Toy container (1) according to Claim 6, in which said inner tub (3) comprises a base (17), a wall (18) and an edge (25), said edge (25) coming into bearing contact against the step (11) of said outer tub (2) when said inner tub (3) is inserted inside said outer tub (2).
Toy container (1) according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, comprising a lid 4 having an edge (21) able to snap-engage with the edge (9) of said outer tub (2) so as to provide a seal preventing leakage of the contents of said inner tub (3).
Toy container (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, in which said movable elements (12) consist of styled arms and legs of a puppet-like figure and an illustration of a puppet-like face is shown on the external surface of said outer tub (2).
Toy container (1) according to any one of Claims 4 to 9, in which said rivet (16) is formed by means of heating and subsequent compression of the cylindrical portion (16), while said inner tub (3) is welded inside said outer tub (2) by means of ultrasound welding or by means of adhesive.