US20080110911A1

US20080110911A1 - Fastening structure and seal box with the fastening structure

Info

Publication number: US20080110911A1
Application number: US11/589,154
Authority: US
Inventors: Hsin-Yu Chen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-10-30
Filing date: 2006-10-30
Publication date: 2008-05-15

Abstract

The present invention discloses a fastening structure having a fastening flange extended outward from the periphery of a cover, and the fastening flange has a latch portion under the fastening flange for latching and fixing the cover; and a hinge portion for connecting the fastening flange at the periphery of the cover, and the hinge portion has a plurality of sections of crevices for reducing a hinge area that connects the fastening flange to the cover. The invention also discloses a sealed box that includes the fastening structure, and a container having a latch structure disposed at a top edge of the container and used together with the latch portion for latching and fixing the cover. Without changing the thickness of the hinge portion, the invention can save efforts for the operation of the sealed box while maintaining the stress of the hinge portion.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a plastic box, and more particularly to a fastening device of a box body and a plastic container with the fastening device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 for a traditional structure of a sealed box having a container for containing objects or storing food, the plastic sealed box 100 includes a sealed box 100 having a container 110 and a cover 120. The container 110 includes a plurality of fixing protrusions 111 disposed at the top of the container 110 and a plurality of fastening flanges 130 disposed at the periphery of the cover 120, and the fastening flanges 130 are connected to the periphery of the cover 120 by a hinge portion 140 and turned through the hinge portion 140. The fastening flange 130 includes a locking slot 131 corresponding to the fixing protrusion 111 for latching and fixing the protrusion 111, such that the fastening flange 130 can latch the cover 120 to the container 110.
The cover surface 121 of the cover 120 forms a recession 122 disposed at the periphery of the cover surface 121 and coupled to a top edge 113 of the container 110, wherein the pad 150 can be inserted into the recession 122.
If the cover 120 is put onto the container 110 and a force applying portion 132 is pressed onto the fastening flange 130 by a user's fingers and the fastening flange 130 is pressed towards the fixing protrusion 111 of the container 110, the fixing protrusion 111 will be passed through and latched into the locking slot 131. Since the top edge 113 presses the pad 150 at the recession 122, the interior of the container 110 will be isolated from the outside to form a sealed condition.
As shown in the figures, the sealed box 100 is a rectangular box with a length greater than 10 cm, and each side has two locking slots 131 of the fastening flange 130 and two fixing protrusions 111 of the container 110 to assure a sufficient latching pressure and a consistent sealing pressure. However, the hinge portion 140 has a thickness smaller than that of the fastening flange 130 for connecting the fastening flange 130 with the cover 120. Since the hinge portion 140 has to cope with the bending of the fastening flange 130 with respect to the cover 120, therefore the thickness cannot be too thin for its manufacture, or else the bending stress of the hinge portion 140 will become too weak due to repeated operations.
Particularly, a rear hinge portion 141 of the hinge portion 140 will be torn or cracked easily by the repeated operation of folding and opening the fastening flange 130. Once if the rear hinge portion 141 is torn or cracked even a little, the torn or cracked portion will be spread and expanded, and the life expectancy of the sealed box 100 will be shortened. If the length is greater than 10 cm and the thickness of the hinge portion 140 is too thick, then it will take lots of efforts to fold and open the fastening flange 130, and users cannot operate the fastening flange 130 by one hand easily.
Further, the design of the fixing protrusion 111 no longer can keep the integrity of the periphery of the top of the container 110. If the container 110 is one with a circular opening, the locking slot 131 of the fastening flange 130 of the cover 120 must be aligned precisely with the fixing protrusion 111 of the container 110, so that the locking slot 131 can latch and fix the fixing protrusion 111, and the fastening flange 130 can latch the cover 120 with the container 110.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to overcome the foregoing shortcomings and avoid the existing deficiencies by providing a fastening structure that can maintain the stress of a hinge portion for saving efforts for the operations of folding and opening the fastening flange than the prior art without changing the thickness of the hinge portion between a cover and a fastening flange.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a sealed box having a container without the fixing protrusions to maintain the integrity of the periphery at the top of the container, such that if the sealed box is one with a circular opening, then the fastening flange no longer need any locking slot to be aligned precisely at the fixing protrusion, and the fastening flange can latch with the cover to facilitate the operations of the container.
The fastening structure of the invention is a fastening structure disposed at the periphery of a cover, comprising: at least one fastening flange extended outward from the periphery of the cover, a latch portion disposed under the fastening flange for latching and fixing the cover; and a hinge portion for connecting the fastening flange at the periphery of the cover, wherein the hinge portion has a plurality of sections of crevices for reducing a hinge area where the fastening flange is connected to the cover.
The thickness of the hinge portion is smaller than that of the fastening flange, so that the fastening flange can be folded and stacked onto the cover by the hinge portion.
A sealed box of a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises: a cover, a plurality of fastening flanges disposed at the periphery of the cover, and each fastening flange having at least one latch portion disposed under the fastening flange; and a hinge portion for connecting the fastening flange to the periphery of the cover. The thickness of the hinge portion is smaller than that of the fastening flange, such that the fastening flange can be folded and stacked onto the cover by the hinge portion. The hinge portion has a plurality of sections of crevices for reducing a hinge area that connects the fastening flange with the cover and a container having a latch structure disposed proximate to the top edge, and the latch structure works together with the latch portions for latching and fixing the cover.
The latch structure includes a sunken latch portion for pressing and hooking the latch portion, such that the fastening flange can latch the cover to the container, and thus the latch structure can be installed along the periphery of the top of the container for maintaining the integrity of the opening at the top of the container. If the container is one having a circular opening, the fastening flange of the cover can be pressed conveniently.
With a certain specific thickness of the hinge portion, the present invention provides sufficient thickness and bending stress for the hinge portion to deal with the operations of turning the hinge portion up and down as well as opening the sealed box. The hinge portion comes with a plurality of crevices for reducing a hinge area that connects the fastening flange with the cover, and thus the hardness for turning the fastening flange up and down and opening the sealed container will not be increased due to the issues of the thickness of the hinge portion and the length of the fastening flange. As a result, users can fold and stack the fastening flange or open the sealed box as easy as shortening the fastening flange, and the invention also allows users to operate the latch structure easily by one hand.
The invention further comprises a sheathe hole at the bottom of a cover surface of the cover and a plurality of air holes disposed around the external periphery of the sheathe hole; and an umbrella valve for extracting air and maintaining the interior of the sealed box in a vacuum state, so as to extend the expiration date of objects stored in the sealed box, enhance the sealing function by using an umbrella valve, and add a vacuum function.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a traditional plastic sealed box cover;

FIG. 2 is cross-sectional view of a cover depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a traditional rectangular sealed box including a cover and a container;

FIG. 4A shows a plastic sealed box cover of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4B is a partial enlarged view of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 5 shows a container of a plastic sealed box a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an assembly of a sealed box of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 shows a cover of a plastic sealed box of another preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an assembly of a sealed box adopting the cover as depicted in FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described in more detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings as follows:
Referring to FIG. 4A to 6, a plastic sealed box 200 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The sealed box 200 is made of a plastic material and comprises a container 210 and a cover 220. The container 210 has a latch structure 211 protruded from a position proximate to the periphery of the top edge 213 of the container 210 and a latch portion 212 under the latch structure 211. The periphery of the cover 220 has a plurality of fastening flanges 230 (each is a rectangular sealed box 200 with four sides), and each fastening flange 230 is connected to the periphery of the cover 220 through a hinge portion 240 for bending and turning the fastening flange 230 with respect to the periphery of the cover 220 through the hinge portion 240. The hinge portion 240 forms a plurality of sections of crevices 242, such as 0.2 mm crevices 242 disposed at a middle section of a rear hinge portion 241 for reducing a hinge area that connects the fastening flange 230 with the periphery of the cover 220.
The fastening flange 230 has a plurality of latch portions 231 corresponding to the latch portion 212 for latching the latch portion 212 of the latch structure 211, such that the fastening flange 230 latches the cover 220 to the container 210.
The cover 220 forms a recession 222 disposed at the periphery of the cover surface 221 and coupled to a top edge 213 of the container 210, and a pad 250 is inserted into the recession 222. When the cover 220 is put on the container 210, a force applying portion 232 of the fastening flange 230 can be pressed by a user's fingers to press the fastening flange 230 towards the latch portion 212 of the latch structure 211 of the container 210. The latch portion 231 of the fastening flange 230 presses the lower edge of the latch structure 211 and latches with the latch portion 212. Since the top edge 213 presses the pad 250 at the recession 222, the interior space of the container 210 is isolated from the outside to form a sealed condition.
If the sealed box 200 is a rectangular box and one of the sides is greater than 10 cm, there will be at least two latch portions 231 of the fastening flange 230 on each side to assure a sufficient latching pressure and a consistent sealing pressure.
Since the hinge portion 240 has to deal with the operations of turning the fastening flange 230 up and down and opening the sealed box, therefore the length of the hinge portion 240 must have a specific thickness to provide a sufficient bending stress for the hinge portion 240 to deal with the operations of turning the fastening flange 230 up and down and opening the sealed box, if the length of the fastening flange 230 is greater than 10 cm. The hinge portion 240 forms a plurality of crevices 242 for reducing a hinge area that connects the fastening flange 230 with the periphery of the cover 220, so that the hardness of turning the fastening flange 230 up and down and opening the container will not be increased due to the issues of the thickness of the hinge portion 240 and the length of the fastening flange 230, and users can save efforts of folding and stacking the fastening flange 230 and opening the sealed box similar to shortening the fastening flange 230, and users can operate the latch structure of the sealed box by one hand. With the formation of the crevices 242, the thickness of the rear hinge portion 241 can be increased, so that the rear hinge portion 241 will not be torn, cracked or damaged easily.
Further, the design of the latch structure 211 and its latch portion 212 can maintain the integrity of the periphery at the top of the container 210. If the container 210 is one with a circular opening, the fastening flange 230 of the cover 220 can be pressed conveniently, and thus the latch portions 231 can be latched to the latch portion 212 of the latch structure 211, and the fastening flange 230 can latch the cover 220 to the container 210.
Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8 for another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cover 220 has an indent 223 under the cover surface 221, and the center of the indent 223 has a sheathe hole 224 penetrating to the outside, and the external periphery of the sheathe hole 224 of the indent 223 has a plurality of air holes 225.
An umbrella valve 260 includes a diaphragm 262, a press button 263 disposed above the diaphragm 262, and a blocking latch portion 261 disposed under the diaphragm 262. The umbrella valve 260 is inserted into the sheathe hole 224 from the blocking latch portion 261, and the width of the diaphragm 262 can cover the air hole 225 of the indent 223.
When the container is assembled, the umbrella valve 260 can be forced into the sheathe hole 224 of the cover 220, the blocking latch portion 261 of the umbrella valve 260 is latched to the bottom of the cover 220 for its positioning, such that an air-extracting cylinder (not shown in the figure) can be used for extracting air at the indent 223, or a user can press the cover surface 221 by a hand to drive the diaphragm 262 to draw the extracted air upward, and the air in the sealed box 200 can be discharged from the air holes 225 of the indent 223. When the interior of the sealed box 200 is in a vacuum state, the air-extracting cylinder is removed or the pressing of the cover surface 221 is stopped. The diaphragm 262 of the umbrella valve 260 is attached onto each air hole 225 by pressure to maintain the vacuum state of the sealed box 200 and extend the expiration date of objects stored in the sealed box 200.
If a user wants to open the cover 220 and access the objects stored in the sealed box 200, the user just needs to press the press button 263 of the umbrella valve 260, and the press button 263 is pressed to deform the diaphragm 262 and separate each air hole 225 at the surface of the indent 223, so that air can enter into the sealed box 200 successfully, and the cover 220 can be opened more conveniently. With the application of the umbrella valve 260, the present invention can increase the using surface of the sealed box 200 and add a vacuum function in addition to the sealing function of the sealed box 200.
While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.

Claims

1. A fastening structure, disposed at a periphery of a cover and comprising:

at least one fastening flange extended outward from the periphery of said cover, and having a latch portion disposed under said fastening flange; and

a hinge portion, for connecting said fastening flange with the periphery of said cover, and having a plurality of sections of crevices, for reducing a hinge area that connects said fastening flange and said cover.

2. The fastening structure of claim 1, wherein said hinge portion has a thickness smaller than that of said fastening flange, such that said fastening flange can be folded from said hinge portion and stacked onto said cover.

3. A sealed box, comprising:

a cover, having a plurality of fastening flanges disposed at the periphery of said cover and a latch portion disposed under said fastening flange;

a hinge portion, coupled to the periphery of said cover at said fastening flange, and having a plurality of sections of crevices, for reducing a hinge area that connects said fastening flange to said cover; and

a container, having a latch structure disposed proximate to a top edge of said container and used together with said latch portions for fastening and fixing said cover with said container.

4. The sealed box of claim 3, wherein said hinge portion has a thickness smaller than that of said fastening flange, such that said fastening flange can be folded and stacked onto said cover by said hinge portion.

5. The sealed box of claim 3, wherein said latch structure comprises a sunken latch portion, for pressing and latching said latch portions into said latch portion.

6. The sealed box of claim 3, wherein said cover has a recession coupled to the top of said container, and said recession includes a pad for sealing said container.

7. The sealed box of claim 3, wherein said has a sheathe hole disposed at a cover surface of said cover, and said sheathe hole has at least one air hole disposed adjacent to the periphery of said sheathe hole; and an umbrella valve, including a diaphragm with a sufficient width to cover said air hole, a press button disposed above said diaphragm, and a blocking latch portion disposed under said diaphragm and provided for inserting into said sheathe hole.

8. The sealed box of claim 7, wherein said cover has an indent sunken into said cover surface, and said sheathe hole is disposed at said indent.