US3362591A - Container with hinged closure - Google Patents

Description

Jan. .9, 1968 P. A. LATHAM ETAL [3,362,591

v CONTAINER WITH HINGED CLOSURE I Filed March 25; 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 52 I F/G5 mz/emors Pe/e/ A La/ham Pau/ EBref/ra A fforn ey Jan. 9, 1968 P. A. LATHAM ET AL 3,362,591

CONTAINER WITH HINGED CLOSURE Filed March 25, 1965 2 Shets-Sheet 2 //71/@n f0r5 Pefer A Laf/rom Pau/ E Bra/k0 Afro/nay United States Patent 3,362,591 CQNTAINER WITH HENGED CLOSURE Peter A. Latham, Stow, and Paul E. Brefka, Framingham, Mass, assignors, by mesne assignments, to Mobil 0i! Corporation, a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 442,032 13 Claims. (Cl. 222-498) The present invention relates to hollow containers and especially to improved closures therefor which may be attached by means of a hinged or articulated joint.

A myriad of closures or stoppers have been employed with many different types of hollow containers with varying degrees of success. However, even in this highly developed art, there are many criteria to satisfy and there is always room for improvement of closures. This is particularly true of the extremely thin Walled plastic containers which have been developed in recent times, as these containers often post new problems which would not arise in the case of the old, heavy, thick walled bottles, etc.

The novel hinged closure is adapted for ready attachment to a socket on a container so that it may be swung to open or closed positions without being detached from the container. It is particularly suitable for use with thin walled containers, especially those constructed of plastic materials. The closure itself may be made of thin material and it is preferably equipped with a reinforcing or stiffening flange around its perimeter and further provided with a configuration suitable for resisting warping where it is necessary or desirable to employ a flange broken by a slot thereacross. In several particular embodiments, the articulated joint and associated elements of the closurecontainer combination are so constructed and arranged as to hold the closure in the open position against the force of gravity when pouring from the container. In one modification, provision it also made for simultaneously opening and closing two apertures in the container, namely, a pouring outlet and a separate inlet for air.

The present invention comprises a closure having a hinge element of at least substantially hemispheroidal configuration, that is about half or more of an approximately spherical body, including ellipsoids, etc. Additional features of the invention relate to utilizing a hinge element that is resiliently deformable and capable of substantially resuming its normal shape after being relieved of deforming stresses, which characteristics may be provided by a slot in a resilient material; preferably, the hinge member is in the form of a thin walled and resiliently collapsible shell. The aforesaid hinge element is desirably integral with the closure, preferably as part of a projecting arm to adapt the closure for pivotal movement when engaged with a substantially spheroidal (preferably ball shaped) socket on the container. Still other features involve structure adapted to produce a frictional engagement or wedging action in either said socket or an adjoining slot to hold the closure in the open position; a plurality of apertures in the container properly spaced to prevent the formation of a partial vacuum in the con tainer which would interfere with smooth pouring, and providing a combination of a reinforcing flange and a concave lid in the case of some thin walled closure to minimize or eliminate warping. Accordingly, the present invention encompasses various combinations of one or more of such structural features. Other features and benefits of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the detailed disclosure which follows.

To facilitate a better understanding of this invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings as well as the associated detailed description.

FIG. 1 is an inverted or bottom plan view of one embodiment of a closure according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line II-II of FIG. 1 in normal orientation, that is with the closure in the upright position.

FIG. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section in normal orientation of another modification of the closure taken on a plane corresponding to line III-III of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a container constructed according to the invention with the closure removed.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional elevation taken on the plane of the line VV of FIG. 4 and also showing the closure of FIG. 1 in elevation.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary plan view similar to FIG. 4, of another embodiment of the top of the container.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged vertical section in normal orientation taken on the line VIIVII of FIG. 1 showing the hinge arm with background details omitted.

Turning now to FIGS. 1 and 5, the closure 10 comprises a lid section 12 and a connection arm 14 terminating in a thin hemispherical shell 16. The lid is provided with two downwardly projecting hollow bosses 18 and 20 which are adapted to engage pouring and air inlet apertures, respectively, in a container. The lower ends of these bosses have truncated conical surfaces 22 and 24, respectively, to insure proper registration and easy engagement with the openings in the container.

The lid 12 has a thin wall and it has a depending flange or turned down edge 26 around its periphery. For most of its length the flange 26 is approximately perpendicular to the body of the lid 12 but its rear wall 28 has a slope of about 15 degrees from the vertical to avoid binding on the rear edge 30 (FIG. 5) of a boss 32 on the top of the container body. In the integral closure structure shown, there is a slot 34 extending across substantially the full height or depth of the rear flange 28 at the point where the wall sections thereof join the double walled projecting arm 14 which carries the hinge element or shell 16. When the closure 10 is formed of a thin flexible material, as exemplified by impact resistant polystyrene of about 6-40 mils (0.0060.040 inch) thickness, considerable reinforcin or stiffening of the structure is necessary to prevent the warping of the lid 12. The flange 26 in conjunction with the large boss 18 provide the necessary stiffening for the flat front section -36 of the lid, but the slot 34 breaks the continuity of the flange and greatly weakens the rear Wall 28. As a result, it has been found that there is a pronounced tendency of the rear corners 38 and 40 of the closure to flex upwardly a considerable distance due to warping of the rear section 42 of the lid. However, it has been discovered that constructing the rear part of lid 12 with a slightly arched or domed surface, that is concave on the face adjacent the slot 34, alleviates this difliculty.

FIG. 3 illustrates a somewhat different embodiment of the closure which is also constructed with thin wall sections. Closure 44 has a flat front section 36 and a curved rear section 42 on top as well as a turned down edge 26 which extends completely around the lid except for the vertical slot in the middle of the back wall flange 28. The hinge element 46 is a thin walled, rounded shell open at the base and approximating of a ball, i.e. a hollow sphere with the bottom quarter of its vertical depth cut off. This hinge ball is connected by the double walled arm 14 having a cross section in the form of an inverted U, similarly to the connecting arm in FIG. 1. Besides the hinge ball 46, the only significant differences in this closure lie in the shape of the projecting bosses 48 and 50 which are adapted to close and seal the aperture in the container. The sealing bosses of FIG. 3 are of slightly greater diameter near their lower ends than their upper ends; accordingly, these bosses exert sufiicient pressure against the rims of the apertures to form liquid tight seals; also such bosses tend to resist accidental opening, for example, under the pressure that might be exerted on the faces of the bosses by surging fluids while the containers are being transported over a rough road.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show plan and sectional elevation views respectively of the hollow container 52 formed from impact resistant polystyrene and having a slightly arched top corresponding the curvature of the rear section 42 of the closure. At the top of this vessel is a groove 54 of substantially rectangular cross section which entirely surrounds the boss 32. This groove slopes slightly downward toward the front side of the container to drain any liquid out of the groove.

There are two apertures at the top of this boss, a pouring hole 56 of relatively large diameter and an air inlet opening 58 of much smaller size. It will be noted that the rim of aperture 56 is surrounded by a dished area 60 sloping downward toward the rim so that when the pouring of any fluid is completed, the last drop falls back into the container instead of dribbling down the outside as the container is turned upright.

The top wall of the container has a substantially spherical socket 62 molded therein of suitable diameter for housing the hemispherical shell 16 of the closure in pivotal engagement. This socket may be reached through the somewhat elliptical channel 64 which is open at the top to the atmosphere and at the bottom to the socket 62. A slot 66 between the front of ball socket 62 and the rear edge 30 of boss 32 is adapted to receive the pivot arm 14 when the closure 15 is in the closed position. Another slot 68 communicating with the socket is in the form of a groove having its bottom 70 sloping upwardly toward the rear from the bottom rear of the socket to provide space for arm 14 when the closure is in the open position. All three slots 64, 66 and 68 are narrower than the diameter of the ball socket 62.

It will be noted that the hinge element .16 is a hollow hemispherical shell open at the base and also broken by a slot at the juncture of the shell and the integral projecting arm 14. This structure is readily deformable or collapsible, especially when the wall of the shell is thin. Accordingly, the closure may be readily attached to the container body 52 by merely placing the shell 16 at the mouth of the passage or channel 64 and pushing downward on the closure with a moderate amount of force as this is sufiicient to squeeze the walls of shell 16 together and temporarily change its cross section from a circle to a narrow ellipse, whereupon the collapsed shell slides easily through the channel 64 into the socket 62. In the ball socket, the shell 16 is no longer confined to the shape of channel 64 and it returns to substantially its original shape due to the resilience and/or plastic memory of the material from which it is made. The entry passage or channel 64 is desirably of such configuration or size that shell 16 cannot be dislodged from engagement with socket 62 without collapsing shell 16. For instance, the maximum width of the channel may be substantially less than the diameter of the shell.

In FIG. 5 the closure 10 is shown in the open position, that is swung away from the pouring aperture 56, and the closure and the associated structure are designed to hold the closure in this position instead of letting it fall down onto the opening 56 when the container or vessel is tipped for pouring liquid or granular solid material out through the aperture 56. It will be noted that the closure 10 has been swung or pivoted well over 90 degrees, for example about 120 to 135 degrees, from the closed position. This is highly desirable as it gets the closure out of the way so that a person pouring material out of the container has a generally unobstructed view of the pouring operation.

The closure 10 is held in this open or retracted position by the construction and arrangement of a number of parts including the hemispherical shell 16, the ball socket 62, the sloping bottom wall 76 of slot 68 and the corner '72 of the arm 14. With the structure shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, when the closure 10 is swung back past the vertical, the corner 72 of the hinge arm bears against the bottom 70 of slot 68; then as the closure it is pushed back still farther, the corner 72 acts as a pivot and the pivotal motion moves the shell 16 upward and toward the front side of socket 62. in so displacing the shell from its normal position in the socket, the sides of the open shell must move inward thereby partially collapsing; however, the resilient shell material pushes outward against the sides of socket 62, or perhaps against the lower part of the sides of elliptical slot 64, in a frictional engagement sufficient to wedge the shell 16 and thus fix it and the closure 19 in this new position. In this, the corner 72 exerts a cam-like action on the closure to wedge the hemispherical shell 16 firmly in the ball socket, but the closure may be readily released from this fixed position by pushing the closure toward its closed position.

Alternatively, the closure may be designed with an arm 14 of slightly wider cross section than the width of the narrow slot d8, so that there is sufficient frictional engagement between the sides of arm 14 and the walls of slot 68 to releasably hold the closure open when arm 14 is pushed back into slot 63 without necessitating the aforementioned cam action and displacement of the hemisphere 16 in the ball socket to hold the closure open. The resilience of the plastic material and the U-shaped cross section of arm 14 facilitate such frictional engagement by allowing the walls or arm 14 to be squeezed together in entering the narrow slot 68.

Still other means may be used for holding the closure firmly in its retracted position, for instance the modification illustrated in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 shows a top structure on the container which differs from FIG. 4 in that a slot 74 having tapering or converging walls is used in place of the parallel walls of slot 68. The hinge arm 14 and slot 74- are designed to properly correlated widths so that the top of the arm freely enters the wide end of the slot as the closure is swung toward the rear, but as the arm is swung progressively farther backward toward the rear, the arm 14 is brought into progressively closer engagement with the converging Walls of slot '74 until it becomes wedged in place so that the closure It is prevented by frictional engagement from closing accidentally as for instance due to the force of gravity during the pouring period. For purposes of illustration, the taper of the slot may amount to about 1 to 30 degrees expressed as the angle of convergence of the two side walls of the slot 63, that is the included angle between the side walls projected to the imaginary point at which they meet.

In still another version shown in FIG. 7, the skirts or side walls 76 of the hinge arm '78 are flared instead of being substantially parallel as in FIGS. 1 and 2. This particular type of hinge arm may be employed with the container of FIG. 4 which has parallel side walls in the slot 68. In this embodiment also, the arm and the slot should be properly sized for Wedging engagement. For instance, the closed side or top 84) of the arm 14 should be narrow enough to readily enter slot 68 as closure 10 is swung backward while the side walls 76 should be flared widely enough to bear against both sides of the slot or groove 68 and provide enough frictional resistance so that there is no tendency for the closure to fall back to the closed position under the influence of gravity during a pouring operation. For the purpose of illustration, each of the sides 76 may be flared outward at an angle of from about 1 to 30 degrees or even more, and superior results are likely to be obtained with each side wall flaring outward at from about 5 to 15. The amount of flare in the side walls of the hinge arm may be varied considerably, and it is influence by numerous factors including the stiffness, resilience, smoothness and frictional characteristics of the particular material used in the arm and also that of the body of the container as well as the total contact area and the weight of the closure. In general, the same factors affect the other wedging techniques disclosed herein for releasably fixing the closure in position.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 6 and 7, contact between the corner 72 of the arm 14 and the bottom 70 of the slot 68 (see FIG. 5) may sometimes be undesirable. Such contact may be readily avoided by deepening slot 68 and/ or rounding off the corner 72. It is also contemplated that both the tapered slot and flared hinge arm of FIGS. 6 and 7 may be employed together if so desired.

When the closure is constructed of thin enough material to be subject to warping in the rear section 42 (FIG. 1) adjacent the slit 34, it will usually be found that relatively gentle concave curvature over a substantial area of the rear section is sufiicient to overcome the warping tendency. While it is not essential that the rear of the lid have a truly arcuate cross section in such instances, the curvature may be expressed in terms of the relation of the maximum distance between the arc or curve of the section 42 and its chord to the length of the chord. Depending upon the particular material employed for the closure as well as its thickness, rigidity and tendency toward warping, the maximum distance between arc and chord may range from about 1 percent of the length of the chord up to as great a curvature as may be desired. In the case of a closure formed from sheet polystyrene with an average thickness of about 15 mils a maximum arc to chord distance of about 2% of the chord length has produced very satisfactory results.

The closure is preferably so designed so that when it is in the fully closed position, the front of the turned down flange 26 does not extend downward enough to cover the full depth of boss 32. Instead a space or gap or about 1 inch or more is left so that the closure may be easily raised with a thumb nail. Also the front edge of vertical flange 26 may be flared outward slightly or terminate in a narrow lip or horizontal flange so that it may be readily engaged and pried up. However, it is not desirable to have such a flange or lip project forward of the front wall of the container inasmuch as the closure might be opened unintentionally if an adjoining container were dragged against it in being lifted from a multiple unit case, etc.

The hinge closure of this invention is particularly suited 'for simultaneously or substantially simultaneously opening and closing two or more apertures in the container in a single motion, and the use of two such openings is especially desirable to facilitate pouring liquids in a steady stream rather than the uneven spurting flow or glugging effect which results from the formation of a partial vacuum in the container. With the spurting flow, the tendency to spill or waste liquids is usually far more pronounced and more time is required to empty the container. For good pouring control from containers of about one pint to one gallon sizes, the size of the pouring aperture is significant, and diameters of about 0.6 to about 1.5 inches are particularly suitable provided that provision is made for the steady admission of air to prevent forming a partial vacuum in the container. The spacing and size of the air inlet orifice are also signficant. It is desirably smaller than the pouring aperture in order to minimize the spilling of liquid through the air inlet orifice in the event of careless handling, yet too small an orifice will not admit the air fast enough and moreover is likely to produce an unpleasant hissing sound. To illustrate, the air inlet orifice may desirably have a diameter between about 0.08 and 0.40 inch. The air admission orifice is of course placed in a location where it will be above the pouring orifice when the container is tilted to a pouring position. The spacing or minimum distance between the edges of these two orifices should be at least one-quarter inch or, expressed in other terms, it is desirably at least one-third of the diameter of the pouring orifice. A greater spacing can be employed according to desire but a larger and consequently more costly closure is required in such instances.

It is of course apparent that the present closure is readily adaptable for sealing only a single aperture or for serving as the lid or closure for the entire top of a container. No air inlet orifice is required in pouring powdered or granulated solids from a container of the type described. Moreover, even with liquids, a sufiiciently large pouring aperture will permit the entrance of sufiicient air into the container to eliminate the formation of vacuum, but it is somewhat more difficult to control pouring from such large orifices.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that two or more hinges may be employed with the closures and containers described, if so desired, but this is generally unnecessary unless a very large closure is involved. Further, locating the hinge behind the closure is not essential for the hinge element may be affixed to either side of the closure with an appropriately located socket to permit swinging the closure toward the side rather than the rear of the container. Although the hemispherical shell 16 is located on a projecting arm 14 in one preferred embodiment, this is not required in all cases for it is possible to omit the arm and aflix the shell 16 directly to the closure lid 12, for example, to corner 38 of the closure.

While the shape of the hinge shell 16 is important, it is nevertheless subject to some variation in contour. Thus, although a hemispherical shell is greatly preferred, a somewhat smaller or a much larger portion of a sphere may be used; in fact a complete sphere may be employed, desirably with a slot through the hollow sphere which will allow the ball to be temporarily deformed. Also the shell 16 may be more or less bullet shaped with a short cylindrical skirt attached to the hemisphere. In another embodiment, it is contemplated that the socket 62 may have the configuration of a somewhat flattened sphere engaging a somewhat flattened hemispheroidal hinge element. From this, it is apparent that an exact spherical structure or fraction thereof is not required for either the rotatable element or the socket, provided the two are mated Well enough so that the hinge element 16 is capable of pivoting inside a spheroidal socket upon application of the moderate force. Thus, the hinge element is best described in a broad sense as having at least substantially hemispheroidal configuration which includes about half or more of a generally ball shaped structure, including ellipsoids and ellipsoids of revolution, etc., and the socket similarly described as spheroidal. In general, ignoring the surface areas broken by the various slots or channels described earlier, the optimum results are obtainable with a hemispherical hinge element seated in a spherical socket.

Another advantage of the container structure shown wherein the ball shaped socket 62 and slots 66, 64 and 68 as well as groove 54 are integrally molded into the thin walled material of the container is that these cavities provide a very signficant stiffening and reinforcing effect in the top wall, which is highly desirable for thin walled containers. Thus while a separate hinge mounting block containing the aforesaid cavities may be attached to the top wall of a similar container by solvent welding or the used of an adhesive, it is usually far better to mold these elements into the top of the container from considerations of strength, economy and appearance.

It is usually preferable to keep the rear or transverse portion of groove 54 as shall-ow as possible in order to permit air entering the container through the air admission orifice 58 to flow to the rear of the container with as little obstruction as possible even when the container is almost completely full of liquid.

It is generally desirable to mold a substantially arcuate of cylindrical front wall for the container boss 32. This configuration provides maximum strength and rigidity, and these are important factors in the use of thin walled material. Also this curvature permits minimizing the distance between the front edge of the pouring aperture 56 and the front wall of boss 32 and thereby minimizing the undesirable accumulation of any of the contents of the con- 7 tainer on top of the boss 32. The dished fiange 60 also strengthens this area, and minimizes such accumulations.

Although any construct-on materials of suitable resilience and forming characteristics may be employed in producing the articles described herein with due attention to the eventual use, thermoplastic materials are preferred for many purposes. The latter may include those containing polystyrene, polyethylene, propylene, polyallomers, nylon, formaldehyde polymers, plasticized polyvinyl chloride and related vinyl polymers, nitrocellulose, ethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate-butyrate, polymethylacrylate and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resins to name only a few for illustrative purposes. Such resins may be composed of homopolymers, copolymers, of various blends thereof; and they may also contain various additives known in the art, including colorants, plasticizers, heat stabilizers, extenders, fillers, and inhibitors against degradation due to oxidation, ultraviolet light, etc. High impact, modified polystyrene produced by copolymerizing styrene with a lesser amount of a hydrocarbon elastorner or another rubbery polymer is one type of widely used resin which is particularly suitable in many applications.

A variety of known forming or shaping techniques may be utilized in manufacturing the closures and containers of this invention. In the case of thermoplastic articles, good results have been obtained by thermoforming modified polystyrene sheet material under heat and vacuum pressure or other fluid pressure difierential, and other suitable methods include blow molding and injection molding.

Many other such variations or modifications of the present invention may be made without departing from its purview; accordingly, this invention should not be construed as limited in any particulars except as may be recited in the appended claims or required in the prior art.

What is claimed is:

1. A hollow, thin-walled container having one wall provided with an orifice and a narrow slot communicating with a substantially ball-shaped socket, said slot having a portion extending beyond said socket in a direction away from said orifice; a closure for the container comprising a lid of thin wall section having a depending integral reinforcing flange around the perimeter of said lid, said flange being divided by a slot thereacross and said flange extending outward from said lid at said slot to provide an integral projecting arm bearing an integral hinge element in the form of a resiliently collapsible, slotted, thin shell of substantially hemispherical configuration, said flange slot terminating adjacent to a concave surface occupying a substantial area of said lid to minimize any tendency toward the warping of said lid; said hinge element of the closure being pivotally engaged in said socket of the container, and means including coaction of said projecting arm with said narrow slot portion to releasably fix said closure in a predetermined position relative to said orifice when said closure is swung away from said orifice.

2. A hollow, thin-walled container having one wall pro vided with an orifice and a narrow slot communicating with a substantially spheroidal socket, said slot having a portion extending beyond said socket in a direction away from said orifice, a closure having a hinge element in the form of a resiliently collapsible shell of at least substantially hernispheroidal con-figuration aflixed to a projecting arm of substantially narrower cross section than said shell, said closure hinge element pivotally engaging said container socket, and means including the coaction of said projecting arm with said narrow slot portion to releasably fix said closure in a predetermined position rela tive to said orifice when said closure is swung away from said orifice.

3. A hollow, thin-walled container having one wall provided with an orifice and a narrow slot in said wall communicating with a substantially spheroidal socket, said slot having a portion extending beyond said socket in a direction away from said orifice; a closure having an integral hinge element projecting therefrom in the form of a resiliently collapsible, slotted, thin-walled shell of at least substantially hemispheroidal configuration afiixed to a projecting arm of substantially narrower cross section than said shell; said hinge element rotatably engaging said socket to pivotally attach the closure to said container, and means including the coaction of said projecting arm with said narrow slot portion to releasably fix said closure in a predetermined position relative to said orifice when said closure is swung away from said orifice.

4. A hollow, thin-walled container having one Wall provided with an orifice and a narrow slot in said wall intersecting a substantially ball-shaped socket, said slot having a portion extending beyond said socket in a direction away from said orifice; a closure having an integral hinge element projecting therefrom in the form of a resiliently collapsible, slotted, thin-walled shell of at least substantially hemispheroidal configuration aflixed to a projecting arm of substantially narrower cross section than said shell; said socket rotatably engaging said hinge element to pivotally attach said closure to the body of said container, means including the coaction of said projecting arm with said narrow slot portion to create a wedging action and releasably fix said closure in a predetermined position relative to said orifice when said closure is swung more than degrees away from engagement with said orifice.

5. A hollow, thin-walled container having one wall provided with an orifice and a narrow slot communicating with a substantially ball-shaped socket, said slot having a portion extending beyond said socket in a direction away from said orifice; a closure having an integral hinge element projecting therefrom in the form of a resiliently collapsible, slotted, thin-walled shell of substantially hemispherical configuration afiixed to a projecting arm of substantially narrower cross section than said shell; said socket rotatably engaging said hinge element to pivotally attach said closure to said container; and means on said projecting arm for engaging the bottom of said narrow slot portion in a pivoting action when said closure is swung more than 90 degrees away from said orifice to displace the center of said shell sufficiently from the center of said socket to at least partially collapse said shell and thereby releasably wedge said shell against unintended rotation in said socket.

6. A hollow, thin-walled container having one wall provided with an orifice and a narrow slot intersecting a substantially ball-shaped socket, said slot having a portion extending beyond said socket in a direction away from said orifice; a closure having an integral hinge element projecting therefrom in the form of a resiliently collapsible, slotted, thin-walled shell of substantially hemispherical configuration aflixed to a projecting arm of substantially narrower cross section than said shell, whereby said shell may be collapsed during insertion through an aperture of narrower width than the diameter of said shell into pivotal engagement with the mating ball-shaped socket; said socket rotatably engaging said shell for pivotally attaching said closure to said container wall; and said projecting arm having a sufficiently wide cross section to frictionally engage the side walls of said slot portion and releasably fix said closure in a predetermined variable position relative to said orifice when said closure is swung more than 90 degrees away from engagement with said orifice.

7. A container according to claim 6 in which said narrow slot portion is tapered and the wider end of said slot portion opens into said socket.

8. A container which comprises a hollow container body provided with an orifice and a substantially spheroidal socket, a pivotable closure for said orifice comprising a lid with an attached, resiliently collapsible hinge element in the form of a single, substantially hemispheroidal shell having a slot in the wall of said shell, and

said socket rotatably encloses said shell to form a complete pivotal connect-ion between said closure and said container body.

9. A container according to claim 8 which includes means for releasably fixing said closure in a predetermined open position relative to said orifice.

10. A container according to claim 8 in which said closure comprises a lid of thin wall section having a depending reinforcing flange connected to a projecting arm attached to said hinge element, and a substantial area of said lid adjacent the junction of said flange and said arm is of concave cross section to minimize any tendency toward the Warping of said lid.

11. A container according to claim 8 in which said shell is affixed to an arm projecting from said lid and said arm is of substantially narrower cross section than said shell, whereby said shell may be collapsed during insertion through an aperture of narrower Width than the diameter of said shell into pivotal engagement with said socket.

12. A container according to claim 8 in which said socket is substantially ball-shaped and said hinge element is a substantially hemispherical shell with a single slot in the wall thereof.

13. A container according to claim 8 in which said closure is an integral molded unit comprising a lid with a depending reinforcing flange and a slotted hemispheroidal shell connected by a hollow arm of substantially U- shaped cross section narrower than the diameter of said shell, and the side walls of said arm constitute continuums of said flange and said shell.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 717,895 1/1903 McClain. 2,022,109 11/1935 Earp 222548 3,006,011 10/1961 Littleton 287-87 X 221,635 11/1879 Wahl et al. 222572 1,545,702 7/ 19'25 Sellinger et al 222-562 X 2,111,186 3/1938 Jenks 222498 2,130,676 9/1938 Sebell 222484 2,398,573 4/ 1946 Becker. 2,832,517 4/1958 Baumgartner 222556 X 2,849,164 8/1958 Weisgerber 222485 X 3,107,823 10/ 1963 Focht 222-182 3,127,063 3/ 1964 Fairch-ild 222556 X 3,254,812 6/1966 Abbott 222 546 X 241,846 5/1881 Edsall 287-87 FOREIGN PATENTS 115,817 9/1942 Australia.

16,303 1894 Great Britain.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner.

KENNETH N. LEIMER, Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. 8. A CONTAINER WHICH COMPRISES A HOLLOW CONTAINER BODY PROVIDED WITH AN ORIFICE AND A SUBSTANTIALLY SPHEROIDAL SOCKET, A PIVOTABLE CLOSURE FOR SAID ORIFICE COMPRISING A LID WITH AN ATTACHED, RESILIENTLY COLLAPSIBLE HINGE ELEMENT IN THE FORM OF A SINGLE, SUBSTANTIALLY HEMISPHEROIDAL SHELL HAVING A SLOT IN THE WALL OF SAID SHELL, AND SAID SOCKET ROTATABLY ENCLOSES SAID SHELL TO FORM A COMPLETE PIVOTAL CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID CLOSURE AND SAID CONTAINER BODY.

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