Title: Dual-chamber container, and method and apparatus for its manufacture
Abstract: A method of fabricating a dual-chamber plastic container in an injection/extrusion/blow-molding operation, in which a container finish is first injection molded. The finish mold tooling is then moved axially upwardly as plastic continues to be extruded through extrusion tooling in which an orifice bushing surrounds a mandrel tip. The mandrel tip has a passage through which plastic is extruded to form a wall that divides the extruded tube into separate chambers. Blow molds are brought in from both sides to capture the extruded tube, and air is blown through a passage in the finish mold tooling to blow the tube chambers to the confines of the mold.
Patent Number: 6,976,603 Issued on 12/20/2005 to Johnston, et al.
| Inventors:
|
Johnston; Richard R. (Toledo, OH);
Hsieh; Michael (Perrysburg, OH)
|
| Assignee:
|
Graham Packaging Company, L.P. (York, PA)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
413930 |
| Filed:
|
April 15, 2003 |
| Current U.S. Class: |
220/530 |
| Intern'l Class: |
B65D 025/04 |
| Field of Search: |
220/530
215/6
222/485,94
|
References Cited [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
| 2940120 | Jun., 1960 | Grebowiec.
| |
| 3124281 | Mar., 1964 | Stull.
| |
| 3276642 | Oct., 1966 | Johnson, Jr. et al.
| |
| 3826397 | Jul., 1974 | Atkins.
| |
| 3828962 | Aug., 1974 | Atkins.
| |
| 4179044 | Dec., 1979 | Fitte.
| |
| 4724116 | Feb., 1988 | Aoki.
| |
| 4779749 | Oct., 1988 | Geiger.
| |
| 5135702 | Aug., 1992 | Eales.
| |
| 5398828 | Mar., 1995 | Valyi.
| |
| 5573143 | Nov., 1996 | Deardurff et al.
| |
| 5579937 | Dec., 1996 | Valyi.
| |
| 5804227 | Sep., 1998 | Deardurff et al.
| |
| 5837170 | Nov., 1998 | Valyi.
| |
| 5848717 | Dec., 1998 | Bosl et al.
| |
| 5849241 | Dec., 1998 | Connan.
| |
| 5882574 | Mar., 1999 | Geisinger.
| |
Primary Examiner: Castellano; Stephen
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Venable LLP, Smith; Stuart I.
Parent Case Text
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 09/961,961 filed Sep.
24, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,459.
The present invention is directed to a dual-chamber container of integrally molded
plastic construction, and to a method and apparatus for extrusion blow molding
such a container.
Reference is made to the application Ser. No. 09/961,960 filed Sep. 24,
2001 and assigned to the assignee hereof; now U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,459.
Claims
1. A one-piece dual-chamber plastic container that includes:
a hollow body having a peripheral sidewall, a closed bottom, and a dividing wall
extruding laterally across and longitudinally through said body dividing said body
into dual chambers, and
a finish integrally molded to said body having a pair of spaced outlet openings
in registry with said chambers,
said dividing wall being planar in the container as molded and sufficiently thin
to flex for self-leveling of fluids between said chambers.
Description
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has heretofore been proposed to provide a dual-chamber container by extrusion
blow molding separate container sections and then securing the sections to each
other to form a unitary container assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,391 is exemplary
of this technology. An object of the present invention is to provide a method and
apparatus for extruding and blow molding a one-piece integrally formed dual-chamber
container in which the container is divided by a wall that is extruded simultaneously
with the container sidewalls prior to blow molding, and remains intact during and
after blow molding.
A method of making a dual-chamber plastic container in accordance with one aspect
of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention includes extruding a tubular
plastic body having a peripheral wall and an integrally extruded internal wall
dividing the body into separate chambers. The tubular body is captured between
mold segments, and the peripheral wall is blow molded within the mold segments
by application of air to the chambers simultaneously and at equal pressures. The
blow molded container is then removed from the mold segments. In the presently
preferred embodiment of the invention, a container finish is first injection molded
having a pair of spaced outlet openings, and the hollow tubular body is extruded
from the container finish with the central wall extending from between the outlet
openings. The finish is injection molded within finish mold tooling by extruding
plastic through extrusion tooling that includes an orifice bushing surrounding
a manifold tip. The tube is then extruded from the injection molded finish by moving
the finish mold tooling relative to the extrusion tooling while continuing to extrude
plastic through the extrusion tooling. The mandrel tip of the extrusion tooling
includes a central passage through which plastic is extruded to form the central
wall. The finish mold tooling includes a core having an air passage with a single
inlet and spaced outlets for registry with the chambers. In the most preferred
embodiment of the invention, the central wall is planar in the container as molded
and sufficiently thin to flex for at least limited self-leveling of fluids between
the chambers. In the most preferred embodiment of the invention, the central wall
is no more 0.015 inch thick in the container as molded.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention, together with additional objects, features and advantages thereof,
will be best understood from the following description, the appended claims and
the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container and closure package in accordance
with a presently preferred implementation of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view that laterally bisects the container
and closure package in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view that laterally bisects the container
finish in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2;
FIGS. 4 and 5 are fragmentary views that illustrate tooling for fabricating
the container of FIGS. 1-3; and
FIG. 6 is an elevation view that laterally bisects a dual-chamber container
in accordance with a modified embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIGS. 1-3 illustrate a container and closure package
10 in accordance
with a presently preferred embodiment of the invention as comprising a one-piece
integrally molded dual-chamber plastic container
12 and a closure
14
secured to the container. Container
12 has a hollow body with a peripheral
sidewall
16, a closed bottom
18 and a container finish
20
to which closure
14 is secured. An imperforate central web or wall
22
extends from finish
20 to closed bottom
18 so as to divide container
12 into dual adjacent chambers
23,
24. Finish
20 includes
a wall
25 extending upwardly from sidewall
16. A flat deck
26
extends across the upper end of wall
25 spaced sidewall
16. A pair
of annular walls
28,
30 extend upwardly from deck
26 to form
a pair of outlet openings in respective registry with chambers
23,
24
of container
12. (It will be appreciated that directional adjectives such
as "upper" and "upward" are used by way of description and not by way of limitation
with respect to the orientation of the container and closure illustrated in FIGS.
1-3.) Wall
22 extends from the underside of deck
26 between annular
outlet-forming walls
28,
30. An outer ring
32 extends axially
from deck
26 surrounding walls
28,
30. A lip
34 extends
radially outwardly from the upper end of ring
32.
Closure
14 (FIGS. 1 and 2) includes a base
36 secured to container
finish
20, and a lid
38 coupled to base
36 by an integral
hinge
40. Closure base
36 has a peripheral wall
42 with a
radially inwardly extending bead
44 that is received by snap-fit over a
radially outwardly extending bead
46 on container finish wall
25.
Beads
44,
46 may be circumferentially continuous or segmented. A pair
of annular walls
48,
50 extend downwardly from a base wall
52
of base
36 in plug-sealing engagement with a container finish annular walls
28,
30 respectively. A pair of outlet openings
53,
54
are formed in closure base wall
52, and an associated pair of plug seals
56,
58 extend from closure lid
38. To dispense product from
within package
10, closure lid
38 is first moved to the open position
as illustrated in FIG. 1. Container sidewall
16 is then squeezed to dispense
product from within chambers
23,
24 simultaneously. The package may
be employed for two-part body wash or shampoo, for example. The products do not
mix until after emerging from openings
53,
54. Container sidewall
16 may be of translucent construction to permit a user to observe the levels
of product within the respective chambers. It is preferable that wall
22
should be sufficiently thin, preferably no more than 0.015 inch thick, to permit
limited self-leveling between the respective chambers by flexure of the web.
FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a method and apparatus
60 for forming container
12 in accordance with a presently preferred implementation of the invention.
Mold apparatus
60 preferably includes extrusion tooling
62 and finish
mold tooling
72. Extrusion tooling
62 includes a mandrel tip
64
surrounded by an orifice bushing
66. There is an annular space
68
provided between the opposing surfaces of mandrel tip
64 and orifice bushing
66, through which plastic is extruded upwardly (in the orientation of FIGS.
4 and 5) from a suitable extruder (not shown). A central passage
70 extends
diametrically through mandrel tip
64 for extruding container wall
22.
Finish mold tooling
72 includes a mold core
74 mounted on a mold
core insert adapter
76. A finish insert
78 is secured to a neck ring
79 and supports mold core
74. A pair of finish plugs
80,
82
are mounted at the lower end of mold core
74. An air passage
84 has
an inlet at the upper end of mold core
74, extends longitudinally through
mold core
74, branches within mold core
74, and then is directed
through the hollow interiors of insert plugs
80,
82.
With finish mold tooling
72 in opposed abutment with extrusion tooling
62 as illustrated in FIG. 74, plastic material extruded through passages
68,
70 flows into the finish mold cavity
86 formed between
neck ring
79, finish insert
78, mold core
74 and plugs
80,
82. This cavity
86 forms deck
26 (FIG. 3), annular outlet-forming
walls
28,
30, outer ring
32 and lip
34. Neck ring holder
88 is then employed to lift finish mold tooling
72 axially upwardly
relative to extrusion tooling
62 while plastic is continuously extruded
through passages
68,
70. Lip
34 helps retain the container
finish in finish mold tooling
72 during this process. A tube is thus extruded
between finish mold tooling
72 and extrusion tooling
62 having a
circumferentially continuous peripheral wall formed by plastic flowing through
passage
68 and a central web or wall formed by plastic flowing through passage
70. This wall is integral with and extends from the underside of the finish
deck between the outlet openings, and is integrally extruded with the peripheral
sidewall. At the upper position of finish mold tooling
72 (FIG. 5), a pair
of mold segments
90,
92 are brought laterally inwardly to capture
the extruded tube. The tube is pinched off adjacent to extrusion tooling
62
to form the closed container bottom. Air is then fed through passage
84
and the hollow interiors of plugs
80,
82, simultaneously and at equal
pressures, to the chambers of the extruded tube to mold the extruded tube to the
confines of mold segments
90,
92. Mold segments
90,
92
are then opened and the completed container is removed from the mold tooling. Finish
mold tooling
72 is then brought back down into abutment with extrusion mold
tooling
62, and the process is repeated.
FIG. 6 illustrates a modified container
94 that may be fabricated in
accordance with the present invention. Container
94 includes a continuous
sidewall at
96, a closed bottom
98 and a finish
100 with laterally
spaced outlet openings
102,
104. A central web or wall
106
divides the body of the container into separate chambers, which are respectively
in registry with outlet openings
102,
104. Web
106 is integral
with the wall
108 that separates outlet openings
102,
104.
There have thus been disclosed a method and apparatus for fabricating a dual-chamber
container, and a dual-chamber container fabricated employing such method and apparatus,
that fully satisfy all of the objects and aims previously set forth. The method
and apparatus of the invention have been disclosed in conjunction with a container
injection/extrusion/blow-molding process. Processes of this type are illustrated,
for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,804,654, 3,008,192 and 3,040,376. The container
in accordance with the broadest aspects of the invention may also be fabricated
in an extrusion blow molding operation, as illustrated for example in U.S. Pat.
Nos. 3,029,467, 3,767,747, 3,781,395, 3,978,184 and 4,118,452, in which the container
finish is blow molded simultaneously with the container body, rather than being
injection molded prior to extrusion of the preform for the container body. The
container and closure package has also been illustrated in conjunction with a closure
adapted for simultaneous dispensing of the products within the container chambers.
However, the closure can be fabricated for selectively dispensing products either
separately or simultaneously, and still be within the scope of the present invention
in its broadest aspect. It is currently preferred that wall
22 be centrally
disposed within the container and divide the container into chambers of equal volume.
However, wall
22 could be extruded and blown off-center without departing
from the invention in its broadest aspects. The invention has been disclosed in
conjunction with a number of modifications and variations. Other modifications
and variations will readily suggest themselves to persons of ordinary skill in
the art. The invention is intended to embrace all such modifications and variations
as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.
*
