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(11) | EP 1 459 994 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
| published in accordance with Art. 158(3) EPC |
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| (54) | HANDLE FOR BOTTLES |
| (57) From a handle (7-8) firmly attached by the free ends (9) of its side legs to a ring
(1) for coupling to the flask neck, the invention is centered on the fact that a large
end sector (10) of the side legs (8) of the handle adopts a curved trajectory with
a curvature equal to that of the ring (1), to which it is adapted along its entire
length and attached by a weakened line (11) that is easily torn in the manual use
of the handle (6), even due to the weight of the flask, these large areas of attachment
of the handle, firm (9) and provisional (11), ensuring that the overhanging part of
the handle remains coplanar to the attachment ring during the manipulation of the
handle in an assembly chain. |
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a handle, of the type meant to form part of a flask as a complementary element that can be coupled to its neck, emerging laterally and horizontally from a ring attached to said neck that allows an upwards-swiveling motion when the flask is held from the handle.
[0002] The object of the invention is to provide a handle that remains fully flat, this is, coplanar to the ring used to attach it to the bottle, during the manipulations for coupling it to the flask in the various operational stages of the assembly chain, in order to prevent possible malfunctions derived from its incorrect positioning.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] In the commercialization of various type of products, flasks are used that configure a jug of considerable volume, such as 5 liters, provided with a handle to simplify their manual transport.
[0004] For packaging reasons, it is desirable for the handle, which emerges radially from the neck of the flask, to be integrated in the imaginary cylinder projecting from the surface of revolution of the flask without extending beyond it. In addition, when it is used the handle must swivel with relative ease towards a vertical position, so that its gripping area is suitably separated from the flask cap allowing a comfortable insertion of the fingers.
[0005] With this basic structure there are two practical solutions, one in which the handle emerges directly, as a single body from the neck of the flask, and another in which the handle itself is joined to a ring provided with inner oblique flaps allowing its implementation in the flask neck by elastic deformation, as well as preventing a subsequent release in normal operational conditions of the assembly, as they clash against a peripheral flange typically present in this type of flasks.
[0006] In either case, the handle itself configures a U-shape whose middle leg constitutes the gripping area and whose side legs are either fixed by their free end to the aforementioned ring or emerge directly from the flask neck, allowing the handle to swivel when it is used.
[0007] A handle solution that can be implemented on the neck of a bottle is described in Spanish Utility Model application number 200000584, in which the side legs of the U converge markedly in their ends joined to the ring, to oversize sufficiently its middle leg and facilitate the insertion of the user's fingers, the aforementioned side legs being provided with end elbows for attachment to the ring in correspondence with the areas in which the subsequent deformation of the handle must occur.
[0008] In the case of handles for flasks as those described in utility model 200000584, this is, handles attachable to the neck of the bottle, it is common for the handle itself to lose the perpendicularity to the flask neck, either spontaneously or due to its handling, so that it is no longer on the same plane as the ring coupling it to the flask, which leads to many manipulation problems when the insertion of the handle in the flask is made in a semi-automated manner in high productivity assembly chains, as is usual.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The handle taught by the invention, based on a simple conventional structure as that mentioned above, solves the above-described problems in a fully satisfactory manner ensuring a perfect alignment of the handle itself with respect to the coupling ring during the entire operation of attaching the handle to the flask and even after the attachment, until the time of its use.
[0010] For this purpose and more specifically, the side legs of the handle itself present a large end sector, by which it is attached to the ring coupled to the flask neck, a curved configuration according to the curvature of said ring, being attached to this ring throughout the entire length of this end sector, specifically having a rigid union in a short end segment and a tearable union on the rest, so that the handle itself is attached to the ring at each of its side legs by a wide sector comprising an angle on the order of 90°, thereby ensuring that the rest of the handle, which overhangs the ring coupling it to the flask, will remain perfectly stable and correctly aligned with the ring during all the manipulations it must undergo throughout the assembly chain and even after it is mounted on the flask.
[0011] The areas of firm attachment of the handle to the ring, those that will determine the hinge areas when the handle is used as such, shall be separated from each other by an angle between 45° and 90°.
[0012] The wide frangible union sector is easily torn when the handle is used, whether by a deliberate traction on it or automatically when the flask is raised, due to its weight.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] As a complement of the description being made and in order to aid a better understanding of the invention, according to a preferred embodiment, a set of drawings is accompanied as an integral part of the description where, for purposes of illustration only and in a non-limiting sense the following is shown:
Figure 1 shows a lateral-superior perspective view of a flask handle made according to the object of the present invention.
Figure 2 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view along the line A-B of figure 1.
Figure 3 shows a plan view of the handle coupled to a flask.
Figure 4 shows a plan view of the handle of the invention.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
[0014] The aforementioned figures show a flask handle having a ring (1) for coupling to the neck o the flask (2), the ring (1) in turn being provided with a plurality of inner oblique flaps (3) for attachment to the neck (4) of the flask (2), initially extending beyond the peripheral flange (5) placed on the neck of this type of containers and eventually stopping against it.
[0015] As is conventional, the handle (6) of the invention is provided with a middle segment (7) acting as a hold, which can adopt a lobe-shaped configuration to improve its adaptation to the fingers, and thereby the manual hold, from which emerge two side legs (8) provided with a central rib (10) which at its the free ends (9) are firmly attached to the ring (1), so that initially the handle itself (7-8) is coplanar to the ring (1).
[0016] Thus, based on this basic and conventional structure, the handle taught by the invention centers its characteristics on the fact that on its side legs (8) is defined a large curved sector (10) with a curvature equal to that of the ring (1), by which the handle and the ring are joined; defined in this sector (10) are two areas with a different level of union: and end area (9), in which the union is firm, as it will be the hinge area of the handle (6); and a provisional area consisting of a membrane (11) that can be torn when the handle (6) itself is used.
[0017] These two union areas (9) and (11) that embrace a large arc of the ring (1) allow the handle (6) to remain coplanar with the ring (1) during the operations of assembling the handle on the flask neck, and even after it is mounted, until it is used, at which time by traction or by the weight of the flask the membrane (11) will be torn.
[0018] The membrane (11) is obtained by a lower deposition of material in the arc joining the sector (10) to the ring (1), as shown in the sectional view of figure 2. If the thickness of the membrane (11) requires so, slits or weakened points may be provided to facilitate its tearing.
[0019] Obviously, the membrane (11) could be replaced by simple slits or cutouts, suitably distributed to allow the separation along a predetermined arc of the sector (10) from the ring (1), whether by traction on the handle or by the weight of the flask.
[0020] The part of the handle outside the ring, or overhanging, in addition to lobe-shaped configuration of the aforementioned middle leg (7) presents a T-section that increases the surface of contact with the fingers, in order to provide an increased comfort when using the handle and therefore when carrying the flask manually.
[0021] The part of the handle with a T-section even envelops a certain arc of the ring, before the start of the membrane (11) in order to stiffen in said are the union of the handle (6) to the ring (1), and thus in order to stiffen the overhanging part of the handle.
[0022] The width of the sector (10) embraces an arc on the order of 90°. Likewise the separation between the end points of the firm union areas, this is the hinge area of the handle (6) on the ring (1) is on the order of 45°, enough so that when the handle is used its middle leg (7) is sufficiently separated from the flask cap.
1. Flask handle, of the type incorporating a middle leg, constituting the hold, from
which emerge two side legs joined on their free ends to a ring that can be coupled
the flask neck, so that initially they adopt a position perpendicular to the neck
axis or flask neck, from which they can swivel an angle of approximately 90° during
the manual transportation of the flask, characterized in that its side legs (8) at a large end sector (10) have a curvature identical to that of
the ring (1), to which they are firmly connected at its free end (9), the aforementioned
side legs (8) in addition being joined to said ring (1) along the entire length of
the aforementioned end sector (10) by an easily tearable membrane (11) that ensures
the coplanarity of the handle and the ring (1), allowing a simple detachment when
manually operating the handle, even simply due to the weight of the flask (2), the
handle being eventually attached to the ring (1) only by the end areas (9) of its
side legs (8).
2. Flask handle, according to claim 1, characterized in that the arc of the membrane (11) joining the sector (10) to the ring (1) corresponds
to an angle on the order of 90°.
3. Flask handle, according to claim 1, characterized in that the arc separating the free ends (9) is on the order of 45°.
4. Flask handle, according to claim 1, characterized in that the tearable area determined by the membrane (11) can be replaced by suitably distanced
slits or cutouts along a similar arc, allowing separating the sector (10) of the ring
(1) by traction or due to the weight of the flask.