Snap hinge of plastic material

A container closure for sealing off the neck of a container, the closure comprising:

• a body for connecting with the neck of the closure and having a dispensing opening for the dispensing of the contents of the container;
• a lid for sealing off and permitting the opening of the dispensing opening in the body;
• connecting means for hingedly connecting the lid to the body so that the lid may be shifted about a main geometric axis between the sealing off position and the opening position at which the dispensing opening is, respectively, sealed off and opened, the connecting means including a film hinge disposed along the main geometric axis about which the lid pivots between the sealing off position and the opening position;
• a pair of opposed connecting elements interposed between the lid and the body on opposite sides of the film hinge, each connecting element having a relatively small substantially pointed end facing the end of the opposed connecting element;
• divergent film hinges having a connecting element interposed therebetween hingedly connecting each connecting element to the lid and the body, the film hinges being divergent and inclined with respect to the main geometric axis;
• the connecting elements being spring-like troughs symmetrical with respect to the main geometric axis, the troughs being resilient to bias the lid relative to the body at a location between the sealing off position and the opening position and having a dead center biasing position at one side of which the lid is biased to the sealing off position and at the other side of which the lid is biased to the opening position.

A container closure for sealing off the neck of a container, the closure comprising:

• a body for connecting with the neck of the closure and having a dispensing opening for the dispensing of the contents of the container;
• a lid for sealing off and permitting the opening of the dispensing opening in the body;
• connecting means for hingedly connecting the lid to the body so that the lid may be shifted about a main geometric axis between the sealing off position and the opening position at which the dispensing opening is, respectively, sealed off and opened, the connecting means including a hinge film disposed along the main geometric axis about which the lid pivots between the sealing off position and the opening position;
• a pair of opposed connecting elements interposed between the lid and the body on opposite sides of the film hinge, each connecting element having a relatively small substantially pointed end facing the end of the opposed connecting element;
• divergent film hinges having a connecting element interposed therebetween hingedly connecting each connecting element to the lid and the body, the film hinges being divergent and inclined with respect to the main geometric axis;
• the connecting elements being spring-like troughs symmetrical with respect to the main geometric axis, the troughs being resilient to bias the lid retention relative to the body to the opening position, the troughs biasing the lid to the opening position when in the sealing off position;
• and retention means overcoming the bias of the troughs when the lid is in the sealing off position releasably retaining the lid in the sealing off position and for permitting the lid to be manually released to the opening position.

A receptacle comprising:

• a body,
• a lid for closing and opening the body;
• connecting means for hingedly connecting the lid to the body so that the lid may be shifted about a main geometric axis between the closing position and the opening position, the connecting means including a hinge film disposed along the main geometric axis about which the lid pivots between the closing position and the opening position;
• a first pair of opposed connecting elements interposed between the lid and the body on opposite sides of the film hinge, each connecting element having a relatively small substantially pointed end facing the end of the opposed connecting element;
• another pair of connecting elements interposed between the lid and the body and between the first pair and having relatively large ends facing each other
• divergent film hinges having a connecting element interposed therebetween hingedly connecting each connecting element to the lid and the body, such film hinges being divergent and inclined with respect to the main geometric axis;
• the connecting elements being spring-like troughs symmetrical with respect to the main geometric axis, the troughs being resilient to bias the lid relative to the body at a location between the closing position and the opening position and having a dead center biasing position at one side of which the lid is biased to the closing position and at the other side of which the lid is biased to the opening position.