Collapsible hollow articles with improved latching and dispensing configurations

A collapsible hollow article having a sidewall substantially comprising a surface of revolution about an axis, at least a portion of said sidewall formed into a plurality of bellows extending therearound, said bellows comprising upwardly and downwardly pointed substantially conical sections joined by outer and inner fold rings, wherein the angles to the axis of the conical section sidewalls at the inner fold rings are substantially greater than the angles to the axis of the same conical section sidewalls over the bulk of each conical section to provide collapse at the inner fold ring.

A container comprising a top and bottom, a sidewall joining the top to the bottom, said sidewall comprising a plurality of substantially circular bellows, a portion of said circular bellows non-latching upon collapse with the balance of said circular bellows latchable upon collapse wherein the sidewalls of the bellows are substantially conical sections, the adjacent sidewalls of both the latching and non-latching bellows having angles therebetween substantially equal, inner and outer fold rings join adjacent bellow sidewalls, the inner fold rings of the latching bellows having the angle between the pairs of adjacent bellow sidewalls at the inner fold rings substantially less than the angles between the bulk of the bellow sidewalls of the same pairs to provide collapse at the inner fold ring.

A collapsible hollow article having a sidewall substantially comprising a surface of revolution about an axis, at least a portion of said sidewall formed into a plurality of bellows extending therearound, said bellows comprising upwardly and downwardly pointed substantially conical sections joined by outer and inner fold rings, the conical sections joining at outer fold rings being of unequal height and the outer fold rings being substantially radiused, the conical sections joining at inner fold rings being of unequal height and the inner fold rings being grooved and retaining substantially fixed diameters whereby the shorter conical sections flex to provide overcentering of the bellows during collapse and a positive latch.

A collapsible hollow article having a circumferential sidewall and formed with a plurality of circumferential bellows, the bellows formed by generally conical sidewall sections, said conical sidewall sections extending to outer ad inner fold rings integral with the conical sidewall sections, the improvement comprising an included angle between the sidewall sections adjacent at least one inner fold ring differing from the included angle between the sidewall sections at a substantial distance from the fold ring to provide collapse at the inner fold ring.

A collapsible hollow article having a circumferential sidewall, at least a portion of said sidewall formed into a plurality of bellows extending therearound, said bellows comprising generally conical sidewall sections joined by outer and inner fold rings, the outer fold rings being substantially radiused relative to the inner fold rings and the inner fold rings retaining substantially fixed diameters during collapse, said inner fold rings grooved to provide collapse at the inner fold rings.