Plastic container with a completely sealed handle
AssigneeContinental Plastic Containers, Inc.
InventorsKevin A. Foss, Theodore Guss, Darin R. Paul, Robert E. Sherwood
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A plastic container for holding liquids, such as syrup, which has a hollow handle completely sealed from the bottle's exterior and interior. The bottle results from blow molding an extruded thermoplastic parison into an unfinished bottle which has a channel running between the interior of the bottle and the hollow space defined by the handle. The air pressure to form the handle passes through this channel. Sealing this channel through the application of ultrasonic heat closes it and provides a handle with an interior volume completely shut off from the exterior and from the inside of the bottle.
Claims39
In a container composed of a thermoplastic material and including (a) a body with an opening in said body and (b) a neck coupled to said opening, the improvement comprising a hollow handle composed of said thermoplastic material and attached to said body, the exterior of said handle being substantially seamless and smooth, the volume enclosed by said handle being completely enclosed and separated by said thermoplastic material from the interior of said container and the exterior of said container.
In an article composed of a thermoplastic material and used to form a container, said article including (a) a body with an opening in said body and (b) a neck coupled to said opening, the improvement comprising a hollow handle composed of said thermoplastic material and attached to said body, the volume enclosed by said handle being in fluid communication with the interior of said body through a channel formed in said thermoplastic material and passing between said interior of said body and said volume, said channel having a substantially smaller cross section than the cross section of said handle, said volume being separated by said thermoplastic material from direct communication with the exterior of said container.
A method of forming a container comprising:
- (A) molding an article from a thermoplastic material, said article including (a) a body with an opening in said body, (b) a neck coupled to said opening, and (c) a hollow handle composed of said thermoplastic material and attached to said body, the volume enclosed by said handle being in fluid communication with the interior of said body through a channel found in said thermoplastic material and passing between said interior of said body and said volume, said volume being separated by said thermoplastic material from direct communication with the exterior of said container;
- and
- (B) after molding said article, closing said channel between said interior of said body and said volume.
In a container composed of a thermoplastic material and including (a) a body with an opening in said body and (b) a neck coupled to said opening, the improvement comprising a hollow handle composed of thermoplastic material and attached to said body, the volume enclosed by said handle being separated from the interior of said body by a channel formed in said thermoplastic material and passing between said interior of said body and said volume, said channel being sealed closed, said volume having been in fluid communication with said interior prior to the sealing close of said channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.