GB2173478A - Container for flat articles - Google Patents

Abstract

A container (10), for example for storage of articles such as magnetic data recording discs (62), comprises a main body (12) including dividers defining a longitudinal array of regions (66) each for receiving a respective article (62). Abutments provided in said regions maintain successive articles in alternate orientations, thereby facilitating removal of any article from the container. A lid of the container is provided with identification means (24), one above each of said regions, and a movable element (38) is slidable along a flange on the body (12) such that, when the element is aligned with a desired identification means, with the lid closed, and the lid is subsequently raised about hinges adjacent the rear of the main body, the element is seen to be aligned with, and pointing at, the corresponding desired article, so facilitating selection of the article. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Container for flat articles This invention relates to a container of the kind, hereinater referred to as being of the kind specified, in which a plurality of articles may be stored; the invention is intended primarily, but not exclusively, for use in the storage of flat articles such as discs, for example, mangetic data recording discs such as are generally known as "micro-discs" for use in conjunction with computers but may be used with other flat articles such as normal "floppy discs".

Computer users frequently use several micro-discs and generally require a container in which such discs may be stored when not in use.

It is an object of the invention to provide a new and improved container of the kind specified.

According to one aspect of the invention, we provide a container of the kind specified, comprising a main body having therein a plurality of receiving means each to receive an article, the receiving means being arranged to maintain the articles in an array in which the articles are disposed side-by-side longitudinally of a longitudinally axis of the array, and at least one of the articles being disposed in a different lateral orientation, as herein defined, relative to at least one other article.

By "different lateral orientation" we mean that the article is disposed so that at least part thereof is in a different orientation when viewed in the direction of said longitudinal axis compared with another article. Of course, each article is necessarily in a different longitudinal orientation, i.e. when viewed in a direction normal to the longitudinal axis, to each other article because of its disposition in the array.

The articles may be disposed in a different angular orientation about said longitudinal axis relative to said at least one other article.

Alternatively, or in addition, the article may be disposed in a different translational orientation relative to said other article.

The receiving means may comprise a plurality of dividers which divide the body into a plurality of regions in each of which an article is receivable.

At least one region may have an abutment extending between the dividers defining said region for engagement with an article to maintain the article, in use, in a predetermined lateral orientation, the abutment of the at least one region being disposed so that in co-operation with an article to be received therein, the article, in use, is held in a different lateral orientation relative to an article in another region.

The dividers may provide two sets of regions, a region of one set being disposed longitudinally next to a region of the other set, and said abutments of one set being similarly disposed in each region of the set whilst the abutments of the other set are similarly disposed in each region of the other set, but differently disposed relative to the abutments of the one set.

The body may have a base wall, front wall and rear wall, the dividers extending between said walls to define said regions which have an open mouth facing away from the base part through which articles may be introduced into the regions.

Where the articles have a polygonal periphery, the abutments of one set may be disposed on one side of a plane normal to the base wall and containing said longitudinal axis, whilst the abutments of the other set are disposed on the opposite side of said plane so that articles are disposed with a corner raised relative to the base wall, the raised corner of one article being disposed on the opposite side of said plane relative to the raised corner of the two longitudinally next adjacent articles.

The main body may be of generally right parallelepiped configuration and the articles may have a rectangular peripheral configuration.

The first aspect of the invention presents to a user of the container an article, stored in the container which is in a different orientation to at least one other article, thereby facilitating the removal of the article from the container.

According to another aspect of the invention, we provide a container of the kind specified comprising a main body having therein a plurality of receiving means each to receive an article, the receiving means being arranged to maintain the articles in an array in which the articles are disposed side-by-side longitudinally of a longitudinal axis of the array, the container also comprising a lid having a portion providing, or adapted to provide, identification means for the receiving means, and the body having a movable element which may be disposed in a predetermined relationship with said identification means when the lid is closed and hence in a predetermined relationship with a receiving means whereby, when the lid is open, the element permits of identification of the receiving means by virtue of the predetermined relationship therebetween.

The body may comprise a base wall, front wall and rear wall and the lid provide a top wall.

The movable element may be slidably mounted on the body adjacent the top of the front wall so as to be positionable in alignment with an identification means on the lid.

The front wall may have an outwardly projecting flange at or adjacent its upper edge on which said slidable element is carried. The flange may have a rib which co-operates with the movable element to retain the movable element on the flange whilst permitting of movement of the movable element longitudinally of the flange, and hence of the lid.

The lid may be pivotally mounted on the main body adjacent the rear wall thereof.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a container embodying the invention showing a lid in a closed position; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the container of Fig. 1 showing the lid in an open position; Figure 3 is a plan view of the container of Fig. 1 but the lid omitted for clarity; and Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig.

3.

Referring to the drawings, a container 10 embodying the invention comprises a main body 12 having a base wall 14, a rear wall 16, front wall 18 and side walls 20 which define an open-topped box of right parallelepiped configuration. The container 10 further comprises a lid 22 having a top wall 24 which provides a top wall of the container when the lid is closed as shown in Fig. 1, and side walls 26 which have an aperture 28 in which is received a spigot 30 projecting outwardly from the side walls 20 of the main body 12 to pivotally mount the lid 22 on the body 12.

The main body 12 has, at the upper end of the front wall 18, a horizontally forwardly projecting flange 32 which is supported at its ends by triangular fillets or webs 34 which effectively provide an extension of side walls 20. The flange 32 has a downwardly depending longtudinally extending edge lip 36 which retains on the flange 32 a movable element 38 in the form of a slider of generally Uconfiguration having an upper, longer, limb 40 which has an arrow head moulded thereon, as shown at 42, a base part 44 and a second, shorter, lower limb 46 having an upwardly extending terminal lip 48 which co-operates with the lip 36 of the flange 32 to retain the movable element 38 on the flange 32 whilst permitting of movement longitudinally along the flange.

The top wall 24 of the lid terminates, as shown at 50, adjacent to the flange 32 and is provided with a plurality of low ribs 52 between which identification labels can be provided. For example, by virtue of self-adhesive paper strips upon which suitable identification marking may be provided. Of course, if desired, any other form of identification means may be provided on the lid and the identification means may be permanently provided on the lid by being moulded therein if desired and the ribs 52may be of any other suitable configuration or may be omitted completely so that the top wall 24 of the lid can be provided with any desired identification means.

The interior of the main body 12 is provided with a plurality of receiving means 60 for articles to be stored in the container. In the present example, the articles are microdiscs 62 which are thin and of rectangular peripheral configuration.

The receiving means are arranged to maintain the articles 62 in an array in which the articles are disposed side-by-side longitudinally of a longitudinal axis of symmetry A-A of the array.

Referring particularly to Figs. 3 and 4, the receiving means comprise a plurality of dividers 64 which divide the body into a plurality of regions 66 in each of which an article 62 is received. The dividers 64 comprise rib parts 68a, 68b which extend over approximately a quarter of the width of the base wall 14 and approximately three quarters of the height of the front and rear walls 16, 18.

Between every other rib part 68a, 68b is an abutment 70a, 70b, the abutments 70b being disposed longitudinally alternately on opposite sides of a plane normal to the base wall 14 and contains the axis A-A to the abutments 70a. Each abutment 70a, 70b comprises a rib upstanding from the base wall 14 for a short distance between its associated divider rib part 68a, 68b.

In use, when an article 62 is introduced into a receiving means 60 through an upwardly facing open mouth 72 thereof, the article is maintained in its respective position in the longitudinal array by engagement with the divider rib parts 68a, 68b and the bottom edge of the article on one side of the plane extending normal to the base wall 14 and containing the axis A-A, engages the abutment 70a, 70b, whilst on the other side of the plane, the lower edge of the article rests on the base wall 14. The-article is therefore orientated with a corner 62a raised relative to the base wall 14 on one side of the plane, whilst the corner 62b on the other side of the plane is at a lower relationship relative to the base.

Accordingly, next adjacent articles will have their raised corner 62a on opposite sides of the hereinbefore mentioned plane thereby facilitating removal of an article from the container by permitting the fingers of a user to gain access to the raised corner 62a as it projects above the top of the next two adjacent articles.

In the present example, the dispostion of the abutments 70a, 70b is such that two sets of regions are provided, the regions of one set being provided with the abutment 70a and being disposed longitudinally next to a region of the other set provided with the abutments 70b and the abutments 70a of one set being similarly disposed in each region of the set, whilst the abutments 70b of the other set are similarly disposed in each region of the set but of course disposed on the opposite side of the hereinbefore mentioned plane to the abutments of the other set.

In the above described example, the configuration of the abutments is such that the articles in one set of regions are disposed in a different lateral orientation relative to the articles in the other set of regions and in particular, the angular orientation of the articles in the one set about the axis A-A is different to the angular orientation of the articles in the other set about this axis because of the hereinbefore raised configuration of the corners 62a compared with the upper corner 62b. In addition, the articles in one set are at a different translational orientation relative to the articles in the other set because the centres of the discs, i.e. the position of intersection of the diagonals between the corners 62a, 62b and the diagonally opposite corners, are displaced on opposite sides of the axis A-A.

If desired however, the width of the box in relation to the height and position of the abutments 70a, 70b and, of course, the articles to be stored may be arranged so that the centres of the articles remain coaxial and hence define the axis A-A.

Further alternatively, abutments, similar to the abutments 70a, 70b, may be provided but with all the abutments between the rib parts of the receiving means of one set so that the the rib parts of the receiving means of the longitudinally next adjacent set are devoid of any abutment means. In this case, an article in one set will rest on the abutment means 70a, 70b on both sides of the hereinbefore mentioned plane, and hence its upper surface will be parallel to the base 14, whilst the longitudinally next adjacent article will rest on the base 14 and thus be disposed below the articles in the first set of receiving means.This facilitates removal of the articles, particularly those of the first set, it is not so convenient for removal of articles of the second set without prior removal of an article in the first set and hence such an arrangement is, of course, not preferred. In this alternative, the articles of the different sets are in the same angular relative orientation but in a different translational orientation in that the centres of each article in the one set are above the centres of the articles in the other set and hence are disposed on opposite sides of the axis of symmetry A-A.

If desired, a combination of the above described could be provided where abutments are provided between the rib parts of each receiving means but with the abutments of one set of receiving means being of greater height on one side of said plane than those on the other side of said plane whilst the abutments of the other set are of greater height on the other side of said plane than on said one said thereof, and the abutments of the one set co-operating to maintain an article engaged therewith at a different overall height, i.e. translationally displaced, relative to an article engaged by abutments of the other set.

When it is desired to use the movable element 38 to identify an article, the lid is closed and the movable element 38 moves until the arrow 40 is pointing to the identification means of the relevant article. The lid is then opened and the arrow 40 will then point to the receiving means for the article concerned.

The container may be made by moulding the parts in synthetic plastics material and the lid may be snapped into engagement with the spigots on the body whilst the movable member is snapped into engagement with the flange.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, or a class or group of substances or compositions, as appropriate, may, separately or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims (18)

1. A container of the kind specified, comprising a main body having therein a plurality of receiving means each to receive an article, the receiving means being arranged to maintain the articles in an array in which the articles are disposed side-by-side longitudinally of a longitudinal axis of the array, and at least one of the articles being disposed in a different lateral orientation, as herein defined, relative to at least one other article.

2. A container accor#ding to Claim 1 wherein the article is disposed in a different angular orientation about said longitudinal axis relative to said at least one other article.

3. A container according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the article is disposed in a different translational orientation relative to said other article.

4. A container according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the receiving means comprise a plurality of dividers which divide the body into a plurality of regions in each of which an article is receivable.

5. A container according to Claim 4 wherein the body has a base wall, front wall and rear wall, the dividers extending between said walls to define said regions which have an open mouth facing away from the base part through which articles may be introduced into the regions.

6. A container according to Claim 4 or Claim 5 wherein at least one region has an abutment extending between the dividers defining said region for engagement with an article to maintain the article, in use, in a predetermined lateral orientation, the abutment of the at least region being disposed so that in co-operation with an article to be received therein, the article, in use, is held in a different lateral orientation relative to an article in another region.

7. A container according to Claim 6 wherein the dividers provide two sets of regions, a region of one set being disposed longitudinally next to a region of the other set, and said abutments of one set being similarly disposed in each region of the set whilst the abutments of the other set are similarly disposed in each region of the other set, but differently disposed relative to the abutments of the one set.

8. A container according to Claim 6 or Claim 7 where eventually dependant upon Claim 5, wherein the articles have a polygonal periphery, and the abutments of one set are disposed on one side of a plane normal to the base wall and containing said longitudinal axis, whilst the abutments of the other set are disposed on the opposite side of said plane so that articles are disposed with a corner raised relative to the base wall, the raised corner of one article being disposed on the opposite side of said plane relative to the raised corner of the two longitudinally next adjacent articles.

9. A container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the articles have a retangular peripheral configuration.

10. A container according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the main body is of generally right parallelepiped configuration.

11. A container of the kind specified comprising a main body having therein a plurality of receiving means each to receive an article, the receiving means being arranged to maintain the articles in an array in which the articles are disposed side-by-side longitudinally of a longitudinal axis of the array, the container also comprising a lid having a portion providing, or adapted to provide, identification means for receiving means, and the body having a movable element which may be disposed in a predetermined relationship with said identification means when the lid is closed and hence in a predetermined relationship with a receiving means whereby, when the lid is open, the element permits of identification of the receiving means by virtue of the predetermined relationship therebetween.

12. A container according to Claim 11 wherein the body comprises a base wall, front wall and rear wall and the lid provides a top wall.

13. A container according to Claim 12 wherein the movable element is slidably mounted on the body adjacent the top of the front wall so as to be positionable in alignment with an identification means on the lid.

14. A container according to Claim 13 wherein the front wall has an outwardly projecting flange at or adjacent its upper edge on which said slidable element is carried.

15. A container according to Claim 14 wherein the flange has a rib which co-operates with the movable element to retain the movable element on the flange whilst permitting of movement of the movable element longitudinally of the flange, and hence of the lid.

16. A container according to any one of Claims 12 to 15 wherein the lid is pivotally mounted on the main body adjacent the rear wall thereof.

17. A container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, any one or more of the accompanying drawings.

18. Any novel feature or novel combination of features described herein and/or illustrated in the accompanying drawings.