WO2009014378A1

WO2009014378A1 - Airtight container easy to open or close

Info

Publication number: WO2009014378A1
Application number: PCT/KR2008/004310
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chan Woo Nam
Original assignee: Chan Woo Nam
Priority date: 2007-07-24
Filing date: 2008-07-23
Publication date: 2009-01-29
Also published as: KR100949461B1; KR20070080858A; CN101855145A

Abstract

An airtight container, in which connecting portions of upper and lower handles use a fitting lug engagement structure and a spring having round heads instead of a conventional hinge coupling structure, so that the upper and lower handles can be freely disassembled.

Description

Description AIRTIGHT CONTAINER EASY TO OPEN OR CLOSE

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to airtight containers for containing Doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste), Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste), hot pepper powder or seasoning such as spicy seasoning and, more particularly, to an airtight container that can be easily opened or closed.

[2]

Background Art

[3] Containers for containing a type of seasoning such as spicy seasoning must be airtightly closed, because its smell must not be given off to the air. Further, such a container needs to be frequently opened and closed during cooking. For this reason, a container that can be opened by one-touch is mainly used. However, it is inconvenient to use this type of conventional container since a lid of the container is a screw- coupling or screw-tightening type.

[4] As an approach to solve this problem, the assignee of this application has previously filed Korean Patent Application No. 2005-0113224. Specifically, this patent application is adapted to open and close a lid in a one-touch manner by providing a hinge structure with an elastic member interposed between the outer circumference of a container body and an operating lever, and installing a fitting protrusion and a hook on a lower handle.

[5] However, the previously filed invention has the following problems. Since the hinge structure is attached to connecting portions of the handles with the spring fixed to the handles, the handles are not easily attached to or detached from each other, and thus the container body and the lid are not easily separated from each other. This, as a result, makes it very difficult to clean the airtight container. Further, when the container lid is completely open, the container lid is caught on the hook and the fitting protrusion so as to be prevented from being closed. However, this structure makes it difficult to maintain the container lid in the completely open position, and it is inconvenient to use the airtight container.

[6] Accordingly, the applicant of the present invention has studied to find a solution to the foregoing problems with the related art.

[7]

Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[8] The present invention has been made to overcome the foregoing problems with the related art and, therefore, the present invention is directed to a airtight container, in which connecting portions of upper and lower handles use a fitting lug engagement structure and a spring having round heads instead of a conventional hinge coupling structure, so that the upper and lower handles can be freely disassembled.

[9] The present invention is also directed to a airtight container, in which a magnet and a steel piece are attached to respective abutting portions of the handles, which are in contact with each other when the handles are pressed against each other, so that a completely open position can be maintained by the magnet and the steel piece.

[10]

Technical Solution

[11] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an airtight container for being opened/closed by handles provided in both a container body and a lid. The handles are assembled to each other through fitting lugs and a U-shaped spring. The fitting lugs include a first fitting lug formed on one of the handles and a second fitting lug formed on a remaining one of the handles, wherein the first fitting lug has a semicircular protrusion, the second fitting lug has a slide surface engaging with the semicircular protrusion, and the first and second fitting lugs are coupled with each other. The U-shaped spring has round heads at both ends thereof, each of which is fixed to a fitting recess in an inside portion of each of the handle through a fitting hole of the handle, so that the handles attached to the container body and the lid are easily separable from each other to facilitate opening/closing of the airtight container.

[12] A magnet and a steel piece can be attached to abutting portions of the handles, which are in contact with each other when the lid is completely open, the magnet attached to one of the handles, the steel piece attached to a remaining one of the handles.

[13]

Advantageous Effects

[14] As set forth above, the airtight container of the present invention can contain

Doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste), Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste), hot pepper powder or spicy seasoning in an airtight state, thereby preventing the smell from leaking out, and can also be easily opened/closed with a small amount of force.

[15] Furthermore, since the handle attached to the lid is separable from the handle attached to the container body, the lid can be disassembled from the container body by separating the handles from each other, and thus the container body and the lid can be separately cleaned.

[16] Moreover, since the completely opened position can be maintained by the magnet and the steel piece attached to the abutting portions of the handles, an additional fitting structure is not necessary and the airtight container is very convenient to use. [17] The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[18]

Brief Description of the Drawings

[19] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an airtight container according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[20] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the airtight container of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 ;

[21] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a key part of the airtight container of the present invention, taken along the line A-A of FIG. 1 ; and

[22] FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views illustrating the airtight container of the present invention, in which a lid is open.

[23]

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[24] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments thereof are shown.

[25] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an airtight container according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the airtight container of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a key part of the airtight container of the present invention, taken along the line A-A of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views illustrating the airtight container of the present invention, in which a lid is open.

[26] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a description will be given of the airtight container easy to open or close according to the present invention.

[27] As shown in the drawings, the present invention is directed to a airtight container easy to open or close, in which first and second handles 3 are provided to a container body 1 and a lid 2, respectively, so as to facilitate opening and closing the airtight container. More particularly, the first handle 3 is attached to the container body 1 and the second handle 3 is attached to the lid 2 so that they can be easily separated from each other, thereby facilitating the use of the airtight container.

[28] As described above, the first handle 3 attached to the container body 1 and the second handle 3 attached to the lid 2 are coupled to each other by the engagement of fitting lugs 4b rather than by a hinge coupling structure of the related art, so that the first and second handles 3 can be easily separated from each other. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, one of the handles 3 is formed with a semicircular protrusion, and the other one of the handles 3 is formed with a slide surface, which slidably engage with the semicircular protrusion, so that the handles 3 can slide on mutually- abutting portions with respect to each other. In the related art, since the handles are fixed coupled to each other through the hinge coupling structure, it is difficult and time consuming to separate the handles from each other. However, in the case where the handles are slidably coupled to each other by slidable engagement according to the present invention, it is possible to separate the handles from each other by applying a small amount of force.

[29] The first and second handles 3, constructed as above, are coupled with each other by a spring 4. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the spring 4 has a U-shaped configuration, in which round heads 4d at both ends thereof are fixed to respective fitting recesses 4c through fitting holes 4a of the handles 3, so that the handles 3 of the present invention are elastically assembled with each other by the spring 4. In particular, another technical feature of the airtight container of the present invention is that the spring 4 can also be easily separated from the container since, as described above, the round heads 4d on the ends of the spring 4 are fixed to the fitting recesses 4c in the inside portions of the handles 3.

[30] According to the above-described "Related Art" of the specification, the respective handles are fixedly coupled with each other by the hinge structure and the spring is fixed to the respective handles, and thus a large amount of time and effort are necessary to separate the handles from each other.

[31] However, as described above, the technical features of the present invention are that the handles 3 are coupled with each other using the fitting lugs 4b, which include the protrusion and the slide surface engaging with the protrusion, and the spring 4 can be easily separated from the handles 3. Specifically, the present invention makes it possible to separate the container body 1 and the lid 2 from each other by easily disassembling the respective handles 3, thereby to facilitate cleaning the airtight container of the present invention, which is as a technical merit of the present invention. Further, since the container body 1 and the lid 2 can be separated from each other, only the container body 1 can be easily separated and used alone, if necessary, thereby further improving the convenience of use.

[32] Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the airtight container of the present invention can also include a magnet 5 attached to one handle 3 and a steel piece 6 attached to the other handle 3. With the magnet 5 and the steel plate 6, it is possible to maintain the handles 3 in a completely open position for a long term. Accordingly, as a technical feature, the lid 2 can be kept open as needed for a long time.

[33] Furthermore, in the airtight container of the present invention, one of the handles 3 has a force-supporting portion 3a, which is bent at a downward inclination of 90 or less. When the handles 3 attached to the lid 2 is brought in contact with the force- supporting portion 3a of the handle 3 attached to the container body 1, the lid 2 can be open at a wider angle since the force- supporting portion 3a is extended downwards. Accordingly, the geometric adaptation of the handle 3, as the technical feature of this structure, can facilitate using the airtight container of the present invention. [34] While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments and the accompanying drawings, it is not to be limited thereto but will be defined by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can substitute, change or modify the embodiments in various forms without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims

[1] An airtight container for being opened/closed by handles provided in both a container body and a lid, wherein:

The handles are assembled to each other through fitting lugs and a U-shaped spring; the fitting lugs include a first fitting lug formed on one of the handles and a second fitting lug formed on a remaining one of the handles, wherein the first fitting lug has a semicircular protrusion, the second fitting lug has a slide surface engaging with the semicircular protrusion, and the first and second fitting lugs are coupled with each other; and the U-shaped spring has round heads at both ends thereof, each of which is fixed to a fitting recess in an inside portion of each handle through a fitting hole of each handle, so that the handles attached to the container body and the lid are easily separable from each other to facilitate opening/closing the airtight container .

[2] The airtight container according to claim 1, wherein a magnet and a steel piece are attached to abutting portions of the handles, which are in contact with each other when the lid is completely open, the magnet being attached to one of the handles, and the steel piece being attached to a remaining one of the handles.

[3] The airtight container according to claim 1, wherein one of the handles attached to the container body has a force- supporting portion, which is bent at a downward inclination of 90°or less.