Lid, Container with Lid, and Combination of Lid and Container

The present invention relates to a lid, a container with a lid, and a combination of a lid and a container.

It is being widely practiced to provide a food, a drink, or the like (hereinafter also referred to as “content”) in a container with a lid by putting the food, the drink, or the like in a container, which has an opening, and attaching a lid to the container.

It is desired to use a paper-based material for a lid to be attached to a container from a viewpoint of reducing an environmental burden. As a method for attaching a lid to a container, a method in which a lid is joined to an edge forming an outer periphery of an opening at an upper end of the container using a method such as hot pressing (sealing method) is known. As a method for taking in content covered by a lid when the content is a liquid such as a soft drink or a carbonated drink, Patent Literature 1 discloses a method in which an insertion part for forming an insertion hole is formed in the lid and a straw or the like is inserted into the insertion part to suck out the content.

In the technique described in Patent Literature 1, the content might leak from the insertion part due to vibration of a container with a lid when a user carries the container with a lid, and the content might spurt out from the insertion part especially when the content generate gas as in the case of a carbonated beverage. Furthermore, when the lid is formed of a material that can have moisture absorbability or water absorbability, such as a paper-based material, a gap is likely to be formed in the insertion part, and the content is more likely to spurt out from the insertion part. There is therefore room for improvement in terms of suppressing spurts of the content from the lid.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object thereof is to provide a lid, a container with a lid, and a combination of a lid and a container capable of suppressing spurts of content from a lid in a state of a container with a lid.

The gist of the present invention is inventions according to following (1) to (13).

(1) A lid including a main body formed in such a way as to be contactable with a container including an opening and an edge forming an outer periphery of the opening, in which the main body includes an insertion part configured to be capable of forming an insertion hole, the insertion part includes a hole lid that covers the insertion hole and a Weakened part that forms at least a part of an outer circumferential edge of the hole lid, the Weakened part includes a plurality of cuts penetrating the main body in a thickness direction of the main body and a non-penetrating part where the main body is not penetrated, the insertion hole is formed by applying stress to the insertion part from outside in the thickness direction of the main body, and when the insertion hole is formed, the non-penetrating part is broken, the broken non-penetrating part forms a fracture surface in a part of the outer circumferential edge of the hole lid, the hole lid is displaced together with the fracture surface, and at least a part of the fracture surface is located at a tip of the hole lid.

(2) A lid including a main body formed in such a way as to be contactable with a container including an opening and an edge forming an outer periphery of the opening, in which the main body includes an insertion part configured to be capable of forming an insertion hole, the insertion part includes a hole lid that covers the insertion hole and a Weakened part that forms at least a part of an outer circumferential edge of the hole lid, the hole lid includes a corner forming a protruding portion of a contour in plan view of the main body, the Weakened part includes a plurality of cuts penetrating the main body in a thickness direction of the main body and a non-penetrating part where the main body is not penetrated, the insertion hole is formed by applying stress to the insertion part from outside in the thickness direction of the main body, and when the insertion hole is formed, the non-penetrating part is broken, the broken non-penetrating part forms a fracture surface in a part of the outer circumferential edge of the hole lid, the hole lid is displaced together with the fracture surface, and at least a part of the fracture surface is located at the corner of the hole lid.

(3) The lid according to (1), in which a plurality of the fracture surfaces is formed when the non-penetrating part is broken, and at least a part of at least one of the fracture surfaces is located at the tip of the hole lid.

(4) The lid according to (1) or (2), in which the Weakened part includes a plurality of the non-penetrating parts, and at least one of the non-penetrating parts is broken by applying stress to the insertion part from the outside in the thickness direction of the main body.

(5) The lid according to (1) or (2), in which the insertion part includes a plurality of the hole lids, and when the insertion hole is formed, the fracture surface is formed in a part of the outer circumferential edge of each of the hole lids.

(6) The lid according to (1) or (2), in which the non-penetrating part has a half-cut structure in which the main body is cut to a predetermined depth in the thickness direction of the main body.

(7) The lid according to (1) or (2), in which the Weakened part has a structure in which at least three of the cuts are formed around the non-penetrating part.

(8) The lid according to (1) or (2), in which a raised part is formed, and the insertion part is formed in a formation region of the raised part.

(9) The lid according to (1) or (2), in which the main body is formed of a paper-based material.

(10) The lid according to (1) or (2), further including a Joining region corresponding part corresponding to a region joined to the container along the edge of the container and a lid region corresponding part that is a portion inside the Joining region corresponding part, in which the insertion part is formed in the lid region corresponding part.

(11) The lid according to (1) or (2), in which a side wall is provided around an outer periphery of the main body, and the side wall is configured to be lockable to the container along the edge of the container.

(12) The lid according to (1) or (2), in which the cuts each include a circumferential surface part and ends, and when different two of the cuts are defined as a first cut and a second cut, respectively, at least one pair of the first cut and the second cut is arranged such that the non-penetrating part is formed between one of the ends of the first cut and the circumferential surface part of the second cut.

(13) A container with a lid including the lid according to (1) or (2); and the container including the opening and the edge forming the outer periphery of the opening, in which the lid is joined to the container.

(14) A combination of a lid and a container, including the lid according to (1) or (2) and the container including the opening and the edge forming the outer periphery of the opening.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a lid, a container with a lid, and a combination of a lid and a container capable of suppressing spurts of content from the lid in a state of a container with a lid.

A lid according to the present invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the drawings. Note that the lid according to the present invention will be described while taking as an example a lid used with a container (cup) for containing various beverages, such as a coffee cup, but is not limited to a lid of a container for containing beverages, and can also be applied as a lid of a container for containing food items, not beverages. Furthermore, the lid according to the present invention can also be applied to containers capable of storing various articles other than food and drink such as parts including bolts and nuts, for example, and articles other than those described above. Moreover, although the lid according to the present invention will be described below using an example of a lid having a circular shape in plan view, a shape of the lid is not limited to the circular shape in plan view, and can be applied to various shapes other than the circular shape, such as elliptical shapes, rectangular shapes, triangular shapes, other polygonal shapes, chamfered rectangular shapes, and chamfered polygonal shapes.

A first embodiment, a second embodiment, a third embodiment, and application examples relating to the present invention will be sequentially described hereinafter with reference to the drawings. In the present specification and the drawings, components having substantially the same functional configuration are given the same reference numerals, and redundant description thereof is omitted.

The following description is preferred specific examples of the present invention, and the content of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and the like. Furthermore, in the following description, directions such as front and back, left and right, up and down and directions of a horizontal plane will be shown in consideration of convenience of description, but the content of the present invention is not limited to these directions. It is assumed in the examples ofthat a Z-axis direction is a vertical direction (an upper side is a +Z direction and a lower side is a −Z direction), an X-axis direction is a front-back direction (a back side is a +X direction and a front side is a −X direction), directions along an X-axis and a Y-axis orthogonal to each other defined on a plane having the Z-axis direction as a normal line are an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction, and an XY plane that is a plane defined by the X-axis and the Y-axis is a horizontal plane, and description will be given on the basis of these definitions. Relative magnitude ratios such as sizes illustrated inare described for convenience, and do not limit actual magnitude ratios unless otherwise specified.

A lidaccording to the first embodiment includes a main body.

As will be described later with reference to,, and the like, the main bodyis formed in such a way as to be contactable with a containerhaving an openingand an edgethat is an upper end edge forming an outer periphery of the opening.are a perspective view and a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a container with a lid, which is obtained by attaching the lidillustrated into the container. In the example of, the containeris provided with the openingat an upper end in the vertical direction. The lidin the first embodiment can be used in the container with a lidby joining the main bodythereof along the edge.is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a vertical cross section taken along line C-C in. Note that, as the container, a container having flexibility at the edgeof the openingis more preferably used. These, however, do not prohibit the containerfrom being a container having less or substantially no flexibility, such as a metal container.

The lidaccording to the first embodiment has a joining region R in the main body. A region of the lidjoined to the edgein plan view of the lidwill be referred to as the joining region R. In, a region of the main bodycorresponding to the joining region R is a region on an opposing surfaceside in a portion indicated by hatching.is a plan view schematically illustrating an example of the lidaccording to the first embodiment.

In the example of, the joining region R corresponds to a region formed in a substantially annular shape along the openingof the containerin a shape corresponding to the opening.

As illustrated in, the main bodyof the lidaccording to the first embodiment includes a Joining region corresponding partA and a lid region corresponding partB.is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a state of a vertical cross section taken along line A-A in.

The Joining region corresponding partA is a portion corresponding to a region of the lidjoined to the containeralong the edgeof the container. That is, the Joining region corresponding partA is a portion of the lidcorresponding to the joining region R (a region facing the edgeof the containerand a region joined to the container). In the container with a lid, the Joining region corresponding partA is a portion of the lidthat forms a joint partbetween the lidand the container. More specifically, a portion of the lidforming the joining region R in plan view is defined as the Joining region corresponding partA (when the Z-axis direction (vertical direction) is defined as a line-of-sight direction in the example of). The Joining region corresponding partA is usually formed in an annular shape as illustrated in. In particular, as shown in, when the edgeof the containeris formed in a substantially annular shape, the joining region R becomes an annular shape, and the Joining region corresponding partA also becomes a substantially annular shape in plan view of the lid. An outer edge of the Joining region corresponding partA is determined in accordance with a position of an outer edge of the joining region R. The outer edge of the Joining region corresponding partA may be located at an outer circumferential edge of the lid, or may be located inside the outer circumferential edge of the lidas illustrated in the example of. When the joining region R between the lidand the containeris not continuously formed, portions sandwiched between adjacent joining regions R and facing the edgeare also included in the Joining region corresponding partA, which will be described later.

The lid region corresponding partB is a portion of the lidinside the Joining region corresponding partA. That is, the lid region corresponding partB is a portion inside an inner edge of the Joining region corresponding partA, and an outer peripheral end of the lid region corresponding partB is the inner edge end of the Joining region corresponding partA. The lid region corresponding partB is a portion of the container with a lidcovering the opening. Note that, as illustrated in the example of, a portion of the lidoutside the outer peripheral end of the lid region corresponding partB will be referred to as an outer region corresponding partC.

The main bodyincludes an insertion partconfigured to be able to form an insertion hole. An insertion hole HL is a hole into which a member can be inserted from the outside, and specific examples of the member to be inserted from the outside include a straw and the like. As illustrated in, the insertion hole HL is formed by applying stress to the insertion partfrom the outside in a thickness direction of the main body. In this case, hole lidsare pushed open, and a resultant hole-shaped opening is the insertion hole HL.is a diagram illustrating a state in which the insertion hole HL is formed by applying stress to the insertion partof the lidaccording to the first embodiment downward (−Z direction) from the outside.is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a state of a vertical cross section taken along line B-B in.

A position of the insertion partis not particularly limited, but is formed in the lid region corresponding partB in the example of. Furthermore, in this example, the insertion partis formed near a center CT of the lid region corresponding partB. Note that arrangement of cuts, which will be described later, forming the insertion partis not limited to the example of. Positions of the cutsmay be determined in such a way as to establish a state in which the insertion partillustrated inis appropriately rotated.

An insertion partincludes hole lidsand a Weakened part.

Hole lidsare portions covering an insertion hole HL. The hole lidsare portions surrounded by portions (hinge corresponding parts) that serve as hinges when the insertion hole HL is formed (pushed open) and a Weakened part, which will be described later, and in the example of, four hole lidsare formed around a non-penetrating partforming a Weakened part. In this example, two hole lidsare divided with a cutas a boundary. Note that cases where an insertion hole HL is formed include not only cases where a hole lidrotates at a constant angle about a specific position as an axis but also cases where a hole lidis displaced while being gradually curved toward a tipA side of the hole lidwith a hinge corresponding partas a base end (a base end of the hole lid).

A Weakened partis a portion forming at least a part of outer circumferential edgesof hole lids, and is a portion that can form contours of the hole lidstogether with hinge corresponding parts. A Weakened partincludes cutsand a non-penetrating part. The Weakened partindicates a position (division position) where division occurs when a force for lifting or pushing down the Weakened partis applied to form a divided portion in the main body. For example, in the example of, when a force for pushing down a portion corresponding to the insertion partfrom an exposed surfaceside to the opposing surfaceside is applied, the non-penetrating partis broken as illustrated into generate fracture surfaces, the hole lidsare pushed down while causing division along a cross section forming the fracture surfacesand the cuts, and the insertion hole HL is formed (the insertion hole HL is opened).

Cutspenetrate a main bodyin a thickness direction (Z-axis direction) of the main body. A plurality of cutsis formed in the main body. In the example of, each cutis formed in such a way as to be a linear cut line, but this is an example. Note thatillustrates the cutsin a state where the cutshave a somewhat large width for convenience of description. The same applies to.

In the lidaccording to the first embodiment, for example, cutsmay be formed in curved shapes as illustrated in,, and the like. Furthermore, although the cutsare radially arranged around the non-penetrating part, which will be described later, this is also an example, and the arrangement is not limited to this. From a viewpoint of easily forming a configuration in which at least parts of fracture surfaces are positioned at tips of hole lidsas described later, it is preferable that cutsare radially arranged around a non-penetrating part. The cutshas a structure (penetrating structure) cut in the vertical direction (the thickness direction or the Z-axis direction) from one surface (exposed surface) to the other surface (opposing surface) of the main body. Each cutincludes a circumferential surface partand ends. The circumferential surface partextends in a longitudinal direction of the cut, and the endsare formed at cut ends (ends of the circumferential surface part). Note that the cutscan function as breathing portions. Here, the breathing portions refer to portions through which gas can pass from one surface side to another surface side (from the opposing surfaceside to the exposed surfaceside) of the main body.

Note that, in a Weakened part, a structure in which at least two cutsare formed around a non-penetrating partis formed, and as illustrated in FIG.A, a structure in which three or more cutsare formed is preferably formed. If at least three cutsare formed around a non-penetrating part, it is possible to establish a state in which hole lidsare formed in such a way as to surround a position corresponding to the non-penetrating partwith fracture surfacesformed by breaking the non-penetrating partlocated at tipsA of the hole lids, and it is easy to uniformly support a straw or the like with the hole lidswhen the straw or the like is inserted into the insertion hole HL. Note that, from this viewpoint, four cutsmay be formed around the non-penetrating partas illustrated in, or five or more cuts(six cutsare formed in an example of) may be formed around the non-penetrating partas illustrated in.

Non-penetrating partsare portions of a Weakened partwhere a main bodyis not penetrated. The non-penetrating partscan be defined as portions where portions (fracture surfaces) of outer circumferential edgesof hole lidsexcluding hinge corresponding partsand circumferential surface partsare planned to be formed. In the example of, the arrangement of the non-penetrating partis determined such that the cutsare radially arranged around the non-penetrating part. Furthermore, in the example of, the non-penetrating partis formed as a portion (continuous portion) in which a cut is not formed in the main body. The non-penetrating part, however, is not prohibited from being a portion where the main bodyis cut halfway through (a portion having a half-cut structure, in which the main bodyis cut to a predetermined depth and not penetrated), and, for example, the non-penetrating partmay be a portion having the half-cut structure (half-cut) as illustrated in.is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a case where the non-penetrating parthas the half-cut structure. Note that the half-cutis not limited to a portion where the main bodyis cut to half the thickness thereof in the thickness direction thereof. The half-cuthas a structure in which the main bodyis cut to half or more of the thickness thereof without being penetrated or a structure in which the main bodyis cut to less than half of the thickness thereof in the thickness direction thereof.

The number of non-penetrating partsformed is one in the example of, but the number of the non-penetrating partsformed may be plural, instead. For example, in an example of, cutsare formed in a curved line shape, and three non-penetrating partsare provided between endsof two different cuts.

When an insertion hole HL is formed by applying stress to an insertion part, non-penetrating partsare broken, hole lids portionare pushed open accordingly, and the broken non-penetrating partsform fracture surfacesin parts of outer circumferential edgesof the hole lids. The fracture surfacesin the present specification are surfaces formed by tearing the member forming the main bodywith stress applied to the insertion part.

When an insertion hole HL is formed in the lid, hole lidsare pushed by the action of external force applied to an insertion part(tipsA of the hole lidsare pushed out in a direction in which the external force acts), and the hole lidsare displaced together with fracture surfaceswhen the tipsA of the hole lidsare pushed out. In the lidaccording to the first embodiment, at least parts of the fracture surfacesare located at the tipsA of the hole lidsat this time. The fracture surfacesare formed in shapes corresponding to a state of fracture of the non-penetrating parts. In the example of, a state in which fracture surfacesare formed at the tipsA of the hole lidsis established. For example, when non-penetrating partsare cross-cut to form fracture surfaces, a tipA of each hole lidis formed in a corner shape (pointed shape), and end surfaces of portions corresponding to the tipsA in outer circumferential edgesof the hole lidsare formed as fracture surfaces.

In the lidaccording to the first embodiment, when non-penetrating partsare broken and a plurality of fracture surfacesis formed, at least a part of at least one of the fracture surfacesis located at a tipA of a hole lid. For example, when non-penetrating partsare broken and two fracture surfacesare formed, a part of at least one of the fracture surfacesmay be formed in such a way as to be located at a tipA of a hole lid.

As illustrated in, when the insertion partincludes a plurality of hole lidsand an insertion hole HL is formed, it is sufficient that fracture surfacesare formed at a tipA of at least one hole lid. For each hole lid, however, a fracture surfaceis formed in a part of an outer circumferential edgeof the hole lid.

A material of the main bodyis preferably a paper-based material from a viewpoint of reducing an environmental burden. Examples of the paper-based material include, in addition to so-called paper products produced by sticking vegetable fibers or other fibers, such as so-called paper obtained by spreading slurry of a fiber raw material on a net, drying or compression-drying the slurry, and making a sheet of paper and a so-called air-laid sheet obtained by accumulating, with an air flow, an open fiber raw material such as crushed pulp obtained by crushing raw material sheets made of pulp-based fibers or the like with a crushing machine and fixing the fibers of a resultant fibrous body with a binder, chemical fiber paper, synthetic paper, water-resistant paper, coated paper, alternative paper, parchment paper, wool paper, glass fiber paper, stone paper, porcelain paper, and the like, as well as those obtained by stacking a plurality of these on one another. Furthermore, the paper-based material may contain be a material including fibers such as non-pulp-based natural fibers, synthetic fibers, or regenerated fibers instead of a material composed only of pulp, but the paper-based material preferably contains 50% mass or more, more preferably 70% mass or more, further preferably 80% mass or more, and particularly preferably 100% mass of pulp. As the paper-based material, a film of a synthetic resin or a natural resin, a nonwoven fabric, a wood-based material such as a wood foil, or a composite material with a material such as an aluminum foil can also be used, but when a composite material is used, the composite material preferably contains 50% mass or more of pulp as a whole, and particularly preferably contains 80% mass or more of pulp. The higher the content of pulp is, the more easily the paper-based material is biodegraded, which is preferable.

It is preferable that the main bodyis entirely formed of the above-described paper-based material, but this does not prohibit that a part or the entirety of the main bodyis formed of a material different from the paper-based material. For example, the main bodymay be formed of a laminate of a paper-based material and a resin film material.

With a conventional container with a lid in which a lid is attached to a container, there is a problem that when a user carries the container with a lid, content leak from an insertion part due to vibration of the container with a lid during the movement. In particular, when the content generate gas as in the case of a carbonated beverage, there is a risk that the content spurt out together with the gas when the gas is released from the insertion part. With respect to a container with a lid, therefore, there is room for improvement in terms of suppressing spurts of content from a lid.

With the lidof the first embodiment, the insertion partincludes hole lidsand a Weakened part, and the Weakened partincludes cutsand a non-penetrating part. In addition, the non-penetrating partis formed such that when an insertion hole HL is formed, fracture surfacesgenerated as a result of breakage of the non-penetrating partare located at tipsA of the hole lids.