EP0296378A1 - Collapsible disposable receptacle for refuse, such as an ashtray or a dust-bin - Google Patents

Abstract

Container consisting of an envelope (1) of thin, flexible material, defined by two rectangular side walls (2, 3) and by two end walls (4) in the shape of a diamond, provided with a longitudinal folding line (6 ) and a transverse fold line (7) and connected to the side walls (2, 3) by fold lines (10) so as to allow locking in the open position, the top wall (4) having two holes (12) in the area of the acute angles of the rhombus.

Description

The present invention relates to a folding, disposable waste container, such as an ashtray or a dustbin.

At present, cleaning ashtrays, especially in office buildings, poses a problem of cleanliness. Indeed, to properly clean an ashtray, it is necessary to empty it, that is to say, to rid it of butts and ashes, then to wash it. Such cleaning is generally imperfect in the sense that very often ash and tar residues remain on the ashtrays. In addition, in buildings with a large number of offices, the repeated emptying of a large number of ashtrays causes discomfort or even a hygiene problem for the maintenance personnel, taking into account the impossibility of preventing ashes to fly away.

Similar problems arise for cleaning office trash cans.

In addition, it often happens that smokers do not find ashtrays available to them everywhere, which leads them to spread the ashes and crush the butts of their cigarettes on the ground.

The present invention relates to a disposable folding container which can serve in particular as an ashtray or trash can, this container being light, compact in the folded state, and can be manufactured at a reduced price so that it can be discarded after use. The invention also relates to a folding, disposable container which can be produced from a side of material by folding and collage. The invention also relates to a disposable folding container comprising closing means preventing the dispersion of the contents of the container when the latter is thrown away.

The folding, disposable waste container, according to the invention, consists of an envelope of thin, flexible material, defined by two rectangular side walls connected to each other along two first opposite sides, and by two end walls in the form of rhombus, connected to the side walls along their sides in the region of the two second opposite sides of the side walls so that the obtuse angles of the rhombus are on the second opposite sides of the side walls, in the middle of the length of these second sides, and that the acute angles of the rhombus are on the first sides of the side walls, set back from the second sides, each end wall having a median longitudinal fold line and a median transverse fold line extending over the entire length and over the entire width of the wall, one of the end walls having two holes located in the area of the two acute angles of the rhombus.

Before use, the container is folded flat, each end wall being folded in half along its longitudinal center line and arranged in the form of a bellows between the two side walls. To use the container that is to open it, a force is exerted on the two first opposite sides of the side walls so as to bring said two sides together. This effort causes a separation of the two lateral walls in their median part and an unfolding of the end walls around their median longitudinal line and finally a reversal of the end walls, that is to say a reverse folding around the lines. transverse medians, when the spacing of the lateral walls, in their median part, reaches the length of the transverse lines of the end walls, thus causing the end walls to lock in this inverted position, therefore of the container in the open position thanks to the elasticity of the side walls. In this open position, the end wall provided with holes which serves as a top wall has the shape of a two-sided roof, the ridge line coincides with the median transverse fold line, the two sides of the roof descending towards the acute angles of the rhombus, angle at which the top wall is provided with two holes.

The container according to the invention can advantageously be formed from a flat sidewall of generally rectangular shape of a thin, elastically flexible material, in which four rectangular panels are juxtaposed by being interconnected by parallel fold lines, each second panel also having four diamond fold lines and a longitudinal center fold line and a transverse center fold line, one of said panels having two holes in the vicinity of the acute angles of the diamond and one of said panels located at one end of the sidewall comprising a fixing flap by gluing along its free longitudinal side, while one of the other panels has two fixing flaps by gluing along its two opposite opposite sides.

The mounting of the container from such a flank is extremely simple since it suffices to fold the second panels in bellows along their median longitudinal fold line and to glue the three fixing flaps to their counterparts on the folded flank.

To favor the locking of the container in the open position, it is advantageous for the median transverse fold line of the second panels to be preformed on the side in the opposite direction to the other fold lines of the panels.

To keep the container closed at its upper part, after use, it is advantageous to provide the end panel with coatings of contact adhesive in its parts located outside the rhombus.

Thus, after use, before disposing of the container, it is sufficient to flatten the latter in its upper part so that the opposite edges of the upper panel of the container pierced with holes adhere to each other above the holes and This prevents the contents of the container from scattering.

• la figure 1 est une vue en perspective axonométrique du réci­pient conforme à l'invention en position ouverte;
• la figure 2 est une vue en perspective axonométrique du réci­pient conforme à l'invention en position fermée;
• la figure 3 est une coupe longitudinale verticale du récipient de la figure 1;
• la figure 4 est une vue de dessus du récipient selon la figure 1;
• la figure 5 est une vue de dessous du récipient de la figure 1;
• la figure 6 représente en plan le développé du récipient conforme à l'invention.

Referring to the appended schematic drawings, an illustrative embodiment will be described below in more detail and not limitation of a container according to the invention used as an ashtray, in the drawings:

• Figure 1 is an axonometric perspective view of the container according to the invention in the open position;
• Figure 2 is an axonometric perspective view of the container according to the invention in the closed position;
• Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the container of Figure 1;
• Figure 4 is a top view of the container according to Figure 1;
• Figure 5 is a bottom view of the container of Figure 1;
• Figure 6 shows in plan the developed container according to the invention.

The container illustrated in the drawings, intended to be used as an ashtray, is formed by an envelope 1 constituted by two opposite side walls 2, 3, of generally rectangular shape, as well as by a top wall 4 and a bottom wall 5 having a general diamond shape.

The top wall 4 has a longitudinal median fold line 6 and a transverse median fold line 7. Correspondingly, the bottom wall 5 has a longitudinal median fold line 8 and a transverse median fold line 9.

The top wall 4 and the bottom wall 5 are connected to each of the two side walls 2 and 3 along two fold lines 10 forming, when the diamond-shaped wall 4 is folded in half along line 6, the two sides of an isosceles triangle, the base of which is formed by the fold line 6. Consequently, the top of this isosceles triangle which corresponds to the obtuse angle of the wall 4 in rhombus is situated at the height of the upper edge 13 of the side wall 2, 3, while the lateral angles of the isosceles triangle corresponding to half of the acute angles of the diamond-shaped wall 4 are located set back down relative to the upper edge 13 of the side walls 2, 3.

Correspondingly, the diamond-shaped bottom wall 5 is connected to each side wall 2, 3 by two lines 11 corresponding to the lines 10 of the top wall 4, except that the obtuse angles of the bottom wall 5 in rhombus are located at the level of the lower edge 14 of the side panels 2, 3 and the acute angles of the rhombic bottom wall 5 are set back upwards with respect to said lower edge 14.

Furthermore, the diamond-shaped top wall 4 has, in the area of each of its acute angles, a hole 12 allowing the inside of the container to communicate with the outside.

Thanks to this conformation of the top 4 and bottom 5 walls and the connection of these walls 4 and 5 with the side walls 2 and 3, the casing 1 can occupy a folded position, illustrated by FIG. 2, in which the two side walls 2 and 3 are planar and enclose between them the top 4 and bottom 5 walls folded in half in the form of bellows around the longitudinal median fold lines 6, 8. From this folded position, the envelope can be brought, by a simple pressure exerted on the two opposite vertical edges 15 of the side walls 2, 3 in the direction of a bringing together of these two edges 15 from one another, to the open position according to FIG. 1 in which the wall 4 is kept locked in the unfolded position around the longitudinal line 6, between the side walls 2, 3, under the effect of the elasticity of these walls. In this position, the top wall 4 is folded around the transverse center fold line 7 in the form of a two-sided roof, the ridge line of which coincides with the transverse fold line 7. Conversely, the bottom wall 5 is folded, in this position, around the transverse fold line 9 with two sides facing upwards from this fold line 9.

On the top wall 4, the two holes 12 are therefore, in this open position of the container, at the two lowest locations of the wall 4, so that the ashes of cigarettes and butts fall through the holes 12 to the inside the container. In addition, the two inclined sides of the top wall 4 provide stable receiving surfaces for cigarettes, as shown in Figure 3, and can be used to crush cigarettes to extinguish them.

To close the holes 12 of the container, after use, it is advantageous for applications of contact adhesive to be provided on the zones 16 situated between the upper edges 13 of the side walls 2, 3 and the fold lines 10. These adhesive applications allow, after closing the container by simple pressure exerted on the middle parts of the side walls 2, 3, to maintain the side walls 2, 3 joined at the top, above the holes 12, by a pressure exerted at the location areas 16 glued.

Figure 6 shows a side of thin, flexible material, for making the container according to Figures 1 to 5 by folding and gluing.

The sidewall 17, of generally rectangular shape, is divided into four rectangular panels 18, 19, 20, 21 interconnected by their long sides along fold lines 22, 23, 24. The panel 18 corresponds to the side wall 2 and the panel 20 to the side wall 3. In the panel 19 is inscribed a diamond-shaped zone corresponding to the top wall 4 with its two fold lines 6, 7, its two holes 12 and its four delimitation lines 10 formed by fold lines. Outside the diamond-shaped zone 4 there remain four triangular zones corresponding to zones 16.

Similarly, the panel 21 contains a diamond-shaped zone corresponding to the bottom wall 5, with its two fold lines 8 and 9 and its four delimitation lines 11 constituting fold lines.

The panel 20 is extended, on its two short sides, by two flaps 25 connected to the zone corresponding to the wall 3 by two fold lines 26 corresponding to the edges 15 of the container.

The panel 21 is extended, on its free longitudinal side, by a flap 27 connected to the panel 21 by a fold line 28 corresponding to one of the edges 14, the other edge 14 being constituted by the fold line 24. The fold lines 22 and 23 corresponding to the edges 13 of the container.

To make the container from the sidewall according to FIG. 6, the panel 18 is folded on the panel 20, folding the two panels 19 and 21 on themselves around the lines 6, 8 and between the panels 18 and 20 around the lines 22, 23, 24 and by fixing by gluing the two flaps 25 of the panel 20 as well as the flap 27 of the panel 21 on the panel 18.

It goes without saying that the embodiment illustrated and described has been given as an indicative and non-limiting example and that numerous modifications and variants are possible within the scope of the invention.

Thus, the container according to the invention can not only serve as an ashtray, in which case it is made of a non-flammable material, for example fireproof paper or cardboard, preferably laminated with aluminum foil, but also for example of a trash can of the disposable type, in which case the container is produced in a larger size and can be made, for example, of a thicker material, for example cardboard, preferably waterproofed.

Furthermore, in particular when used as a bin, the container can be higher than wide, that is to say be formed with side walls (2, 3) higher than wide.

The container according to the invention, in its ashtray configuration, can in particular be packaged in a package containing several containers and which can be slipped into a pocket, in the manner of packages of tissues.

Claims (5)

1. Folding and disposable waste container, such as an ashtray or a trash can, characterized in that it is constituted by an envelope (1) made of thin, flexible material, defined by two rectangular side walls (2, 3) interconnected along two opposite first sides, and by two diamond-shaped end walls (4,5) connected to the side walls along their sides in the area of the two opposite second sides of the side walls so that the obtuse angles of the rhombus are on the second opposite sides of the side walls, in the middle of the length of these second sides, and the acute angles of the rhombus are on the first opposite sides of the side walls, recessed from the second sides, each wall end having a median longitudinal fold line (6, 8) and a median transverse fold line (7, 9), one (4) of the end walls having two holes (12) in the area of the two acute angles of the rhombus. 2. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that it is formed from a flat sidewall of generally rectangular shape comprising four panels (18, 19, 20, 21), rectangular, juxtaposed, interconnected by parallel fold lines (22, 23, 24) each second panel (19, 21) having four diamond fold lines (10, 11) as well as a longitudinal center fold line (6, 8) and a line of median transverse folding (7, 9), one (19) of said panels having two holes (12) in the vicinity of the acute angles of the rhombus and one (21) of said panels being at one end of the sidewall comprising a flap (27) for fixing by gluing along its free longitudinal side, while one (20) of the other panels has two flaps (25) for fixing by gluing along its two opposite opposite free sides 3. 3. Container according to claim 2, characterized in that the end panel (19) provided with holes (12) has coatings of contact adhesive in its zones (16) located outside of the part (4 ) in rhombus. 4. Container according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it constitutes an ashtray and is made of fireproof paper. 5. Container according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it constitutes a bin and is made of waterproof paper or cardboard.

Images