Crushable plastic bottle

• US 6,223,932 B1
• Filed: 09/15/1998
• Issued: 05/01/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Yoshio Usui
• Original Assignee: Yoshio Usui
• Inventors: Usui, Yoshio
• Primary Examiner(s): MOY, JOSEPH MAN
• Application Number:
  US09/142,567
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: 215/381, 215/382, 215/380, 220/666, 220/667, 220/907, 138/121, 138/122, 138/118, 138/119, 426/111, 222/92, 222/107
• US Class Current: 220/666
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 1/0292 Foldable bottles

Abstract

In a crushable plastic bottle, a plurality of foldable creases are formed on a wall surface of a body of the plastic bottle so as to in a longitudinal direction thereof in parallel. The foldable creases are formed so that wide and narrow creases are arranged alternately so as to form inequilateral lambda'"'"'s (Λ'"'"'s). When the foldable creases are folded, the narrow creased are roughly turned over in such a way that each inner surface of the narrow crease is brought into contact with the inner surface of each outward adjacent wide crease. Thus, with each narrow crease sandwiched between the two adjacent wide creases, the wide crease are overlapped with each other and fixed in shape as they are.

Claims

1. A plastic bottle which can be crushed and collapsed both before and after use, said bottle having a plurality of creases that form parallel pleats on wall surfaces of a body of said plastic bottle, said pleats extending around a perimeter of said body including top, bottom and two opposite disposed side surfaces of said bottle, said pleats having a wide panel and a narrow panel with said creases alternately forming ridges and roots of said pleats, the relative dimensions of said wide and narrow panels enabling creases near an outside surface of said bottle to fold into creases near a center of said bottle, whereby said bottle can be shipped in a collapsed condition prior to use, expanded for use, and again collapsed after use.

2. The bottle of claim 1 where a height of shoulder portions of said bottle slope downwardly from a neck of said bottle toward sides of said bottle whereby the outside size of said bottle is reduced in height at the upper surface thereof.

3. The bottle of claim 2 wherein an outside perimeter surface surrounding a bottom of said bottle is chamfered.

4. The bottle of claim 1 wherein a front to back thickness of said bottle is gradually reduced so that the bottle becomes progressively thinner from a relatively thicker portion adjacent a neck of said bottle to a thinner portion at the opposite sides of said bottle.

5. An elongated crushable plastic bottle having a top side, a bottom side, and two elongated vertical sides extending between said top and bottom sides, said top side having an opening therein, said bottom side being a closed surface, whereby said bottle may be filled and emptied via said opening, a plurality of spaced parallel creases extending vertically along the elongated length of the vertical sides and continuing across the top and bottom surfaces of said bottle, said creases alternately forming ridges and valleys which define side wall panels of said pleats, the relative dimensions of said side wall panels of said pleats forming alternately wide and narrow panels, said wide panels being on a side of said pleat which is nearer a center of said bottle and said narrow panel being on a side of said pleat which is nearer the outside of said bottle, and the relative dimensions of said wide and narrow panels enabling said wide panels near an outside surface of said bottle to fold onto said narrow panels nearer the center of said bottle.