Field of the invention

The invention consists of a container realized in whelded sheet and provided with circular base and an upper square opening. Specifically, it consists of a "pseudo-conical" metal container with a large internal volume (hundreds of liters).

In the present description, "pseudo-conical" means a metal container having circular base and square opening, the distance between the opposite sides of the opening being larger then the base diameter: the lateral walls of the container, hereinafter called body, present a sloping section like a frustum-conical container. Background

Metal containers (generally provided with a lid) are widely utilized to contain, package and transport several and different types of products of well distinguished fields of the market, for instance: foodstuffs (ice-creams, condiments, sauces, etc. ); agricultural products and by-products thereof (fruits, vegetables, juices, extracts, etc.); chemical products (inks, fillers, paints, colours, solvents, etc.), etc. Several types of frustum-conical metal containers are known and available on the market. The internal volume of such containers varies from few liters to hundreds of liters (depending on the specific product and the relevant field of the market): such containers have a drawback because they do not allow to fully utilize the available area, both on the transporting means of the containers (pallets, containers, etc.), and in the storehouse. In

fact, it is impossible to avoid an empty, unused space, between two adjacent frustum-conical containers.

Metal containers of truncated-pyramid shape are also known (containers having both the base and the opening of a square, or rectangular, shape). Such containers have a drawback because they need the realization of a special production line (different from a line suitable to product frustum-conical containers) having low productivity and high production costs (for instance, seaming the square or rectangular base to the body of the container is a complicated, long-term and expensive operation).

Truncated-pyramidal shape containers having small volumes (about 5 Liters) are realized to particular uses, for instance as varnish and/or roll-paint tubs.

Small dimensions containers of plastic material for foodstuff (puddings, yoghurt, etc.) wich present an upper square opening are also known. Such containers are generally realized by moulding of the plastic material, employing completely different technologies and equipments from those utilized or suitable to realize metal containers.

The metal containers with circular base and square opening of the present invention allow to overcome the drawbacks of the known metal containers, because they are realized utilizing (at least in part) the same production line for frustum-conical containers. Furthermore. they allow an optimum utilization of the available area both on the transporting means (pallets, containers, etc.) and in the storehouse.

Summary of the invention

The present invention relates to a metal container realized from whelded sheet, having circular base and square opening. Such container is preferably a "pseudo-conical" container (the distance between the opposite sides of the square opening is larger then the base diameter) . The container presents a projecting nm corresponding to the square opening, which nm allows to easily separate two stacked containers.

Brief description of the drawings The invention will be better described by reference to the following drawings, given as a non-limitative example of preferred embodiments, in which:

- fig.l shows three perspective views of a "pseudo-conical" metal container according to the invention; - fig.2 shows a top .lew of the container of fig.l;

- fig.3 shows the -.-■. section of fig.2, but referring to a different embodiment of a "pseudo-conical" metal container according to the invention.

In the annexed drawings, corresponding elements are always identified by the same reference numbers. Detailed description of the invention

Fig.l shows three different perspective views of a "pseudo-conical" metal container according to the invention, in order to better illustrate the container shape and in particular its complicated body shape.

The container lid and the respective fastening means, if present, are omitted in the figure to simplify the drawings.

In fig.l, 1 identifies the circular base; 2 identifies the container body seamed to the circular base 1 by a seam 3; 4 identifies the square opening. Sides 5 cf the square opening are generally joined one to the other by rounded circular-shaped parts 6, in order to avoid cutting zones which could be dangerous for people handling the container, and also because such zones are not easy to be emptied and cleaned.

Furthermore, as it is shown in the section of figure 3. the sheet utilized to realize the body 2 is overlapped in correspondance to the square opening 4, in order to avoid cutting portions which could be dangerous to people handling the container.

IR the illustrated preferred embodiment, the circular rounded areas 6 present a radius whose measure is not negligible in respect to the lenght of sides 5. the distance between the opposite sides of the square opening 4 being thus larger than the lenght of a side 5; when the rounded areas 6 radius is very small (or it is negligible in respect to the lenght of a side 5) . the distance between the opposite sides of the square opening 4 virtually matches the lenght of a side 5-

The "pseudo-conical" shape allows to stack the containers (i.e. to insert a container into an other empty container) . The square opening 4 of each container presents a projecting rim 7 which allows to easily separate two stacked containers. The remaining internal surface of the container is smooth in order to facilitate the cleaning of the container and to fully recover its contents.

Figure 2 shows a top view of the container of fig.l. In the figure: the container base 1. the body 2, and the square opening 4 including

four sides 5 joined by rounded areas 6, are shown.

Figure 3 shows the A-A section of figure 2, according to a different embodiment of a "pseudo-conical" metal container according to the invention. It differs from the previous one in that the projecting rim 7 corresponds only to the rounded areas 6 and to the short portions of sides 5 which are nearly adjacent to the rounded areas 6.

The lenght of each of the sides 5 portions presenting the rim 7 is preferably comprised in the range of 1/6 to 1/4 of the side 5 lengnt.

In the figure, the base 1, the body 2, the seaming zone 3 and the square opening 4 having sides 5 joined by rounded areas 6, are also shown.

A metal container realized according to the invention can be manufactured by shaping (with generally known equipments and/or processes) a cilinαπcal or a frustum-conical metal body made by one of the known production lines employed in manufacturing of frustum-conical containers; processes to realize a container according to the invention are not further explained because of their obviousness to the man skilled on the art.

A metal container realized according to the invention presents a larger volume than a frustum-conical container of equal overall size (height of the container and diameter of the opening), thus allowing a better use of the available area both on the transporting means of the container (pallets, containers, etc..) and in the storehouse. This feature is advantageous for containers having whatever size and especially for the big containers, which involve a large amount of

unavoidable unused spaces between adjacent containers.

A "pseudo-conical" metal container is a preferred embodiment of the present invention in which: the internal volume of the container varies from 100 to 400 liters (preferably from 200 to 270 liters); the height of the container varying from 900 to 1200 mm;

- the base 1 diameter varies from 400 to 570 mm;

- the distance between opposite sides of the square opening 4 varies from 450 to 650 mm. Within the scope of the invention a metal container having circular base and square opening can be realized, in which the distance between the opposite sides of the square opening matches the circular base diameter and the container body does not present a sloping section. However, such containers could not be stacked, thus lacking of a feature that those skilled in the art consider critical (or very important) because this features allows to stack within a small volume several empty containers, so drastically reducing storage and transport costs of the empty containers. Within the scope of the invention, as a consequence of the common experience and of the technical development, it is also possible to the skilled in the art to modify and to improve the metal container provided with circular base and square opening object of the present description.