Importance

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Abstract

An injection molded container having a generally circular bottom panel, a side wall extending from the bottom panel, and lid receiving lip structure extending about the projecting wall end defining a container end opening opposite the bottom panel. The side wall extends about a central axis through the bottom panel and end opening. The side wall comprises a continuous outer wall face intersecting a plane extending normal to the axis along a substantially circularly curved line and an inner wall surface defined by a series of facets. The inner wall face intersects the plane along a line having a substantially polygonal shape composed of straight line segments corresponding to respective facets with each straight line segment extending tangent to a second substantially circular line within the first circular line. The side wall defines a series of spaced load supporting ribs each defined between a facet and the outer face. Each rib has a maximal thickness equal to the radial distance between the first and second circularly curved lines proceeding from the center of the panel. The side wall has a series of thin walled segments each having a minimal thickness along a radial line extending medially between adjacent ends of adjacent straight line segments. The maximal thickness rib has sufficient cross sectional area to assure injection molding material flow from the bottom panel area to the lip structure and sufficient column strength to enable mechanical capping of the container. The thin walled segments are narrow and just thick enough to effectively resist radially inward deformation when the container wall is supported internally during printing.

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First Claim