TEXT OF THE DESCRIPTION

The present invention refers to a foldable con- tainer for small objects, such as for example a case or a spectacle case or similar personal equipment, comprising a shell-like body which delimits an inner housing space, which shell-like body is provided with an insertion and removal opening, which opening is closable by means of a closing lid which is linked to the shell-like body in such a way that it can be moved alternately between a closed position of said opening and an opened position of the same, the closing lid being provided with activatable and deactivable members for fixing to the shell-like body of said lid at least in said closed position and wherein said shell-like body is made of rigid and non-deformable walls.

Similar devices are well known in the prior art and widely spread among a certain number of users. They are used to store objects, storing and protecting them to avoid damage such may be the scratch of an eyeglass lens, the bending of the temples or the breakage of one of these or other parts of the object.

However, in the case of pre-formed cases having a shell-like body with rigid and non-deformable walls, once they have been made their shape is fixed and can- not be bent or thinned. When said case is intended to house glasses, the same is preferably rigid, or non- deformable in order to protect the structural integrity of the frame and that of the lenses. Therefore, gener- ally the case of the glasses even in an empty condi- tion, occupies space and is uncomfortable to store when not in use. In addition, pre-formed rigid cases that cannot be flattened or folded are also not convenient for storage and distribution, as well as transport. In fact, transport costs and storage costs also depend on the overall volume of the products which are greater the greater the overall volume, especially when caused by empty spaces. Hence the need to have cases or cas ings of the folding type or at least which can be flattened, but which at the same time in a formed con dition for use have the characteristics of resistance to compression and therefore the protection effective ness of the current rigid cases.

For example, document CN203399769U discloses a foldable spectacle case comprising a front plate, a back plate, an upper plate, a flat covering flap, side foldable flaps on themselves.

All the above mentioned plates are linked to each other at adjacent mutual coupling rims by means of bendable film hinges which allow mutual oscillation and/or complete tilting of the adjacent plates on each other around an axis parallel to the rims of mutual hinging. The folding side walls on themselves are formed by folding flaps. These are hinged to each other along a mutual coupling rim, while each of said flaps is in turn hinged at a coupling rim with a front plate and a rear plate respectively.

In this way, thanks to the "wallet" folding of the side flaps intended to form the head walls of the case, the case itself can be flattened by superimposing the plates that define it on top of each other and forming a pack of plates overlapping each other.

The spectacle case can be folded when it does not contain glasses, so that it does not occupies space and is comfortable to store.

Although a device built in accordance with docu ment CN203399769U allows to obtain a foldable case for glasses which can be folded, the applicant observes that further improvements to a similar product are possible which enrich its characteristics and improve at least in part the functionalities.

A first aspect noted by observing the cited doc ument relates to the presence of two folding head flaps to be moved outwards simultaneously with the formation of the case and vice versa to be moved inwards when it is intended to fold the case in a flattened condition of not use. Such arrangement, in addition of being at least apparently not practical to be used during the forming and folding operations of the case, suffers from the disadvantage of the presence of at least two rims which overlap in the folded condition, effectively increasing the overall thickness as evident from Fig. 5 of CN203399769U wherein 5 plates overlapping in axial direction to the plane containing the front, rear, up- per and covering walls of the formed case are high- lighted.

Furthermore, among the other limitations ob- served in the prior art, the folding flaps intended to form the head rims of the case, are permanently linked to the rear and front plates which causes the need to perform joining operations between the parts during the production phase of the object and a further disad- vantage for the user who could easily force such struc- ture by spreading the front plate excessively from the rear one, seriously damaging the case. Furthermore, the set of plates and flaps cannot be lied out on a plane in a completely open condition in the form of a die- cut. This also has repercussions from the point of view of production processes which require a stable and non- releasable connection of the side flaps to both the rear and front plates. The solutions according to the prior art also allow a relative oscillation of the plates according to a single direction of angular dis- placement.

The present invention therefore overcomes such limitations and introduces innovative characteristics with respect to the known prior art thanks to a fold- able case comprising a shell-like body which delimits an inner housing space, which shell-like body is pro- vided with an insertion and removal opening, which opening can be closable by means of a closing lid that is linked to the shell-like body in such a way that it can be moved alternatively between a closed position of said opening and an opened position of the same, being said closing lid provided with activable and de- activable members for fixing to the shell-like body of said lid at least in said closed position and wherein said shell-like body is made with rigid and non-de- formable walls and which shell-like body presents in use the shape of a solid with a polygonal base, which consists of a plurality of flat wall elements linked together along adjacent rims along the edges of said solid with a polygonal base thanks to hinges having oscillation axes parallel to and/or coinciding with said edges while at least two of said adjacent mantle wall elements are not stably linked with each other along the corresponding edge, one of said two mantle wall elements being provided with an extension flap hinged to the free rim of the same mantle wall element being said flap intended to overlap the adjacent mantle wall element and said adjacent wall element and said extension flap being provided with cooperating releas- able coupling members, while the polygonal head walls of said solid with polygonal base consist of at least one wall element of polygonal shape which is linked to an adjacent head rim of one of the mantle wall elements by means of a hinge having an axis of oscillation par- allel to said linking rim and each head wall element has, along a side opposite the hinging side to the corresponding mantle wall element, an overlapping flap, preferably on the inner side of the mantle wall element adjacent to said side of the rim of the head wall element to which said overlapping flap is hinged, re- leasable linking members being provided between the overlapping flap of each head wall element and the corresponding mantle wall element, being said case obtained from a substantially flat die-cut body, which die-cut body has a central band subdivided into a plurality of rigid zones that are joined together by folding lines and/or swivel hinges, each rigid zone consisting of a plate forming one of the mantle wall elements of the case when in use, a plate of the two end plates of said central band being further hinged to an extension flap which is provided with releasable fixing members to corresponding coop- erating releasable fixing members provided on the plate at the opposite end of said central band, whereas, on each of the sides of the central band which are trans- verse to the hinging rims of the plates intended to form the zones of said central band, there is provided a lateral extension plate which is linked by means of predetermined folding lines and/or hinging members to the corresponding rim of one of said plates and is intended to form one of the two head wall elements, which extension plate in turn has an extension flap along one of its sides of the peripheral rim, which extension flap is linked to said extension plate by means of predetermined folding lines or hinging mem bers, and which extension flap has releasable fixing members to corresponding members which are provided in one of the plates of the central band, which is in tended to be overlapped by said flap in the formed condition of the case.

By way of example valid for each of the embodi ments illustrated and also each of the folding or hing ing lines between the various plates and/or flaps, in Fig. 2 is illustrated for only one of these an imagi nary hinging axis indicated with A1 of a hinging zone between two adjacent plates 111, while with F1 is il lustrated a bidirectional arrow which indicates the possibility of the two plates 111 to be oscillated towards each other according to one of said two angular directions indicated by the arrow.

This is valid for all folding and/or hinging lines and, as it will appear more clearly later on, it allows the plates of the die-cut to be folded in two direc tions and therefore to alternatively have, depending on the direction of oscillation chosen, one of the two faces of the plates as the outer face or inner face of the case in its assembled condition for use. Hereinafter and in general unless otherwise spec ified, the term die-cut body and die-cut are to be understood as referring to the same object which com prises folding lines in any way made on an element also comprising zones that are folded around at least one of such folding lines.

Such die-cut initially develops in a substantially flat space and is subsequently folded so as to form a generic container having a shell-like body such as a case for objects which comprises:

- mantle surfaces to delimit a containment space

- an opening of the space, closable by a rigid zone operating as a lid and held in the closed position by an extension flap

- at least one head wall

- a possible bottom wall

- folding zones

The flat die-cut body comprises a plurality of rigid zones with predetermined shape and dimensions which are separated by folding zones, made of flexible material.

Part of said rigid zones, which are arranged side by side along a central band of the die-cut body and mutually linked by predetermined folding zones, are intended to form the perimeter or mantle wall; to at least one of these rigid zones is linked at one end a further rigid zone intended to form the upper wall or head wall, which head wall acts as a releasable cover to access the contents of the container case.

Along the lateral rims of the central band of the die-cut body, e.g. at the end of one or more of said rigid zones, tabs are linked, linked by folding zones in analogy to what is present between rigid zones, which define one or more extension flaps to the rigid zone immediately adjacent in the formed condition of the case and which overlap said rigid zone being rig- idly constrained thereto by means of releasable en- gagement means. Such flaps define, in the formed con- dition, the side walls of the case but can also be folded and positioned between two rigid zones, defining the folded shape of the case.

In a preferred embodiment, such engagement or re- leasable fixing means comprise magnetic elements in- tended to cooperate with ferromagnetic parts present in predefined portions of the walls of the case, how- ever it is possible to provide easily further variant which provide, also a combination or sub-combination, of the following mechanisms:

- magnetic engagement means;

- mechanical engagement means;

- retaining means composed of synthetic fabrics mutu- ally engaged when overlaid.

In one embodiment, said releasable fixing means are present in at least a predefined portion of said extension flaps and in at least a predefined portion of said adjacent rigid zones, since said releasable fixing means can optionally be arranged so as to act on the faces opposite of the same overlapping flap and/or of the same rigid zone. As it will be better evident from the figures, the arrangement of releasable fixing means on the two extension flaps and on specific portions of the rigid zones allows the formation of a substantially closed container whose shape is maintained by the cooperation of the fixing elements with the rigid zones of the case as long as a sufficiently high and correctly oriented force does not act in such a way as to disjoin the flaps allowing the change of shape of the case itself. The fixing means, such as magnetic, or mechanical pressure devices or a combina tion of fabrics such as velcro® are sized in such a way that it is possible to manually release them man ually by a user intending to perform this action, while in normal conditions of use remain adherent and allow the desired shape of the case to be maintained.

In an executive variant, said hinging means allow the oscillation around the relative folding line for a maximum angular opening substantially equal to a round angle. This feature offers the maximum flexibility of implementation of the case and also allows to obtain a double-sided format case or more commonly referred to as double-face, i.e. whose external surfaces of the rigid zones can be exchanged with the internal surfaces of the same rigid zones simply by assembling the case in a symmetrical way. Thanks to the rotatable fixing mechanisms, such benefit can be obtained simply by differentiating the materials and/or finishes of the two faces of the flat die-cut, e.g. by using different materials or different colours or different treatments, resulting in numerous advantages from a practical and aesthetic point of view as well as the different per meability to liquids and the possibility of aesthetic combination with other personal accessories of the user.

In a variant embodiment that can be also provided in combination or sub-combination of the other possible embodiments, said hinging means are made of vegetable fabric or leather such as for example leather or syn thetic fabric. This is particularly advantageous when the same material is used for the soft folding zones and for the rigid wall or mantle zones of the case, the latter being able to be stiffened by coupling with one or more flat plates, preferably made of metallic material and even more preferably of ferromagnetic ma terial, positioned in corresponding pockets of said die-cut body which are formed by the superimposition of two layers of surface material which define the two faces of the die-cut body.

In an executive variant, that can be freely pro vided with one or more of the other possible variants, the invention provides for the presence of a lightening part, for example in the form of a sheet of plastic material or even foamed material, to be inserted in at least one of the zones of the die-cut body in order to reinforce and/or lighten the walls that form the con tainer case. Preferably, such sheets are coated with quality material for the overall aesthetics of the ob ject in accordance with the present invention.

These and other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more clearly from the following description of two of the possible em bodiments illustrated in the attached drawings wherein:

- Fig. 1 shows a top view of a die-cut body in accord ance with a first embodiment aimed at providing a parallelepiped-shaped case with a triangular section with magnetic fixing means;

- Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the same object of the previous figure;

- Fig. 3-5 show the steps for forming the case from the die-cut of Fig. 2 to the condition formed of Fig. 5;

- Fig. 6 shows the folded condition of the case object of the previous figures; - Fig. 7 shows a top view of a die-cut body in accord ance with a second embodiment aimed at providing a parallelepiped-shaped case with a rectangular sec tion with magnetic fixing means;

With reference to Fig. 1, in it is shown a die-cut body or complete die-cut 1, which is capable of being arranged in a formed condition, a condition wherein it becomes a mobile container for personal objects, e.g. such as a case for glasses, which case can be folded when not in use, obtaining a compact shape and more easily storable while remaining just as easily assem bled in the form of a case with a few simple manual steps as illustrated in the following figures. The substantially flat die-cut body 1 is subdivided into a plurality of rigid zones 111, 121, 131, 211, 221, 311, 411, 421 delimited by folding lines 511, 521, 531, 541, 551, 561 arranged in predetermined positions and around which a corresponding folding zone can be defined, hereinafter indicated with the same numerical refer ence. Some of these rigid zones will form the periph eral or mantle walls of the case; as better shown in the following figures, the rigid zone 131 will define the front wall, the rigid zone 121 will define the rear wall, the rigid zone 111 will define the upper wall with the function of covering the three-dimensional space that is created in formed condition of the case. Such upper wall 111 is joined at one end, by means of a folding zone 511, to a further rigid zone 311 which acts as an extension flap to hold said upper covering wall 111 in the closed position, adhering in a releas able manner to the front wall 131. In this way, the upper wall acts as a movable clos ing lid, which can be moved alternately between an opened position and a closed position for access or not to the containing space of the case, said closing lid being provided with activable and deactivable mem bers for fixing the case body.

Hinging means are provided in the folding zones for the mutual oscillation of two adjacent rigid zones along the corresponding folding lines that delimit said two rigid zones. In a preferred variant, said hinging means are provided with one or more portions of the covering material of the die-cut body, such as for example leather or other fabric, of such thickness and dimensions as to allow said oscillation thanks to the elastic characteristics of the material.

In the formed condition of the case, as better visible in the following figures, two side walls or head walls indicated with 211 and 221 are provided which have a triangular shape and are linked to the rigid zone 131 respectively by the two folding zones 551 and 541. The triangular shape of the side walls is peculiar to the first specific shape described in the attached drawings and does not limit the inventive scope claimed as furthermore evident from the second embodiment described below, which is characterized by rectangular side walls.

At the free ends of the side walls 211 and 221 there are two further folding zones 561 and 571 from which two linking zones depart to define two extension flaps 411 and 421 which overlap the corresponding rigid zone immediately adjacent of said foldable case into a formed condition of the same. In particular, the two flaps 411 and 421 overlap the rigid zone 121 as better evident in Fig. 4.

To maintain the formed or folded condition of the case, releasable fixing means are provided which allow to hold in position said rigid zones that define said walls in the final formed folded position of the die- cut body. In the embodiment of Fig. 1 and following, they are of the magnetic type and each provided in two parts which by magnetic attraction remain mutually fixed, maintaining the position until they are separated by means of a detachment force. A first pair of these magnetic fixing means is indicated with 1121 and 1411, of which the first element 1121 is rigidly constrained near the peripheral left rim of the rigid zone 121 while the second element 1411 is rigidly constrained to the flap 411. This pair of magnetic elements, 1121 and 1411, cooperate in maintaining the side wall 211 in the formed condition of the case. In analogy to this arrangement, a second pair of magnetic elements 1421 and 1221 cooperate to keep the opposite side wall 221 in the formed position.

The first magnetic elements 1121 and 1221 are arranged near the two lateral peripheral rims of the rigid zone 121 and this allows a constraint in a predetermined position in such a way that the corresponding side walls 211 and 221, constrained by the flaps 411 and 421, are parallel between of them and orthogonal to the plane wherein the rigid zone 121 lies.

Two further magnetic fixing means 1131 and 2131 are provided in the rigid zone of the front wall 131, wherein the magnetic element 2131 is used to fix and hold the extension flap 311 when the case is in the formed condition as shown Fig. 5, while the same ex tension flap 311 is releasably retained by the magnetic element 1131 when the case is in the folded condition. In such condition, the magnetic element 2131 is in contact with the rigid zone 111 or the lid in the formed condition of the case, as visible in Fig. 6, and coop erates in retaining the same against the front wall 131.

From Fig. 6 is therefore highlighted how the ar rangement of the rigid zones, the folding zones and the linking flaps is such as to allow a folded condi tion of said case, alternative to said formed condi tion, wherein the case obtain a substantially flat and extremely compact shape.

Fig. 2 to 5, in addition to what has already been described, show the initial state of a flat die-cut (Fig. 2), the final step of a case in a formed condition (Fig. 5) and some intermediate relevant steps to il lustrate how the formation of the case occurs. The reused numerical references refer to the same part of the case. In particular, in Fig. 3 it is observed a first step wherein the rigid zone 131 is approached to the rigid zone 121 while the side walls are folded inwards and the linking flaps 411 and 421 are further folded so that the magnetic elements 1411 and 1421 approach the corresponding magnetic elements 1121 and 1221. When the fixing force acts between these elements the case is in the partially formed condition repre sented in Fig. 4, which is also the condition wherein a containment space is already defined wherein it is possible to position personal effects to keep. Finally, the oscillation of the upper wall 111 around the sep aration zone 521 allows said upper wall 111 to displace itself to cover the containment space, being also re tained by the extension flap 311 which is magnetically fixed to the front wall 131 by means of the magnetic element 2131.

According to a further characteristic, the magnetic fixing elements are incorporated in the rigid zones and in the linking zones in such a way as to provide magnetic forces in both opposite faces of said rigid zones. In fact, it should be noted that the magnetic elements 2131 and 1131 are shown only on the internal surface of the rigid zone 121 (Fig. 1-3) but act by retaining the extension flap 311 to the external sur face of such rigid zone 121.

According to a further feature, the hinges of the folding zones are such as to allow a mutual oscillation between the two rigid zones linked by a single folding zone for an angular opening that extends almost for a rounded angle, less than a few decimal degrees due to the thicknesses of the materials. Advantageously, this feature combined with the previous one allows the for mation of the same case in two different shapes which differ in which surface is exposed to the outside and which surface defines the internal lining of the con tainment space. In other words, a case according to the present invention can be of the double-face type, simply by inverting the directions of oscillation of the rigid zones around the folding lines.

In accordance with this characteristic, which can be provided in combination or sub-combination with one or more of the other embodiments, the case object of the invention, in addition to being foldable and being obtained from a single die-cut, can be provided in two different shapes starting from the same basic structure or without the need to change the construction of the basic die-cut.

What above is schematically highlighted and by way of example for one of the hinging zones between the plates 111 and 121. In this case the axis of relative oscillation between said two plates is indicated schematically and indicatively with the dashed line and point Al, while the double arrow Fl indicates the possibility of oscillating the two plates 111 and 121 against each other according to two angular directions opposite to each other. By applying the choice for each of the folding and/or hinging lines provided between the plates 111, 121, 131, 311 and correspondingly between the plate 131 and the flaps 211 and 221, and 411 and 421, it is possible to form the case with alternatively one of the two faces of said plates and flaps facing inwards of the same and the other facing outwards according to the direction of oscillation chosen.

Such possibility applies to all the executive variants provided such as for example also the one according to the following Fig. 7.

Fig. 7 shows a second variant of the present invention, wherein a parallelepiped-shaped holder case is provided but, unlike the previous case, having a rectangular section.

In partial analogy with what has already been described, the substantially flat die-cut body 2 is divided into a plurality of rigid zones 112, 122, 132, 142, 212, 222, 412, 422 delimited by folding lines 512, 522, 532, 542 , 552, 562, 572 arranged in predetermined positions and around which a corresponding folding zone can be defined, hereinafter indicated with the same numerical reference. Some of these rigid zones will form the peripheral or mantle walls of the case; unlike the previous case, a bottom wall 142 opposite and par allel to the rigid zone or upper wall or lid 112 is defined here when the case is in a formed condition. The rigid zone 132 will also form the front wall, the rigid zone 122 will form the rear wall, the rigid zone 112 will form the upper wall with the function of cov ering the three-dimensional space that is created in the formed condition of the case and which allows ac cess or not to the containment space of the case, being able to move between an opened position and a closed position of the access opening to said space. Such upper wall 112 is joined at one end by a folding zone 512 to the extension flap 312 which acts as a movable closing tab to retain said rigid area 112 in the closed position, adhering in a releasable manner to the front wall 132.

In the folding zones, hinging means are provided for the mutual oscillation of two adjacent rigid zones along the corresponding folding lines that delimit said two rigid zones.

In the formed condition of the case there are two head walls or side walls indicated with 212 and 222 which have a square or rectangular shape and are linked to the rigid zone 132 respectively by the two folding zones 552 and 542.

At the free ends of the side walls 212 and 222 there are two further folding zones 562 and 572 from which two linking zones depart to define two extension flaps 412 and 422 which overlap the corresponding rigid zone immediately adjacent to said foldable case into a condition formed of the same. In particular, the two flaps 412 and 422 overlap the rigid zone 122. To maintain the formed or folded condition of the case, releasable fixing means are provided which allow to retain in position said rigid zones that form said walls in the final formed folded position of the die- cut body. Also, in this embodiment they are of the magnetic type and each one provided in two parts which by magnetic attraction remain mutually fixed, main taining their position until they are separated by means of a detachment force. A first pair of these magnetic fixing means is indicated with 1122 and 1412, of which the first element 1122 is rigidly constrained near the peripheral left rim of the rigid zone 122 while the second element 1412 is rigidly constrained to the flap 412. This pair of magnetic elements, 1122 and 1412, cooperate in maintaining the side wall 212 in the formed condition of the case. In analogy to this arrangement, a second pair of magnetic elements 1422 and 1222 cooperate to keep the opposite side wall 222 in the formed position.

The first magnetic elements 1122 and 1222 are ar ranged near the two peripheral lateral rims of the rigid zone 122 and this allows a constraint in a pre determined position in such a way that the correspond ing side walls 212 and 222, constrained by the flaps 412 and 422, are parallel between of them and orthog onal to the plane wherein the rigid zone 122 lies.

A further magnetic fixing means 1132 is provided in the rigid zone of the front wall 132, to hold the rigid zone operating as an extension flap 312 when the case is in a folded or formed condition.

From what has been described it appears evident that the device according to the invention achieves the predetermined scopes. The object of the invention is susceptible of nu merous modifications and variations, all falling within the inventive concept expressed in the attached claims. All the details can be replaced by other technically equivalent elements, and the materials can be different according to the requirements, without leaving the scope of protection of the present invention.

Although the object has been described with par ticular reference to the attached figures, the refer- ence numbers used in the description and in the claims are used to improve the intelligence of the invention and do not define any limitation to the scope of pro tection claimed.