Materials, such as wall patching compound or wall board joint compound are available, generally, in large containers such as tubs or drums, and smaller containers, such as tubes. Particularly, wall patching compounds are available in the smaller, tube-type containers.
In use, these materials are squeezed or expelled from the tube in an appropriate amount for the required task. The material is then spread over the area to be covered using a separate trowel or spreading knife.
Typically, this operation requires the use of both hands to open the container, dispense or expel the material from the container, close the container, and spread the material on the surface which needs to be repaired. This operation can be particularly cumbersome when the user is standing, for example, on a ladder or an elevated surface.
Another drawback to known containers is that many such containers do not provide an air-tight seal to keep the material fresh and usable. The material which is exposed to air tends to harden and become unusable. This is particularly troublesome with tube-type containers which have small nozzle openings to discharge the material. If the material hardens in the nozzle, the tube is generally unusable, and the entire tube must be discarded.
Thus, there continues to be a need for a container for materials such as wall patching compound, which permits "one-handed" operation, and which container provides an air-tight seal to maintain the compound in a fresh, usable condition.