IN THE MATTER OF an Australian Application corresponding to PCT Application PCT/EP2005/002671 RWS Group Ltd, of Europa House, Marsham Way, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England, hereby solemnly and sincerely declares that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, the following document, prepared by one of its translators competent in the art and conversant with the English and German languages, is a true and correct translation of the PCT Application filed under No. PCT/EP2005/002671. Date: 11 July 2006 S. ANTHONY Director For and on behalf of RWS Group Ltd H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 Lock provided with a film hinge The present invention relates to a lock for a container which, in particular, contains a cosmetic composition, the lock having a hinged lid which is connected in one piece to a base part via a film hinge, the film hinge having a pivot axis, there being a latching mechanism which keeps the hinged lid in a first stable position, and a spring element acting on the hinged lid, said spring element being tensioned in the first stable position of the hinged lid and, after the release of the latching mechanism, automatically transferring the hinged lid into a second stable position by means of a driving spring force. A great diversity of openable locking caps of this type are known for cosmetic products which are decanted in particular as more or less liquid lotions into bottles. Generally, the hinged lids latch into the closed position by, for example, a pin which is attached to the inside of the hinged lid engaging in an interlocking manner in the outlet opening leading into the base part. A permanently leakproof lock can thereby be ensured. For the consumer, obvious differences between the various locking caps reside, firstly, in the optical and haptic configuration thereof. Secondly, the known locking caps differ in the characteristic of the pivoting movement. Locking caps are thus known in which the user first of all releases the latched lock and pivots the hinged lid approximately over half of the pivoting path counter to a counter force before, after overcoming an upper apex point, it automatically snaps into an opened position and remains there in a stable position. The characteristic of the pivoting movement is determined by the shape and the arrangement of the film hinges or by additionally provided straps which stretch or compress during the pivoting of the hinged lid. The characteristic can be appropriately set by the combination of hinges and straps.
H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 -2 In the case of the mentioned locking caps which use a spring element, the advantage resides in the simple operation, since, after the release of the latching mechanism, the hinged lid "automatically" opens. This actuation can easily be carried out with one hand by the user - generally with his thumb pressing under the hinged lid, which protrudes at the front in a spout-like manner, until said hinged lid is released from the latched position. The hinged lid then springs into a position which completely opens up the outlet opening, so that the contents can readily be removed. Straps of elastomeric plastic in combination with the hinge are used as spring elements. However, the problem with these automatically snapping-on locks is that the opening takes place with a whipping movement. This may lead to the composition, which unavoidably is still on the lock from the last use, spilling in an uncontrolled manner. In the process, the user may easily be splashed in the eye with the composition or may get it on his clothing. A further disadvantage is that a snapping hinged lid of this type sometimes whacks against the user's fingers in an uncontrolled manner which causes perceptible pain which children, especially, do not tolerate. This type of snapping locking caps is therefore only conditionally user-friendly and reduces the attractiveness of the product. It is now the object of the present invention to provide a lock for a container which ensures user-friendly and safe handling, can be comfortably opened with one hand and can be produced in a simple and cost-effective manner. This object is achieved by a lock with the characterizing features of claim 1. Particular embodiments of the lock are described in the subclaims. The essential basic concept resides in the separate control element which H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 -3 controls the whipping snapping movement, caused by the spring element, of the hinged lid insofar as it causes a certain delay in a specific manner at least during part of the pivoting movement in comparison with a pivoting movement brought about only by the spring force. According to the invention, the control element is to be provided in such a manner that the hinged lid carries out a harmonic pivoting movement which is pleasing for the user. It is advantageous here also to take structurally predetermined parameters, such as, for example, the inertia of the hinged lid, into consideration in the conception of the control element. Ultimately, the substantial advantage of the control element resides in the fact that it gives the designer the possibility of applying particular creativity to the "pivoting design" of the lock, as is known, for example, from the manufacturing of automobiles, in particular of doors and flaps. By means of the control element, the automatic movement of the hinged lid is controlled and therefore does not cause either painful whacks by the hinged lid or a spillage of the composition. A hinged-lid movement which is relatively uniform and behaves "dependably" can therefore be achieved with the control element. As is known, such a movement imparts a distinguished and superior character of quality and distinction. In the same manner, the lock according to the invention therefore increases the user's conception of the quality of the product contained in the container, to which a particular elegance is thereby imparted. The attractiveness of the products can therefore be increased significantly by the invention. Superior compositions can now also be provided in correspondingly superior containers. In this case, the "easy-open" lock according to the invention is suitable for any container which contains a liquid, semi-viscous, viscous, powdery, granulated or solid product.
H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 -4 As already mentioned, the lock according to the invention can be used particularly advantageously, however, for disposable containers for liquid cosmetic compositions, such as hair shampoos. Even if the containers themselves are sometimes made from glass or ceramic, the locking parts are generally manufactured from plastic. In this respect, it is advantageous if the base part and the hinged lid, which is connected thereto via the film hinge, are injection molded in a manner known per se as a one-piece part of plastic. In this context, it is furthermore particularly advantageous if the spring element and/or the control element is/are likewise attached to the lock, i.e. to the base part and/or to the hinged lid, in a fixed connection, in particular is/are attached by injection molding or adhesively bonded thereon. In this case, the spring element is advantageously formed from an elastic strap of deformable plastic, for example of TPE or PE, which engages over the film hinge. The elastic strap can be attached using the same mold in a further step directly after the base part and hinged lid have been injection molded and hardened ("co-injection"). The manufacturing of the lock according to the invention is therefore relatively simple and cost-effective to carry out, which can be judged as being a further advantage. Overall, the invention can be used for any desired locks in which a hinged lid is connected in one piece to a base part via a film hinge. The base part itself can thus form a lower part of a container. In this case, the hinged lid, such as, for example, in the case of a powder- or skin cream-containing compact, is directly connected to the container. In the case of a multiplicity of containers, in particular in the case of bottles for a liquid or viscous cosmetic product, a cap body, comprising base part and hinged lid, is placed, forming a seal, onto the container in an interlocking or frictional manner, for example is screwed on. In this case, the lock lower part of the cap body forms the base part.
H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 -5 The separate control element according to the invention is advantageously conceived in one of the two variants illustrated below: Firstly, it is possible to design the control element as a separate damping element which counters the whipping snapping movement of the hinged lid, which is caused by the spring element, by means of a compensating damping force. This is "specific" insofar as it is used consciously to bring about a damping which goes beyond the "normal" damping brought about by the remaining spring elements of the lock. In this case, it is initially insignificant whether the hinged lid carries out an opening or closing movement which is accelerated by the spring element. However, it is advantageous to provide the damping for an opening movement. In this case, the first stable position is the position in which the hinged lid closes a lock opening in a sealing manner while the second stable position can be considered as being the position in which the hinged lid completely opens up the lock opening. The invention therefore permits a damped opening movement which is initiated by simple release of the latching mechanism, in particular by finger pressure on or against the hinged lid, the hinged lid forming the lock upper part. After being released, the latter opens, without additional use of force, with a slow and continuous movement until it reaches its end position. One intention of the invention is also to set the manner of the opening movement via the damping element. In order to ensure a slow and continuous movement of this type, it is advantageous if the damping force acts at least over a substantial subsection of the pivoting movement and, in the process, approximately compensates for the accelerating component of the spring force. The damping force should have a compensating characteristic in comparison with the accelerating spring H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 -6 force insofar as it initially starts from a high value and then aims for a low value during the movement. The magnitude of the damping force should be somewhat lower than that of the opening spring force acting at the particular waypoint. Even if it is not particularly simple structurally to realize this ideal characteristic, it can nevertheless be comparatively simply approximated by means of a damping force which is virtually constant over the subsection. The damping element here can be conceived in different ways. In a particularly simple form which is therefore to be preferred, it is a strap which has a relaxed rest position in the first stable position and which is deformed under the spring force when the hinged lid is pivoted. The deformation may be a torsion, a bending or deflection or a compression but also may reside in a mixture of the abovementioned forms of deformation. On account of the particularly simple manufacturing, it may be advantageous to produce the strap from elastically deformable plastic, in particular from PP, with the strap then bending or deflecting when the hinged lid is pivoted. Depending on the conception of the lock, even a "spring strap" which is manufactured from rigid plastic and bends resiliently during the pivoting may afford particular advantages. In another advantageous embodiment, the damping element has an air-filled body or a body which is to be filled with air which is compressed or stretched by the pivoting of the hinged lid, with air escaping from the body or being sucked therein via a defined opening. As known, for example from air pumps, the damping by means of an element of this type leads to a relatively linear movement irrespective of the acting force. During the manually caused opposite movement, in particular when closing the lid, the damping element is correspondingly charged or discharged again. A series of embodiments are conceivable here for a damping element of this type: for example, elements of H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 -7 this type can be realized by flexible tubes which are used instead of the abovementioned straps and which have corresponding nozzles. It is certainly particularly simple to manufacture the body from an elastic foamed material which - similarly to a sponge - compresses or extends when subjected to a force. An element of this type could be attached during the manufacturing or directly after it. The separate control element according to the invention can also be conceived in the variants illustrated below: In this case, the invention provides an actuating element which acts directly upon the spring element with an actuating force and therefore influences the characteristic thereof. Thus, the actuating element can be used to "set" the pivoting movement of the lock. In particular, the linear change in the pure spring force can be modified via the pivoting movement in such a manner that the uncontrolled snapping-on of the hinged lid becomes a compensated and at least virtually uniform pivoting movement. For this purpose, the actuating element, at least during part of the pivoting movement, directly acts upon the spring element with the actuating force, the actuating force setting the strength and/or direction of the spring force acting on the hinged lid and therefore influencing the speed of the pivoting movement. In this case, it is again initially insignificant whether the hinged lid is caused by the spring element to undergo an opening or a closing movement. However, the actuating element advantageously acts on the spring element which relaxes during the opening. The interplay of the forces used according to the invention leads to the desired, controlled opening movement which is initiated by the release of the latching mechanism. In order to ensure the desirably slow and continuous movement, it is advantageous if the actuating force acts over at least a substantial part of the pivoting movement rather than only over a small H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 -8 section. The actuating element here can be conceived in different ways. In a particularly simple manner which is therefore to be preferred, it is designed as a knee-like projection which protrudes to the rear from the back of the locking cap and around which the elastic strap stretches during closing of the hinged lid. The actuating element therefore presses an indentation into the elastic strap and thus leads to a lengthening of the extent of extension. In this embodiment, the knee-like actuating element has one or more bearing surfaces on which the elastic strap bears under tension when the hinged lid is in the first stable position. The particular manner in which this actuating element acts on the pivoting movement can be explained by the fact that the direction of action of the spring force caused by the contraction of the extended strap is predetermined by the bearing surfaces. Thus, the change in profile of the force resulting on the hinged lid can be set by the design of the bearing surfaces. In a relatively simple case, the contraction is carried out in a plurality of discrete movement steps along the bearing surfaces which are arranged at an angle and differ in the direction of the acting spring force. The actuating element may also be provided with a bearing surface which describes a curve and along which the elastic strap contracts. Whereas, in the case of the known hinged lid opening by spring force, the force decreases continuously in accordance with the tensioned elastic strip and the direction of the force does not change or merely pivots continuously about a point, the force now acts in predeterminable directions which are defined by the bearing surfaces of the actuating element. The direction of action can thus be used to influence the force component which acts as a result on the hinged lid and which causes the final, in particular uniform, movement.
H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 -9 In another embodiment, the elastic strap is equipped, in the manner of a toothed belt, on its surface facing the bearing surfaces with one or more projections or notches which engage behind corresponding edges formed by the bearing surfaces and which are gradually released as the strap relaxes. By means of this measure, one subsection of the strap is still kept under tension while a first subsection is already relaxing. The spring force acting overall can therefore be divided into a plurality of successive individual amounts. The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the attached figures 1 to 4, in which: figure 1 shows a cap body with a damping element, figure 2 shows a hinged lid in various positions, figure 3 shows a cap body with an actuating element, and figure 4 shows a hinged lid in three positions. Figures 1 and 3 each show a lock, which is injection molded as a single piece from plastic, for a container, in particular a bottle, which has a hinged lid 1 as lock upper part. The hinged lid 1 is connected in a single piece to a base part 2 via a film hinge 8, the base part 2 forming a lock lower part. In the exemplary embodiment shown, base part 2 and hinged lid 1 form a cap body which can be placed onto the container. The film hinge 8 forms a pivot axis 9 about which the hinged lid 1 pivots. In this case, the base part 2 is formed by the lower part of a lock which can be placed, forming a seal, onto a container, in particular onto a bottle for a liquid or viscous cosmetic composition. However, the base part 2 could also be formed by the container itself.
H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 - 10 The hinged lid 1 is kept in the closed position, which is referred to in each case by A in figures 2 and 4 and which forms the first stable position in this case, by a latching mechanism. The latching mechanism is realized by a pin 3 which is located in the base of the hinged lid 1 and, in the closed state, engages in the lock opening 4. The pin 3 has a bead 10 which engages in the manner of a barb behind a corresponding edge in the lock opening 4. In this position A, the pin 3 closes the container in a sealing manner. As soon as a slightly upwardly directed pressure is exerted on the hinged lid 1 at the point 5, the pin 3 is released from the lock opening 4. A strap 6 which is tensioned in the closed position A of the hinged lid 1 acts as spring element on the hinged lid 1. The strap 6 is produced from elastic material, for example from TPE or PE, and, on the other hand, is attached to the back of the base part 2 in such a manner that it acts outside the pivot axis 9 or engages over the pivot axis and causes the pivoting about the pivot axis 9. The elastic strap 6 is firstly injection molded onto the hinged lid 1 and secondly onto the base part. After the slightly upwardly directed pressure on the hinged lid 1 and the release of the latching mechanism, the hinged lid 1 is therefore transferred automatically by means of the driving spring force of the strap 6 into its second stable position C which constitutes a rest position. Hinged lid 1 and base part 2 therefore form a snap-action lock which has a slack point in the opened position. According to the invention, in the case of the lock according to figure 1, a damping element 7 is provided which counters the pivoting movement of the hinged lid 1, which pivoting movement is accelerated by the spring force, by means of a specific damping force. In this case, the damping element 7 is produced from less elastic material, for example from PP, and is relaxed in the first stable position. The damping element 7 is, as it were, a "compressive H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 - 11 strap" which is realized from a less elastic material and which counters the "tensile strap" of elastic material by means of a damping force. The relationship between the two forces is influenced in particular by the selection of the corresponding materials, by the geometry, by the length, by the material thickness and the design, which surpasses the importance thereof, of the straps 6 and 7. In this case, the damping force brought about the damping element 7 acts over a substantial subsection (section 11) of the pivoting movement and at least virtually completely compensates for the accelerating component of the spring force, so that the hinged lid 1 carries out a movement at a virtually constant speed. After the latching mechanism is released, the tension stored in the strap 6 is liberated and acts on the hinged lid 1. On account of the mounting in the hinge 8, the spring force causes a swinging movement of the hinged lid 1 about the axis 9 (figure 2, position B). During the swinging movement, the strap 7 is brought out of its rest position and, by means of its deflection rearward, counters the swinging movement by means of a counter force. The manner of this movement is determined by the relationship between the tensile force, exerted by the strap 6, and the counter force, exerted by the strap 7. Toward the end of the movement, the hinged lid reaches its rest position C. The rest position is determined in turn by the arrangement of the axis 9 in the hinge 8 and the geometry, the length and the material thickness of the straps 6 and 7. In the embodiment according to figures 3 and 4, a knee-shaped actuating element 17 is provided which is injection molded in the rear region to the base part 2. At least during part of the pivoting movement, this actuating element 17 directly acts upon the spring element 6 with an actuating force, the actuating H 06309 PCT 03.10.2005 - 12 force exerted by the actuating element 17 in this case essentially setting the direction of the spring force acting on the hinged lid. The actuating element 17 has an end-side bearing surface 18 with an upper curvature 12 and lower curvature 13 (figure 4A, detail), the elastic strap 6 bearing under tension against the bearing surface 18 and the curvatures 12 and 13 when the hinged lid 1 is in the closed position (position A). In this case, the actuating element 17 directly acts upon the elastic strap 6 via the bearing surfaces 18, 12 and 13 with an actuating force, the direction of which varies during the pivoting movement over an angular region. The bearing surfaces which merge into each other are arranged inclined at an angle to one another. The actuating element 17 "forces" the elastic strap 6 to describe a curve as it contracts. After release of the latching mechanism, the tension stored in the elastic strap 6 is liberated and acts on the hinged lid 1. The spring force of the elastic strap 6 permits a pivoting movement of the hinged lid 1 to be brought about (figure 4, position B) corresponding to the mounting in the hinge 8 and the axis 9. During the pivoting movement, the elastic strap 6 is released from the actuating element 17. In this case, the actuating force brought about by the actuating element 17 acts over a considerable subsection of the pivoting movement and compensates for the accelerating component of the spring force by modifying its direction and therefore its resulting effect on the hinged lid. A virtually uniform movement of the hinged lid 1 is therefore produced. The change in the spring force acting on the hinged lid is therefore caused by the arrangement of the bearing surfaces. The hinged lid 1 ultimately passes into its rest position (figure 4, position C) in which the elastic strap 6 is virtually completely lifted off the actuating element 17 and, in the process, is relaxed.