AU634759B2

AU634759B2 - Improvements in and relating to closure caps for containers

Info

Publication number: AU634759B2
Application number: AU52154/90A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Eugene Edward Davis; Peter Stubbs
Original assignee: Johnsen and Jorgensen Plastics Ltd
Current assignee: Obrist Closures Switzerland GmbH
Priority date: 1989-03-23
Filing date: 1990-03-22
Publication date: 1993-03-04
Anticipated expiration: 2010-03-22
Also published as: EP0390412B2; ZA902206B; EP0390412A1; AU5215490A; DE69006879D1; DE69006879T2; GB8906797D0; CA2012644A1; CA2012644C; DE69006879T3; EP0390412B1; JPH0356257A

Description

634759 S F Ref: 124510 FORM COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

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FOR OFFICE USE: Class Int Class S. 0*

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0 Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority: Related Art: Name and Address of Applicant: Johnsen Jorgensen Plastics Limited Grinstead House Grinstead Road London SE8 UNITED KINGDOM Address for Service: Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys Level 33 St Martins Tower, 31 Market Street Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia Complete Specification for the invention entitled: Improvements in and Relating to Closure Caps for Containers The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us 5845/4

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ABSTRACT

A TR closure of plastics material for application to a standard form of container with a projecting neck o* ring as herein defined. The closure has a top, an annular skirt depending from the top, a TR band 5 connected to the skirt by frangible means and an annular expandable or adjustable safety flap adapted when in operative position to engage with the undersioa of the neck ring of the container.

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IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO CLOSURE CAPS FOR CONTAINERS This invention is concerned with the provision of a tamper resistant (TR) cap or tamper indicating cap made of plastics material and specially adapted for application to a container of standard form provided with a neck ring, as shown for example under reference number G.F.304 in a pamphlet issued by the Glass Manufacturers Federation.

Millions of such standard containers are made every year and such containers are at present closed by what is known in the trade as an ROPP (roll on pilfer proof) cap made of aluminium. ROPP caps are very satisfactory but aluminium is becoming increasingly expensive and a demand has been growing for the production of a tamper resistant cap of plastics material for these standard bottles. The main difficulty in the production of such a cap is that it is necessary for the cap to engage under the neck ring of the standard container.

With the existing aluminium ROPP caps appropriate deformation of the metal is effective to shape the cap to engage under the neck ring and once deformed to the required shape the cap 20 remains in its deformed condition. On the other hand plastics material after deformation does not normally hold i its new shape unless it is positively held in position.

'i An attempt to solve this problem was made by Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corporation in their European Application published on 29.08.84 under No. 0117104 A2. In accordance with the Kerr Glass proposal a TR closure is provided which includes a threaded cap and TR means having upwardly and inwardly folded spaced apart tabs which lock against the lower surface of an annular shoulder formed by the neck ring on the container. A disadvantage of the Kerr Glass proposal is that it may be possible to remove the cap from the container without breaking the TR means by inserting an 2 implement into the gaps between adjacent tabs.

Another proposal has been put forward by Owens-Illinois Inc in their European Patent Application published on 02.01.86 under No 0166572 A2. The Owens Illinois proposal also uses spaced apart tabs, which in that proposal are of wedge shape so that when there is an attempt to remove the closure the thicker portion of each tab wedges against the container wall to apply torque to the TR band which breaks the frangible means connecting the band to the skirt of the closure. Once again the gaps between adjacent tabs cause a problem.

In another proposal ACI Australia Ltd have tried to solve this problem in their European Patent Application No 0213742 A2 published on 11.03.87. In the ACI. Australia proposal an annular flap is joined to the TR band of the cap so that the gap problem is overcome but unfortunately the container requires specially shaping by the provision of an axially inclined ramp surface on the container and this modification of the container shape would not be welcome to manufacturers who want to use containers of standard shape which are already available at a relatively inexpensive price. There may also be a problem in the correct application of the cap 0 to the container due to the presence of the flap which is completely annular and smooth in profile and so the cap may be difficult to apply to a container.

00 Also, in US Patent 4,801,031 there has been proposed a closure having an extension skirt portion which is adapted to be tucked inwardly before application of the closure to the container neck and the inwardly turned skirt portion catches under the container neck ring to lock the closure in positibn, and providing a means preventing removal of the closure without featuring the closure. The application of the closure to the container in this case is inconvenient in -3 requiring the skirt portion to be pre-tucked before application of the closure to the container.

It is an object of the present inventlon to provide an improved tamper resistant or tamper indicating cap of plastics material for a standard form of container with a neck ring which can be applied easily and without any modification to the container.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a plastics material tamper resistant closure which is for application to a container having a mouth, a neck and a projecting ring in the neck, and which closure comprises a top, an annular wall depending from the top, said top and annular wall forming a cap portion, and a tamper resistant band connected by frangible means to the lower edge of the wall, and an annular container skirt zonnected to the lower edge of the tamper resistant band, which skirt is adapted to be tucked from a downwardly relaxed position inwardly of the closure to a locking position to engage the projecting neck ring on the container to prevent removal of the cap portion until the frangible means is broken, wherein the said skirt in its downwa rdly relaxed position extends from the lower edge of the band in an inwardly tapering manner so that it is of smaller diameter at its 20 lower edge than at its upper edge where it is connected to said band to facilitate said inward tucking of the skirt when the closure is applied to the container.

Preferably, the flap is corrugated or pleated so that it can, if necessary, expand as the closure is being applied to the container and can then contact again so that it is properly seated in operative position.

A preferred form of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, RLF/03131 4 wherein:- Figure 1 is a side-view of the upper part of a container of standard form according to reference GF 304.

Figures 2 to 4 are various views of one embodiment of the invention; and Figures 5 to 7 are various views of another embodiment of the invention.

Referring first to Figure 1 a container 1 has a mouth at the top 2, a screw thread 3 around the mouth and a neck ring 4 below the thread 3 shaped to provide a shoulder In Figures 2 to 4, a cap 6 has a top 7, a depending skirt 8, a screw thread 9, and a TR band 10 connected to the bottom edge of the skirt 8 by frangible tongues 11. As described so far the cap 6 is of conventional construction, but in 15 accordance with this invention the cap has an expandable or i!!li self-adjusting annular flip-over ring or flap 12 depending from the bottom of the band 10, in a tapered manner as shown, the fla, being internally corrugated at 13 and having a smooth external surface 14.

20 The cap 6 may be moulded in an injection moulding machine with the parts in the position shown in Figure 2, the cap may then be applied to the standard container 1 which will be understood causes the flap 12 to be turned up into the position shown in Figure 4 so that the end of the flap 12 is 25 disposed below the shoulder 5 of the neck ring 4.

If the, container is intended to hold medicaments such as pills or medicines or other products which it is desired should not come into contact with plastics material, the cap 5 may be provided with a wad or liner 15 as shown in Figure 4 so arranged that the wad or liner 15 seats on the rim around the mouth of the container and so seals the contents of the container from coming into contact with the plastics material of which the cap is made. As the cap is screwed on to the container, which is usually a glass bottle, the wad or liner is compressed between the rim of the bottle and the inside of the cap so that a very effective seal is produced. If the wad or liner 15 is fitted as a means for providing a seal between bottle and cap, then the inversion of the selfadjusting annular flip-over ring or flap can take place during the insertion of the wad or liner 15, but in any case as the flap is of tapered, conical form as shown the said inversion is facilitated. By this means, no further secondary operations are required to prepare the cap 6 for screwing onto the mouth of the container 1. Preferably the cap is made of Polypropylene or High Density Polyethylene.

The embodiment illustrated in Figures 5 to 7 differ from the embodiment illustrated in Figures 2 to 4 only in that the 20 self-adjusting annular flip-over ring or flap 12 is in fact pleated in that it is corrugated not only internally at 13 but also externally at 16.

The corrugations illustrated in the two embodiments described give the flap 12 a sufficient degree of adjustability to 'I 25 enable the annular flap easily to pass over the neck ring 4 on the container i.

S"In this specification by "a standard form of container" we mean a known form of container with a neck ring and substantially in accordance with Figure i. By "a tamper 30 resistant cap" we mean a cap that renders the assembly of cap and container resistant to tampering once the cap has been initially applied to the container because the cap cannot be removed without mutilating the cap which in turn gives 6 evidence that the contents of the container may have been tampered with.

It will be understood that a TR closure in accordance with this invention may if desired be corrugated only on the outside with a smooth internal surface.

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Claims

1. A plastics material tamper resistant closure which is for application to a container having a mouth, a neck and a projecting ring in the neck, and which closure comprises a top, an annular wall depending from the top, said top and annular wall forming a cap portion, and a tamper resistant band connected by frangible means to the lower edge of the wall, and an annular container skirt connected to the lower edge of the tamper resistant band, which skirt is adapted to be tucked from a downwardly relaxed position inwardly of the closure to a locking position to engage the projecting neck ring on the container to prevent removal of the cap'portion until the frangible means is broken, wherein the said skirt in its downwardly relaxed position extends from the lower edge of the band in an inwardly tapering manner so that it is of smaller diameter at its lower edge than at its upper edge where it is connected to said band to facilitate said inward tucking of the skirt when the closure is applied to the container.

2. A tamper resistant closure according to claim 1, wherein the skirt has a smooth external surface and is internally corrugated.

3. A tamper resistant closure according to claim 1, wherein the 20 skirt has a smooth internal surface and Is externally corrugated.

4. A tamper resistant closure according to claim 1, wherein the skirt is pleated. A tamper resistant closure substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 2 to 7 of the accompanying drawings. DATED this SEVENTH day of JANUARY 1993 Johnsen Jorgensen Plactlcs Limited e Patent Attorneys for the Applicant SPRUSON FERGUSON q T03131