AU691215B2

AU691215B2 - Closure

Info

Publication number: AU691215B2
Application number: AU10282/95A
Authority: AU
Inventors: John Terkely
Original assignee: ACI Operations Pty Ltd
Current assignee: VIP Plastic Packaging Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1994-01-25
Filing date: 1995-01-19
Publication date: 1998-05-14
Anticipated expiration: 2015-01-19
Also published as: AU1028295A

Description

W11

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority Related Art: ro o ur~o s r Name of Applicant: ACI OPERATIONS PTY. LTD.

Actual Inventor(s): JOHN TERKELY Address for Service: PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 367 Collins Street MELBOURNE VIC 3000 Invention Title: CONTAINER The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to applicant(s):- -1- WC C:\WINWORD\WENDY\WORKPM3491ADOC I I 2

CLOSURE

This invention relates to a closure for a container. It has particular application for containers intended for holding food stuffs or liquids or any other container where a fluid tight seal is required.

Typically, standard container and bottle closures are circular, having a top panel wall and a depending peripheral skirt. Such closures are adapted to be located and secured over the opening of a container. Normally, such closures are attached to a neck finish located adjacent to the container opening through the use of lugs, clips or a screw thread finish moulded onto the inside surface of the peripheral skirt of the closure. In a conventional threaded closure, the opening of the container onto which the closure is to be located is sealed by the top panel which is caused to bear down onto the top of the opening of the container.

If the top panel of the closure is formed from a material which is difficult to deform or which is not resilient, problems can occur in adequate fluid tight sealing. This can be particularly so if the top of the opening of the container is uneven (such as with glass bottles) and/or if the closure is made from a rigid material. If the opening to be sealed is S 20 uneven and the top panel of the closure is not readily deformable, obviously, the closure will not provide an adequate seal.

One way of dealing with this problem is to insert within the closure a disc made from a wadding material sized to fit neatly within the inside of the closure. Whilst the use of 25 deformable wadding material facilitates better sealing, the wadding material is expensive and this increases the overall cost of the closure.

The object of the present invention is to provide a modified closure which is adapted to provide a fluid tight seal when attached to a container but which is less costly to produce than the lined closure described above.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a moulded plastic closure for use in sealing the opening of a container said closure including: a) a top portion *J C \WINWORDMANNrWORKM1IO2g2A DOC 3 b) a peripheral skirt which depends from said top portion which includes means for attachment of the closure to a container; c) an annular recess located in the inner surface of the top portion of the closure wherein a portion of said annular recess comprises a peripheral groove located in the skirt of the closure; and d) a separable sealing ring having an outer periphery which is located in said groove such that said sealing ring is retained against or adjacent the inner surface of the top portion of the closure.

The sealing ring can be made of wadding materials known in the art. It is preferably cut out of a deformable paper or is a soiid plastics wadding material such as a foam or the like.

44 Preferably, the depth of the peripheral groove is approximately equal to the thickness of the sealing ring. Further, the width of the peripheral groove in transverse section is i .preferably approximately equal to the width of the sealing ring in transverse section.

e:•i In one embodiment of the invention it is preferred that the annular recess include at least one undercut portion in the side wall of the recess in order to assist in the retention of the 20 sealing ring within the annular recess. Preferably, a plurality of undercut portions are provided about the side wall of the recess with straight wall portions separating each of eQ the undercut portions so to facilitate easier removal of the closure from an injection mould.

25 The sealing ring is preferably between 0.75 to 2.0 mm in thickness and where an annular ra-ess is used as the retaining means, the depth of the recess is preferably similarly sized. The sealing ring does not need to be wide. It needs only to be as wide as is necessary to form a consistent seal about the opening of the container on to which the closure is intended to be used. The applicants have found in most applications the width of the ring need be no more than 12 mm. In most applications, a ring width of about 8 mm is sufficient.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a sealed container to which there has been applied a closure as hereinbefore described with the sealing ring NS in contact with the periphery of the outlet opening of the container.

C %WNWORMANNEWORI23I2A-DOC -r ILI .1 I The invention is hereinafter described with reference to a preferred embodiment in which; Figure 1 is an underside view of a closure made in accordance with the invention; and Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of the closure shown in Figure 1 through section A-A.

In Figure 1, there is shown a plastics closure 1 having a top portion 2, a depending peripheral skirt 3 and a sealing ring 4 which is located in an annular recess formed in the top portion 2 of the closure.

Turning to Figure 2, it will be noted that the closure includes a screw thread 5 moulded into the inside surface of the peripheral skirt for attaching the closure to a container and a tamper evident ring 6. These features do not form part of the present invention and it will be appreciated that other attachment means may be utilised and alternative tamper indicating means may be utilised or if desired, no tamper indicating means at all.

I .The sealing ring 4 is a deformable wadding material. In the embodiment shown, this wadding is 1 mm thick and 8 mm wide.

The sealing ring 4 is retained within the closure by an annular recess 7 located in the 20 inner surface of the top portion 2 of the closure. The sealing ring is retained within this e• annular recess by three separate undercut portions 8 located equidistantly about the 0* circumference of the inner wall 9 of the annular recess. The remaining portions of the inner wall 9 are perpendicular (as shown at 9a) and this facilitates easy removal of the closure from an injection moulding tool once the closure has been formed.

S, In the peripheral skirt 3 adjacent to its edge with the top potion of the closure is a groove which extends about the inner circumference of the peripheral skirt 3 and into which the edge of sealing ring 4 is adapted to fit. Sealing ring 4 is thus securely held in position adjacent to the inner surface of the top portion of the closure by the combination of the circumferential groove 10 and the undercut portions 8 in the inside wall of the annular recess 7.

The outer surface 11 of the top portion of the closure includes portion 12 which is inset by an amount approximately equal to the depth of the annular recess 7 so to maintain the

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C WINWORDMANNEXWOM 10257A DOC J, NT0 I _I -L top portion of the closure with a relatively constant wall thickness throughout. This minimises the amount of material required in the formation of the closure.

It will be appreciated that the closure hereinbefore described utilises a narrow sealing ring and is designed so to locate that sealing ring by adequate retention within the closure, at the appropriate place for contact (and thus sealing) with the ooening of a container. The closure is configured to ensure that the sealing ring is retained in place and the design enables the use of a significantly reduced amount of wadding material as compared with prior arrangements.

It will be understood that various modifications and additions may be incorporated into the closure described without departing from the spirit and ambit of the present invention as defined in the following claims. For example, alternative attachment means may be used for securing the closure to the top of a container and different configurations may be utilised in the nature of grooves, lugs or other means by which the sealing ring is held Si against or adjacent to the inner surface of the top portion of the closure.

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Claims

1. A moulded plastic closure for use in sealing the opening of a container said closure including: a) a top portion b) a peripheral skirt which depends from said top portion which includes means for attachment of the closure to a container; c) an annular recess located in the inner surface of the top portion of the closure wherein a portion of said annular recess comprises a peripheral groove located in the skirt of the closure; and d) a separable sealing ring having an outer peripheiy which is located in said groove such that said sealing ring is retained against or adjacent the inner surface of the top portion of the closure. 15

2. A moulded plastic closure according to claim 1 wherein the depth of the peripheral groove is approximately equal to the thickness of the sealing ring. C "I

3. A moulded plastic closure according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the depth of the annular recess is approximately equal to the thickness of the sealing ring.

4. A moulded plastic closure according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the annular recess includes at least one undercut portion in a sidewall of the recess in order to assist in the retention of the sealing ring within the annular recess. S. *C e 25

5. A moulded plastic closure according to claim 4 wherein the annular recess includes a plurality of undercut portions located about the sidewall of the recess with straight wail portions sepirating each of the undercut portions.

6. A moulded plastic closure according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the top portion of the closure includes an outer portion, the inner surface of which includes the annular recess and a central portion which extends from the centre of the closure to the edge of the outer portion wherein said central portion is inset relative to the outer portion by a distance approximately equal to the depth of the annular recess such that the top portion of the closure has a relatively constant wall thickness throughout. C \WIhWORD ANNEWORKI\O252A DOC 7

7. A moulded plastic closure according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein said peripheral groove is continuous about the skirt of the closure.

8. A closure according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the sealing ring is made from wadding material.

9. A closure according to claim 8 wherein the wadding material is deformable paper.

A closure according to claim 8 wherein the wadding material is a solid plastics wadding material.

11. A closure substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to what is shown in the Figures 1 and 2. 15

12. A container sealed by a closure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 wherein said sealing ring is positioned so to be in contact with and seal the periphery of the outlet opening of the container. DATED: 11 March, 1998 PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Attorneys for: ACI OPERATIONS PTY LTD #o C WINWORDANNBWORK\10282A DOC I I r ABSTRACT A ire suitable for use in sealing the opening of a container said closure including a top portion, a peripheral skirt which depends from said top portion and which includes means for attachment of the closure to a container and a separable sealing ring wherein said sealing ring is retained within the closure by retaining means adapted to hold the sealing ring against or adjacent to the inner surface of the top portion of the closure. 9* 0 OV 0 6 0 0