AU704162B3 - Improved closure - Google Patents

Description

IMPROVED CLOSURE TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to improvements in container closures. Specifically the present invention may provide a tamper evident closure for a container formed from a flexible tube which also includes a flip-top lid. However, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other configurations of the present invention are possible, and reference to the above only throughout the specification should in no way be seen as limiting.

BACKGROUND ART 10 Modern packaging allows certain types of goods to be sealed within containers and preserved for long periods of time. However, some forms of plastic containers (such as flexible tubes) are formed using opaque plastics and hence prevent the prospective consumer from viewing the product before purchase.

In some instances this restriction is a problem for consumers, who will open a package to inspect its contents and then incorrectly reseal the packaging which may over time damage the container's contents.

So** In the case where cosmetics or foodstuffs are on sale, exposure to the atmosphere S°over long periods of time may ruin the product, upsetting customers and damaging a manufacturers reputation.

00 Recently several major corporations have also been blackmailed by persons threatening to insert poisons or other harmful substances into products.

Blackmailers have demanded money after threatening to tamper with a corporation's products on shop shelves.

-cA1/1 To combat the above problems tamper evident closures have been developed for numerous types of containers. These types of closure usually employ two or three separate elements which connect together to firstly close and seal a container, and secondly to show whether a container has been opened by breaking or damaging one of the components or disconnecting it from other elements of the closure.

These types of tamper evident closures work effectively but in Some instances (because they use multiple independent parts) substantially increase manufacturing costs and times for a container closure.

Where a closure includes two or more separate elements, separate moulds are required for each element and manufacturing times increase because of the extra formation, handling and assembly time involved.

A container closure which included a means to determine whether the closure had been tampered and which could be formed from a minimum number of separate elements would be of great advantage over prior art.

It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.

Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION "20 According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a closure for a container which includes, abase adapted for attachment to acontainer, wherein said base includes a recess, -3a lid pivotably attached to the base, wherein the lid may be pivoted between a closed position and an open position, the closure characterised in that the closure includes a tamper evident means attached at one end to the lid and has another end which includes a connector, and the recess within the base is adapted to contain the tamper evident means when the lid is in a closed position.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a closure substantially as described above wherein the lid, base and tamper evident means are all formed as a single integral component.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of manufacturing a closure substantially ad described above, characterised by the step of forming the closure lid base and tamper evident means as a single integral component.

*e In a preferred embodiment the closure may be adapted for use with a container eo 0" 15 formed from a flexible plastic tube.

In a further preferred embodiment the container may be specifically adapted to 0: contain cosmetics or other similar types of material which degrade if exposed to air for long periods of time. Reference throughout this specification shall now be made to the container as being configured substantially as described above, but those 20 skilled in the art should appreciate that this should in no way be seen as limiting.

In a preferred embodiment the closure may include a lid which is pivotally attached to the closure base. Pivotal attachment of a lid to the base allows the lid to be moved between open and closed positions to open and close the closure as and when required. The closure is adapted to close or seal off a container to ensure that the contents of the container does not either leak out or that air will not enter the container and degrade its contents.

.0 *5 0 00. 0S 0~ s *0* 0 0e In a further preferred embodiment the lid used in the closure may be a flip top lid.

Flip top lids are well known in the art and provide a convenient and inexpensive way of forming a lid for a closure where the lid formed is an integral part of the closure base.

In a preferred embodiment the closure may include a base which is adapted for attachment to a container to close and seal off same. The base may provide a secure connection for the closure to a container and include a lower skirt which fits with a complementary manner to a container, providing a compact and aesthetically attractive package.

In a preferred embodiment the closure may be moulded from plastic materials.

Plastic materials may be used to quickly and cheaply form large numbers of relatively uniform closures in accordance with the present invention. However it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of material may be used to construct a closure in accordance with the present invention and reference to the use of plastic only throughout the specification should in no way be seen as limiting.

The closure also includes a tamper evident means which indicates when a closure has been tampered with or opened. The tamper evident means ensures that a prospective consumer can be confident that the product they are purchasing has not been degraded with exposure to the air or has not been maliciously tampered with.

In a preferred embodiment the tamper evidence means may be attached to the closure lid by both components being formed as integral sections of a single element. In a further preferred embodiment the lid may include an indentation in one of its walls into which a person may insert their thumb and pull the lid up to open same. In such an embodiment the tamper evident means may be connected to the lid at the bottom of such an indentation.

In a preferred embodiment the tamper evident means may be formed from a strap or latch attached to the lid. Such a strap or latch may extend from the lid down towards the bottom of the closure base and may preferably be attached or connected to same. A strap or latch may be formed from a long thin length of plastic attached to the lid which may also be adapted to connect to the closure base.

Reference throughout this specification shall now be made to the tamper evidence means as being a strap but those skilled in the art should appreciate that other forms of tamper evident means may be constructed in accordance with the present S• invention. Reference to the use of a strap only throughout this specification should in no way be seen as limiting.

In a preferred embodiment the end of the strap opposite its connection to the lid may include or be formed to incorporate a connector. The end of the strap with a connector may be defined as the free end of the strap. Such a connector may be adapted to engage with a section of the base to attach the strap to same.

A connector incorporated into the free end of the tamper evident strap may be :defined as any arrangement or configuration of device which allows a connection between the tamper evident strap and the base to be made. Those skilled in the art S• should appreciate that numerous and varied types of connector may be configured for use in accordance with the present invention and reference to the examples of connector given throughout this specification should in no way be seen as limiting.

In a further preferred embodiment the tamper evident strap may include at its free end a connector with a number of barbs which may engage with an indentation or slot in the base of the closure. The barbs formed on the end of the connector may be inserted into a modified area of the base to connect the tamper evident strip to the base. These two components may be connected in such a way that when the closure is attached to a container the tamper evident strap and base cannot be separated from one another without damaging the tamper evident strap or the base, or permanently separating components of the closure.

In a preferred embodiment the lid may not be opened while the tamper evident strap is still connected to the lid and the base. In such an embodiment the a connection between the tamper evident strap and either component may be broken •when the lid is opened, causing the tamper evident strap to protrude out from the closure in such a way that a customer quickly becomes aware that the closure has e been tampered with. For example, in one embodiment the connection between the lid and tamper evident strap may be broken when the lid is opened, allowing the tamper evident strap to fall outwards from the closure pivoting via its connection to the base, providing a clear visual indicator that the closure has been tampered with.

C0 C In a preferred embodiment, when the closure is opened by the lid being pivoted 20 into open configuration, the connection between the lid and the tamper evident strap may be broken. If a consumer can see that the connection between these two components is severed they will immediately realise that the container has been tampered with.

In a further preferred embodiment the connection between the tamper evident strap and lid may be formed via a small or thin section of plastic connecting the two elements. This connecting section may be constructed from a small thin amount of plastic and/or have cut-away edges so that a limited amount of plastic connects the two elements.

This configuration of the closure ensures that the connection between the lid and the tamper evident strap may be easily broken when the lid is opened. In such an embodiment the base may also include a cut-away bottom section to allow the entire tamper evident strap to fall away from and out of the closure when the lid is opened.

In one embodiment a customer may need to exert pressure on a particular area or section of the tamper evident strap to force it to separate from the lid. In such an embodiment the customer will need to perform an additional action to firstly break the tamper evident strap from the lid before the lid can be opened.

In alternative embodiments the closure may not include a tamper evident strap which is adapted to break from the lid before or when the lid is opened. For example in an alternative embodiment the tamper evident strap and its connector S 15 may be adapted to separate out from the base when the lid is opened, and thereby indicate that the closure has been opened or tampered with. In this embodiment the connector may be damaged or unable to be reconnected onto the base once the 4 °lid has been opened.

S. Reference throughout this specification shall now be made to the tamper evident strap including a line of weakness between the strap and the lid, allowing the strap to break from the lid when the lid is opened. However it should be appreciated by ID 0 those skilled in the art that other configurations of the present invention may be adopted and reference to the above only throughout the specification should in no way be seen as limiting.

In a preferred embodiment all the elements of the closure may be formed from a single integrally formed component. For example in one embodiment the lid, tamper evident strap and base may all be formed from a single plastic moulding.

In such an embodiment the entire closure can be formed in a single manufacturing process with the lid being closed and the tamper evident strap being connected to the base at the end of the manufacturing process.

The present invention provides several advantages over existing tamper evident closures.

A closure constructed in accordance with the present invention may be formed from a single integral component. Where the closure is formed from plastic materials a single plastic moulding may be used to form the required closure, greatly reducing the manufacturing costs for the closure.

4 0 ,0 .The present invention may also be moulded from plastic materials which allows t large numbers of closures to be formed quickly, cheaply and with relatively uniformnity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 6@ *i A Further aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only and with reference to the of accompanying drawings in which: 041-020 Figure 1 shows a closure configured in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 2 shows a closer view of a segment of the closure shown in Figure 1, and Figure 3 shows a bottom view of a segment of the closure shown in Figure 1.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Figure 1 shows a closure 1 configured in accordance with one aspect of the present invention.

The closure 1 includes a base 3 which is adapted to be attached to a container.

The closure 1 also includes a lid 2 which is pivotably attached to the base 3. The lid 2 may be pivoted from the closed position shown in Figure 1 to an open position (not shown) which allows material to be removed from a container (not 10 shown) attached to the closure.

*••0S e° Attached to one end of the lid 2 is a tamper evident means, shown in this embodiment as a tamper evident strip 4.

The tamper evident strip 4 is shown more clearly in Figure 2 and Figure 3.

Figure 2 shows that one end of the tamper evident strip 4 is attached to the edge of the closure lid 2 and the opposite or free end of the strip 4 is formed into a connector 8.

The tamper evident strip 4 is attached to the lid 2 along the dotted line shown by reference line 6. The plastic along reference line 6 has been cut back using clipped ends 7 and is also formed from a relatively thin layer of connecting plastic.

Figure 3 shows a bottom view of the closure 1 and the connector 8 in more detail.

As can be seen from Figure 3 the connector 8 is adapted to connect the tamper evident strap 4 to the base 3. The connector 8 also includes two barbs 9 giving the connector 8 a saw tooth configuration and allowing it to connect the strap 4 to the base 3.

As can also be seen from Figure 3 the base 3 includes an indented or cut away section above the lids connection to the tamper evident strip 4. This indented section allows the connector 8 to be connected to the base 3.

As can also be seen from Figures 1 to 3 the entire closure 1 may be formed as a single integral component, substantially reducing the manufacturing costs and time frames of the present invention.

When the closure 1 is in use the lid 2 may be pivoted open, severing the connection between the lid 2 and the strip 4 along the connection line 6. Once this connection is severed the lid 2 may open and the tamper evident strap 4 may fall out from the bottom of the base 4. Once the strip 4 falls from the closure 1 this indicates to a prospective customer that the closure has been tampered with.

Aspects of the present invention have been described by way of example only and it should be appreciated that modifications and additions may be made thereto without departing from the scope thereof as defined in the appended claims.

o@ S oooo S. o S o -11- THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS 1. A closure for a container which includes: a base adapted for attachment to a container, wherein said base includes a recess, a lid pivotally attached to the base, wherein the lid may be pivoted between a closed position and an open position the closure characterised in that the closure includes a tamper evident means attached to one end of the lid and has another end which includes a 1 connector, and the recess within the base is adapted to contain the tamper evident means when the lid is in a closed position.

0• oo. 2. A closure as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lid base and tamper evident means are all formed from a single integral component.

o 3. A closure as claimed in claims 1 or 2 wherein the tamper evident means is connected to the lid via a line of weakness.

S. Dated this day of February 1999.

TUBEPACK LIMITED Applicant Wray Associates Perth, Western Australia Patent Attorneys for the Applicant