CA1199889A - Linerless plastic vacuum closure - Google Patents

Linerless plastic vacuum closure

Info

Publication number
CA1199889A
CA1199889A CA000418516A CA418516A CA1199889A CA 1199889 A CA1199889 A CA 1199889A CA 000418516 A CA000418516 A CA 000418516A CA 418516 A CA418516 A CA 418516A CA 1199889 A CA1199889 A CA 1199889A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
sealing
closure cap
closure
coating
container
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA000418516A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Larry A. Hottle
Charles S. Ochs
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Anchor Hocking LLC
Original Assignee
Anchor Hocking LLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Anchor Hocking LLC filed Critical Anchor Hocking LLC
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1199889A publication Critical patent/CA1199889A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65DCONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
    • B65D41/00Caps, e.g. crown caps or crown seals, i.e. members having parts arranged for engagement with the external periphery of a neck or wall defining a pouring opening or discharge aperture; Protective cap-like covers for closure members, e.g. decorative covers of metal foil or paper
    • B65D41/02Caps or cap-like covers without lines of weakness, tearing strips, tags, or like opening or removal devices
    • B65D41/04Threaded or like caps or cap-like covers secured by rotation
    • B65D41/0435Threaded or like caps or cap-like covers secured by rotation with separate sealing elements
    • B65D41/0442Collars or rings

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Closures For Containers (AREA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

There is disclosed a molded closure cap having integrally molded sealing means for sealing a container. The cap provides improved sealing for containers especially where it is desired to maintain vacuum in the container.
Where the sealing means comprise fin-like sealing members, a relatively thin coating of a material softer than the material of the sealing members covers the surfaces of the sealing members. More effective vacuum sealing is provided than with the prior art.

Description

~9~

Background of the Invention The present invention relates to improved closure caps for sealing containers formed of glass or plastic or other materials and more particularly to a molded plastic closure cap where the sealing means includes integral seal-ing ribs or fins molded as an integral portion of the closure cap.

,.
Plastic closures with sealing ribs or fins are presently used to seal containers in various packaging applications. A closure of this type is applied to the container's threaded neck and creates a seal when its ribs or fins press against the container finish~ Such closures are commonly called linerless closures.
Certain packages require a seal which retains a vacuum within the sealed container ~or preserving the packaged product. Although the general type of plastic closure described above does maintain vacuum in a certain percentage of sealed packages, the percentage of packages in which the seal fails to main-tain vacuum is unacceptably high in many cases.
Plastic caps with sealing ribs or fins are usually molded in one piece from polyolefin materials, often a polypropylene type. The sealing fins are relatively rigid in comparison to other materials such as plastisol gaskets normally used to seal containers. The polyolefin sealing fins thus lack the soetness ~o attain intimate contact with container Einishes such as is necessary to maintain a vacuum especially during the handling of the packages. Although containers are manufactured to specified tolerances, they do not always have perfect finishes due to problems inherent in their manufacturing process.
Another problem with ~he materials used to make linerless plastic closures is that adhering other materials to the pol~lefin surfaces is very dif~icult.

. . .
~'1 , .~ ~,' Tl.e invention provides in a molded closure cap for seal-ing a container and having integrally molded fin-like means the improvement comprising a relatively thin coating of a material softer than the material of the fin-like means sprayed onto sur-faces of the fin-like means of the closure, and said sprayed on coating having a thickness of from about .001 to .020 inches.
Paraffi.n wax and plastisol have been tested and both have improved the abi.lity of the closure to hold vacuum. When plastisol is used, it is applied as a liquid over the sealing fins and then heated to cause the liquid plastisol to fuse or gel into a solid. The liquid plastisol may be applied to the fins by a stationary nozzle while the closure is rotated.
Other features of the present invention will become appar-ent upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.
Brief Description of the Drawings Preferred embodiments of the invention have been chosen ~or purposes of illustration and description and are shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, wherein:
Figure 1 is a side elevation view, partially in section, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the closure cap.
Figures 2 and 3 are enlarged fragmentary detailed sec-tional views of differing embodiments of the closure cap of the invention sealing a container.
.~igures 4 and 5 are enlarged fragmentary detailed sec-'`~ '':

tional views of different embodiments of closure caps inaccordance with the invention.

- 2a -~ ~ .

~9~ 9 Figure 6 is a side elevational view illustrating a preferred method of applying the soft sealing coating to the sealing members of the closure.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment The closure cap 1 has a cover 2 and a depending skirt 3 including con-tainer engaging threads 4. The outer surface of the skirt 3 may include knurls or other gripping means 5 for applying and removing the closure cap 1 from the container 6. The cover 2J skirt 3 and threads 4, together with a contam er seal-ing means comprise a unitary or one-piece molded closure cap formed on conven-tional cap molding machinery.
There are a number of suitable integral container sealing means which usually take the form of fins or ribs or rings which extend downwardly from the underside of the closure cap. Sealing means of this general type have been de-scribed in prior patents such as United States patent No. 3,815,771 dated June 11~ 1974. This prior United States patent and other issued patents describe projecting ribs or fins which are molded as a~ integral part of the closure cap and which are positioned for engaging the container rim. The fins or ribs en-gage the container rim and provide the seal f~r the contents of the sealed con-tainer.
As ilIustrated the sealing fins 7 have an angular alignment with both the closure cap~cover 2 and the container rim 8 so that they yield and accommo-date themselves~ against the adjacent container rim 8 in a sealing relationship.
The improvement of this invention comprises the application of a thin ilm 9 of a softer sealing matFrial over the fins 7. Suitable sealing films 9 include easily applied films such as waxes~ hot melts, epoxies, plastisols or other soft plastic materials applied as a thin film over the fins 7.
Films of these materials have been tested and have been proven to ~19~

significantly increase the sealing capabilities of molded closures and in parti-cular have increased the ability of the closures to hold a vacuum within the sealed containers.
When a plastisol is employed, it is sprayed or otherwise distributed over the sealing fins 7 and is then heated and fused or gelled into a continuous resilient sealing film over the fins. Plastisol films having a thickness of 0.001 to 0.020 inches have been tested and found to be effective in providing the improved sealing action.
The fused or gelled plastisol conforms generally to the shape of the plastic sealing fins and is held in the closure not only by its own adhesive qualities but also by the physical interlock resulting between the film 9 and the sealing fins 7. Even though packages sealed with fins coated in the above man-ner were subjected to elevated temperatures, such as those resulting from the use of steam by the vacuum forming sealing apparatus, no significant loss of the improved sealing action of the films has been found to result.
The preferred plastisols are formed of a properly dispersed mixture of ingredients such as: dispersion resins, blending resins, plasticizers, stabili7ers, lubricants, wetting agents, viscosity-reducing agents, pigments, fillers~ etc. The resin can be polyvinyl chloride homopolymer or copolymers of vinyl chloride such as vinyl acetate-vinyl chloride copolymer.
When a molded polyolefin closure is subjected to enough heat, it can shrink or melt. To avoid these effects, ~he heat used to cause the liquid plastisol to fuse or gel into a solid must be relatively mild. Experimental work has shown that certain copolymer dispersion resins which are designed to fuse at relatively low temperatures are particularly well suited for this appli-cation. Temperatures of 300F. - 330F. and times of 3 to 4 minutes have been ~1~39~8~

used successfully.
Butyl benzyi phthalate ~BBP) plastici~er was found to lower the re-quired heating cycle significantly.
One preferred plastisol composition comprising vinyl chloride co-polymers and other plastisol ingredients which fuses or gels at low temperatures is the following:
Formulation (Phr) 1 2 3 PLASTICIZER (D.O.P. or B.B.P.) 60 100 100 STABILIZER (Ferro 707X)* 2 1 2 PIGMENT (Horsehead A-410)* - 2 2 LUBRICANT (Crodamide OR)* 5 5 5 LUBRICANT (Crodamide ER)* - - 7 Resin Description Supplier Designation Vinyl Chloride Homopolymer Hooker FPC-605 Tenneco 1759 Vinyl Chloride-Vinyl Acetate Copolymer Hooker FPC-6338 Stauffer SCC-40 Stauffer SCG-52 Diamond Shamrock PVC-7401 Tenneco 0565 *

Vinyl Chloride-Proprietary B.F. Goodrich Geon 138 Vinyl Ester Copolymer As a group, the six copolyrner resins listed above were found to be superior to the homopolyrner resins because they require less heat for fusion or gellation.
In particular, SCC-40 PVC-7401, Geon 138 and FPC 6338 copoly]ner resins develop *

Trademark 119~B139 physical properties with much less heat than required for FPC-605 or Tenneco 1759 homopolymer resins. Furthermore, the copolymer resins attain higher maxi-mum tensile strength than do the homopolymer resin, as listed below:
Resin Maximum Tensile Strength ~p.s.i.) Geon 138 995 These data indicate that not only do copolymer resins such as SCC-40, Geon 138, PVC-7401, and FPC-6338 develop physical properties milder conditions of heat than do the homopolymer resins, but also that they are inherently stronger than homopolymer resins similar to FPC-605 and Tenneco 1759.
Therefore, copolymer resins such as SCC-40, Geon 138, and PVC-7401 have been found to be eminently well suited for this application.
The ability of this formulation to fuse at relatively low temperatures protects the m~lded plastic cap shell from damage during the coating~ fusing or gelling~step.
Figure 2 illustrates a coat!ing in accordance with the invention with a middle~range of thickness and where the coating material 9 fills the space between~the two sealing fins 7. In this case, the coating is seen to provide the sealing contact between the closure 2 and the container 6.

*
-rrademark ~95~8~
Figure 3 illustrates a similar closure but on a container 6 where a coating 1 is of lesser thickness is used and where the coating is seen to con-form more closely to the shape of the sealing fins 7. Nevertheless, such coat-ing with a thickness near the lower side of the thickness range provide improved vacuum sealing capability.
Figure 4 illustrates the use of a coat.ing of the type described above on a closure cap 11 having a differing sealing means comprising three sealing fins 12 having differing lengths and having a lesser angle with ~he cover 13 of the closure 11. This coating functions in a similar manner to provide the improved sealing capability.
Figure 5 illustrates another embodiment where the closure 14 is in sealing engagement with a container 19 and where a coating 16 forms the seal between the slanted fins 15 and the container finished edges 18.
Figure 6 shows a preferred method of applying these coatings in con-trolled thicknesses. The caps are mounted in rotatlng nests of a typical gasket applying machine. A spray nozzle positioned to direct a coating spray onto the sealing members operates for a sufficient period to apply the desired coating thickness. After the application of the coating, in the case where a plastisol or other material requiring curing has been used, the cap is transferred to a ~0 suitable heating means for the curing or gelling step.
Tt will be seen that an improved linerless closure cap is provided with the addition of the preferred soft coating giving the vacuum sealing capabilities. The caps are manufactured in the same manner as presently known caps with the addition of the coating steps.

Claims (7)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. In a molded closure cap for sealing a container and having integrally molded fin-like means the improvement comprising a relatively thin coating of a material softer than the material of the fin-like means sprayed onto surfaces of the fin-like means of the closure, and said sprayed on coating having a thick-ness of from about .001 to .020 inches.
2. The closure cap as claimed in claim 1 in which said coating is selected from the group consisting of waxes, hot melts, epoxies or plastisols.
3. The closure cap as claimed in claim 1 in which said coating comprises a plastisol.
4. The closure cap as claimed in claim 3 in which the plastisol resin is a polyvinyl chloride homopolymer.
5. The closure cap as claimed in claim 3 in which the plastisol resin is a copolymer of vinyl chloride.
6. The closure cap as claimed in claim 5 in which the resin is a vinyl acetate - vinyl chloride copolymer.
7. The closure cap as claimed in claim 3 in which the copolymer resin is selected from the group consisting of SCC-40, Geon 138, PVC-7401, or FPC-6338.
CA000418516A 1981-12-24 1982-12-23 Linerless plastic vacuum closure Expired CA1199889A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US33432581A 1981-12-24 1981-12-24
US334,325 1981-12-24

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1199889A true CA1199889A (en) 1986-01-28

Family

ID=23306692

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000418516A Expired CA1199889A (en) 1981-12-24 1982-12-23 Linerless plastic vacuum closure

Country Status (10)

Country Link
JP (1) JPS58149268A (en)
AU (1) AU554491B2 (en)
BE (1) BE895461A (en)
CA (1) CA1199889A (en)
DE (1) DE3247328A1 (en)
FR (1) FR2518961B1 (en)
GB (1) GB2111965B (en)
IT (1) IT1149177B (en)
LU (1) LU84552A1 (en)
NL (1) NL8204885A (en)

Families Citing this family (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
ZA833347B (en) * 1982-05-20 1984-02-29 Nat Plastics Ltd Container closure blank
IE55655B1 (en) * 1983-08-26 1990-12-05 Metal Closures Ltd Closures
JPS6248965U (en) * 1985-09-10 1987-03-26
JPS62137196U (en) * 1986-02-24 1987-08-29
EP0242419A1 (en) * 1986-04-23 1987-10-28 Anchor Hocking Corporation Linerless plastic vacuum closure
GB8820393D0 (en) * 1988-08-26 1988-09-28 Reed Packaging Ltd Plastic containers
JP2627345B2 (en) * 1990-02-08 1997-07-02 伸晃化学株式会社 Sealed container
FR2820722B1 (en) 2001-02-15 2003-07-25 Rical Sa PLUG COMPRISING MEANS FOR HANGING A CAST JOINT
US8439368B2 (en) 2009-08-04 2013-05-14 Parker-Hannifin Corporation Articulating seal
DE102010007109B3 (en) * 2010-02-08 2011-06-01 R.E.T. Reiff Elastomertechnik Gmbh Composite material assembly has elastomeric body which is arranged on carrier, where elastomeric body has partial gas- and liquid-tight coating with coating thickness less than thirty micrometers

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1471109A (en) * 1973-04-12 1977-04-21 Grace W R & Co Gaskets for container closures
GR66059B (en) * 1977-01-28 1981-01-14 Continental Group
FR2451324B1 (en) * 1979-03-15 1986-04-04 Alca Sa SCREW CAP, ESPECIALLY FOR BOTTLES OF LIQUIDS

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
IT1149177B (en) 1986-12-03
IT8249734A0 (en) 1982-12-22
GB2111965B (en) 1985-07-17
AU9168682A (en) 1983-06-30
BE895461A (en) 1983-04-15
DE3247328A1 (en) 1983-07-14
GB2111965A (en) 1983-07-13
FR2518961A1 (en) 1983-07-01
JPS58149268A (en) 1983-09-05
LU84552A1 (en) 1983-06-13
FR2518961B1 (en) 1987-07-31
NL8204885A (en) 1983-07-18
AU554491B2 (en) 1986-08-21

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