EP0038468A1

EP0038468A1 - Closing arrangement for a bottle opening

Info

Publication number: EP0038468A1
Application number: EP81102613A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kjaerbye-Petersen Steffen
Original assignee: Tetra Laval Holdings and Finance SA; Tetra Pak Developpement SA
Current assignee: Tetra Laval Holdings and Finance SA; Tetra Pak Developpement SA
Priority date: 1980-04-10
Filing date: 1981-04-07
Publication date: 1981-10-28
Also published as: ES267166Y; ES267166U; CH645314A5

Abstract

The invention relates to a so-called lead-sealed closure for a bottle, the closing arrangement being constituted on the one hand of a disc (4) of rigid plastic material arranged over the mouth of the bottle, on the other hand of a shrunk sleeve (5) of plastic material envelopping both the mouth of the bottle and the disc which is grasped by and fixed to the sleeve. The sleeve moreover has a perforation (7) by means of which the sleeve can be divided, its upper part (11) being adapted so that it can be lifted off and put back on again so as to act as a reclosing arrangement for the bottle.

Description

The present invention relates to a closing arrangement for bottles of the type which near the outside of the mouth portion have a bulge or enlargement.
It is the object of the invention to provide a so-called lead-sealed closing arrangement over the mouth of a bottle. The term "lead-sealed" means in this case that it shall not be possible for the closing arrangement to be opened without it being readily observable that the closing arrangement has been opened, and such closing arrangements exist on a large number of bottles like containers. An unbroken closing arrangement constitutes proof that the bottle has not been opened after the "lead-sealing occasion" and that it is certain therefore that the "original content" of the bottle is unchanged.
Closing arrangements of the type mentioned here are often used in combination with other opening arrangements of the type of caps, corks etc. and thus constitute only an outer protection which on the one hand covers the emptying opening of the bottle and protects the same against dirtying, and on the other hand acts as apparent evidence that the bottle has not previously been opened. The material of these closing arrangements may vary but is constituted often of folded or moulded metal foil. In recent times shrinkable plastics has gradually found a generally wider application as a closing arrangement or "sealing banderole" for bottle openings. Sometimes these closing arrangements of shrinkable plastics consist merely of a piece of tube which is fitted around the bottleneck and is shrunk over the mouth of the bottle, but in other cases the shrinkable plastics has been given the shape of a hood or cowl, so that a total enclosure of the mouth of the bottle is obtained. In cases familiar to us it is the object of the said closure merely to constitute a seal or a proof that the bottle has not been opened and to keep the emptying opening protected against dirtying. With the closing arrangement in accordance with the invention it is the object, however, that a part of the closing arrangement should act as a "reclosing cap", that is to say it shall be possible to fit it over the mouth of the bottle when part of the contents has been poured out, so as to protect the mouth of the bottle against dirtying and to prevent foreign objects from dropping down into the bottle. This object is achieved by means of a closing arrangement in accordance with the invention which is characterized firstly by a relatively rigid disc covering the mouth of the bottle whose size corresponds to or slightly exceeds the size of the bulge, secondly by a tubular sleeve of heat-shrinkable plastic material which is made to shrink and to fit around the mouth portion of the bottle as well as the said disc,the disc being grasped by parts of the sleeve which are made to shrink around the edge of the disc so that the disc is retained by the shrunk sleeve.
The closing arrangement in accordance with the invention as such may function independently just for the closing of the bottle, but it may be appropriate in many cases to combine the closing arrangement with a special cap or e.g. a sealed tearing disc so as to obtain better gas- tightness during the time the bottle is stored filled before the contents are consumed. The closing arrangement can be used for bottles of different types of contents, e.g. milk, juice, wine etc., but the bottle described here is assumed to be a wine bottle.
In the following the invention will be described with reference to the enclosed schematic drawing, wherein

Fig. 1 shows a cross-section of the mouth of a bottle before the closing arrangement has been applied,
Fig. 2 shows a cross-section of the same mouth of a bottle after the closing arrangement has been applied,
Fig. 3 shows a cross-section of the same closing arrangement after the closing arrangement has been torn off and the bottle has been opened,
Fig. 4 shows a sleeve of shrinkable plastic material provided with a double perforation,
Fig. 5 shows a sleeve of shrinkable plastic material provided with single perforation and tear-up lug, and
Fig. 6 shows the mouth of a bottle which is provided with a closing arrangement in accordance with the invention.

In fig. 1 a bottle is designated by numeral 1 and its mouth portion by 2. The bottle 1 may be manufactured in traditional manner from glass, but in the embodiment described here the bottle consists of shrink-moulded foamed plastics, preferably polystyrene foam, and is made up of the outer casing 1 and an inner bag of plastic material, not shown here, filled with contents (wine), which in the mouth portion 2 is fixed to the outer part 1. The inner bag can be opened by means of an opening arrangement which is provided in the plane 17 and which may consist of a disc fixed to the plastic bag, which disc has a tear-off strip, with the help of which a hole can be exposed which communicates with the interior of the plastic bag. The said tear-off covering strip, not shown here, can be provided with a pull-lug. However, the invention does not relate to the design of the bottle with inner bag and opening arrangement, but to the closing arrangement specially referred to in the patent claim which consists of a disc 4 arranged against the upper part of the mouth portion 2 of the bottle 1 and of the heat-shrinkable sleeve 5 of plastic material which is placed around the mouth portion of the bottle and heated to shrinkage, so that the sleeve 5 is shrunk to fit accurately against the said mouth portion in the manner as shown in fig.2. In addition to the sleeve 5 being made to fit against the mouth portion 2 of the bottle 1, the upper part of the sleeve 5 is made to shrink with its portion 8 over the disc 4-and also underneath the bottom edge of the disc 4, so that the disc will be retained by the shrunk-on sleeve 5 so as to form an end face on the sleeve.
As can be seen from the figure, the mouth portion 2 of the bottle 1 has been provided with a bulge or a widened edge portion 3, whose outside diameter substantially corresponds to the outside diameter of the disc 4. The sleeve 5 is provided moreover with a tearing perforation 7 which, when the sleeve is in shrunk position, is located by the lower part of the said widened portion 3. With the help of the shrunk sleeve 5 the disc 4 is thus retained in the manner as shown in fig. 2 against the upper part of the mouth portion 2-of the bottle 1, and it is possible by graduated heat.supply to control the "shrinkage forces" in such a manner that the desired contact pressure.between the disc 4 and the mouth of the bottle is obtained so that the emptying opening 6 of the bottle 1 is closed in an effective manner.
When the closing arrangement is to be opened, the perforation 7 is torn up whereby the upper part of the shrunk sleeve 5 and the disc 4 are freed from the lower part of the sleeve 5, and in this manner, as can be seen from fig. 3, the part 11 formed, which consists of the upper part of the sleeve 5 and the disc 4, can be removed from the mouth portion 2 of the bottle, whose opening is either exposed directly, so that the contents can be poured out, or else its opening arrangement is exposed, so that the bottle can be opened in the intended manner. In the lifted-off part 11 the disc 4 is retained, owing to the upper part of the sleeve 5 having been shrunk with the portion 8 over the upper part of the disc 4, and with the portion 9 underneath the lower part of the disc. After the intended quantity of contents has been poured out through the opening 6 of the bottle the opening can be reclosed, by replacing the hood 11 formed over the mouth.
As is evident from the description, the closing arrangement is removed in that the shrunk sleeve 5 is divided or in that its lower part is removed so that its upper part can be lifted off. This is done, as mentioned previously, by providing the sleeve beforehand with a perforation 7, but, as explained in the following description of different embodiments of the sleeve, the perforation may be realized in different manners.
The sleeve 5 is manufactured from a plastic material, e.g. polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene or polypropylene (other plastic materials may also be considered), and the sleeve is oriented in its transverse direction or tangential direction by stretching which brings about an increase in the diameter of the sleeve. This stretching gives rise to a molecular orientation in the plastic material, and if the material after orientation is subjected to heat it is made to shrink, and endeavours to assume the dimensions it had prior to the orientation. It is thus possible with such a plastic sleeve oriented in tangential direction to obtain an accurate fit between the sleeve and the outer contour of e.g. a bottle-mouth or a bottle-neck by heating the sleeve to shrinkage.
In fig. 4 is shown how the sleeve 5 is provided with a so-called double perforation 14 which consists of two perforation lines running around the sleeve and arranged at a little distance from one another. At one place of this double perforation a complete U-shaped punch through has been carried out instead of the perforation, which means that a tearing tongue 15 is formed. When the sleeve 5 has been shrunk over the mouth of the bottle it is thus simple by gripping the pulling-tongue 15 to remove the area 14 between the perforations and in such a manner to divide the sleeve 5 into two parts, whereupon the upper part can be lifted off in the manner described above.
In fig. 5 is shown another embodiment of the shrinkable sleeve and the sleeve 5 is provided here with a single perforation 7 which runs around the sleeve 5, and a pulling-tongue 16 which is formed in that indents or nicks are provided at the lower part of the sleeve 5 so as to form a pulling-tongue. With the help of this pulling-tongue the sleeve 5 can be torn off in axial direction up to the perforation 7, whereupon the lower part of the sleeve can be removed. For further facilitation of the tearing the continuation of the pulling-tongue 16 may be in the form of a perforation line.
In fig. 6 is shown a bottle provided with a closing arrangement in accordance with the invention, where the sleeve 5 shrunk around the mouth of the bottle is of the type as shown in fig. 5. On opening of the closing arrangement as shown in fig. 6, the whole of the lower portion 12_'of the sleeve 5 is thus ripped off, whilst e.g. in fig. 3 it is shown how the lower part of the sleeve 12 remains on the bottle-neck after the perforation 7 has been broken and the hood 11 has been removed.
Although the closing arrangement shown here is intended in the case described to be used together with a bottlelike container with an outer part-of foamed plastic material and an inner tight plastic bag, the closing arrangement may be used advantageously also on glass or metal bottles, and it has been shown that by a combination of a heat-shrinkable sleeve 5 of plastic material and a disc 4 which does not alter in its shape or dimensions on heating a closing arrangement is obtained which is substantially cheaper than that manufactured from plastic material in the form of a pressed cap. The closing arrangement in accordance with the invention has the further advantage that the disc 4 lends great rigidity to the removable hood 11 and an excellent grip along the edge of the disc 4 around which the sleeve has been shrunk with portions 8 and 9.

Claims

1. A closing arrangement for bottles of the type which near the outside of the mouth portion have a bulg or enlargment,
characterized
firstly by a relatively rigid disc covering the mouth of the bottle, whose size corresponds to or slightly exceeds the size of the bulge, seconly by a tubular sleeve of heat-shrinkable plastic material which is made to shrink and to fit around the mouth portion of the bottle as well as the said disc, the disc being grasped by parts of the sleeve which are made to shrink around the edge of the disc, so that the disc is retained by the shrunk sleeve.

2. A closing arrangement in accordance with claim 1,. characterized in that
the said sleeve extends past the said bulge or enlargement of the mouth portion of the bottle, and that the shrunk sleeve in the region of the lower edge of the said bulge or enlargement is provided with a closed, annular tearing perforation, by means of which the sleeve can be divided into two parts, whereby the upper part, wherein the disc is retained, can be lifted off the mouth portion of the bottle.

3. A closing arrangement in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that
the tearing perforation arranged in the sleeve consists of a so-called double perforation, that is to say two parallel perforation lines which are arranged so that the portion between the perforation lines can be removed after the perforation has been broken up.

4. A closing arrangement in accordance with claims 1 or 2, characterized in that
the lower part of the shrunk sleeve is provided with one ore more notches, lugs or the like forming a pulling lug with the help of which the lower part of the sleeve can be torn up to the perforation and removed.

5. A method for the manufacture of the closing arrangement in accordance with claim 1,
characterized in that
a disc of a rigid material, in particular a plastic material, whose size and shape correspond to the cross-section of the mouth portion of the bottle, is arranged over the mouth of the bottle, and that a tubular sleeve of heat-shrinkable material is arranged around the bottle-mouth as well as the said disc, that the said sleeve is heated to such a degree that it is made to shrink, whereby the upper part of the sleeve will grasp and retain the edge portion of the disc which is fixed to the sleeve, and that the sleeve will be made to fit accurately to the outside of the mouth portion of the bottle.

6. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1,
characterized in that
the said sleeve is constituted of a piece of a tube that has been orientation-stretched in tangential direction of preferably rigid plastic material, e.g. polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polypropylene etc.