EP0044798B1 - Method of manufacturing closure fasteners for champagne bottles and the like, and closure fasteners produced by this method - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for the manufacture of stopper wirings which consists: in shaping wires to a profile including in a first plane a central portion in the form of an arc of circle and two straight branches, in disposing the shaped wires to form a complete ring, the straight branches extending outwardly from the ring, in twisting each branch along a first portion of its length starting from the ring, in twisting locally the remaining portion of each branch in a zone intermediate between the twisted portion and the outer end, and in rolling the end of the remaining portion of each branch in the shape of a loop to form one leg of the wiring.

Description

The present invention refers to the caps which are placed on bottles of champagne or other sparkling wines or liquids to retain the cork on the neck against the internal pressure which tends to expel it.

These wire caps are generally made of tinned or galvanized wire. They comprise a central ring intended to carry on the head of the stopper and four legs which go down around this one, then of the neck of the bottle and which receive below the peripheral rib or ring of this one a wire or belt which connects them and clamps them against the wall. In the conventional manufacturing process they are established using a single wire or segment of wire suitably folded and twisted. Two segments of wire have also sometimes been used in order to facilitate and speed up operations and thereby lower cost prices.

There is however a drawback, namely that to ensure the passage of the belt thread, the free ends of the legs must be rolled up in the form of small loops. However, when stacking such wire caps in the store of an automatic dispenser, the parts thus rolled sometimes overlap one another, which blocks the operation of the dispenser and requires the intervention of an operator to restore it. in normal working order.

The present invention aims to allow to further accelerate the rate of manufacture of such wire caps while avoiding the aforementioned drawback.

In accordance with the invention, a muselet is established using four segments of wire, each of which is shaped so as to have a central part in an arc of a circle extending over approximately 90 ° and two branches which start from the ends of this circular arc, substantially radially with respect to the center thereof. The segments thus shaped are placed so as to produce a central ring from which radiate four double branches, the two parallel segments are twisted or twisted together and in contact with each other in the remaining part, then they are reversed in the central zone of this remaining part by making them overlap, that is to say by twisting them by a half-turn, and finally we roll the remaining part of each branch so that it has a loop terminal and can thus constitute one of the desired muselet legs. It only remains to stamp the assembly so as to give it the shape required to fit onto a plug.

• Fig. 1 montre quatre segments de fil métallique disposés en vue de fabrication d'un muselet conformément à l'invention.
• Fig. 2 représente l'ensemble de ces segments après la phase de conformation.
• Fig. 3 est une vue de l'ébauche de muselet obtenue après torsion d'une partie de la longueur des branches rayonnantes doubles de l'ensemble de fig. 4 et inversion des deux segments de fil sur la partie restante.
• Fig. 4 est une vue partielle montrant l'une des branches de l'ébauche de fig. 3 après roulage de la partie non torsadée de façon à réaliser une boucle d'extrémité et à permettre à la branche considérée de constituer l'une des pattes du muselet finalement obtenu.
• Fig. 5 est une coupe à grande échelle suivant V-V (fig. 4), faisant ressortir le détail de la boucle terminale.
• Fig. 6 est une vue de côté de cette boucle.

The appended drawing, given by way of example, will allow a better understanding of the invention, the characteristics which it presents and the advantages which it is capable of providing:

• Fig. 1 shows four segments of metal wire arranged for the production of a wire cap according to the invention.
• Fig. 2 represents all of these segments after the shaping phase.
• Fig. 3 is a view of the wire cap blank obtained after twisting a part of the length of the double radiating branches of the assembly of FIG. 4 and inversion of the two wire segments on the remaining part.
• Fig. 4 is a partial view showing one of the branches of the blank of FIG. 3 after rolling of the untwisted part so as to produce an end loop and to allow the branch considered to constitute one of the legs of the wire cap finally obtained.
• Fig. 5 is a large-scale section along VV (fig. 4), bringing out the detail of the terminal loop.
• Fig. 6 is a side view of this loop.

In fig. 1 four segments 1, 2, 3, 4 cut from tinned or galvanized wire (or any other kind of suitable wire) are arranged on a suitable support, not detailed, along the sides of a square projecting slightly beyond the peaks of it. It is easy to see that the support could include centering means such as stops, pins, etc ... easy to imagine for any technician. The supply of these segments to the support can be carried out automatically by cutting from straight wire coming from suitable spools. It is possible, for example, to arrange the two parallel segments 2 and 4 first, then place the other two 1, and 3 on them.

After this first phase of positioning the segments 1, 2, 3, 4, the second consists in shaping each of them so that it has in its central part an arc of a circle 1a 2a, 3a, 4a (fig. 2) extending over approximately 90 ° around a common center 0, the ends of these arcs each being integral with a branch 1b, 2b, 3b, 4b, oriented outwards approximately radially with respect to the center 0 above. To achieve this conformation it is possible, as indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 1, use a fixed central core 5, radial stops 6 in the form of knives arranged around it and punches 7 suitably profiled which, moving towards the center 0 of the core, apply the segments 1, 2, 3, 4 against it by forcing them to conform to the profile of its periphery as well as that of the radial stops 6. It will be noted in passing that the stops 6 and the punches 7 can serve as centering means for the positioning of the segments during the first operating phase. It will also be noted that due to the presence of the radial stops 6, the adjacent branches, such as 4b, 1b, or 1b, 2b, diverge very slightly towards the outside, which is in no way mandatory, but does not is not a disadvantage for the rest of the operations. Anyway, for the sake of clarity of explanation, it can be considered that each of these pairs of adjacent branches constitutes a double branch.

The third operational phase consists in twisting or twisting each of these double branches 1b-2b, 2b-3b, 3b-4b and 4b-1b over a part of its length from the central ring which constitute the four arcs of a circle 1a, 2a, 3a, and 4a. In fig. 3 we have referenced A the point where the part thus twisted ends. The operation can be easily carried out using tweezers which advance radially in the direction of the center 0 to point A, these pliers closing on the wires without however tightening them so that they can approach the one another from the start of the twist. Therefore when the operation is complete, the part of the double branch which has not been twisted, that is to say the remaining part AB in FIG. 3, is formed by two wires which extend more or less in contact with each other. Of course, during the operation, the arcs 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a must be maintained so that the torsion does not affect them. Note that this can be easily obtained if care is taken to keep the central core 5 of FIG. 1.

The length of the part thus twisted can for example represent approximately one third of the length of the initial double branch.

During the fourth phase, the two constituent wires of said remaining part AB are inverted. This inversion is effected by locally twisting all of these two wires by a half-turn at a point referenced C in FIG. 3. This can again be done by means of a tweezer advancing only to point C. To locate the twist, it is of course necessary to keep the two wires, such as 1b and 4b, flat in the area between the two points A and C, which can be obtained without difficulty using pressure devices, such as clamps held fixed.

As a variant, the third and the fourth phase can be carried out simultaneously by means of two independent rotating clamps which come to clamp one the AC part, the other the CB part (obviously leaving a small intermediate space). It then suffices to provide a difference of half a turn in the rotation cycle of these two clamps.

We then pass to the fifth phase, which consists in rolling the ends of the double branches substantially between points A and B of FIG. 3, so as to constitute for each of them a terminal loop thanks to which it can then be in the form of one of the legs of the desired muselet. This rolling operation is well known in the art, it is unnecessary to explain how it is carried out. It should however be noted, which is very important, that the reversal point C is located in the rolled part forming a loop, as shown in fig. 4 to 6 in which said loop has been referenced 8. It follows that the two wires or segments of wires such as 3b and 4b which constitute this loop 8 are intimately held against one another and in no way risk separating inadvertently allowing parts of an adjacent wire to overlap with the loop considered inside the store of a vending machine.

As indicated above, fig. 4 is only a partial view limited to one of the double branches constituting the muselet legs. The locations of the other three legs are indicated by dashed lines.

To finish the wire cap, simply stamp it in the shape of a bell in the usual way, an operation which can be carried out either beforehand for all the wire caps of a series, or successively for each of them when it is put in place. place on a bottle.

It should moreover be understood that the above description has been given only by way of example and that it in no way limits the field of the invention from which one would not depart by replacing the execution details described by all other equivalents. This is how provision could first be made to straight segments to the profile such as 1 b-1 a-1 b of FIG. 2 before associating them by four for the torsion operation, that is to say, to see things from another angle, by only carrying out the implementation phase, after that of conformation , which could have advantages in some cases due to the ease and speed of shaping such segments with the press. We could then dispense with the slight divergence of the adjacent elementary branches. Furthermore, although it was assumed above that four segments of wire were used, it goes without saying that this number could vary with a corresponding dimensioning of the central arc of each of them provided that it is greater than two. Nothing would prevent that from a technical point of view, establishing wire caps according to the invention comprising for example six legs and produced from six segments in each of which the central arc of a circle would represent only 60 °.

Claims (5)

1. A process for manufacturing a cork-wire intended to be arranged on a bottle of champagne or other sparkling liquid, using, to this end, segments of wire which have portions joined together by twisting, characterised in that it comprises the following operational phases:

a) a start is made from more than two segments of wire (1, 2, 3, 4) which are shaped so that each includes a central arc (1a 2a, 3a, 4a,) of an angular extent equal to one circumference (360°) divided by the number of segments, the ends of this arc being integral with respective substantially rectilinear limbs (1 b, 2b, 3b, 4b) directed approximately radially outwards in relation to the centre of curvature of the respective arcs,

b) these segments (1, 2, 3, 4) are arranged around a common centre (0) so that their arcuate portions (1a 2a 3a, 4a) form a central ring from which radiate double limbs (1 b-2b, 2b-3b, 3b-4b, 4b-1 b) of which is made up of a pair of elemental limbs forming between them a zero or low angle of divergence;

c) the two elemental limbs which make up each double limb are joined together by twisting of same over only a portion (as far as «A») of their length starting from the central ring (1a-2a-3a-4a), the wires of the two segments being parallel and substantially in contact one with the other in the remaining portion (AB);

d) in the central zone of the remaining portion (AB) of each double limb the two wires or elemental limbs (1b-2b, 2b-3b, 3b-4b, 4b-1b) which go to make it up are reversed locally (at C) by a halfturn twist;

e) the remaining portion (ACB) is rolled on itself to form in known manner a terminal loop (8) which is intended to receive the girdle wire of the cork-wire.

2. A process according to claim 1, characterised in that a start is made from four segments of wire (1, 2, 3, 4) in each of which the arc (1a, 2a, 3a, 4a) formed extends over about 90°.

3. A process according to claim 1, characterised in that during the first phase the segments of wire (1,2,3,4) which are initially straight are arranged on a suitable support so that they form a substantially regular polygon, the shaping operation being effected on this support.

4. A process according to claim 3, characterised in that, with a view to facilitating the shaping operation, provision in made for the two elemental limbs (1 b and 2b, 2b and 3b, 3b and 4b, 4b and 1 b) of each double limb to diverge slightly in relation to each other.

5. Cork-wires for bottles of champagne and other sparkling liquids, characterised in that they are formed by the process according to any one of the preceding claims.

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