EP0673850B1 - Bottle closure means - Google Patents

Bottle closure means Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0673850B1
EP0673850B1 EP95104121A EP95104121A EP0673850B1 EP 0673850 B1 EP0673850 B1 EP 0673850B1 EP 95104121 A EP95104121 A EP 95104121A EP 95104121 A EP95104121 A EP 95104121A EP 0673850 B1 EP0673850 B1 EP 0673850B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
bottle
skirt
neck
cap
lid
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 - Lifetime
Application number
EP95104121A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0673850A1 (en
Inventor
Enrico Sacchi
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.)
ALUCAPVIT SpA
Original Assignee
ALUCAPVIT SpA
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 ALUCAPVIT SpA filed Critical ALUCAPVIT SpA
Publication of EP0673850A1 publication Critical patent/EP0673850A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0673850B1 publication Critical patent/EP0673850B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65D—CONTAINERS 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
    • B65D41/00—Caps, 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
    • B65D41/32—Caps or cap-like covers with lines of weakness, tearing-strips, tags, or like opening or removal devices, e.g. to facilitate formation of pouring openings
    • B65D41/34—Threaded or like caps or cap-like covers provided with tamper elements formed in, or attached to, the closure skirt
    • B65D41/348—Threaded or like caps or cap-like covers provided with tamper elements formed in, or attached to, the closure skirt the tamper element being rolled or pressed to conform to the shape of the container, e.g. metallic closures
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65D—CONTAINERS 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
    • B65D41/00—Caps, 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
    • B65D41/62—Secondary protective cap-like outer covers for closure members

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a bottle closure means consisting of an external left-handed thread on the neck of the bottle, and a cap which is made in particular of aluminium and comprises a skirt extending around the neck of the bottle and having an internal left-handed thread engaging with the external thread of the neck of the bottle, and a lid that has an internal seal able to seal the mouth of the bottle and that is connected to the skirt by means of a circumferential line of predetermined tearing, consisting of an alternating series of incisions and bridges of connecting material between the lid and the skirt, all of this being such that, by turning the cap in order to open the bottle, towards the left in the normal way (anticlockwise), with the intention of unscrewing it from the neck of the bottle, the connection created by the left-handed thread between the neck of the bottle and the skirt of the cap of the cap exerts a downward axial pull on the skirt of the cap sufficient to tear at least some of the connecting bridges of the line of predetermined tearing and hence wholly or partly to detach the skirt from the lid.
  • a device of this sort is known from document US-A-2,151,826.
  • the circumferential line of predetermined tearing of the cap, situated between the lid and the skirt of the cap is shifted a certain distance downwards from the horizontal plane of the rim of the bottle mouth, which means that after the lid has been wholly or partly detached from the skirt, a rather large amount of the top of the bottle neck is left exposed between the top edge of the skirt and the rim of the bottle mouth.
  • the object of the invention is to eliminate this effect of the known closure device and to provide a closure device of the type described at the outset, improving it however in such a way that after the bottle has been opened, that is after the lid has been wholly or partly detached from the skirt, the top edge of the skirt reaches virtually all the way to the horizontal plane of the rim of the bottle mouth, reducing to a minimum the amount of the neck of the bottle left exposed at the top.
  • the skirt of the cap of the closure device according to the invention should replace or simulate the skirt of heatshrink plastic or the like which covers the neck of bottles known hitherto almost as far as the rim of their mouths and maintains this position even after the bottles have been opened.
  • the closure device according to the invention must guarantee that closure will be perfectly leaktight, even if the bottle is under internal pressure, and yet must allow the bottle to be opened easily by simply removing the lid or hinging it up together with the leaktight seal once the lid has been wholly or partly detached from the skirt. Moreover, all these objects must be achieved by a constructionally simple and easily manufactured embodiment of the closure means.
  • the inwardly-projecting bottom edge of the lid that engages with the leaktight seal, and/or the inwardly-projecting top edge of the skirt that engages with the stop ridge on the neck of the bottle are formed by means of an external annular groove impressed into the wall of the cap around the circumferential line of predetermined tearing.
  • the bent-in parts of the bottom edge of the lid and/or of the top edge of the skirt may take the form of corresponding deformations, for example lips, on the respective top and/or bottom edges of the slits or incisions of the circumferential line of predetermined tearing.
  • the bottle closure means consists of an external left-handed thread 1 on the neck 2 of the bottle, and of an aluminium cap (3) comprising a generally cylindrical or slightly conical skirt 4 and a cap 5 that has an internal leaktight seal.
  • the leaktight seal consists of a flat disc 6 designed to rest on the rim 102 of the mouth of the bottle.
  • the leaktight seal consists of a stopper part 106 designed to pass into the mouth of the bottle and having a peripheral flange 206 designed to rest on the rim 102 of the mouth of the bottle.
  • a circumferential line of predetermined tearing consisting of an alternating series of slits or incisions 7 and bridges of connecting material 8 between the lid 5 and the skirt 4 of the cap 3. All the connecting bridges 8 of the line of predetermined tearing may be of the same length in the circumferential direction, in which case they will all tear when the bottle is opened so that the lid 5 comes away completely from the skirt 4 of the cap 3.
  • one bridge 108 (Fig. 2) or two or more adjacent bridges 208 (Fig. 3) can be longer in the circumferential direction than the other bridges 8, as a result of which they remain intact, that is they do not tear, when the bottle is opened and provide a local hinged joint between the lid 5 and the skirt 4.
  • the line of predetermined tearing consisting of the incisions 7 and bridges 8, 108, 208, is situated in the innermost part of an external annular groove 9 formed by an inward impression in the wall of the cap 3.
  • the lid 5, defined with respect to the skirt 4 by said line of predetermined tearing has a bent-in bottom edge 105.
  • This inwardly-projecting bottom edge 105 of the lid 5 engages from below with the peripheral edge of the disc 6 forming the leaktight seal in the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 6 and Figs. 9 and 10; and by this means secures this sealing disc 6 to the lid 5.
  • the inwardly-projecting bottom edge 105 of the lid 5 engages from below with the peripheral flange 206 on the stopper 102 and thus secures this stopper 102 to the lid 5.
  • the skirt 4 defined with respect to the lid 5 by said line of predetermined tearing also has a bent-in top edge 104 that can be exploited in a preferred embodiment of the invention described later with reference to Figs. 9 and 10.
  • the generally cylindrical skirt 4 of the aluminium cap 3 Prior to its being fitted to the neck 2 of the bottle, the generally cylindrical skirt 4 of the aluminium cap 3 has an external annular groove 10 formed by an impression in the wall of the skirt 4 and situated below the circumferential line of predetermined tearing at the point where the external thread 1 on the neck 2 of the bottle commences. Further down, below the thread 1 on the neck 2 of the bottle, the skirt 4 of the cap 3 has an external annular rib 11 which is also formed by a corresponding deformation of the wall of the skirt 4.
  • the aluminium cap 3 prior to its being fitted to the neck 2 of the bottle, is in the form illustrated in Fig. 1 and is fitted with the leaktight seal (disc 6 or flanged stopper 106, 206), which is accommodated inside the lid 5 and is secured to the latter by means of its inwardly-projecting bottom edge 105 in the manner described above.
  • This cap 3 is fitted to the neck 2 of the bottle and the seal is compressed such that the peripheral edge of the disc 6 (Figs. 5 and 9) or the peripheral flange 206 of the stopper 6 (Fig.
  • skirt 4 of the cap 3 is deformed from the outside in some conventional manner, for example by rolling, to produce its internal left-handed thread 101 which is complementary with the external left-handed thread 1 on the neck of the bottle, the two engaging with each other as illustrated in Figs. 5, 7 and 9. Furthermore the skirt 4 of the cap 3 is provided - below the thread 101 - with an internal annular ridge 12 which is likewise produced by a corresponding impression from the outside into the wall of the skirt 4, for example by rolling, and engages with an external annular undercut 202 on the neck of the bottle.
  • the external annular ridge 11 of the skirt 4 of the cap 3 is situated preferably partly below said internal annular ridge 12 on the skirt 4 and its function is to absorb any wrinkles or other undesirable unaesthetic deformations that may appear in the skirt 4 during the abovementioned operations of forming the thread 101 and internal annular ridge 12. Consequently, because of said external annular ridge 11, the skirt 4 also has, once the cap 3 has been fitted to the neck 2 of the bottle, a regular and attractive appearance.
  • the external annular groove 10 situated at the top of the skirt 4 of the cap 3 serves to facilitate and improve the purchase of the shaping roll as it begins the operation of rolling the thread 101 on the cap 3.
  • the circumferential line of predetermined tearing consisting of the incisions 7 and bridges 8, 108, 208 between the skirt 4 and the lid 5, is situated - once the cap 3 has been fitted in the manner described above to the neck 2 of the bottle - close to the horizontal plane of the rim 102 of the mouth of the bottle, or else only slightly below this plane, as can be seen in Figs. 5, 7 and 9.
  • the cap 3 is twisted to the left, as would normally be done to unscrew any ordinary screw cap.
  • the screw connection 1, 101 between the neck 2 of the bottle and the skirt 4 of the cap 3 is left-handed, which means that twisting to the left, far from unscrewing the cap, tends to screw the skirt 4 of the cap 3 further down the neck 2 of the bottle with a downward pull on this skirt 4. Since the lid 5 is resting, via the leaktight seal (disc 6 or flange 206 of the stopper 106), on the rim 102 of the mouth and cannot therefore move downwards, this downward axial pull on the skirt 4 of the cap 3 tears the connecting bridges 8 of the line of predetermined tearing, leaving only the optional bridge 108 (Fig. 2) or two optional adjacent bridges 208 (Fig. 3) untorn.
  • the result of the first case is complete detachment of the lid 5 from the skirt 4 of the cap, the bottle being opened by completely removing the lid 5 together with the leaktight seal (disc 6 or flanged stopper 106, 206), as illustrated for example in Fig. 10.
  • the bottle is opened by pivoting back the lid 5 together with the leaktight seal (disc 6) on its bridge 108 or pair of bridges 208 left untorn and acting as a hinged joint with the skirt 4 of the cap 3, as illustrated in Fig. 6.
  • This embodiment as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 enables the bottle to be closed again a small number of times, purely to prevent the entrance of dust or the like, by pivoting the raised lid 5 back down again over the mouth of the bottle.
  • the embodiment shown in Figs. 7 and 8 in contrast, allows the bottle to be reclosed any number of times with perfect sealing, since the seal secured to the lid 5 is a flanged stopper 106, 206 that sits inside the mouth.
  • the skirt 4 descends axially around the neck 2 of the bottle by only a small amount approximately equal to the axial descent of the skirt 4 when being driven around the thread to tear the bridges 8 and hence detach it from the lid 5.
  • a small additional descent due to the various axial plays in particular the play between the thread 101 on the skirt 4 and the thread 1 on the neck 2 of the bottle.
  • the axial descent of the skirt 4 after the bottle has been opened is very limited and exposes only a small and not very conspicuous part at the very top of the neck 2 of the bottle, as can be clearly seen in Figs. 6 and 8.
  • the neck 2 of the bottle has an external annular stop ridge 13 situated as close as possible to the horizontal plane of the rim 102 of the mouth, below the circumferential line of predetermined tearing formed by the incisions 7 and bridges 8.
  • This external annular ridge 13 is intended to engage with the top edge 104 of the skirt 4 of the cap 3, which top edge 104 is bent in because of the fact that the line of predetermined tearing 7, 8 is situated in the innermost part of an external annular groove 9 impressed into the wall of the cap 3, as described earlier.
  • the external annular stop ridge 13 on the neck 2 of the bottle is situated in such a position that, when the bottle is in a closed condition (Fig.
  • the distance between said annular stop ridge 13 and the superjacent inwardly-projecting top edge 104 of the skirt allows this skirt 4, when the bottle is being opened, that is during the twisting of the skirt 4 to the left, to move axially downwards by an amount which is basically just sufficient to tear the bridges 8 of the line of predetermined tearing and thus detach the lid 5.
  • the bent-in top edge 104 of the skirt 4 comes to rest on the annular stop ridge 13 on the neck 2 of the bottle and therefore prevents the skirt 4 of the cap 3 from descending axially any further, as illustrated in Fig. 10.
  • the leaktight seal secured to the lid 5 by its inwardly-projecting bottom edge 105 is formed by a flat disc 6, but-it can of course also take the form of a flanged stopper 106, 206, as illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Closures For Containers (AREA)
  • Closing Of Containers (AREA)
  • Package Closures (AREA)
EP95104121A 1994-03-25 1995-03-21 Bottle closure means Expired - Lifetime EP0673850B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
ITMI940574A IT1269917B (it) 1994-03-25 1994-03-25 Capsula per la chiusura di bottiglie provvista di sigillo di garanzia particolarmente per chiusure non richiudibili
ITMI940574 1994-03-25

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0673850A1 EP0673850A1 (en) 1995-09-27
EP0673850B1 true EP0673850B1 (en) 1997-07-30

Family

ID=11368370

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP95104121A Expired - Lifetime EP0673850B1 (en) 1994-03-25 1995-03-21 Bottle closure means

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0673850B1 (it)
AT (1) ATE156086T1 (it)
DE (1) DE69500480T2 (it)
IT (1) IT1269917B (it)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2023277864A1 (en) * 2021-06-28 2023-01-05 Amocor Flexibles North America, Inc. Screwcap and bottle assembly

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2786173B1 (fr) 1998-11-25 2001-01-05 Pechiney Emballage Alimentaire Procede de bouchage d'une bague de verre non filetee
DE10244478A1 (de) * 2002-09-19 2004-04-01 Alcoa Deutschland Gmbh Verpackungswerke Getränkeflasche

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2151826A (en) * 1936-05-23 1939-03-28 Aluminum Co Of America Container and closure
FR2358330A2 (fr) * 1976-07-13 1978-02-10 Bouchons Plastiques Perfectionnements aux capsules de surbouchage
US5119965A (en) * 1990-12-20 1992-06-09 Anthony Arduca Dressing capsule for bottle
FR2702754B1 (fr) * 1993-03-18 1995-06-16 Alsacienne Aluminium Capsule de surbouchage d'un col de bouteille.

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2023277864A1 (en) * 2021-06-28 2023-01-05 Amocor Flexibles North America, Inc. Screwcap and bottle assembly

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
ATE156086T1 (de) 1997-08-15
IT1269917B (it) 1997-04-16
ITMI940574A0 (it) 1994-03-25
DE69500480D1 (de) 1997-09-04
DE69500480T2 (de) 1997-12-04
EP0673850A1 (en) 1995-09-27
ITMI940574A1 (it) 1995-09-25

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