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
  • B65D49/00—Arrangements or devices for preventing refilling of containers
  • B65D49/12—Arrangements or devices for preventing refilling of containers by destroying, in the act of opening the container, an integral portion thereof
• • 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
  • B65D55/00—Accessories for container closures not otherwise provided for
  • B65D55/02—Locking devices; Means for discouraging or indicating unauthorised opening or removal of closure

Definitions

• the present invention relates to tamper-evident containers.
• tainer means any hollow body with its closure, such as, inter alia: bottles, flasks, containers and / or other reservoirs. They are normally intended for the marketing of quality products, often under reputable brands, such as alcohols and / or spirits, champagnes and / or fine wines, perfumes and / or cosmetics, chemicals, food or pharmaceuticals, sometimes dangerous use.
• seals are for example arranged between the neck of a bottle and its stopper, so that the seal will be broken when the latter is opened.
• the European Patent N ° 94.402 006.4 published on March 15, 1995 under N ° 0 642 984 A1, presents, an "Opening indicator device for bottles closed by a stopper, comprising means connected by a zone frangible to a ring connected in an inviolable manner to the neck, so that said means break at the location of the frangible zone when they are brought from a protective position in which they oppose the removal of the cap, to a stopper release position.
• French Patent N ° 89 17563, published on June 28, 1991 under number 2 656 281 describes a "tamper-evident closure device for a fragile container, comprising a stopper or overcap in ductile material, fixed on said container and comprising an opening means, for example a line of weakness or tearing overcoming a retention by crimping; this device also comprises a plate, playing the role of an anti-fraud seal, fixed both on said closure or overcap and on the container. "This plate which has a low resilience, normally less than that of the container itself, breaks during any attempt to open, by breaking the attachment of this sealing plate; otherwise, this attempt to open would cause the container itself to fracture, erratically, indefinitely and not controlled, even dangerous .
• the container object of the present invention, is truly inviolable, by the very fact that its opening necessarily involves the elimination of the upper part of the neck of said container, in a predefined, controlled, safe and final manner, making any reuse impossible. of it, thanks to the obvious detection of this elimination.
• the inviolable container, object of the present invention which comprises a hollow body with its closure, is characterized in that this hollow body comprises a means forming an integral part of the neck of the hollow body, produced at a certain distance from the top of the neck.
• This means which represents a line of weakness of the neck of the hollow body and will be broken when the container is opened, is produced, according to the invention, in clearance and disposed at a certain distance from the top of the neck of the hollow body.
• said draft is produced in the form of a recess, a groove or a stripe, substantially circular, partially or totally.
• this draft is produced during the manufacture of this hollow body, said groove or scratch can also be produced subsequently, possibly even when the container is closed, for example by means of a tool such as diamond.
• the hollow body constituting said containers can be obtained from various materials (among others: glass, quartz, crystal, preferably; ceramics, porcelain, etc.) according to any technique known to those skilled in the art, depending on the material used. in the work and the application concerned, such as, for example: molding, rotational molding, forming, thermoforming, casting, centrifugal casting, spinning, extrusion, blowing, machining or others.
• the closure of the container, object of the invention which comprises a capsule, preferably inviolable, is characterized in that the resilience of this capsule, at its weakest point of possible fracture, is greater than that of the line of weakness , means destroyed when opening the container itself.
• Said capsule possibly known in itself, is made of a material having mechanical characteristics, essential to meet the resilience defined above, and to allow its final shaping when it is placed on the neck of the container, according to any technique known in itself to those skilled in the art.
• the top of the container neck is coated, according to any technique known in itself, with a so-called overcap capsule.
• the material constituting said capsule and / or the so-called overcap capsule is generally metallic, inter alia, light alloys, for example aluminum, tin or even steel, can also be made of a thermosetting synthetic material, known in it - even, possibly transparent.
• a cover - inter alia a plastic capsule, as shown by way of illustrative and nonlimiting example, shown in Ref. 8 below - is arranged in the neck, au- below said means, so that any possible chip from the upper part thereof, which is eliminated during the breaking of this means, would be in this case prevented from entering the container and would therefore be eliminated before any use thereof.
• said closure also includes a plug.
• the skirt of such a stopper which is generally made of cork or can also be made of plastic, is frequently surmounted by a head made of a relatively hard, known material, such as a thermosetting synthetic resin; this head is often decorated, especially for products from reputable brands.
• This rupture can also be obtained by a traction, torsion and / or rotation force, exerted from the outside on the upper part of the neck; this effort being made directly manually or, if necessary, by means of a bottle opener suitable for this purpose, such as bottle opener, pliers or the like.
• This rupture of said means can be obtained by pressure exerted on the internal face of the neck and towards the outside, in its upper part, more particularly in the vicinity of the line of weakness, as illustrated in FIGs 1, 2 and / or 3 , attached.
• This internal pressure can thus be produced by means of an element (see ref. 5) particularly arranged between the upper part of the neck (see ref. 2) and the stopper (see ref. 3); said element being constituted, inter alia:
• This rupture can also be obtained by degradation of the line of weakness, caused for example by destructuring friction thereof, or even by abrasion, during a rotational force applied to the overcap capsule, among others.
• This rupture can also be obtained by thermal shock, exerted in the vicinity of the line of weakness, by a heat conducting element, preferably metallic, such as among other aluminum, copper, tinplate or steel, the coefficient of expansion of which is sufficiently different from that of the material constituting the neck, itself, so that a rapid heating of this element produces the rupture of the line of weakness, this heating can be caused by any known means, including induction for example optionally.
• a heat conducting element preferably metallic, such as among other aluminum, copper, tinplate or steel, the coefficient of expansion of which is sufficiently different from that of the material constituting the neck, itself, so that a rapid heating of this element produces the rupture of the line of weakness, this heating can be caused by any known means, including induction for example optionally.
• a cup preferably prefabricated, based on silicone resin (5), covering the head of the stopper (3) and extending between this head and all along the internal face of the upper part (2) of the neck of this bottle, substantially up to the line of weakness (4), then an overcap capsule (6) made of aluminum alloy with high mechanical characteristics, covering the whole of the upper part of this prefabricated cup, as well as of the external face of the part (2) of the neck of the bottle and the base of the skirt of which is firmly fixed, for example by gluing, to the lower surface of this part (2) , in the very vicinity of the line (4) thus making it inviolable.
• a disc made of rigid material preferably metallic - for example, tinplate, steel, aluminum, copper, etc. - placed under the foot of the skirt of the plug (3), and under this disc, a plastic capsule, such as, among other polyolefins, PVC, or others, of a small thickness, of the order of a few millimeters to about one or two centimeters, having at its upper part a flange bearing, as well as said disc, on a slight flat, provided for this purpose at the top of the lower part of the neck of the bottle, so that the upper part of this disc is located substantially in the plane of the line of weakness (4), then an overcap capsule (6) preferably metallic - for example, tinplate, steel, aluminum, copper, etc.
• the opening of this bottle can be carried out, either according to the operating process described below in the example of FIG. 5, or by creating a thermal shock in the vicinity of the line of weakness (4), produced by rapid heating by any known means, of the metal constituting the disc (7) and / or the capsule (6), provided for this effect, which causes a clear break in the line of weakness (4), - almost without a glass shard, taking account of the relative specifications thereof -, thus allowing the opening of this bottle, by eliminating the upper part of its neck.
• an induction heating could be more particularly carried out in the case of bottles of quality alcohols, intended to be consumed in bars, discotheques or others.
• the only difference relates to the element (7) which is, not constituted by a rigid disc, but by a rigid cup surrounding the whole of the skirt of the plug (3).
• an element (10) which conducts heat - inter alia, aluminum, copper, tin or steel wire, etc. - is either placed in close contact with the line of weakness (4), or even directly introduced into the material constituting the neck of the bottle, at the location of this line of weakness, one end of this wire being connected to the outside, by means of 'a strand of said wire, to a metal plate (12).
• Rapid heating of the wire (10), which could be achieved by induction, according to the metal constituting the element (IO), as provided in the example of FIG. 4, as the case may be, is in the present example produced by direct heating through the plate (12) and the strand (11), causing the opening of this bottle by creating a thermal shock in the vicinity of the line of weakness (4), which will be broken - almost without a glass shard, given specific characteristics of it -, leading to the opening of this bottle, with elimination of its upper part.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Closures For Containers (AREA)
• Purses, Travelling Bags, Baskets, Or Suitcases (AREA)
• Containers Having Bodies Formed In One Piece (AREA)
• Respiratory Apparatuses And Protective Means (AREA)
• Packages (AREA)
• Devices For Use In Laboratory Experiments (AREA)
• Tubes (AREA)
• Catching Or Destruction (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Publications (2)

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ID=26233262

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (22)

Family Cites Families (14)

• 1997
  • 1997-08-08 FR FR9710207A patent/FR2758533B3/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1998
  • 1998-01-16 EP EP98905454A patent/EP0952950B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1998-01-16 AT AT98905454T patent/ATE204547T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1998-01-16 CN CN98801875A patent/CN1092124C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1998-01-16 US US09/341,142 patent/US6237789B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1998-01-16 DE DE69801416T patent/DE69801416T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1998-01-16 WO PCT/FR1998/000075 patent/WO1998031599A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 1998-01-16 ES ES98905454T patent/ES2163255T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1998-01-16 AU AU61034/98A patent/AU6103498A/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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