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
  • B65D39/00—Closures arranged within necks or pouring openings or in discharge apertures, e.g. stoppers
  • B65D39/08—Threaded or like closure members secured by rotation; Bushes therefor
  • B65D39/082—Bung-rings and bungs for bung-holes
• • 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
  • B65D39/00—Closures arranged within necks or pouring openings or in discharge apertures, e.g. stoppers
  • B65D39/08—Threaded or like closure members secured by rotation; Bushes therefor
  • B65D39/082—Bung-rings and bungs for bung-holes
  • B65D39/084—Separated bung-rings made by one element
• • 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
  • B65D2251/00—Details relating to container closures
  • B65D2251/20—Sealing means
  • B65D2251/205—Inserted

Definitions

• This invention is directed to an improved container closure plug and more specifically a threaded plug having a unique gasket retaining feature.
• An object of the present invention is to provide a closure plug that overcomes the problems of sealing gasket gripping and looping.
• a further object of one embodiment of the present invention is to provide a closure plug that fits a range of container openings
• a closure plug is formed with a cylindrical sidewall having a helical screw thread and terminating in a circumferentially enlarged rim and an annular gasket seat immediately under the plug rim, wherein a continuous circumferential radially outwardly extending gasket retaining lip is interposed between the plug gasket seat and the sidewall thread.
• the gasket retaining lip is in substantial axial alignment with the screw thread root diameter.
• the gasket retaining lip has a radial extension less than the outside radial extension of the crest of sidewall thread and an inner root diameter less than the root thread diameter.
• the gasket seat flares radially outwardly and upwardly to meet the rim.
• a gasket seat is provided with a peripheral groove at the root of the gasket retaining lip.
• a sealing gasket is positioned on gasket seat.
• the sealing gasket may be resilient and stretched over the plug so as to hug the gasket seat.
• the sealing gasket assumes the shape of the flared seating gasket.
• a closure plug is combined with a container wall opening, having an internally threaded portion and an unthreaded portion, the sealing gasket being compressed between the unthreaded opening portion and the plug gasket seat and lying in close proximity to the internal thread, wherein a continuous circumferential radially outwardly extending gasket retaining lip is interposed between the plug gasket seat and the sidewall thread to prevent interengagement of the sealing gasket and the opening internally threaded portion; whereby unimpeded unscrewing of the plug and sealing gasket as an undisturbed unit is effected.
• a closure plug in accordance with the present invention provides a long sought after solution to the above mentioned “giipping” and “looping” problems in a simple straightforward manner.
• the closure plug is formed with a cylindrical threaded sidewall and a disc like bottom wall.
• the sidewall terminates in a circumferentially enlarged rim and has an annular gasket seat immediately under the rim. Interposed between the plug gasket seat and the sidewall thread is the gasket retaining lip.
• the resilient sealing gasket is stretched over the plug gasket seat occupying the vertical space between the plug ' rim and the retaining lip.
• a more detailed feature is to provide a plug gasket seat with structure to positively retain the plug gasket thereon during screwing and unscrewing.
• Fig. 1 is a part elevational pail sectional view of a closure plug in accordance with one embodiment the invention.
• Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a container closure combination incorporating the closure plug of Fig. 1.
• Fig. 3 is part sectional part elevational view of the plug of Fig. 1 screwed into the container opening.
• Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but with the plug in partially unthreaded position.
• Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 illustrating the prior art.
• Fig. 6 is a pail section detail of a closure plug in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention.
• Fig.7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 and including a sealing gasket.
• Fig. 8 is part sectional part elevational view of a closure plug forming a third embodiment of the invention, screwed into the container opening.
• Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8, but with the plug in partially unthreaded position.
• Fig. 10 is a part-section detail of a third embodiment of a closure plug in accordance with the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
• a closure plug according to a first embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figs 1 to 4 and is generally indicated at numeral 1, and is moulded from synthetic plastic resin to have a disc like bottom wall 2 surrounded by a cylindrical sidewall 3 terminating in a circumferentially enlarged rim 4.
• the interior of the plug 1 has a series of wrench engaging lugs 5 for imparting screwing and unscrewing torque to the plug.
• the plug sidewall 3 has a pilot portion 6 extending from the bottom wall 2, an external helical screw thread 7 and a gasket seat 8 positioned immediately below the plug rim 4.
• the gasket seat 8 lies in plane axially aligned with the plug thread root diameter.
• the plug sidewall 3 is formed with a circumferential retaining lip 9 at the upper end of the thread 7 which extends radially outwardly in axial alignment with the thread crest.
• the plug thread runs out and teraiinates at the point 10 within the lip 9 leaving a uniform upwardly facing continuous annular surface 11 lying in a plane parallel to the undersurface 4a of the plug rim 4 and immediately above the thread termination 10.
• a resilient annular sealing gasket 12 having a substantially square cross sectional shape is stretched over the plug so as to hug the gasket seat 8.
• the container wall opening within which the plug 1 is threadedly engaged as clearly shown in Fig. 3 consists of a container wall 20 within which a bushing generally indicated at numeral 21 is inserted in a conventional manner.
• the bushing 21 has a circumferentially extending polygonal base 22, a cylindrical wall 23 extending therefrom and terminating in a radially outwardly curled bead 24.
• the container wall 20 overlies the polygonal base 22 in a mating embossment 25 and has an upstanding substantially cylindrical neck 26 which extends within the bushing curl 24.
• a bushing gasket 27 is compressed between the bushing 21 and the surrounding surfaces of the container wall 20.
• An internal helical screw thread 28 is formed on the bushing wall 23 extending from the base 22 to a thread run-out point 29 at the start of the bead 24.
• the upwardly extending unthreaded bead portion immediately above the thread run-out point 29 forms a smooth gasket sealing area 30.
• the sealing relationship between the plug 1 and bushing 21 in fully torqued condition as depicted in Fig. 3 shows the plug gasket 12 tightly compressed between the plug gasket seat 8 and the bushing sealing area 30.
• the gasket 12 is also axially restrained between the rim undersurface 4a and the upper surface 11 of the retaining lip 9. Moreover it can be seen that the gasket 12 in this tightened position lies in contact with the bushing thread helical run-out and termination point 29.
• the continuous annular upper surface of the retaining lip maintains a constant axial spacing from the rim under surface 4a and prevents the gasket 12 from at any point becoming ensnared in the bushing thread 28.
• the gasket retaining lip 9 very clearly lifts the plug gasket 12 away from the bushing thread 28 and up off of the gasket sealing area 30. It is due to this clean separation of the plug gasket from the surrounding bushing surfaces that the heretofore common gasket "gripping" and gasket "looping" problems have been eliminated.
• Fig. 5 in contrast shows a typical prior art ' condition wherein a prior art plug 40 is unscrewed from an internally threaded container wall opening neck 41.
• the plug gasket 42 sits on the gasket seat 43 formed at the root diameter of the plug thread but the plug thread 44 simply diminishes indicated by numeral 45 as it approaches the gasket seat 43.
• the gasket 42 has almost no axial support supplied by the diminished thread 45.
• the gasket becomes easily ensnared between the interengaging closure threads and is pulled off the gasket seat creating a serious obstruction to normal closure functionality.
• Figs 6 - 7 and 8 - 9 Second and third embodiments of the invention are illustrated in Figs 6 - 7 and 8 - 9 respectively and are variants of the first embodiment described with reference to Figs 1 to 4; like pails have been given like references.
• a metal closure plug 60 in an example is cut and rolled from 1.15 mm dram end steel.
• the gasket retaining lip 61 is rolled to have a triangular, thi-ead-like, cross-section having an included angle of 55°, a radial extension DI less than the outside radial extension D2 of the crest of thread 7 and to lie in a plane parallel to the undersurface 4a of the plug rim 4.
• the upper flank 62 of the retaining lip 61 forms a continuous peripheral upwardly and outwardly facing surface above the screw thread 7.
• the diameter D3 of the inner root 63 of the lip 61 is less than the thread root diameter D4.
• the gasket seat 64 flares radially outwardly and upwardly to meet- the rim 4 at essentially the same point that gasket seat 8 meets the rim in the first embodiment.
• a conventional gasket 12, of E.P.D.M., black nitrile or P.E., is stretched onto the gasket seat 64 and assumes the same generally flared shape; as shown in Fig. 7.
• the effect of the changed geometry in this second embodiment is that the lip 61 has essentially the same radial extension DI - D3 as lip 9 of the first embodiment and thus the gasket lifting and anti-grabbing and anti-looping functions of the first embodiment are retained.
• the reduced lip diameter enables the closure plug to fit a greater range of container openings.
• the flared gasket seat 64 has two advantages. Firstly it provides an increased volume for the sealing gasket 12 in the area between the closure plug lip 61 and the gasket sealing area 30 of the container closure bushing 21 and, secondly, the frusto-conic shape assumed by the stretched gasket 12 provides an increased area of contact between the gasket and the gasket sealing area 30 as the plug is being screwed into the bushing 21.
• the sealing gasket is "fed in” to the volume between the bushing sealing area 30 and plug seat 64, with the leading end of the gasket initially being subjected to lower (or even no) compression.
• the initial contact band between the gasket and the closure bushing is partway up the side of the gasket.
• Another advantage of the geometry used for the lip 61 is that it reinforces the plug, enabling the plug in Figs. 6 and 7 to be formed from thinner gauge steel than used for prior art plugs, whilst still maintaining equivalent structural integrity.
• FIG. 10 illustrates a fourth embodiment of the invention, wherein a metal plug 66 has a lip 68 of the same geometry as lip 61 of the second embodiment. The difference is that a peripheral groove 70 is rolled in the gasket seat 72, at the root of lip 68, to leave the remainder of the gasket seat 72 cylindrical.
• This geometry provides the same radial extension for lip 68 as lips 9 and 61 of the first to third embodiments and the groove 70 provides an increased volume for the gasket 12.
• the first embodiment closure plug could be fomied from metal and the second and fourth embodiments moulded from synthetic plastic resin.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Closures For Containers (AREA)
• Pipe Accessories (AREA)
• Taps Or Cocks (AREA)
• Glass Compositions (AREA)
• Safety Valves (AREA)
• Agricultural Chemicals And Associated Chemicals (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Publications (3)

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ID=27614816

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (12)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (11)

Family Cites Families (6)

• 2003
  • 2003-01-15 JP JP2003561979A patent/JP4475388B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2003-01-15 PL PL370538A patent/PL200367B1/pl unknown
  • 2003-01-15 DE DE60315594T patent/DE60315594T3/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-01-15 RU RU2004124934/12A patent/RU2294870C2/ru not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2003-01-15 BR BRPI0306963-0A patent/BRPI0306963B1/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2003-01-15 AT AT03700871T patent/ATE370078T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2003-01-15 EP EP03700871A patent/EP1467922B3/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-01-15 CN CNB038023105A patent/CN100341753C/zh not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-01-15 WO PCT/GB2003/000130 patent/WO2003062078A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 2003-01-15 ES ES03700871T patent/ES2292930T7/es active Active
  • 2003-01-15 AU AU2003202017A patent/AU2003202017B2/en not_active Ceased
• 2004
  • 2004-08-17 NO NO20043428A patent/NO327273B1/no not_active IP Right Cessation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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