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
  • B65D49/02—One-way valves
  • B65D49/04—Weighted valves
  • B65D49/06—Weighted valves with additional loading weights
• • 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
  • B65D49/02—One-way valves
  • B65D49/10—Arrangements of several valves

Definitions

• the invention relates to a closure device designed to prevent the filling of a container with liquid product, after emptying said container once.
• a fraudulent practice may be to fill a bottle of a liquid food product of well-known brand, such as a drink, with a product of poor quality and lower price.
• One method is to fill the empty bottle by gravity. This method consists in arranging the bottle head up, and to pour into the bottle the drink by introducing it by its neck.
• a second method is to dip the bottle in a bath of beverage, head down, and to chase the air contained in the bottle so that the drink replaces the air hunted to gradually fill the bottle.
• the Applicant has designed a closure device which, placed in the neck of a bottle, prevents the replacement of the initial product contained in the bottle with another product.
• the invention relates to a closure device, which also has the function of doser, for liquid product container.
• the device according to the invention comprises a substantially cylindrical body, designed to fit into the neck of the container and having a shoulder forming a stop to limit its introduction into the neck.
• the body has an inlet opening of a liquid product contained in the container and an outlet opening of the liquid product. It also comprises a first mass element for gravity-closing the inlet opening when the container is positioned upside-down, this first element acting in combination with a second float element to close the inlet opening. when the container is positioned upside down, the first element being of higher density than that of the liquid product.
• the mass forming element prevents any entry of liquid introduced into the neck of the container when the container is disposed "head up, that is to say when the neck of the container is oriented upwards. and that the container rests by its base on a given support.
• the mass member also prevents any entry of liquid into the neck of the container when the latter is arranged "upside down", that is to say when the neck of the container is oriented downwards.
• the mass is made in the form of a ball of diameter greater than the diameter of the inlet opening, so as to seal said inlet opening.
• the ball has a diameter substantially between 2 and 20 mm, and preferably between 6 and 12 mm.
• the device according to the invention can thus be declined in different models, having different sizes according to those of the neck of the container for which it is intended.
• the body of the device according to the invention advantageously has, in the vicinity of the inlet opening, means for guiding and positioning the ball on the entrance opening.
• the mass has a density greater than 0.8 (the density of the alcohol being 0, 8). In this way, the mass flows into the alcohol.
• the mass is made of glass, polymethylmethacrylate, food polycarbonate, or metal inert with respect to the liquid product for example.
• inert metal means a metal having physical properties acceptable from a food point of view, not reacting on contact with the liquid product contained in the container and causing no degradation of this product.
• the float is hollow.
• the float comprises an envelope hermetically enclosing a volume of air, the envelope being of density substantially equal to 0.8.
• Said envelope may also have a density slightly greater than 0.8. Indeed, in that the float encloses an air pocket, the float can float even being made in a material of higher density than the liquid.
• the float is a solid body. It is then advantageously made of a material with a density of less than 0.8 to be able to float in an alcoholic solution.
• the body of the device according to the invention comprises a cage for retaining and guiding the float along the axis of the body.
• the cage is also provided with baffle forming elements so as to prevent the intrusion of a foreign body into the device and to allow the passage of the liquid.
• the device comprises at least one housing for receiving a radial connecting edge of a crimping ring on the side of a container.
• FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the device according to the invention for axial section and slightly in profile, said device being mounted in the neck of a container arranged "head up";
• FIG. 2 is an axial sectional view of the device illustrated in FIG. 1;
• FIG. 3 shows the device illustrated in FIG. 1, in axial section, mounted in the neck of a container arranged upside down to deliver the liquid product contained in the container, at the moment when the latter enters the device. according to the invention before being delivered;
• FIG. 4 shows the device according to the invention at another time of delivery of the liquid product, at the moment when a dose of product has been delivered and where the device prevents the delivery of more liquid product.
• the embodiment that will be presented relates to a device intended to be implemented in the neck of a bottle containing alcohol.
• the device according to the invention could be implemented in the neck of a bottle containing another liquid product, such as water for example.
• the device according to the invention comprises a substantially cylindrical body 1, which is designed to fit into the neck 2 of the container.
• the body 1 comprises a hollow cylinder 11, open at a first end 12, and partially closed at its second end 13 by a flat ring 14 which is centered around the axis of the hollow cylinder, and which defines, around the axis of the hollow cylinder 11, an opening 15 (FIG. 3).
• the opening 15 constitutes a liquid inlet opening in the device (said liquid being initially contained in the bottle), and the open end 12 constitutes an outlet opening of the liquid, the device to the outside of the bottle.
• Said body 1 has, at the open end 12, a shoulder 16 forming a substantially right angle with the outer face of the wall of the hollow cylinder 11.
• the shoulder 16 constitutes a stop to limit the introduction of the hollow cylinder 11 into the neck 2 of the bottle.
• the shoulder 16 comprises two identical flat rings 17 parallel and centered around the axis of the hollow cylinder 11, integral with the wall of the hollow cylinder 11, and spaced apart by a radial groove 18.
• the radial groove 18 constitutes a housing for receiving a radial connecting edge 19 of a crimping ring 20 on the neck 2 of the bottle. Indeed, in the context of this embodiment, it is advantageously provided to fix the device by crimping on the neck of the bottle, so that the device can not be removed from the neck without at least partial destruction of the hoop , which would indicate to the consumer that the device could be momentarily removed to fill the bottle with a liquid other than that which the bottle is supposed to contain.
• Crimping the device on the neck of the bottle thus provides a means for the consumer to ensure the inviolability of the device.
• the advantageously metallic ferrule is deformed according to a crimping process usually used in the field of perfumery and cosmetics, to come to marry the shape of the protruding bead of the outer face of the wall of the neck 2 of the bottle.
• the device comprises a first mass element 3, which is intended to close by gravity the inlet opening 15 when the container is positioned head up ( Figures 1 and 2).
• the mass 3 is a ball 3 of diameter greater than the diameter of the inlet opening 15. In this way, the ball 3 can not pass through the inlet opening 15, since it abuts against the central inner face of the wall of the flat ring 14. The ball 3 thus seals the inlet opening 15.
• the ball 3 has a diameter substantially equal to 10 mm for a device having dimensions such that the hollow cylinder 1 can be fitted into the neck of a bottle containing alcohol and dimension standard.
• the ball 3 It is intended to make the ball 3 in a material of density higher than that of alcohol, a density greater than 0.8, so that the ball flows into the alcohol and gravity closing the inlet opening 15 when the bottle is positioned head up.
• the ball 3 could be made of polymethyl methacrylate whose density is 1, 18 and which is easily achievable.
• the ball 3 could also be made of food polycarbonate, or a metal (or metal alloy) inert vis-à-vis the liquid product to be dispensed.
• the ball 3 thus has a weight such that the ball is maintained by gravity in the inlet opening 15 due to its weight when the bottle is positioned head up.
• the device comprises a second element which acts in combination with the ball 3 to close the inlet opening 15 when the container is positioned upside down.
• the second element is a float member 4, i.e., a floating element in the alcohol within the scope of the illustrated and described embodiment.
• float member 4 is an element designed to float in any liquid product contained in the container. Also, float 4 could float in the water.
• the float 4 is made in the form of a hollow cylinder, closed at both ends.
• the envelope 41 constituted by the wall of the hollow cylinder, hermetically enclosing a volume of air (or air pocket). Due to the presence of the air pocket enclosed in the casing 41, it is not necessary for the casing 41 to have a lower density than the liquid for the float to float.
• the envelope may even have a density substantially equal to or slightly greater than 0.8 in the present context. example where the device is designed to be implemented in the neck of a bottle containing alcohol.
• the envelope of the float can be made of low density polyethylene, the density being of this material being 0.92 g. cm '3 .
• the envelope 41 is made in such a way that its volume is greater than that of the ball 3, and in such a way that the density of the envelope is at least equal to that of the ball 3.
• the float could be made in the form of a solid body.
• the solid body must be made of a material density less than 0.8 g.cm "3 to float.
• the device comprises a cage 5 for retaining and guiding the float along the axis of the cylindrical body 1.
• the cage 5 consists of a hollow cylinder 51, in which are placed the ball 3 and the float 4.
• the hollow cylinder 51 has an internal diameter slightly greater than that of the ball and the float 4, the ball 3 and the float 4 may have an identical diameter.
• the internal face of the side wall of the cage 5 thus constitutes a means for guiding and positioning the ball in the inlet opening 15.
• the hollow cylinder 51 is closed at one of its ends 52 by a disk 53, and at its other end by a perforated disk 54.
• a light 55, formed in the center of the perforated disk 54, has a diameter greater than that of the entrance opening 15.
• the perforated disk 54 has, projecting from one of its faces, fastening elements 56 to the flat ring partially closing the hollow cylindrical body 1 of the device.
• the disc 53 closing the opposite end of the cage 5 has a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the hollow cylinder 1, and greater than or equal to the diameter of the cage.
• the disk 53 has protruding peripheral slots 6. These peripheral peripheral slots 6 are such that they bear against the face of the inner wall of the hollow cylinder 1.
• peripheral peripheral slots 6 constitute elements preventing the intrusion of an object into the cage, for example to avoid dislodging the ball 3 from the inlet opening 15. They thus form a baffle of inviolability 61, by which the liquid passes to exit the device according to the invention.
• the cage 5 has axial through slots 7 through which the liquid entering the device and entering the cage 5 can pass to flow out of the cage 5.
• the liquid is distributed around the cage 5, but it can not penetrate the bottle since the ball 3 seals the opening 15.
• the liquid L passes between the slots 6 forming baffle 1 and is thus delivered.
• the float 4 pushes the ball 3 until the latter comes to seal the inlet opening 15 of the device, as shown in Figure 4.
• the liquid L When the bottle is turned over again to be disposed upside down, the liquid L will exit the cage through the axial through slots 71 under the action of its own weight, and it will remain in the hollow cylinder 1 until the bottle is inverted again to deliver a new dose of liquid.
• the device according to the invention prevents the filling of an empty bottle arranged head up, and how the device according to the invention allows the delivery of a dose of liquid contained in the bottle .
• the device according to the invention also prevents the filling of an empty bottle by the method of dipping the bottle upside down in a liquid bath and to chase the air that it contains to bring the liquid by the principle of communicating vessels.
• the liquid By immersing the bottle arranged upside down in a bath of liquid, the liquid will fill the device, and in particular the cage 5. The rise of the liquid in the cage will cause the rise of the float in the cage, as well as the rise of the ball pushed by the float. The ball 3 will thus seal the inlet opening 15, as shown in Figure 4, and the liquid can not be introduced into the bottle.
• the device according to the invention thus constitutes an effective means for preventing the fraudulent filling of a bottle, regardless of its position.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Closures For Containers (AREA)
• Filling Of Jars Or Cans And Processes For Cleaning And Sealing Jars (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=36123832

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (5)

Family Cites Families (5)

• 2005
  • 2005-07-08 FR FR0552118A patent/FR2888216B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2006
  • 2006-06-20 EP EP06778628A patent/EP1910186A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2006-06-20 WO PCT/FR2006/001398 patent/WO2007006878A1/fr not_active Application Discontinuation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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