EP2007642A1

EP2007642A1 - Container closure, container equipped with same and method for making same

Info

Publication number: EP2007642A1
Application number: EP07731325A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Grégory ANTIER; Michel Luzzato; Tommy JÖNSSON
Original assignee: Tetra Laval Holdings and Finance SA
Current assignee: Tetra Laval Holdings and Finance SA
Priority date: 2006-04-20
Filing date: 2007-04-19
Publication date: 2008-12-31
Also published as: AU2007242677A1; FR2900129B1; CN101426692A; WO2007122323A1; CA2649461A1; US20090184082A1; JP2009534258A; FR2900129A1

Abstract

The invention concerns a device (3) for closing a container (B) comprising a sealing disc (2) capable of being sealed, bonded or locked on the edge (12) of the neck (1) of the container (B) projecting radially outside the neck. It further comprises a cap (4) capable of being mounted on the neck (1) and provided with an inner protrusion for applying on the sealing disc (2) a thrust load in a direction for spacing apart the disc (2) relative to the neck (1). Said inner protrusion is formed by a tab (412) integral with the cap (4) and folded down towards the base (413) of the cap, generally tapering and converging (α) towards the said base (413).

Description

DEVICE FOR CLOSING A CONTAINER, CONTAINER EQUIPPED WITH SUCH A DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE

OF SUCH A DEVICE

The invention relates to a closure device and to a container equipped with such a device. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such a closure device.

In the field of the packaging of food or pharmaceutical products, it is known to equip a plastic bottle with a sealing disc provided with a peelable seal welded by induction heating on the edge of the neck of the bottle. Such a disc must be removed before the first use of the product contained in the bottle, which is a delicate operation that may be imperfectly performed especially by a child or an elderly person. In addition, it is then necessary to get rid of the sealing disc and the seal, which requires to approach a trash.

It is moreover known from CH-A-556 274 to equip a plug with an internal rib intended to hold a disk provided with an aluminum foil in position. To install the disc in the cap, it is necessary to deform it temporarily. A deformation of the disc in the opposite direction may lead to its unintentional extraction of the plug, especially during the first opening of the bottle to the extent that the disc is immobilized on the neck. In addition, there is a risk of damaging the peripheral edge of the disc during its installation in the plug, which adversely affects the seal obtained.

To overcome these problems, it is known from WO-A-03 / 089,310 to provide a bipartite plug equipped with a inner ring of which an edge is provided with a projection which extends in an axial direction relative to a central axis of the neck. This device gives satisfaction in terms of reliability. However, its cost is relatively high because of the bipartite structure of the cap and the assembly steps necessary for its manufacture.

It is to these drawbacks that the invention more particularly intends to remedy by proposing a closure device for a container that is compatible with the use of a sealing disk and that makes it possible to safely remove this device during the first time. use of the container, while its cost is particularly attractive. For this purpose, the invention relates to a closure device for a container provided with a neck, this device comprising:

- A sealing disc adapted to be sealed, glued or blocked on the edge of the neck projecting radially outwardly of the neck;

- A plug adapted to be mounted on the neck and provided with an internal relief adapted to exert on the sealing disc a thrust force in a direction of separation of the disc relative to the neck; characterized in that the relief is formed by a one-piece tongue with the cap and folded towards the bottom of the plug, in a generally frustoconical configuration converging towards this bottom. Thanks to the invention, the tongue folded with a frustoconical configuration makes it possible to effectively transmit a thrust force of the plug towards the sealing disc, the resistant force due to the sealing disc having the effect of tending to increase the angle at the top of the tongue which then bears against the outer surface of the neck and remains in folded configuration. The tongue may be continuous or discontinuous around the neck.

According to advantageous but non-mandatory aspects, such a closure device may incorporate one or more of the following features:

- The tongue is connected to the plug by a deformable portion. This deformable portion advantageously has a thickness less than the thickness of the tongue in the vicinity of its free edge by which it can exert the pushing force on the disc.

- The free edge of the tongue, which is opposite its connecting portion to the inner face of the cap, is provided with preferred thrust zones against the disc. The free edge of the skirt may be wave-shaped.

The stopper is provided with a tamper-evident band connected to a main part of the stopper by at least one breakable zone, this tamper-evident band being suitable, during a first withdrawal of the stopper, to abut with a portion forming a stop against a blocking relief formed on the outside of the neck, whereas, before the first removal of the cap, the distance between the abutment portion of the tamper-evident band and the locking relief is less than the minimum axial distance between the folded tongue and the sealing disk, so that, during this first withdrawal, the tamper band abuts against the locking relief before the tongue exerts the thrust force. Thus, the thrust force can be exerted on the disc after rupture of the breakable zone, which indicates to a subsequent user of the container that the opening has already been made. The invention also relates to a container, in particular a plastic bottle, equipped with a closure device as previously described.

The invention finally relates to a method of manufacturing a closure device as mentioned above, this method comprising the steps of: a) - molding the cap with a generally frustoconical and convergent inner tongue opposite the bottom cork; b) - install the sealing disc near the bottom of the plug; c) - fold the tab towards the bottom of the plug so that it takes a generally frustoconical configuration towards the bottom.

According to a first approach, step c) precedes step b), the tongue being deformed elastically and radially towards the internal face of the plug to allow the installation of the sealing disc during step b).

Alternatively, steps b) and c) are simultaneous, the tongue being folded by the sealing disc during installation or by a displacement member of the sealing disc towards the bottom of the plug. The invention will be better understood and other advantages thereof will appear more clearly in the light of the following description of three embodiments of a closure device according to its principle and methods of manufacturing such devices. , given solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

- Figure 1 is a sectional view of the neck of a bottle equipped with a closure device according to the invention; FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of detail II in FIG. 1;

- fig ^• 3 is a larger scale view of the detail III ^• Figure 1; - Figure 4 is a half-sectional side view of the closure device during a first step of its manufacture; Figure 5 is a perspective view of the plug in the configuration of Figure 4; - Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 2 during a first opening of the bottle;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 2 for a closure device according to a second embodiment in accordance with the invention and FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 2 for a closure device in accordance with FIG. third embodiment of the invention.

The bottle B partially shown in FIG. 1 comprises a neck 1 provided with an external thread 11 and a part 12 whose outer surface 13 is intended to receive a sealing disc 2 belonging to a sealing device 3 in abutment. The sealing disk comprises a core 21 of synthetic material which projects radially with respect to the surface 13, as well as a cap 22 made of an aluminum-based complex, this cap being bonded over substantially its entire surface. , on the core 21. The seal 22 has a diameter substantially equal to that of the outer radial surface 14 of the neck 1 in the vicinity of the portion 12. In addition to the disc 2, the closure device 3 comprises a plug 4 monobloc which consists of a cap 41 and a tamper evident band 42, the elements 41 and 42 being molded in one operation by being connected by a breakable zone 43. The cap 41 is provided with an internal thread 411 intended to cooperate with the thread 11 for screwing and unscrewing the cap 4 on the neck 1.

One notes Xi the central axis of the neck 1. Note X ₄ the central axis of the plug 4. The axes Xi and X ₄ are coincident in the mounted configuration of the device 3 of the neck 1.

The cap 41 is provided on the inner face of its peripheral skirt 414, a tab 412 deformable and monobloc with this skirt. P denotes a plane perpendicular to the axis X ₄ and passing through the center of a zone 4211 for attaching the tongue 412 to the skirt 414. At the outlet of the mold, the tongue 412 extends, relative to the plane P opposite the bottom 413, as shown in FIG. 4. The tamper-evident band 42 is provided with an internal tongue 421 which is integral with the band 42 and which is connected thereto by a zone of FIG. 4211. P 'is a plane perpendicular to the axis X ₄ and passing through the center of the zone 4211. At the mold outlet, the skirt 421 extends, relative to the plane P', opposite the bottom 413, as shown in FIG.

The orientation of the tongues 412 and 421 at the mold outlet is such that these skirts can be easily molded, with high production rates. When it is necessary to set up the disc 2 inside the plug 4, in the vicinity of the bottom 413, this disc is disposed on a piston 100 which is moved towards the bottom 413, in the direction of the arrow Fi to FIG. 4. The piston 100 supports the disk 2 up to its outer peripheral edge 23. By moving in the direction of the arrow F _x , the disk 2 comes to bear against the skirt 421 which it flaps in the direction of the inner surface 425 of the strip 42, in the direction of the arrow F ₂ in FIG. 4. Continuing its movement of penetration into the cap 41, the disc 2 supported by the piston 100 also flips the tongue 412 to the inner surface 415 of the skirt 414, in the direction of the arrow F ₃ in Figure 4. Thus, when the disc 2 is in place in the cap 1, before mounting the device 3 on the neck 1, the tab 412 is folded down, so that it has a generally frustoconical configuration and convergent towards the bottom 413, with a half angle at the top α of the order of 40 °. In practice, the angle α has a value between 10 and 60 °.

The invention takes advantage of the fact that the attachment zone 4121 is deformable, which allows the tongue 412 to pass easily from the configuration of FIG. 4 to that of FIG. 1.

According to a variant of the manufacturing method of the device 3, the tongue 412 can be folded down by a tool such as the piston 100, in the direction of the arrow F ₃ in FIG. 4, before the sealing disc 2 is put into position. placed in the vicinity of the bottom 413. This establishment then takes place by means of a temporary radial deformation of the tongue 412 from its position of Figures 1 and 2 and in a direction of radial spacing towards the surface 415 In all cases, once the disc 2 in place in the vicinity of the bottom 413, it is retained in position by the tongue 412, this until mounting the device 3 on the neck 1. At the end of this assembly, the cover 22 may be welded to the surface 13, which guarantees the tightness of the closure obtained.

We are then in the position of fig 1. In this position, we denote di the axial distance, that is to say the distance taken parallel to the axis Xi, between the free edge 4122 of the tongue 412 and the disc 2. We note by elsewhere d ₂ the distance between the free edge 4212 of the skirt 421 and a shoulder 15 formed by an outer radial collar 16 of the neck 1, the shoulder 15 being intended to receive bearing the free edge 4212. The distance d ₂ is chosen less than the minimum value of the distance di so that, during the unscrewing of the cap 41, the skirt 421 abuts against the collar 16, which induces a break in the zone 43, before any contact between the tongue 412 and the After this rupture, the continuation of the unscrewing movement has the effect of bringing the free edge 4122 of the tongue 412 in abutment against the position 26 of the surface of the disk 2 opposite the bottom 413 which protrudes radially to the outside the part 12. By continuing the unscrewing movement of the cap 41, it is thus possible to apply to the disc 2 a force F ₄ of tearing the disc 2 relative to the surface 13, this force being distributed around the axis X ₁ .

It is then in the configuration of Figure 6. The reaction force F ' ₄ due to the disk 2 is exerted on the tongue 412 in a direction tending to fold down, which is not possible considering because the tongue 412 then bears against the surface 14. Thus, the tongue 412 effectively transmits the force F ₄ , which makes it possible to break the connection resulting from the sealing of the lid 22 on the surface 13.

As is more particularly apparent from Figures 4 and 5, the free edge 4122 of the tongue 412 is provided with portions 4123 which extend at a distance from the attachment area 4121 greater than the distance between certain other parts 4124 of the free edge 4122 and this area 4121. The parts 4123 of the free edge 4122 thus form privileged areas of application of the force F ₄ , while no lifting or pulling force of disc 2 passes through zones 4124.

The thickness e ₄ i22 of the free edge 4122 is greater than the thickness e ₄ i2i of the attachment zone, which confers on the tongue 412 sufficient rigidity in its zone of transmission of the force F ₄ to the disk 2 , while the hinge area 4121 is sufficiently flexible to allow easy passage of the configuration of Figure 4 to that of Figures 1 and 2. According to a variant not shown of the invention, the tongue 412 could be interrupted on certain sectors angular, in particular those corresponding to the parts 4124. In this case, the tongue 412 is formed of several tongue portions separated by spaces distributed around the neck of the container.

In the second embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. _1, elements similar to those of the first embodiment bear identical references. This embodiment differs from the previous one by the shape of the disk 2 which is devoid of a cap and comprises a skirt 24 intended to bear against the inner radial surface 17 of the neck 1, close to its outlet. The disc 2 is stuck on the upper edge 13 of the neck 1. In the third embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 8, the elements similar to that of the third embodiment bear identical references. This embodiment differs from the preceding in that the disc 2 is here partially engaged inside the neck 1 and comprises an outer peripheral edge 25 which caps the free edge 18 of the neck 1. The disc 2 is stuck inside of the inner surface 17 of the neck 1. In these two embodiments, the cap 41 of the cap 4 is provided with an inner tongue 412 which is folded from its position shown in phantom at the mold outlet to its position shown in solid lines. This tongue 412 can extract the disc 2 of the neck 1 when opening the corresponding container.

Whatever the embodiment considered, the plug 4 is made of plastic, for example high density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene and, more generally, polyolefin. Furthermore, the neck of the bottle can be made of plastic, for example polyethylene, or glass.

Claims

1. Device for capping (3) a container (B) provided with a neck (1), this device comprising:

- A sealing disk (2) adapted to be sealed, glued or blocked on the edge (12, 13, 17, 18) of the neck projecting radially outside the neck;

- A cap (4) adapted to be mounted on the neck and provided with an internal relief adapted to exert on the sealing disc a thrust force (F ₄ ) in a direction of separation of the disc relative to the neck characterized in that the internal relief of the plug is formed by a tongue (412) integral with the plug and folded (F ₃ ) towards the bottom (413) of the plug, in generally frustoconical and convergent configuration (α) towards the bottom of the plug .

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the tongue is connected to the plug by a deformable portion (4121).

3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the deformable portion (4121) has a thickness (6 ₄₁₂₁ ) less than the thickness (e ₄ i ₂ 2) of the tongue in the vicinity of its free edge (4122) by which it can exert the thrust force (F ₄ ) on the disc (2).

4. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the free edge (4122) of the tongue, which is opposite its portion (4121) of connection to an inner face (415) of the plug (4), is provided with preferred zones (4123) of thrust against the disc (2).

5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plug (4) is provided with a tamper-evident band (42) connected to a main part (41) of the plug by at least one breakable zone (43), this band being suitable, during a first withdrawal of the stopper, to be supported by a portion (422) forming a stop against a blocking relief (15) formed on the outside of the neck (1), and in that, before the first removal of the plug, the distance (da) between the abutment portion (422) and the locking relief (15) is less than the minimum axial distance (di) between the collapsed tongue (412) and the sealing disc (2), so that, when the cap is first removed, the tamper evident band (42) abuts against the blocking relief (15) before the tab (412) exerts thrust force (F ₄ ).

Container, in particular bottle (B) made of plastic, equipped with a closure device (3) according to one of the preceding claims.

7. A method of manufacturing a closure device (3) of a container (B) provided with a neck (1) _f this device comprising:

- a cap (4) adapted to be mounted on the neck and provided with an internal relief adapted to exert on the sealing disc a thrust force (F ₄ ) in a direction of separation of the disc relative to the neck, characterized in that the method comprises steps of; a) - molding the cap with an inner tongue (412) generally frustoconical and convergent opposite the bottom (413) of the cap; b) - install (Fi) the sealing disc near the bottom of the plug; c) - fold (F ₃ ) the tongue towards the bottom of the cap, so that it takes a generally frustoconical configuration (α) towards the bottom.

8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that steps b) and c) are simultaneous, the tongue (412) being folded (F ₃ ) by the sealing disc (2) during installation or by a member (100) for moving the sealing disc towards the bottom (413) of the plug (4).

9. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that step c) precedes step b), the tongue being deformed elastically and radially (F ₃ ) towards an inner face (415) of the plug (4). to allow the installation of the sealing disk during step b).