EP2158135B1 - Closing element for vessels - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a closing element (10) for vessels (26), particularly bottles, comprising a lid (12), which can be placed on a vessel opening edge (28) with a lower lid section (42) comprising a seal (30), a clip (14) mounted in the lid (12) and supportable with regard to the vessel (26), wherein the clip (14) and the lid (12) can be moved relative to each other. The invention provides that the closing element comprises a spring element (58) acting in a force-transmitting manner between the lid (12) and the clip (14), the spring element pretensioning the clip (14) toward an upper lid section (40) when the vessel is closed. The invention further relates to a vessel, particularly a bottle, comprising a closing element (10) according to the invention, particularly a clip closure.

Description

The present invention relates to a closure element for vessels, in particular bottles, comprising a lid which can be placed with a lower lid portion having a seal on a vessel opening edge, a support mounted in the lid and supportable with respect to the vessel bracket, wherein the bracket and the lid relative to each other are mobile.

Such closure elements are also known by the term swing-top closure for bottles. In such closure elements, the lid is made of ceramic in most cases. Other materials from which the lid may be produced are plastics or glass-ceramic. An example is the utility model DE 20 2005 004 117 U1 pointed.

The known lid of the temple closures have an annular rubber seal, which is on the underside of the lid, that is mounted on the side facing the bottle opening edge in the closed state. In this case, the ring opening of the seal is pulled over a kind of projection or knob on the lid and held in place by virtue of their elasticity on this button in a circumferential recess or annular groove provided thereon. There are also embodiments in which the grommet is adhered to the ceramic cover.

Since bottles with buckles are particularly well suited for reusability, the bottles are filled together with the buckles in several cycles with a liquid, especially a drink and cleaned again after bottle return to be refilled.

In these recycling operations, but also in normal use, there is a risk that the ceramic cover will be damaged. In particular, chipping of ceramic parts often occurs due to the material properties of the ceramic material, so that the lid subsequently has sharp edges and should no longer be put on sale. Closure elements with damaged covers therefore often have to be replaced as a whole.

The disadvantage of plastic lids is that the plastics may in certain circumstances take on bad smells. Thus, their use as a food-safe material is limited, even if they are less prone to damage.

The object of the invention is to develop a closure element of the type mentioned, in order to counteract the above disadvantages. In particular, a higher resistance of the closure element should be achieved.

According to a first aspect of the invention, it is proposed that in a generic closure element between a cover and bracket force-transmitting effective spring element is provided which biases the bracket with a closed vessel to an upper lid portion.

The document FR 677.176A discloses a closure element according to the preamble of claim 1, wherein between the cover and bracket a force transmitting spring element is vorsch.

Such a spring element allows a consistent closing pressure over a bottle tolerance of about one millimeter, so that the seal is better compared with a conventional ceramic closure. When opening or closing a bottle with a clip closure, the lid is pressed with a greater force on the edge of the bottle, as in the closed state of the bottle, because the bow movement is guided over a bottom dead center. This maximum-acting force can be absorbed to a large extent by the spring element, so that this essentially vertical relative movement between bracket and bottle does not have to be completely absorbed by a seal. Such a spring element thus also leads to a less severe stress and Wear of the seal compared to a conventional ceramic closure. This has the advantage that the seal is not exposed to a permanently high pressure and deformations in a certain area, which counteracts the embrittlement of the rubber material and leads to a longer life of the seal.

The bracket is in particular switchable between a clamping position and a release position, wherein it exerts a lid on the vessel opening edge pressing closing force on the lid in the cocking position, said closing force by the spring element from the bracket, in particular by a lid passing through the upper bracket portion on the lid is transmitted.

Further, it is proposed that the lid is made of metal, in particular stainless steel.

Among the metals, there are various varieties used in the food industry. For example, reference is made to tin cans made of tin. Such food-grade metals, and especially stainless steel, are highly durable materials in which, when damaged, pieces generally do not break, leaving no sharp edges that could injure them. Such a lid made of metal, especially stainless steel can be used for more filling cycles than a ceramic lid.

Preferably, the closure element comprises the seal on its underside of the lower lid portion, wherein the seal, in particular rubber seal, is annular, such that it can be placed on the vessel opening edge. It is particularly advantageous if the inner diameter of the ring seal is greater than or substantially equal to the inner diameter of the vessel opening to be closed. The sealing material can be made very thin and it is especially thought to spray the sealing material on the lid or spray.

Such configured rubber gasket, comes with the bottled in the bottle beverage barely in contact, so that possibly absorbed in the rubber odors can be difficult to be delivered to the liquid or the drink in the bottle. Conversely, the rubber seal can only badly accept odors of the liquid. This effect is further positively influenced the thinner the seal is formed. A rubber seal of the conventional ceramic lid usually protrudes well beyond the edge of the bottle, both outward and inward. Thus, such a seal can absorb odors on the outside and odors of the drink in the bottle on the inside even in the closed state of the bottle.

Preferably, the lid is designed as a hollow body, which comprises the upper and the lower lid portion and a lid edge portion connecting these two lid portions. In this case, provision is made in particular for the spring element to be supported in the hollow body at the lower lid section and to bias the clamp when the vessel is closed from below in the direction of the upper lid section.

In order to enable attachment of the bracket to the cover and to clean the cover, it is proposed that the cover in the cover edge section comprises at least two edge openings, in particular slot-like edge openings. In this case, the bracket can extend through two radially opposite edge openings.

Preferably, the bracket is freely movable with the vessel open between the spring element and the respective upper edge of the two edge openings, in particular rotatable relative to the cover.

In order to enable the above-mentioned opening or closing about the dead center of the ironing movement with minimal deformation of the seal, it is proposed that the bracket is movable against the force of the spring element to the respective lower edge of the edge openings. The bracket thus has a certain, in particular vertical clearance between the upper and lower edges of the edge openings relative to the cover.

In order to enable an improved cleaning of the interior of the hollow body, the lid may have, in addition to those edge openings through which the bracket passes, further, in particular smaller edge openings. Such cleaning openings allow on the one hand the entry of cleaning fluid and on the other hand, the rapid flow of such cleaning fluid. Furthermore, air can circulate through such cleaning openings, which allows rapid drying of the lid cavity.

The spring element is preferably designed as a plate spring. Such a plate spring counteracts over a spring travel of for example 1 millimeter with an approximately constant force of the closing force of the bracket supported on the vessel. As a material for the plate spring is preferably thought of stainless steel, but also plastic or another metal are conceivable. In particular, a spring element made of plastic is also well suited, since the spring element comes into contact neither with the seal nor with the filled beverage, so that an odor transfer of any odors taken up in the plastic to the beverage is excluded.

When the closure element, the bracket on a conventional bracket geometry, as is known from conventional buckles, in particular, an upper wire portion of the bracket passes through the lid. The closure element is thus designed as a wire bow closure, wherein a relation to the known bow closure changed and improved lid is used.

The invention further relates to a vessel, in particular bottle with a closure element, in particular clip closure with one or more features described above.

Fig. 1

ist eine perspektivische, schematische Ansicht eines Verschluss- elements in verschlossenem Zustand.

Fig. 2

ist eine Querschnittsdarstellung des Verschlusselements gemäß der Linie II-II der Fig. 1.

Fig. 3

ist eine perspektivische, schematische Darstellung des Verschluss- elements von schräg unten.

Fig. 4

ist eine schematische Ansicht eines herkömmlichen Bügelver- schlusses der einleitend genannten Gebrauchsmusterschrift im ge- schlossenen (Fig. 4a) und geöffneten (Fig. 4b) Zustand.

The invention will be described by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of example.

Fig. 1

is a perspective, schematic view of a closure element in the closed state.

Fig. 2

is a cross-sectional view of the closure element according to the line II-II of Fig. 1 ,

Fig. 3

is a perspective, schematic representation of the closure element obliquely from below.

Fig. 4

is a schematic view of a conventional buckle closure of the aforementioned Utility Model in the closed ( Fig. 4a ) and opened ( Fig. 4b ) Status.

It should be noted that the subsequent use of the terms "top" and "bottom" refer to the closed state of a bottle in which a bottle having the closure element is on its bottom.

The operating principle of a swing top closure is based on the FIG. 4 will be briefly explained. The known bow closure 110 comprises a cover 112 and a through the lid 112 extending therethrough bracket 114. The bracket 114 is bent at its two ends 112 away from the lid 112 like a hook. These hook-like ends 116 are in movable engagement with a respective loop 118 of another bracket member 120, which is mounted with its two ends in recesses 124 in the bottle neck 126. As an alternative to the recesses 124 in the bottle neck 126, it is also conceivable to support the closure on a sleeve, which is around the Bottle neck 126 is arranged and has corresponding openings for receiving the ends.

In the closed state according to Fig. 4a The bracket 114 is pulled down by the loops 118 so that the cover is pressed against the opening edge 128 of the bottle to achieve a seal of the bottle. In this case, the seal 112 attached to the cover 112 is compressed and the bracket 114 rests on a lower edge of an opening formed in the cover 112. When opening the bracket member 120, which abuts the bottle neck in the closed state, moved away from the bottle. In this case, the loops 118 are pivoted about the axis A defined by the two depressions 124 and moved upwards so that the cover 112 is moved away from the opening edge. Subsequently, the entire closure can be pivoted downwards so that it hangs down along the bottle neck 126, as shown in FIG Fig. 4a is shown.

Referring to the FIGS. 1 to 3 Now, an embodiment of the closure according to the invention will be explained, wherein for functionally identical parts the same, but reduced by the number 100 reference numerals as for the conventional clip closure of Fig. 4 be used.

Thus, in the FIGS. 1 and 2 , which represent a closed state of the closure element 10, the cover 12 and the through the lid extending through bracket 14, in particular its upper, here horizontally extending bracket section, can be seen. The lid 12 has an upper lid portion 40, a lower lid portion 42 (FIG. Fig. 2 ), which are interconnected by a lid edge portion 44. These cover sections 40, 42 and 44 form a hollow body with a cavity 46.

On the underside of the lower lid portion 42, an annular seal, preferably a rubber seal 30 is arranged. This seal 30 is between a downwardly projecting portion 48 of the lid edge portion 44 and a sloped portion 50 of the lower lid portion. In this case, the seal 30 can be interchangeably clamped or, alternatively, it can also be glued to the lower cover section 42.

The inclined portion 50 merges into a central portion 52 having a diameter d which is only slightly smaller than the diameter D of the bottle opening 54. Between the lower lid portion 42, in particular the central portion 52 and the inclined portions 50, and the opening edge 28 remains in the closed state only a very small gap 56 left through which hardly liquid from the bottle interior to the seal 30 can come.

The ring seal 30 has an inner diameter E which is greater than or at most equal to the diameter D of the bottle opening, so that it rests on the bottle opening edge 28, but does not protrude into the bottle opening 54. This prevents the seal from being able to deliver any odors that have been picked up in the closed state to the liquid or the beverage in the bottle.

From the cross-sectional view according to Fig. 2 It can be seen that in the cavity 46, a spring element is arranged, which is designed in the embodiment as a plate spring 58. The plate spring is in this view, in which the lid 12 rests only on the edge of the vessel 28, relaxed. The movement of the bracket 14 upwards is limited by the upper edges 62 of two in the lid edge portion 44 formed in the radial direction of the lid 12 opposite edge openings 64. Between the upper edges 62 and the bracket 14, a small distance 65 is formed in this state to allow the free relative movement between bracket 14 and cover 12. The two edge openings 64 are formed slot-like, so that the bracket 14 can be moved against the force of the plate spring 58 down to respective lower edges 63. This downward movement is especially necessary when the bottle should be opened or closed. In these operations, the bracket 14 is guided over a bottom dead center at which the in relation to the Fig. 4 explained hook-like ends 116 of the bracket furthest away from the bottle opening edge 28 and 128, respectively. The required relative to overcome this dead center relative movement between bracket 14 and bottle is largely absorbed by the spring travel of the plate spring 58, so that no strong forces acting on the seal 30, which lead to a pinching of the seal. When closed, the bracket 14 exerts a closing force by means of the plate spring 58 on the cover 12, so that it rests tightly on the edge of the container 28 and is pressed against the plate spring 58 against this.

The plate spring 58 can also allow a secure closure of bottles, in which the position of the recesses 124 (FIG. Fig. 4 ) or a sleeve for supporting the bracket with respect to the bottle varies within a certain tolerance range. Such a position change can be caused on the one hand by inaccurate production of the wells and on the other hand by differences in length in the bottles, the plate spring 58 can accommodate tolerances in the millimeter range. By the plate spring 58 prevents the rubber seal 30 must absorb the entire required vertical movement of the bracket 14 with respect to the opening edge 28 by deformation, which occurs during closing and in the closed state of the closure due to the prevailing forces. This has the advantage that the seal is not exposed to a permanently high pressure and deformations in a certain area, which counteracts the embrittlement of the rubber material and leads to a longer life of the seal.

In the lid edge portion 44 further edge openings 66 are further formed, which serve for effective cleaning of the cavity 46. On the one hand, cleaning liquid can penetrate through these openings 66, and on the other hand, air can also circulate through it, so that complete drying of the cavity 46 is possible in a short time. Alternatively to the arrangement of further edge openings 66, it is also conceivable to omit these edge openings 66 and to completely eject the cavity 46 with an elastomer, in particular soft elastomer, for example highly elastic silicone, so that a cleaning of the interior is not required. The elastomer or silicone must have such an elasticity that the filling of the cavity does not or only insignificantly influences the spring action of the disc spring 58. Instead of a complete backfilling with elastomer or silicone material may also be provided on the inside along the lid edge portion 44 extending elastomer or silicone ring which seals the edge openings 64 through which the bracket 14 passes. The bracket 14 passes through the elastomer or silicone ring, wherein the elastomer or silicone ring arranged in this way can deform correspondingly during movement of the bracket, without causing a leak in the region of the edge openings 64, the penetration of liquid in the cavity 46 allows. In such an elastomer or silicone ring or a complete backfilling of the cavity with elastomeric material or silicone, however, it should be noted that the relative mobility between the bracket and lid is still easily possible. In this aspect, it can also be thought that the elastomer or silicone filling or the elastomer or silicone ring form the spring element of the lid, so that a plate spring made of metal or plastic could possibly be omitted.

The lid 12, the plate spring 58 and the bracket 14 are made of metal, in particular of odorless stainless steel, so that the closure element 10 is particularly well for the closure of containers or bottles for food, such as beverages, oil, vinegar, and the like. suitable is. Of course, such a closure element can also be used for vessels in which no food is included or in which powdery or granular material to be stored.

Claims (11)

1. A closure element (10) for vessels (26), in particular bottles, comprising a cap (12) which can be fitted on a vessel opening edge (28) with a lower cap portion (42) having a seal (30), a clip (14) which is mounted in the cap (12) and which can be supported with respect to the vessel (26), wherein the clip (14) and the cap (12) are movable relative to one another, wherein the closure element (10) comprises a spring element (58) which acts in a force-transmitting manner between the cap (12) and the clip (14) and which biases the clip (14) towards an upper cap portion (40) when the vessel is closed, and wherein the seal (30), in particular a rubber seal, is of annular shaped and is arranged on the underside of the lower cap portion (42) in such a way that it can be fitted on the vessel opening edge (28), characterised in that the seal (30) is of such a size that the inner diameter of the annular seal (30) is greater than or substantially of the same size as the inner diameter (D) of the vessel opening (54) to be closed.
2. A closure element according to Claim 1, characterised in that the cap (12) is made of metal, in particular stainless steel.
3. A closure element according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the cap (12) is in the form of a hollow body which comprises the upper and lower cap portions (40,42), as well as a cap edge portion (44) connecting these two cap portions (40,42).
4. A closure element according to Claim 3, characterised in that the spring element (58) in the hollow body bears on the lower cap portion (42) and biases the clip (14) from below towards the upper cap portion (40) when the vessel is closed.
5. A closure element according to either Claim 3 or Claim 4, characterised in that, in the cap edge portion (44), the cap (12) comprises at least two rim openings (64;66), in particular slot-like rim openings.
6. A closure element according to Claim 5, characterised in that the clip (14) extends through two rim openings (64) situated opposite one another in a radial direction.
7. A closure element according to Claim 6, characterised in that, when the vessel is open, the clip (14) is freely movable between the spring element (58) and the respective upper edge (62) of the two rim openings (64), in particular is rotatable relative to the cap (12).
8. A closure element according to Claim 6 or 7, characterised in that the rim openings (64) are formed so that the clip (14) can move against the force of the spring element (58) towards the respective lower edge (63) of the rim openings (64).
9. A closure element according to any one of Claims 5 to 8, characterised in that, in addition to those rim openings (64) through which the clip (14) passes, the cap (12) has further, in particular smaller, rim openings (66).
10. A closure element according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, characterised in that the spring element is in the form of a conical disc spring.
11. A vessel with closure element (10) according to any one of the preceding Claims.

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