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The present invention relates to a closing device for wine and similar drink bottles of the type disclosed in the preamble of claim 1.
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It is known that in closing devices for bottles, use of bottle corks or stoppers is provided in order to ensure a correct evolution of the wine and avoid wine alterations in taste and flavour.
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Bottle corks are therefore closing means that must enable easy extraction and ensure imperviousness to gases and neutrality; in other words, they must not allow gas passage or release of substances that can alter the organoleptic features of the wine.
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These performances are to be maintained by the bottle cork over the whole life of the drink and are obtained through a suitable selection of the materials and the cork shape as well as the mechanical features of the adopted closure system.
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One of the most used models contemplates manufacture of corks of substantially cylindrical shape, with a greater diameter than the inner diameter of the bottleneck and are usually made of natural or compressed cork material.
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Corks are submitted to elastic deformation by compression and are thus inserted into the upper part of the bottleneck. Once the cork is disposed in its housing, it tends to come back to its starting configuration exerting pressure on the inner surface of the bottleneck, thus ensuring perfect adhesion thereto.
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A first problem concerning use of cork as the manufacturing material is that, in order to maintain its physico-mechanical features unaltered and ensure a correct wine conservation, the cork material is required to be moistened and therefore the bottle must be disposed in a horizontal position.
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Stoppers made of cork can alter the organoleptic features of the wine due to the possible presence of compounds belonging to the chloroanisole family and others.
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In addition stoppers made of natural cork can have malformations that do not ensure appropriate mechanical features and can therefore alter the evolution of the wine.
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Another problem connected with the physico-mechanical features of stoppers made of natural cork is due to the high variability of the performances between the different lots that do not enable uniform evolution of the wine in all the bottles.
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A not least disadvantage is the fact that cork stoppers have a high manufacturing cost and also the raw materials are very expensive due in particular to the increasing difficulties in finding them.
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An alternative solution to utilising natural cork is given by use of stoppers made of compressed cork, by agglomerating powders of natural cork with synthetic glues.
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This type of stoppers, while ensuring high repeatability in mechanical performances, have problems of organoleptic nature; therefore use of stoppers fully made of synthetic materials, such as polymers, has been taken into account.
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This type of materials however does not allow a sufficient imperviousness to gases, and use of same is therefore limited to wines that need to be aged for a maximum period of 3-4 years.
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Irrespective of the materials used, cylindrical corks positioned internally of the neck area have drawbacks connected with the shape and the corking procedure used.
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Cylindrical corks or stoppers cannot be removed with the user's bare hands but use of suitable extraction means is required; in fact, corkscrews are commonly used for removal thereof.
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In addition, once the stopper has been pulled out, it partly recovers its original sizes and will therefore have a greater diameter than the inner bottleneck. For this reason it is very hard to carry out closure of the bottle using the same stopper.
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A further class of stoppers that has imposed itself in recent years is that of screw stoppers.
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It is important to point out that cork stoppers keep important advantages of psychological and emotional nature as compared with screw stoppers.
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In fact, corks stoppers in common imagery express the tradition of this product and give the wine a special quality image, and for this reason they are used for vintage wines.
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Generally, the image of a screw stopper is of less glamour than that of a cork stopper as it evokes wines of poor quality and is hardly suitable for giving the idea of a natural product such as wine.
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The last-mentioned type of stoppers consists of a thin layer of metallic or polymeric material of tubular shape with a closed end. These stoppers are positioned externally of the neck area.
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There are several techniques for positioning the screw stopper and closing the bottle, two of the most important ones being those called "pick and place" and "mid-air grasping".
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In the first technique the stopper moves with the bottle during its positioning.
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In particular the stopper is positioned on the bottle by a top-to-bottom movement, in such a manner that the same is fitted on the neck area. Fitting is followed by or combined with screwing on the neck-area threading if the stopper has been previously threaded.
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The second technique, the "mid-air grasping" or "immediate grasping" technique, is mainly used for stoppers with a not yet formed threading.
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It consists of three distinct steps.
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In the first step the stoppers are all oriented in the same direction and sent along a distribution channel terminating with spring pliers removably supporting the stoppers to be inserted in an inclined position. In the second step the bottles sliding along a distribution line, snatch the stoppers away from the spring pliers carrying out a true "mid-air grasping". In the third and last step, a special corking head pushes the stopper along the bottleneck. When placement and positioning of the stopper on the bottle has been completed, coupling between the two elements is carried out following the process described below.
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A suitable head presses the stopper on the bottle threading plastically deforming it. This deformation creates the stopper threading and the stopper is thus coupled to the bottle.
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It is important to point out that stoppers when still devoid of threading can be positioned on the neck area of the bottle with the "pick and place" process too; also in this case it is necessary to create the thread by plastic deformation during a step following positioning of the stopper.
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In order to prevent passage of gases, thereby improving conservation of the drink, suitable liners are used, i.e. discs of polymeric material hooked or glued inside the sealed end of the stopper and pressed against the bottle mouth during the corking step.
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In order to be sure that the bottle contents cannot be adulterated, a tampering-preventing seal is used which consists of a ring placed under the stopper to which it is connected by means of small bridges. During an attempt to open the bottle breaking of the small bridges between the ring and stopper is caused, so that a possible tampering action can be ascertained.
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Bottles corked with this type of screw stopper can be opened with the user's bare hands and closed again using the same stopper.
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The known art briefly described above has some important drawbacks.
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The tampering-preventing seal does not ensure an appropriate security as the stopper can be easily closed again in such a manner that it becomes very difficult to understand whether a bottle has been already opened or not.
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A further problem resides in that the very thin thickness of the tubular region makes these stoppers easily deformable during both the transport steps and the orientation step. This stopper deformation can bring to a mere generation of production waste in case of small marks mainly of an aesthetic nature, or even to an interruption of the bottling line, should the deformation prevent a mid-air grasping or descent of the stopper along the bottleneck.
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Another disadvantage in this type of stoppers is represented by the reduced region that can be personalised, i.e. the stopper portion on which graphic elements or the like can be printed or made. In fact, during creation of the stopper threading, the stopper portion that is above the bottle's threaded region is deformed not only internally but also externally and therefore cannot be used for personalising the stopper.
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Then, an important practical drawback reducing spreading of these stoppers resides in that they appear very different from cork stoppers, thus highlighting the presence of a wine of lower cost and qualitative level due to the thread in sight.
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A further drawback of this type of stoppers concerns the difficulty in removing the stopper part made of aluminium which remains hooked to the bottleneck. Therefore, this stopper part always remaining on the bottle makes the recycling operations more difficult, since in this case a bottle devoid of elements not of glass is required.
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Under this situation, the technical task underlying the present invention is to make available a closing device for wine and similar drink bottles capable of substantially obviating the mentioned drawbacks.
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Within the scope of this technical task, it is an important aim of the invention to provide a stopper enabling efficient tampering-preventing means to be used. Another important aim of the invention is to provide a stopper that is strong, can be hardly deformed and is able to ensure correct conservation of the drink over a long period of time.
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A further aim of the invention is to enable the bottle to be opened without use of suitable means such as a corkscrew.
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A still further aim of the invention is to devise a cork or stopper enabling availability of a sufficiently large outer surface so that printing of graphic elements and the like is allowed and an agreeable and valuable appearance is given to the bottle to which said elements are applied.
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A not least aim of the invention is to provide a stopper that, once the bottle has been opened, can be easily reused for closing it again and allows a correct conservation of the drink contained therein.
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The technical task mentioned and the aims specified are achieved by a threaded cork or stopper for wine and similar drink bottles as claimed in claim 1.
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Preferred embodiments are highlighted in the sub-claims.
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The features and advantages of the invention are hereinafter clarified through the detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
- Fig. 1 shows the closing device;
- Fig. 2 shows a section of a first portion of the device;
- Fig. 3 shows a section of a second portion of the device; and
- Fig. 4 shows a portion of the device in section.
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With reference to the drawings, the closing device for wine and similar drink bottles according to the invention is generally denoted with reference numeral 1.
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The bottle 2 is preferably made up of three hollow portions: two cylindrical portions, an upper one 2d corresponding to the neck area and a lower one of greater size than the preceding portion, between which there is a portion of truncated conical or flaring shape connecting the upper and lower portions. The lower portion has a closed end, while the neck portion 2d is open and its end constitutes the mouth or opening 2a of the bottle itself, as shown in Fig. 2.
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In addition, bottle 2 is provided, close to mouth 2a, with a threading 2b and, under said threading 2b, with a thickened portion 2c, i.e. an expanded portion which is advantageously flush with the maximum projection of the threading 2b. In particular bottle 2 is of the type with BVS neck.
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Device 1 comprises at least one cork or stopper 3 adapted to cover the mouth or opening 2a and a covering cap 4 that is frangible or detachable and adapted to enclose stopper 3 and at least part of bottle 2.
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Stopper 3 is of hollow tubular shape with a sealed end 3e and made of a polymeric or bio-polymeric material. Stopper 3 substantially has a width or outer diameter included between 25 mm and 35 mm, a height or length included between 15 and 35 mm and a wall thickness included between 0.3 mm and 3 mm.
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The outer shape of stopper 3 is of the body-of-revolution type such as a frustoconical or cylindrical shape. Preferably, this shape is cylindrical and the outer diameter is of about 30-35 mm, the height of about 20-30 mm and the thickness of about 1-2-mm.
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Identifiable in stopper 3 are also an outer surface 3d and a cavity 3a inside the stopper and enclosed between the sealed end 3e and the other end. Advantageously, the sizes of cavity 3a are adapted to fully receive the neck area 2d and in addition to terminate at the end of said area 2d.
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Also identifiable within the cavity are an upper portion 3b, adjacent to the sealed end and a lower portion 3c.
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The upper portion 3b is provided with a threading 3f preferably and advantageously manufactured unitary with stopper 3. In addition, the threading favourably juts out towards the inside of stopper 3 and is raised relative to the cylindrical inner portion. Practically the thread 3f is raised and matches the recessed threading 2b in the neck area 2d.
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The lower portion 3c is smooth, i.e. without threads and has such a height or length that an immediate placement of same is allowed. This height is preferably included between 10 and 20 mm.
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At all events, the height of the smooth lower portion 3c is advantageously provided to be at least equal to and preferably greater than the upper portion 3b, so as to facilitate the immediate placement thereof, which is carried out as follows.
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Stopper 3 is housed in a removable manner in pliers 5 which keep it in a preferably inclined position. Bottle 2, sliding along the distribution line 6, snatches the stopper away from pliers 5 carrying out a true mid-air grasping. The just described process is made possible because the inner lower portion 3c of stopper 3 is devoid of threads and therefore appears to be substantially smooth so as to make it possible to obtain an immediate placement.
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For said mid-air grasping it is in addition advantageous that the bottle threading 2 be recessed in the neck area 2d.
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When mid-air grasping and placement have been completed, a corking head 7 screws down stopper 3 on the threading 2b of bottle 2.
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When this step is over, a covering cap 4 is positioned on the corked bottle 2, and in particular it is preferably such located that it covers and adheres to stopper 3 and to at least part of the bottle surface overlying the lower cylindrical portion.
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To ensure an appropriate adhesion to caps 4, heat-shrinkable materials are commonly used, i.e. materials that, when submitted to a heat source shrink until about 50% of the starting size thus adhering to the object around which they are wrapped up. After cooling, these materials keep the acquired new shape.
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In conclusion, the covering caps 4 are preferably made of a heat-shrinkable polymeric material, such as polyvinylchloride, called PVC, or alternatively of materials that can be poly-coupled such as polyethylene and aluminium, or of tin.
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Finally, in order to ensure an optimal conservation of the drink, liners 9 can be used, i.e. rings or discs usually made of rubber or polymeric material.
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Liners 9 are preferably placed within the stopper 3 and in particular in the cavity 3a between the sealed end 3e and the thread 3f.
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At the end of the mid-air grasping process liner 9 is disposed between the bottle 2 and the lower surface of the sealed end 3e and, during the screwing process, is compressed between the stopper 3 and bottle 2, being submitted to an elastoplastic deformation.
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Preferably at the end of the corking process, the thickened portion 2c of the bottle is fully covered with stopper 3. In fact, as already said, the cavity 3a of stopper 3 has such a height that it reaches the lower edge of the threaded portion, so as to form a well apparent step with the bottleneck underlying it. The invention comprises a new closing process for wine and similar drink bottles.
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There is provided a process of positioning stopper 3 on opening 2a and a process of covering stopper 3 and at least part of bottle 2 by a covering cap 4. This process is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 1.
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In particular, the process of positioning stopper 3 consists of two steps.
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In the first step stopper 3, after being suitably positioned, is housed in pliers 5. Bottle 2, moved by a suitable distribution line 6, has its mouth 2a close to the cavity 3a of stopper 3, and going on moving forwards, snatches stopper 3 away from pliers 5. Bottle 2 therefore has the upper end within the cavity 3a of stopper 3.
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All this operation is referred to as "mid-way or immediate placement" and is made possible because the lower portion 3d of cavity 3a is smooth, i.e. devoid of threading, and long and large enough, in particular larger than the threading 2b of bottle 2.
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This first process is lastly terminated with the operation of screwing-down stopper 3 on bottle 2 carried out by a corking head 7.
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Once stopper 3 has been screwed down, bottle 2 moves forward until taking a position close to the positioning system of cap 8 that carries out positioning of cap 4 in such a manner as to cover stopper 3 and at least part of bottle 2. When positioning is over, system 8 heats cap 4 and presses it against the outer surface of bottle 2 and of stopper 3. In case of poly-coupled or tin caps, a greater adhesion between cap 4 and bottle 2 is obtained by a rolling step. This step being completed, bottle 2 goes on moving forward while cap 4 is becoming cold thus adhering in an almost perfect manner both to bottle 2 and stopper 3.
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Use of the closing device for wine and similar drink bottles is the following. For opening the bottle it is sufficient to remove the covering cap 4 at least partly and unscrew stopper 3. These operations can be carried out manually without requiring the aid of particular means such as corkscrews.
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Stopper 3, once bottle 2 has been opened, can be positioned back to the starting location by a screwing-down operation on the threading 2b. This operation can be carried out manually and ensures a good conservation of the drink also after bottle 2 has been opened.
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The invention enables achievement of important advantages.
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A first advantage is obtained due to the length and width of the lower portion 3d and the fact that it is smooth: In fact, a lower portion 3d thus made allows a stopper 3 provided with the thread 3f to be put on bottle 2 utilising the mid-air placement which ensures a simple and quick positioning.
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Other advantages are connected with the choice of creating the thread 3f of stopper 3 during manufacture of said stopper 3 and not during the corking process.
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A first advantage connected with this choice is the possibility of having a better coupling between stopper 3 and bottle 2 and therefore a coupling able to ensure a longer conservation of the drink as compared with screw stoppers hitherto known.
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Another advantage connected with the mode of creating the thread 3f of stopper 3 is that of obtaining a smooth lateral outer surface 3d enabling positioning of the covering cap 4.
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A still further advantage resides in use of a covering cap 4 for covering the screw stopper 3 and at least part of bottle 2. In fact, cap 4 also for this type of corking, offers a wide surface for printing, enabling a graphic personalisation of the stopper to be carried out, both by means of printing with inks of different kinds, and by creating inscriptions or drawings directly during the manufacture of cap 4.
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The covering cap 4 can be also used as an efficient tampering-preventing system. In fact, since cap 4 is frangible and detachable, it offers a system adapted to detect possible attempts to open bottle 2. Therefore tampering-preventing seals are not required for the screw stoppers 3.
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Finally, an important advantage results from an agreeable aesthetic aspect taken by bottle 2 once corked: as shown in Fig. 3, the assembly made up of the raised neck area 2d, the stopper 3 matching the size of the neck area 2d and covering it and the cap 4 overlying the stopper 3 and said area 2d, enables the threaded portion not to be visible, which makes the purchase of a thus corked bottle 2 more agreeable.
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The invention is susceptible of variations all falling within the scope of the inventive idea. All of the details can be replaced by equivalent elements and the materials can be of any nature.
