EP2322446A1 - Dispositif de fermeture pour bouteilles de vin et boissons similaires - Google Patents

Dispositif de fermeture pour bouteilles de vin et boissons similaires Download PDF

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Publication number
EP2322446A1
EP2322446A1 EP09425470A EP09425470A EP2322446A1 EP 2322446 A1 EP2322446 A1 EP 2322446A1 EP 09425470 A EP09425470 A EP 09425470A EP 09425470 A EP09425470 A EP 09425470A EP 2322446 A1 EP2322446 A1 EP 2322446A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
stopper
bottle
closing device
threading
cavity
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP09425470A
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German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Roberto Casini
Marco Vigano
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Microcell SRL
Original Assignee
Microcell SRL
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Microcell SRL filed Critical Microcell SRL
Priority to EP09425470A priority Critical patent/EP2322446A1/fr
Publication of EP2322446A1 publication Critical patent/EP2322446A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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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
    • B65D41/00—Caps, e.g. crown caps or crown seals, i.e. members having parts arranged for engagement with the external periphery of a neck or wall defining a pouring opening or discharge aperture; Protective cap-like covers for closure members, e.g. decorative covers of metal foil or paper
    • B65D41/62—Secondary protective cap-like outer covers for closure members

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a closing device for wine and similar drink bottles of the type disclosed in the preamble of claim 1.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • stoppers made of natural cork can have malformations that do not ensure appropriate mechanical features and can therefore alter the evolution of the wine.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • cylindrical corks positioned internally of the neck area have drawbacks connected with the shape and the corking procedure used.
  • 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.
  • stopper 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.
  • a further class of stoppers that has imposed itself in recent years is that of screw stoppers.
  • cork stoppers keep important advantages of psychological and emotional nature as compared with screw stoppers.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • the stopper moves with the bottle during its positioning.
  • 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.
  • the second technique is mainly used for stoppers with a not yet formed threading.
  • 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.
  • the bottles sliding along a distribution line, snatch the stoppers away from the spring pliers carrying out a true "mid-air grasping”.
  • a special corking head pushes the stopper along the bottleneck.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • a tampering-preventing seal 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.
  • Bottles corked with this type of screw stopper can be opened with the user's bare hands and closed again using the same stopper.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • stoppers 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Another important aim of the invention is 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.
  • a further aim of the invention is to enable the bottle to be opened without use of suitable means such as a corkscrew.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • the closing device for wine and similar drink bottles according to the invention is generally denoted with reference numeral 1 .
  • 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 .
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • an upper portion 3b adjacent to the sealed end and a lower portion 3c.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Closures For Containers (AREA)
EP09425470A 2009-11-17 2009-11-17 Dispositif de fermeture pour bouteilles de vin et boissons similaires Withdrawn EP2322446A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP09425470A EP2322446A1 (fr) 2009-11-17 2009-11-17 Dispositif de fermeture pour bouteilles de vin et boissons similaires

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP09425470A EP2322446A1 (fr) 2009-11-17 2009-11-17 Dispositif de fermeture pour bouteilles de vin et boissons similaires

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP2322446A1 true EP2322446A1 (fr) 2011-05-18

Family

ID=42077153

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP09425470A Withdrawn EP2322446A1 (fr) 2009-11-17 2009-11-17 Dispositif de fermeture pour bouteilles de vin et boissons similaires

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP2322446A1 (fr)

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2970711A (en) * 1958-05-20 1961-02-07 Schenley Ind Inc Bottle closure with projections for severing seal
FR2096948A1 (fr) * 1970-07-20 1972-03-03 Bouchage Mecanique
FR2478034A1 (en) * 1980-03-14 1981-09-18 Scheidegger Albert Screwed cap guarantee seal - comprises sheath of material with low friction coefficient shrunk onto skirt
WO2006026803A1 (fr) * 2004-09-06 2006-03-16 Nukorc Pty Ltd Fermeture amelioree, procede de formation de cette derniere et procede permettant de sceller et/ou fermer une bouteille
US20090250469A1 (en) * 2008-04-04 2009-10-08 Heiberger Robert A Pour Cap For Fluid Containers

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2970711A (en) * 1958-05-20 1961-02-07 Schenley Ind Inc Bottle closure with projections for severing seal
FR2096948A1 (fr) * 1970-07-20 1972-03-03 Bouchage Mecanique
FR2478034A1 (en) * 1980-03-14 1981-09-18 Scheidegger Albert Screwed cap guarantee seal - comprises sheath of material with low friction coefficient shrunk onto skirt
WO2006026803A1 (fr) * 2004-09-06 2006-03-16 Nukorc Pty Ltd Fermeture amelioree, procede de formation de cette derniere et procede permettant de sceller et/ou fermer une bouteille
US20090250469A1 (en) * 2008-04-04 2009-10-08 Heiberger Robert A Pour Cap For Fluid Containers

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