EP4100334A1

EP4100334A1 - Stopper having interrupted threads

Info

Publication number: EP4100334A1
Application number: EP21750453.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Stéphane GRAUX; Richard Lamoureux
Original assignee: Novembal USA Inc
Current assignee: Novembal USA Inc
Priority date: 2020-02-06
Filing date: 2021-01-26
Publication date: 2022-12-14
Also published as: EP4100334A4; US20230055443A1; CA3163974A1; WO2021156703A1

Abstract

The invention is a screw type plastic stopper, comprising a closure shell and a tamper band to be secured on a bottle neck. The stopper further includes a weakness line having bridges, that separably link a bottom edge of the closure shell to a top edge of the tamper band, and at least one inner thread that is located and extends along an inner wall of the stopper. The inner thread is interrupted along the weakness line and comprises a top part located at the closure shell over the weakness line and a bottom part located at the tamper band under the weakness line.

Description

STOPPER HAVING INTERRUPTED THREADS

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a screw type plastic stopper for bottle.

The present invention relates to the field of liquid packaging, wherein it is very common to seal the aperture of a container with a stopper as “caps”.

Such container is an individual object. The container is usually made of plastic, glass or metal material. The container can be a bottle filled with a fluid or a liquid, especially of a food or a cosmetic product.

The stopper can be made of metal or plastic material. According to the invention, the stopper is made from plastic material. A plastic stopper is mainly obtained through a molding process.

Such stopper globally has a tubular or cylindrical shaped body closed at its top edge by a roof wall. The stopper body comprises a closure shell attached at its bottom end to a tamper band (also called “tamper evident band”) through a weakness line. Such weakness line is made of bridges, distributed around the closure shell and the tamper band. So the bridges link the closure shell and the tamper band together. Moreover, the bridges are made when molding the stopper or after molding through a cutting step.

As known, according to a screw type stopper, the closure shell comprises inner thread(s) arranged inside side walls. In order to engage the stopper to seal the container, the neck of said container comprises outer fixation feature, such as outer thread(s) for screw type stopper. The combination of outer and inner thread(s) allows the stopper to be screwed on the container neck to seal said container and unscrewed for container opening.

Moreover, the tamper band of a screw type stopper comprises an inner annular bead, located at a bottom part. Such inner bead cooperates with an outer annular ring made on the bottle neck, under the thread(s). When sealing the bottle by screwing the stopper on the bottle neck, the bead goes over the outer ring and gets engaged under it in order to lock the tamper band relative to the bottle neck. So, when opening by unscrewing the stopper, the tamper band remains locked on the bottle neck and only the closure shell is moved up. During the unscrewing, the bridges of the weakness line are torn apart from the closure shell, which is separated from the tamper band and the bottle neck.

A stopper can also comprise a closure shell with a sealing roof movable from a closing position to an opening position, and reversely. The roof may be separated upon opening but remains preferably connected with the closure shell through a hinge. So such hinge crosses the weakness line and maintains the roof attached to the closure shell when said roof is tilted by the consumer in the opening position.

During bottle opening, first the consumer unscrews the stopper and the weakness line is broken to separate the closure shell from the tamper band. Then when the inner thread(s) are disengaged from the outer thread(s), the consumer upwardly pushes with a finger, especially the thumb, against an edge of the roof diametrically situated at the opposite of the hinge. So the roof is raised up and the bridges of the weakness line are torn apart from the closure shell, when the roof swings around the hinge. After opening, the roof remains attached thanks to the hinge to the closure shell the tamper band, which is secured on the container neck.

Known screw type stopper has inner thread(s) which continuously extends along all the periphery of the inner walls of the closure shell. Especially, the stopper comprises several threads which are angularly located with an angular gap from each other. Such several thread(s) continuously extend in an inclined way from top to bottom of the inner walls of only the closure shell. The thread(s) does not extend along the tamper band. So the bottom end of the thread(s) stops before the weakness line. If the thread(s) goes through the weakness line, it would be more difficult to break the bridges and to separate the closure shell when unscrewing the stopper.

Due to the continuous thread(s) of the closure shell, when opening by unscrewing, the rotation forces are applied along all the stopper, including the tamper band. Moreover, the rotation forces are oriented at towards the bottom to the weakness line, located under the thread(s), so that most of the forces are transferred from top where the thread(s) are located to bottom where the weakness line is located. There is a loss of part of the forces, so that the opening is harder for consumer.

Moreover, when sealing the stopper on the bottle neck by screwing until the inner bead crosses the outer ring, pression forces are applied on the bridges of the weakness line, so that they can break, which is an undesired condition because the integrity of the bridges is a proof of the tamper evidence of the bottle for the consumer.

Another screw type stopper comprises continuous inner thread(s) with venting slots. Such stopper is especially adapted for carbonated soft drinks (called “CSD”). The slots are hollows managed into the internal thread(s) and they are vertically aligned to allow the gas contained in the bottle to get out when opening.

Summary of Invention

An object of the present invention is to improve a screw type stopper which confers a better distribution of the rotation forces applied when sealing by screwing and when opening by unscrewing.

Therefore, the stopper according to the invention comprises thread(s) which are interrupted, almost in a middle part of the stopper. As such, the thread(s) does not continuously extend around the inner wall of the stopper.

Moreover, the stopper comprises a weakness line located near the middle area of the stopper and the thread(s) is interrupted along the weakness line. In other words, the thread(s) comprises a top part with a bottom end located over the weakness line and a bottom part with a top end located under the weakness line. So the weakness line cuts the thread(s) into the top part and the bottom part.

Thenceforth the top part of the thread(s) is located at the closure shell and the bottom part of the thread(s) is located at the tamper band. Such different locations allow the rotation forces to be distributed more regularly along all the stopper, when sealing by screwing and when opening by unscrewing. So the bridges of the weakness line have less tendency to break when sealing the stopper on the bottle neck, thanks to the bottom part of the thread(s) cooperating with the outer thread(s) of the bottle neck. When unscrewing such separated top part of bottom part of the thread(s) makes it easier to break the bridges. Indeed the tamper band does not freely turn anymore and is blocked, because the bottom part of the thread(s) is engaged with part of the outer thread(s) of the bottle neck.

According to a first embodiment, the invention aims a screw type stopper comprising a closure shell and a tamper band to be secured on a bottle neck;

- a weakness line with bridges, the bridges separably link a bottom edge of the closure shell and a top edge of the tamper band;

- at least one inner thread, the inner thread is located and extends along an inner wall of the stopper; wherein

- the inner thread is interrupted along the weakness line and comprises a top part located at the closure shell over the weakness line and a bottom part located at the tamper band under the weakness line.

According to an embodiment, the weakness line is located into a middle area of the stopper.

According to an embodiment, the tamper band comprises a top inner bead, the top inner bead is located at the top of the tamper band, over the bottom part of the inner thread.

According to an embodiment, the stopper further comprises a hinge, the hinge extends through the weakness line and pivotably links the bottom edge of the closure shell and the top edge of the tamper band; the inner thread is interrupted along the hinge.

According to an embodiment, the top part of the inner thread comprises at least one locking segment, the top part of the inner thread is interrupted at each end of the at least one locking segment.

According to an embodiment, one of the at least one locking segment is diametrically located relative to the hinge.

Another object of the present invention is to improve a bottle with a complementary neck regarding the above mentioned embodiments of the screw type stopper.

According to a first embodiment, the invention also relates to a bottle comprises

- a body and a neck, the neck is top located relative to the body, the neck comprises an aperture to be closed by the stopper;

- the neck being of the screw type and comprises at least an outer thread, the outer thread is located and extends along a peripheral wall of the neck;

- the outer thread is complementary shaped relative to the inner thread of the screw type stopper; wherein

- the outer thread continuously extends along the peripheral wall of the neck;

- the outer thread cooperates by screwing and by unscrewing with the top part and the bottom part of the inner thread of the stopper.

According to a second preferred embodiment, the bottle comprises

- a body and a neck, the neck is top located relative to the body;

- the outer thread is complementary shaped relative to the inner thread of a screw type stopper, such as above mentioned; wherein

- the outer thread is interrupted and comprise a top portion and a bottom portion;

- when screwing the outer thread cooperates with the top part and the bottom part of the inner thread of the stopper;

- when unscrewing the bottom portion cooperates with the bottom part of the inner thread and the top portion cooperates with the top part of the inner thread of the stopper.

According to an embodiment, the neck comprises a bottom outer ring, the bottom outer ring is located under the bottom portion of the thread and is complementary shaped relative to the bottom inner bead of the screw type stopper according to claim 3, in order to bottom lock the tamper band relative to the neck.

According to an embodiment, the neck further comprises

- a top outer ring, the top outer ring is located over the bottom portion of the outer thread and is complementary shaped relative to the top inner bead of the screw type stopper, in order to top lock the tamper band relative to the neck.

According to an embodiment, the top portion of the outer thread is interrupted along at least one a gap, the at least one gap is complementary dimensioned and located relative to the locking segment of the screw type stopper according to claim 5.

Brief description of the Drawings

The invention can be better understood on reading the following description given merely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective global view of a screw stopper according to a first embodiment, the stopper being secured on a bottle neck in sealing position;

FIG. 2 is a cross section view of figure 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a cross section view of the screw stopper alone, especially showing an inner thread of the stopper which is interrupted;

FIG 4 is a lateral view of a first embodiment of a bottle, especially showing an outer thread of the bottle neck which is interrupted;

FIG. 5 is a cross section view of a screw stopper according to a second embodiment, the stopper being secured on a bottle neck in a first position, especially showing a bottom bead and a top bead on the tamper band and a bottom ring and a top ring on the bottle neck;

FIG. 6 is a cross section view similar to figure 5, the stopper being secured on a bottle neck in a second position, especially showing the tamper band blocked against inner beads at the early stage of the opening;

FIG. 7 is a lateral section view of a second embodiment of a bottle, in a lock position of the stopper, especially showing a gap into a top portion of an outer thread of a neck of the bottle and in dotted lines one segment of a top part of an inner thread of a stopper.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to figure 7, in an unlock position of the stopper, especially showing one segment vertically aligned with one gap.

Detailed Description

As required, detailed embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed herein. The disclosed embodiments are merely examples that may be embodied in various and alternative forms, and combinations thereof. As used herein, for example, exemplary, and similar terms, refer expansively to embodiments that serve as an illustration, specimen, model or pattern.

In some instances, well-known components, systems, materials or methods have not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present disclosure.

Phrasing such as 'configured to' perform a function, including in the claims, can include any or all of being sized, shaped, positioned in the arrangement, and comprising material to perform the function.

Terms indicating quantity, such as ‘first’ or ‘second’ are used for exemplary and explanation purposes and are not intended to dictate the specific ordering of a component with respect to other components. Terms indicating position such as ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ or ‘front’ and ‘back’ are used to indicate components relation to one another. One of skill in the art would recognize other configurations are possible.

The invention relates to a stopper 1. The stopper 1 has a body which has a global tubular or cylindrical shape. The stopper 1 comprises a closure shell 2. The closure shell 2 comprises a roof wall 4. The roof wall 4 is located at the top of the closure shell 2 and globally has a plane horizontal surface. The stopper 1 further comprises a peripheral wall. Such peripheral wall vertically extends around and under the roof wall 4. The stopper 1 also comprises an inner wall 6, which is located opposite to the peripheral wall and extends concentrically relative to the peripheral wall.

The stopper 1 also comprises a tamper band 8. The tamper band 8 is located under the closure shell 2 and is designed to be secured on a bottle neck 100. Therefore, the tamper band 8 can comprise at least one bottom inner bead 10. One bottom inner bead 10 can continuously extend around the inner wall 6 or several bottom inner beads 10 can discontinuously extend around the inner wall 6. The bottom inner bead(s) 10 is located at the bottom of the tamper band 8, almost near a bottom edge of the tamper band 8. The inner bead(s) 10 can be made of a band folded inside the stopper 1 relative to the tamper band 8. The bottom inner bead(s) 10 is shaped to be engaged in force with corresponding bottom outer ring(s) 102 managed of the bottle neck 100 when sealing the stopper 1 on the bottle neck 100.

The stopper 1 further comprises a weakness line 12 with bridges 14. The bridges 14 separably link a bottom edge of the closure shell 2 to a top edge of the tamper band 8. The bridges 14 are distributed around the stopper 1, regularly or not. The bridges 14 are made when molding the stopper or after molding through a cutting step.

When opening, the bridges 14 of the weakness line 12 are torn apart from the tamper band 8, which remains secured on the bottle neck 100 due to the cooperation of the bottom inner bead(s) 10 against the underside of the bottom outer ring 102. So the closure shell 2 is separated from the tamper band 8.

The stopper 1 is a screw type stopper. Such screw type stopper 1 cooperates with the bottle neck 100 by screwing and unscrewing.

Therefore, the stopper 1 comprises at least one inner thread 16. So the stopper 1 comprises one or several inner thread(s) 16. The inner thread(s) 16 which extends along the inner wall 6 from top to bottom of the stopper 1 in a screw inclined direction, reversely and from bottom to top in a unscrew inclined direction. In case of several inner thread(s) 16, each of the thread(s) 16 is angularly shifted from the others.

As the inner thread(s) 16 cooperates by screwing and unscrewing with the bottle neck 100, the bottle neck 100 comprises at least an outer thread 104. The neck 100 comprises one outer thread 104 or several outer threads 104. The outer thread(s) 104 is located and extends along a peripheral 106 wall of the neck 100. Moreover, the outer thread(s) 104 is complementary shaped relative to the inner thread(s) 16 of the stopper 1.

According to a first embodiment of the stopper 1, such as shown in figures 1 to 3, the inner thread(s) 16 is interrupted along the weakness line 12. Moreover, the inner thread(s) 16 comprises a top part 160 located at the closure shell 2 over the weakness line 12 and a bottom part 162 located at the tamper band 8 under the weakness line 12. So the inner thread(s) 16 is separated into the top part 160 and the bottom part 162, which are spaced from each other in the area of the weakness line 12. In other words, the inner thread(s) 16 does not cross over the weakness line 12.

As especially represented in figure 3, the weakness line 12 is located into a middle area of the stopper 1. So the weakness line 12 extends in parallel and near relative to a horizontal plan located in the middle of the height of the stopper 1.

According to another embodiment, not shown, all or part of the weakness line 12 extends in an inclined direction relative to the horizontal plan.

According to a second embodiment, such as shown in the figures 5 and 6, as the weakness line 12 is located in the middle area of the stopper 1, it is possible to locate an inner bead at the top of the tamper band 8, under the weakness line 12. Therefore the tamper band 8 comprises a top inner bead 18. The top inner bead 18 is located at the top of the tamper band 8, over the bottom part 162 of the inner thread 16.

The tamper band 8 can only comprise a top inner bead 18, which replaces the bottom inner bead 10. The tamper band 8 can also comprise a top inner bead 18 and a bottom inner bead 10, such as shown in figures 5 and 6.

If the tamper band 8 comprises a top inner bead 18, then the bottle neck 100 comprises a top outer ring 108. So such as shown, when unscrewing the stopper 1, the top inner bead 18 and/or the bottom inner bead 10 vertically move to stop against the underside of the top outer ring 108 and/or the underside of the bottom outer ring 102 of the bottle neck 100. According to another embodiment, the stopper 1 comprises a hinge 22. The hinge 22 extends through the weakness line 12. The hinge 22 pivotably links the bottom edge of the closure shell 2 and the top edge of the tamper band 8. Moreover, the inner thread 16 is interrupted along the hinge 22. In other words, depending on the height of the hinge, the inner thread(s) 16 does not cross over the hinge 22 and stops along the angular length of the hinge 22.

So when opening by unscrewing the stopper 1, the closure shell 2 separates, through breaking the weakness line 12, from the tamper band 8 which remains on the bottle neck 100 until the blocking of the bottom inner bead 10 and/or the top inner bead 18. The closure shell 2 is so in an angular position where the top part 160 of the inner thread(s) 16 is not anymore engage with the outer thread(s) 10 of the bottle neck 100. The closure shell 2 still remains attached to the tamper band 8 through the hinge 22 and can be pivoted relative to the tamper band 8 by folding the hinge 22.

According to a third embodiment, when the stopper 1 comprises a hinge 22, the top part 160 of the inner thread(s) 16 comprises at least one locking segment 20. Preferably the top part 160 of only one inner thread 16 comprises several locking segments 20. According to a preferred embodiment, one of the locking segments 20 is diametrically located relative to the hinge 22. Moreover, the top part of the inner thread(s) 16 is interrupted at each end of the locking segment(s) 20.

Such specific shaped of the top part 160 of the inner thread(s) 16 allows the closure shell 2 to be rotatably moved relative to the bottle neck 100 from a lock position to an unlock position, and reversely. Therefore, the bottle neck 100 comprises an outer thread(s) 104 with a top portion 110 which is interrupted along at least a gap 112. Especially only one of the top portion 110 of the outer thread 104 comprises a gap 112. If several outer threads 104 are angularly recovering each other relative to the height of the bottle neck 100, then each top portion 110 of each thread 104 comprises a gap 112 and the gaps 112 are vertically aligned.

The gap(s) 112 is complementary dimensioned and located relative to the locking segment(s) 20. Especially the gap(s) 112 has an angular length bigger than the angular length of the locking segment(s) 20.

So, such as shown in figures 7 and 8, wherein one locking segment 20 is represented in dotted lines, when screwing or unscrewing the closure shell 2 relative to the bottle neck 100, the segment 20 is rotatably moved in front of one gap 112 in the unlock position, shown in figure 8. In the unlock position, the segment 20 can move up and go through the gap 112 when opening the closure shell 2 around the hinge 22.

Otherwise, the segment 20 is rotatably moved from the unlock position to the lock position, when the segment 20 is turned under one of top portion 110 of the outer thread(s) 104 located at the right side or the left side of the gap 112. In the lock position the segment 20 cannot move up and is secured under the top portion 110 of the outer thread(s) 104, such as shown in figure 7.

According to another embodiment, the peripheral wall of the stopper 1 comprises knurls 24. The knurls 24 extends vertically and are distributed regularly around the stopper 1. The knurls 24 are protruding relative to the outer face of the peripheral wall, in order to cooperate with a cylindrical or conical hollow tool when sealing the stopper 1 on the bottle neck 100, by screwing the inner thread(s) 16 with the outer thread(s) 104 until the bottom inner bead 10 and/or the top inner bead 18 engages respectively with the bottom outer ring 102 and/or the top outer ring 108. Such knurls 24 also makes easier for the consumer to unscrew the stopper 1.

Thenceforth the knurls 24 are divided into top knurls 240 located on the closure shell 2 and bottom knurls 242 on the tamper band 8. The top knurls 240 and the bottom knurls 242 are separated by the weakness line 12 located in the middle area.

The invention also relates to a bottle. The bottle comprises a body and a neck 100. The neck 100 is top located relative to the body of the bottle.

According to the invention, the neck 100 is especially designed to cooperate with the stopper 1, according to the embodiments above described. So the bottle neck 100 is a screw type neck. Therefore, as previously mentioned, the neck 100 comprises at least an outer thread 104. So the neck 100 can comprise only one outer thread 104 or several outer thread(s) 104. The outer thread(s) 104 is located and extends along the peripheral wall 106 of the neck 100. Moreover, the outer thread(s) 104 is complementary shaped relative to the inner thread(s) 16 of a screw type stopper 1 according to the invention.

According to an embodiment of the bottle, the outer thread(s) 104 continuously extends along the peripheral wall of the neck 100. Moreover, the outer thread 104 cooperates by screwing and by unscrewing with the top part 160 and the bottom part 162 of the inner thread 16 of the stopper 1.

According to a first preferred embodiment of the bottle, such as shown in figure 4, the outer thread(s) 104 is interrupted and comprise a top portion 110 and a bottom portion 114. So the outer thread(s) 104 is cut into the top portion 110 and the bottom portion 114.

Thenceforth when screwing, the outer thread(s) 104 cooperates with the top part 160 and the bottom part 162 of the inner thread(s) 16 of the stopper 1. Reversely when unscrewing, the bottom portion 114 cooperates with the bottom part 162 of the inner thread(s) 16 and the top portion 112 cooperates with the top part 160 of the inner thread(s) 16 of the stopper 1. According to another embodiment, such as shown in figure 5 and 6, when the outer thread(s) 104 is interrupted, the neck 100 comprises a bottom outer ring 102. The bottom outer ring 102 outwardly extends relative to the peripheral wall 106 of the neck 100. The bottom outer ring 102 can extend continuously or discontinuously around the peripheral wall 106. Moreover, the bottom outer ring 102 is located under the bottom portion 114 of the outer thread(s) 104 and is complementary shaped relative to the bottom inner bead 10 of the stopper 1, in order to bottom lock the tamper band 8 relative to the neck 100. Such lock is made when sealing the stopper 1 on the bottle neck 100.

The neck 100 further comprises a top outer ring 108. The top outer ring 108 is located over the bottom portion 114 of the outer thread(s) 104 and is complementary shaped relative to the top inner bead 18 of the stopper 1, in order to top lock the tamper band 8 relative to the neck 100.

According to second embodiment of the bottle, as previously described, such as shown in figures 7 and 8, the top portion 114 of the outer thread(s) 104 is interrupted along at least one gap 112. The top portion 114 of the outer thread(s) 104 is interrupted along several gap(s) 112.

The gap(s) 112 is complementary dimensioned and located relative to the locking segment 20 of the stopper 1. So the closure shell 2 can rotatably be moved from the lock position to the unlock position, and reversely. The closure shell 2 is unlocked when the locking segment(s) 20 is vertically aligned with the gap(s) 112.

Claims

Claims The invention claimed is:

1. A screw type plastic stopper, comprising

- a closure shell and a tamper band to be secured on a bottle neck;

- a weakness line with bridges, where the bridges separably link a bottom edge of the closure shell and a top edge of the tamper band;

- at least one inner thread, the inner thread is located and extends along an inner wall of the stopper; wherein the inner thread is interrupted along the weakness line and comprises a top part located at the closure shell over the weakness line and a bottom part located at the tamper band under the weakness line.

2. Screw type plastic stopper according to claim 1 , wherein the weakness line is located into a middle area of the stopper.

3. Screw type plastic stopper according to claim 2, wherein the tamper band comprises a top inner bead, the top inner bead is located at the top of the tamper band, over the bottom part of the inner thread.

4. Screw type plastic stopper according to claim 1 , further comprising a hinge that extends through the weakness line and pivotably links the bottom edge of the closure shell and the top edge of the tamper band, and wherein the inner thread is interrupted along the hinge.

5. Screw type stopper according to claim 4, wherein

- the top part of the inner thread comprises at least one locking segment;

- the top part of the inner thread is interrupted at each end of the at least one locking segment.

6. Screw type stopper according to claim 5, wherein one of the at least one locking segment is diametrically located relative to the hinge.

7. A bottle to be closed by a screw type stopper according to claim 1 , comprising

-a body and a neck, the neck being top located relative to the body and comprises an aperture to be closed by the stopper; - the neck being of the screw type and comprising at least an outer thread, the outer thread is located and extends along a peripheral wall of the neck; and

- the outer thread continuously extends along the peripheral wall of the neck; and

8. A bottle, comprising

- a body and a neck, the neck is top located relative to the body;

- the outer thread is complementary shaped relative to the inner thread of a screw type stopper according to claim 1 ; wherein

- the outer thread is interrupted and comprise a top portion and a bottom portion; and

9. The bottle according to claim 8, wherein the neck comprises a bottom outer ring, the bottom outer ring is located under the bottom portion of the thread and is complementary shaped relative to the bottom inner bead of the screw type stopper according to claim 3, in order to bottom lock the tamper band relative to the neck.

10. The bottle according to claim 9, wherein the neck further comprises a top outer ring, the top outer ring is located over the bottom portion of the outer thread and is complementary shaped relative to the top inner bead of the screw type stopper, in order to top lock the tamper band relative to the neck.

11. The bottle according to claim 9, wherein the top portion of the outer thread is interrupted along at least one gap, the at least one gap is complementary dimensioned and located relative to the locking segment of the screw type stopper according to claim 5.