GB2025856A - Security Seals - Google Patents

Abstract

A first cylindrical member (38) has an internal chamber into which a barbed prong (20) can be inserted. The prong extends from a circular or oval flange (12) and the chamber ends in a pair of shoulders (46, 48) behind which the shoulders of the barbed prong (22, 24) are snapped when the prong (20) is pushed fully into the member (38). The flange (12) is joined through a flexible elongate strap (10) which can form a handle to a second flange (28) joined to or formed with the member (38). When the barbed prong (20) is embedded in the member (38) the unit forms a closed loop. A weak point (24) in the strap (10) facilitates its breaking and a second weak point (18) between the stub (16) and the barbed prong (20) allows the prong to be broken away from the stub (16) by counter-rotation of the two flanges (12, 28). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements In and Relating to Security Seals Field of Invention This invention concerns security seals for sealing bags and like containers particularly security money bags.

Background to the Invention Security seals do not rely on strength for security but solely on the fact that one of the parts has to be cut or severed in order to gain access to the interior of the bag or container once the latter has been closed and secured by the seal. It is thus possible to determine whether or not a container has been tampered with for example at the end of a journey or the like by simply inspecting the security seal. If the latter has been tampered with or broken then it is a reasonable assumption that the bag itself has been tampered with and the contents may not be intact.

Security seals are normally designed with the particular bag or container with which they are to be used in mind when the form and shape of the seal is determined. Thus different types of seal have been developed for different types of bag and container.

The present invention is concerned with providing a security seal for a bag such as a money bag which is in the form of a pouch having a single open end which can be closed by flattening the open end and then folding the flattened opened end in a concertina-like manner.

This type of bag or pouch has a series of holes usually reinforced by eyelets around the open end thereof and the size and spacing of the holes is selected so that when the open end is flattened as previously described and folded in a concertinalike manner, the holes can be aligned to form a tunnel through which the security seal can be threaded. By ensuring that the security seal holds the folds of the bag together reasonably tightly, it is virtually impossible to gain access to such a bag without breaking the security seal.

Additional security can be obtained by providing a flap which extends around one half of the periphery of the open end of the bag, the flap itself being formed with holes of the same size and spacing as those around the open end of the bag and the bag can be closed by first of all flattening the open end of the bag by gripping the bag at opposite ends of the flap and pulling in opposite directions and then folding the flap down to form a third layer and adjusting the relative positions of the three layers of material so that the holes in the three layers align and then folding the triple layer of material in a concertina-like manner as previously described and threading the security seal through the aligned holes.

The security seal which is the subject of the present application is designed to be used with bags of this type (with or without the flap just described). However it is to be understood that the seal may be used with any container or any device which when closed presents one hole or a number of aligned holes through which the seal can be threaded before being closed.

In the following description a hole or an alignment of holes in a bag or other container through which a security seal can be threaded to secure the bag or container in its closed condition, will be described as a "a closure".

The Invention According to the present invention a security seal comprises:- a first part adapted to be threaded through a closure, a flexible elongate strap which is joined at one end to the said first part, a second part which extends from the other end of the flexible strip and which includes a barbed prong, an aperture in the said first part into which at least the barbed prong of the second part can be inserted, the aperture giving access to a passage in the said first part which includes one or more shoulders which are engaged by corresponding shoulders on the barbed prong when the latter is inserted therein, a first weak point along the length of the strap at which the latter can be cut or snapped as a preliminary to breaking the seal, flange means on each of said first and second parts by which the said parts can be gripped and twisted relative to one another after the strap has been cut or snapped, the flange means on said first and second parts being dimensioned so as to prevent the first part from being removed from the closure when the barbed prong of the second part has been inserted therein, and a second weak point along the length of the said second part between the barbed prong and the flange means thereby to allow the flange means to be twisted and broken away from the prong to allow the first part to be removed from the said closure to unseal the bag or other container to which the seal has been affixed.

Preferably the seal is formed from a plastics material by injection moulding and in a preferred embodiment is formed as a one-piece moulding by an injection moulding process.

Preferably the flange means are circular or oval in shape and include serrated peripheral edges to facilitate the gripping of the flange means.

Preferably the said first weak point is formed near to one end of the strap where it adjoins the said second part.

Conveniently the strap can be used to serve as a carrying handle for the container or bag to which the seal is affixed. To this end the material forming the strap is selected so as to be strong enough to serve as a handle.

Where the strap is to serve as a handle, the first weak point is, like the material of the handle, designed to be strong enough to allow the strap to be used as a handle having regard to the weight of the bag or container to which the seal is likely to be affixed. According to a preferred feature of the invention, the inter-engagement of the barbed prong and the passage in the said first part is such as to prevent relative axial rotation of the first and second parts. The torque exerted by the user when twisting the first part relative to the second part thus appears completely across the said second weak point and facilitates the breaking of the said second member and removal of the flange means therefrom.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accortipanying drawings.

In the Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a partially constructed security seal constructed as an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same security seal shown in Fig. 1 in which the two semi-cylindrical sections have been secured together to form the first part so that the seal is ready for insertion into a closure, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the security seal shown in Fig. 2 after it has been affixed to a bag and Fig. 4 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1 of another embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description of Drawings Referring first of all to Figs. 1 and 2, an improved security seal includes a strap 10 of flexible plastics material having formed at one end a circular flange 12 having a serrated peripheral edge 14 from which extends relatively axially a cylindrical stub 16 which changes from circular cross-section to a flat spade-like cross-section at a neck region 18, the space section being in the form of a barbed prong or arrowhead 20 defining two shoulders 22 and 24. An aperture 26 in between the two shoulders facilitates the squeezing of the barbed section to allow the two shoulders to squeeze through a gap which is basically no wider than the width of the parallelsided section of the space end designated by dimension W.

As with the strap 10, the member 16, 20 is also preferably formed from plastics material and is conveniently formed integrally with the strap.

The strap 10 is formed at its other end with a second circular flange 28 similar to flange 12 which is integrally formed with or non-removably secured to one end of a generally semi-cylindrical member 30 the opposite end of which includes a circular end plate 32 and a second complementary semi-circular member 34 is hinged to the first member 30 along the dividing line 36. It will be seen that the whole of the assembly shown in Fig. 1 can therefore be made by a single injection moulding by leaving a thin film of plastics material between the two semicylindrical members 30 and 34 along the intervening line 36 so as to constitute the said hinge.

After forming the member in this way so as to produce the sub-assembly shown in Fig. 1, the completed security seal can be formed as shown in Fig. 2 by folding the semi-cylindrical member 34 in between the inside cheeks of the members 28 and 32 so that the two flat surfaces of the members 30 and 34 are brought into contact.

Preferably an adhesive or other bonding agent is used to secure the two flat surfaces of the members 30 and 34 together so as to form the cylindrical member gererally designated by reference numeral 38 in Fig. 2.

The interior of each of the semi-cylindrical members 30 and 34 is partially cut away by means of the moulding process so as to define two semi-cylindrical recesses 40 and 42 which when the member 34 overlays the member 30, form a cylindrical channel. The flat surface of the member 30 is also cut away to define a generally parailel-sided rebate 44 with flat shoulders on opposite sides of the semi-cylindrical recess 42 which terminate in two shoulders 46 and 48 between the generally parallel-sided rebate and a further rebated area beyond the end of the semicylindrical channel 42, the edges 50 and 52 of which converge towards the circular flange 28.

The shoulders 46 and 48 correspond to the shoulders 24 and 22 of the barbed prong 20 and the length of the parallel-sided rebate 44 is such as to allow the shoulders 22 and 24 to pass beyond the shoulders 46 and 48 and allow the prong to spring open once again beyond these shoulders 46 and 48 to thereby secure the barbed prong into position at the remote end of the cylindrical mmember 38 (see Fig. 2).

The rebate 44 appears in the end face 32 as slits 54 and 56 at dimetrically opposite regions of an otherwise circular aperture 58. The dimensions of the aperture 58 conform to the internal dimensions of the cylindrical channel formed by the two semi-cylindrical cutout regions 40 and 42 when the two members 30 and 34 are joined together.

The dimensions of the aperture 58 and slits 54 and 56 are thus such as to allow the barbed prong 20 and remainder of the spade-like end of the stub 1 6 together with the latter to be pushed into the cylindrical member 38 until the shoulders 22 and 24 snap behind the shoulders 48 and 46 respectively at which stage the stub 1 6 is firmly anchored into the cylindrical member 38 and cannot be readily withdrawn therefrom.

The part 34 may be firmly secured the part 30 by means of pins or the like which are pushed thrugh holes 60 and 62 in the end flange 28 and through holes 64 and 66 respectively from one end of the member 34 to the other and similar holes 68 and 70 are provided in the circular end 32. However it is to be understood that this embodiment is not limited to the use of such pins and with appropriate bonding agents and glues the need for such additional securing is not believed to be necessary.

The security seal shown in Fig. 2 can be inserted through the aligned apertures formed by concertina folding of the open end of a security bag designated by reference numeral 72 so that the apertures in the open end of the bag can be aligned to form a tunnel through which the cylindrical member 38 can be pushed. This is shown in Fig. 3 and in this figure the male section of the security seal namely the stub 1 6 and barbed prong 20 is shown embedded in the female section 38. By virtue of the interengagement between the barbed prong 20 and the shoulders 46 and 48, so the strap 10 is firmly located at opposite ends of the cylindrical member 38 and forms a handle for carrying the bag 72. The latter for example may contain money or securities or the like.

When the seal has to be broken, the first step is to break the strap 10 from the flange 12. To facilitate this a weak point is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and identified by reference numberal 74 is provided at the end of the strap 10 just where the latter joins the circular flange 12. This facilitates the cutting or otherwise breaking of the strap 10 from the flange 12. However, it will be seen that because of the diameter of the flange 12, the folded end of the bag 72 is still held captive between the flange 12 and the flange 28.

In order to allow the cylindrical section 38 to be withdrawn it is necessary to remove the flange 12 and to this end a second weak point is provided at the neck 1 8 (see Fig. 1). This second weak point facilitates the breaking of the stub 1 6 from the spade end and prong 20 by simply rotating the flange 12 in one direction and rotating the flange 28 in the opposite direction. It will be seen that the inter-engagement between the spade-like end 20 and the cylindrical member 38 which prevents the spade and pronged end from rotating relative to the member 38 causes all the torque exerted as a result of the counter-rotation of the two members to be applied across the neck 1 8 and this will readily snap.

As soon as this occurs the flange 12 and stub 1 6 can be removed from the cylindrical member 38 which is then free to be withdrawn from the aligned holes in the bag to allow access to the bag to be gained.

It is to be understood that the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings is not limited to being used with a bag such as shown in Fig. 3 but can be used with any device which is to be rendered secure and which includes a closure through which the cylindrical member 38 can be pushed.

It is also to be understood that the strap 10 does not have to form a handle and in situations in which a handle is not required simply forms a convenient method of joining the male and female members together until they are required for use.

Fig. 4 of the drawings illustrates a partially assembled security seal similar to that shown in Fig. 1 in which the circular flanges 12 and 28 are replaced by oval flanges 12' and 28'. The advantage of using oval flanges is to allow greater leverage to be exerted during the twisting process required to break the neck 1 8.

The embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is similar in all other respects to Fig. 1 except that a twin barbed prong 20' is shown instead of a single barbed prong such as 20. The advantage of the two sets of barbs in the prong shown in Fig. 4 is that by dimensioning the arrangement so that both of the sets of shoulders in the barbed prong 20' can be pushed to the rear of the shoulders 46 and 48 there is a greater degree of security against the prong 20' from being withdrawn accidentally from the member 38.

Claims (6)

Claims

1. A security seal comprisingt a first part adapted to be threaded through a closure, a flexible elongate strap which is joined at one end to the said first part, a second part which extends from the other end of the flexible strip and which includes a barbed prong, an aperture in the said first part into which at least the barbed prong of the second part can be inserted, the aperture giving access to a passage in the said first part which includes one or more shoulders which are engaged by corresponding shoulders on the barbed prong when the latter is inserted therein, a first weak point along the length of the strap at which the latter can be cut or snapped as a preliminary to breaking the seal, flange means on each of said first and second parts by which the said parts can be gripped and twisted relative to one another after the strap has been cut or snapped, the.flange means on said first and second parts being dimensioned so as to prevent the first part from being removed from the closure when the barbed prong of the second part has been inserted therein, and a second weak point along the length of the said second part between the barbed prong and the flange means thereby to allow the flange means to be twisted and broken away from the prong to allow the first part to be removed from the said closure to unseal the bag or other container to which the seal has been affixed.

A security seal as claimed in claim 1 in which the flange means are circular or oval in shape and include serrated peripheral edges to facilitate the gripping of the flange means.

3. A security seal as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which the said first weak point is formed near to one end of the strap where it adjoins the said second part.

4. A security seal as claimed in claim 1 or 2 or 3 in which the strap can be used to serve as a carrying handle for the container or bag to which the seal is affixed.

5. A security seal as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 in which the inter-engagement of the barbed prong and the passage in the said first part is such as to prevent relative axial rotation of the first and second parts,

6. A security seal constructed and arranged substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.