GB2102774A - Bottle cap incorporating an anti-tamper tell-tale device - Google Patents

Abstract

A bottle cap which is intended to indicate tampering with the contents of a bottle, incorporates a cap member (1) presenting a tubular skirt portion (2) arranged to fit over and engage the neck portion of a bottle, an annular element (6) arranged to be anchored to the neck portion of the bottle and an anti-tamper frangible ring (11) arranged to be interposed between the cap member (1) and the annular element (6), said ring presenting axially facing detents (12, 13) engageable with teeth (3, 9) presented by the skirt portion of the cap and the annular element. The skirt portion may comprise radially spaced elements (Fig. 1) or press-fitted elements 15, 16 (Fig. 3). When the cap is rotated in the direction to open the bottle the detents on the ring engage the teeth and further unscrewing movement causes the ring to be broken. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Bottle cap incorporating an anti-tamper tell-tale device The subject of this invention is a bottle cap incor porating an anti-tamper tell-tale device particularly for fitting to a bottle incorporating a non-refill apparatus to provide ready visual and it may be aud ible warning that the bottle has been tampered with.

Devices to prevent refilling of bottles, particularly bottles to contain spirits, are well known but although such devices normally make it extremely difficult to re-introduce liquid into the bottle to replace liquid removed they cannot be fully effective against such tampering. In other words if sufficient trouble is taken a bottle even fitted with such a device can be refilled normally with no signs of tampering. The invention relates to a cap arranged to be fitted to a device incorporating non-refillable apparatus and which will give both audible and permanently visible indication that the bottle has been opened.

Methods of indicating that bottles have been tampered with are already well known. The most common method is to fit over the top of the bottle neck to enclose the cap and the outer part of the bottle neck a sheath previously of soft metal and latterly of plastics material. This is a messy and expensive operation because the sheath must not only be fitted over the top but must then be treated to cause it to fit tightly in place, e.g. by a form of swaging operational for metal and shrinking operation for plastics material.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple construction of bottle cap which provides ineradicable evidence of tampering, which eliminates the need for the use of a sheath and which can be fitted to a bottle as a unit in a simple pressing operation like that of inserting a cork.

A bottle cap incorporating an anti-tampertell-tale device according to the invention incorporates an open-ended cap member comprising a top and a tubular skirt portion formed to engage a screw thread presented by the bottle neck or buy a nonrefilling device arranged to be fitted to the bottle neck and which is also formed at its open end with at least one tooth projecting axially from skirt portion, an annular element arranged to surround and to be anchored to the bottle neck or a non-refilling device and formed with at least one upstanding tooth on the face adjacent the cap member and an anti tampertell-taleformed on each opposite face with at least one detent, the detents on opposite faces projecting in opposite axial directions, said ring being arranged to be trapped between said open end of the cap member and the annular element with the detent projecting from one face of the tell-tale ring in the position to engage the tooth on the skirt portion of the cap member and the detent projecting from the other face of the tell-tale ring in the position to engage the tooth on the annular element.

The annular element may be a loose ring arranged to fit over the bottle neck or over a non-refilling device fitted to the bottle and abut against the shoulder customarily formed in a bottle neckatthe base of the screw thread or against a shoulder formed on a non-refilling device at the base of the screw thread thereon, the bottle neck or the nonrefilling device being preferably formed with at least one radially projecting longitudinal feather terminat- ing at the shoulder and arranged to bite into the annular element as the latter is pressed against the shoulder to prevent the element from rotating.

In this construction the tubular skirt portion of the gap may be formed of inner and outer coaxial radially spaced tubular parts formed integrally with the top of the cap and connected to one another by an annular portion of the gap which is thin enough to be flexible so that the two parts can move relatively to one another in an axial direction to a limited extent, the inner part being formed to engage a screw th read on the bottle neck or on a refilling device fitted to the bottle neck and the outer part being formed with said at least one upstanding tooth.

In another construction the skirt portion of the cap member is formed of an inner tubular part formed to be engageable with the screw thread on the bottle neck or on a non-refilling device and an outer tubular part formed with said at least one upstanding tooth, the inner tubular part being dimensioned to be a press fit in the outertubular part.

In this latter construction the annular element may be unitary with the inner tubular part surrounding said part and being connected thereto at the outer end of the innertubular part by a number offrang- ible radial spokes. Alternatively the annular element may be unitary with a non-refilling device engageable with the bottle neck, surrounding the device and being connected thereto by a number of frangible radial spokes.

The annular element may be formed with a ring of ratchet teeth each one of which constitutes a tooth capable of engaging the detent on the adjacent face of the anti-tamper tell-tale ring.

The skirt portion of the cap may be formed with a ring of ratchet teeth each one of which constitutes a tooth capable of engaging the detent on the adjacent face of the anti-tamper tell-tale ring.

The anti-tamper tell-tale ring may be formed with at least one notch which has the effect of locally reducing the section of the ring and weakening it at that point.

The annular element may be arranged to be anchored to the bottle neck or to a non-refilling device fitted to the bottle neck by a metallic cowl in the form of a sleeve formed at one end with a flange which fits over the outer peripheral edge portion of the annular element thus holding the element captive while leaving the abutment exposed, the other end of the sleeve being deformed to grip the bottle neck when the device is fitted to a bottle.

Practical embodiments of the invention are illus trated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 shows the parts of the device according to one embodiment of the invention illustrated in exploded form, Fig. 2 is a part section on a diametral plane of a portion of a bottle neck containing a non-refilling device showing the device of Fig. 1 fitted thereto, Fig. 3 shows another embodiment of the invention illustrated in exploded form, Fig. 4 is a part section on a diametral plane of the device of Fig. 3 fitted to a bottle containing a non-refilling device, Fig. 5 shows yet another embodiment of the device illustrated in exploded form and Fig. 6 is a part section on a diametral plane of the device of Fig. 5 fitted to a bottle containing a non-refilling device.

In the drawings and referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, 1 denotes a cap element having a top 1A and a tubular skirt portion 2 comprising an outertubular part 2B formed with a screw th read 4 engageable with the screw thread on the neck of a bottle or with the screw th read presented by a non-refilling device arranged to be fitted to the bottle neck. Such a nonrefilling device is illustrated at B in Fig. 5.The tubular portions 2A and 2B are coaxial, radially spaced from one another and are connected to one another by a portion 5 which is thin enough to be flexible and thus permit a limited amount of relative axial movement between the parts 2A and 2B. 6 denotes an annular element arranged to surround and to be anchored to the bottle neck or to a non-refilling device fitted to a bottle neck by a cylindrical cowl 7 of readily deformable material such as aluminium formed with an inwardly turned flange 8. The annular element 6 carries a ring of ratchet teeth 9 formed on a face which is adjacent the cap member 1 when the device is assembled, said teeth 9 constituting a set of abutments. The annular element 6 is also formed with an annular groove 10 with which the flange 8 on the cowl 7 is engageable as will be explained later.The bottle neck or the non-refilling device B as illustrated is formed with a radiaily-projecting longitudinal feather B' which bites into the annular element 6 as the cap 1 in being screwed home on to the bottle neck forces the element against the shoulder on the device B and assists in preventing the element 6 from rotating by the thrust of the cap 1 when the cap 1 is unscrewed. 11 denotes an anti-tamper tell-tale ring formed on the opposite faces 1 1A and 11B with detents 12 and 13 projecting in opposite axial direction and formed with notches 1 1C and 11 D intended to weaken the ring at the position of the notches.The ring 11 is arranged to be trapped between the end face 2 of the cap member 1 and the annular element 6 with the detents 12 engaging respective teeth of the ring of teeth 3 and the detents 13 engaging respective teeth of the ring of teeth 9 on the annular element 6. The assembly of the parts 1, 11,7 and 6 is illustrated in Fig. 2 in the cap is shown fitted to a bottle denoted by A containing a non-refilling device B. In the operation of fitting the device the annular element 6 is engaged with the non-refilling device B, the cowl 7 is fitted over the annular element 6 with the parallel portion readyforfitting over the bottle neck A and the flange 8 engaging the annular groove lOin the element 6.The anti-tamper tell-tale ring 11 is then fitted over the annular element 6 so that the detents 13 engage respective teeth 9 and the cap element 1 is then fitted over the non-refilling device B so that the screw thread 4 engages the screw thread on the non-refilling device B. As the cap ele ment 1 is tightened the detents 12 engaging the teeth 3 on the cap element cause the ring 11 to rotate and take with it the annular element 6 because of the engagement of the detents 13 with the teeth 9 on the element 6. The cap element 1, the ring 11 and the annular element 6 rotate as a unit until just before the cap element 1 is in its fully tightened position.

Thefinal act of fully tightening the cap causes the feather B' to bite into the element 11 and prevent it from rotating when the cap 1 is unscrewed The cap may be assembled on the non-refilling device before the latter is fitted to a bottle neck or the non-refilling device may be fitted to a bottle neck before the cap is assembled in it. When the whole assembly is in place on a bottle neck the end of the cowl 7 projects over the bottle neck and is deformed as at 14 to engage the bottle neck and hold the cowl in place.

The cowl 7 and the feather B' hold the annular element 6 tightly against further rotation. The flexible portion 5 of the top 1A of the cap aliows a high axial force to be applied to the outer part 2A to hold the assembly as firmly as possible to the bottle neck while the sleeve is being deformed without overstressing the inner part 2B with danger of breaking the bottle neck or the non-refilling device. When any attempt is made whether authorized or otherwise to open the bottle by unscrewing the cap element 1 the teeth 3 in engagement with the detent 12 on the telltale ring 11 cause that ring to rotate along with the cap element 1 and as the ring 11 rotates the detents 13 engaging the teeth 9 on the annular element 6 causing the ring 11 to attempt to rotate the annular element 6.Since the element 6 is held against rotation by the cowl 7 and the feather B' something must give way and it is the ring 11 which breaks, normally at a notch 1 1C or 11 D, and indicates that the bottle has been opened. Normallythe ring 11 will break completely and the parts will fall out but even if it is only split at one portion the springiness of the material will usually cause the broken ends to move outwardly indicating clearly even when the cap element is replaced that the bottle has been opened.

In the embodiment of Figs. 3 and 4 the tubular skirt portion of the cap member 1 is in two separate parts 15 and 16. The part 15 is an outer part formed with the ratchet teeth 3 as in the construction of Fig. 1 and the part 16 is an inner part formed with an internal screw thread 4 arranged to fit the screw thread on the neck of a bottle or on an anti-tamper device arranged to be fitted to a bottle neck as in the construction of Fig. 1. The annular element 6 is formed integrally with the cap portion 16 of the ring of teeth 9 of the element 6 being connected to the cap portion 16 by a number of radial frangible spokes 17.

The cylindrical outer surface of the cap portion 16 is formed with parallel flutes and the dimension of the cylindrical surface of the cap portion 15 is such that the two cap portions 15 and 16 are a push fit one within the other, the flutes assisting the fitting of the portions together while resisting relative rotation between them.

In assembly of the device of Fig. 3 on a bottle the inner part 16 is first screwed on to the screw thread on the bottle neck A or on to the screw thread on a non-refilling device B arranged to be fitted to the bottle neck as in the construction illustrated in Fig. 4 until it is fully home. The cowl 7 is then fitted over the bottle neck A or over a non-refilling device B until the flange 8 engages the rim of the annular element 6 forming part of the cap portion 16. The ring 11 is then fitted over the cap element 16 until the detents 13 engage teeth 9 of the annular element 6 whereupon the cap portion 15 is pressed over the cap portion 16 until detents 12 engage teeth 3 on the cap portion 15. The end of the cowl is deformed to engage the bottle neck as at 14 as soon as the inner part 16 has been screwed home or after the entire cap assembly has been put together.

To open the bottle the cap element 1 is unscrewed by rotating the cap portion 15. The cap portion 15 in tight connection with the cap portion 16 causes the cap portion 16 to rotate. The ratchet teeth 3 on the cap portion 15 in engagement with the detents 12 on the anti-tamper tell-tale ring 11 then attempt to rotate the ring 11 with the cap portion 15. The detents 13 on the ring 11, however, are engaged with teeth 9 on the annular element 6 and as this element is gripped by the cowl 7 the ring 11 is prevented from rotating.Continued torsional force applied to the cap element 1 to overcome the resistance to rotation causes the ring 11 to fracture normally at one at least of the notches 11 C and 11 D and will also cause the frangible spokes 17 to break thus leaving the element 6 gripped by the cowl 7 and freeing the cap so that the cap may be screwed as a unit off the neck of the bottle leaving the bottle free for pouring of liquid from it. However, if the cap is replaced the bottle can be readily seen to have opened because the anti tampertell-talering 11 is broken.

In the embodiments of Figs. 5 and 6 the nonrefilling device arranged for insertion in a bottle neck is indicated at B. The screw-threaded portion 18 performs the same function as the normal screw thread on a bottle neck. 16 denotes the inner cap portion constituted in this embodiment by a plain cap portion screw-threaded internally to fit the screw thread on the non-refilling device B and fluted on its outer surface. This cap portion may be a plain cap portion such as is customarily fitted as a closure to a bottle.

The cap portion 16 is arranged to be a push fit in the outer cap portion 15 as has already been described in respect of the cap portion 16 in Fig. 3. The cowl 7 is arranged to fit over the non-refilling device B with the flange 8 engaging the rim of the annular element 6 which forms part of the non-refilling device B, the teeth 9 of the annular element 6 being connected to the non-refilling device B by the frangible radial spokes 17.

The embodiment of Figs. 5 and 6 is used in a manner closely resembling the manner of operation of the embodiment of Figs. 3 and 4. A cap assembly unit is formed by screwing the inner cap portion 16 into place on the screw-threaded portion 18 of the non-refilling device B. The cowl 7 is fitted overthe inner cap portion 16 and caused to embrace the annular element 6. Then the anti-tamper tell-tale ring 11 is fitted over the inner cap portion 16 so that the detents 13 engage corresponding teeth 9 on the annular element 6 which is a part of the non-refilling device B. The outer cap portion 15 is then forced on to the cap portion 16 until the detents 12 on the ring 11 engage teeth 3 on the outer cap portion 15.What is now formed is a complete assembly which may be fitted to a filled bottle by pressing the lower end of the non-refilling device B into the neck of the bottle A, the cowl 7 moving over the outside of the neck of the bottle A at the same time. The cowl 7 is then anchored in place by deforming it as at 14 so that it grips the bottle neck and holds the assembly in place. In the action of opening the bottle force is applied in the appropriate direction to unscrew the cap element 1 from the non-refilling device B. This torsional force causes the ratchet teeth 3 in engaging the detents 12 on the ring 11 to attempt to rotate the ring 11 along with the cap element 1.The ring 11, is however, prevented from rotating by the engagement of the detents 13 with the ratchet teeth 9 on the annular element 6 forming part of the non-refilling device and which cannot rotate because it is gripped by the cowl 7. Continued application of a twisting force on the cap element causes the ring 11 to fracture and indicate that the bottle has been opened.

In all the constructions of the invention if the cap element is replaced the bottle can be readily seen to have been opened because the anti-tamper tell-tale ring is now broken. Advantageously the ring 11 may be such that when it is broken the broken ends spring apart to provide more obvious evidence that the ring has been broken. Usually the parts of the ring fall clear leaving a gap between the cap and the cowl through which the annular element 6 can be seen. This element can be moulded in material of a different colour to draw further attention to the fact that the bottle has been tampered with.

In all the illustrated embodiments 20 denotes a sealing ring provided to prevent the leakage of liquid from the bottle past the outside of the non-refilling device B.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that the cap assembly may be built up on a bottle neck or may be built around a non-refilling device to form a unit which is fitted to a bottle neck by forcing the cylindrical portion into the bottle neck as a cork is fitted, the sleeve at the same time fitting over the outside of the bottle neck, then deforming the sleeve as described to cause it to grip the bottle neck. This latter method is of particular use in large bottling plants because each cap assembly is a complete unit with no separate parts which may go astray or be wrongly assembled and requires virtually no skill in fitting itto a bottle.

Claims (12)

1. A bottle cap which incorporates an antitamper tell-tale device includes an open-ended cap member comprising a top and a tubular skirt portion formed to engage a screw thread presented by the bottle neck or by a non-refilling device arranged to be fitted to the bottle neck and which is also formed at its open end with at least one tooth projecting axially from the skirt portion, an annular element arranged to surround and to be anchored to the bot tle neck or a non-refilling device and formed with at least one upstanding tooth on the face adjacent the cap member and an anti-tamper tell-tale ring formed on each opposite face with at least one detent, the detents on opposite faces projecting in opposite axial directions, said ring being arranged to be trap ped between said open end of the cap member and the annular element with the detent projecting from one face of the tell-tale ring in the position to engage the tooth on the skirt portion of the cap member and the detent projecting from the other face of the telltale ring in the position to engage the tooth on the annular element.

2. A bottle cap as claimed in claim 1 in which the annular element is a loose ring arranged to fit over the bottle neck or over a non-refilling device fitted to the bottle and to abut against the shouldercustomar- ill formed in a bottle neck at the base of the screw thread or against a shoulder formed on a nonrefilling device at the base of the screw thread thereon.

3. A bottle cap as claimed in claim 1 in which the tubular skirt portion of the cap member is formed of inner and outer coaxial radially spaced tubular parts formed integrally with the top of the cap member and connected to one another by an annular portion of the cap member which is thin enough to be flexible so that the two parts can move relatively to one another in an axial direction to a limited extent, the inner part being formed to engage a screw th read on the bottle neck or on a refilling device fitted to the bottle neck and the outer part being formed with said at least one upstanding tooth.

4. A bottle cap as claimed in claim 1 in which the skirt portion of the cap member is formed of an inner tubular part formed to be engageable with the screw thread on the bottle neck or on a non-refilling device and an outertubular part formed with said at least one upstanding tooth, the in ner tubular part being dimensioned to be a press fit in the outer tubular part.

5. A bottle cap as claimed in claims 1 and 4 in which the annular element is unitary with the inner tubular part surrounding said part and being connected thereto at the outer end of the inner tubular part by a number of frangible radial spokes.

6. A bottle cap as claimed in claims 1 and 4 in which the annular element is unitary with a nonrefilling device engageable with the bottle neck, surrounding the device and connected thereto by a number of frangible radial spokes.

7. A bottle cap as claimed in claim 1 in which the annular element is formed with a ring of ratchet teeth each one of which constitutes a tooth capable of engaging the detent on the adjacent face of the anti-tamper tell-tale ring.

8. A bottle cap as claimed in claim 1 in which the skirt portion ofthe cap member is formed with a ring of ratchet teeth each one of which constitutes a tooth capable of engaging the detent on the adjacent face of the anti-tamper tell-tale ring.

9. A bottle cap as claimed in claim 1 in which the anti-tampertell-tale ring is formed with at least one notch which has the effect of locally reducing the section of the ring and weakening it at that point.

10. A bottle cap as claimed in claim 1 including a metallic cowl in the form of a sleeve formed at one end with a flange which fits over the outer peripheral edge portion ofthe annular element and encloses the element while leaving the abutment exposed, the other end of the sleeve being deformableto grip the neck of a bottle when the device is fitted to the bottle.

11. The combination of a bottle and a bottle cap as claimed in claim 1 fitted thereto.

12. A bottle cap substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 or Figs. 3 and 4 or Figs. 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.