GB2166123A

GB2166123A - A two-piece dispensing closure

Info

Publication number: GB2166123A
Application number: GB08525416A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Randall Graham Bush
Original assignee: Sunbeam Plastics Corp
Current assignee: Silgan Plastic Food Containers Corp
Priority date: 1984-10-25
Filing date: 1985-10-11
Publication date: 1986-04-30
Also published as: AU573304B2; CA1243635A; JPS61104961A; GB2166123B; FR2572368B1; FR2572368A1; ZA85589B; AU3815785A; NZ210919A; DE3523657A1; GB8525416D0

Abstract

One piece of a two-piece dispensing closure (10) comprises a cylindrical screw cap (12) which has a dispensing orifice (22). The second piece is a lid (24) having a plug (28) to engage the orifice (22). The cap (12) and lid (24) are joined in a manner permitting the closure to be taken apart for cleaning and to be easily reassembled. The cap (12) has a pair of upwardly extending posts (34) having facing spherical projections (36). The lid (24) is provided with a pair of complementary slots (38) to receive the posts (34) and complementary spherically concave indentations (40) to receive the projections (36) on the posts. This hinge (26) permits movement of the lid between an open and a closed position with friction retaining the lid in any intermediate position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A two-piece dispensing closure This invention relates to a dispensing closure for containers and more particularly to a twopiece dispensing closure. There are a wide variety of dispensing closures which are provided with a dispensing orifice in the cap and a hinge lid to close the orifice. A number of these closures are designed to have the cap more or less permanently attached to the container so that the container contents must be removed through the dispensing orifice, and a number are made with the cap, lid and hinge being moulded as a unit to form a one piece closure. Examples of this type of closure are shown in Montgomery and McAlinden U.S.

Patent No. 4,371,095 and in Luker U.S. Patent No. 4,378,073. Where it is desired to reuse the container and closure, as for example in food or condiment use such as ketchup, mustard, honey or the like, the cap should be easily removed from the container for refilling, and the lid and cap should be easily cleaned.

A two-piece closure offers an advantage from the cleaning standpoint and will provide continuing reuse without breakage which can occur from a containing use of a live hinge structure where the hinge depends upon continuous flexing with a tendency to ear and cracking. Most two-piece structures are made with a horizontal pin or trunnion formed on one part and an engaging opening on the other part. This leads to an exposed hinge structure which projects to one side of the closure destroying symmetry of the closure.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a two-piece closure which can be easily taken apart for cleaning and reassembled for further use.

It is another object of this invention to provide a two-piece closure which inherently has the advantage that the cap and lid may be made of different colours improving the aesthetics of the product package.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a hinge which is not breakable.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a two-piece closure in which the hinge is concealed in the closed position of the closure to provide a full profile-symmetrical appearance.

According to the present invention there is provided a two-piece dispensing closure for a container comprising, in combination, a cylindrical cap having means for attachment to a container and a dispensing orifice there through, a lid for closing the orifice and hinge means joining the cap and the lid for movement of the lid between open and closed positions, the hinge means comprising a pair of spaced apart posts integral with and projecting perpendicularly from one of said cap and lid, each post being provided with an integral spherical projection, and a pair of spaced apart slots in the other of said cap and lid, each slot having a spherically concave indentation, the slots and indentations being aligned to receive the pair of posts and projections for pivotal movement of the lid.

The hinge may conveniently be formed by moulding the cooperating parts thereof in the cap and lid members. The hinge is preferably so designed as to permit the closure to be taken apart for easy cleaning and to be easily reassembled while providing no projecting parts to distract from the symmetry of the closure.

In a preferred embodiment the cap has a pair of upwardly extending posts adjacent to its perimeter and each post has a spherical projection which faces the spherical projection on the other post. The lid is provided with a pair of complementary slots opening at the top, the bottom and the periphery of the lid, which slots are further formed with spherically concave indentations facing away from each other. The slots are aligned to receive the pair of posts and projections thus forming a hinge which allows the lid to move between an open and closed position by the pivotable movement of the spherical projections in the spherically concave indentations.

It will be appreciated, however, that the positions of the slots and posts may be interchanged so that the posts are formed integral with the lid and the slots are formed within the cap to perform an identical function. While in the preferred embodiment, the projections on the posts face each other, it will be apparent that these projections can be located on the posts facing outwardly from each other, or in fact the projections can be formed on both sides of the posts to mate with complementary concave indentations. The hinge thus constructed provides pivotal movement of the spherical projections in the spherical concave indentations allowing the iid to move between an open and closed position with the overall friction of the mating posts and slots retaining the lid in any intermediate position.

Preferably, the two-piece dispensing closure is provided with means to maintain the lid in the closed position relative to the cap, which means may comprise a closure plug integrally formed on the lid and positioned to engage the dispensing orifice in the cap to provide a self-cleaning, sealing and locking engagement with the lid.

The cap may be attached to a container by threads moulded into the inner surface of a skirt portion of the cap which cooperates with complementary threads on the neck of the container. This provides for easy removal of the cap for refilling the container, while maintaining the cap firmly affixed to the closure during its normal dispensing use.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a two piece dispensing closure shown in its closed position and in association with a container, only the upper end of which is shown; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the two piece closure in its open position relative to a container, only a portion of which is shown; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 in Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3 showing the details of the hinge structure.

A two-piece dispensing closure embodying the invention is shown generally at 10 having a cylindrical cap 12 which is adapted for use with a container 14. Cap 12 has a generally flat top 16 and a depending annular skirt 18.

The skirt 18 is provided with internal threads 20 which mate with complementary threads (not shown) on the exterior of the neck of container 14. Cap 12 has a pouring orifice or nozzle 22 formed on top 16 through which the contents of the container 14 is normally dispensed.

The second piece of the two-piece dispensing closure 10 is lid 24 which is connected to cap 14 by hinge means 26. Thus, the lid 24 may be swung from an open dispensing position to a closed position covering the pouring nozzle 22. Formed with lid 24 is closure plug 28 which engages the nozzle 22 when the lid is swung into its closed position in a manner to seal the nozzle 22 and to lock the lid 24 to cap 12 by the frictional engagement of plug 28 with nozzle 22. Also with the penetration of plug 28 into nozzle 22 each time lid 24 is closed, a self-cleaning feature is present. Lid 24 has a depending annular skirt which merges with the perimeter of cap 12 when the lid is in its closed position. The cap 12 is provided with an indentation 32 at its edge, opposite to hinge 26.Indentation 32 is bevelled towards the top of the cap and is most suitably located on a diametric line with the pouring orifice 22 and the hinge 26. This indentation 32 allows the user to grip the lid 24 to swing it into its open position.

Referring to Figures 2 and 4, hinge means 26 is constructed by forming complementary engaging means adjacent the periphery on the cap 12 and the lid 24. Spaced apart rectangular posts 34 are formed integral with the cap 12 extending vertically upwards from, that is perpendicular to, flat top 16. One edge of each post 34 is in line with the outer periphery of the cap skirt 18. A spherically convex projection 36 is formed on each of the wider sides of the post facing each other. The lid 24 is provided with a pair of complementary, spaced apart slots 38 to receive posts 34, and each slot 38 is provided with a complementary spherical indentation 40 to receive the respective spherical projection 36 on each post. The slots 38 are formed with an open ing in the top and bottom of the lid as well as the periphery Both the cap 12 and the lid 24 are separately moulded from plastic material.

The cap 12 and the lid 24 are assembled together by pushing the post 34 into slots 38 and forcing the complementary spherical projections 36 into the concave spherical indentations 40 to complete the hinge means 26 which allows the lid to move between an open position and a closed position by pivota ble movement of the spherical projections 36 in the spherical concave indentations 40.

When the lid 24 is fully closed so that plug 28 fully engages pouring nozzle 22, the cylin drical walls of the lid 24 and cap 12 are in alignment with each other and the hinge means are within the periphery of the cap and lid and the outer edges of the posts 34 are flush with the periphery of lid skirt 30 and the top of the lid.

While the spherical projections 36 are shown in the preferred form of Figure 4 to be facing towards each other, they could be operatively located on posts 34 facing outwardly away from each other. The projections and indentations could also be located on the same side of the posts and slots, facing right or left as viewed in Figure 4. The projections and corresponding indentations could also be located on both sides of the posts and slots, although this is not as desirable as a single projection on one side because of a greater stability, and frictional engagement offered by the flat surface on one side of the posts which better holds the lid in a predetermined opened position. It should be noted that the slots and posts can be interchanged so that the posts are formed on the lid and the slots are formed in the cap.

The two post design offers a hinge of great stability so that the lid does not become disengaged from the cap during normal and closing use, but the two parts can be taken apart for thorough cleaning, for example, when the container is refilled. With this unique two post design, there is no protrusion of the hinge nor is there any cavity necessary to accommodate the hinge structure. In fact the hinge is hidden in the closed position presenting an aesthetically pleasing symmetrical appearance with much less vulnerability to the hinge during normal handling. The two-piece closure offers a virtually indestructable structure in normal use as compared to a one piece cap-lid-hinge structure which has a live hinge which is often creased to facilitate holding in an open position, thereby presenting an area subject to cracking and failure after extended use. The two-piece structure offers other advantages over the single piece structures such as the fact that the cap and lid may be made with different colours improving the aesthetics of the product package. With a two-piece closure it is possible to improve the tooling for higher production rate. For example, the cap might be made in a 32 cavity mould whereas the lid might be made in a 64 cavity mould, making it possible to run both moulds at optimum capacity instead of limiting the capacity of a one-piece structure mould to the slowest or most difficult portion of the closure design being formed.

Claims

1. A two-piece dispensing closure for a container comprising, in combination, a cylindrical cap having means for attachment to a container and a dispensing orifice therethrough, a lid for closing the orifice and hinge means joining the cap and the lid for movement of the lid between open and closed positions, the hinge means comprising a pair of spaced apart posts integral with and projecting perpendicularly from one of said cap and lid, each post being provided with an integral spherical projection, and a pair of spaced apart slots in the other of said cap and lid, each slot having a spherically concave indentation, the slots and indentations being aligned to receive the pair of posts and projections for pivotal movement of the lid.

2. A two-piece dispensing closure according to claim 1 in which the hinge is disposed at the periphery of the cap and the lid, the pair of spaced apart posts are integral and with and project upwardly from the cap towards the lid, the projection on each post facing each other, and the pair of spaced apart slots are disposed in the lid having an opening at the top, bottom periphery of the lid with the spherical concave indentations facing away from each other, wherein the posts and spherical projections thereon engage the slots and the spherical concave indentations to provide the pivotal movement of the lid.

3. A two-piece dispensing closure for a container comprising, in combination, a cylindrical cap having a dispensing orifice, and a lid for closing the orifice, the cap also having a pair of spaced apart posts adjacent to the periphery of and integral with the cap projecting upwardly from the cap towards the lid, each post being provided with an integral spherical projection facing towards the spherical projection on the other of the posts, the lid being provided with a pair of slots having an opening at the top, bottom and periphery of the lid, the slots further being provided with a spherically concave indentations facing away from each other, and the slots and indentations being aligned to receive the pair of posts and projections so as to constitute a hinge which allows the lid to move between open and closed positions by pivotable movement of the spherical projections in the spherically concave indentations.

4. A two-piece dispensing closure according to any one of claims 1 to 3 which is provided with means to maintain the lid in the closed position relative to the cap.

5. A two-piece dispensing closure according to claim 4 in which the means to maintain the lid in the closed position comprises a closure plug on the lid engageable with the dispensing orifice in the cap.

6. A two-piece dispensing closure according to any of the preceding claims in which the lid has an annular skirt portion which merges with the perimeter of the cap when the lid is in its closed position, and further comprising an indentation on the cap bevelled towards the top of the cap to permit gripping of the lid to swing it into its open position.

7. A two-piece dispensing closure according to claim 6 in which the hinge is disposed at the periphery of the lid and the cap on a diametric line with dispensing orifice and the bevelled indentation.

8. A two-piece dispensing closure according to any of the preceding claims in which the lid is cylindrical and the walls of the cap and lid are aligned with each other when the lid is in the closed position.

9. A two-piece dispensing closure according to any of the preceding claims in which the posts and the slots are within the periphery of the cap and lid.

10. A two-piece dispensing closure according to any of the preceding claims in which opposite sides of each of the slots frictionally engage opposite sides of the respective ones of the posts to maintain the lid in a selected hinged position between the open and closed positions.

11. A two-piece dispensing closure substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.