GB2277320A

GB2277320A - Container and tamper evident closure.

Info

Publication number: GB2277320A
Application number: GB9306903A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Douglas Roberts
Original assignee: Able Industries Ltd
Current assignee: Able Industries Ltd
Priority date: 1993-04-02
Filing date: 1993-04-02
Publication date: 1994-10-26
Anticipated expiration: 2013-04-02
Also published as: GB9306903D0; GB2277320B

Abstract

A container comprises a neck 1 having an interrupted support collar 3 formed by circumferentially spaced projections 9 on its outer surface each having a camming portion 15 and an inverted ramp 11 on its underside and terminating in a face 17, and a closure 21 for the container comprises inwardly projecting ribs 27 having an upper surface configured to engage with a respective inverted ramp 11 of each projection 9, tamper evident means connected to a skirt 25 by frangible means 33, 35 and cammable to be forced past the face 17, and a top 23 with means to seal against the container neck 1. The tamper evident means may comprise windows 31 connected to the skirt 25 by frangible bridges 33, 35 which act as hinges to allow the step 39 of each window to snap engage the radial face 17 of its respective portion 9, and which break on removal of the closure. The windows 31 may hinge radially outwards or downwards. The neck may have a top annular sealing surface 7 and the cap 21 may have a recess (41, Fig 2) to receive the sealing surface 7 and may have a depending plug portion 43. <IMAGE>

Description

CONTAINER AND CLOSURE THEREFOR This invention relates to a closure for containers, a container to accept the closure, and the combination of container and closure. The invention is particularly designed for bottles or other containers for non-carbonated liquids, but can be used for any container and closure therefor.

Traditionally, "plastics" bottles for liquids have at their upper end a tapering portion which terminates in a neck, and above this a radially extending support collar, which strengthens the neck, and is also used to support the bottle between finger bars for transport, automatic filling, and capping, i.e. screwing the closure onto the filled bottles. Above this collar is a short straight (unthreaded) portion, and at the upper end is the externally threaded section to receive the closure. Normally, there is about 2cm of bottle material above the collar. If this material above the collar could be dispensed with, there would be a very considerable saving in material, thus making the bottle less costly to produce. Considering the quantity of bottles which are made each year, and usually thrown away after use, this could result in a very considerable saving in raw material.

Nowadays, there is a requirement in the packaging industry for closures for bottles and other liquid containers to be provided with some form of tamper evident closure, so that it is difficult if not impossible for the contents of the containers to be contaminated or otherwise tampered with, without it being immediately apparent to a genuine user of the container's contents that the closure has already been removed and replaced. One of the most common types of tamper evident closure is a ring connected to the lower edge of the skirt portion of the closure by a line of weakness (or frangible bridging portions of the closure), on the inner face of which there are ratchet teeth which engage with co-operating ratchet teeth on the above mentioned short straight (unthreaded) portion of the neck.

Alternatively, the ring may merely be a plain extension of the skirt which is forced over the threaded section, so as to rest beneath a ledge separating the threaded section from the short straight portion, there being a radially inwardly directed flange on the inner face of the ring which prevents the ring from being removed due to its engagement with the ledge when the closure is unscrewed for removal. This means that there is some resistance to unscrewing of the closure, until the line of weakness or bridges fracture, thus allowing easy removal of the closure, with the ring remaining in position below the ledge. This provides evidence that the closure has been removed.

The present invention seeks to provide a construction of container (e.g. bottle) and closure therefor which has a tamper evident closure, and which also allows a saving of bottle material to be achieved.

According to one aspect of the present invention, we provide a combination of container and closure therefor, the container having at an upper end neck region thereof an interrupted support collar formed by a plurality of circumferentially spaced generally radially extending projections on its outer surface, each projection having a camming portion and on its underside an inverted ramp portion, the camming portion terminating in a ledge, and the closure having a top, a skirt portion depending from the top, tamper evident means connected to the skirt portion by frangible means, and means on the top to form a seal with the container neck when the closure is in a closed position on the neck of the container, there being a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially inwardly projecting ribs on the internal face of the skirt, the spacing, location and construction of which is such as to permit the cap to be dropped onto the top of the neck of the container with the ribs being located in spaces between the projections on the container neck, and with the underside of the top of the closure resting on an upper surface of the neck of the container, and with an upper surface of each rib being at a height such that when a relative twisting force in one sense is applied between closure and container to move the closure to lock it into a sealing position on the container, the upper surface of the ribs will move into camming engagement with the camming portions of the projections on the neck of the container to force the closure into sealing engagement with the neck of the container, and the tamper evident means will be cammed by the camming portion so that it is forced past the ledge, so that when a relative twisting force is applied in the opposite sense between container and closure to remove the closure, the frangible means is broken, leaving the tamper evident means showing evidence of removal of the closure.

According to a second aspect of the invention, we provide a container for use in the above described combination, the container having at an upper end neck region thereof an interrupted support collar formed by a plurality of circumferentially spaced generally radially extending projections on its outer surface, each projection having a camming portion and on its underside an inverted ramp portion, the camming portion terminating in a ledge.

According to a third aspect of the invention, we provide a closure for the container described above, the closure having a top, a skirt portion depending from the top, tamper evident means connected to the skirt portion by frangible means, and means on the top to form a seal with the container neck when the closure is in a closed position on the neck of the container, there being a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially inwardly projecting ribs on the internal face of the skirt, the spacing, location and construction of which is such as to permit the cap to be dropped onto the top of the neck of the container.

Preferably, the ribs have on their upper surface ramps, the slope of which is in the same sense as the inverted ramp portions on the underside of the projections on the container so as to rest thereon when the closure is in its sealing position.

Preferably, the inverted ramp portions terminate in a vertical stop surface against which a vertical stop face on the ribs bear when the closure is in its sealing position.

Preferably, the number of projections and number of ribs are the same, four of each being an adequate number.

Preferably, a plug seal depends from the underside of the top of the closure for plugging, sealing engagement within an upper internal region of the neck of the container.

It is preferred that the tamper evident means on the closure comprises a plurality of windows formed in the skirt which are connected to the skirt by at least one frangible bridge which fractures when the closure is removed from the container, to allow the window to hinge to a position which indicates the closure has been moved to a sealing position and been subsequently removed therefrom.

Preferably, the number of windows is equal to the number of projections on the container, and the camming portion is provided by an outer face of the projection, the radius of which gradually increases until it terminates in the ledge which is formed by a radial face of the projection.

Preferably, each window has a camming surface on its inner face which co-operates with a respective camming portion, and terminates in a radially extending step at its trailing end, and the windows are formed in the skirt in central regions thereof, and are connected thereto by two frangible bridges at one end, and by two other bridges at the opposite end which act as hinges, the frangible bridges having sufficient strength to stretch and to allow the camming surface on the window to ride up its respective camming portion, and then snap back when the closure is in its sealing position, with the step engaging behind the radial face forming the ledge of the respective projection.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is now described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 shows, in the lower view, a neck of a bottle, with a closure cap therefor located above the neck and aligned for application to the neck, and in the upper view, a partly schematic section on the line A-A of the lower view; FIGURE 2 shows two views similar to those of Figure 1, except that the closure cap has had a portion broken away to show its construction, and has been applied to the bottle, and twisted clockwise through 450 to a sealing position on the bottle; and FIGURE 3 shows two views identical to those in Figure 1, except that the closure cap has been twisted anticlockwise through about 150 from the Figure 2 position, for removing the cap.

Referring to the drawings, a neck of a bottle is shown at 1, the neck having an interrupted support collar 3 and an upstanding plain annular portion 5 terminating in a top annular sealing surface 7. In a traditional bottle with a screw cap closure, the externally threaded portion to receive the cap would be located above the portion 5; this is not required with the present invention. The collar 5 is formed by four generally radially extending projections 9 subtending arcs of about 50 , and equally spaced, around the external circumference of the neck. Each projection has on its underside an inverted ramp portion 11, terminating in a vertical stop surface 13.On their radially outermost periphery, each projection 9 has a camming portion 15, the radius of which progressively increases in a clockwise direction, until the portion 15 terminates in a radially extending face or ledge 17.

A closure cap for co-operating with, and sealing engagement with, the neck 1, is shown at 21, and comprises a top 23 with a depending skirt 25, on the inner peripheral face of which are four generally radially projecting circumferentially spaced ribs 27. The ribs are approximately at mid-depth on the skirt, and while four are shown, the number is unimportant, although there must be the same number of ribs 27 as there are projections 9. The ribs 27 subtend an angle of around 300 around the internal circumference of the skirt, and their shape, size, construction and orientation must be such that they will fit between the projections 9 when the cap 21 is placed on the top of the neck 1, and be at the same vertical location on the neck, with their internal arcuate peripheries spaced a short distance from the neck.A ramp 29 (see Figure 2) having a slope complimentary to that of the inverted ramp portions 11 on the projections 9 is provided on the upper surface of each rib 27.

Located between each rib 27, and equally circumferentially spaced around the skirt, are four tamper evident windows 31, which have a depth or height similar to that of the projections 9 (see Figures 2 and 3), and subtend an angle of between 300 and 400 around the skirt circumference, so that when the cap is placed on the neck as shown in Figure 1, the windows 31 will line up with the projections 9. The windows 31 are connected at each end to the remainder of the skirt 25 by bridges 33, 35, the bridges 33 acting as hinges and the bridges 35 as latches, but being frangible (see Figure 3).The internal face of each window is formed as a camming surface 37 (i.e. the window gets progressively thick in a circumferential direction), which co-operates with a respective camming portion 15 on the projection 9, when the cap 21 is rotated relative to the neck 1, clockwise from the position shown in Figure 1. The camming surfaces 37 each terminate in a radially extending step 39, each of which engages with a ledge 17 when the cap 21 is in its sealing position as shown in Figure 2.

As can be seen from Figure 2, the inner face of the top 23 of the cap has an annular recess 41 thereon to receive the top 7 of the neck when the cap is in its sealing position, and optionally, a depending plug portion 43 which fits snugly within an upper region of the neck 5 to provide a deep bore seal.

To use the cap, it is first placed on the top of the bottle neck in the orientation shown in Figure 1, with the ribs 27 between the projections 9, and the windows 31 overlying them. Force is then applied to the cap to cause it to move clockwise through about 450 in the direction of arrow X relative to the neck 5, to the position shown in Figure 2. During this movement, the ribs 27 will move beneath the projections 9, and the ramps 29 will engage inverted ramp portions 22, to "cam" the cap into tight sealing engagement with the neck 5. This clockwise movement is halted by leading faces 30 on each rib 27 abutting the vertical stop surfaces at the end of each inverted ramp portion 11.During this clockwise movement, the camming surfaces 37 on the windows 31 will ride up the camming portions 15 on the projections 9, the frangible bridges 35 allowing this without fracturing, until the steps 39 spring into locking engagement with the ledges 17 on projections 9, due to the resilient nature of bridges 35. The cap 21 is now locked in sealing engagement on the neck 5 (see Figure 2).

To remove the cap 21, force must be applied to it to move it anticlockwise relative to the neck 5, as shown by the arrow Y in Figure 3. Movement is only possible by applying sufficient force to cause fracture of the bridges 35, and deformation of the windows 31 so that they then hinge outwardly about bridges 33. Continued anticlockwise movement of the cap relative to the neck will eventually result in the ribs 27 moving from under the projections 9 and the cap can then be removed.

The bottle can subsequently be re-sealed by reapplying the cap, but after it has been removed once from the bottle, the tamper evident windows 31 will always project slightly outwards from the external face of the skirt 25 as shown in Figure 3, giving an indication that the cap has previously been removed.

It will be appreciated that different constructions of projection 9, rib 27 and window 31 could be provided.

For example, it is envisaged that the camming portion 13 and camming surface 37 could be provided on an underface of the projections 9, and upper face of the windows 31 respectively, with the result that the windows would have to hinge downwards. Alternatively, the windows could be connected to the cap with frangible bridges, all of which break on removal of the cap from the neck, leaving tamper evident apertures in their place.

The invention could, of course, be applied to any type of container for liquids or other materials, and not just to "plastics" bottles. Also, the size or shape of the cap could be altered, thus changing the position of the windows and ribs on the cap relative to the top of the cap and the bottom of its skirt. Furthermore, for large containers, more than four projections, ribs and windows might be provided.

It will of course be understood that the present invention has been described above purely by way of example, and modifications of detail can be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A combination of container and closure therefor, the container having at an upper end neck region thereof an interrupted support collar formed by a plurality of circumferentially spaced generally radially extending projections on its outer surface, each projection having a camming portion and on its underside an inverted ramp portion, the camming portion terminating in a ledge, and the closure having a top, a skirt portion depending from the top, tamper evident means connected to the skirt portion by frangible means, and means on the top to form a seal with the container neck when the closure is in a closed position on the neck of the container, there being a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially inwardly projecting ribs on the internal face of the skirt, the spacing, location and construction of which is such as to permit the closure to be dropped onto the top of the neck of the container with the ribs being located in spaces between the projections on the container neck, and with the underside of the top of the closure resting on an upper surface of the neck of the container, and with an upper surface of each rib being at a height such that when a relative twisting force in one sense is applied between closure and container to move the closure to lock it into a sealing position on the container, the upper surface of the ribs will move into camming engagement with the camming portions of the projections on the neck of the container to force the closure into sealing engagement with the neck of the container, and the tamper evident means will be cammed by the camming portion so that it is forced past the ledge, so that when a relative twisting force is applied in the opposite sense between container and closure to remove the closure, the frangible means is broken, leaving the tamper evident means showing evidence of removal of the closure.

2. A container for use in the combination claimed in claim 1, the container having at an upper end neck region thereof an interrupted support collar formed by a plurality of circumferentially spaced generally radially extending projections on its outer surface, each projection having a camming portion and on its underside an inverted ramp portion, the camming portion terminating in a ledge.

3. A closure for the container claimed in claim 2, the closure having a top, a skirt portion depending from the top, tamper evident means connected to the skirt portion by frangible means, and means on the top to form a seal with the container neck when the closure is in a closed position on the neck of the container, there being a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially inwardly projecting ribs on the internal face of the skirt, the spacing, location and construction of which is such as to permit the cap to be dropped onto the top of the neck of the container.

4. The invention claimed in claim 1 or claim 3 wherein the ribs have on their upper surface ramps, the slope of which is in the same sense as the inverted ramp portions on the underside of the projections on the container so as to rest thereon when the closure is in its sealing position on the container.

5. The invention claimed in any one of claims 1-4 wherein the inverted ramp portions terminate in a vertical stop surface against which a vertical stop face on the ribs bear when the closure is in its sealing position.

6. The invention claimed in any one of claims 1-5 wherein the number of projections and number of ribs are the same.

7. The invention claimed in any one of claims 1-6 wherein a plug seal depends from the underside of the top of the closure for plugging, sealing engagement within an upper internal region of the neck of the container.

8. The invention as claimed in any one of claims 1-7 wherein the tamper evident means on the closure comprises a plurality of windows formed in the skirt which are connected to the skirt by at least one frangible bridge which fractures when the closure is removed from the container, to allow the window to hinge to a position which indicates the closure has been moved to a sealing position and been subsequently removed therefrom.

9. The invention claimed in claim 8 wherein the number of windows is equal to the number of projections on the container.

10. The invention claimed in claim 8 or 9 wherein each window has a camming surface on its inner face which cooperates with a respective camming portion, and terminates in a radially extending step at its trailing end.

11. The invention claimed in any one of claims 8-10 wherein the windows are formed in the skirt in central regions thereof, and are connected thereto by two frangible bridges at one end, and by two other bridges at the opposite end which act as hinges, the frangible bridges having sufficient strength to stretch and to allow the camming surface on the window to ride up its respective camming portion, and then snap back when the closure is in its sealing position, with the step engaging behind the radial face forming the ledge of the respective projection.

12. The invention as claimed in any one of claims 1-11 wherein the camming portion is provided by an outer face of the projection, the radius of which gradually increases until it terminates in the ledge which is formed by a radial face of the projection.

13. A combination of container and closure therefor, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. A container, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

15. A closure, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.