MXPA96004232A - Bottle cover for liquids and procedure to produce the t - Google Patents

Abstract

A bottle cap for liquids and an injection molding process for producing the cap are described. In the lid, the top cover has an internal shutter, which is tightly fixed to the opening of the lid body. The cover also has a spring groove, which is hermetically coupled with the spring hook of the lid body. The lid in this way is not opened unwanted and reliably prevents unwanted leakage of bottled liquid, even if a bottle with the lid falls carelessly on its side wall or falls off something, for example, a table. In the injection molding process, liquid is injected into the upper and lower molds through a gate extending to the part of the cavity corresponding to the operable ring with the finger of the release part. The ring operable with the finger in this way has a high tensile strength, so that the ring neither separates undesirably from the peelable piece nor breaks when the ring is forcibly pulled up in order to remove the piece detached

Description

BOTTLE COVER FOR L QUIDOS AND PROCEDURE TO PRODUCE THE COVER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to a bottle cap for liquids, for example, a bottle cap for edible oil, and, more particularly, to a structural improvement in the cap to prevent unwanted opening of the bottle. cover even if a bottle with the lid falls carelessly on its side wall or falls from somewhere, for example, a table. The present invention also relates to a method for producing the lid.

Description of the Previous Technique Publication open to the Japanese public U.M. No. Sho. 55-108054 (published July 29, 1980) describes a lid for bottles for liquids. As shown in Figures IA and IB, the cover of the above Japanese patent comprises a lid body 1 and an upper cover 20. The front cover 20, which covers the upper one of the lid body 1, is connected to the body 1 by means of a flexible connecting rib 13. The lid body 1, the cover 20 and the rib 13 are formed in a single structure. The above cover body 1, which is placed on a bottle, consists of two concentric cylindrical members, that is, an inner cylinder 2, and a mouth cover flange 3, which are formed in a single body. The lower portion of the inner cylinder 2 forms a fixing nozzle, which is hermetically fixed to the mouth of a bottle (not shown) when the lid is placed on the bottle. The mouth cover flange 3 is formed externally and concentrically on the middle portion of the inner cylinder 2 with an annular space therebetween. The flange 3 is fixed tightly over the mouth of the bottle when the lid is placed on the bottle. A plurality of annular projections 4 are formed on the outer wall of the fixing nozzle and are brought into water-tight contact with the inner wall of the mouth of the bottle when the nozzle is fixed to the mouth of the bottle. The above projections 4 of this form not only seal the water to the mouth of the bottle with the lid body 1, but also prevent unwanted removal of the lid body 1 from the mouth of the bottle. A spring ring 5 is integrated with the inner wall of the flange 3 and is brought into spring engagement with the thick lip of the mouth, of the bottle, so that the ring 5 prevents unwanted separation of the lid body 1 from the mouth of the bottle. The upper part of the inner cylinder 2 is enlarged in order to form a mouth 7 of enlarged diameter. The root of the widened mouth 7 is surrounded by a cylindrical ratchet member 8. The foremost ratchet member 8 is widened upwards and is brought into ratchet engagement with the enlarged lip 18 of the cover 20. To prevent the liquid from becoming Suddenly emptying out of the bottle, regulating means 12 are provided in the liquid discharge opening 9 of the mouth 7 above. The above means 12 consist of a disk 10 and a limb 11. The cover 20, which is connected to the body 1 by the flexible connection rib 13, consists of a circular upper wall 15 and two concentric side walls 16 and 17. The outer side wall or flange 16 extends from the edge from the upper top wall 15 and has the lip 18 enlarged on its free edge. The enlarged lip 18 is brought into ratchet engagement with the cylindrical ratchet member 8 of the lid body 1. The inner side wall or a plug 17 is formed inside the external side wall 16 and is selectively fixed to the mouth 7 of the body of lid 1 thus closing the opening 9. A projection 19 that is operated with the finger is provided on the external surface of the flange 16. In the front bottle cap, the regulating means 12, provided in the opening 9 of the lid body 1 , regulate the flow rate of bottled liquid, when the liquid is emptied out of the bottle. The front cover of this form appropriately regulates the flow rate and the flow direction of the bottled liquid. However, the height of the shutter 17 is low enough to cause the cover 20 to open undesirably, when the bottle with the lid falls carelessly onto its side wall or falls from some object, for example, a table.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bottle cap for liquids, of which the top cover is hermetically coupled to the cap body thus preventing undesired opening of the cap even when a bottle with the cap drops carelessly on the side wall or fall from something, for example, a table. It is another object of the present invention to provide an injection molding process for producing a bottle cap for liquids with a detachable part. In the process, liquid plastic is injected into the upper and lower molds through a gate that extends into a cavity part corresponding to the operable ring with the finger of the peelable piece. The ring operable with the finger in this way has a high tensile strength, so that the ring neither separates undesirably from the peelable piece nor breaks when the ring is pulled up to remove the peelable piece. To achieve the primary object, the present invention provides a bottle cap for liquids having a lid body and a top cover, which are integrated into a single body by a flexible connection rib. In one embodiment, the lid body includes an internal cylinder, which is fixed to the mouth of the bottle when the lid body is placed on the bottle. The cylinder defines a liquid discharge opening therein. A cylindrical mouth that covers the flange, is externally connected to the middle portion of the internal cylinder by an annular connector and is fixed on the mouth of the bottle. The upper surface of the rim is curved and therefore consists of three parts of different heights, i.e., two diametrically opposed horizontal parts and a curved part extending between the two horizontal parts. A packing member is provided in the inner corner between the flange and the annular connector and seals the lip of the bottle thus preventing unwanted leakage of bottled liquid. The upper cover selectively covers the upper part of the lid body and thus selectively closes the opening of the lid body. The cover includes an internal cylindrical shutter, which is selectively fixed to the opening in the lid body thus closing the opening. An external flange integrally surrounds the internal shutter. The edge of the outer flange is curved to a configuration that substantially satisfies the curved upper surface of the mouth cover flange of the cap body. A flexible connecting rib integrally connects the top cover to the lid body. In another embodiment, the height of the lid cover flange does not vary. In this embodiment, a removable part is provided in the opening of the inner cylinder to seal the opening. The detachable part is defined by a separation slot. A ring operable with the finger is connected to the detachable part by a connecting rib and is pulled up to remove the peelable piece along the defined spacing groove. The present invention also provides an injection molding process for producing the bottle cap for Liquids. In the process, liquid plastic is injected into a cavity between the upper and lower molds through a gate, which extends towards a part of the cavity corresponding to a part of the ring operable with the finger, the part of the ring is diametrically opposite the rib. In this way, the tensile strength of the ring is increased.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects and aspects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure IA is a front view of a liquid bottle cap, typical with the cover open; Figure IB is a sectional view of the lid of Figure IA; Figure 2 is a sectional view of a bottle cap for liquids with the cover open according to the primary embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a front view of the lid of Figure 2, which is placed on a bottle; Figure 4 is a sectional view of a bottle cap for liquids with the cover open, according to another embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 5 is a sectional view of the upper and lower molds, which are used for the injection molding of the lid of Figure 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES Figure 2 is a sectional view of a bottle cap for liquids with the cover open according to the primary embodiment of this invention. Figure 3 is a front view of the lid of Figure 2, which is placed on a bottle. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the front cover comprises a lid body 31 and an upper cover 50. The lid body 31 is placed on a bottle 100, while the cover 50 selectively covers the upper part of the body. lid 31 for closing the central opening 33 of the body 31. The cover 50 is connected to the body 31 by a flexible connecting rib 35. The lid body 31, the cover 50 and the rib 35 are formed in a single structure. The bottled liquid is emptied out of the bottle 100 through the liquid draining bottle 33, when the bottle 100 is tilted. The opening 33 above is defined by a hollow internal cylinder of the lid body 1 1. A cylindrical mouth cover flange 39 is externally and concentrically formed on the middle portion of the inner cylinder with an annular space therebetween. The flange 39 is hermetically fixed on the mouth of the bottle 100, when the cover is placed on the bottle 100. The flange 39 is connected to the inner cylinder by an annular connector 37. To achieve the spring coupling of the cover 50 with the lid body 31, the lid body 31 has a ratchet member 45. The ratchet member 45 extends vertically upwardly from the top 37 of the front connector 37 so that the member 45 is partially formed on the front of the lid body 31 at the front of the opening 33. The foremost member 45 is also concentric with the inner cylinder of the body 31. The upper end of the ratchet member 45 is thickened to form a spring hook 43. The spring hook 43 elastically engages the spring groove 55 of the cover 50, thus preventing undesired opening of the cover 50 even when the bottle 100 sloppily falls on its p Ared lateral or falls of something, for example, a table. The above spring groove 55 is formed by horizontally grooving the inner surface of the widened flange 57 of the cover 50. In the description of this invention, the part of the lid body 31 on the left side of the drawings is referred to as the inner part. of the body 31 and the opposite part on the right-hand side of the drawings, is referred to as the back part for ease of description. The mouth cover flange 39 of the lid body 31 has an annular projection 40 on its inner surface. The above projection 40 is brought to snap engagement with the annular groove (not shown) formed under the thickened lip of the bottle 100 when the cap is placed on the bottle 100. Due to the projection 40 above, the cap body 31 is it is hermetically placed on the bottle 100. A packing member 41 is provided on the inner corner between the flange 39 and the annular connector 37. The above packing member 41 seals the joint between the lid body 31 and the thickened lip of the bottle 100, thus preventing the unwanted leakage of bottled liquid. The upper edge of the inner cylinder of the lid body 31 is tilted outwardly so that the bottled liquid flows moderately on the upper edge, when the liquid is drained out of the bottle 100. The top edge is also in intimate contact with the annular surface 51a, which is formed outside the cylindrical internal seal 53 of the cover 50, when the cover 50 closes the opening 33 of the lid body 31. In this way, the bottled liquid is prevented from tucking through the joint between the cover body 11 and the cover 50, even when the bottle 100 falls on its side wall. In the lid body 31, the upper surface of the flange 39 is curved, in order to vary the height of the flange 39. The upper surface of the flange 39 consists of this three-part shape, that is, a lower front part 39a, a higher rear part 39b and an intermediate part 39c slightly curved. The front cover 50 generally comprises the enlarged outer flange 57, the cylindrical internal seal 53 and the upper wall 51, which are formed in a single structure. When the cover 50 closes the opening 33 of the lid body 31, the flange 57 elastically engages the spring hook 43 of the lid body 31 by its spring groove 55. In the previous state, the inner shutter 53 is fixed to , and closes the opening 33. The upper wall 51 is internally and moderately depressed in order to form an arcuate cross section. In the front cover 50, the plug and flange, 53 and 57, are spaced apart from each other, so that the annular surface 51a is formed therebetween. The annular surface 51a above is in intimate contact with the upper edge of the inner cylinder of the lid body 31, when the cover 50 closes the opening 33 of the body 31, as described above. The front cover 50 also has a projection 60 operable with the finger, which is formed on the edge of the flange 57 and is pulled by a finger when the cover 50 is moved to create the opening 33. As best seen in Figure 3 , the edge of the rim 57 of the cover 50 is curved, in the same manner as described for the upper surface of the mouth cover flange 39 of the lid body 31. That is, the edge of the anterior flange 57 consists of three parts , that is, the uppermost part 57a, the lower rear 57b and the intermediate part 57c moderately curved. When the cover 50 closes the opening 33 of the lid body 31, the portions 57a, 57b and 57c of the flange 57 substantially coincide with the parts 39a, 39b and 39c of the mouth cover flange 39, respectively. Due to the curved configuration of the flanges 39 and 57, the inner shutter 53 of the cover 50 can be inserted moderately into the opening 33 of the cover body 31, when the cover 50 closes the opening 33. The operational effect will be described below. of the previous cover. To open the cover 50, the cover 50 is in its closed position shown in lines and dots in Figure 2, it is opened by pulling the projection 60 of the cover 50 upwards with the finger. In the previous state, the spring groove 55 of the cover 50 is elastically released from the spring hook 43 of the ratchet member 45, so that the cover 50 opens. When the bottle 100, in the previous state, is tilted, the bottled liquid is emptied out of the bottle 100 through the opening 33. After emptying a desired quantity of the bottled liquid, the opening 33 of the lid body 31 is closed by the cover 50. When the cover 50 is placed on the body 31 and the cover 50 is compressed on the body 31, the internal shutter 53 of the cover 50 is inserted into the opening 33 of the body 31. At the same time, the groove The spring 55 of the cover 50 is placed by jumping on the spring hook 43 of the body 31, thus sealing the opening 33 in a water-tight manner. In the previous state, the parts 57a, 57b and 57c of the rim 57 of the cover 50, substantially coincide with the parts 39a, 39b and 39c of the projection 39 of the cover body 31, respectively. The front lid according to the primary embodiment of this invention reliably prevents the unwanted leakage of the bottled liquid, even when the bottle 100 with the lid falls carelessly on its side wall or falls from something, for example, a table. That is, the cover 50 does not open in an undesirable way, since it has both the internal shutter 53, which is hermetically fixed to the opening 33 of the lid body 31 and the spring groove 55., which is hermetically coupled with the spring hook 43 of the lid body 31. Figure 4 is a sectional view of a bottle cap for liquids according to a second embodiment of this invention. Figure 5 is a sectional view of the upper and lower molds, which are used for the injection molding of the lid of Figure 4. In the following description, the elements common to those of the primary and second modes modality, they will carry the same reference numbers. A difference between the caps of the primary and secondary embodiments resides in that the height of the mouth cover projection 39 of the cover body 31 does not vary, so that the anterior and posterior portions 39a and 39b of the projection 39 have the same height. A ratchet member 45 with a spring hook 43 is integrated with the upper portion of the anterior projection 39. The enlarged outer projection 67 of the cover 50 is internally grooved at a position near the edge of the flange 67, thereby forming an annular spring groove 67a. Slot 67a, above, is moved by jumping to spring hook 43 of ratchet member 45, when cover 50 covers the upper part of lid body 31. In the same manner as described for mouth cover flange 39 of the cover body 3L, the height of the enlarged flange 67 of the cover 50 does not vary, so that the front and rear portions of the flange 50 have the same height. The projection 60 operable with the finger, which is pulled up by the finger, when the cover 50 is opened is integrated with the rim 67 of the cover 50. In the front cover 50, the height of the internal shutter 62 is less than that of the widened flange 67. The edge 62a of the shutter 62 is moderately inclined inwardly so that the shutter 62 can be easily inserted into the opening 33 of the lid body 31. In the above lid body 31, a peel-off part 58 is provided. in the lower section of the opening 33. The above piece 58 is formed by a separation slot 68. A ring 61 operable with the finger, which is pulled up by a finger when the piece 58 is separated along the slot 68, is connected to the rib of connection 70 of the piece 58. The anterior ring 61 is placed inclined inside the opening 33. The anterior ring 61 has a hole 59 that passes through the finger. The lid according to the second embodiment is formed by an injection molding process with the upper and lower molds 110 and 130 of Figure 5. The upper and lower molds 110 and 130 are separated from one another, thus remaining a cavity 114. , which has the same shape as the previous cover, between Llo.

A plurality of cores for molding the lid body 31, the connecting rib 35 and the cover 50 are fixed in the upper mold 110. In the upper mold 110, a first upper core 111 forms the upper side of the peelable piece 58 with rib 70 and ring 61 operable with the finger. A second upper core 113, which forms the inner wall of the inner cylinder of the lid body 31, surrounds the first core 111 above. The opening 33 of the lid body 31 is defined by the anterior internal wall, formed by the second core 113. The first upper core 111 is perforated in an inclined manner in order to form a gate 170, through which liquid plastic is injected towards the cavity 114. The gate 170 extends towards a part of the cavity, which corresponds to a part of the ring 61 operable with the finger, the part of the ring 61 being diametrically opposite the rib 70. The second core 113 above, a the time is surrounded by a third upper core 115, which forms both the outer wall of the inner cylinder with the inner wall of the ratchet member 45 of the lid body 31. The third core 115 above is surrounded by a fourth upper core 117, which forms both the outer wall of the ratchet member 45 and the flexible connecting rib 35.

A fifth upper core, which forms the inner wall of the plug 62 of the cover 50, is designated with the reference number 119. The fifth core 119 above is surrounded by a sixth upper core 118, which forms both the outer wall shutter 62 as the inner wall of the flared flange 67 of the cover 50. That is, the inner shutter 62 of the cover 50 is molded by the cores 118 and 119, while the flared flange 67 of the cover 50 is molded by the core 118 cooperating with the lower mold 130. A plurality of cores are fixed in the lower mold 130. In the lower mold 130 above, a first lower core 131, which forms the underside of the peelable piece 58, is disposed under the first upper core 111. The first lower core 131 is surrounded by a second lower core 133, which forms both the packing member 41 and the inner wall of the mouth cover flange 39 of the body or lid 31. The lower mold 130 is also separated from the fifth and sixth upper cores 119 and 118, thus forming a separate cavity, which forms the upper wall 51 and the annular surface 51a of the cover 50. The bottle cap for liquids according to the second embodiment of this invention, it is injection molded with the above molds 110 and 110, as follows.

In the injection molding process for molding the lid, the upper and lower molds 110 and 130 are first, arranged operating an injection molding machine (not shown). Next, a measured quantity of hot liquid plastic under pressure is emptied or injected into the cavity 114 between the molds 110 and 130 through the gate 170 of the core 111. When a predetermined time of hardening has elapsed, from the emptying of the plastic liquid, the cores of the molds 110 and 130 are removed from the machine before obtaining the lid having the shape of the cavity 114. In the above injection molding process, using the molds 110 and 130, the liquid plastic is injected into the cavity 114 through the gate 170, which extends towards the part of the cavity corresponding to the ring 61 operable with the finger. The tensile strength of the ring 61 is thus higher than that of a ring formed by the molds with a gate extending either towards the center of the peelable piece 58 or towards the rib 70. When the ring 61, with a high tensile strength, is pulled up by a finger, the peelable piece 58 is easily separated along the slot 68 without failure. In this case, the ring 61 is not removed unwanted from the rib 70, nor is it broken. As described above, the present invention provides a structurally improved bottle cap for liquids. In the lid of this invention, the top cover not only has the inner shutter, which is tightly fixed to the opening of the lid body, but also has the spring groove, which is hermetically coupled with the spring hook of the lid. cover body. Therefore, the front lid does not open undesirably and reliably prevents unwanted leakage of bottled liquid, even when the bottle with the lid is; fall carelessly on its side wall or fall from something, for example, a table. This invention also provides an injection molding process for producing a bottle cap for liquids with a release part. In the process, the liquid plastic is injected to the upper and lower molds through a gate that extends towards the cavity part corresponding to the operable ring with the finger of the detachable part. The ring operable with the finger in this way has a high tensile strength, so that the ring neither separates undesirably from the peelable piece nor breaks when the ring is forcibly pulled up to remove the peelable piece.

Having described the specific preferred embodiments of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various changes and modifications may be made thereto by one skilled in the art without depart from the scope or spirit of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (7)

1. A bottle cap for liquids characterized in that it comprises: a lid body placed on a bottle for liquids, the lid body includes: an internal cylinder fixed to the mouth of the bottle, when the lid body is placed on the bottle, the the cylinder defines therein a liquid discharge opening; a cylindrical mouth cover flange, externally connected to the middle portion of the inner cylinder by an annular connector and fixed over the mouth of the bottle when the lid body is placed on the bottle, the upper surface of the flange is curved and consists of three parts of different heights, that is, two diametrically opposed horizontal parts and a curved part extending between the two horizontal parts; and a packing member provided at the inner corner between the flange and the annular connector and adapted to seal the lip of the bottle thus preventing unwanted leakage of the bottled liquid; an upper cover adapted to selectively cover the upper part of the lid body and thus selectively close the opening of the lid body, the cover includes: a cylindrical internal shutter selectively fixed to the opening of the lid body thus closing the opening; and an external rim integrally surrounding the inner shutter, the edge of the outer rim has a curved configuration toward a configuration that substantially satisfies the curved upper surface of the mouth cover flange of the lid body; and a flexible connecting rib integrally connecting the top cover to a horizontal part of the mouth cover flange of the lid body.

2. The bottle cap for liquids according to claim 1, characterized in that a ratchet member with a spring hook integrally extends from the other horizontal part of the upper surface of the mouth cover flange.

3. The bottle cap for liquids according to claim 1, characterized in that a spring groove is provided on the inner wall of the outer flange of the cover and moves selectively by jumping towards the spring hook of the ratchet member.

4. A bottle cap for liquids, characterized in that "-learn: a lid body placed on a bottle for liquids, the lid body includes: an internal cylinder fixed to the mouth of the bottle when the lid body is placed on the bottle , the cylinder defines therein a liquid discharge opening, a cylindrical mouth cover flange externally connected to the inner cylinder by an annular connector and fixed over the mouth of the bottle when the lid body is placed on the bottle; ratchet member with an integral spring hook-Temp extending from the anterior and posterior portions of the upper surface of the mouth cover flange, a packing member provided at the inner corner between the flange and the annular connector and adapted to seal the lip of the bottle, thus preventing unwanted leakage of bottled liquid, a detachable part provided in the opening of the inner cylinder to normally close the opening; a separation slot defining part 111 •:; p t f • ii 'I i 111 i - •; and a ring operable with the finger connected to the peelable piece by a connecting rib and adapted to detach the piece along the separation groove, the ring has a finger passage hole; and an upper cover connected to the lid body by a flexible connecting rib and adapted to selectively cover the upper part of the lid body and thus selectively close the opening of the lid body, the lid includes: a cylindrical inner shutter selectively fixed to the opening of the lid body, thus closing the opening; and an external rim integrally surrounding the inner obturator and selectively leads to snap engagement to the ratchet member of the cap body.

5. The bottle cap for liquids according to claim 4, characterized in that a spring groove is provided on the inner wall of the outer flange of the cover and selectively moves by jumping towards the spring hook of the ratchet member.

6. The bottle cap for liquids according to claim 4, characterized in that the height of the internal shutter of the cover is smaller than that of the external rim of the cover.

7. A method for producing a bottle cap for liquids, the cap includes a detachable part and a ring operable with the finger connected to the part through a rib, the method is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: injecting liquid plastic into a cavity between the upper and lower molds through a gate that extends towards a part of the cavity corresponding to a part of the ring operable with the finger, the part of the ring is diametrically opposite to the rib.