MXPA97002427A - Threaded cover with integ safety ring - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a screw cap with an integral safety ring, comprising a cap body threaded therein, which is placed in the threaded mouth of a container for closing the same and a safety ring in the lower end of the cap characterized in that the security ring consists of: a set of tabs circumferentially distributed in the lower part of the ring, said tabs being joined to each other, side one next to the other, by a membrane of relatively small thickness; area also with relatively small thickness, which joins the tabs and membrane with the lower part of the safety ring, the safety ring in its upper part is joined to the lower part of the body of the cover by a continuous zone of little thickness, which It has zones of weakening, such as a peripheral succession of cuts that result in the formation of bridges or connection nerves between the lid and the ring of security

Description

THREADED COVER WITH INTEGRAL SECURITY RING The present invention relates to a screw cap with integral safety ring. There is in the industry of containers for liquids such as bottles, the need to have threaded type caps that are reliable, that is to say that the user of the liquids contained in said containers has the full security that the container has not been previously opened; for the above, the so-called threaded caps or closures are used, which have a safety ring, which necessarily breaks when the container is opened or uncapped; the rupture of said ring is an unambiguous signal that the container has been opened, realizing therefore the user of the container if it has opened prematurely.

The manufacturing processes of these caps or screw closures is another aspect of the technical field to which the present invention belongs, normally this type of devices are manufactured by the process known as "injection", the materials of which they are constituted are polymers such as polypropylene or high density polyethylene, materials that can be formed by injection.

The design of the screw cap will therefore affect the complexity of the mold that is used for the production by the injection molding method of said lids and therefore in the degree of difficulty of this process. There is currently a wide variety of screw caps that generally work with the principle described above, ie the existence of a security band integrated into the lid, which will detach from said lid when the container is opened.

As examples of this type of covers known by the applicant, there is granted in the Mexican Patent No. 141040 which describes "improvements in tamper-proof screw caps, in the form of a thin metal capsule, with a cylindrical skirt comprising a upper part threaded or screwed onto the neck of the container to be covered, and a lower part called "tamper-evident band" intended to be fastened under a counter-band of the container, and attached to the upper part by means of a series of angularly separated bridges, a connecting area that is constituted on one side and another of a center of union by at least one bridge more resistant than the others, and a transversal line of weakening that is located in the proximity of or under a bridge, and constituted by a slot that ends at a certain distance from each of the upper or lower edges of the band ".

In the manufacture of the covers for containers, they are identified as important parts of these, a device in the form of a small disc of reduced thickness that is placed in the upper internal part of the lid, this disc serves as a seal between the mouth of the container and the lid, to prevent the leakage of the liquid, particularly when it is pressurized and the container closed by the lid. The fact of including this small disk represents the incorporation of an additional element to the lid, which is to carry out additional operations and the acquisition of said disk.

On the other hand, the construction of the safety band of the threaded caps presents several problems due to the design of said band, some of these problems are related to the lack of stability in the positioning of the elements that form the safety band of the lid, during the manufacture and placement of the lid in the container.

The aforementioned problems are solved with the threaded cap with ring or integral safety band developed according to the present invention.

In order to illustrate conveniently the threaded cap that is claimed is accompanied by the present description of drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of the lid, illustrated in its lower part two different positions of elements that form the security ring.

Figure 2 corresponds to a plan view through the lower part of the lid.

Figure 3 shows a side elevational view of the screw cap with integral safety ring.

Figure 4 illustrates a perspective view with the bottom part upwards of the lid that is claimed.

Referring to the previous figures, we have No. 1 in them, indicates the same cover, No. 2, shows the band or security ring that is clearly seen in figures 1 and 3; the space 9 in figure 2 is where the mouth of the container, for example a bottle, would be placed, the lid 1 is used to place it in the mouth of the container, twisting it in a rope made in the container in the vicinity of the opening thereof; a safety ring 2 hangs from the lower part of the cover, said ring consisting of a series of tabs 3 circumferentially distributed in the lower part of the ring, for molding needs said tabs 3 are originally oriented downwards at an angle to it can be from about 0 ° with the vertical, to about 30 ° from the start of the tabs at the bottom of the ring 2 and towards the axis of the closure, as can be seen in the left part of figure 1 with said tabs being joined in addition to each other, side one next to the other, by a membrane of relatively small thickness 5, this thickness being similar to that of the relatively thin area 4 that joins the tabs and membrane with the lower part of the security ring. This membrane 5 joining the tabs 3 together, side by side constitutes an important novel aspect of this closure and serves to create an empty annular space 6 between the tabs 3 and the inner wall of the safety ring 2 in the lower part of the latter. the skirt of the screw cap 1. This empty annular space serves as an anchoring to the container by reversing the position of the tongues 3a joined by the membrane 5; this change of position of the tabs is achieved by exerting a push on the free end of the tabs which, due to intrinsic characteristics of the polypropylene or high density polyethylene material, bend causing a hinge effect on a link zone 4 with the lower part of the ring security, with what remain in the desired position 3a; Figure 4 shows very clearly how the inversion occurs in the position of the tabs since in this figure these tabs are represented in what could be considered an intermediate stage in the process of inverting their position from the bottom up, this position of the inverted tabs as shown in the right part of figure 1, is kept stable due to the pressure exerted by the thin membrane which is part of the novelty of this invention and which joins the tabs side by side 5. The safety ring 2 on its upper part is connected to the lower part of the body of the cover 1 by means of a thin and continuous narrow annular zone 7 which in turn undergoes a weakening stage by producing on it a peripheral succession of cuts 8 that give rise to the formation of bridges or connecting ribs between the cover and the security ring that, being joined by the membrane, retain a position stable, avoiding that some of the tongues could extend outwards during the handling previous to the process of inversion of the tongue.

According to the threaded cap with safety ring of the present invention, the stability imparted by the membrane 5 to the tabs 3 that form part of the safety ring, ensures that when placing the lid on the container, the tabs 3 they will always be in the correct position, that is, upwards, resulting in a reliable process of placing said lids, which is relevant when using automated container closure processes using this type of lids, avoiding bottlenecks in the packaging lines and consequently, loss of time or rejections of poorly closed containers.

The fact that the tongues 3 are oriented upwards is decisive for the closing of the container and the correct functioning of the safety ring, since when the lid is placed on the container, the lower end of the tongues abuts on a flange on container wall; when unscrewing the lid to open the container, the upward force that is made when unscrewing the lid together with the impossibility of the tabs 3 to move upwards together with the body of the lid 1, due to the stop on the wall of the container, together with the weakening zone of the safety ring, causes the safety ring to break, the ring being removed from the lid body when the container is opened for the first time, it being evident that since the safety ring is separated from the container and It was opened.

On the other hand, it has to be in case that the tabs 3 were not placed upwards but downwards during the automated process of placing the cover in the container, the lower end of the tabs 3 could not butt with the flange in the container. the wall of the container and therefore when opening said container for the first time the safety ring would not be detached, resulting in useless the existence of the same in the lid, by the above expressed will understand the importance of the stability in the position of the tabs 3 that the membrane gives them 5.

Unlike other types of anchoring systems, the one of the present invention, due among other aspects to that of the flexibility of the membrane 5, is very reliable in terms of its use as a device by means of which it is known if a container has been originally opened In other types of systems, ribs or ribs are used to achieve an anchoring between the bottle and the safety ring attached to the cover, so that when the cap is pressed for the first time, the rib on the inner wall of the ring safety jumps the nerve on the outside wall of the bottle until it is below it, having as before expressed when trying to open the lid for the first time, the nerve in the bottle would prevent the passage of the nerve in the wall of the lid , releasing the safety ring if the lid is unscrewed and the bottle is opened.

This type of systems presents the problem that the diameter of both the rib in the bottle and in the lid, present variations that can be considerable, that is, that the diameters are smaller than those specified and that the anchoring effect is seen minimized by reducing said diameters, that is to say that once the lid is placed for the first time, it can be opened and that the safety ring does not detach as there is no overlap and consequently sufficient anchorage between the rib of the bottle and that of the inside of the lid.

Unlike the unsafe operation of other systems, the one of the present invention is completely safe since when the lid 1 is screwed in or screwed in, for the first time, the membrane 5, will tend to stick to the inner wall of the lid 1, until it jumps the anchoring nerve of the bottle, once this happens because the membrane 5 and the material of the lid 1 has memory, will tend to return to its original position, ending this displacement when coming into contact with the wall of the bottle below the nerve of it; the membranes being flexible and able to vary their position and that of the tongues 3, will always ensure a sufficient anchoring against the rib in the wall of the bottle, independently of the diameter of said rib and of the bottle itself, that is, due to the The flexibility of the membrane 5 and tabs 3 absorbs the changes in diameter in the mouth of the bottle and the nerve thereof.

Claims (1)

1. CLAIMS Threaded cover with integral safety ring, comprising a threaded cap body in its interior, which is placed in the threaded mouth of a container to close the same and a safety ring in the lower end of the cap; characterized in that the security ring consists of: a set of tabs circumferentially distributed in the lower part of the ring, said tabs being joined to each other, side one next to the other, by a membrane of relatively small thickness; a zone also with relatively small thickness, which joins the tabs and membrane with the lower part of the safety ring; the safety ring in its upper part is joined to the lower part of the body of the cover by a continuous zone of little thickness, which has zones of weakening, such as a peripheral succession of cuts that result in the formation of bridges or Connection nerves between the lid and the safety ring. Threaded cover with integral safety ring, according to claim 1, characterized in that the tabs as a result of the process of forming the cover, are originally oriented downward at an angle that can be from approximately 0 ° with an imaginary vertical line , up to approximately 30 ° from the beginning of the tabs on the lower part of the ring and towards the closing axis. Threaded lid with integral safety ring, according to claim 1, characterized in that the tabs circumferentially distributed in the lower part of the ring, change their position when facing from bottom to top by a thrust that is exerted on the free end of the rings. tongues, and by a hinge movement in said area with relatively small thickness, which joins the tabs and membrane with the lower part of the security ring, this inverted position of the tabs being kept stable due to the membrane with relatively thin thickness that joins the tabs Threaded cover with integral safety ring, according to claim 1, characterized by an annular space between the end of the tabs in their inverted position and the inner wall of the safety ring in the lower part of the lack of the screw cap, this space allows the lower end of the tongues in their inverted position, to abut a flange in the wall of the corresponding container, being produced by the impossibility of upward displacement of the tongues, the detachment of the safety ring when it is opened for the first time time the container.