NO142704B - SAFETY CLOSER FOR PLASTIC CONTAINER. - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a safety closure device for a plastic container, the open end of which is delimited by a largely vertical inner wall and an outer, downward-facing, largely vertical wall which is connected to the inner wall by means of a top wall portion, and with a lid which is designed with a downwardly extending inner wall and an outer wall, which are radially spaced apart and connected to each other by means of a top wall, the inner wall of the container and the lid being designed to cooperate in a manually releasable closing fit, and where the container top is provided with circumferential weakening lines for separation of the part of the container top situated outside the lines.

There are many types of different containers with tear-off sealing means between the lid and the container part itself.

In some of these designs, the lid and the container part are provided with sealed, outward-facing flanges where weakening parts are arranged to enable the removal of an outer strip, so that the lid can be removed from the container and, if desired, the container part can be reattached. In the case of other devices, e.g. of a type as shown in US Patent 3,296,616, an outer lid or cover portion is sealed to a container part flange with a weakening portion for removal of the container part flange and the outer cover, leaving an inner cover which can be removed to access to the container contents and then reapply if desired. Furthermore, there are known devices with folded back flanges where a folded part can be removed along a weakening line for removing the lid and the remaining folded part. In most of these devices, such as e.g. in the case of the device according to US Patent 3,378,172, the weakening lines are externally located and often visible to facilitate the opening of the container for the consumer. BRD Offenlegungs-schrift 2 130 205 and GB patent specification 1 355 699 can be mentioned as further examples of known container lid units.

The present invention is intended for a container/lid unit of the kind indicated at the outset, which can be opened and closed with the original lid or cover intact.

The main purpose of the invention is to provide such a device where complete removal of the lid - will cause a part along the circumference of the container to be detached from the container part, whereby the reattachment of the lid after such an intended opening cannot be carried out without the revealing missing part of the container, when this is exhibited together with others of this kind, can be seen.

This purpose is achieved according to the invention by the fact that the lower part of the downward-facing outer container wall ends in an upward-facing groove and that the outer downward-facing wall of the lid extends down into the upward-facing groove so that upon authorized removal of the part of the container top and the lid located outside the weakening lines from the container and discarding the separated part, it will be possible to see that the container has been opened.

With such a device according to the invention, an attempt to pry open the lid from the container, e.g. by introducing a rod or tool into the groove, cause at least partial detachment of the separable part.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of an embodiment thereof. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the container/lid unit.

Fig. 2 is a section on a larger scale along the line

2-2 in fig. 1 and shows a line of weakness for detachment of a portion around the circumference of the container part.

Fig. 3 is a corresponding section along the line 3-3 in fig. 1 and shows a discontinuity in the weakening line shown in fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section corresponding to Fig. 2, but shows the lid partially removed from the container as well as the resulting detachment of a peripheral portion of the container part along the weakening line. Fig. 5 is a section corresponding to Fig. 2 and shows a modified weakening line Fig. 6 is a section corresponding to Fig. 2 and shows a further modified weakening line.

The container 10 shown in fig. 1 and 2, can have many shapes, but is shown here with a flask-shaped, cylindrical shape and is preferably made of thin-walled plastic material, such as polystyrene. The container is closed by means of a cover or lid 12 of a corresponding plastic material. The lid includes a vertical wall portion 14 which rises from the lid's middle closing portion and transitions into a horizontal, outwardly directed top wall portion 16. The wall portion 16 ends in a downwardly directed peripheral flange 18, so that a peripheral portion with a cross-section roughly like an inverted U is formed. The lid according to the invention can have other cross-sectional designs, but must include an inner wall 14, an upper wall 16 and a downwardly directed skirt 18.

The container part includes an outward and upward slope

peripheral wall 20 which transitions into a vertical, upwardly directed wall portion 22 into which the wall portion 14 of the lid can be inserted with a tight friction fit, or a co-operating rib and groove or shoulder arrangement can be arranged between the lid and container wall to form a snap fit, or other conventional fittings can be arranged between the walls. If desired, known ventilation means can also be arranged between the lid and the container part. The wall part 22 transitions into a horizontally outwardly directed flange or an edge part 24 which lies below the lid's top wall 16 when the lid is attached to the container. An outer circumference of the wall or flange 24 transitions into an outwardly and downwardly sloping wall 26a which in turn transitions into a vertical portion 26b which, together with the wall portions 24 and 22, forms an inverted U-shape inside the U-shaped portion of the lid. At the bottom of the wall part 26b, an outwardly directed, radial wall 28 is arranged which merges into an upwardly directed peripheral flange 30 which, together with the wall part 26b, delimits an upward-facing groove design 3 2 down which extends the lower part of the lid flange 18. The groove can face upwards as shown , or the flange 30 can face inwards or in some other way be arranged closer to the outer surface of the lid flange 18 when it is desired to prevent the accumulation of foreign material in the groove.

Common use of the container/lid assembly shown in fig. 1, 2 and 3, will now be described with reference to fig. 4. The horizontal edge part 24 of the lid is weakened by means of a groove 34, e.g. V-shaped, to form a weakening line at the apex of the groove, so that the outer part of the edge part including the groove design 32 will be separated from the container when the lid is removed as described below.

This weakening can be carried out in different ways. The groove 34 can be circumferentially continuous around the underside of the edge, or it can be interrupted over a short distance, as at 36 in fig. 3, and such discontinuities can be arranged at regular intervals, so that a number of relatively weak or completely split sections are formed which alternate with non-weakened parts. The weakening tracks themselves can be differently designed, such as e.g. the groove 38 in the upper edge surface, as shown in fig. 5, or as the opposing grooves 40, 40a in opposite edge surfaces as shown in fig. 6. To open the container, the walls forming the container track are lifted in the direction of the arrow in fig. 4, and this will again cause the lid 12 to be lifted together with the detached container groove part of the container which will be detached from the remaining part of the edge 24 along the weakening line formed at the tip of the groove 34, or the grooves 38, 40 and 40a. When the lid is completely removed, the separated container edge part, i.e. the separated wall parts 26a, 26b, 28, 30 can be thrown away, and the original lid 12 can be reused without changes as a cover or cover for the container part.

Certain persons secretly examine the contents of containers displayed on the shelves of a store, without any thought of purchase. Lifting the lid and the container slot for this purpose will entail tearing up the weakening line as described above at least along a significant part of the container's circumference. The primary closing fit is between the tight-fitting surfaces of the lid

gene 14 and the container wall portion 22 when the lid is in the closed position, and this closing fit should be such that a significant tearing along the circumference and possibly a certain degree of radial breakage in the groove 34 will take place before the closing fit is opened. Thus, when the walls of the lid and the container slot are returned from the raised position, it will be clearly seen that the detached container edge part is distorted and out of position in relation to the lid 12.

Claims (1)

Safety closure device for plastic container (10) whose open end is bounded by a generally vertical inner wall (22) and an outer downward-facing, generally vertical wall (26a, 26b) which is connected to the inner wall by means of a top wall portion (24) , and with a lid (12) which is designed with a downwardly extending inner wall (14) and an outer wall (18), which is arranged radially apart and connected to each other by means of a top wall (16), the inner wall of the container and the lid is designed to cooperate in a manually releasable closing fit, and where the container top (24) is provided with circumferential weakening lines (34) for separating the part of the container top located outside the lines (34), characterized in that the lower part of the downward-facing, outer container wall ends in an upward-facing groove (32) and that the lid's outer downward-facing wall (18) extends down into the upward-facing groove (32) so that upon authorized removal of the part of the container top and lid located outside the weakening lines from the container (10) and discarding the separated part, it will be possible to see that the container has been opened.