US1029424A - Closure for vessels. - Google Patents

Description

J. OONLBY.

CLOSURE POE VESSELS.

APPLICATION mum 0012.22, 1909.

Patented June 11, 1912;

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JOHN CONLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGIBIOR TO CONLEY FOIL COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CLOSURE FOR VESSELS.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June Ill, 1912.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, JOHN CoNLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at'New .York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Closures for Vessels, of which the following is a Specification.

This invention relates to improvements in a closure for bottles, jars and the like constructed of a thin, film-like sheet of yielding, ductile material, preferably tin-foil, and to a vessel having such closure applied thereto.

In the packaging of food and food products, milk being a suflicient illustration, closures designed to be used but a single time have been proposed, and generally such closures have been in the shape of disks of paper or paper-board adapted to be pressed into the neck of the bottle or other container and provided with various contrivances to facilitate removal when it is desired to remove the contents or a portion of the contents of the vessel. Of necessity in selecting and closing vessels with such disks the fingers of the one who selects and applies the closures come in contact with the surfaces thereof, which subsequently are exposed either to the interior wall of the mouth of the vessel or to the contents of the vessel. In the manipulation of such closures, therefore, opportunity for possible contamination, which it is now well recognized should not exist, is present.

By my invention I provide a closure which is so economical, both as to material, manufacture and application, that it can be supplied for a single use only and be then discarded, which can be selected and easily applied without the fingers of the operator coming in contact with any portion thereof exposed either to the contents of the vessel or the vessel itself.

jv novel'vessel-closure and vessels having such closure applied thereto as hereinafter fully explained and then pointed out in the claim.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein Figure 1 is a sectional view of the closure, Fig. 2 a top plan View thereof, Fig. 3 a sectional view of the mouth of a vessel, Fig. 4: a sectional view showing the closure applied to the vessel, Fig. 5 a view illustrating the closure in perspective as the same is grasped by the fingers of the operator in selecting and applying the same to the vessel, Fig. 6 an elevation showing a number of closures nested together, Fig. 7 an enlarged view showing the facility of application of the closure to a vessel, afforded by the flaring walls of the former, and Fig. 8 a similar view showing the Practical difficulty of application of such a closure having parallel inner and outer walls.

In the said drawing, the reference numeral l designates the closure generally. The same is composed of a thin, film-like sheet of yielding ductile metal, tin foil being suitable and preferred. The closure is fashioned to provide walls 2 and 3 to engage the exterior and interior walls 4, '5, of the mouth of a vessel 6 and a bridge to fitclosely to the rim of the mouth of the vessel, and a central depressed disk 7 housed in and closing such mouth. The ductile material of which the closure is. formed is of such thin film-like character, such as tin foil, that should the edge of its outer wall come into contact with the rim of the vessel applied to the vessel easily and quickly without danger of being deformed in so doing, as shown in Fig. 7

To further facilitate the application of the film-like sheet closure without damage thereto, the rim or neck of the vessel may be correspondingly tapered as shown at 9.

The diverging walls of the closure also enable aquantity of the closures to be nested together as shown in Fig. 6, in which form theymay be shipped and handled without danger of distortion or deformation.

A further advantage of the flaring walls consists in the fact that whenthe closure is i applied to the vessel, and is to be secured therein as hereinafter described, the flare provides a slight surplus of material Which enables the walls to be pressed into-the interior and exterior grooves in the neckof the vessel to secure the closure in place and constitute a complete annular seal, without appreciably stretching the material.

The closure described is very economical, so economical that it is intended to be used but a single time and then discarded, and at the same time, by reason of the formationdescribed, the fingers 'of the one who selects the closure and applies the same to the mouth of the vessel do not come in contact with any portion of the closure exposed either to the surface of'the containing vessel or to the contents of the vessel, the fingers of the operator coming in contact merely with the outer face of the exterior wall of the closure during the operation of selecting and applying the same to the vessel as shown in Fig. 5. So the closure is a perfectly sanitary one.

The neck of the vessel at or adjacent the mouth thereof is provided with an inner,

continuous, annular groove 10 located atsuch a distance from the rim of the mouth of the vessel that when the closure is applied thereto the groove will face the inner wall of the closure intermediate the depressed disk and the bridge 11. The neck of the vessel is also provided with an outer, continuous, annular, groove 12, so located with reference to the rim of the mouth of the vessel that when the closure is applied thereto it will be opposite,substantially, the free edge of the exterior wall'of the closure, and when said wall is pressed into the exterior annular groove to form a complete exterior, annular seal, the free edge thereof will be housed in said oove. .This is a matter of importance in a closure con-' structed of such thin film-like material as that which is the subject of this invention, because thereby the edge of the wall will not lie outside the surface of the neck of the vessel where it would be exposed and liable to he accidentally engaged by some foreign object, or otherwise in handling, and the closure loosened or torn destroying the perfectnoss of the seal.

WVhon employed as a closure for a milk jar or bottle the closure will be constructed of pure tin foil contact of the'milk with which will not affect the milk in any way.

When fitted over the mouth of the vessel 1 also an additional seal.

the closure is secured therein by means of any I suit-able device, one suitable type of .sel and forms a perfect seal against the entrance of dust, bacteria, or any foreign substance or body. Where an annular interior groove is also utilized the pressin of the inner wall of the closure therelnto affords an additional securing means and By reason of the thin film-like sheet of ductile material of which the closure is composed, the operation of spinning the walls thereof into the grooves in the neck of the vessel serves to draw the metal of the closure into close intimate contact with the rim and the interior and exterior walls of the mouth of the vessel, making unnecessary the interposition of a special sealing medium, as has been the practice in the past, the simple thin ductile closure itself closely hugging the mouth of the vessel serving efliciently to close and seal the vessel,

The invention provides a closure for vessels so economical in respect of cost of material, manufacture and a plication that it maybe used but a single t1me and then cast away as is the case with the paper disk type of closure. At the same time it presents the feature of sanitary advantage in respect of handling and application to the vessel which is absent from the paper disk closure. When applied it hugs closely the exterior and inter1or walls of the rim or neck of the 'bottle or mouth thereof which together with the continuous annular holding and sealing connection produced by the spinning or pressing of the material into the annular grooves of the bottle neck forms a very perfect seal against foreign material finding entrance into the vessel. The closure by reason of its thin film-like ductile character also serves as a means of detection should the contents of the vessel be tampered with, because in removing the same, should such removal be attempted, the closure would be more or less distorted and could not be again applied and forced or pressed into the grooves of the vessel neck without showing evidence of tampering. At the same time the domestic may, by manipulating the closure, remove it and replace it as a cover or closure when it is desired to remove a portion of the contents only.

What I claim is,

A vessel provided near its mouth with annular interior and exterior grooves arranged in different planes, and a closure consisting of a thin film-like sheet of yielding, ductile material comprising a central, depressed disk, and diverging inner and outer Walls connected by a bridge, the outer Wall of the closure continuously and closely engaging and housed in the exterior annular groove of the vessel mouth, and the inner Wall in engagement With the annular interior groove of said mouth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing wit- 10 nesses.

JOHN CONLEY.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. TREANOR, JOHN S. CLUNE.

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