US1871831A - Cap for receptacles - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 16, 1932. G. A. WILLIAMS CAP FOR RECEPTACLES Filed June 19, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 g- 1932- G. A. WILLIAMS 1,871,831

CAP FOR RECEPTACLES Filed June 19, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 16, 1932 at r" GEORGE A. WILLIAMS, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS; ELIZABETH T. WILLIAMS, EXEGUTRIX OF SAID GEORGE A. WILLIAMS, DECEASED, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAIVIS SEALING COR- PORATION, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS CA]? FOR RECEPTACLES Application filed June 19,

This invention relates generally to caps for containers, such as bottles, jugs and metallic receptacles provided with necks and/ or nozzles. More particularly, it relates to caps each having a skirt provided at its bottom with upwardly extending slots, with a divided clamping wire ring mounted in a discontinuous annular seat formed by rolling upwardly the bottoms of the tongues formed by the slots, so as to produce approximately arcuate sleeves for the reception of the ring, the ring having oppositely disposed hooks at its ends, with a lever having a cam loop engaging each hook and adapted, by its downward movement, to draw the hooks toward each other, thereby to contract the ring and clamp the bottom of the skirt into locking engagement with the top of the neck or nozzle of a container.

As these caps have been constructed heretofore, a wide tongue has been provided on what will be referred to hereinafter as the front of the cap skirt, the tongue being provided between slots which extend upwardly from the bottom of the skirt a shorter distance than the slots by which the other tongues are provided and this front tongue has been rolled upwardly to form a shallow wide slot having at its top a bearing sleeve which has served to retain the lever vertically in its downward or locked position. This construction which I have used heretofore is shown more particularly in my prior Patents 1,743,945 issued January 14, 1930, and 1,213,734 issued February 6, 1917.

As the caps have been constructed heretofore, it has been impossible to secure a sufli cient contraction of the bottoms of the skirts of the caps by the ring and the operating lever to enable the caps to be used with the tops of the necks or bottles of the crown-. finished type and also with bottles heretofore adapted especially for the use of such caps and sold under the trade name Kork-N-Seal finish. Owing to the former limit of con- 1930. Serial No. 462,367.

tractibility of the bottoms of the skirts of my caps, it has been necessary to confine the manufacturers of bottles or other containers with which the caps have been used to a variation in the diameters of such tops of from 1.010 to 1.030, which gave the manufac turers an allowance or tolerance of only .020. While it has been entirely feasible to use bottle caps such as shown in my patents referred to hereinbefore on necks and nozzles having the variations in diameter referred to hereinbefore, it has been impractical to use them at all on containers having necks or nozzles of the crown-finished type. On bottles of this type, there is a standard variation in the diameters of the tops, where the caps fit over the finish, of from 1.031 to a maximum of 1.063", which allows the manufacturers a variation or tolerance of .032 in making up their ware. Had it been attempted to apply caps made in accordance with my patents aforesaid to the tops of crown finish receptacles, it would have been impossible to force them over the tops of the larger necks as well as to obtain enough contraction in the bottoms of the cap skirts to secure an effective sealing action between the caps and the tops of the receptacles.

One of the features of construction of the former caps which defeated this necessary range of expansion and contraction was the presence of the bearing sleeve, formed by rolling the wide tongue referred to hereinbefore. Owing to its length, it was impracticable to curve it so as to conform to the circular shape of the remainder of the cap skirt and of the portion of the bottle to which the cap was applied. Furthermore, the presence of this sleeve and the shallowness of the slot provided therebeneath defeated the contractibility of the sleeve; and thiscontractibility was further decreased by the width of the tongues or segments on each side of the slot and immediately adjacent thereto. Finally, if a cap such as heretofore constructed and used by me were designed to slip over the tops of the necks or nozzles of receptacles having the crown finish referred to, they could not also be used with the tops of necks or nozzles of receptacles designed especially forsuch caps.

By virtue of the construction and arrangement of parts shown and described herein, I have produced a cap which can be applied, not only to the tops of necks or nozzles of the crown-finish type and form an efiective seal therewith against high internal pressures, but which can also be applied to the tops of necks or nozzles of receptacles especially designed formy former type of cap and to make an eflicient seal with such necks or nozzles.

Furthermore, I am-enabled to apply-the caps by hand the first time or on the original seal, not only to the necks or nozzles of receptacles especially designed for use with my former caps, but also to the necks or caps of the crown-finished typ-ean operation which was practically impossible with my prior caps. The advantageous objects and resultspointed out hereinbefore are secured in and through the construction and arrangement of parts shown in the drawings wherein Fig. 1. is a perspective view of a bottle neck having my improved cap applied thereto; Fig. 2 shows the cap in front elevation applied to theneck of a bottle; Fig. 3 is a central vertical section through'the cap and bottle neck looking toward the front of the cap; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail of the cap; Fig. 5' is a side elevation, and Fig. 6 a plan view, showing the locking lever andthe-adjacent portion of the cap with the former in its raised or unlocked position, these and the remaining views being on a scale-considerably enlarged over that of the precedingviews; Figs. 7. and 8 are views similar to Figs. 5 and 6, respectively, showing the lever as inthe act of being depressed toward lockingposition; and Figs. 9 and 10 are like views showing the lever in its vertical, locked position.

The cap is made from a single piece of sheet metal comprising a circular top .portion 10 and a depending skirt 11, the skirt being provided with vertical slots .12 extending upwardly from the bottom thereof, providing narrow tongues 13, 13 therebetween. The skirt is provided with a wide slot 14 extending upwardly from the bottom thereof, between the tongues 13. This slot extends upwardly a considerable distance, preferably more than half the distance between the bot tomof the skirt and the "top of the cap and preferably to a point just below the liner. The divided flexible clamping ring 15 is con nected to the bottom of the skirt by rolling upwardly the bottoms of the tongues to provide at their lower ends arcuate bearing sleeves 16, 16 in-which thering is mounted. The ring is preferably gripped tightly at its central or rear portion by the sleeve or sleeves of the bottom or bottoms of the tongueor tongues at the rear of the skirtdiametrically opposite the slot 14, being slidable in the other sleeves. The ends of the ring are pro vided each with a hook 17 located in the slot 14. I

18 denotes the handle of a locking lever made by twisting together the ends of a piece of wire, the intermediate portion being bent to form a pair of looped cams 19, each engaging a hook 17 the central portion 20 of the wire connecting and spacing the cam-loops apart and forming a cross bar between said loops.

A liner 21, of material capable of considerable compression (such as soft rubber) is placed within the cap for the purpose of ensuring a tight seal with the top of the neck or nozzle when the lever is drawn down and to enable the ring wire 15 to settle into the groove 22*, even when the groove is located considerably below the top of the neck or nozzle ofthe receptacle 22.

By providing the cap with the relatively wide slot 14 and with .narrow segments or tongues 13*" on each side thereof instead of the wide segments or'tongues heretofore employed and also by eliminating the bearing sleeve heretofore employed in a similarlylocated but relatively shallow slot, 1am enabled to increase materially the circumference of "the skirt, when the ring 15 is in its open or distended position, and yet to contract the bottom of the skirt sufficiently by the ring 15 and lever 1820 to effect a tight seal for the neck or nozzle to which the cap is applied.

It will be noted that the skirt portion of the cap .is outwardly convex between the top and bottom thereof, the maximum diameter of the skirt being at a point below the tops of the slots 12. The advantage of this construction will be pointedout hereinafter in connection withthe construction and operation of the cam loops.

In order'to obtain this additional contraction of the bottom of the skirt over that-obtainable in the skirts of other caps of this type, the inclination or throw of each cam loop 19 is correspondingly increased over the inclination or throw of the cam loops of the levers formerly employed. In practice, this inclination or throw of the cam loops jointly amounts toan increase of about .041 in the cam throw of the lever overthe throw that has been practicable to use on caps heretofore employed by me. Owing to this increase in throw, it is ordinarilyunnecessary to increase the length of the wire ring 15, al through the ends of the hooks have been lengthened so as to accommodate this extra throw of the cam and still retain the cam loops upon the hooks when the lever is in its upward position.

In my present construction of locking lever, the lever is provided with cam loops which not only differ in shape and proportion from the cam loops heretofore employed, but also in the location of the transverse connecting or cross bar 20. The distance between the camloops proper at their points of closest proximity or convergence is slightly less than the combined thickness of the stock of the two hooks on the locking wire which they engage; and, beyond this point of maximum convergence, as will be apparent from the drawings, the cams diverge slightly so that, when the lever is thrown down, the hooks are. brought into engagement shortly before the lever handle reaches a vertical downward position; and on further movement of the lever in this same direction, the point of maximum convergence not having been passed thecam loops are even spread apart slightly until the distance betweenthe loops is slightly greater than the combined diameters of the stock in the said hooks. This allows the lockingwire, which has been contracted very tightly about the neck, to expand slightly, which is one of the factors cooperating to insure the retention of the lever in its vertical position.

Now to be more specific, and with particular reference to Figs. 5 to 10, as the locking lever is moved downward, the loops pivot about the ends of the hooks with the front sides of the loops engaging the ends of the hooks. Due to the shape of the cam loops, just before the lever reaches the position where the distance between the cam loops is the minimum, the outer hook ends are in engagement with the inner surfaces of the outer or front portions of the loops while the rear outer surfaces of the camloops ride on the rear bends of the hooks, as distinctly shown in Fig. 7 instead of bearing against the bottle neck or nozzle, thus making it unnecessary to provide a special Kork-N- Seal finish neck for a. fulcrum for the cam loops as has been necessary heretofore in the use of my former caps.- Just as the lever is reaching its final vertical position, the inclination of the cam loops is such that, in cooperation with the hooks, the lever is moved bodily upwardly, bringing its cross bar into engagement with the bottoms of the hooks (Fig. 9). This cross bar, being parallel with the top of the cap and with the bottom of the hooks, insures the retention of the lever in a vertical position and prevents it from being twisted to one side or the other and hence prevents it from being unlocked. Due to the manner of constructing the cam loops, I am able to eliminate the bearing sleeve which was formerly considered necessary to hold the lever in such vertical position and to prevent the lever from being twisted sidewise, with a resultant tendency to releaseits locking action. I

By virtue of the construction of the cap 55 herein and the increase inthe throws of the cam loops, I am enabled to employ caps having .041 greater maximum circumference of skirt opening than it has been possible to employ heretofore with such caps and yet to close such opening to the same dimensions as heretofore, thereby'to obtain a tight seal with the necks or nozzles to which the caps are applied. This, taken together with the greater maximum distance between the operating portions of the cam loops, enables the caps to be applied by hand to the tops of bottles or can nozzles to which former caps of this general construction cannot be applied, even with the use of machinery; it also enables the caps to be applied by hand to the necks or nozzles of the crown-finish type as well as to the necks or nozzles of the Korlt N-Seal finish. In applying the caps to the larger types of bottle necks and nozzles, the

cap is applied by first engaging the back of the cap beneath the shoulder on the neck or nozzle and then rocking the cap forwardly and downwardly, after which the lever may be thrown down. In the former constructions of caps, the bearing sleeves would catch the tops of the necks and nozzles and, being straight and not conforming to the circumference of the nozzles or bottle necks, would interfere with the application of the caps to bottles and nozzles of the crown type having larger necks than the Korl -N-Seal finish standards allowed.

It will be noted particularly that the slot 14 is arched upwardly. By forming the slot in this manner, I obtain a material'increase in the strength of the portions of the cap enclosing the slot and also enable the cap the more readily to conform to the finish or curvature of the portion of the neck or nozzle to which it is applied. 7

. Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A cap comprising a top having a compressible liner therein and provided with a skirt extending downwardly from such top, the skirt being provided with a wide unobstructed slot extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and with a plurality of vertical narrow slots extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and forming depending tongues therebetween, a divided ring provided with hooked ends mounted in sleeves at the lower ends of said tongues and having such hooked ends located in said wide slot, the skirt being convex outwardly between the top and bottom thereofwith its maximum diameter below the tops of said slots, and. a lever having cam loops engaging such hooked ends and adapted, when operated in one direction, to draw the ends of said ring toward each other, the cam loops being of such contour that when the lever is moved downwards ly and approaches a vertically downward position, there will be a minimum divergence between the cam loops which willforce the hooks into engagement with each other, the cam loops diverging slightly from each other beyond such point whereby, on final downward movement of. the lever, the locking ring may expand, and cooperate with the loops to retain the lever in such vertical locking position.

2. A cap comprising a top having a compressible liner therein and provided with a skirt extending downwardly from such top, the skirt being provided with a wide unobstructed slot extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and with a plurality of vertical narrow slots extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and forming depending tongues therebetween, a divided ring provided with hooked ends mounted in sleeves at the lower ends of said tongues and having such hooked ends located in said wide slot, the skirt being convex outwardly between the top and bottom thereof with its maximum diameter below the tops of said slots, and a lever having cam loops engaging the hooked ends of said ring and adapted, when operated in one direction, to draw the ends of said ring toward each other, said cam loops being connected by a cross bar, the cam loops being of such contour that when the lever is moved downwardly and approaches a vertically downward position there will be a minimum divergence between the cam loops which will force the hooks into engagement with each other, the cam loops diverging slightly from each other beyond such point whereby, on final downward movement of the lever, the locking ring may expand slightly and the lever move upwardly to bring its cross bar into engagement with the lower surfaces of said hooks thereby to retain the locking lever in such vertical locking position.

3. A cap comprising a top having a compressible liner therein and provided with a skirt extending downwardly from such top, the skirt being provided with a wide unobstructed slot extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and with a plurality of vertical narrow slots extending'upwardly from the bottom thereof and forming depending tongues therebetween, a divided ring provided with hook-ed ends mounted in sleeves at the lower ends of said tongues and having such hooked ends located in said wide slot, and a lever having cam loops connected by across bar, the cam loops being of such contour that when the lever is moved downwardly and approaches a vertically downward position, there will be a minimum divergence between the cam loops, the cam loops diverging slightly from each other beyond such point whereby, on final downward movement of the lever, the locking ring may expand slightly and the lever will be moved upwardly to bring its cross bar into engagement with the lower surfaces of said hooks thereby-to retain the locking lever in. such vertical locking 'POSl'-- tion.

4. A cap; comprising a skirt having. a relatively wide, unobstructed slot and aplurality of vertical narrow'slots extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and defining tonguestherebetween, the tongues being: formed at their lower ends to provide sleeves, a divided ring having hooked ends and mounted insaid sleeves with said hooked ends located in the aforesaid wide slot,v and a lever having cam loops engaging said hooked ends and adapted, when operated in one direction, to draw the ends of said ring toward each other, the cam loops being. of such contour that when the lever is moved downwardly and approaches a vertical downward osition, there will be a minimum divergence etweenthe cam loops which will force the hooked ends of said ring into contiguity with each other, thecam loops diverging slightly from each other beyond such point whereby on final downward movement of the lever, the locking ring-may expand and cooperate with the loops to retain the lever in such vertical locking position.

5. A cap comprising a skirt having a relatively wide, unobstructed. slot and a plurality of vertical narrow slots'extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and defining tongues therebetween, the tongues being formed at their lower ends'to provide sleeves, a divided ring having hooked ends and mounted in said sleeves with said hooked ends located in the aforesaid wideslot, and a lever having cam loops engaging said hooked ends and adapted, when operated in one direction, to draw the ends of said ring toward each other,said cam loops being connected by a cross bar, the cam loops being of such contour that when the lever is moved downwardly and approaches a vertical downward position there will be aminimum divergence'between the cam loops which will force the hooked ends of said ring intocontiguity with each other, the cam loops diverging slightly from each other beyond such point whereby, on final downward movementof the lever, the locking ring may expand slightly and the lever move upwardly .to bring-its cross bar into engagement with the lower surfaces of said hooked ends thereby to retain the locking lever in such vertical locking'position. v

6'. A cap comprising a skirt having a relatively wide, unobstructed slot and a plurality of vertical narrow slots extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and defining tongues therebetween, the tongues being formed at their lower ends to provide sleeves, a divided ring having hooked ends and mounted in said sleeves with said hooked ends located in the aforesaid wide slot, and alever having cam loops engaging said hooked ends and adapted, when operated: in one direction, to

draw the ends'of said ring'toward each other,

the cam loops being of such contour that just before the lever reaches a position wherein the parts of the opposed loops that are nearest together are acting upon the hooked ends to draw them together and thus contract the ring, the outer portions of the hooked ends are in engagement with the inner surfaces of the outer or front portions of the loops While the rear outer surfaces of said loops are in 10 contact with the rear bends of the hooks.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto atfix my signature.

GEORGE A. WVILLIAMS.

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