US2120646A - Receptacle closure and method of producing the same - Google Patents

Description

June 14, L. MEROLLE 1 RECEPTACLE CLOSURE AND METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME Filed Aug. "r. 1955 YINVENTOR ustus L. Mel-022a Patented June 14, 1938 PATENT OFFICE RECEPTACLE CLOSURE AND METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME Augustus L. Merolle, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor'to Empire Metal Cap 00., Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 7, 1933, Serial No. 684,061

14 Claims.

This invention relates to a receptacle closure and to a method by which to produce said closure.

An object of the invention is to provide a closure formed from a single piece of sheet materlal bent into suitableshape providing thread formations interiorly thereof by which it may be screwed onto a receptacle but there being no evidence exteriorly of the closure of the existence of said thread formation.

A further object is to provide a closure as indicated and in which the thread formations are of the "continuous thread" type, as distinguished from the "lug type, thereby adapting the closure for screw engagement onto receptacles having so-called continuous threads.

A further object is to provide a closure as indicated and which will be of great strength and rigidity so that it will not 'be likely to be objectionably distorted at any time and so that it may be screwed to extreme tightness onto a receptacle without likelihood of stripping of the threads of the closure.

A further object is to so construct the closure that it will provide unusually effective means for retaining a sealing gasket in operative position therein. A

A further object is to so construct the closure that no raw edge of metal will be visible either interiorly or exteriorly of the closure.

A further object is to so construct the closure that its side wall or apron portion for surrounding the receptacle will be of double thickness with the two thicknesses suitably spaced to constitute an admirable protection cushion against injury of the mouth portion of the receptacle.

A further object is to so construct the closure that its inner annular threaded surface throughout will bear the same surface finish as the exterior surface of the closure.

A further object is to provide a novel method of producing a receptacle closure.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less specific than those referred to above, will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts and applications of principles constituting the invention; and the scope of protection contem plated will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing which is to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of embodiment of the invention:

Flg. 1 is a side elevationalview of a closure constructed in accordance with this invention, a portion being broken away and shown in vertical section.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the portion of the structure appearing in Fig. 1, said view being taken substantially from the plane of line II-II of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the portion of the closure appearing in Fig. 1, with part broken away and shown in horizontal section substantially upon the plane of line III-III of Fig. 1.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are diagrammatic detail sectional views taken substantially upon the plane of lines IV-IV, VV and VI--VI of Fig. 2.

Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are diagrammatic detail views illustrating progressive steps followed according to the improved method of producing the closure, and

Fig. 12 is an elevational view, partly in section, illustrating the operation of the thread forming means illustrating a manner of operating the thread forming means appearing in Figs. 10 and 11.

Referring to the drawing for describing in detail the invention as shown therein, the reference character L indicates a top Wall portion of the closure, the reference character G indicates the outer cylindrical wall part of the annular skirt portion of the closure and the reference character H indicates the inner wall part of the annular skirt portion of the closure.

The top wall portion and the outer wall part of the skirt portion may be perfectly plain or may be ornamented with color or embossing, or otherwise, as preferred by the manufacturer.

The inner wall part H extends, as an inturned part of the outer wall, from the lower margin of the skirt upwardly to near the under surface of the top wall portion. It may of course extend entirely to said under surface if desired but it preferably stops short of said under surface and thereby provides an annular recess as l withinthe closure into which may extend the annular marginal portion of a gasket or liner disc or the like 2, as clearly indicated, the gasket or liner being thereby efliciently held against accidental displacement from within the closure at all times.

The gasket or liner 2 may be wedged into position after the metallic portions of the closure have been completed or it may be placed within the closure prior to bending in the inner wall part H. When inserted prior to the bending in of the wall part H said wall part may be caused to press firmly against the marginal portion of the'gasket or liner to clamp it against the inner surface of the top wall and thereby even more securely hold The inner wall part H is spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the wall part G so that the .wall part G is thereby at all times held spaced away from any solid engagement with the receptacle. In the event of a blow being struck against the outer surface of the wall part G the spacing of the wall part G from the wall part H will constitute the wall G as an eflicient cushion sufficiently yieldable for the protection of the receptacle. The wall part G may even be dented to an appreciable extent by the blow into the space between the two wall parts without the blow being felt locally by the receptacle.

If the ornamentation of wall G is made to include any bending of said wall inwardly toward the wall H such inwardly bent portions may be readily accommodated in the space between the walls G and H.

The connecting portion of metal at the lower annular edge of the closure, that is the connecting portion 4, rounds smoothly downwardly and inwardly from the cylindrical portion of the wall G and thence upwardly to merge into the lower annular portion of the wall H. It provides a positive connection between the two spaced walls and serves as an eificient reinforcement against distortion of either of the wall out of their true annular form.

The cross sectional arcuate curvature of the connecting portion 4 between the cylindrical portion of the wall G and the substantially lowermost point on the portion 4, that is of the portion 5, see Figs. 4 to 6, is substantially constant at all points around the circumference of the skirt, thereby presenting a smoothly rounding lower corner for the wall G as viewed from exteriorly of the closure. There is no evidence whatever present exteriorly of the closure concerning the existence of the threaded interior surface of the closure.

The cross sectional arcuate curvature of the portion 4 from said lowermost point inwardly and upwardly of the closure, that is of the portion 6, see Fig. 4, is substantially equal to the cross sectional arcuate curvature above mentioned of the portion 5, except where said inner portion is bent in the formation of the threads 3, as clearly illustrated in the drawing, Figs. 2 and 4 to 6, Fig. 4 showing the normal contour of the portions 5 and 6, Figs. 5 and 6 showing the portion 5 unchanged but showing the portion of metal referred to as the portion 6 now bent up in the formation of the threads 3 wholly within the inner portion of the closure and concealed from vision exteriorly of the closure.

The upper annular edge portion of the wall part H is turned outwardly to provide a flaring flange as at i so that the raw edge as 8 of the metal is presented facing approximately toward, and sometime engaging against, the inner surface of the wall part G.

The flange portion i is of course rigidly connected with the upper annular marginal part of wall H and, by its flaring disposition constitutes an efficient reinforcement for the upper portion of said wall H against distortion out of true circular form, being efllcient also asreinforcement for the closure as a whole and definitely and uniformly spacing the upper portion of wall H from the inner surface of wall G.

In Figs. 7 to 12 is illustrated the several essential steps proposed herein as the method by which to produce the structure above described.

Having provided a piece of sheet metal and forming it with an annular flange portion as B somewhat more than twice as deep as the flange or wall portion G in the finished closure, as illustrated in Fig. 7, the first operation thereon, as illustrated in Fig. 8 is that of turning up from the edge portion ll! of the flange 9 an inturned annular wire edge I I.

Then, as illustrated in Fig. 9, the wire edge II is bumped in the direction of the top wall portion L so that more of the material of the flange 9 is made to flow inwardly and upwardly toward the wall L, the wire edge being in effect elongated in that direction, and thereby providing a smooth flat inner annular wall I! spaced in parallel relation interiorly of the outer wall or flange which now constitutes the outer wall part G hereinabove referred-to; 'It will be observed that the inner wall i2 is of less diameter than the outer wall sothat the metal which flows in from the greater circumference of the outer wall into the less circumference of the inner wall must flow together or upset as the outer wall is rolled inwardly, to accommodate the same amount of metal in a less circumference- This, it would seem probable, results in a slight thickening of the inner wall but such thickening is imperceptible and the foregoing is merely theoretical as to what takes place. This bumping operation may be accomplished in a suitable manner, for instance, of so curving the bumping die used in the formation of the wire edge II that it will cause the extreme edge of the metal forming the wire edge to face toward and impinge directly against the inner surface of the flange 9 when the wire edge is completed. The edge of the metal forming along the surface 9, instead of curling round and round, as the bumping operation is continued.

Then the material of the portion I 2 is bent to form spiral corrugations therein serving as continuous threads interiorly of the closure, thereby completing the inner threaded wall H hereinabove referred to.

The manner of bending the wall i2 to form the threads therein is clearly indicated in the drawing Figs. 10 to 12. The method here illustrated includes the use of a die roller mounted to rotate freely upon a spindle l4 carried by a slide member I5 so as to be capable of traversing the wall l2 in a direction toward and away from the top wall of the closure as best indicated by reference to the full and dotted line positions of the roller l3 as pictured in Fig. 12.

The closure is mounted in a suitable carrier l6 so as to rotate with said carrier and is intended to be rotated first in one direction for a given distance and then backwardly in the opposite direc-- tion. Mounted upon the spindle ll of carrier I6 is shown a gear is and a suitable lost-motion connection is provided between the carrier and the gear, as for instance by means of a pin l9 connected with the gear and engaging within a loose slot 20 formed upon the carrier, the carrier and the gear having free rotary movement with respect to each other about the axis of spindle H within the limits of movement of the pin I! within the slot 20.

. the wire edge will in this way be caused to slide Meshing with the gear I8 is a second gear 2| which is rotatably mounted upon a threaded shaft 22. The shaft 22 is non-rotatably but longitudinally slidably mounted in suitable bearings as 23 and 24 and the gear 2| is interiorly threaded to mate the threads of the shaft so that the shaft will be caused to travel longitudinally within the bearings 23 and. incident to rotation of the gear 2| and 'flrst in one direction and then in the opposite direction according to the direction of rotation of the gear 2|.

\ The slide member I is fixed rigidly upon the shaft 22 to move back and forth therewith at all times. q

At 25 is shown a suitable power supply which it will be understood is of a character to rotate the gear I3 back and forth a proper distance in each direction.

The ratio of the gears I3 and 2| and the pitch of the threads of shaft 22 is usually, although not necessarily, such that approximately one complete rotation of the receptacle closure will be sufllcient to cause the roller I3 to move inwardly sufficiently to traverse the entire width of the wall I2, a similar reversed rotation likewise being sufilcient to return the roller to its original position.

As the roller I3 progresses inwardly from its full line position in Fig. 12 and engages the moving surface of the material of the closure the roller will be thereby made to rotate by friction and to meanwhile bend or dent a pathway for itself along the wall I2. After the roller has reached its final inward position as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 12 then the direction of rotation of the receptacle closure and the direction of travel of the roller is reversed, by reversal of the drive gear 25, and the roller then retreats backwardly along approximately the same channel or thread groove which it formed in entering.

During the time while the roller was entering the receptacle closure the pin I3 was bearing against the end wall 26 of the slot 2|] and continued to so bear until the inward limit was reached and the driver 25 was reversed. At the moment of reversal the pin I3 left the wall 26 and travelled the length of the slot 20 into engagement with the opposite end wall as 21 of said slot before beginning reversed rotation of the carrier IS. A period of rest for the carrier I3, and hence for the receptacle closure, occurred during which the roller I3 was moving outwardly. From this it will be seen that the roller I3, instead of retracing outwardly the exact same groove which it formed along the wall I2 when moving inwardly, now forms a substantially new groove in so close parallelism with the first groove as to have the practical effect of broadening the first groove.

This principle of forming two grooves merging together so that in the finished article they merge into a single thread groove of increased width is important for the reason that it provides for displacement of a sufllcient amount of material of the wall I2 to define an amply wide thread groove for properly co-operating with the thread lugs of the receptacle, only a portion of the material of the wall I2 being displaced while the roller travels in one direction, as illustrated in Fig. 10, and the remainder necessary for completing the thread groove being displaced while 'theroller travels in the opposite direction, see

While the roller is moving inwardly of.

Fig. 11.

the closure it is called upon to displace, or bend out, a lesser amount of the material of wall I2 than it would be called upon if the full size of thread groove were completed during this travel of the roller. Less strain isplaced upon the material of the wall I2 and a sharper and more clean cut bend of said material is obtained so that when the thread is completed it is of good form and adequately prominent to maintain a positive and eflicient grip upon the thread rib or lug of the receptacle.

The connecting portion 4 and the flange I greatly re-inforces the wall I2 against undesirable distortion during the time while the roller I3 is operating thereon to form the thread groove.

It is further of importance to note that the initial engagement of the roller I3 against the material of the closure, that is as said roller moves from its full line position Fig. 12 into engagement with the closure, the pressure of the roller against the material of the closure is in a direction toward the top wall L of the closure, as well as radially outwardly of the closure, and that due to the pressure exerted toward the top wall L the material of the closure first displaced by the roller is urged in the direction of the wall L thereby preserving a, smooth and unbroken line marking the lowermost point or edge, as 4, of the closure. Except forthe pressure of the roller I3 toward wall L when first engaging the material of the closure the displaced material of the closure might be simply squashed radially of the closure and result in the formation of an undulating or wavy line, instead of the straight line marking the lower edge of the closure.

From the shape and manner of forming the closure as herein disclosed it will be apparent that any enamel or other surface finish as 28 oocurring'upon the outer surface of the piece of material forming the flange 9 will be carried inwardly of the closure and occur also upon the inner threaded surface of the wall H in the fin ished closure, thereby giving to the closure as a whole the appearance of being formed from solid molded material rather than from coated sheet metal or the like, it being noted in this connec' tion that the under surface of the top wall L of the closure is usually covered and concealed by the gasket or liner member as shown.

As many changes could be made in this construction without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawing, shall be interpreted as illustrative only and notin a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top wall, a marginal cylindrical wall turned in wardly at its lower margin and thence upwardly to form an inner wall, said inner wall being bent to form a thread groove therein and being spaced inwardly from the cylindrical wall, and having a flange at its upper annular edge projecting outwardly thereof to adjacent the cylindrical wall, said flange being in addition to the thread and serving to support the said inner wall during the threading operation.

2. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top wall portion and a skirt portion, the skirt portion consisting of an outer annular wall and spaced apart substantially uniformly throughout the circumference of the closure, the lower marginal portions of the two walls being connected together in spaced relation by an integral connecting portion of said walls, and the upper marginal portion of the inner wall having an integral part bent outwardly therefrom substantially into engagement with the outer wall, said outwardly bent marginal portion being additional to the thread and serving to support the said inner wall in the threading operation.

3. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top wall, a marginal cylindrical wall turned inwardly at itslower marginand thence upwardly to form an inner wall, said inner wall being bent to form a thread groove therein and being spaced inwardly from thecylindrical wall, and having its upper marginal part turned outwardly to dispose its raw edge of metal in a concealed and protected position facing the inner surface of the cylindrical. wall at a location adjacent to the top wall, said outwardly turned marginal part being additional to the thread and serving to support the said inner wall during the threading operation.

4. The herein disclosed method of producing a receptacle closure, which consists in shaping a piece of sheet metal to form a top wall portion and a marginal annular flange thereon, bending thelower edge portion of said flange to form an inturned wireedge thereon, bumping said wire edge in the direction of the top wall to thereby cause portions of the material of the flange to flow inwardlyand form an annular wall spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the flange and substantially concentric with said flange, and then applying pressure radially outwardly against the inner surface of said Wall thereby bending the material of the wall and forming a thread groove in the inner surface of said wall.

5. The herein disclosed method of producing a receptacle closure, which consists in shaping a piece of sheet metal to form a top wall portion and a marginal annular flange thereon, bending the lower edge portion of said flange to form an inturned wire edge thereon, bumping said wire edge in the direction of the top wall to thereby cause portions of the material of the flange to flow inwardly and form an annular wall spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the flange and substantially concentric with said flange, and then causing a die roller to roll along said wall in forced engagement therewith and in a general direction circumferentially of said wall so as to bend the material of the wall and form a thread groove therein.

6. The herein disclosed method of producing a receptacle closure, which consists in shaping a piece of sheet metal to form atop wall portion and a marginal annular flange. thereon, bending the lower edge portion of said flange to form an inturned wire edge thereon, bumping said wire edge in the direction of the top wall and thereby cause portions of the material of the flange to flow inwardly and form an annular wall spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the flange and substantially concentric with said flange, and then causing a die roller to roll along said wall in forced engagement therewith and in a general direction circumferentially of said wall first in one direction to partially form a thread groove in said wall and then in the opposite direction to complete the formation of said thread groove.

'7. The herein disclosed method of producing a receptacle closure, which consists in shaping a piece of sheet metal to form a top wall portion and a marginal annular flange thereon, bending the lower'edge portion of said flange to form an inturned wire edge thereon, bumping said wire edge in the direction of the top wall to thereby cause portions of the material of the flange to flow inwardly and form an annular wall spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the flange and substantially concentric with said flange, and then causing a die roller to roll along said wall in forced engagement therewith and in a general direction circumferentially of said wall so as to bend the material of the wall and partially form a thread groove therein, and then causing a die roller to similarly rollalong said wall following a path parallel with but slightly removed from the path. of the first rolling thereby to complete the formation of the thread groove.

8. The herein disclosed method of producing a receptacle closure, which consists inshaping a piece of sheet metal to form a top wall portion and a marginal annular flange thereon, bending the lower edge portion of said flange to form an inturned wire edge thereon, bumping said wire edge in the direction of the top wall to thereby cause portions of the material of the flange to flow inwardly and form an annular wall spaced inwardly from the inner surface of' the flange and substantially concentric with said flange, and then forming a thread groove in said inner wall by rolling a die roller therealong in paths slightly removed from each other thereby to partially form said thread grooves at each rolling.

9. The herein disclosed method of producing a receptacle closure, which consists in shaping a piece of sheet metal to form a top wall portion and a marginal annular flange thereon, bending the lower edge portion of said flange to form an inturned wire edge thereon, bumping said wire edge in the direction of the top wall to thereby cause portions of the material of the flange to flow inwardly and form an annular wall spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the flange and substantially concentric with said flange, and then causing a die roller to engage the annular edge portion of said wall farthest removed from the top wall and to move toward said top wall in forced engagement with the inner surface of said annular wall while the closure is being rotated, said roller thereby bending radially outwardly portions of the material of said annular wall to form a thread groove in said annular wall.

10. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top and a substantially cylindrical marginal skirt depending therefrom, said skirt having its bottom marginal portion turned inwardly and upwardly to form an inner wall, the said inner wall having a thread formed in it and having its top marginal portion bent outwardly and adapted to engage the outer wall of the skirt to support the inner wall spaced from said outer wall during the threading operation, the length of said inner wall axially of the closure being greater than the distance between said inner and outer walls at any point.

11. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top and a substantially cylindrical marginal skirt depending therefrom, said skirt having its bottom marginal portion turned inwardly and upwardly to form an inner wall connected to the outer wall of the skirt by a radially curved portion, said inner wall having a thread formed in it and having its top marginal portion bent outwardly and adapted to engage the cylindrical outer wall of the skirt to support the inner wall spaced from said outer wall during the threading ope ation, the said outwardly bent portion of the inner wall being spaced, axially oi the closure, from the said radially curved con necting portion.

12. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top and a substantially cylindrical marginal skirt depending therefrom, said skirt having its bottom marginal portion turned inwardly and upwardly to form an inner wall, the said inner wall having a thread formed in it and having its top marginal portion bent outwardly and adapted to engage the outer wall of the skirt to support the inner wall spaced from said outer wall, the length of said inner wall axially of the closure being greater than the distance between said inner and outer walls at any point.

13. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top and a substantially cylindrical marginal skirt depending therefrom, said skirt having its bottom marginal portion turned inwardly and upwardly to form an inner wall connected to the outer wall of the skirt by a radially Patent No 2,120 61 6.

curved portion, said inner wall having a thread formed in it and having its top marginal portion bent outwardly and adapted to engage the cylindrical outer wall of the skirt to support the inner wall spaced from said outer wall, the said outwardly bent portion of the inner wall being spaced, axially of the closure, from the said radially curved connecting portion.

14. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top and a substantially cylindrical marginal skirt depending therefrom, said skirt having its bottom marginal portion turned inwardly and upwardly to form an inner wall connected to the outer wall of the skirt by a radially curved portion, said inner wall having a thread formed in it and having its top marginal portion bent outwardly into a radially curved portion, the free side 01 which is adapted to engage the cylindrical outer wall of the skirt to support the inner wall spaced from said outer wall, the said outwardly bent portion of the inner wall-being spaced, axially of the closure, from the said radially curved connecting portion.

AUGUSTUS L. MEROLLE.

June '11,, 19 8.

AUGUSTUS L. MEROLLE.

It is hereby certified that the above numbered issued to Empirelletal Cap 00., Inc.

in said invention, ventor, Augustus L.

New York, a corporation of New York one-half interest only, fice;

patent was erroneously as assigrlee of the entire interest whereas said patent shouldhavebeen issued to the in? Merol'le and Empire Metal Cap 00., Inc. of Brooklyn, said corporation being assignee of as shown by the record of assignments in this ofand. that the said Letters Patent shouldbe read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office Signed and sealed this 25rd day of Augu'st,'A. D. 19

(Seal) Leslie Frazer Acting Commissioner of Patents.

tion bent outwardly and adapted to engage the cylindrical outer wall of the skirt to support the inner wall spaced from said outer wall during the threading ope ation, the said outwardly bent portion of the inner wall being spaced, axially oi the closure, from the said radially curved con necting portion.

12. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top and a substantially cylindrical marginal skirt depending therefrom, said skirt having its bottom marginal portion turned inwardly and upwardly to form an inner wall, the said inner wall having a thread formed in it and having its top marginal portion bent outwardly and adapted to engage the outer wall of the skirt to support the inner wall spaced from said outer wall, the length of said inner wall axially of the closure being greater than the distance between said inner and outer walls at any point.

13. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top and a substantially cylindrical marginal skirt depending therefrom, said skirt having its bottom marginal portion turned inwardly and upwardly to form an inner wall connected to the outer wall of the skirt by a radially Patent No 2,120 61 6.

curved portion, said inner wall having a thread formed in it and having its top marginal portion bent outwardly and adapted to engage the cylindrical outer wall of the skirt to support the inner wall spaced from said outer wall, the said outwardly bent portion of the inner wall being spaced, axially of the closure, from the said radially curved connecting portion.

14. A single piece receptacle closure comprising a top and a substantially cylindrical marginal skirt depending therefrom, said skirt having its bottom marginal portion turned inwardly and upwardly to form an inner wall connected to the outer wall of the skirt by a radially curved portion, said inner wall having a thread formed in it and having its top marginal portion bent outwardly into a radially curved portion, the free side 01 which is adapted to engage the cylindrical outer wall of the skirt to support the inner wall spaced from said outer wall, the said outwardly bent portion of the inner wall-being spaced, axially of the closure, from the said radially curved connecting portion.

AUGUSTUS L. MEROLLE.

June '11,, 19 8.

AUGUSTUS L. MEROLLE.

It is hereby certified that the above numbered issued to Empirelletal Cap 00., Inc.

in said invention, ventor, Augustus L.

New York, a corporation of New York one-half interest only, fice;

patent was erroneously as assigrlee of the entire interest whereas said patent shouldhavebeen issued to the in? Merol'le and Empire Metal Cap 00., Inc. of Brooklyn, said corporation being assignee of as shown by the record of assignments in this ofand. that the said Letters Patent shouldbe read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office Signed and sealed this 25rd day of Augu'st,'A. D. 19

(Seal) Leslie Frazer Acting Commissioner of Patents.

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