US3690503A

US3690503A - Combined container and closure

Info

Publication number: US3690503A
Application number: US16739A
Authority: US
Inventors: John J Curry
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1970-03-05
Filing date: 1970-03-05
Publication date: 1972-09-12
Anticipated expiration: 1989-09-12

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a container of thermo-formed plastic material and a metallic closure, the closure being of a conventional construction and including a plurality of inwardly directed threads, the container having a body terminating in an upper end in a radially outwardly directed shoulder terminating in a downwardly directed peripheral skirt, the latter of which includes a plurality of vertical flutes, whereby upon the snap application of the closure to the container the flutes are deformed by the screw threads forming a self-threaded closure.

Description

United States Patent Curry [151 3,690,503 51 Sept. 12, 1972 [54] COMBINED CONTAINER AND CLOSURE [72] Inventor: John J. Curry, 2926Downing Ave.,

Westchester, 111. 60153 [22] Filed: March 5, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 16,739

[52] US. Cl. ..220/39 R, 215/43 R, 220/42 A, 220/74 [51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 41/04 [58] Field of Search ...220/42 A, 39 R, 74; 215/43 R; 85/32 V, 35; 264/242 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1968 Owen et a]. ..2l5/43 R X 8/1960 Suellentrop ..2l5/43 9/1970 Ehrbar et al ..220/74 Gronemeyer et al. ...220/42 A l'lolton..., ..85/35 Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Thomas C. Culp, Jr. Attorney-Diner, Brown, Ramik & Holt [57] ABSTRACT This disclosure relates to a container of thermofonned plastic material and a metallic closure, the closure being of a conventional construction and including a plurality of inwardly directed threads, the container having a body terminating in an upper end in a radially outwardly directed shoulder terminating in a downwardly directed peripheral skirt, the latter of which includes a plurality of vertical flutes, whereby upon the snap application of the closure to the container the flutes are deformed by the screw threads forming a self-threaded closure.

17 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures P'ATE'N'TEDSEP 12 I972 sum 1 or 2 \NVENTUR JOHN J. CURRY ATTORNEYS COMBINED CONTAINER AND CLOSURE A primary object of this invention is to provide a novel closure of a conventional construction and including a plurality of inwardly directed threads, the container having a body formed at an upper end with a radially outwardly directed shoulder terminating in a downwardly directed peripheral skirt, the outer neck finish of which includes a plurality of vertical flutes, whereby upon the snap application of the closure to the container the flutes are deformed by the screw threads forming a self-thread closure.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a peripheral skirt of a wall thickness sufficiently thin to permit the latter to yield under its inherent flexibility in a radial outward direction to facilitate the formation of relatively deep grooves across the flutes of the peripheral skirt.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more readily understood ,by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

IN THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a container constructed in accordance with this invention with a portion thereof broken away for clarity.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the container of FIG. 1 and more particularly illustrates the fluted or knurled periphery of the skirt.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of a conventional multi-threaded cap.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the assembled cap and container with a portion thereof broken for clarity, and illustrates the manner in which the threads of the cap form grooves in the flutes of the peripheral skirt.

FIG. 5 is a highly enlarged fragmentary sectional view of an upper portion of the container and an outer periphery of the cap, and more clearly illustrates the formation of one of the grooves in one of the knurls to form a self-formed helical thread permitting the cap to be removed by a conventional manual twisting operatron.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, a novel container constructed in accordance with this invention is generally designated by the reference numeral 10, and is preferably constructed from thermo-formed injection molded, blow molded, hot drawn, or similar forming process utilizing polyethylene, polystyrene or similar polymeric or copolymeric material. The container includes a generally cylindrical body 11 having at its upper end an open mouth 12. The upper end of the container body 11 includes a radially outwardly directed radius portion 13 terminating in a downwardly directed peripheral skirt 14 having a terminal edge 15. About the entire circumference of the peripheral skirt 14 are disposed a plurality of flutes, generally designated by the reference numeral 16 formed of lands and

valleys

17 and 18. The lands and valleys l7 and 18, respectively, are disposed perfectly vertically, but in accordance with this invention they may likewise be offset to the longitudinal axis of the container 10.

Referring particularly to FIG. 3, a metallic cap or closure generally designated by the reference numeral 20 includes an end panel 21, a peripheral skirt 22 and a radially outwardly upwardly and inwardly turned curl 23. The peripheral skirt 22 of the closure 20 includes a plurality of inwardly directed conventional threads 24.

As is best illustrated in FIG. 4, the closure or cap 20 is illustrated in assembled relationship upon the container 10. The diametric distance D is lesser than the diametric distance D1 between the lands l7. Therefore, when the cap 20 is merely pushed downwardly upon the peripheral skirt 14, the latter temporarily deflects inwardly as is illustrated in phantom outline in 'FIG. 5 of the drawing. At this time, the lands 17 of the flutes 16 are in forceful contact with the high side of the threads 24 and are slightly deformed. Due to the resilient reboundable nature of the material from which the container 10 is constructed the peripheral flange 14 is continually urged outwardly in the direction of the unnumbered headed arrow in FIG. 5 to be continually causing the material of the lands 17 to be depressed by the more rigid material of the threads 24. Due to this continual inherent force of the peripheral flange l4 tending to return to its nonnal position (FIG. 1) the lands 17 of the flutes 16 are progressively provided with grooves 25, as is shown in solid outline, in FIG. 5, thus forming self-threads 25 in the lands 17 of the flutes 16.

After the closure is applied, the material of the lands l7 flow into the grooves or valleys 18 and the material of the skirt 14 sets either gradually by aging or rapidly under heated conditions to make the self-threads 25 permanent.

When it is desired to eventually remove the closure 20, it is merely necessary to rotate the same manually in a conventional manner whereupon the grooves 25, due to the formation thereof into helical threads in the manner heretofore noted, permit the closure 20 to be readily removed and if desired re-applied by a similar twisting operation.

From the foregoing it should be readily noted that though the peripheral skirt 14 is initially devoid of helical threads 25, the same are inherently formed thereon due to the more rigid nature of the threads 24 and the reboundable nature of the peripheral skirt 14 which causes the progressive recession or compression of the plastic material to form the threads 25. Thus a special forming operation to create threads is unnecessary. Of course, if found necessary or desired sealing compound S may be provided or as an alternative a liner may be substituted therefor.

lclaim:

1. A container having a neck finish particularly adapted for interlocking engagement with threads of a closure, said neck finish being formed with circumferentially spaced and generally axially extending groove means for receiving material of said neck finish deflected by engagement of a closure thread therewith.

,2. The container of claim 1 wherein said neck finish is resiliently connected to the remainder of said container.

3. The container of claim 1 wherein said neck finish is formed on a separate skirt hingedly connected to and radially spaced from the remainder of said container.

4. The container of claim 3 wherein said skirt is axially coextensive with other portions of said container.

5. A combined container and closure comprising a container of a single piece construction having a neck finish, said neck finish being integral with and of the same material as said container, said neck finish being constructed from deformable material adapted to be self-threading upon the application of a closure thereto, said closure including an end panel and a peripheral skirt constructed from material less deformable than that of said neck finish, said peripheral skirt being internally threaded and being disposed in external telescopic relationship to said neck finish, and the threads of said closure being disposed in grooves formed by said threads bearing against and permanently deforming portions of said neck finish.

6. The combined container and closure as defined in claim 5 wherein said neck finish has a predetermined diameter which is greater than the diametric distance across said closure.

7. The combined container and closure as defined in claim 6 wherein said container neck finish is defined by a depending peripheral skirt in spaced relationship to a body wall of said container.

8. A method of forming a permanently self-threading container and closure comprising the steps of providing a container body of a single piece construction having a neck finish constructed from deformable material and having a predetermined exterior diameter, providing a closure having an end panel and an interiorly threaded peripheral skirt constructed from material deformable than that of said neck finish and having a diametrical distance across said threads less than said predetermined exterior diameter, and applying the clo sure to the neck finish with the peripheral skirt thereof in external telescopic relationship to the neck finish whereby the latter becomes permanently deformed and self-threaded due to forces applied thereagainst by the closure threads.

9. The method as defined in claim 8 including the less step of heating the neck finish to accelerate the selfthreading thereof.

10. A container of a single piece construction having a neck finish, said neck finish being integral with and of the same material as said container, said neck finish being of a predetermined original nondeformed exterior configuration, and permanently deformed means for forming permanent indentation means in portions of said neck finish exterior.

11. The combined container and closure as defined in claim 5 wherein said container is defined by a body wall in radially spaced relationship to a depending peripheral skirt, said depending peripheral skirt defines said neck finish, and an exterior surface of said depending peripheral skirt includes said grooves.

12. The combined container and closure as defined in claim 1 1 wherein an interior surface of said depending peripheral skirt is devoid of said grooves.

13. The combined container and closure as defined in claim 1 1 wherein said grooves are threaded.

14. The method as defined in claim 8 wherein the provided container body is formed to include a body wall in radially spaced relationship to a depending peripheral skirt which defines the neck finish, and an exterior surface of said depending peripheral skirt be m lf-threaded b he cl sure th ds.

T l ie container as d eiined in claim fs wherein the container is defined by a body wall in radially spaced relationship to a depending peripheral skirt, said depending peripheral skirt defines said neck finish, and an exterior surface of said depending peripheral skirt includes said grooves.

16. The combined container and closure as defined in claim 15 wherein an interior surface of said depending peripheral skirt is devoid of said grooves.

17. The combined container and closure as defined in claim 15 wherein said grooves are threaded.

Claims

2. The container of claim 1 wherein said neck finish is resiliently connected to the remainder of said container.

8. A method of forming a permanently self-threading container and closure comprising the steps of providing a container body of a single piece construction having a neck finish constructed from deformable material and having a predetermined exterior diameter, providing a closure having an end panel and an interiorly threaded peripheral skirt constructed from material less deformable than that of said neck finish and having a diametrical distance across said threads less than said predetermined exterior diameter, and applying the closure to the neck finish with the peripheral skirt thereof in external telescopic relationship to the neck finish whereby the latter becomes permanently deformed and self-threaded due to forces applied thereagainst by the closure threads.

9. The method as defined in claim 8 including the step of heating the neck finish to accelerate the self-threading thereof.

12. The combined container and closure as defined in claim 11 wherein an interior surface of said depending peripheral skirt is devoid of said grooves.

13. The combined container and closure as defined in claim 11 wherein said grooves are threaded.

14. The method as defined in claim 8 wherein the provided container body is formed to include a body wall in radially spaced relationship to a depending peripheral skirt which defines the neck finish, and an exterior surface of said depending peripheral skirt becomes self-threaded by the closure threads.

15. The container as defined in claim 10 wherein the container is defined by a body wall in radially spaced relationship to a depending peripheral skirt, said depending peripheral skirt defines said neck finish, and an exterior surface of said depending peripheral skirt includes said grooves.