US3793800A

US3793800A - Crowning die

Info

Publication number: US3793800A
Application number: US00317953A
Authority: US
Inventors: J Sexton
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-12-26
Filing date: 1972-12-26
Publication date: 1974-02-26
Anticipated expiration: 1991-02-26

Abstract

A crowning die for use in bottle crowning apparatus defines a number of concentric throat surfaces of successively smaller diameters for forming a resealable, twist-off crown on a bottle in a single axial movement onto the bottle.

Description

United States Patent 11 1 Sexton 1 CROWNING DIE [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: Peter J. Bevlaqua, Beaumont, Tex.

' a part interest James P. Sexton, Beaumont, Tex.

[22] Filed: Dec. 26,- 1972 [2]] Appl. No.: 317,953

52 us. c1. 53/341 51 Int. 01 B6 7b 3/12 [58] Field of Search..... 53/341, 331, 359, 342, 343,

[56] I References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,835,990 12/1931 Lebherzu 53/341 Feb. 26, 1974 6/1962 Thomas et a1. 53/331 X Primary Examiner-Travis Sl McGehee Attorney, Agent, or Firm--Rodney K. Caldwell 5 7] ABSTRACT A crowning die for use in bottle crowning apparatus defines a number of concentric throat surfaces of successively smaller diameters for forming a resealable, twist-off crown on a bottle in a single axial movement onto the bottle.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEB 2 61974 FIG. I

FIGS

F/as

CROWNING DIE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to apparatus for crowning bottles, and, more particularly, to a crowning die for forming a resealable, twist-off crown on a bottle.

Twist-off crowns have become quite popular in many applications, replacing the older style of pull-off crown which was simply crimped over a locking ring on the bottle neck. One feature accounting for the popularity of the twist-off crowns is that they may be removed from bottles without the use of a conventional bottle opener apparatus. This twist-off feature is obtained by replacing the bottle necks conventional locking ring with threads. Simple twist-off crowns may be formed on such bottles from crown blanks similar to those used for pull-off crowns, using basically the same bottle crowning apparatus.

The seal achieved in applying either a pull-off or simple twist-off crown to a bottle occurs over a substantially flat, annular area at the bottle mouth. While the twist-off crowns may be reapplied to a bottle more tightly than the pull-off crowns, the simple twist-off crowns were not intended to provide a resealable closure and usually cannot be sufficiently tightened by hand to provide the degree of gas-tight seal necessary to prevent carbonated beverages from going flat in a short time. Consequently, the simple twist-off crowns have found their greatest popularity in connection with single-serving sized bottles, where resealability is not a major consideration.

The demand for bottles having a resealable, twist-off crown has been greatest with respect to large, multiserving bottles of carbonated beverages, particularly soft drinks and beer. Bottle and bottling equipment manufacturers now provide bottles, crowns, and crowning apparatus for producing resealable, twist-off crowns. However, bottlers desiring to provide their customers with products bottled in bottles having resealable, twist-off crowns have heretofore been required to purchase new bottle crowning apparatus at substantial cost, as the conventional crowners designed for pull-off and simple twist-off crowns were not suited to forming resealable, twist-off crowns. A large amount of bottling apparatus is presently in use in applications where rescalable, twist-off crowning is desired, but the high cost of new bottling apparatus cannot be justified.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION enlargements of the crown supply portions of thecrowners and are not a part of the present invention.

The crowning dies of this invention have a number of concentric throats, or die surfaces, adjacent one another. These die throats have successively smaller diameters for contacting the crown blank to form a resealable, twist-off crown as the die is moved along its axis onto the neck of a bottle adapted to receive such a crown.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a simple crowning die for forming resealable, twist-off crowns, on bottles adapted to receive the same, in a single axial movement onto such bottles.

It is another object of the present invention to pro .vide a crowning die for use in conventional bottle crowning apparatus for production of resealable, twistoff crowns on bottles adaptedto receive the same.

A further object of this invention is to provide a crowning die including a number of concentric throats, or die surfaces, adjacent one another and having successively smaller diameters for contacting and forming a crown blank into a resealable, twist-off crown on a bottle in a single axial movement of the die onto the bottle neck.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the. present invention will be apparent from the following detailed 'description, taken in connection with the appended claims and the attached drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional view of one embodiment of a crowning die in accordance with the present invention, illustrating an arrangement of the concentric throat die surfaces thereof.

FIG. 2 is a partial bottom plan view of the embodi- I ment illustrated by FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3-5 illustrate the formation of a resealable, twist-off crown on a bottle by the crowning die illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 6 is a partial cut away illustration of a bottle having a resealable, twist-off crown formed thereon by a crowning die in accordance with the present invention, as illustrated by FIGS. 3-5.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Resealable, twist-off crowns may be formed on bottles having a generally cylindrical seat adjacent the bottle mouth and above a threaded region on the bottle neck. The crowns are formed on the bottles and include an inner generally cylindrical seat corresponding to that of the bottle to provide a substantially gas-tight seal. When the crown is reapplied to the bottle, these two seating surfaces reengage and are again brought into good seating relationship. The presence of corresponding screw threads on the crown and the bottle neck readily enables the application of sufficiently high forces between the two seats to maintain a satisfactory seal between the crown and the bottle.

Resealable, twist-off crown blanks differ from pulloff and simple twist-off crown blanks in that the resealable blanks have a longer skirt, or flared, crimped edge. The longer skirt is necessitated by inclusion of the generally cylindrical seating surface between the threads ing a body formed by rotation of a closed figure about an axis. A bottom face or die surface is indicated by reference numeral 1. Extending from the bottom surface 1 is a first generally cylindrical throat region, or die surface, 2. Extending from this first throat surface is a second throat surface 3 of frustoconical configuration with a diameter decreasing in the direction away from the first surface. A third throat surface 4, also of frustoconical configuration and having a decreasing diameter in the direction away from the first surface, extends from the second throat surface 3. The slope of the third throat surface 4 is quite small, approaching a cylinder, and is substantially less than the slope of the second throat surface 3.

A final throat surface 6 of the crowning die is generally cylindrical in configuration and has a diameter less than the smallest diameter of the third frustoconical throat surface 4. A fourth, or penultimate, throat surface defines a sloping shoulder between the third throat surface 4 and the fifth, or final, throat surface 6. An annular top surface 7 extends between the final throat surface 6 and the other periphery of the die 10. The throat surfaces 2-6 defined by the die 10 are concentric. Although' each of the throat surfaces 2-6 of FlGS. l and 2 is defined by the rotation of a straight line about the die axis, it will be appreciated that the throats may be slightly curved if desired. With use, the relatively sharp junctions between adjacent throat surfaces will tend to wear smooth.

The die surfaces 1-6 of the die member may be of any suitably hard, wear resistant material, such as stainless steel, which will provide a good operating life. The

exterior configuration and dimensions of the die may vary, depending on the bottle crowning apparatus in which it is to be installed, although the die will typically be on the order of two and one-fourth inches in diameter and one inch in height.

Unlike crowning dies used for forming pull-off and simple twist-off crowns, which include a. single, smoothly sloping throat for crimping crowns onto bottles, the dimensional tolerances of crowning dies in accordance with the present invention are extremely important. This importance will be more readily appreciated by reference to the operational description below, but it is apparent that if the third or the final throat surfaces of the die are too small, bottle damage will result during crowning. If the diameters of these surfaces are too large, neither good threads nor effective seating areas can be formed inthe crowns. Small variations in relative dimensions are accommodated by a thin, commonly preformed layer of flexible material, for example polyethylene, provided on the inner surface of the crowns and which serves as a gasket between the crown and the bottle, but the range of variation within which a satisfactory seal may be formed is small. The absolute values of the die throat dimensions will, of course, be understood to be a function of the dimensions of the bottles and of the thickness of the crowns to be formed by the die.

It will be appreciated that the number and specific configuration of the throat regions of crowning dies in accordance with the present invention may vary from the embodiment illustrated herein. However, the third throat surface 4 must be substantially cylindrical and have a diameter only slightly greater than that of the bottle neck in order to form good threads in the crown. Similarly, the final throat surface 6 must be generally cylindrical in order to form the seat in the crown for mating with the generally cylindrical seatof the bottle.

The relative locations of the bottles seating surface and threads dictate that the slope of the dies penultimate throat surface 5 approximate a shoulder. It will further be appreciated that the overall height of the die is limited by the requirement that interference between the bottom of the die and the top of the bottle be avoided when the die is sufficiently onto the bottle to fully form the crown.

In one embodiment, a crowning die in accordance with the present invention was machined from a single piece of steel bar stock for use with a CEM-3-2O bottling machine manufactured by Crown Cork and Seal Company. This die had an outer diameter of about 2-5/64 inches and an outer height of about thirteen/sixteenths inch for interchangeability with the conventional, tapered-throat CEM crowning die. A first cylindrical throat surface had an inside diameter of about 1.350 inches and a depth of about 0.1 inches. A second frustoconical throat surface, having a greatest diameter equal to that of the first throat region, tapered from the first throat to a diameter of about 1.150 inches over a height of about 0.3 inches, or a slope of about 0.3 inches per inch along the edge. A third frustoconical throat surface extended from the preceeding surface and further tapered to a diameter of 1.140 inches over an additional height of about 0.25 inches, producing a slope of about 0.02 inches per inch. The penultimate throat surface tapered over a height of about 0.05 inches to the final throat, which had a cylindrical configuration with an inside diameter of about 1.00 inches.

The foregoing die was installed in a CEM-3-20 hottling machine which had been further modified in the area of the crown feed dial of the crown hopper, the crown chute, and the crown platform for accomplishing delivery of the longer skirted crowns from the hopper to the proper location for crowning. Slight modifications were also made to the pressure foot of the crowner assembly. in tests of this slightly modified CEM-3-20 bottling machine, the above described crowning die operated satisfactorily under normal production conditions to form resealable,. twist-off crowns on standard half gallon bottles designed to receive such crowns.

Although the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is machined from a single piece of steel bar stock, it will be appreciated that the die may be formed of a number of segments held together by an outer compressive band, by laminating a number of flat, annular elements, or by other techniques well known in the mechanical arts.

In Operation In operation, a crown blank C suitable for forming into a resealable, twist-off crown is placed over the mouth of a bottle B adapted to receive the same as shown in FIG. 3. The crown blank initially rests on the mouth of the bottle, and may be held in place by a pressure foot (not shown) extending through the central opening in the crowning die. The deformable gasket material forming the inner surface of the crown is designated by reference character G. As the crowning die is moved along its axis onto the neck of the bottle, the die makes initial contact with the skirt of the crown.

With further movement of the die onto the bottle, the crown skirt is moved toward the bottle neck, as shown in FIG. 4. As the crowning die moves still further onto the bottle neck, the second and third throat surfaces in turn press-the crimped skirt further against the bottle neck to form corresponding threads in the crown. Note that the outermost crimped portion of the crown skirt is generally parallel to the axis of the die, and the threads formed in the crown are in its inner crimped portion, which has been deformed outwardly by the threads of the bottle.

As the crowning die moves to the limit of its intended travel onto the bottle neck, the penultimate throat surface Sand final throat surface 6 contact the crown and form a generally cylindrical seat S therein, as illustrated in FIG. 5, corresponding to the generally cylindrical seat S at the mouth of the bottle. The die is then withdrawn along its axis, leaving the crowned bottle as illustrated in FIG. 6. The corresponding generally cylindrical seats in the bottle and the crown, respectively, pro vide the resealability feature in the combination.

Crowning dies in accordance with the present invention are particularly adapted for use with existing, conventional bottle crowning apparatus, replacing the smooth throated crowning dies used in forming pull-off and simple twist-off crowns. Accordingly, crowning dies in accordance with the present invention enable bottlers to provide their customers with products in bottles having resealable, twist-off crowns without the necessity for replacing their present bottling apparatus.

It is to be understood that the above described embodiments of this invention are merely illustrative of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size, and arrangement of die surfaces may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A crowning die for forming a crown blank having a crimped skirt into a resealable, twist-off crown on a bottle having a threaded neck and a generally cylindrical seat on the neck above the threads and adjacent the mouth of the bottle by a single movement of said die onto the bottle, comprising a toroidal die member defining a plurality of concentric throat die surfaces of successively smaller diameters in a direction away from the bottle, including:

a first throat surface having a diameter intermediate the diameters of the crown skirt and the bottle neck for contacting and moving the crown skirt toward the bottle neck as said die moves onto the bottle neck;

a final throat surface having a diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the seat on the bottle neck for forming a mating seat in the crown to provide a substantially gas-tight, resealable seal with the seat on the bottle as said die moves onto the bottle neck;

at least one intermediate throat surface extending between said first and final throat surfaces for moving the crown skirt firmly against the bottle neck to form corresponding threads in the crown; and

a penultimate throat surface approximating a shoulder between said final throat surface and the intermediate throat surface closest to said final throat surface.

2. A crowning die as recited in claim 1, including first and second frustoconical intermediate throat surfaces extending between said first throat surface and said penultimate throat surface, said first intermediate throat surface contacting and moving the crown skirt toward the bottle neck and said second intermediate throat surface moving the crown skirt firmly against the bottle neck to form threads in the crown as said die moves onto the bottle neck.

3. A crowning die as recited in claim 2, wherein the slope of said first frustoconical intermediate throat surface is about 0.3 inches per inch and the slope of said second frustoconical intermediate throat surface is about 0.02 inches per inch.

Claims

1. A crowning die for forming a crown blank having a crimped skirt into a resealable, twist-off crown on a bottle having a threaded neck and a generally cylindrical seat on the neck above the threads and adjacent the mouth of the bottle by a single movement of said die onto the bottle, comprising a toroidal die member defining a plurality of concentric throat die surfaces of successively smaller diameters in a direction away from the bottle, including: a first throat surface having a diameter intermediate the diameters of the crown skirt and the bottle neck for contacting and moving the crown skirt toward the bottle neck as said die moves onto the bottle neck; a final throat surface having a diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the seat on the bottle neck for forming a mating seat in the crown to provide a substantially gas-tight, resealable seal with the seat on the bottle as said die moves onto the bottle neck; at least one intermediate throat surface extending between said first and final throat surfaces for moving the crown skirt firmly against the bottle neck to form corresponding threads in the crown; and a penultimate throat surface approximating a shoulder between said final throat surface and the intermediate throat surface closest to said final throat surface.