WO1995014617A1

WO1995014617A1 - Screw closure made of moulded synthetic resin with tamperproof seal

Info

Publication number: WO1995014617A1
Application number: PCT/IT1994/000197
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bruno Taddei
Original assignee: Metalfin S.R.L.
Priority date: 1993-11-29
Filing date: 1994-11-25
Publication date: 1995-06-01
Also published as: ITFI930241A0; IT1271496B; AU1118995A; ITFI930241A1

Abstract

The side wall (1B) of the cap (1) has at least one circumscribed area (7) which is connected to the said wall by bridges (12, 12A and 10), at least one of which can be broken; in the said at least one circumscribed area (7) is formed an internal projection (14) which is designed to engage with the annular ridge (5C) on the neck (5) of the bottle or other article, in order to constitute the tamperproof seal.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Screw closure made of moulded synthetic resin with tamperproof seal

Technical Field

The invention relates to a screw closure made of moulded synthetic resin which forms a tamperproof seal, for bottles, flasks and other articles, of the type comprising a cap with an internal screw thread, a sealing arrangement with the edge of the threaded neck of the bottle or other article, and an internal projection designed to engage with an annular ridge on the neck of the bottle or other article, in order to constitute a stop which, as the screw closure is opened, becomes detached from it at easily broken connection points.

Disclosure of the Invention

In order to achieve the objects and advantages which are described in the following text, according to the invention, the side wall of the cap has at least one circumscribed area which is connected to the said wall by breakable bridges; in the said at least one circumscribed area is formed an internal projection which is designed to engage with the annular ridge on the neck of the bottle or other article, in order to constitute the tamperproof seal. As the cap is unscrewed, at least one of the said bridges is broken, and this will be clearly visible.

In the side wall of the cap there can be at least two of the said circumscribed areas, set a distance apart, and in particular two circumscribed areas in approximately diametrically opposite positions.

In practice, the or each of the said circumscribed areas is connected to the side wall of the cap by at least two tangential breakable bridges, and by at least one other optional longitudinal bridge. One of the said at least two tangential bridges, which is stressed when the cap is screwed on, is stronger than the other one, which is stressed when the cap is unscrewed and which is therefore the first - and usually the only one - of the tangential bridges to break.

The or each of the said circumscribed areas can have an approximately quadrilateral shape, in order to offer support, in the tangential direction.

The closure may comprise, beneath the said internal projections, an additional optional auxiliary projection which is designed to offer opposition to the abovementioned ridge on the neck of the bottle or other article, during the opening action and immediately after breakage of the seal. The said additional optional auxiliary projection can extend along and inside the entire side wall of the cap, optionally also in the said circumscribed area or areas.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will be more clearly understood by following the description and the attached drawing which shows a practical non-limiting example of the invention. In the drawing:

Fig. 1 shows a partial diametrical section through a screw closure cap according to the invention;

Fig. 2 shows an enlarged detail of Figure 1, indicated by the arrow II;

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 show local sections along III-III, IV-IV and V-V in Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 shows a perspective view from the inside of the specific area illustrated in Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 shows an external view in partial section of a modified form of the closure;

Fig. 8 is a section along VIII-VIII of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view from the inside of a specific area of the closure shown in Fig. 7;

Figs. 10, 11 and 12 show sections along X-X, XI-XI and XII-XII of Fig. 9;

Fig. 13 shows a closure of the type shown in Fig. 7, during opening. Detailed description of the preferred embodiment

With reference to the illustrations in Figs. 1 to 6 of the appended drawing, the numeral 1 generically indicates the cap of the closure, comprising a base IA and an approximately cylindrical side wall IB, inside which cap is formed the screw thread 3 designed to engage with the external screw thread 5A of the neck 5 of a bottle which is just visible in Fig. 1. An annular ridge 5C is also formed on the said neck 5, and is designed to engage with a sealing arrangement in order to constitute a tamperproof seal which can reveal if the closure has already been opened.

At present these tamperproof seals are produced along the terminal portion of the wall IB furthest from the base IA, which portion is in the shape of a ring forming a continuation of the wall IB and separated from it by a series of small fragile bridges; these bridges are not severed when the closure is screwed onto the bottle, but are broken when the closure is unscrewed in order to open the bottle or other article, because the ring as described above has an internal annular projection which offers opposition to the ridge 5C as the closure is unscrewed, causing the bridges to break and the closure to separate from the ring; the ring is retained on the neck of the bottle, while the closure is completely unscrewed and removed in order to consume the contents inside the bottle or other article.

As an alternative to the arrangement described above, the invention provides for there to be formed, in the wall IB of the closure cap, two opposite areas 7 - usually rectangular areas - which are delimited by relatively thin slits 9 which are crossed by at least two tangential bridges 12 and 12A and by an additional optional longitudinal bridge 10, as shown in the drawing; these bridges have a tendency to break easily on the screw thread 5A of the bottle neck as the closure is unscrewed to open it. Advantageously the bridge 12A, which is stressed as the cap is screwed on in the direction fV, is stronger than the other bridge 12, which is stressed during unscrewing of the cap. Preferably at least _vtwo of the said circumscribed areas 7 can be provided, in diametrically opposite positions on a diameter of the cap wall or, in any case, at a sufficient distance apart from one another. Inside each of the circumscribed areas 7, an internal projection 14 is provided which is designed to engage with the ridge 5C on the bottle neck in order to constitute the tamperproof seal. When the cap closure 1 is screwed onto the neck of the bottle in the direction fV, the projection or projections 14 get past the ridge 5C and reach the closure position beneath the said ridge. When the closure is opened - by rotating the said closure so as to unscrew it - the internal projections 14 force the ridge 5C and cause at least one or even two of the bridges 12, 12A, 10 to break, especially at least the weakest bridge 12, as a result of the friction and outward displacement exerted on the areas 7 as the projection 14 gets past the ridge 5C. In this way it is possible easily to check if the closure has been opened and therefore if the product has been tampered with. The area or each area 7 remains connected to the cap closure 1 by at least one of its bridges 12A and 10; no part of the closure itself is left around the bottle neck.

Advantageously, beneath the projections 14 and around the entire side wall IB of the closure cap 1 or at least along those portions of this wall which extend between the circumscribed areas 7, there is provided an additional auxiliary projection 16 which can come into contact with the ridge 5C as the closure cap 1 is unscrewed or otherwise moved in order to remove it from the bottle neck 5. The presence of this auxiliary projection makes it possible to prevent the closure from being released too easily and therefore to prevent the possible propulsion of the closure as a result of internal pressure, immediately after the start of the unscrewing action, precisely as a result of this opposition exerted by the auxiliary projection 16 on the ridge 5C of the bottle neck.

The closure according to the invention offers considerable advantages when compared with conventional closures of the type with tamperproof seals. Firstly, the manufacture of these closures is much less complex than those having a ring connected to the closure cap by means of a plurality of circumferentially distributed bridges because since even only one circumscribed area .7 or two diametrically opposite areas 7 are sufficient - they can be produced using only one or two slides which move apart radially, compared to the multiplicity of slides needed to produce caps with a separable ring of the conventional type. In contrast to conventional versions, no part of the closure is retained around the neck of the bottle since the conventional ring constituting the tamperproof arrangement of the closure is not left behind: on the contrary each part of the closure is removed, in other words, detached from the bottle; this makes it easier to recover the material from which the bottle is made. The closure does not break up when the bottle is opened as happens in conventional systems, because the or each of the circumscribed areas 7 can still remain connected by at least one of the bridges 10 and 12 to the closure cap and so it does not split up into two separate portions which can get discarded in the environment. In addition, the arrangement according-to the invention exerts a retaining force on the closure during and better still as soon as the user begins to unscrew the said closure, as a result of the presence of the additional projection 16 which affords a supplementary retaining force designed to prevent the accidental propulsion of the closure on account of internal pressure which sometimes accidentally builds up in the bottle or other article, and allows the built-up pressure to escape and therefore discharge before the closure is unscrewed any further, thereby avoiding the disadvantage mentioned above.

If any tampering has taken place, then this can easily be seen by examining the closure to check whether the circumscribed areas 7 have become detached and therefore are not in the position one would expect.

Other advantages will be self-evident to experts in the field. In the modified embodiment shown in Figs. 7 to 13 the same reference numerals increased by "100" denote parts corresponding to those of the example shown in Figs. 1 to 6, to the description of which reference is made.

In this modified embodiment, two opposite areas 107 delimited by slits 109 are provided in the wall 10IB and extend further around the circumference than the areas 7 of the previous example. The two areas 107 are connected to the wall 101B by two tangential bridges 112 and 112A (which in this embodiment are level with the lower edge of the wall 10IB) and by a certain number of small bridges 110 along the transverse section of the slits 109. A projection 114 (equivalent to the projection 14) is provided within the areas 107.

When the closure is unscrewed, the projection 114 comes up against the annular ridge (equivalent to 5C) of the neck of the bottle or flask (equivalent to 5) and causes the bridges 110 (see Fig. 13) and therefore one of the bridges 112 and 112A to detach.

It should be understood that the drawing merely shows an example given only as a practical demonstration of the invention, and that this invention may be varied, with respect to shapes and arrangements without .thereby, departing from the scope of the underlying principle of the invention itself. The presence of any reference numerals in the appended claims has the function of facilitating reading of the claims with reference to the description and to the drawing, and does not limit the scope of protection offered by the claims.

Claims

1. Screw closure made of moulded synthetic resin which forms a tamperproof seal, for bottles, flasks and other articles, comprising a cap (1) with an internal screw thread (IC), a sealing arrangement with the edge of the threaded neck of the bottle or other article, and an internal projection designed to engage with an annular ridge (5C) on the neck of the bottle or other article, in order to constitute a stop which, as the screw closure is opened, becomes detached from it at easily broken connection points, characterized in that the side wall (IB) of the cap (1) has at least one circumscribed area (7) which is connected to the said wall by breakable bridges (12) ; and in that in the said at least one circumscribed area (7) is. formed an internal projection (14) which is designed to engage with the annular ridge (5C) on the neck (5) of the bottle or other article, in order to constitute the tamperproof seal.

2. Closure according to Claim 1, characterized in that in the side wall (IB) of the cap (1) there are at least two of the said circumscribed areas (7), set a distance apart.

3. Closure according to Claim 2, characterized .in that two said circumscribed areas (7) are provided in approximately diametrically opposite positions.

4. Closure according to at least Claim 1, characterized in that the or each of the said circumscribed areas (7) is connected to the side wall (IB) of the cap (1) by at least two tangential breakable bridges (12, 12A) , and by another optional longitudinal bridge (10).

5. Closure according to Claim 4, characterized in that one of the said at least two bridges (12) , which is stressed when the cap is screwed on, is stronger than the other one, which is stressed when the cap is unscrewed.

6. Closure according to at least Claim 1, characterized in that the or each of the said circumscribed areas (7) has an approximately quadrilateral shape.

7. Closure according to at least Claim 1, characterized in that it comprises, beneath the said internal projections (14), an additional auxiliary projection (16) which is designed to offer opposition to the said ridge (5C) on the neck of the bottle or other article, during the opening action and after breakage of the seal.

8. Closure according to Claim 7, characterized in that the said additional auxiliary projection (16) extends along the entire side wall (IB) of the cap, optionally also in the said circumscribed area or areas (7) .

9. Closure according to at least Claim 1, characterized in that the bridges (112, 112A) are located approximately along the lower edge of the side wall (10IB).