WO2000030949A1

WO2000030949A1 - Container and cap with pouring hole

Info

Publication number: WO2000030949A1
Application number: PCT/CH1999/000539
Authority: WO
Inventors: Fritz Seelhofer
Original assignee: Createchnic Ag
Priority date: 1998-11-20
Filing date: 1999-11-15
Publication date: 2000-06-02
Also published as: AU1025700A

Abstract

According to the invention a twist-on cap (10) is fixed on a container (1) having a neck (3) presenting an outer thread (4). On one side of its envelope (11) the twist-on cap (10) has a lateral pouring hole (13) which is arranged in a spout (18). By moving the cap (10) in relation to the container (1) the cap can be moved into an open upper position or a lower closed position. In the open upper position a recess (7) in the neck (3) is aligned with the pouring hole (13) whereas in the lower closed position said pouring hole (13) is closed off by a thread-free area (8) of the container neck (3).

Description

Container and closure with spout

The present invention relates to a container with a container neck and a screw cap which fits thereon and which can be moved from a lower position to a higher position or vice versa by moving or rotating it in relation to the container neck, with the features of the preamble of patent claim 1.

Containers with a specially designed container neck and matching closures have long been known from the patent literature, but they have not been able to establish themselves on the market. The reasons for this are diverse.

For example, a container is known from FR-A-1 '555' 873, in the container neck of which a window is molded. The appropriate closure has a radially outward opening in the jacket wall, which can be brought into communicating connection with the window in the container neck. For the guidance of the thread-free closure, a guide link is provided in the jacket wall of the closure and a cam engaging in the link on the container neck. In addition, the closure with a sealing wall provided, which should also have a window that is aligned with the window in the jacket wall.

In principle, windows in the neck of the container cannot be produced with simple extrusion blow molding processes, but require very complex injection blow molding machines that require two-stage production. It may also be possible to design such machines with side pulls or sliders, but it is not known.

It is also technically impossible to manufacture the disclosed lock with two windows arranged one behind the other!

In contrast, EP-A-0 '304' 367 shows various embodiments with a pouring opening in the lid cover surface, but arranged outside the inner wall of the container neck. The material to be dosed flows through a cavity between the container neck and the lid. All solutions shown here have complex flow paths with at least two changes in flow direction. In addition, there are major sealing problems and the pouring position cannot be clearly determined. However, all solutions work with thread-free caps and containers, so that there is no upper and lower opening or closing position. A secure transport position cannot be achieved in this way. Such a closure with a rotating thread is shown in US-A-3'258'178. Here, the inner wall of the container neck is provided with an axially extending channel, which can be brought into alignment with a pouring spout arranged in the lid cover surface. This lock is open in the low lying position and closed in any different high position. However, this requires a closed, sprayed spout, which must be cut open after transport.

DE-A-3 '514' 132 has a screw cap with a spout in the jacket wall directed radially outwards. It is advantageous with this solution that no special shaping is required on the container neck, but this has the disadvantage that the closure has to be opened relatively far until a communicating opening is released. An exact pouring position is not necessary. There is no opening stop, which means that the closure can be screwed too high, so that the seal becomes ineffective.

Starting from the latter, the closest prior art, the applicant has set itself the task of creating a screw cap and container which has increased safety in operation and an improved seal. This object is achieved by a container with a container neck and a fitting thereon with the features of patent claim 1.

In the accompanying drawing, a solution according to the invention is shown and explained with the aid of the following description. It shows:

Figure 1 shows an upper container part with a partially cut container neck and an attached closure in the closed state completely in section;

FIG. 2 shows the same container with a partially cut container neck, but rotated by 90 ° with respect to FIG. 1, and again completely cut the same closure in the open position;

Figure 3 shows the position according to Figure 1 in a view, the pouring spout is directed to the side;

Figure 4 shows the same view as Figure 3, but showing both the container and the closure rotated by 90 °;

Figure 5 shows the upper part of the container with the correspondingly shaped container neck in a side view. There are no mandatory requirements regarding the choice of material. The container itself can be a bottle made of plastic, glass or metal. If the containers are designed as glass or plastic bottles, then the closure will preferably be made of plastic. However, if the container is made of metal, for example as a bottle made of an aluminum alloy, it is also possible to manufacture the closure from metal. But even in this case, a plastic closure could be used.

1 shows the top part of a bottle or a container 1 in a top view, while the bottle neck 3 is cut in the uppermost region. In the transition area of the container 1 from the shoulder to the bottle neck 3, a circumferential collar is provided as a stop bead 2. However, this is not mandatory for the function. A single-thread or multi-thread 4 with a trapezoidal cross section is arranged on the bottle neck 3. The choice of thread 4 is practically unlimited. For the function, it is only advantageous to choose a thread with a relatively large pitch. It is thereby achieved that the closure 10 can be brought from the closed position into the open pouring position with only a quarter or half a turn. Regarding the exact design of the bottle neck 3 used here, reference is made to the Figure 5 referenced. Compared to conventional containers with a bottle neck, which is designed for rotary closures, the thread-free area 8 remaining relatively long above the thread 4 is unusual. This thread-free area 8 is divided here by a circumferential annular groove 5 arranged on the outside. Above this annular groove 5 there remains a cylindrical part which serves as the sealing area 6 of the bottle neck. In the example shown, this sealing area 6 is broken through by a rectangular recess 7. This recess on the bottle neck extends in the axial direction from the upper edge 9 to the annular groove 5. The width of the recess 7 can in principle be as desired.

The arrangement of the recess 7 as a stepped recess on the bottle neck edge 9 is certainly the most sensible arrangement in terms of production technology, but it is of course also possible to arrange the recess 7 as a real window in the bottle neck. For reasons of sealing technology, however, the recess 7, even if it is designed as a window, should be arranged in the thread-free region 8. The annular groove 5, which mainly serves as a stopper, is not absolutely necessary. For this purpose, certain twisting stops can also be provided underneath the thread 4, as are known in various embodiments from the prior art.

The closure shown here is a twist lock with a cylindrical shape. The jacket wall 11 has in the lower Area an internal thread 14 and has a larger diameter than the upper part 11 of the closure, which surrounds the thread-free area 8 of the bottle neck. The upper closure part 11 with the reduced diameter is designed as a pure sealing part and lies in an at least approximately sealing fitting position on the upper thread-free container neck part 8. The jacket wall 11 is closed at the top by a cover surface 12. The design of the top surface has no influence on the function of the closure. On the inside of the top surface 12 there is an inner annular sealing wall 16 which runs concentrically to the jacket wall. This results in a relatively deep annular sealing groove 20. In order to increase the sealing effect, the annular sealing groove 20 can also be made slightly conical towards the closed end. At the bottom of the sealing groove 20, an annular sealing lip 21 will advantageously be attached, which rests on the end face of the bottle neck when the surface is pressed. In the embodiment shown here, an approximately radially arranged pouring opening 13 is provided. The pouring opening 13 can also be designed as a slightly upward or downward spout. In particular if the pouring opening is inclined downwards, such a closure is extremely suitable for injecting toilet cleaning agents under a protruding edge, if at the same time the container head is held down and the contents are pressed out by pressure on the container 1. In the example shown, that is Spout opening 13 surrounded by an extremely short spout 18. In principle, the pouring spout 18 can also be shaped considerably longer.

The inner, annular sealing wall 16 has a recess 17 which is arranged in direct alignment with the pouring opening 13 in the jacket wall 11. In the figure 1, this recess 17 is not visible in the sealing wall 16 because it lies in front of the cutting plane. The thread-free area 11 'of the jacket wall 11 is delimited at the lower edge by an annular retaining bead 15. This annular retaining bead 15 interacts with the annular groove 5 on the bottle neck 3. Ring groove 5 and ring-shaped retaining bead 15 act as a conditional height stop and thus guarantee correct positioning during use. If the closure 10 is rotated from the position shown in FIG. 1 here by 180 °, the height according to FIG. 2 is reached and the annular retaining bead 15 engages in the annular groove 5. This is clearly noticeable to the user. Due to the arrangement of the thread, this height also corresponds to a defined angular position, so that it is ensured that in this position the pouring opening 13 comes to lie exactly in front of the recess 7 in the bottle neck 3. Since the recess 17 in the sealing wall 16 is always flush with the pouring opening 13, the free passage of the material from the container 1 through the container neck 3, the recess 17 and the recess 7 in the bottle neck results in the upper position the pouring opening 13 to the outside. The pouring opening 13 is automatically closed when the screw cap is screwed on. On the one hand, the recess 7 shifts in the bottle neck in the radial direction relative to the pouring opening 13, and on the other hand the bottle neck now shifts into the sealing groove 20 and is finally finally closed practically gas-tight by the sealing lip 21. However, the annular retaining bead 15 also contributes to the seal. This ring-shaped retaining bead 15 is displaced downward over the unthreaded region 8 to the thread hm when the screw cap is screwed on. Since this area has a larger cross-section than the annular groove 5, the annular retaining bead 15 now lies in a sealing manner on the neck 3 of the container with increased pressure. The area above the annular groove 5 is in turn provided with a slightly larger diameter, so that this area 6, as the sealing area of the bottle neck, lies sealingly against the inside of the jacket wall 11 in the area 11 'thereof. This ensures that practically no material gets into the actual sealing groove 20. Thanks to these precautions, the closure remains clean even after repeated use.

Thanks to the configuration described, a container and closure that are easy to manufacture are made possible. Its sealing properties are excellent even after repeated use. This is achieved thanks to the double sliding seal on the one hand between the thread-free container neck outer surface and the thread-free inner jacket wall inner surface, which is tapered with respect to the jacket wall area and also through the sealing wall 16 on the screw cap 10, which rests in the container neck 3. In the particularly delicate open position, the locking means consisting of an annular groove 5 on the container neck and by the annular bead 15 on the twist lock is also implemented as a positive seal. An entry of liquid into the thread area is practically impossible.

Claims

claims

1.container with a container neck with an external thread and a matching screw cap, which has an internal thread and a pouring opening which is at least approximately radially outward in the jacket wall and which is arranged above the internal thread and the container neck has a thread-free cylindrical region arranged above its external thread, wherein the twist lock has an inner cylindrical sealing wall, which bears sealingly against the inner wall of the container neck, so that by rotating the twist lock, the pouring opening in the closing jacket wall from a closed deep position into a higher open position, in which the pouring opening communicates with the interior of the container neck can be brought, characterized in that the container neck has a step-shaped recess in the upper thread-free edge region and the screw cap in the cylindrical sealing wall has a step-shaped, upward from the lower edge extending recess, and that furthermore the jacket wall of the twist lock above the internal thread has a thread-free area 11 with a reduced diameter, which sealingly rests as a sliding seal on the thread-free area (8) of the container neck (3), while at the same time the cylindrical sealing wall (16) the inner surface of the The neck of the container slides smoothly and that an annular groove (5) is arranged in the outer surface of the container neck below the recess (7) and an annular bead (15) on the twist lock (10) which closes off the thread-free area 11 tapered in diameter at the bottom, so that a defined latching opening position is given, in the engagement of the annular groove (5) and the annular bead (15) an additional seal is formed in this position with respect to the thread.

2. Container and screw cap according to claim 1, characterized in that the pouring opening is designed as a spout (18).

3. Container and screw cap according to claim 2, characterized in that the spout (18) is inclined radially outwards and inclined to the longitudinal axis of the container neck upwards or downwards.

4. Container and screw cap according to claim 1, characterized in that between the thread-free jacket wall

(11) and the cylindrical sealing wall (16) on the top surface (12) an annular sealing lip (21) directed downwards. Container and screw cap according to claim 1, characterized in that the annular groove (5) on the step-shaped recess (7) is then arranged.