WO2004089773A1

WO2004089773A1 - Device for sealing a recipient and recipient comprising one such device

Info

Publication number: WO2004089773A1
Application number: PCT/BE2004/000052
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jean-Pierre Van Camp
Original assignee: Belgian Diagnostic Company S.A.
Priority date: 2003-04-10
Filing date: 2004-04-08
Publication date: 2004-10-21
Also published as: BE1015467A5; EP1611022A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for sealing a recipient such as a feeding bottle, and to an arrangement consisting of a recipient provided with one such device. The arrangement is characterised in that the tear band (5) which extends the lower part of the skirt (2) of the sealing cap (1) is provided with a semi-circular inner annular projection (11) for co-operating with an engaging ring (14) on the periphery of the neck (12) of the recipient (13), said ring having an incurved incline (15), a linear incline (16), an edge (17) and a lower face (18). The invention is also characterised in that the bottom (4) of the transversal wall (3) of the cap is provided with a seal (8) which, without being incurved, is held adjacent to said bottom by means of at least two lugs (10) located at a free distance from the bottom (4), said distance being equal to the thickness of the seal (8).

Description

DEVICE FOR CAPPING A CONTAINER AND PROVIDED CONTAINER

OF SUCH A DEVICE The present invention relates, in general, to a device for capping a container. More specifically, the invention relates to a device for capping a container such as a bottle body, of the type comprising a circular cap having a transverse wall provided with a bottom and a side skirt, internally threaded, the lower part of which extended by a tamper-evident ring connected to said skirt by breakable connecting bridges.

Disposable containers are already known containing an oral preparation consisting of a bottle forming a bottle body and a teat packaged in separate packaging. This nipple is intended to be fixed to the neck of the bottle, before use, in replacement of a cap originally sealing the bottle.

Such containers intended for feeding babies or young children find certain use on various occasions, in particular in all circumstances where it becomes very difficult or almost impossible to ensure complete sterilization of a traditional multi-use bottle. A container of this type has been described for example in patent application WO 95/24178. This container consisting essentially of a bottle forming a bottle body is, at the level of its neck, surmounted by a cap provided with a tamper-evident ring, the whole screwed onto this neck. This ring which is formed of a ring enclosing the neck in question under its threaded portion is connected to the cap by a number of bridges capable of breaking during unscrewing. In addition, the ring in question is slightly larger in diameter than the edges of the thread so that the ring cannot escape over the threaded portion.

Such an assembly, bottle body and cap with tamper-evident ring, is intended to contain essentially sparkling water and can be sterilized for example by UV rays.

However, an assembly of this type could not be envisaged for the sterilization of a milk drink, for example milk, by means of a pasteurization process, the seal offered by the closure device not being sufficient during the implementation of such a process.

On the other hand, there has been reported in patent application FR 2825350, a cap to be screwed onto a container, this cap comprising a transverse wall, an annular skirt and a tamper-evident ring connected to the skirt by frangible bridges. As described, this stopper is provided with a seal formed by several juxtaposed layers, of diameter substantially equal to the inside diameter of the skirt of the cap and placed at the bottom of the stopper near the transverse wall. This seal, which is substantially flat or slightly curved towards the end part of the annular skirt, is held at the bottom of the cap by notches protruding from this skirt and located towards the end part thereof linked to the transverse wall.

Such a closure system can have drawbacks due in particular to the complexity of producing the seal formed at least five layers, that is to say two outer layers of polyolefin resin, a middle layer with a barrier effect. to gases and between the middle layer and each outer layers, a bonded polyethylene layer.

The present invention aims to provide a closure device comprising a cap provided with a tamper-evident ring which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art in particular by providing, after fixing by screwing on a container like body of baby bottle, a simple and inexpensive assembly, this assembly being on the one hand endowed with a sufficient seal so that the container pre-filled with a milk drink can undergo without damage a pasteurization process, on the other hand formed constituents easily destructible in complete safety and finally capable of being brought to the microwave oven for the heating of its contents.

To achieve this goal, the closure device of the type indicated above is characterized in that the bottom of the transverse wall is provided with a circular seal, with a diameter equal to the inside diameter of the cap at the bottom of its wall. transverse, this joint being kept juxtaposed, preferably without curving, to said bottom by at least two lugs projecting from the internal face of the skirt of the cap and located at a free distance from the bottom of the transverse wall equal to or substantially equal to the thickness of the seal.

The tamper-evident ring extending the skirt of the cap is internally provided with an annular projection, the underside of which is devoid of sharp angles but, on the contrary, extends, starting from the side skirt, bending in the direction of the transverse wall. In particular, the upper and lower faces of this annular projection deviate from the side skirt in together forming a semi-circular or substantially semi-circular curvature.

In the context of the present description as well as in the claims, the expressions “upper face” or “lower face” in relation to the annular projection designate respectively a closest face or a farthest face, one and the other. other towards the transverse wall of the cap. As for the seal, this generally monolayer usually comprises two flat, parallel and circular faces connected by an edge of an appropriate thickness to ensure the desired seal, usually a thickness equal to or substantially equal to 1 mm.

Concretely and for efficiency, the pins projecting from the internal face of the skirt of the cap are located between said bottom and the start of the tapping. The closure device according to the invention can be installed on any container provided with a threaded neck engaging with the internal thread of the skirt of the cap, in particular on a bottle of the bottle body type, preferably such a disposable bottle or for use unique. Consequently, another object of the invention relates to an assembly formed by a closure device according to the invention and a container provided with an externally threaded cylindrical neck intended to come into engagement with the internal thread of the side skirt of the cap and a hooking ring formed in the lower part of this neck, characterized in that the tamper-evident ring is internally provided with an annular projection whose upper and lower faces deviate from the skirt lateral of said ring by forming a semi-circular or substantially semi-circular curvature, said annular projection being intended to cooperate with the hooking ring comprising an upper face: a) which moves away from the neck in a normal manner to the longitudinal axis of the closure device then bends until it forms an acute angle with respect to the normal to this longitudinal axis, or b) which moves away from the neck while bending until it forms an acute angle with respect to normal to the longitudinal axis of the closure device. In particular, and according to a preferred characteristic of the invention, the upper face of the hooking ring moves away from the neck of the container first along a curved slope towards the body of the container then in a linear slope which forms an acute angle with the normal to the longitudinal axis of the capping device, and which optionally bends in an edge parallel or substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis, the linear slope or the edge catching on the lower face normal or substantially normal to said longitudinal axis. In particular, the annular projection is intended to bear under the attachment ring in question, the latter, usually being of thickness greater than that of the thread formed at the neck of the container. In the context of the present description as well as in the claims, the expressions “upper face” or “lower face” in relation to the attachment ring respectively denote a closest face or a farthest face, the one and the other towards the circular edge of the container neck. The establishment, on the neck of the container, of the cap provided with the tamper-evident ring being effected by forced insertion and screwing, the attachment ring and the annular projection are configured, accordingly and according to the invention , so as to facilitate this installation while limiting the risks of fraudulent withdrawal by unscrewing.

In addition, the sealing of the closure device between the transverse wall of the cap and the circular edge of the neck of the container is ensured by simple pressure effect on the seal, so that an increase in contact surface between this seal and the edge of the container neck can only strengthen the desired seal. In order to increase the contact surface between the edge of the neck in question and the seal, the circular edge of the neck of the container is slightly flattened until it extends towards the inside of said neck in an annular overflow. Generally the measurement of the width of this annular overflow does not exceed the measurement of the thickness of the neck. Furthermore, this neck which has an outer face provided with projections generated by the thread and the hooking ring has an uniformly cylindrical inner face so that the thickness of the neck varies in its portion between the start of the thread and the line. junction between the neck and the underside of the attachment ring.

However, according to a particular and preferred implementation, the thickness of the neck of the container in its portion between the start of the external thread and the junction line with the underside of the hooking ring is constant or substantially constant. With respect to the longitudinal axis of the neck of the container, the difference between the distance from any point on the external face of the neck and its corresponding on the internal face of said neck is therefore constant or substantially constant.

From this feature, results the presence of a first groove or helical rib and a second circular groove, formed from the inner face of the neck and located at the height of the external thread and the hooking ring and whose concave profile substantially matches the convex profile of the thread and the ring.

These ribs make it possible to avoid an unnecessary surplus of material without weakening the solidity of the neck of the container, which constitutes an undeniable advantage when this container is of the type to be discarded or for single use.

The closure device according to the invention in its part represented by the cap provided with the tamper-evident ring and the connecting bridges, usually comes from injection molding. It can be made from one or more thermoplastic materials, generally olefin polymers or copolymers, compatible with food contact, offering both the necessary rigidity in its part constituted by the skirt and the transverse wall of the cap but also sufficient elasticity at the level of the tamper-evident ring and the breakable bridges so as to ensure, with a reduced risk of tearing, easy installation of this device on the neck of the container. By way of examples, polymers or copolymers of ethylene, in particular a high density polyethylene can be used.

In the case of an assembly according to the invention, the container of which is of the bottle body type intended to receive a milk drink such as milk, these thermoplastic materials, in particular a high density polyethylene, will offer the additional advantage of providing good resistance to pressures generated by a pasteurization process and to allow use where the presence of microwaves occurs. Likewise, the seal is generally formed from a flexible material endowed with an appropriate crushing power and offering good resistance at relatively high temperatures.

Usually, this seal is designed from a material of the elastomer type compatible with food use or contact, preferably from a synthetic resin of the silicone type which, moreover, does not promote any particular migration in the contents of the container and does not give rise to toxic by-products when. from an incineration.

Finally, the container, meanwhile, usually comes from blowing when the neck, in its portion between the start of the thread and the junction line between the neck and the underside of the hooking ring is of constant thickness and injection blowing otherwise. This container is formed from one or more thermoplastic materials compatible with food use. These are flexible and heat-resistant materials, usually olefin polymers or copolymers, in particular for microwave heating of the contents of container. As such, polypropylene constitutes a preferred material, all the more so that after use, it can be destroyed by incineration without fear of the appearance of toxic by-products. The invention will be better understood and other objects, characteristics and advantages thereof will appear more clearly during the explanatory description which follows, made with reference to the schematic drawings given solely by way of examples illustrating embodiments of the invention and in which:

FIG. 1 shows a front view, half in section, half in external view, of the closure device according to the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a schematic front and partial section of an assembly formed by the closure device according to the invention positioned on the neck of a container,

FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view of the attachment ring projecting from the neck of a container,

• Figure 4 shows a section of the cap along line A-A in Figure 1.

Thus, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the plugging device made of plastic material, for example high density polyethylene, designated as a whole by the reference 1, is noted, namely a cap formed by a side skirt 2 and a transverse wall 3 which has a bottom 4. This skirt 2 is extended by a tamper-evident ring 5, the base of the skirt and the upper part of the ring being connected by connecting bridges 6 separated by visible peripheral slots 7 in FIG. 1. These bridges, which in fact constitute a connection zone of low mechanical strength capable of breaking when the opening of the device plugging, are distributed over the entire periphery of the skirt 2 in a substantially regular manner.

Figures 1 and 2 also show a seal 8, for example made of silicone, closed with a single layer with a thickness of the order of mm juxtaposed at the bottom 4 of the cap. This seal, the upper and lower faces of which are flat, parallel and circular, has an edge 9 which closely follows the inner periphery of the cap 1 as shown in FIG. 4. This seal 8, which has no curvature, is kept juxtaposed at the bottom 4 of the transverse wall using two lugs 10 and 10 'as illustrated in FIG. 4, these lugs protruding from the internal face of the skirt 2 of the cap 1. It is also noted that the free distance between this bottom 4 and the lugs 10 and 10 ′, that is to say between the bottom in question and the upper end of these lugs, facing the seal 8, corresponds to the thickness of this seal. On the other hand, the tamper-evident ring 5 is provided, on its internal wall, with an annular projection 11 of semi-circular profile along the longitudinal axis XX, or substantially as such. When the device is first engaged on the neck 12 of a container 13, usually made of plastic, for example polypropylene, the ring snaps into place, as illustrated in FIG. 2, under the hooking ring 14 formed at the lower periphery of the neck of this container. In general and as shown in Figure 3, the upper face of this hooking ring 14 departs from the neck 12 along a slope 15 curved towards the container 13. This slope is extended into a second linear slope 16 forming an acute angle. relative to the longitudinal axis XX, generally understood between 20 and 30 °, and bends into a last slope 17 forming an edge, parallel or substantially parallel to the axis XX, which clings to the lower face 18. This lower face, meanwhile, normal or substantially normal to this axis XX defines a hooking notch for the annular projection 11. It is also observed in FIG. 3, - that the thickness of the hooking ring 14 is greater than that of the thread at the neck 12. Tel as shown in Figure 2, the thickness of the wall of the neck 12 of the container is substantially constant over the portion defined by pp 'located between the start of the thread and the junction line between the neck and the underside of the ring attachment 14 resulting in the presence of grooves or helical ribs 19 or circular 20.

For the establishment of the closure device 1 on the container 13, the cap 2 fitted with its tamper-evident ring 5 will be applied by force, in the closing direction indicated by the arrow F, in FIG. 1. screwing so that the internally threaded skirt takes its place on the thread of the neck of the container 13.

The tamper-evident ring 5, elastically deformable, then slides away from the hooking ring 14 until it comes to lock elastically under this ring by means of its annular projection 11. During the first opening of the container, just unscrew the cap, which causes it to move in the direction of the arrow designated by 0 in Figure 1, thus causing, by shearing and tearing, the rupture of the junction bridges 6.

The cap provided with its tamper-evident ring and its connecting bridges, according to the invention, has indisputable advantages combining both simplicity and efficiency so that it represents a device of choice for the closing in particular of a container of the kind bottle body intended to contain a milk drink.

Thus, after being put in place by screwing onto a container, the simultaneous presence of this tamper-evident ring and a flexible seal lining the bottom of the cap ensures excellent sealing capable of both making the assembly usable in a process content pasteurization and offer a highly acceptable shelf life for that content. In addition, this tamper-evident ring provides additional security against any fraudulent attempted unwanted opening.

Claims

1. Device for capping a container, such as a bottle body, of the type comprising a circular cap having a transverse wall provided with a bottom and a side skirt, internally threaded, the lower part of which is extended by a ring tamper evident connected to said skirt by breakable connecting bridges, characterized in that the bottom (4) of the transverse wall (3) is provided with a seal

(8) circular, of diameter equal to the inside diameter of the cap (1) at the bottom of its transverse wall, this seal being kept juxtaposed with said bottom by at least two lugs (10) projecting from the internal face of the skirt ( 2) from the cap and located at a free distance from the bottom of the transverse wall equal to or substantially equal to the thickness of the seal.

2. Corking device according to claim 1, characterized in that the seal is monolayer.

3. Corking device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the seal has no curvature.

4. An assembly formed by a container closure device according to one of claims 1 to 3 and a container provided with an externally threaded cylindrical neck intended to engage with the internal thread of the side skirt of the cap and a attachment ring formed at the lower part of this neck, characterized in that the tamper-evident ring (5) is provided internally with an annular projection (11) whose upper and lower faces deviate from the side skirt of said ring by forming a curvature i- circular or substantially semi-circular, said annular projection being intended to cooperate with the hooking ring (14) which has an upper face deviating from the neck (12) of the container (13) first along a curved slope ( 15) in the direction of the body of the container then in a linear slope (16) which forms an acute angle with the normal to the longitudinal axis (XX) of the closure device and which optionally bends in a parallel edge (17) or substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis, the linear slope or the edge catching on the lower face (18) normal or substantially normal to said longitudinal axis.

5. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the circular cap is made from one or more thermoplastic materials compatible with food contact.

6. Device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the seal is made of an elastomeric material compatible with food contact.