WO2006085788A1

WO2006085788A1 - Bottle closure used in alcoholic beverage industry

Info

Publication number: WO2006085788A1
Application number: PCT/RU2005/000265
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andrey Borisovich Prozumenshchikov
Original assignee: Prozumenshchikov Andrey Boriso
Priority date: 2005-02-10
Filing date: 2005-05-14
Publication date: 2006-08-17
Also published as: WO2006085787A1

Abstract

This invention relates to bottle closures used in alcoholic beverage industry for bottling and storing of alcoholic products. The technical result of the invention is an improved apparatus design wherein the closure comprises a hood (1) with a cylindrical skirt (2) and a thread (3) on its external lateral surface, a cap (4) with a thread (5) on its external lateral surface, a lock (7) and a valve (24). There is a liquid stream splitter (17) having the form of a sleeve fixed on the external lateral surface of the hood (1) by means of bridges (16). The lock (7) is a hollow cylinder (8) linked with a larger-diameter hollow cylinder (10) by means of a bridge (11) fitted with an external collar (13); the cap (4) on its internal end face has an axial retaining guide having the form of a rod (34) and there is an axial hole in the bottom part of the sleeve. The cap is fitted with a safety ring (29) and the apparatus can be fitted with a decorative case made of metal foil.

Description

CLOSURE

This invention relates to bottle closures used in alcoholic beverage industry for bottling and storing of alcoholic products.

Known is a bottle cork comprising a hood with a cylindrical skirt and a thread on its external lateral surface, a cap with a thread on its internal lateral surface, a lock being a hollow cylinder, an inner hood, an annular flange and a cylindrical projection for fixing the lock in the hood, and a valve. There are sealing circular lips on the external lateral surfaces of the hollow cylinder and the cylindrical projection of the lock; there are equally spaced circumferential longitudinal stiffening ribs on the internal surface of the cylindrical projection. There are longitudinal projections on the external lateral surface of the hood and on the internal lateral surface of the cap, said projections arranged on the side of the bottom end faces to form a spline joint. The end face of the cylindrical skirt where the skirt mates the cap end face, is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cork (RU No.2004123534, IPC B 65 D 39/06, 2004).

The drawback to the known cork is a rather complex and not flexible design of the lock, which contains an intricately-shaped liquid stream splitter.

Besides, using a valve in the cork makes the process of its insertion into the lock much more complicated, because, first, the lock must be fabricated, then the valve must be accommodated within it and thereafter the bottom end face of the hollow lock cylinder must be sealed with the use of special equipment. This does not guarantee the necessary quality of valve seat.

The technical result of the invention is an improved apparatus design by using a hood with a cylindrical skirt and the liquid stream splitter are made as one piece, by implementing an easier assembly process, and an improved sealing of the bottle.

The closure comprises a hood with a cylindrical skirt and a thread on its external lateral surface, a cap with a thread on its internal lateral surface, a lock and a valve. There is a liquid stream splitter having the form of a sleeve fixed on the external lateral surface of the hood by means of bridges. The lock is a hollow cylinder linked with a larger-diameter hollow cylinder by means of a bridge fitted with an external collar; the cap on its internal end face has an axial retaining guide having the form of a rod and there is an axial hole in the bottom part of the sleeve.

The external lateral surfaces of the hollow cylinders are fitted with sealing collars and there are longitudinal circumferential stiffening ribs on the internal surface of the larger-diameter hollow cylinder. The valve is a hollow cylinder with longitudinal ribs on its external surface, said cylinder mating a poppet lock closing the central hole in the bridge. The cap is fitted with a safety ring at its bottom end face, said safety ring being fixed on the cap by means of a loose connection designed to form a bottle opening indicator belt. The loose connection uses notches, perforation, or a destroyable bridge, and the safety ring is fitted with one or several notches running parallel to its longitudinal axis.

The apparatus can be fitted with a decorative case made of metal foil, said case being fitted either with a detachable belt having a transverse notch and a partially deflected end, or a perforated linear bridge, or an easy-to-destroy linear bridge, said belt/bridges being arranged at the point where the hood joins the cylindrical skirt; the bottom face of the decorative case is bent inwards the cylindrical skirt by rolling. The decorative case is installed onto the cap so as to exclude their mutual rotation and, the decorative case is installed with a gap relative to the cylindrical skirt to ensure their mutual rotation and movement along the longitudinal axis relative to each other.

Design of the stream splitter as a sleeve fixed rigidly on the internal lateral surface of the hood by means of bridges, i. e. fabricating the hood, the cylindrical skirt and the stream splitter as one piece or as one-piece cast part and the use of the proposed lock and the valve makes the design of the apparatus much simpler and its assembly easier.

The cover having an axial retaining guide having the form of a rod and a stream splitter with an axial hole in the upper bottom part makes it possible to prevent any evaporation and leakage of the liquid from the bottle during its storage, transportation and handling completely. When the cap is screwed onto the hood, the axial retaining guide passes through the axial hole in the upper part of the stream splitter, enters the hollow cylinder of the valve from the top and its poppet lock closes the central hole in the lock bridge tightly, thus increasing the sealing reliability.

The presence of the sealing collars on the external lateral surfaces of the hollow cylinders of the removable lock and the presence of equally spaced circumferential longitudinal stiffening ribs on the internal surface of the larger- diameter hollow cylinder improve the rigidity of the lock and ensure additional sealing of the apparatus.

The presence of a safety ring on the cap makes it possible to detect unauthorized opening of the apparatus.

If the apparatus is fitted with a decorative case, the cap is designed without a safety ring. The presence of the decorative case makes it possible to detect unauthorized opening of the bottle and to increase the reliability of its sealing at the same time and roll sealing of the decorative case's bottom makes it possible to unscrew the cap easily enough, simultaneously dividing the decorative case into two pieces with the help of a detachable belt, for instance. Installing the decorative case on the cap with a tight fit, i. e. without any possibility for them to rotate relative to each other is required in order to exclude any possibility of removing/pulling the case from the cap and installing the decorative case on a cylindrical skirt with a gap provides an additional indication of an unauthorized opening of the bottle, because upon removal of the detachable belt the bottom part of the decorative case will descend spontaneously and on this condition the fact of opening will become obvious.

The essence of the invention is shown on the following drawings: . Fig. 1 shows a partial section of the general view of the apparatus;

Fig. 2 shows the hood with cylindrical skirt and stream splitter;

Fig. 3 shows the cap with a safety ring;

Fig. 4 shows the valve;

Fig. 5 shows the lock; Fig. 6 shows the design options of the loose connection between the safety ring and the cap; and

Fig. 7 shows the design options of the decorative case.

The closure comprises the hood 1 with a cylindrical skirt 2 and a thread 3, the cap 4 with a thread 5 and a projection 6, the lock 7 having the form of a hollow cylinder 8 with sealing collars 9, said cylinder being connected with a larger-diameter hollow cylinder 10 by means of the bridge 11 fitted with a central hole 12 and an external collar 13. The cylinder 10 is designed with sealing collars 14 and longitudinal ribs 15.

The stream splitter 17 having the form of an upset beaker is fixed by the bridges 16 in the hood 1. The cylindrical skirt 2 is fitted with longitudinal ribs 18 and a retainer 19 formed as transverse projections. The hood 1 and the cap 4 contain longitudinal projections 20 and 21, respectively, to form a spline joint. The end face 22 of the cylindrical skirt 2 is arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 0-0 of the apparatus. The cap 4 has corrugations 23.

The lock 7 is fitted with valve 24 having the form of a hollow cylinder 25 with longitudinal ribs 26, said cylinder mating the poppet lock 27 designed to close the central hole 12 in the bridge 11.

The cap 4 is fitted, on the side of the bottom face 28 (Fig. 6A), with a safety ring 29 with a longitudinal notch 30, which is fixed on the cap by an easy- to-destroy connection having the form of notches 31, or perforation 32 (Fig. 6B), or a destroyable bridge 33 (refer to Fig. 6C).

The cap 4 contains an axial guide retainer having the form of a rod 34 on its internal bottom face; there is an axial hole 35 in the bottom part of the liquid stream splitter 17.

The apparatus can be fitted with a decorative case 36 fitted either with a detachable belt 37 (Fig. 7A) with a transverse notch 38 and a partially deflected end 39, or a perforated linear bridge 40 (Fig. 7B), or an easy-to-destroy linear bridge 41 (refer to Fig. 7C), said belt/bridges being arranged at the location 42 where the hood 1 joins the cylindrical skirt 2; the bottom end face 43 of the decorative case 36 is bent inwards the cylindrical skirt 2 by rolling. The closure will be assembled and used as follows.

The lock 7 with the valve 24 will be inserted from below into the cylindrical skirt 2 and the hood 1 ; the cap 4 will be screwed then from above onto the hood 1 until it rests. This assembly will be forced onto the neck of a bottle (not shown in the Fig.) filled with an alcoholic product. In doing so, the hollow cylinder 8 will enter the bottle neck, the retainer 19 having the form of transverse projections will contract, as it passes through the neck, it will then return to its original position and bear up against the collar on the bottle neck and the longitudinal ribs 18 of the cylindrical skirt 2 will provide a tight attachment of the cork to the bottle neck.

When the cap 4 is screwed onto the hood 1, the longitudinal projections 20 and 21 engage each other, forming a spline joint, which prevents unscrewing the cap, and the rod 34 holds the valve 24 tightly against the central hole 12 of the lock 7.

If the cap 4 is made with a safety ring 29, unscrewing the cap 4 separates its bottom part, due to a spline joint, through the loose connection and the safety ring 29 opens, if there is a single longitudinal notch 30, or disintegrates into several parts, if there is a larger number of notches.

Should the need arise, a decorative case 36 made of aluminum foil will be put onto the cap 4 and the cylindrical skirt 2 from above and its bottom end 43 will be bent inward the cylindrical skirt. In this case, when opening the bottle for the first time, one will grip with one's fingers the deflected end 39, remove the detachable belt 37 and, having done this, unscrew the cap 4. If the decorative case is designed with linear bridges 40 or 41, opening the bottle for the first time, one will grip the top part of the decorative case and unscrew the cap 4. In doing so, the end face 43 will split the decorative case 36 into two parts by destroying the loose linear bridges.

Claims

1. A closure comprising a hood with a cylindrical skirt and a thread on its external lateral surface, a cap with a thread on its internal lateral surface, a lock and a valve, wherein there is a liquid stream splitter having the form of a beaker fixed by bridges on the internal lateral surface of the hood, the lock is designed as a hollow cylinder connected with a larger-diameter hollow cylinder by a bridge fitted with an external collar, whereby the cap contains an axial guide retainer having the form of a rod on its internal end face and there is an axial hole in the bottom part of the sleeve.

2. Closure as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the external lateral surfaces of the hollow cylinders of the lock are fitted with sealing collars; there are equally spaced circumferential longitudinal stiffening ribs on the internal surface of the larger-diameter hollow cylinder.

3. Closure as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the valve is a hollow cylinder with longitudinal ribs on its external surface, said cylinder mating a poppet lock designed to close the central hole in the bridge.

4. Closure as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the cap is fitted, on the side of the bottom face, with a safety ring fixed to the cap by means of a loose connection designed to form a bottle opening indicator belt.

5. Closure as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the loose connection is designed as notches, or perforation, or a destroyable bridge and the safety ring is fitted with one or several notches running parallel to its longitudinal axis.

6. Closure as claimed in Claim 1, wherein it is fitted with a decorative case.

7. Closure as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the decorative case is fitted either with a detachable belt with a transverse notch and a partially deflected end, or a perforated linear bridge, or a loosely attached linear bridge, said belt/bridges being arranged at the location where the hood joins the cylindrical skirt; the bottom end of the decorative case is bent inwards the cylindrical skirt by rolling.

8. Closure as claimed in Claim 6, wherein a decorative case is installed onto the cap so as to avoid their mutual rotation, whereby the decorative case is installed with a gap relative to the cylindrical skirt to ensure their mutual rotation and movement along the longitudinal axis relative to each other.

9. Closure as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the decorative case is made of metal foil.