Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D41/00—Caps, e.g. crown caps or crown seals, i.e. members having parts arranged for engagement with the external periphery of a neck or wall defining a pouring opening or discharge aperture; Protective cap-like covers for closure members, e.g. decorative covers of metal foil or paper
  • B65D41/32—Caps or cap-like covers with lines of weakness, tearing-strips, tags, or like opening or removal devices, e.g. to facilitate formation of pouring openings
  • B65D41/34—Threaded or like caps or cap-like covers provided with tamper elements formed in, or attached to, the closure skirt
  • B65D41/3404—Threaded or like caps or cap-like covers provided with tamper elements formed in, or attached to, the closure skirt with ratchet-and-pawl mechanism between the container and the closure skirt or the tamper element
  • B65D41/3409—Threaded or like caps or cap-like covers provided with tamper elements formed in, or attached to, the closure skirt with ratchet-and-pawl mechanism between the container and the closure skirt or the tamper element the tamper element being integrally connected to the closure by means of bridges
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D41/00—Caps, e.g. crown caps or crown seals, i.e. members having parts arranged for engagement with the external periphery of a neck or wall defining a pouring opening or discharge aperture; Protective cap-like covers for closure members, e.g. decorative covers of metal foil or paper
  • B65D41/32—Caps or cap-like covers with lines of weakness, tearing-strips, tags, or like opening or removal devices, e.g. to facilitate formation of pouring openings
  • B65D41/56—Caps or cap-like covers serving as, or incorporating, drinking or measuring vessels

Definitions

• This invention relates to tamper evident seals for use with screw top containers, and in particular, but not exclusively to tamper evident seals for use with a combined drinking vessel and cap for a drinks container.
• TKe applicant of the present invention is also the applicant of the New Zealand patent application numbers 527195, 538172 and 551470, and has been involved in the development of packaging systems for single serve drinks for a number of years.
• the present invention relates to an improved tamper evident seal for use with the packaging systems described in the above patent applications and addresses problems that have been experienced during the development process.
• a tamper evident seal which is removed from the packaged drink when the package is opened is a problem.
• the person opening the drink has one hand to hold the bottle and one to hold the drinking vessel, and another item can be inconvenient and is likely to become a litter hazard. .
• This problem can be significant in an airline situation for example, where seated passengers are provided with drinks, and where a tear off seal is yet another object to handle and one that will often end up on the floor or under seat cushions etc.
• New Zealand patent application number 538172 a tamper evident seal was developed which was situated within the drinking vessel and which engaged with the neck of the bottle. At present it is considered that the method of manufacture could be improved upon to reduce manufacturing costs, and or to improve the overall feel and appearance of the drinking vessel.
• polypropylene or polyethylene are not the ideal choice for a drinking vessel when trying to manufacture a drinking vessel that is as "glass” like as possible. In such a case it is preferable to use a styrene plastics material which can be clear and a little more "glass” like in appearance and feel.
• a tamper evident seal design which does not require the use of a plastics material having a similar degree of elasticity and memory as that found in polypropylene or polyethylene materials.
• a tamper evident seal design that could be manufactured from a more rigid plastics material, for. example a styrene plastics material, would facilitate the manufacture of a combined drinking vessel and cap from this material. This would allow the desirable characteristics of this material to be taken advantage of, while allowing greater opportunity to keep manufacturing costs low.
• the use of a single plastics type for both the body of the drinking vessel and for the cap/base portion would also allow the use of ultrasonic welding if the drinking vessel is manufactured in two or more parts.
• the use of ultrasonic welding is desirable since it can improve the leak resistance of an assembled drinking vessel.
• the invention consists in a tamper evident seal for a container having a screw thread and a closure means adapted for use with the container, the tamper evident seal comprising a normally circular ring which is frangibly linked to the closure means, the ring having one or more inwardly "extending protrusions, and the container having one or more corresponding outwardly extending protrusions adjacent its screw thread, the or each protrusion on the ring having a leading face, and an opposing trailing face, and the or each protrusion on the container having a forward face and an opposing aft face, the faces being configured such that the leading face of the or each ring protrusion approaches the forward face of the or each container protrusion when the closure means is being fitted onto .
• any protrusions on the container are situated or grouped in spaced apart locations about a perimeter of the container and the normally circular ring is able to pass over the protrusion or protrusions on the container substantially without stretching and by deforming out of round.
• each trailing face is substantially aligned at an acute angle to a tangent of an inner surface of the ring at the point where the trailing face meets the inner surface of the ring.
• each aft face is substantially aligned at an acute angle to a tangent of the perimeter of the container at the point where the aft face meets the perimeter of the container.
• protrusions on the container Preferably where there are two protrusions on the container they are located on opposite sides of the container, and where there are more than two protrusions they are grouped into two groups with each group being on opposite sides of the container.
• each of the protrusions in any group of protrusions on the container are linked by a web extending between adjacent protrusions.
• the or each web is narrower than the protrusions which it links.
• each web substantially connects the faces of adjacent protrusions that face, the screw threads of the container.
• a face of the or each protrusion on the container facing the screw threads of the container is bevelled with respect to the outer surface of the container.
• a face of the or each web facing the screw threads of the container is bevelled with respect to the outer surface of the container.
• each forward face is bevelled with respect to the outer surface of the container.
• each leading face is bevelled with respect to an inner surface of the ring.
• the frangible link includes a line of weakness between the ring and the closure means.
• the ring protrusions can be bevelled on their upper and/or lower faces.
• the invention consists in a tamper evident seal for a container having a screw thread and a closure means adapted for use with the container, the tamper evident seal comprising a normally circular ring which is frangibly linked to the closure means, the ring having one or more inwardly extending protrusions, and the container having one or more corresponding outwardly extending protrusions adjacent its screw thread, the or each protrusion on the ring having a leading face, and an opposing trailing face, and the or each protrusion on the container having a forward face and an opposing aft face, the faces being configured such that the leading face of the or each ring protrusion approaches the forward face of the; or each container protrusion when the closure means is being fitted onto the container, and wherein any protrusions on the ring are situated or grouped in spaced apart locations, about an inner surface of the ring and the normally circular ring is able to pass over the protrusion or protrusions on the container substantially without
• each trailing face is substantially aligned at an acute angle to a tangent of the inner surface of the ring at the point where the trailing face meets the inner surface of the ring.
• each aft face is substantially aligned at an acute angle to a tangent of a perimeter of the container at the point where the aft face meets the perimeter of the container.
• protrusions on the ring Preferably where there are two protrusions on the ring they are located on opposite sides of the ring, and where there are more than two protrusions they are grouped into two groups with each group being on opposite sides of the ring.
• each of the protrusions in any group of protrusions on the ring are linked by a web extending between adjacent protrusions.
• the or each web is narrower than the protrusions which it links.
• the or each web substantially connects the faces of adjacent protrusions that face away from the screw threads of the closure means. . . . . .
• a face of the or each protrusion on the container facing the screw threads of the container is bevelled with respect to an outer surface of the container.
• a face of the or each web facing away from the screw threads of the closure means is bevelled with respect to the inner surface of the ring.
• each forward face is bevelled with respect to the outer surface of the container.
• the or each leading face is bevelled with respect to the inner surface of the ring.
• the frangible link includes a line of weakness between the ring and the closure means.
• the ring protrusions can be bevelled on their upper and/or lower faces.
• the invention consists in a liquids packaging product incorporating at least one tamper evident seal substantially as specified herein.
• closure means is also adapted for use as a drinking vessel.
• the container is substantially bottle shaped.
• closure means or drinking vessel is manufactured entirely, or primarily, from a styrene plastics material.
• FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a bottle adapted for use with a tamper evident ⁇ . seal of the present design
• FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view of the bottle
• FIGURE 3 is a side elevation view of a base of a drinking vessel incorporating the tamper evident seal of the present design
• FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view of the bottle shown assembled with a drinking vessel incorporating the base
• FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a main body of the drinking vessel
• FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the base of the drinking vessel
• FIGURE 7 is a cross sectional view AA referenced in Figure 2
• FIGURE 8 is a cross sectional view BB referenced in Figure 3.
• FIGURE 9 is a cross sectional view of a main body of the bottle shown assembled with a drinking' vessel incorporating the base,
• FIGURE 10 is a cross sectional view of the base of the drinking vessel
• FIGURE 11 is a close up cross sectional view BB referenced in Figure 9,
• FIGURE 12 is a close up cross sectional view CC referenced in Figure 9.
• FIGURE 13 is an outer perspective view of the base of the drinking vessel
• FIGURE 14 is an inner perspective, view of the base of the drinking vessel
• FIGURE 15 is a cross sectional view of the base of Figure 14,
• FIGURE 16 is a top plan cross sectional view of the base of Figure 14.
• FIGURE 17 is a cross sectional view AA of a main body of the drinking vessel as referenced in figure 16,
• FIGURE 18 is a top plan sectional view CC of the ring of the base as referenced in figure 15,
• FIGURE 19 is a perspective view of the bottle without the drinking vessel
• FIGURE 20 is a cross sectional top plan view of the bottle of figure 19.
• FIGURE 21 is a cross sectional side view perspective view of the bottle
• FIGURE 22 is a cross sectional end view of the base of the bottle.
• FIGURE 23 is a perspective view of the drinking vessel showing the groove.
• a tamper evident seal (10) of the present invention is shown.
• the seal (10) is designed for use with a container (11) having a screw thread (13) and a closure means (15) that is adapted for use with the container (11).
• the tamper evident seal (10) comprises a normally circular ring (17) which is connected to the closure means (15) by 5 a frangible link (19).
• the closure means (15) forms a cap which can seal off an opening (20) of the container (11) and is provided with an internal screw thread (21) which is adapted to mate with the external screw thread (13) of the container (11).
• frangible link (19) is shown as a number of narrow links (22) which bridge between the closure means (15) and the ring (17) providing a line of weakness which 10 can easily be broken to allow the closure means (15) to be removed from the container (11) while leaving the ring (17) behind and retained about a neck (23) of the container (11).
• the ring (17) has a number of inwardly extending protrusions (25), and the container (11) has a number of corresponding outwardly extending protrusions (27) adjacent its screw thread (13).
• Each protrusion (25) on the ring (17) has a leading face (29), and an opposing
• each protrusion (27) on the container (11) has a forward face (33) and an opposing aft face (35).
• the faces are configured such that the leading face (29) of each ring protrusion (25) approaches the forward face (33) of each container protrusion (27) when
• the ring protrusions 20 (25) interfere with the container protrusions (27) since the inner most diameter of the tips of the ring protrusions (25) is less than the outer diameter of the tips of the container protrusions (27).
• each forward face (33) can be 25 bevelled with respect to the outer surface of the neck (23) of the container (11).
• each leading face (29) can be bevelled with respect to an inner surface (34) of the ring (17).
• ring protrusions (25) there are eight ring protrusions (25) equally spaced about the inner surface (34) of the ring (17), and there are four container protrusions (27) situated on the neck (23) of the container (11).
• the protrusions (27) on the container (11) are situated or grouped in spaced apart locations about a perimeter of the neck (23) of the container (11).
• a significant portion, or at least half of the perimeter of the neck (23) has no protrusions.
• the ring protrusions (25) can easily pass over the parts of the perimeter of the neck (23) that have no protrusions.
• the ring protrusions (25) can pass over the parts of the neck (23) that have protrusions by the ring (17) deforming slightly out of round, that is, by becoming slightly oval or elliptical.
• the container protrusions (27) are designed to facilitate this passage of the ring protrusions (25) as the closure means (15) is screwed onto the container (11), but to resist the passage when the closure means (15) is unscrewed from the container (11).
• each trailing face (31) is substantially aligned at an acute angle (49) to a tangent (51) of an inner surface (34) of the ring (17) at the point where the trailing face (31) meets the inner surface (34) of the ring (17).
• each aft face (35) is substantially aligned at an acute angle (53) to a tangent (55) of the perimeter of the container (11) at the point where the aft face (35) meets the perimeter of the container (11).
• the protrusions (27) in any group of protrusions (27) on the container (11) can be linked by a web (37) extending between adjacent protrusions (27).
• the or each web (37) is narrower than the protrusions (27) which it links, at least narrow in a direction perpendicular to the length of the web. It can be seen in this example that each web (37) substantially connects the upper faces (39) of adjacent protrusions (27), that is the faces (39) of each protrusion (27) that face the screw threads (13) of the container (11).
• the upper faces (39) are preferably bevelled with respect to the outer surface of the container (11) to aid the passage of the ring protrusions (25) when the closure means (15) is being fitted onto the container (11).
• the upper face of each web (37) can be bevelled with respect to the outer surface of the container (11).
• the web (37) is useful in at least two aspects. Firstly, the web (37) can prevent a ring protrusion (25) from sliding around a container protrusion (27) when the closure means (15) is being removed. This is because the joined web (37) and container protrusion (27) can provide a blind corner (41) in which the ring protrusion (25) can become trapped as the closure means (15) is being removed. And secondly, the web (37) traps one of the ring protrusions (25) and resists the migration of the ring (17) off the container (11) when the closure means (15) has been removed from the container.
• Figure 4 shows an assembled liquids packaging product (41) which incorporates a tamper evident seal (10) as described herein.
• the container (11) is bottle shaped and the closure means (15) is also adapted for use as a drinking vessel (43).
• the drinking vessel (43) comprises a body (43) (see figure 5) and a base (47) (see figure 3).
• the inventors have found that it is advantageous to be able to join the body (43) to the base (47) by ultrasonic welding. To do this however, the two must be made from the same material. It is advantageous to make the body (43) from a styrene plastics material due to the "glass" like qualities of styrene plastics, and the two parts can only be welded together if the base (45) is also made from the same material. In fact, it has been this desire to manufacture the entire drinking vessel (43) from one material, and preferably from a styrene plastics material, that has lead to the need to create this new tamper evident seal design.
• cap (15) has means (50) to allow proper twisting to break the seal (13) therebetween.
• This means (50) as shown in figure 10 has mutually opposing tabs with the words "TWIST” and "OPEN” to facilitate the breaking of the frangible seal (13) or show the direction to be taken when twisting.
• drinking vessel (45) is joined to cap (15) as described on page at base on page 10.
• Container (11) has a top end (51) and a base end (52). In other options and features in manufacturing to further facilitate the joining of the cap to the drinking vessel
• a circumferential groove portion (53) can be provided on a top edge of the vessel (15).
• cap (15) can be provided with a downwardly and outwardly facing shelf with a protruding ridge portion or flashing (54) which is shaped to interfit within groove (53) during the joining process of welding.
• the bottom of the drinking vessel (45) (which is oriented at the same point as the top of the container (11)) can be abutting or be removably attached to the" outside face of the threaded portion (13) of cap (15) via a bridging portion (55).
• Bridging portion (55) can be joined to or formed with or abutting either the inside surface of the top portion of drinking vessel (45) and a lower position of the outer thread (13) of container (11).
• Portion (55) can be continuous or formed in discreet lengths circumferentially in-between the outside of the container and the inside of the vessel.
• Cap (15) is shown in perspective and in various side views of figures 14-17 showing the directional twisting action needed to break the seal.
• the ring (17) is shown having pairs of ring protrusions (25) similar to that already disclosed in the other figures. As shown in the figures 3, 8, 14, 15, 17 any of the faces of the ring protrusions (25) can be bevelled in the upper and lower faces and the forward and rear faces as well.
• FIGS 1, 2, 7, 19, 21 are container protrusions (27) having faces such as forward face (33), opposing aft face (35) which can be bevelled or chamfered and optionally the top and bottom faces of the container protrusions (27) can be bevelled or chamfered if necessary -see figures 3 and 17.
• Figure 20 is similar to that shown in figure 7.
• Figure 22 shows the base of the container (11) having protrusions (57) there-from.
• Figure 23 shows the drinking vesstel (45) having the groove portion (53) to allow joining to the ridge of cap (15).
• tabs (58) which are used to hold an inner cap seal to the inside of the cap to assist in pressurizing any contained fluid within the drinking vessel.
• These tabs (58) are shown in different sizes in this example and are useful especially during' transport and movement to further enhance and retain the quality of the contained product.
• the protrusions were equally spaced about the inner surface of the ring, and they were grouped in two locations about the neck of the bottle. In an alternative configuration, the protrusions could- be equally spaced about the neck of the bottle, and be grouped in two locations about the inner surface of the ring. In the case where a web extended between adjacent protrusions within a group on the inner surface of the ring, the web would preferably connect the faces of adjacent protrusions that face away from the screw threads of the closure means. And preferably the face of the web facing away from the screw threads of the closure means is bevelled with respect to the inner surface of the ring. In the above examples there are more than one protrusion on the ring (17) and on the container (11).
• the container (11) is shown as a bottle shaped container, however it is envisaged that the tamper evident seal (10) could be used on a range of packaging products or containers of other shapes, for example on the lid of a jar shaped container.
• the drinking vessel (43) is shown having a 'fluted glass' like shape, the drinking vessel (43) could have a different shape, for example a tumbler shape.
• the tamper evident seal (10) is shown as part of a closure means which is in the form of a drinking vessel, however the tamper evident seal (10) could also be part of a cap or lid or other closure device.
• the closure means (15) could be a cap that is adapted to also function as a measuring device, for example, a measuring cap for use with a medicine bottle.
• At least the preferred form of the invention provides a tamper evident seal which can be made of a plastics material that does not have a useful degree of elasticity or memory, allowing greater manufacturing flexibility which is particularly useful in the manufacture of a drinking vessel which also acts as a closure means or cap for a drinks container.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Closures For Containers (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=39875695

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Families Citing this family (2)

Citations (5)

Family Cites Families (11)

• 2007
  • 2007-04-23 NZ NZ554715A patent/NZ554715A/en unknown
• 2008
  • 2008-04-23 WO PCT/NZ2008/000087 patent/WO2008130250A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2008-04-23 CA CA002684992A patent/CA2684992A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2008-04-23 AU AU2008241632A patent/AU2008241632A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2008-04-23 EP EP08753848A patent/EP2144820A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2008-04-23 US US12/597,398 patent/US20100140210A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2008-04-23 CN CN200880021371A patent/CN101687575A/zh active Pending

Patent Citations (5)

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