WO2009095268A1

WO2009095268A1 - Closure cover with ventilation opening

Info

Publication number: WO2009095268A1
Application number: PCT/EP2009/000639
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wulf Eberhard; Günter Haiser
Original assignee: Pano-Verschluss Gmbh; Carl Kühne KG (GmbH & Co.)
Priority date: 2008-02-02
Filing date: 2009-01-30
Publication date: 2009-08-06
Also published as: DE102008007301A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a closure cover (2) made of metal sheeting for attachment to an opening of a container (4), in particular for foods, the contents of said container requiring to be held under a vacuum until initial opening of the cover (2), comprising a closure part (8) spanning the opening and sealing the opening against a peripheral edge (36) of the opening, and an edge part (10) connected in one piece to the closure part (8) and surrounding the peripheral edge (36) at the outside thereof, wherein the closure part (8) is provided with a ventilation opening (20) which is closed by a removable film seal. It is proposed that the ventilation opening (20) have an opening cross sectional area of more than 3 mm2.

Description

Cover with ventilation opening

The invention relates to a closure lid made of sheet metal for attachment to an opening of a container, in particular a food-containing container whose contents are to be kept until the first opening of the lid under a negative pressure, with a spanning the opening and sealing against a peripheral edge of the opening closure member and an edge piece integrally connected to the closure part and surrounding the peripheral edge on its outer side, the closure part being provided with a ventilation opening which is closed by a peel-off film seal. The invention further relates to a container, in particular a food container whose opening is closed by such, attached to the peripheral edge closure lid.

It is a series of metal lids in the trade, in which the edge portion is provided with an inwardly projecting circumferential or interrupted bead or flare. These lids are quite often used to hermetically seal filled glass containers with a food such as mustard, mayonnaise or the like, in which the peripheral edge surrounding the container opening does not have a sufficient thickness for mounting a container

Has screw thread and / or in which the container after consumption of the container contents for further use as a drinking glass is to be suitable. In order to ensure the quality of the contents of the container, the contents of these containers are normally kept under a negative pressure until they are opened for the first time, which allows control of the maintenance of the seal between the closure cap and the opening edge. However, this has the consequence that when first opening such a lid not only the mechanical anchoring of the lid on the container due to the engagement of the bead behind the usually thickened peripheral edge of the container but also the negative pressure in the container is overcome. Especially at Closure caps with a larger diameter, this is possible only with considerable effort or using technical aids, which often leads to damage to the lid.

Problems with the opening often occur in canned or jam jars with metallic screw caps, the contents of which is also under a negative pressure. The screw caps of such containers have a closure member abutting against the peripheral edge of the container opening and a peripheral portion surrounding the peripheral edge on the outer periphery thereof for engagement with projecting thread ribs on the outside of the peripheral edge at its free lower end end with an inwardly projecting one Beading or flanging is provided. This bead or flange is pressed when tightening the lid against the underside of the thread ribs and, together with the negative pressure inside the container for a secure hold of the lid and a gas-tight closure of the container. To open the screw cap must be turned off, but this is often quite difficult especially older and weaker people.

To solve these problems, a number of caps of the type mentioned has already been proposed, as disclosed for example in DE 297 11 363 Ul or US 6,194,011. In these lids before the first opening of the container, the film seal can be deducted to allow ambient air to enter through the vent in the container. As a result, the negative pressure in the container is eliminated, whereupon the lid can be opened most easily.

In addition, the Applicants themselves proposed in DE 20 2004 007 079 Ul and in WO 2005/108233 Al some further closure covers of the type mentioned in the introduction, in which the ventilation opening closed by the sealing film is arranged outside of a molded in the middle of the closure cap click bubble.

Click bubbles, which are also referred to as a flip or button, have long been on metallic to a large extent

Screw caps of glass preserves with preserves, jam or the like glass containers used. These click-bubbles are circular cambers that have been formed in the center of their closure parts under special stress conditions during the manufacture of the screw caps and which are forced downwards from the ambient pressure into the container interior when the pressure difference between the ambient pressure and the negative pressure in the Containers exceeds a predetermined level. When the screw caps have been loosened the first time the containers are opened so that ambient air between a molded on the bottom of the lid seal and the peripheral edge of the container can enter through the latter, the click bubbles with an audible clicking sound back up to its unloaded position , However, the already mentioned, required to open these screw caps not inconsiderable effort to many consumers to screw the lid put her palm on the top of the lid, so that the click sound generated when the click bubble bursting cushioned or no audible click sound is generated. Moreover, because of the force required, many consumers focus so much on the opening process themselves when opening the container that the click sound is not perceived. This is also helped by the noise produced when unscrewing the cover, which may overlap or even drown out the click sound. In addition, the snap-up of the click bubble for the consumer is not visually verifiable, since there is hardly a way to take the lid to screw on so that the click bubble remains visible. Due to the eccentric arrangement of the ventilation opening and the film seal in the proposed by the applicants in DE 20 2004 007 079 Ul and in WO 2005/108233 Al lids rocket the provided in the center of the lid click bubble unlike the other known lids both visually and acoustically well perceived, because the process of the flashback of the click bubble is not obscured or obstructed by the consumers on the foil seal attacking fingers and because of the clicking bubble generated click sound unlike a click bubble completely or partially overlapping foil seal no attenuation by the seal learns.

Although this concept is very well suited for any type of food container with a closure lid of the type mentioned in the introduction, in order to facilitate the opening of the lid and at the same time to ensure excellent visibility and audibility of the snap-up of the click bubble, has proven in the implementation of the concept in the practice has shown that there are still some problems to solve.

One of these problems is that the vent should on the one hand be as small as possible in order to prevent as much as possible entry of contaminants and germs through the vent into the container when the

After first opening the container, store it for some time until the final consumption of the container contents. Surprisingly, however, it was found in experiments that the entry of air through the vent after pulling off the foil seal was not always guaranteed especially for small vents.

Another problem is that the use of a arranged outside the click bubble eccentrically on the closure part of a screw cap with a foil seal

Sealing part and an integrally connected to the sealing part grip tab, which is not to facilitate the gripping on Closing part adheres, can easily cause the grip tab is detected when mechanically screwing the screw cap to a container by the means used for tightening, such as friction belt or the like. This could under unfavorable circumstances lead to a demolition of the

Slide foil seal from the cap, which in turn would lead to contaminated and germs polluted air through the vent into the interior of the container and there could lead to spoilage of the food, which must be avoided at all costs.

Proceeding from this, the invention has the object to improve a closure lid and a container of the type mentioned in that an occurrence of the aforementioned problems can be avoided.

This object is achieved according to a first alternative of the invention in that the ventilation opening a

Opening cross-section of more than 3 mm 2 has. For this purpose, preferably a round ventilation opening with a

Inner diameter of 2 mm or more introduced into the closure part of the lid. In experiments, it has been found that such an opening cross section or diameter is sufficient to ensure release of the film seal a release of the ventilation opening safely. The cause of the release opening of the film opening, which is dependent on the opening cross-section or diameter of the ventilation opening, is that the adhesion of an adhesive layer arranged between the film seal and the top side of the closure part of the cover is at the bottom of the film

Foam seal or the inner cohesion of the adhesive layer in the area above the ventilation opening increases with increasing opening cross-section or diameter of the ventilation opening. In the experiments, it has been shown that thereby a detachment of the adhesive layer from the underside of the film seal or possibly also a cohesive failure within the adhesive layer can be avoided immediately above the vent and so that blocking of the ventilation opening during removal of the film seal by remaining material of the adhesive layer due to a delamination of the same can be prevented.

In order to still keep the ventilation opening as small as possible, provides a further advantageous embodiment of the invention in this case, that the adhesive layer is formed so that it adheres to the tear seal above the ventilation opening on the film seal when tearing the film seal, while they are around the ventilation opening split by cohesive failure into two sub-layers, one of which adheres to the underside of the foil seal and the other to the top of the closure lid. This embodiment has the advantages that on the one hand large

Adhesive forces between the adhesive layer and the underside of the foil seal and the top of the closure lid can be provided, which counteract a detachment of the adhesive layer from the underside of the foil seal and on the other hand the force required to rupture the adhesive layer along the edge of the ventilation opening can be reduced.

In addition, it has been found that a too small ventilation opening can also affect a rapid inflow of air into the container, which in turn would lead to a slowing down the click bubble and thus to a quieter, not so good audible click sound for the user. With the aforementioned opening cross section and this problem can be safely avoided.

The film seal itself preferably consists of a gas-tight aluminum foil, which is connected around the preferably circular vent opening through the adhesive layer with the lid, on a surface whose radius is a multiple of the radius of the ventilation opening. In order to connect the film seal with the lid, it is preferably coated on its underside facing the lid with a plastic-containing paint, which melts with a corresponding, applied to the top of the lid plastic-containing paint and forms the adhesive layer when the applied to the lid film seal is briefly heated in the region of its sealing part to a temperature exceeding the melting temperature of the paint and thereby pressed against the lid. In this case, the sealing film or the top of the lid can be coated either over the entire surface or only partially in the areas to be sealed with the paint, but in the former case, only the sealing part may be heated and pressed against the lid. To facilitate the fusion of the paint layers on the film seal and the top of the lid, contains the

Coating layer on the bottom of the film seal forming paint appropriate as well as the paint on the top of the lid polypropylene, which is molten during heat sealing.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the film seal on the top of the cover aufgesiegelten on the edge of the vent opening seal member and integrally connected to the sealing part grip tab which protrudes on one side over the preferably substantially circular seal member, wherein its central axis expedient substantially is aligned perpendicular to a running through the vent opening lid radius. In this way, the foil seal can be peeled off in a direction that runs laterally past the click bubble, so that it is not covered by the fingers of the consumer engaging with the grip tab during removal.

To avoid detection of the grip tab by the means acting on the machine when unscrewing a closure lid, such as friction belt or the like, the grip tab according to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention and for itself patenbegründenden second Invention alternative directed against the direction of rotation of the lid when screwed onto the container.

In order to facilitate the gripping tab of the foil seal, the grip tab can be provided with an embossment which causes its rear edge facing away from the seal part to protrude somewhat above the cover surface. Alternatively or additionally, for the same purpose, the closure part of the lid in the vicinity of the ventilation opening can be provided with a small embossed high curvature.

A further preferred embodiment of the invention provides that the ventilation opening and the foil seal is disposed within a recessed annular portion of the closure lid between the outer edge of the click bubble and the sealing edge, wherein the sealing part of the foil seal is sealed at the bottom of the recessed portion and wherein the The grip tab protrudes into the recessed portion such that it not only accommodates the sealing part of the foil seal arranged above the ventilation opening, but also the entire grip tab, the upper side of which expediently lies below a plane defined by the upper side of the sealing edge or by the upper side of the drawn-in click bubble located.

To complicate a possible manipulation of the container, provides a further advantageous embodiment of the invention that the film seal after its removal no longer adheres to the lid. However, if necessary, a seal variant can be used, which can be stuck again on the vent on the lid.

In the following the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to two illustrated in the drawings embodiments. Show it: 1 shows a top view of a closure lid according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view through the entire closure lid along the line A-A from FIG. 1; FIG.

3 shows a sectional view through a part of the closure lid along the line B-B from FIG. 1 after the lifting of a grip tab of the foil seal;

4 shows a greatly enlarged sectional view of the detail C in FIG. 3 during the further removal of the film seal;

5 shows a partially broken away sectional view through a container closed with the closure lid;

Fig. 6 is a view corresponding to Figure 4, but with partially open closure cap.

7 shows a partially sectioned side view of a modified closure lid;

Fig. 8 is a partially sectioned side view of another modified closure cap;

9 shows a partially sectioned side view of a further modified closure lid;

10 shows a sectional view through a closure lid according to the invention designed as a screw cap;

11 shows a partially broken away sectional view through a container closed with the screw cap;

Fig. 12: a top view of the screw of Fig. 9 when screwed onto the container. The closure lid 2 shown in the drawing for a container 4, for example a mustard or mayonnaise jar (FIGS

1 to 9) or a preserved glass (FIGS. 10 to 12) essentially consist of a lid body 6 produced in one piece from sheet metal with a closure mirror 8 and an edge part 10 protruding beyond the closure mirror 8 on one side, adjacent to a transition 12 between the closure mirror 8 and the edge portion 10 on the underside of a raised sealing edge 14 of the closure mirror 8 annularly molded sealing material 16, and a mounted on the top of the closure mirror 8 film seal 18, which closes the closure mirror 8 passing through ventilation opening 20.

The closure mirror 8 has at its center a so-called click bubble 22, which consists of three successive concentric sections 24, 26, 28 of the closure mirror 8, a circular inner section 24, an annular central section 26 and an annular outer section 28. Of these sections 24, 26, 28, with the lid 2 unloaded, the inner portion 24 is substantially aligned with a plane E spanned by the flat top of the sealing rim 14, while the middle of the two portions 26 are inclined away from the plane E towards the outer portion 28 at a shallow angle of inclination which in turn is inclined at a slightly greater angle of inclination away from the plane E to the bottom 32 of a flat annular groove 30 which is concentric with the three sections 24, 26, 28, with its inner flank formed by the two sections 26, 28 becomes. As best shown in Figures 1, 2, 5 and 9, the annular groove 30 extends radially outwardly to the sealing edge 14, wherein its groove bottom 32 with unloaded lid

2 (FIGS. 2 and 10) is approximately parallel to the plane E of the upper side of the sealing edge 14.

When the closure lid 2 has been mounted on a previously filled container 4, that the closure mirror 8 the planar mouth opening 34 of the container 4 spans and the sealing material 16 rests on the underside of the sealing edge 14 around the container opening 34 on the thickened peripheral edge 36, and then as a result of condensation of steam in a cavity 38 below the lid 2, the pressure in the container 4 drops until the pressure difference to the ambient pressure is about 0.2 bar to 0.3 bar, the click bubble 22 is pressed from the ambient pressure to the container interior in a retracted position, as shown in Fig. 5 and 11. In this position, the circular inner portion 24 is substantially aligned with the container opening 34, while the two annular portions 26, 28 are each inclined towards each other at a slight inclination angle in the direction of the plane E. The groove bottom 32 of the annular groove 30 is then inclined towards the center of the lid also at a slight angle of inclination away from the plane E. As a result of the deformation of the lid 2, the click bubble 22 is in this state under a bias, which has the consequence that it jumps up when first opening the lid 2, wherein a clearly audible click is generated. However, since the pressure in the container 4 may increase not only upon initial opening of the lid 2 but also as a result of leakage when small amounts of ambient air enter between the sealing edge 14 of the lid 2 and the peripheral edge 36 of the container 4, the click bladder 22 in its retracted position is a visible indication of the integrity of the seal of the container 4.

The closed with the film seal 18 ventilation opening 20 is arranged eccentrically with respect to the click bubble 22 approximately centrally on the base 32 of the annular groove 30, that is approximately in the middle between an outer edge 40 of the click bubble 22 and a sealing edge 14 towards rising groove flank 42, so that the foil seal 18 is completely within the annular groove 30, but the click bubble 22 does not overlap. The film seal 18 is made of an aluminum foil 43 provided with a protective coating 41 on the upper side, as shown in FIG. 4. As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 12, it consists of a sealing member 44, which is approximately circular in shape, the edge of the ventilation opening 20 is covered on all sides and fixed over the entire surface on the top of the closure mirror 8, and a square or rectangular grip tab 46, which is integrally connected to the sealing member 44 and projects on one side over this. To avoid having to pull off the

If the film tab 18 between two fingers is to be moved over the click bladder 22, this being concealed by the fingers, the center axis 50 of the film seal 18 passing through the seal member 44 and the tab 46 is substantially perpendicular to a radius R through the vent opening 20 aligned.

For gas- and liquid-tight attachment of the film seal 18, this is coated on its underside facing the cover 2 with a layer 51 of a finely dispersed plastic, eg polypropylene, paint, as shown in Fig. 4. The upper side of the lid body 6 is coated with a layer 53 of the same lacquer. In this way, the two paint layers 51, 53 are fused together prior to attaching the lid 2 on the container 4 to a continuous adhesive layer 55 when the sealed seal with the sealing member 44 above the vent opening 20 18 in the seal portion 44 over a period of time heated from 200 to 300 ms to a temperature of 200 to 250 ⁰ C and is pressed against the lid 2.

This type of seal is suitable for both a hot and cold filling of the container contents, with or without subsequent heat treatment, pasteurization to 100 ⁰ C and / or sterilization to 125 ⁰ C. In the case of products without thermal after-treatment could be the attachment of the foil seal 18 to other Art done, for example by means of an adhesive, preferably a hot melt adhesive, which in this case also forms a continuous adhesive layer 55 between the aluminum foil 43 of the foil seal 18 and the metal sheet of the closure part 8.

In order to facilitate the gripping tab 46 of the foil seal 18 when opening a closure lid 2, it has an indentation 52 protruding beyond its underside, which holds the free rear end 54 of the gripping tab 46 at a distance from the groove bottom 32 (FIG. 3).

In order to facilitate the first-time opening of the container 4 (FIGS. 5 and 11) sealed gas-tight with the lid 2, first the foil seal 18 is pulled off before the lid 2 is lifted off the container 4 (FIG. 6) or unscrewed. To the

Removing the film seal 18, the gripping tab 46 is gripped with two fingers and withdrawn in the direction of arrow P in Fig. 1, until ambient air enters through the opening 20 in the cavity 38 in the container 4 and the negative pressure in the container interior is eliminated. The click bubble 22 in the middle of the consumer's field of vision jumps visibly and audibly upwards with a clear click sound, so that the maintenance of the tightness of the closure up to this time is clearly visible to the consumer both acoustically and visually.

Subsequently, the lid 2 can be easily removed from the container 4.

In order to produce a clearly audible click sound, the ambient air must flow sufficiently fast through the ventilation opening

20 flow into the interior of the container 4, which only succeeds if the opening 20 has a certain minimum opening cross-section and is completely released when removing the foil seal 18. For this purpose, the ventilation opening 20 has a diameter d of 2 to 2.5 millimeters, as in

Fig. 4, which corresponds to an opening cross section of more than 3 mm and allows sufficient access of air. On the other hand, it is ensured by this opening cross-section in conjunction with a suitable material composition of the lacquer layer 51 on the underside of the sealing member 44 and the applied to the top of the closure lid 2 lacquer 53, that on the one hand the lacquer layer 51 directly above the ventilation opening 20 on the aluminum foil 43 with a sufficient, the delamination of the lacquer layer 51 of the film 43 preventing adhesive force adheres, and on the other hand split the two, merged to the continuous adhesive layer 55 lacquer layers 51, 53 around the vent opening 20 by cohesive failure in two sub-layers 55a, 55b, as in 4, of which one 55a adheres to the top of the lid 2 and the other to the underside of the sealing member 44. By this measure, the risk that the lacquer layer 51 is completely or partially detached from the underside of the aluminum foil 43 and thereby blocks the ventilation opening 20 decreases.

Where the lid 2, as shown in Figures 1 to 9, closes a usable as a glass container 4 with a thickened upper opening edge 36, it is on the container 4 from an inwardly beyond the edge portion 10 projecting bead or imprint 56, which engages behind the thickened edge 36 and is pressed from the outside against its underside, as best shown in Fig. 5.

The bead 56 may be formed there as a continuous, circumferential bead around the edge portion 10, as shown in Figures 2, 6 and 8, or in the form of several, for example, depending on the lid diameter five to seven at equal intervals around the circumference distributed Single beads 56, as shown in Figures 7 and 9, wherein the latter facilitates the lifting of the lid 2.

In order to minimize the risk of cuts at the free lower end of the edge portion 10, this end is either after rolled in or out, as shown for example in Fig. 2 and 5 or 7 and 9 at 58.

Where the cover 2, as shown in Figures 10 to 11, is designed as a screw cap and with a plurality of over the outer peripheral surface of the opening edge 36 of the container 2 projecting, at a shallow angle to the plane E inclined thread ribs 60 on the outside of the Edge 36 comes into engagement, it is provided in a known manner at the free lower end face of its edge portion 10 with a radially inwardly projecting circumferential flange 62. To hold the lid 2 on the container 4, the flange 62 is also provided in its upper side in a known manner with a number of thread ribs 60 of the container 2 corresponding number of angularly spaced beads or indentations 64, whereby the flange 62 at this Make something flatter and continue to protrude inward. When placing the screw 2 on the opening edge 36 of the container 2, these beads 64 each pass between two adjacent thread ribs 60 and are pressed in the subsequent tightening of the lid 2 from the outside against the underside of a threaded thread above it 60.

In order to prevent the grip tab 46 of the film seal 18 from mechanically tightening the screw cap 2 shown in FIG. 10 on the container 4 shown in FIG. 11 from the tightening means such as friction belt or the like, from the closure part 8 of the lid 2 bent-up level, which could lead under unfavorable circumstances, the gripping tab 46 is detected by the means and thereby the film seal 18 is undesirably withdrawn from the closure lid 2, the grip tab 46 is oriented so that it counteracts the direction of rotation D of the lid 2 when tightening on the

Seal portion 44 of the foil seal 18 projects, as shown in Fig. 12.

Claims

claims

1. Closure cover made of sheet metal for attachment to an opening of a container, in particular for food, the container contents to be kept until the first opening of the lid under a negative pressure, with a spanning the opening and sealing against a peripheral edge of the opening closure member, as well as an integral with the closure part connected, the peripheral edge of his

Outside surrounding edge portion, wherein the closure part is provided with a ventilation opening, which is closed by a peelable film seal, characterized in that the ventilation opening (20) has an opening cross-section of more than 3 mm.

2. Closure cap according to claim 1, characterized in that the ventilation opening (20) is round and has an inner diameter of 2 mm or more.

3. Closure lid according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by a between at least a part (44) of the foil seal (18) and the closure part (18) arranged adhesive layer (55).

4. Closure lid according to claim 3, characterized in that the adhesive layer (55) splits when pulling the film seal (18) to the ventilation opening (20) around by cohesive failure.

5. Closure cover according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the closure part (8) is at least partially coated on its upper side with a plastic-containing paint (53) that the sealing part (44) of the film seal (18) on its underside with a plastic-containing Paint (51) is coated, and that the both paint layers (53, 51) in the region of the sealing part (44) are fused together.

6. Closure lid according to claim 5, characterized in that both lacquer layers (53, 51) contain polypropylene.

7. Closure cover made of sheet metal for attachment to an opening of a container, in particular for food, the container contents to be kept until the first opening of the lid under a negative pressure, with a the

Opening part spanning and sealing against a peripheral edge of the opening, and an integrally connected with the closure part, the peripheral edge on its outer edge surrounding edge part, wherein the closure part is provided with an off-center ventilation opening, which is closed by a foil seal, in particular according to one of the preceding claims in that the foil seal (18) has a sealing part (44) connected to the cover (2) around the ventilation opening (20) and a gripping tab (46) protruding over the sealing part (44) on one side and opposite to the direction of rotation ( D) of the lid formed as a screw cap (2) when screwing on the container (4) is aligned.

A closure cap according to claim 7, characterized in that the vent opening (20) and the foil seal (18) are disposed within a recessed annular portion (30) between a click blister (22) located in the center of the closure member (8) and one on its underside with a sealing material (12) provided sealing edge (14) of the closure part (8) are arranged.

A closure cap according to claim 8, characterized in that the sealing member (44) is sealed to the bottom (32) of the recessed annular portion (30).

10. closure cap according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the foil seal (18) up to not over one of the top of the sealing edge (14) spanned plane (E) protrudes.

11. Closure lid according to one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the grip tab (46) on one side beyond the substantially circular sealing part (44) projects, with its central axis (50) substantially perpendicular to a radius (R) through the ventilation opening (20) is aligned.

12. Closure cover according to one of claims 7 to 11, characterized in that the gripping tab (46) and / or the closure part (8) of the lid (2) is locally raised, so that a side facing away from the sealing part (44) edge (54). the grip tab (46) is held at a distance from the top of the lid (2).

13. Closure lid according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the foil seal (18) comprises an aluminum foil (43).

14. Closure cap according to claim 13, characterized in that the aluminum foil (43) on its upper side with a

Protective coating (41) is provided.

15. Closure lid according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the aluminum foil (43) has a thickness between 50 and 100 micrometers.

16. A container, in particular containing a food, with an opening bounded by a peripheral peripheral edge, characterized by a on the peripheral edge (36) attached to the closure lid (2) according to one of the preceding claims.