WO2017221120A1

WO2017221120A1 - Closure device for bottles with high-strength safety insert

Info

Publication number: WO2017221120A1
Application number: PCT/IB2017/053594
Authority: WO
Inventors: Nicola Fabiano
Original assignee: Nicola Fabiano
Priority date: 2016-03-25
Filing date: 2017-06-16
Publication date: 2017-12-28
Also published as: ITUA20161954A1

Abstract

The invention describes a closure device for a bottle of the type comprising at least one circumferential rib provided around its own mouth. The closure device comprises a cylindrical jacket for covering the mouth of the bottle and a cap that, in the configuration prior to the first time that the closure device is opened, is constrained both by rotation, and by pulling off with respect to the cylindrical jacket. The cylindrical jacket is internally provided, at an annular housing seat thereof, with at least one annular safety insert that comprises a lower circular portion, configured to abut against an abutment wall of the cylindrical jacket, and at least one inclined upper tongue, configured to abut against the circumferential rib. The annular safety insert is configured to constrain by pulling off the cylindrical jacket with respect to the mouth of the bottle.

Description

"CLOSURE DEVICE FOR BOTTLES WITH HIGH-STRENGTH SAFETY INSERT"

The present invention refers to a closure device for bottles, particularly a closure device for bottles provided with a high-strength safety insert. More in particular, the present invention refers to a closure device for bottles provided with a high-strength safety insert that is arranged in a position not accessible in the assembled configuration of the closure device.

Currently, different closure devices for bottles, particularly for bottles containing alcohol or spirits, are known. These closure devices generally consist of a cap and a pouring element or diffusor.

The cap is usually equipped with an internal threading adapted for engaging, to open or close the bottle, with a corresponding threading provided on the outer surface of the pouring element or diffusor. The pouring element or diffusor is in turn press-fitted, or fixed through other known means, outside or inside the mouth of the bottle.

The closure device also comprises a jacket for covering the cap, made of a film of aluminium or plastic. Normally, the jacket is constrained by pulling off with respect to the mouth of the bottle.

Currently, the market requires that end customer can be able to clearly recognise the state of integrity of a bottle and, consequently, of its content. The signalling of a prior "first opening" of a bottle is indeed necessary, since once the bottle has been opened it is possible to alter the content thereof.

Therefore, different closure devices for bottles have been made comprising anti-tampering means capable of making it immediately apparent that the bottle has already been opened. Most of these anti-tampering means consist of movable, elastic or in any case shaped elements, arranged inside the closure device. These elements are configured so that, after the bottle has been opened for the first time, they position themselves internally between the cap and the pouring element or diffusor, limiting the closing stroke of the cap.

The limitation of the closing stroke of the cap leaves a portion of the pouring element or diffusor, or a portion of the neck of the bottle, visible. This portion is, on the other hand, concealed prior to the first time the bottle is opened. The visibility of this portion therefore demonstrates, in a clear and reliable manner, that the bottle has been opened at least once.

Since the elements of the closure device that act as anti-tampering means are normally obtained in the cap and/or in the pouring element or diffusor, these components are rather complex to make with respect to closure devices without anti-tampering means. In addition, the jacket of the closure device is usually without its own anti-tampering means. This means that, if somebody manages to remove the entire assembly consisting of the cap, the pouring element or diffusor and the jacket from the neck of the bottle, this assembly could be remounted on the neck of the bottle, after altering the content of the bottle itself, without an inattentive user realising that tampering has occurred.

The general purpose of the present invention is therefore to make a closure device for bottles with a high-strength safety insert that is capable of overcoming the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art in an extremely simple, cost-effective and particularly functional manner.

In detail, a purpose of the present invention is to make a high-strength safety insert that is applicable to a plurality of closure devices for bottles that are different from one another, without the need to design and build specific caps and respective pouring elements or diffusors.

Another purpose of the invention is to make a high- strength safety insert that is applicable particularly to the jacket of the closure device, thus being able to operate both as a single anti-tampering means of the closure device, and in combination with possible anti- tampering means provided in the cap and/or in the diffusor .

These purposes according to the present invention are accomplished by making a closure device for bottles provided with a high-strength safety insert as outlined in claim 1.

Further characteristics of the invention are highlighted by the dependent claims, which are an integral part of the present description.

The characteristics and advantages of a closure device for bottles provided with a high-strength safety insert according to the present invention will become clearer from the following description, given as an example and not for limiting purposes, referring to the attached schematic drawings, in which:

figure 1 is an exploded view of the main components of a first embodiment of the closure device for bottles provided with a high-strength safety insert according to the present invention;

figure 2 is a transparent view of the closure device of figure 1 ;

figure 3 is a partial section view of the closure device of figure 1 ;

figure 4 is a detailed view of the detail indicated with IV in figure 3;

figure 5 is a perspective view of the high-strength safety insert of the closure device of figure 1 ;

figure 6 is a section view of a second embodiment of the closure device for bottles provided with a high- strength safety insert according to the present invention;

figure 7 is another section view of the closure device of figure 6;

figure 8 is a detailed view of the detail indicated with VIII in figure 7; and

figure 9 is a perspective view of the high-strength safety insert of the closure device of figure 6.

With reference to the figures, two embodiments of a closure device for bottles provided with a high- strength safety insert according to the present invention are shown. The closure device is wholly indicated with reference numeral 10. The closure device 10 comprises a cap 12 actuatable in rotation by the user to open and close the closure device 10 itself. The closure device 10 also comprises a cylindrical jacket 14 for covering the mouth of the bottle 50.

The cap 12 is internally provided with a threaded side portion 16, arranged for coupling with a corresponding external threading 18 obtained on the mouth of the bottle 50. The cap 12, in the configuration prior to the first time that the closure device 10 is opened, is thus constrained both by rotation, and by pulling off with respect to the cylindrical jacket 14 for covering the mouth of the bottle 50.

Based on the embodiment shown in figures 1-5, the cap 12 can be constrained to the cylindrical jacket 14 through a breakable covering case 20 that at least partially surrounds such a cap 12 and that is provided with removable constraint means 22 both with respect to the cap 12 itself, and with respect to the cylindrical jacket 14. These removable constraint means 22 can consist, for example, of a tear-away tongue.

Based on the embodiment shown in figures 6-9, the cap 12 can be constrained to the cylindrical jacket 14 through a removable tongue 24 arranged between such a cap 12 and such a cylindrical jacket 14. The removable tongue 24 can be shaped like a ring that extends along the entire circumference of the cylindrical jacket 14. The ring-shaped removable tongue 24 is thus delimited by an upper breakage line 26, connected to the cap 12, and by a further lower breakage line 28, connected to the cylindrical jacket 14. The ring-shaped removable tongue 24 blocks the rotation of the cap 12. Only after the removal of the tongue 24 the cap 12 can be removed from the cylindrical jacket 14 and thus from the bottle 50.

The cylindrical jacket 14 is internally provided, at an annular housing seat 32 thereof, with at least one annular safety insert 30 configured to constrain by pulling off such a cylindrical jacket 14 with respect to the mouth of the bottle 50. The annular safety insert 30 comprises a lower circular portion 34, which extends along a surface substantially parallel to the rotation axis of the closure device 10. The lower circular portion 34 of the annular safety insert 30 is configured to adhere to the annular housing seat 32 of the cylindrical jacket 14 and to abut against a lower abutment wall 36 of such an annular housing seat 32.

The annular safety insert 30 also comprises at least one tongue 38, which projects above the lower circular portion 34 (with reference to the position of the bottle) and which is inclined towards the inside of the mouth of the bottle 50 according to a predetermined angle. Each inclined tongue 38 of the annular safety insert 30 is configured to abut against a circumferential rib 60 provided around the mouth of the bottle 50.

The mutual engagement between the lower circular portion 34 of the annular safety insert 30 and the lower abutment wall 36 of the annular housing seat 32 obtained in the cylindrical jacket 14, as well as between the inclined tongues 38 of the annular safety insert 30 and the circumferential rib 60 of the mouth of the bottle 50, holds the cylindrical jacket 14, and thus the cap 12, on the mouth of the bottle 50 in the configuration prior to the first time that the closure device 10 is opened. The axial pulling off of the entire closure device 10 with respect to the mouth of the bottle 50 is thus prevented.

Preferably, in addition to the inclined tongues 38, the annular safety insert 30 comprises at least one tooth 40, which projects above the lower circular portion 34 and which extends along a surface substantially parallel to the surface of such a lower circular portion 34. Each tooth 40 of the annular safety insert 30 is configured to adhere to the annular housing seat 32 of the cylindrical jacket 14 and to abut against an upper abutment wall 42 of such an annular housing seat 32.

Based on the embodiments shown in the figures, the annular safety insert 30 is provided with a plurality of mutually equidistant inclined tongues 38, separated by a corresponding plurality of teeth 40, also equidistant from one another. Depending on the embodiments of the annular safety insert 30, at least a part of the teeth 40 can be provided with a flat upper edge 44 (figure 5) . Alternatively or in addition, at least a part of the teeth 40 can be provided with an indented upper edge 46 (figure 9) .

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the cylindrical jacket 14 of the closure device 10 is manufactured with a plastic material, like for example polypropylene (PP) . Advantageously, the annular safety insert 30 and the respective components are manufactured in a single piece of plastic material having a greater hardness, or in other words resistance to deformation, with respect to the hardness and resistance to deformation of the plastic material with which the cylindrical jacket 14 is manufactured. For example, the annular safety insert 30 could be manufactured in polycarbonate.

The presence of an annular safety insert 30 having the morphological and hardness characteristics outlined above ensures that the closure device 10 has a maximum value of resistance to pulling off traction that is greater than that which would be obtained in a configuration in which the cylindrical jacket 14 lacks an annular safety insert 30. In the presence of loads greater than the maximum value of resistance to traction of the annular safety insert 30, the entire closure device 10 can in any case be pulled off with respect to the mouth of the bottle 50. However, these loads would cause the annular safety insert 30 to become deformed or break, in any case making it evident that the closure device 10 has been opened at least once and preventing subsequent repositioning thereof on the mouth of the bottle 50.

It has thus been seen that the closure device for bottles provided with a high-strength safety insert according to the present invention achieves the purposes highlighted earlier. The safety insert can be adapted to any type of closure device, provided that it is provided with a respective suitably shaped cylindrical jacket, and to any type of bottle, provided that it is provided with at least one circumferential rib arranged around its own mouth.

The closure device for bottles provided with a high-strength safety insert thus conceived can in any case undergo numerous modifications and variants, all of which are covered by the same innovative concept; moreover, all of the details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements. In practice, the materials used, as well as the shapes and sizes, can be whatever according to the technical requirements. The scope of protection of the invention is therefore defined by the attached claims.

Claims

1. Closure device (10) for a bottle (50) of the type comprising at least one circumferential rib (60) provided around its own mouth, the closure device (10) comprising:

- a cylindrical jacket (14) for covering the mouth of the bottle (50) ; and

- a cap (12) that, in the configuration prior to the first time the closure device (10) is opened, is constrained both by rotation, and by pulling off with respect to the cylindrical jacket (14) and is arranged to open and close the closure device (10), the closure device (10) being characterised in that the cylindrical jacket (14) is internally provided, at an annular housing seat (32) thereof, with at least one annular safety insert (30) configured to constrain by pulling off said cylindrical jacket (14) with respect to the mouth of the bottle (50), the annular safety insert (30) comprising:

- a lower circular portion (34), which extends along a surface substantially parallel to the rotation axis of the closure device (10), said lower circular portion (34) being configured to adhere to the annular housing seat (32) of the cylindrical jacket (14) and to abut against a lower abutment wall (36) of said annular housing seat (32) ; and

- at least one tongue (38), which projects above the lower circular portion (34) and which is inclined towards the inside of the bottle (50) according to a predetermined angle, each inclined tongue (38) being configured to abut against said circumferential rib (60), the mutual engagement between said lower circular portion (34) and said lower abutment wall (36), as well as between each inclined tongue (38) and said circumferential rib (60), holding the cylindrical jacket (14), and thus the cap (12), on the mouth of the bottle (50) in the configuration prior to the first time the closure device (10) is opened .

2. Closure device (10) according to claim 1, characterised in that the annular safety insert (30) comprises, in addition to the inclined tongues (38), at least one tooth (40) that projects above the lower circular portion (34) and that extends along a surface substantially parallel to the surface of said lower circular portion (34), each tooth (40) being configured to adhere to the annular housing seat (32) and to abut against an upper abutment wall (42) of said annular housing seat (32) .

3. Closure device (10) according to claim 2, characterised in that the annular safety insert (30) is provided with a plurality of mutually equidistant inclined tongues (38), divided by a corresponding plurality of teeth (40), also mutually equidistant.

4. Closure device (10) according to claim 2 or 3, characterised in that at least a part of the teeth (40) is provided with a flat upper edge (44) .

5. Closure device (10) according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterised in that at least a part of the teeth (40) is provided with an indented upper edge (46) .

6. Closure device (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the cylindrical jacket (14) is manufactured with a plastic material, whereas the annular safety insert (30) and the components thereof are manufactured in a single piece of plastic material having a greater hardness and resistance to deformation with respect to the hardness and resistance to deformation of the plastic material with which the cylindrical jacket (14) is manufactured.

7. Closure device (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the cap (12) is constrained to the cylindrical jacket (14) through a breakable covering case (20) that at least partially surrounds said cap (12) and that is provided with removable constraint means (22) both with respect to said cap (12), and with respect to the cylindrical jacket (14) .

8. Closure device (10) according to claim 7, characterised in that said removable constraint means (22) consist of a tear-away tongue.

9. Closure device (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the cap (12) is constrained to the cylindrical jacket (14) through a removable tongue (24) arranged between said cap (12) and said cylindrical jacket (14) .

10. Closure device (10) according to claim 9, characterised in that the removable tongue (24) is shaped like a ring that extends along the entire circumference of the cylindrical jacket (14), said ring-shaped removable tongue (24) being delimited by an upper breakage line (26), connected to the cap (12), and by a further lower breakage line (28), connected to the cylindrical jacket (14) .