Abstract: A seal ring for sealing a container. A seal ring has a base including a longitudinal axis extending therethrough and having a top surface, an undersurface opposite the top surface, and a projection extending from the undersurface in an axial direction. The projection is configured to be received by a complementary opening in the container. The seal ring may be part of a package that also includes a container having a mouth, an axially-facing sealing surface, and an opening in the sealing surface, and a foil sealingly and removably coupled to the base of the seal ring.

Abstract: An enclosed carton for housing and dispensing a plurality of containers has front and back panels, side panels, and top and bottom end panels connected to the front and back panels and the side panels to form a closed structure with the containers extending height-wise between the side panels. The containers are arranged in at least one row between the front and back panels and are stacked between the bottom and top end panels. The front panel has a plurality of access panels removably connected to the front panel and to each other such that, with said carton positioned on the bottom end panel and the containers oriented horizontally, the access panels can be removed in succession as the containers are removed from the carton to provide access to the remaining containers.

Abstract: A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber for containing glass melt and a conveyor for receiving glass batch material and feeding the glass batch material to the furnace chamber. A dam wall is disposed with respect to the conveyor such that batch material from the conveyor must flow upward over the dam wall before entering the furnace chamber. The top of the dam wall may be below the level of the melt pool in the furnace chamber.

Abstract: A container conveyor apparatus that conveys containers along a container path includes a front rail of an adjustable railing apparatus that is arcuately shaped along a container path and forms part of a surface facing radially inwardly; and a rear rail of the adjustable railing apparatus that is arcuately shaped along the container path and forms another part of the surface facing radially inwardly; the front rail and the rear rail of the adjustable railing apparatus move with respect to one another to change the width of the container path and accommodate containers of different sizes.

Abstract: A furnace system includes a furnace and a preheater configured to preheat material before it enters the furnace. The system further includes a duct system including a mixing chamber disposed between the furnace and preheater. The duct system further includes an exhaust duct in fluid communication with an exhaust fluid outlet of the furnace and configured to vent fluid exhausted from the furnace. The exhaust duct is in fluid communication with the mixing chamber and configured to redirect a portion of the fluid exhausted from the furnace to the mixing chamber. The duct system further includes a preheater duct in fluid communication with the mixing chamber and a fluid inlet of the preheater and configured to direct fluid from the mixing chamber to the preheater. The system further includes a duct scraper configured for movement within the mixing chamber to move particulates from the mixing chamber into the exhaust duct.

Abstract: A tamper-evident product and related methods of production. A container includes a neck, and a tamper-evidencing component separate from the container and carried by the neck of the container in direct contact with a corresponding portion of the container neck. The component is composed of material that has higher thermal conductivity than that of a material of the container so as to concentrate heat in the corresponding portion of the container neck. The neck is thermally responsive to application of heat pursuant to tampering with the product by at least one of the following responses: an irreversible change in visual appearance of the corresponding portion of the container neck, or fracture of the container neck at the corresponding portion of the container neck.

Abstract: A container test system includes a test chamber in which a container may be located for testing, for instance, for assessing insulative properties of a container. In the test chamber, the outside of the container is thermally treated, temperature of the air outside the container is measured, and temperature of a liquid inside the container is measured. A related testing method is also disclosed.

Abstract: A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber including a side wall and a bottom wall and containing a pool of glass melt having a melt level. A batch feed hopper is adjacent to the side wall of the furnace chamber to supply batch material under gravity to a bottom of the hopper. A feed opening is in the side wall of the furnace chamber and feeds batch material from the bottom of the hopper to the pool of glass melt below the melt level. A conveyor is proximate the bottom wall of the hopper and feeds the batch material from the bottom of the hopper through the feed opening and into the furnace chamber.

Abstract: A soda-lime-silica glass container and related methods of manufacturing. A black-strikable glass composition having a base glass portion and a latent colorant portion is prepared. The base glass portion includes soda-lime-silica glass materials and one or more blue colorant materials, and the latent colorant portion includes cuprous oxide (Cu2O), stannous oxide (SnO), bismuth oxide (Bi2O3), and carbon (C). Glass containers may be formed from the black-strikable glass composition, and these glass containers may be heated to a temperature greater than 600 degrees Celsius to strike black therein. The glass containers formed from the black-strikable glass composition may be inspected—before or after striking—by infrared inspection equipment.

Abstract: A method of molding a wine bottle adapted for use with one but not both of a cork-type plug closure or a Stelvin-type threaded closure includes forming a glass parison having a temporary body and a completed neck finish contoured for receiving either a cork-type plug closure or a Stelvin-type threaded closure. The glass parison is transferred to a mold stage, and the temporary body of the parison is blow molded at the mold stage to form a glass container having a neck coupled to the neck finish. With both neck finish geometries, the neck adjacent to the neck finish has external (L and K) dimensions adapted to receive a Stelvin-type threaded closure and a cylindrical interior adapted to receive a cork-type plug closure.

Abstract: A product includes a bottle, and an indicator that is carried in a relief in an interior surface of at least one of a shoulder of the bottle or a neck of the bottle, and that is adapted, upon contact with air, irreversibly to change a characteristic of the indicator that is visible from outside of the bottle to indicate to a user that the product has been used. A package including the product, and a method for making the package are also disclosed.