Abstract: There is disclosed a press-on bottle cap which is convertible to a screw reclosure lid. The cap is formed with a circular disc having an integral, downwardly dependent circumferential skirt. The skirt has a raised helical bead on its inside wall which extends an angular increment from 270 to about 400 degrees and a raised circumferential bead located beneath the helical bead and at least one tear line defined by a circumferential band of weakened strength located between the circumferential and helical beads. A tear tab extends from the outer wall of the skirt adjacent the tear line which can be pulled by the user to sever a reclosure lid having the helical bead which can be threaded onto the neck of the bottle to seal its contents. For this purpose, the undersurface of the disc of the cap has a compressible sealing gasket which is engaged by an annular lip of the upper end of the bottle neck.

Abstract: There is disclosed a press-on cap having a flat top with a cylindrical skirt with an annular tear band defined by a pair of annular score lines, and with at least two annular inner beads which seat in annular grooves in the neck of a bottle. The cap skirt extends below the lower score line of the annular tear band to form a tamper-proof ring which is bonded by laser radiation at least one, preferably two, spots to the neck of the plastic bottle. The spot bonds preferably have a diameter no greater than about 0.15 inch. The invention also comprises a bottle filler line which includes a capping station in which caps are applied and pressed downwardly over the narrow necks of the bottles which have been filled with a liquid such as milk or non-carbonated beverage, and a cap bonding station in which the capped and filled bottles are passed between laser beam effectors which are pulsed momentarily to spot bond the tamper-proof rings of the caps to the necks of the bottles.

Abstract: There is disclosed a snap-on closure for containers, such as milk and soft drink plastic bottles, which has upper and lower annular beads on the inside wall of a peripheral skirt with a tear band defined by a score line in the skirt, located between the annular beads. The score line extends towards, but not entirely to, the bottom edge of the skirt, terminating a short distance above the bottom edge of the skirt. This score line permits a tearing of the lower portion of the cap skirt from the closure, and for this purpose, the cap tears along the weakened score line, about the closure and then downwardly towards the bottom edge of the skirt so that the entire lower portion of the skirt is removed as a tear band, leaving only the reclosure on the bottle. Since the lower score line does not extend to the lower edge of the skirt, that lower edge is not weakened, but retains its full hoop strength, to resist splitting when the cap is applied to the bottle.

Abstract: There is disclosed a snap-on closure which has upper and lower annular beads on the inside wall of a peripheral skirt with a tear band defined by at least one score line in the skirt, located between the annular beads. The closure has a center corking skirt that is downwardly dependent from its undersurface and this corking skirt has sufficiently thin side walls to flex. The corking skirt is spaced concentrically within the outer peripheral skirt of the closure and is spaced apart from the peripheral skirt by an annulus having a width which is slightly less than the width of the inner lip found on the neck finish of conventional bottles. This ensures that the corking skirt will resiliently engage the inside mouth of the bottle and be deflected thereby, thus forming a seal in the mouth of the bottle. The corking skirt can have reinforcement gussets that project radially inwardly from its side wall and depend from the undersurface of the top disk of the closure.

Abstract: A mold to manufacture an improved press-on bottle cap is disclosed. The cap has a top disk and a thin-walled outer skirt dependent therefrom with an annular tear score line on its inside wall and a laterally projecting tear tab which permit the cap to divide into a lower portion an upper reclosure cap. An annular lip is provided about the outside wall of the cap, approximately in the middle of the reclosure cap. The lip is discontinuous with an open sector above the tear tab. The mold has its parting line in the plane of the annular lip and the lower half of the mold has a lateral cavity to form the tear tab. In this manner, a laterally offset tear tab is provided without splitting the mold cavity along an axial plane.

Abstract: An improved press-on bottle cap is disclosed in which the cap comprises a top disk and a thin-walled outer skirt dependent therefrom with an annular tear band which, when separated from the cap, divides the cap into a lower ring and an upper reclosure cap. An annular lip is provided about the outside wall of the cap, approximately in the middle of the reclosure cap and the tear tab, which is integral with the tear band, extends upwardly into contact with the underside of the annular lip. Preferably, the lip is discontinuous with an open sector above the tear tab, and the cap is fabricated without the necessity to use a split-cavity mold, and a preferred mold construction is also disclosed. A compressible, plastic foam gasket is employed in the cap to seal the container contents. A foam gasket is seated on the undersurface of the cap in a position to bear against the upper end of the neck of the container which is received in the cap.

Abstract: An improved press-on bottle cap is disclosed in which the cap comprises a top disk and a thin-walled outer skirt dependent therefrom with an annular tear band which, when separated from the cap, divides the cap into a lower ring and an upper reclosure cap. An annular lip is provided about the outside wall of the cap, approximately in the middle of the reclosure cap and the tear tab, which is integral with the tear band, extends upwardly into contact with the underside of the annular lip. Preferably, the lip is discontinuous with an open sector above the tear tab, and the cap is fabricated without the necessity to use a split-cavity mold, and a preferred mold construction is also disclosed. A compressible, plastic foam gasket is employed in the cap to seal the container contents. A foam gasket is seated on the undersurface of the cap in a position to bear against the upper end of the neck of the container which is received in the cap.