Abstract: A seal ring for sealing a container. A seal ring has a base and a longitudinal axis extending therethrough, a radially outer portion, and an inner seal. The radially outer portion has a locking band that is configured to lock beneath an external engagement element of a container so as to secure the seal ring thereto. The inner seal is configured to be biased into sealing engagement with an inner finish surface of the container. The seal ring may be part of a package includes a container having a finish that comprises a sealing lip, an external engagement element, and an inner surface, and a foil sealingly and removably coupled to the base of the seal ring.

Abstract: A bottle extends along a longitudinal axis and includes a base, a body extending from the base, a shoulder extending from the body, and a neck extending from the shoulder and having a neck finish. The body has lower and upper frustoconical portions axially opposed to one another and having straight external surfaces.

Abstract: An anti-refill product including a container having a neck integral with a body and shoulder of the container. The neck has a neck finish terminating in a lip, a valve seat axially between the shoulder and the lip and including a single, a circumferentially continuous, internal valve sealing surface extending completely around the neck, and a valve retainer axially between the valve seat and the lip, and including a radially inwardly extending projection that includes at least one internal valve retaining surface. A check element is separate from the container and carried in the container neck between the valve seat and the valve retainer.

Abstract: An insulator for a beverage container includes an insulating shell including a closed base and a body extending from the base and terminating in an open end, and a seal or glass bead that may be in complete circumferentially continuous contact with the shell and container.

Abstract: A product includes a container having an interior surface, an exterior surface, and a lip between the interior and exterior surfaces, and a wick having a first end disposed inside the container, a second end disposed outside of the container, and an intermediate portion extending across the lip of the container. A package may include the product, a liquid product carried within the container, and a closure coupled to the container to squeeze the wick to interrupt flow of the liquid product therethrough.

Abstract: A plurality of soda-lime glass batch materials are formed into granules that include a core and a shell surrounding the core. The core comprises a first portion of the plurality of glass batch materials, and the shell comprises a remaining portion of the plurality of glass batch materials. These core-shell granules can be melted in a glass furnace to produce molten soda-lime glass in less time and at a lower temperature than conventional soda-lime glass batch preparations.

Abstract: An apparatus for melting and refining a silica-based glass composition includes a vertical first reaction chamber having an input adjacent to a lower end for receiving glass-forming components. The glass-forming components are heated to elevated temperature during upward flow through the vertical first reaction chamber to form a glass precursor melt adjacent to an upper end of the vertical first reaction chamber. A vertical second reaction chamber has an input adjacent to an upper end and an output adjacent to a lower end for delivering glass melt. A cross passage connects the upper end of the vertical first reaction chamber to the upper end of the vertical second reaction chamber such that the precursor melt flows from the vertical first reaction chamber through the cross passage and then through the vertical second reaction chamber to homogenize the precursor melt.

Abstract: A container may include a wall and a medal retained to the wall by container material of integral one-piece construction with the wall and extending over at least a portion of the medal. The medal and one or more portions of the container adjacent the medal have a shared unique appearance. A package may include a flaccid loop coupled between a closure and a container to which the closure is coupled, and a medal coupled to the flaccid loop.

Abstract: A seal for sealing engagement between a closure and a container. A seal ring has a sealing portion. A projection is coupled to the seal ring, extends circumferentially and radially outwardly of the seal ring, and has a closure-driven feature engageable by the closure when the closure is rotated on the container in a loosening direction to unseat the seal ring from sealing engagement between the container and the closure. The seal may be part of a package and sealingly engaged between a sealing surface of a container of the package and a base of a closure of the package when the closure is secured to the container.

Abstract: A package includes a container, a product carried within the container, a closure coupled to the container, and a use indicator coupled to at least one of the container or the closure so that, upon removal of the closure from the container or upon removal of the product from within the container, a coloration of the package changes irreversibly to indicate to a user that the package has been used.

Abstract: A product includes a container, and an indicator that is carried inside the container and that exhibits a first visible characteristic, and a second, different visible characteristic when exposed to air.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for detecting commercial variations in at least a portion of an at least partially transparent container. A light pattern in an angular domain is established from signals generated by a plurality of light sensors, wherein a point in the light pattern is generated by a signal from a corresponding portion of the light sensors and represents a light intensity corresponding to a particular reflection angle of a light ray reflected off the container. Different types of commercial variations in the container can be differentiated by analyzing the light pattern in the angular domain.

Abstract: A process and an apparatus for refining molten glass by introducing, a stream of unrefined molten glass into a controlled environment distributing the stream of molten glass over a flow surface, and collecting the stream of molten glass from a downstream end of the flow surface to form a body of molten glass having a free surface exposed to the controlled environment. The controlled environment, may have a pressure less than ambient atmospheric pressure, such that introducing the stream of molten glass into the controlled environment causes gaseous inclusions in the stream of molten glass to rise to a surface thereof and escape.

Abstract: A product includes a closure having a radially inner portion, and being removably securable to a container, and a pendant releasably coupled to the radially inner portion of the closure, and being releasable from the closure into the container upon removal of the closure from the container. A package may include the product and a container, wherein the closure is removably secured to a neck of the container to removably close the container, and the pendant is suspended from the closure in an interior of the container neck, such that when the closure is removed from the container, the pendant releases from the closure and drops into the container and is non-removably carried therein to provide an indication that the package has been opened from its original factory sealed condition.

Abstract: A platform system including a guide establishing a platform translation axis and having upper and lower surfaces, a carriage translatably coupled to the guide along the platform translation axis and engaged with the upper and lower surfaces of the guide, a platform coupled to the carriage and including at least a portion that is pivotable in a direction transverse to the platform translation axis, and a stepway movably coupled to at least one of the carriage or the platform.

Abstract: A container includes a neck finish extending from a body and having at least two thickened wall portions circumferentially spaced apart and extending radially inwardly, and including interior surfaces disposed radially inwardly of a neck finish interior surface to at least partially establish an internal trough, and axially facing shoulders axially recessed with respect to a sealing lip of the neck finish.

Abstract: A bottle includes a bridge forming a fluid channel, and extending radially outwardly on a bottle neck, from a location spaced axially from a bottle finish to a bottle shoulder. The bridge includes an outer wall offset radially outwardly with respect to walls of the neck and the shoulder and, in transverse cross section, the outer wall includes an incurvate inner surface. The bridge also includes side walls extending between the outer wall of the bridge and the walls of the neck and shoulder and, in transverse cross section, the side walls include straight inner surfaces disposed at chordal angles.

Abstract: A thermal core includes a hollow body with at least one engagement element for engaging a corresponding engagement element on a container, a central portion for heat-transfer with a container base, a thermal medium within the hollow body, a bottom wall on the hollow body, and at least one pocket in the bottom wall with at least one of twist-off features or pry-off features. A product to remove a closure from a container includes a wall, and a multi-functional pocket in the wall that includes laterally spaced and diametrically overlapping semi-circumferential pockets including a first pocket having container closure pry-off features and a second pocket having container closure twist-off features.

Abstract: A glass bottle includes a body having a closed end, a shoulder spaced from the end, a neck extending from the shoulder, and a neck finish at an end of the neck for attachment of a closure, characterized in that the neck finish and at least a portion of the neck adjacent to the neck finish have non-circular internal surfaces.

Abstract: A glass container and a process for chemically modifying a surface portion of a glass container using an ion-exchange process. At least a portion of the glass container is immersed in or in contact with an aqueous electrolyte solution comprising salts of at least one group IA alkali metal and having a temperature of about 75 degrees Celsius such that exchangeable alkali metal ions in a surface portion of the glass container are exchanged or replaced by alkali metal ions in the electrolyte solution. The alkali metal ions that replace the exchangeable ions in the surface portion of the glass container have either a smaller or a larger atomic radius than the exchangeable ions.