ASEPTIC PUSH-PULL STOPPER

Abstract

A stopper of the push-pull type, comprising a main threaded-ring body, to be screwed onto the neck of a corresponding container of liquids, from which a tubular projection protrudes which surrounds externally the exit hole of the main body, for guiding and supporting an upper stopper, the upper stopper, provided with a flow control element for blocking the exit hole, and designed to be extracted reversibly therefrom; the upper stopper and the tubular projection forming a suction dispensing nozzle, a capsule- or cap-shaped covering element, for covering the upper stopper and coupled, by its edge, in a reversibly removable manner, to the main body; the covering element is constituted by an annular lateral stopper protection portion and by a central portion for protecting the head of the upper stopper.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Push-pull stoppers, as exemplified in FIG. 1, where such a stopper is designated by the reference letter A, comprise:

• • a main threaded-ring body B to be screwed onto the neck of a corresponding bottle, from which a tubular projection C protrudes which surrounds externally an exit hole D of such main body, for guiding and supporting an upper stopper E,
  • the upper stopper E, provided with a flow control element F that is adapted to enter the exit hole D to block it and is designed to be extracted reversibly therefrom by producing the translational motion of the upper stopper E on the tubular projection C away from the main body B; the upper body E and the tubular projection C define a suction dispensing nozzle G,
  • a capsule- or cap-shaped covering element H, which is contoured so as to conceal the upper stopper E and to rest and be coupled, by means of its edge I, in a reversibly removable manner, to the main body B.

The capsule-shaped covering element H is constituted by an annular portion L for lateral protection for the upper stopper E and by a central portion M for protecting the head of the upper stopper, said annular portion and said central portion being joined by a connecting region N.

The capsule-shaped covering element H, known in the jargon as a cap, has such a height as to skim a head portion P of the upper stopper E in the closed configuration of the stopper A.

This geometry and shape of the capsule-shaped covering element H allow to optimize the space occupation of the stopper and to minimize the amount of plastics needed to manufacture it.

Currently, in order to sterilize the stopper, it is necessary to subject its internal parts, i.e., the ones designed to face the interior of the bottle and therefore designed to be wetted by the liquids contained in such bottle, first to radiating treatment and then to sterilization by washing in aseptic medium.

In particular, the radiating treatment of the upper stopper E becomes essential due to the fact that its flow control element F for blocking the hole D, in the closed configuration, is arranged so that a lateral surface portion F′, by lying within the hole D, is not wetted during washing in aseptic medium, and therefore without radiating treatment before assembly would not be sterilized.

This lateral surface portion F′ of the flow control element F of the upper stopper E, if it is covered, during the washing and bottling step, by the surface of the hole of the main body and with which it is in contact, during storage and palletizing is pushed out of the hole D, and thus can be wet by the liquid in the bottle.

This occurs because the weight of the overlying bottles is discharged on the capsule-shaped covering element H, i.e., onto the cap, which in turn, by being actuated by a vertical weight force, is deformed and pushes on the underlying upper stopper E, producing the exit of the portion F′ of the flow control element from the exit hole D and thus making it available for contact with the liquid.

The radiating treatment, which is currently indispensable, entails execution times and costs that inevitably affect the overall cost of the stopper and its production rates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aim of the present invention is to provide a stopper of the push-pull type that is capable of obviating the drawbacks revealed by the described conventional stoppers of the push-pull type.

Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a stopper of equal constructive simplicity, which however can be sanitized more cheaply and easily during production.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a stopper of the push-pull type that is equally easy to assemble and fit on a corresponding bottle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a stopper of the push-pull type that can be manufactured with known systems and technologies.

This aim and these and other objects, which will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a stopper of the push-pull type, comprising

• • a main threaded-ring body, to be screwed onto the neck of a corresponding bottle, from which a tubular projection protrudes which surrounds externally the exit hole of said main body, for guiding and supporting an upper stopper;
  • an upper stopper provided with a flow control element that is adapted to enter said exit hole in order to block it, and is designed to be extracted reversibly therefrom by performing a translational motion of said upper stopper on said tubular protrusion away from said main body;
  • said upper stopper and said tubular projection forming a suction dispensing nozzle;
  • a capsule- or cap-shaped covering element, which is contoured so as to conceal said upper stopper, which is contoured so as to rest and be coupled, by means of its edge, in a reversibly removable manner, to the main body, said capsule-shaped covering element being constituted by an annular lateral protection portion for said upper stopper and by a central portion for protecting the head of the upper stopper, said annular portion and said central portion being joined by a connecting region, said stopper being characterized in that said capsule-shaped covering element has such a height that when said capsule-shaped covering element is closed onto the main body and the upper stopper is closed, said central portion is arranged at a distance from the head of the upper stopper.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment thereof, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a stopper of the push-pull type according to the background art;

FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of a stopper of the push-pull type according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to the figures, a stopper of the push-pull type according to the invention is designated generally by the reference numeral 10.

The push-pull stopper 10 comprises a main threaded-ring body 11, to be screwed onto the neck of a corresponding container for liquids such as a bottle, from which a tubular projection 12 protrudes which surrounds externally an exit hole 13 of the main body 11. The tubular projection 12 guides and supports an upper stopper 14.

The upper stopper 14 has a flow control element 15 that is adapted to enter the exit hole 13 in order to block it, and is designed to be extracted reversibly therefrom by producing the translational motion of the upper stopper 14 on the tubular projection 12 away from the main body 11. The upper stopper 14 and the tubular projection 12 define a suction dispensing nozzle 16.

A capsule- or cap-shaped covering element 17 is contoured so as to conceal the upper stopper 14 and to rest and be coupled by means of its edge 18, in a reversibly movable manner, to the main body 11.

The capsule-shaped covering element 17 is constituted by an annular lateral protection portion 19 for the upper stopper 14 and by a central portion 20 for protecting a head 21 of the upper stopper 14.

The annular portion 19 and the central portion 20 are joined by a connecting region 22.

The capsule-shaped covering element 17 has such a height that when the capsule-shaped covering element 17 is closed onto the main body 11 and when the upper stopper 14 also is closed, the central portion 20 is arranged at a distance, and not proximate to or in contact with, as in known types of stopper, the head 21 of the upper stopper 14.

This distance is designated in FIG. 2 by the reference numeral 23.

The annular portion 19 and the connecting region 22 therefore have such a thickness as to allow the complete discharge of any load that is distributed in an axial direction on the capsule-shaped covering element 17 onto the edge 18 of said cup, which in turn rests on the main body 11.

The connecting region 22 has such a curvature as to facilitate the transmission toward the annular portion 19 of any load distributed in an axial direction.

The capsule-shaped covering element 17, i.e., the cap, of the stopper 10 according to the invention, by keeping unchanged the performance of the protective cups that are typical of known stoppers, is capable of distributing the weight (caused by palletizing) onto the base surface of the body 11, without affecting the dispensing nozzle 16.

This is obtained, as mentioned, by increasing the distance 23 between the internal surface of the central portion 20 of the capsule-shaped covering element 17 and the head 21 of the dispensing nozzle 16, and by means of the total increase in the thicknesses and the variation of the radius of curvature of the connecting region 22.

With these particularities, the stopper 10 allows to ensure the sterility of the surfaces in contact with the liquid by performing for the various components of the stopper 10 only aseptic washing, and not also one or more expensive radiating treatments.

For loads that can be compared reasonably to the possible situations of storage and transport of the product, in fact, the outer surface of the portion 15a of the flow control element 15 of the upper stopper 14, which is not washed in aseptic conditions, certainly does not come into contact with the liquid in the bottle, limiting the possibility of microbiological contamination.

In practice it has been found that the invention thus described achieves the intended aim and objects.

In particular, the present invention provides a stopper of equal constructive simplicity, in comparison with known types of stopper, which however can be sanitized more easily and cheaply during production.

Moreover, the present invention provides a stopper of the push-pull type that is equally easy to assemble and fit on a corresponding bottle, and in general has the same performance, in terms of strength and tightness, as currently known stoppers of the push-pull type.

Not least, the present invention provides a stopper of the push-pull type that can be manufactured with known systems and technologies.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims.

In practice, the materials employed, so long as they are compatible with the specific use, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. PD2008A000064 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims

1-3. (canceled)

4. An aseptic stopper of the push-pull type, comprising

a main threaded-ring body, to be screwed onto the neck of a corresponding container of liquids, from which a tubular projection protrudes which surrounds externally the exit hole of said main body, for guiding and supporting an upper stopper;

an upper stopper provided with a flow control element that is adapted to enter said exit hole in order to block it, and is designed to be extracted reversibly therefrom by performing a translational motion of said upper stopper on said tubular protrusion away from said main body, said upper stopper and said tubular projection forming a suction dispensing nozzle;

a capsule- or cap-shaped covering element, which is contoured so as to cover said upper stopper and to rest and be coupled, by means of its edge, in a reversibly removable manner, to the main body, said capsule-shaped covering element being constituted by an annular lateral protection portion for said upper stopper and by a central portion for protecting the head of the upper stopper, said annular portion and said central portion being joined by a connecting region, wherein said capsule-shaped covering element has such a height that when said capsule-shaped covering element is closed onto the main body and the upper stopper is closed, said central portion is arranged at a distance from the head of said upper stopper.

5. The stopper according to claim 4, wherein said annular portion and said connecting region have such a thickness as to allow complete discharge of any load that is distributed in an axial direction on the edge of said capsule-shaped covering element, which in turn rests on said main body.

6. The stopper according to claim 4, wherein said connecting region has such a curvature as to facilitate the transmission toward said annular portion of any load that is distributed in axial direction.