Press-On Closure with Top Sealing Rib
A closure for glass and polycarbonate bottles. The closure is the press-on and pull off type, i.e., it is unthreaded. The closure has a down-outwardly extending rib on the underside of the lid that forms a seal on the upwardly and outwardly facing surface of the neck of the bottle. The closure has a removable tamper indicating ring connected to the lower portion of the skirt of the closure by a reduced-thickness tear strip. In one embodiment, slits are formed in the tear strip to further increase the sensitivity of the tear strip to tampering. Between the slits, links in the tear strip act to hold the ring in connection with the lower portion of the skirt. The circumferential length of the slits is significantly greater than the circumferential length of the links, and the slit to link length ratio is preferably at least about 20 to 1, but may be increased or decreased depending upon the desired level of tamper evidencing required, and depending upon the amount of interference between the bead on the ring and the corresponding bulge on the bottle to which the closure is applied.
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The cap shown and described herein relates to closures for containers for beverages, such and milk, other dairy products and juice, and in particular to containers formed of glass and polycarbonate, as opposed to the more commonly used blow-molded containers made of HDPE (high density polyethylene).
Caps typically used on glass and polycarbonate containers in the dairy and juice markets (such as ½ gallon bottles), have a plug that seals against the upper portion of the inside surface of the neck of the bottle. A secondary seal is also formed by an outer latch bead that presses against the underside of a bulge near the top of the container.
Making a closure that is tamper-indicating and that is used on glass bottles (and similarly smooth plastic surfaces) is particularly challenging, because glass is very smooth and has a very low coefficient of friction. Closures applied to glass bottles tend to slide on and off the bottle neck with relative ease without any indication that the closure has been removed and re-installed. The ease with which plastic closures slide on and off very smooth bottle necks makes it difficult to design a reliable closure that shows evidence that a closure has been removed from such necks.
Many bottles made of glass and polycarbonate are intended to be returnable and re-useable, i.e., the bottlers retrieve the containers, clean them and re-fill them. The array of bottles in systems where bottles are returned and re-used is such that they may be made by different manufacturers or on different forming equipment, and are at least likely to have been made at different times. Furthermore, because the bottles may have been used a number of times, the condition of the surfaces relied upon for sealing and retention may be far less than ideal, and may vary significantly from bottle to bottle. As a result, there is typically significant variation both in the location and condition of the surfaces against which the closures used with such bottles must grip and form an effective seal. Thus, closures used with returnable bottles must be highly accommodating in their design, i.e., they must be able to engage and form an effective seal against surfaces falling within of a relatively wide range of dimensions and a wide range of surface conditions.
The cap shown and described herein preferably seals against the upper periphery of the neck of the bottle, instead of relying on the inside surface of the neck, as plug-style closures do. It has been found that the dimensional variability in the inside diameter (ID) of the necks of re-useable bottles is such that the inside surfaces of bottle necks is sometimes not the most ideal surface against which to seal.
The larger size and greater inward extent of the beads 19, as compared to the bead 17, provides the cap with a tamper-evidencing feature, whereby the cap is difficult to remove without breaking the tear strip 29. The exterior surface of the skirt 21 is divided into segments that are defined by generally vertical spaces 23 at regular intervals about the periphery of the skirt 21. A pull tab 25 is integrally formed with or otherwise joined or connected to the removable ring 27, such that when a consumer wants to access the contents of the bottle 11, the pull tab may be used to remove the ring 27. After the ring 27 is removed, only the latch bead 17 hold the cap on the bottle 11, and the cap is easily removed and replaced for storage in the consumer's refrigerator.
A top sealing rib 15 extends downwardly and outwardly (i.e., down-outwardly) from the underside of the lid 13 of the cap 11. The rib 15 presses against an upwardly or upwardly and outwardly facing surface 12 on the bottle 10, which surface is identified in
When standard tamper evidencing caps are applied to very smooth surfaces like glass, it sometimes possible to slide the cap and retaining ring (together) off of the neck of the bottle 10 without breaking the tear strip 29 that connects the ring 27 and bottom of the skirt 21. This is of particular concern when the contents of the bottle is some form of dairy product, which tends to act as a lubricant and further reduce the friction between the closure and the bottle neck. Thus, the addition of slits 30 in the tear strip 29 make it extremely difficult to remove the cap 12 and ring 27 together and intact, i.e., without breaking the links 32 that join the ring 27 to the skirt 21.
The extent to which the tear strip is weakened by the inclusion of slits 30 separated by links 32 may be adjusted by varying the size (i.e., the circumferential length) of the links 32 and the size (i.e., the circumferential length) of the slits 30. In the embodiment shown in
The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions claimed below to the precise forms disclosed. It will be apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the field of closure design that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the inventions claimed below and to demonstrate practical application thereof, and to thereby enable others of ordinary skill in the art to best utilize the claimed inventions.
Claims
1. A closure for a container of the type having a relatively smooth top surface, a laterally extending bulge and a down-outwardly facing retention surface below the bulge, the closure comprising a lid, a skirt with an inwardly extending latch bead at a lower portion of the skirt, a second retaining bead extending inwardly from a removable tamper-evidencing ring extending from a lower portion of the skirt, the ring being joined to the skirt by a tear strip, a continuous sealing rib extending down-outwardly from the underside of the lid, the rib adapted to flex laterally as the latch bead engages the down-outwardly facing retention surface on the container.
2. A closure in accordance with claim 1 wherein the retaining bead on the ring is divided into segments, the latch bead defining a first inside diameter, and the retaining bead segment defining a second inside diameter, the first inside diameter being larger than the second inside diameter.
3. A closure in accordance with claim 1 wherein the inside surface of the skirt is unthreaded.
4. A closure in accordance with claim 1 wherein the tamper-evidencing ring has pull tab integrally formed thereon, the pull tab lying entirely below the elevation of the tear strip.
5. A closure in accordance with claim 1 wherein slits are formed in the tear strip such that links in the tear strip hold the tamper evidencing ring to a lower portion of the skirt.
6. A closure in accordance with claim 5 wherein the circumferential length of slits and links is such that the circumferential length ratio of slit to link is at least 20 to 1.
7. A closure for a container of the type having a relatively smooth top surface, a laterally extending bulge and a down-outwardly facing retention surface below the bulge, the closure comprising a lid, a skirt with an inwardly extending latch bead at a lower portion of the skirt, a second retaining bead extending inwardly from a removable tamper-evidencing ring extending from a lower portion of the skirt, the ring being joined to the skirt by a tear strip, a continuous sealing rib extending down-outwardly from the underside of the lid, the rib adapted to flex laterally as the latch bead engages the down-outwardly facing retention surface on the container, the tear strip having slits such that links in the tear strip hold the tamper evidencing ring to a lower portion of the skirt.
8. A closure in accordance with claim 7 wherein a lift tab is formed on an external portion of the skirt above the tear strip, and a pull tab is formed on the removable tamper evidencing ring below the tear strip, the slits being formed at an elevation in the tear strip above the pull tab and below the lift tab.
9. A closure in accordance with claim 8 wherein the circumferential length of slits and links is such that the circumferential length ratio of slit to link is at least 20 to 1.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 18, 2011
Publication Date: Nov 15, 2012
Applicant: BLACKHAWK MOLDING CO., INC. (Addison, IL)
Inventors: Jeffrey S. DAVIS (DeKalb, IL), Douglas J. HIDDING (Barrington Hills, IL)
Application Number: 13/185,445
International Classification: B65D 17/34 (20060101);