PLASTIC CLOSURE FOR MALLEABLE CONTAINERS
The invention relates to a plastic closure (1) for malleable containers (2), comprising a spout (3) having an outside thread (4) and a terminal flange (5) for fastening to the container (2) and a cap (6) which has an inside thread and can be screwed onto the outside thread of the spout (3) in a closable manner, characterized in that the spout is directly or indirectly operatively connected to a membrane (10) which reduces the flow and has at least one perforation (11), wherein in the usage position the membrane (10) runs at least approximately in the region of the flange (5) and parallel thereto.
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The present invention relates to a plastic closure for malleable containers, comprising a spout having an outside thread and a terminal flange for fastening to the container and a cap which has an inside thread and can be screwed onto the outside thread of the spout in a closable manner.
For environmental and economic reasons, containers are being manufactured with ever-decreasing wall thickness. In so doing, the containers are increasingly becoming easier to deform. This is also the case with containers which are manufactured from film material. These are especially containers which are formed as collapsible containers and the film of which is produced having a plurality of layers consisting of different materials, in particular paper or cardboard, a barrier layer of aluminum and a sealing impregnation layer made from plastic.
Recently more and more containers are however coming onto the market, which consist of a single or multilayered plastic film and are referred to as so-called tubular bags even if the container is made of film sheets and no longer of film tube.
In the case of such containers produced from film, there are basically two types, namely those which are aseptically filled with the commodity to be contained therein and the container is welded completely closed. A closure is then mounted to the container, which pierces through or cuts open the film of the container during the initial opening thereof. This type of container is especially used for food items and cosmetic or pharmaceutical products.
In the case of a simpler solution, the containers are made of film material; however, an outlet opening has already been installed therein and the plastic closure is mounted on the bag such that the spout thereof comes to rest exactly over said previously installed opening. Solutions of this kind are particularly used with products having an exceptionally long shelf-life and with products that are not vulnerable to a possible contamination. Products of this kind include cleaning substances, certain oils and also certain bulk goods.
When opening the plastic closure, the user holds the container in one hand and unscrews the screw cap of the plastic closure with the other hand. The thinner the wall thickness of the relevant containers the greater said containers are deformed simply by holding them. The more force that the user has to apply in order to loosen the screw cap the more tightly said user has to hold the container, and accordingly he or she thereby exerts a greater force onto the container. As soon as the torque to be applied becomes less, said user should also reduce the holding force and thereby the pressure on the container in order to prevent the contents from being pressed out of said malleable container when the cap is completely opened and removed. The majority of users carry out this temporal coordination of forces unconsciously and correctly; however, the greater the torque to be applied is the more difficult said coordination is. In addition, there are many users whose sensory system is less developed and therefore have problems with coordinating these movements. This leads to material often slopping out of the spout during the initial use and opening of the container if said container is already still completely filled.
This problem has not been recognized to date and therefore approaches related to solving said problem which are strictly oriented thereto are not yet known.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore the aim of the present invention to improve a plastic closure of the type mentioned at the beginning of the application in such a way that the stated problem is substantially reduced. It is furthermore an aim to solve this problem for plastic closures which are mounted on malleable containers having an already existing outlet opening as well as for malleable containers which are completely closed prior to the initial opening and the outlet opening is first formed in the wall of the container when said container is initially opened.
The aim mentioned first is met by a plastic closure of the type mentioned at the beginning of the application, which is characterized by the fact that the spout is indirectly or directly operatively connected to a membrane which reduces the flow and has at least one perforation, wherein in the usage position the membrane runs at least approximately in the region of the flange and parallel thereto.
A second variant of the plastic closure is for completely closed containers made of film material, wherein an inside thread is present in the spout, in which thread a cylindrical piercing means, which is open to both sides and has at least one cutting tooth, can be actuated via driving elements on the inside of the screw cap, wherein the at least one driving element on the cap interacts with a mirror-inverted driving element on the inside of the piercing means, and therefore the film material of the container is cut open during the initial opening. This solution is thereby characterized by the fact that the membrane comprising the at least one perforation is disposed in the piercing means in the region above the at least one tooth thereof and below the at least one mirror-inverted driving element therein.
Further preferred embodiments to the two main variants ensue from the dependent claims and are explained below with reference to the attached drawings. In the drawings:
Malleable containers are known today on the market in two versions. The older version of such malleable means originated from pure plastic film, and these containers were aseptically sealed and on the market without a plastic closure. In order to open said containers, a corner was in each case cut away with scissors and an outlet opening was thereby created.
Later malleable containers, in particular from the firm Tetra Laval, came onto the market, which were formed from a plurality of layers of film from different materials. Said containers comprise a paper or cardboard layer, an aluminum foil layer and a plastic film layer and can be provided with additional barrier layers. These containers were also initially brought onto the market without plastic closures; however, were later provided with plastic closures of the type which is of interest here. These plastic closures comprise a spout having an outside thread and a terminal flange for fastening to the container as well as a cap which has an inside thread and can be screwed onto the outside thread of the spout in a closable manner. Closures of this type were later improved to the point where a piercing means is disposed in the spout, said piercing means comprising an outside thread which embeds with an inside thread in the spout. The screw cap has at least one driving element on the inside thereof, which interacts with a driving element in the piercing means. When initially opening a container, said piercing means is screwed downwards and cuts open the films of the malleable container with at least one cutting tooth. With all of these easily malleable containers, the danger exists that a portion of the contents is pushed outside said container during the opening process without this being intended.
The present invention shows a solution which to a great extent produces a splatter guard for all of these malleable containers and the plastic closures which are correspondingly mounted thereon.
In a similar manner, the same features can be recognized with regard to the solution pursuant to
The different types representing the different embodiment variants are depicted in
According to the embodiment pursuant to
A third embodiment is shown in
A final embodiment is depicted in
A solution according to the variant pursuant to
Whereas the embodiments shown up until now assume malleable containers, which have a perforation or opening approximately in the size of the spout 3, plastic closure 1 pursuant to
The design of the plastic closure, which is best known from prior art, is depicted in
The support 27 can also be designed as a horizontal support surface instead of here as an obliquely depicted support surface which is to extend in a conically tapering manner. In this case, the membrane 10 can also be welded to this planar circumferential surface. The support 27 can however also be configured in the form of a plurality of recesses and the ring can have integrally formed cams that are directed radially outwards and are capable of engaging in said recesses.
Claims
1-14. (canceled)
15. A plastic closure (1) for a malleable container (2), comprising a spout (3) having an outside thread (4) and a terminal flange (5) for fastening to the container (2) and a cap (6) which has an inside thread and can be screwed onto the outside thread of the spout (3) in a closeable manner, characterized in that the spout is directly or indirectly operatively connected to a membrane (10) which reduces flow and has at least one perforation (11), wherein in a usage position the membrane (10) runs at least approximately in a region of the flange (5) and parallel thereto.
16. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 15, wherein the container (2) consists of a bag made from a single or multilayered film, characterized in that the membrane (10) is a part of the container (2).
17. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 16, characterized in that a perforation (11) is punched into the membrane (10), said perforation being in communicating connection with the spout (3) in an assembled position of the plastic closure (1) on the container (2).
18. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 16, characterized in that a plurality of perforations (11) is punched into the membrane (10), said perforations being in communicating connection with the spout (3) in an assembled position of the plastic closure (1) on the container (2).
19. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 18, characterized in that the perforations (11) are a plurality of radially traversing slots (12), which define a plurality of resilient lugs (13).
20. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 18, characterized in that the perforations (11) are a plurality of perforations which are separated from one another.
21. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 15, characterized in that the spout (3) is covered with a single or multilayered membrane (10), which is fastened to the flange (5) in a material-locking manner.
22. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 15, characterized in that the membrane (10) is integrally formed with the spout (3) by means of injection molding.
23. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 15, characterized in that the membrane (10) is fixedly connected to a circumferential ring (14) or manufactured as one piece with the ring, and said membrane (10) including the ring (14) is disposed in the spout (3) of the plastic closure (1) in at least one of a positive-locking and force-fitting manner.
24. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 15, for completely closed containers (2) made of film material, wherein the spout has an inside thread having a cylindrical piercing means (20), which is open to both sides and has at least one cutting tooth (21), wherein the piercing means can be actuated via a driving element on an inside of the screw cap (6), wherein the driving element on the cap (6) interacts with a driving element (22) on an inside of the piercing means (20), and therefore the film material of the container (2) is cut open during initial opening, characterized in that the membrane (10) comprising the at least one perforation (11) is disposed in the piercing means (20) in a region above the at least one tooth (21) thereof and below the driving element (22) in said perforating means (20).
25. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 24, characterized in that the membrane (10) is manufactured as one piece with the piercing means (20).
26. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 24, characterized in that an inwardly protruding, circumferential collar (23), on which the membrane (10) directly or indirectly bears, is molded in the piercing means (20) above the region of the at least one cutting tooth (21) and below the driving element (22).
27. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 26, characterized in that the membrane (10) is manufactured from a film and is fastened directly to the collar (23) in an incumbent and material-locking manner.
28. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 26, characterized in that the membrane (10) is integral with or fixedly connected to a circumferential ring (14), and the circumferential ring (14) while bearing on the collar is held in the piercing means (20) in a force-fitting or material-locking manner.
29. The plastic closure (1) according to claim 24, characterized in that a support (27), which is molded into a wall of the piercing means (20) and is in the form of a circumferential groove (24) or a plurality of recesses is integrally formed with the piercing means (20) above the region of the at least one cutting tooth (21) and below the driving element (22), wherein one or a plurality cams, which are directed radially outwards and are integrally cast to a ring (14) that is fixedly connected to the membrane (10), or a circumferential bead molded on the ring (14) bears against said groove or said recesses.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 27, 2011
Publication Date: Jul 25, 2013
Applicant: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH (Stuttgart)
Inventors: Dan Barron (Schaffhausen), Ron Berman (Long Beach, CA)
Application Number: 13/698,873
International Classification: B65D 39/08 (20060101);