CA2114972A1

CA2114972A1 - Tamper-evident closure

Info

Publication number: CA2114972A1
Application number: CA002114972A
Authority: CA
Inventors: James E. Herr
Original assignee: Kerr Group Inc
Current assignee: Kerr Group Inc
Priority date: 1993-04-02
Filing date: 1994-02-04
Publication date: 1994-10-03
Also published as: EP0618146A2; EP0618146A3; AU5479994A

Abstract

ABSTRACT
container closure cap having a lid portion that is connectable to a base cap is disclosed. The lid portion includes a tongue portion that is connected to the remainder of the lid by a living hinge and a pair of fracturable tear lines. In order to access the container through the lid, the tongue must be raised, which causes the rupture of the tear lines and thus provides visual proof that the underlying container has been tampered with.

Description

TA~PBR-EVIDENT C~O~RE

Backqround of the Invention This inv~ntion relate~ gen~rally to tamper-evident dispensing closures and, more particularly, to a tamper~
evident closure that i~ simple to manu~acture and that does not require any ~pec~alized equipment to b~ fitted to a contai~er.
The importance o~ pro~riding tamper ~vident features on bottles and other containers i well ~nown. Consumers have increasingly come to expect bottles and conkainers of all types that contain sub~tances for ingestion to be equipped with a tamper evident feature. Although the use o~ such closures is widespread, the expense involved in producing such tamper evident containers has had a limiting effect: on their use. If such closures could be 15 manufactured more inexpensively tha~ at presen~, they would be more widely u~ed.
one approach to providing a tamper evident closure is to use a shrink wrap about ~he container and closure~ This approach ~oes not require the closure itself to have a 20 tamper evident feature. In order to access the con~ent~
of the container, the ~hrink wrap must be punctured or I torn, which leaves a visible indi¢ation that the I contain~r has ~een acce~ed and pexhaps tampered with.
A related approach is to apply a band o~ tamper-evident ~; 25 tape about the circumference ~f the junction between the closure and the container. Un~or~unately, each o~ these approaches require~ khat the ~hrink wrap or tape be provided by an additional piece o~ machinery through a secondary manufacturing operation after th~ container has been filled. The capital machinery necessary to perform these steps is often expensi~e, which has impeded the acceptance of this approach.
In another approach, the closures themselves ar~ made to be inherently tamper e~ident. Once manu~actured, such closures need not require the additional assemhly steps that the application of tape or shrink wrap require.For example, ~.S. Patent No. 4,860,907 to Sondal describes a tamper-evident disp~nsing snap-on dispensing closure.
The closure uses a living hinge to pivot the cap on the ba~e. It also has tearable bridges on the cap which must be torn to lift the cap from the base, thus rendering the closure tamper-evident. It further has a tear-o~f part which must be removed o~ of some length of the circumference in order to li~t the cap. U.S. Patent No.
4,487,324 to Ostrowsky describes a tamper-evident dispensing closure that uses a living hinge to pivot the cap on the base. A tamper-~vident ~trip must be partially removed to allow the cap of the closure to be lifted. Un~ortunately, such caps are often di~icult to manufacture, and therefore expensive to produce, This is ¦ 25 an impoxtant consideration, for the competitive pressures ;~ present in the ~ield of pac~aging often confer a market advantage on those who use the leaæt expensive packaging ¦ scheme. Furthermore, approaches that use tear-away pieces often generate sharp edge edges and additional 1 30 litter, with the attendant possibility that the portion that is torn of~ may fall into the container. These attributes are not acceptable to many consumers.
1 There remains a need ~or an inexpensive means o~
`1 providing a tamper evident ~eal on containeri, whlch require6 neither intricate molding nor additional machinery beyond that routinely used to attach conventional closures to containers. There is a further i ., !

r3 7 2 need for such a closure that does not generate additional litter.

Summary of the Invention The present invention satis~ies these needs by pxoviding a tamper-evident cap that is easy to manu~acture and simple to incorporate into existing product packaging lines. The closure includes both a base and a lid; the lid can be mounted on several different ba~e caps, dependin~ on the manufacturer's preference. For example, a manufacturer may choo~e ~o use bas~ caps that include tamper-Pvident features of their own to protect tha integrity of the base cap to container connection. In each case the entire closure is then threaded or otherwise attached (as by a simple press-fit) to the container neck.
The lid portion of the closure includes connecting 6truc~ure ~o facilitate its connection to a base cap or, alternatively, dir~ctly to a bottle or other container.
The lid iE provided with a tongue portion that is hinged to the remainder of the lid along a living hinge, which is used for this purpose b~cau~e o~ the ease with which it can ~e manufactured. The tongue is attached to the remainder of the lid along a pair of ~ractllrable tear lines, along which the lid i~ of reduced thickness. In ¦ order to acces the contents o~ the bottle through the I lid, the tongue portion must be rai~ed, which causes the tear lines to rupture and thus provides visual indication to subsequent users that the content~ of the bottle have previously been acc~ssed. The tongue of the lid may furthar be providsd with sealing structure, such as a ~ealing plu~, which makes with a corresponding hole in the underlying base ~ap. Thi~ feature allows one to re-~eal the container after ik has been opened, but does not nega~e th~ tamper ~ndication provided by the lid~
The invention doe~ not rely on parts which must be torn off to render it tamper-evid~n~, but rather relies on !

"'"' '' ~ 'i~..-i '' parts that tear along thPir length to alert the user to the previouR opening o~ the closure. Thi~ further simplifies the manufacturP of the device and (with respect to tear away closures) reduce the amount o~
litter associated with the package~ Concomitantly, it further rPduces the likelihood tha~ por~ions of the closure itself will fall into the containerO Moreover, the tamper evident closure o~ the invention can be directly fitted onto containers with conventional capping m~chinery, th~reby providing a tamper evident closure without the need for additi~nal ~quipment such as would be required by a sy~tem relying on the use of shrink wrap or tape.

Brief Descri~tion of the Drawinqs The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ~ollowing di~cussion of a specific~ illustrative embodiment presented in conjunction wi~h the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1~ is a front elevational view of the base lid and base c~p, partially in section, in which the closure is in its closed and sealed position;
FIG. lB is a top plan view of the closure shown in FIG.
lA;
FIG. 2A iB a sectional view of the lid portlon of the clo~ure taken along line A-A in FIG. lA;
FIG. 2B is a sectional view of the lid portion of the closure taken along line B-B in FIG. lA; and FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the closure with the position o~ the hinged tongue in the open position shown I in phantom.

~ Detailed Descri~tion I

Referring now specifically to the drawings, wherein like numerals indicate like parts throughout, the tamper evident closure is generally designat~d 1 in FIG. 3, and comprlses a base cap 10 and a lid 50, the latter being mounted onto the former by several equivalent friction fit locking elements. The structure o~ the base cap and lld shall now be discussed in turn.
The base cap 10 has a generally flat top 12 and a dependant annular skirt 14. In this embodiment, the dependant annular skirt 14 has internal threads 16 which mate with complamentary external threads (not shown~ on the neck of a corresponding bottle or other container.
The base cap 10 has a dispensing ori~ice 1~ formed on flat top 12 through which the contents of the container are normally dispensed. Although the dispensing orifice is ~hown to be circular in the figures, other shapes could be used as well. The base cap 10 has three generally cylindrical friction fit locking cavities 20 formed projecting above the flat ~op 12. The base cap 10 has a tamper-evident band 22 extending from the bottom of the dependant annular skirt 14. The tamper-evidsnt band comprises a plurality (e.gO, 16 - depending on the size of the container neck) of equally spaced re~ilient tabs 1 24. These tabs are internally folded to slide over th~
¦ container's external threads and annular shoulder as the cap is applied on the container. The tabs lock against the lower surface of the container's annular ~houlder to , retain the tamper-in~icating band on the container as the il base cap is removed. The ~eparation of the tamper-indicating band and the baæe cap is the result of the forces generated through the breakable connectors. The breakable connector~ are either formed in the molding process or are formed in a post molding cutting operation. (This tamper-evident band is further illustrated and discus~ed in applicant's U.S. Patent No.
4,506,795, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.) The lid 50 has a generally flat top 52 and a depending incomplete annular ~kirt 54. The lid ~0 has three i ~ `

~ ~ l l i '~ 7 2 friction fit locking plugs 56 d~pending from the flat top 52 (see FIG. lB~. The plugs 56 engage the three friction ~it locking cavitie~ 20 on flat top 12 oX the base cap so as to lockingly attach the lid 50 onto the base cap 10.
The lid 50 has a hinged tongue portion 58, which i.
hinged to lid 50 by living hinge ~6. Tongue 58 is yenerally rectangular in shape except at the tongue skirt 62, where it ~orm8 the remainder of the annular skirt 54 (see FIGS. lA and 2A)o Depending from the tongue 58 is an annular orifice-sealing plug 600 Sealing plug ~0 mates with dispensing orifice lB 60 as to close the orifice 18, thus preventing further di~pensingO Thi~
feature allows one to re-seal the container after the container has been accessed, but does not compromise the visual indication provided by the tamper evident tear lines that the container has been accessed (as is further discussed below).
Depending ~xom tongue ~kirt 62 is pull tab 64. Pull tab 64 is used ~or pulling the tongue 58 upward ~rom a condition wh~re plug 60 is sealingly closing orifice 18, to a condition where plug 60 is not sealingly closing orifice 18 ~see FIG~ 3), thus allowing the dispensing of the contents of the container~ Tamper-evident tear lines 68 connect both sides o~ tongue 58 to ~lat top 52.
¦ ~5 Tamper-evident tear lines 6~ also connect both side~ of ¦ tongue skirt 62 to annular skirt 54 (see FIGS. lB and 1 2B). These tear lines 68 are weakened portions of lid 50 that allow the tongue 58 to be separated from the lid 50 everywhere but at the living hinge 66. The tear lines are sufficiently thin that th~y can be torn by those who need to access the container, while still being thick and strong enough so as not to be inadvertently torn. Tear lines 68, if torn, thus alert subsequsnt users that the tongue has been lifted fro~ the lid at least once and the integrity of the container violat~d through the lid.
The closure is ~1mpl~ and inexpensive to manufacture, being mass-producible using ~imple conventional mold~

1 ~ ~ ?J 7 v reguiring no ~pecial tooling. The base cap will typically be manufactured o~ polypropylene (mainly to accommodatei threads); the lid is preferably made of a high density polyethylene.
The base cap and lid collectiYely provide a dual tamper evident device, in which the bas~ portion provides a tamper evident closure between the bottle and the base cap, and the lid provides a tamper evident closure between the lid and the base capO ~lthough illustrated as separate components, the two may be provided as an integral as~embly for even easier attachment to the bottle. Alternatively, the lid portion can be fitted to other formis of ba~e cap, the only requirement being that the base cap have a means for securely locking the base cap to the lid to ~uch an extent that the separation of the lid from the base cap results in the rupture of the tamper evident linei~ on the lid.

: . ' i' " ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' : .''' . . ' ' ' ' . .

Claims

1. A tamper evident closure for sealing an open-topped container having a neck, the closure comprising a lid, said lid including:
an upper surface, said upper surface including a movable tongue portion that is attached to the lid by a living hinge and a plurality of regions that are fracturable, wherein the thickness of the fracturable regions is less than that of the adjacent portions of the lid:
an annular skirt depending from the top of the lid; and means for attaching the lid to a container.

2. The closure of claim 1, wherein the lid further comprises means for providing a secure connection between the lid and an underlying base cap or a container.

3. The closure of claim 1, wherein the lid is made of a polymer.

4. The closure of claim 1, wherein the tongue includes means for selectively sealing the tongue to an underlying base cap or container.

5. The closure of claim 1, wherein the tongue includes a pull tab.

6. The closure of claim 1, further comprising a base cap for attachment to a container and means for providing a secure connection between the lid and the base cap.

7. The closure of claim 6, wherein the hinged tongue includes a sealing plug, and the base cap includes:
a top surface that defines an orifice, said orifice being configured to mate with the sealing plug on the hinged tongue; and an annular skirt that is dependant from the top surface of the base cap.

8. The closure of claim 6, wherein the base cap is equipped with a tamper evident feature that comprises a series of tabs equally space about the periphery of the annular skirt and a series of breakable connectors.

9. The closure of claim 6, wherein the base cap is made of a polymer.

10. The closure of claim 6, wherein the base cap includes an internal thread.

11. The closure of claim 6, wherein the base cap and lid are formed via injection molding.

12. A method for providing a tamper evident closure, the method comprising the steps of:
attaching a base cap to a container, said base cap being equipped with a tamper evident feature; and securely affixing a lid to the base cap, said lid having an upper surface that includes a movable tongue portion that is attached to the lid by a living hinge and a plurality of regions that are fracturable, wherein the thickness of the fracturable regions is less than that of the adjacent portions of the lid so that the interior of the container cannot be accessed through the lid without rupturing the fracturable regions.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the tamper evident feature about the base cap comprises a series of tabs equally space about the periphery of the annular skirt and a series of breakable connectors.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the base cap is integral with the lid.