EP0473678B1 - Spout for flasks and similar receptacles, with a piercing element for piercing a lid on receptacle necks - Google Patents

Abstract

PCT No. PCT/FR90/00347 Sec. 371 Date Nov. 12, 1991 Sec. 102(e) Date Nov. 12, 1991 PCT Filed May 17, 1990 PCT Pub. No. WO90/14288 PCT Pub. Date Nov. 29, 1990.A spout and sealing cap assembly for a container which contains a product such as a liquid or pasty product. The container includes a nick closed off by a lid that must be pierced for dispensing the product. The assembly includes a spout with a body that is fixed to the neck. The spout also includes a hollow piercing and dispensing element provided with sharp edges designed to pierce the lid. The element is suspended inside the body by a deformable annular bulged membrane which enables the piercing element to assume an upper position and a lower position wherein the sharp edges extend below the ruptured lid. The spout body is covered by a sealing cap which assumes either an open or a closed position. The cap includes a sealing member extending of a top section of the cap. When the cap is closed, the sealing member is designed for insertion in sealing fashion within the hollow element or in a fitting and sealing relationship about the hollow element both when the element is in the upper and the lower position.

Description

The present invention relates to a pourer for bottles and similar containers containing liquid or pasty products and having a neck closed until the first use by a seal capable of being pierced.

Pourers of this type are already known comprising a body provided with means for fixing it to the neck of the container, and a hollow piercing element for piercing the cover and serving as a pourer for the distribution of the product contained in the container. On these known pourers, the piercing element generally consists of a screw element attached to the body and maneuvered by rotation in order to pierce the cover.

This two-piece construction complicates the manufacture and assembly of the pourer and increases the cost.

It is also possible to produce the piercing element and the body in one piece in the form of a rigid assembly, in which case the piercing of the cover is done by screwing the assembly onto the neck of the container. Such a pourer is obviously only usable on threaded necks and not on necks receiving a pourer by snap-fastening. Furthermore, if the pourer is not screwed fully onto the neck after screwing on the cap, leaks may occur between the pourer and the neck. In addition, a non-screwing intentional pouring, for example when handling containers, can cause inadvertent piercing of the lid.

The subject of the present invention is a pourer with piercing element for bottles and similar containers, the neck of which is closed by a cover, this pourer being of simple manufacture and of safe operation, without risk of inadvertent operation and of leaks, and, constituting a simple and reliable assembly with a closure cap produced in one piece with the pourer while being connected to the latter by a hinge.

As claimed, the pourer for flasks and similar containers containing liquid or pasty products and having a neck closed until the first use by a seal capable of being pierced, comprises a body provided with means for its attachment to the neck of 'a container. It further comprises a hollow piercing-pouring element provided with teeth at its lower end, arranged inside the body and connected to the body by a deformable annular membrane so that the piercing-pouring element can be brought from a position high at which its teeth are located above the cover at a low position at which its teeth are located below the cover. The pourer further comprises a closure cap capable of cooperating with the sealing effect with the piercing-pouring element. According to the invention, the closure cap is pivotally connected to the body by a hinge and comprises a bottom and a closure element protruding from the bottom so that when the piercing-pouring element is in the low position. , the obturation element closes the dispensing opening at the upper end of the piercing-pouring element during pivoting of the capsule to bring it onto the body and releases said dispensing opening during pivoting of the capsule to get it out of the body.

Thanks to the provision and the particular conformation of the membrane and the constitution of the entire pourer in a hard plastic material, the piercer-pourer element is maintained, when the pourer is fixed on the neck of the container, in the inactive position. above the lid of the neck, but can, by means of a simple pressure exerted downwards on the piercing-pouring element, be moved downwards to pierce the lid and then remains in the low position when the pressure on the piercer is released. This membrane therefore provides the piercing-pouring element with two stable positions, namely a rest position. above the cover and an active position for piercing the cover and dispensing the product contained in the container.

The piercing element can advantageously be arranged concentrically to the body, which means that it retains this concentric position in the inactive position and in the active position.

In the context of the invention, the annular membrane may have either a curved double inflection profile or a broken line profile with double inflection.

In the latter case, it may be advantageous to provide the membrane with a circular weakening zone at each inflection.

• la figure 1 est une coupe axiale d'un verseur conforme à l'invention, avant percement de l'opercule du goulot de flacon;
• la figure 2 est une coupe, à plus grande échelle, de la membrane reliant l'élément perceur au corps du verseur;
• la figure 3 est une coupe analogue à celle de la figure 1, montrant l'élément perceur en position active après percement de l'opercule;
• la figure 4 est une coupe analogue à celle de la figure 2 de la membrane dans la position selon la figure 3;
• la figure 5 est une coupe axiale d'un autre mode de réalisation d'un verseur conforme à l'invention comprenant une capsule à charnière, avant ouverture de la capsule et avant percement de l'opercule;
• la figure 6 est une coupe axiale correspondant à celle de la figure 5, après ouverture de la capsule, avant percement de l'opercule;
• la figure 7 est une coupe axiale selon la figure 6, après percement de l'opercule;
• la figure 8 est une coupe axiale selon la figure 7, après fermeture de la capsule.

Referring to the appended schematic drawings, several more illustrative and nonlimiting embodiments of a pourer according to the invention will be described below in more detail; on the drawings:

• Figure 1 is an axial section of a pourer according to the invention, before piercing the lid of the bottle neck;
• Figure 2 is a section, on a larger scale, of the membrane connecting the piercing element to the body of the pourer;
• Figure 3 is a section similar to that of Figure 1, showing the piercing element in the active position after piercing the lid;
• Figure 4 is a section similar to that of Figure 2 of the membrane in the position according to Figure 3;
• Figure 5 is an axial section of another embodiment of a pourer according to the invention comprising a hinged capsule, before opening the capsule and before piercing the lid;
• Figure 6 is an axial section corresponding to that of Figure 5, after opening the capsule, before piercing the lid;
• Figure 7 is an axial section according to Figure 6, after piercing the cover;
• Figure 8 is an axial section according to Figure 7, after closing the capsule.

According to Figure 1, a bottle 1 for liquid or pasty products has a neck 2 closed by a cover 3 and provided with an outer groove 4. The nature of the cover 3 (metal sheet, metal-plastic complex, etc. .) and its mode of attachment to the neck 2 (heat sealing, HF induction sealing, etc.) are not within the scope of the present invention and all known embodiments are conceivable.

A pourer referenced 5 as a whole is fixed by snap-fastening on the neck 2. The pourer 5 comprises a body of generally cylindrical shape, the lower part 6 intended to be fitted on the neck 2 of the bottle has an internal bead 7 which cooperates by snap-fastening with the groove 4 of the neck 2, and the upper part 8 of which is connected to the lower part 6 by an internal shoulder 9 which bears on the external edge of the cover 3. The upper part 8 of the body is provided with 'An outer bead 10 used for the snap fastening of a closure cap described below.

A piercing element 11 in the form of a hollow body of revolution, provided at its lower end with teeth 12 and at its upper end with a dispensing opening 13, is connected to the inner face of the upper part 8 of the body by a membrane 14.

The body 5, the piercing element 11 and the membrane 14 are produced, as shown especially in FIG. 2, in one piece from a hard plastic material such as polypropylene. The membrane 14 has an upwardly curved shape, namely following a broken line profile with double inflection. According to FIG. 2, the membrane 14 has two circular weakening zones 15, 16 at the points of inflection of its profile.

A closure cap 17 is attached to the upper part 8 of the body 5, this capsule 17 comprising a bottom 18 on which protrude on one side an outer skirt 19 provided with an annular groove 20 capable of cooperating by snap-fastening with the bead 10 of the upper part 8 of the body 5 when the capsule 17 fits on the body, and an inner skirt 21 intended to cooperate with the upper opening 15 of the piercing element 11.

Figures 3 and 4 show the pourer after piercing the cover 3 by a downward pressure on the piercing element 11, the capsule 17 being removed. Under the effect of this pressure exerted on the piercing element 11, the membrane 14 gradually deforms, before the piercing element 11 passes abruptly, by piercing the cover 3, in the low position according to FIGS. 3 and 4, in which the piercer 11 is then held by the membrane 14 which is then curved downwards.

It therefore appears that the convex shape of the membrane 14 and the rigidity of the plastic material constituting the membrane 14 ensures that the latter, in the manner of a toggle, a bistable state by which the membrane 14 holds the piercing element 11 , either in the high inactive position according to FIGS. 1 and 2, or in the low active position according to FIGS. 3 and 4.

It also appears in FIG. 3 that the internal skirt 21 of the stopper capsule 17 is of a length such that the skirt 12 can cooperate with the opening 13 the piercing element 11, ensuring that the latter is closed off. , also when the piercing element 11 is in the low active position.

The body 5 of the pourer could be fixed to the neck 2 by screwing instead of being fixed by snap-fastening.

The membrane 14, instead of having a broken line profile, could also have a curved double inflection profile, but the broken line profile, in particular with zones of weakness at the points of inflection, allows more " membrane "14.

The closure cap 17 can be made in one piece with the pourer by being connected to the latter for example by a hinge of known type, as described below.

Figures 5 to 8 show an embodiment of a pourer according to the invention, with a hinged closure cap with spring.

In this embodiment, a bottle 101 has a neck 102 closed by a cover 103 and provided with an external thread 104. A pourer 105 comprises an interior part 106 provided with an internal thread, for its attachment to the neck 102.

A piercing element 111 in the form of a hollow body of revolution, provided at its lower end with teeth 112 and at its upper end with a dispensing opening 113, is connected to the upper end of the interior part 106 of the pourer 105 by a membrane 114 of general frustoconical formula.

A stopper capsule 117 is connected by a spring hinge 118, of a type known per se, to the outer part 119 of the pourer 105. The capsule 117 comprises a bottom 120 on which protrudes (downwards in FIG. 5) a shutter skirt 121 having, over its entire length, an inside diameter slightly greater than the outside diameter of the piercing element 111. At its free end (lower in FIG. 5), the skirt 121 has an inner bead 122.

It should also be noted that a tamper-evident band 123 is formed on the outer part 119 of the pourer 105, this band 123 preventing the first opening of the capsule 117 until the band 123 has been torn off.

It is clear from Figure 5 that the shutter skirt 121 cooperates, in this embodiment, externally with the piercer-pourer 111, and not internally with the dispensing opening 113 of the latter, as in the mode of realization of Figures 1 and 2.

Furthermore, it appears from FIG. 5 that the piercer 111 is disposed in an eccentric position relative to the pourer 105. In in this case, the piercer 111 is eccentric so as to be further away from the hinge 118 than from the opposite part of the pourer 105.

Finally, it appears in FIG. 5 that the hinge 118 is disposed above the closure plane (between the piercer 111 and the closure skirt 121), which plane is defined by the bead 122.

According to FIG. 6, the capsule 117 is opened, by pivoting around the hinge 118, after tearing off the guaranteed strip 123. On the other hand, the piercer 111 has not yet been actuated with a view to piercing the cover 103 of the neck 102 of bottle 101.

According to the figure. 7, the piercer 111 has been pressed in, thus causing the hole 103 in the neck 102 to be pierced, the membrane 114 passing from the upwardly curved position according to FIGS. 5 and 6 to a downwardly curved position. In this position, the contents of the bottle 101 can be dispensed through the opening 113 of the pourer 111.

According to FIG. 8, the capsule 117 has been brought back to the pourer 105, by pivoting around the hinge 118, the piercer 111 remaining held in the low position by the membrane 114. In the closed position of the capsule 117, the skirt 121 of the capsule fits onto the upper end of the piercer 111, its bead 122 ensuring a tight closure. The contents of the bottle 101 cannot therefore flow, even in the event of the bottle 101 being overturned. In addition, the contents of the bottle are not subject to drying or oxidation due to the exchange of air with the outside.

Claims (8)

1. Spout for bottles (1, 101) and the like receptacles containing liquid or pasty products and comprising a neck (2, 102) sealed until it is first used by a lid (3, 103) capable of being pierced, comprising a body (6, 106) provided with means (7, 107) for fixing it to the neck (2, 102) of a receptacle, a hollow spout-piercing element (11, 111) provided with teeth (12, 112) at its lower end, arranged inside the body (6, 106) and connected to the body by an annular membrane (14, 114) deformable so that the spout-piercing element can be moved from an upper position in which its teeth (12, 112) are located above the lid (3, 103) to a lower position in which its teeth (12, 112) are located below the lid (3, 103), and a sealing cap (17, 117) capable of cooperating with sealing effect with the spout-piercing element (11, 111), characterised in that the sealing cap (17, 117) is connected pivotably to the body (6, 106) by a hinge (118) and comprises a top (18, 120) and a sealing element (21, 121) projecting from the top in such a way that when the spout-piercing element (11, 111) is in the lower position, the sealing element (21, 121) seals the distribution opening (13, 113) at the upper end of the spout-piercing element on pivoting of the cap (17, 117) to place it on the body (6, 106) and releases said distribution opening (13, 113) on pivoting of the cap (17, 117) to disengage it from the body (6, 106).
2. Spout according to claim 1, characterised in that the sealing cap (117) is made in one piece with the body (106).
3. Spout according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the spout-piercing element (11) is arranged concentrically relative to the body (6).
4. Spout according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the spout-piercing element (111) is arranged eccentrically relative to the body (106), being further from the hinge (118) than from the opposite side.
5. Spout according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the sealing element is a sealing skirt (21) cooperating with the spout-piercing element (11) by penetration in the upper distribution opening (13) of the latter.
6. Spout according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the sealing element is a sealing skirt (121) cooperating with the spout-piercing element (111) by fitting over the latter.
7. Spout according to claim 6, characterised in that the sealing skirt (121) comprises an inner flange (122) at its free end.
8. Spout according to claim 7, characterised in that the hinge (118) is arranged above the plane of sealing defined by said flange (122) in the closed position of the cap (117).

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