SK99995A3 - System for guaranteeing the authenticity of origin of a product therein - Google Patents

Abstract

This device is characterised in that sealing means (6b) are associated with means (10) for visually indicating the first opening of a container, which consist of an engraved inscription (11) straddling said sealing means (6d), once they are in place, and an immediately adjacent part (1a) of the container (1), so that the part (11a) of the inscription (11), which is provided directly in the material of the container (1a), is thereby made indelible, whereas the complementary part (11b) of the inscription (11) which is provided on an adjacent zone (6c) of the sealing means (6b) is removed during the tearing open of said sealing means when the container is opened, thus leading to an irremediable separation of the two complementary parts (11a, 11b) of the inscription (11), without the possibility of subsequently re-aligning them with a view to fraudulent re-use of the container (1).

Description

The sealing means (6b) are coupled to means (10) for visually indicating the first opening of the container, which consists of an engraved inscription (t 1), positioned partially on said sealing means (6) once in place, and partly on an immediately adjacent the portion (1a) of the container (1), so that the portion (11a) of the inscription (11) which is located directly in the material of the container (1a) is thereby indelible, while the complementary part (11b) of the inscription (11) is the adjacent area (6c) of the sealing means (6b), when opening the container, is removed during opening of said sealing means by tearing, resulting in irreparable separation of the two complementary portions (11a, 11b) of the inscription (11) without the possibility of their subsequent reassembly fraudulent reuse of container (1).

Document number:

999-95 (13) Document type: A3 (51) Int. Cl. ⁶ :

B 65D 50/00

B 65D 55/06

A system to guarantee the authenticity of the product in the container

Technical field

The present invention relates to a container with means for guaranteeing the authenticity of the origin of the article therein and to a method for sealing such a container.

This product, which may be of any kind, is placed in a container which is generally, but not necessarily, solid.

As already mentioned, the system of the present invention can be used for any product, but it is understood that the products most frequently exposed to counterfeiting are luxury products such as fine alcoholic beverages, perfumes or cosmetics in general, but can also be used in the pharmaceutical industry or even in the food industry.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, it has been found that counterfeiting methods have also evolved in the sense that counterfeiters have decided that nothing can resemble the original container more than the container itself. Thus, counterfeit products of dubious quality, packaged in original containers obtained from the returning and recycling network of these containers, have emerged in certain parallel markets.

Of course, in recent years, systems have been developed to suppress such fraudulent activities and attempts have been made to protect the original products by means of a container opening seal which, once opened, has left signs that it has been opened.

Thus, it has been proposed to place labels or adhesive tapes between the closure of the container and the container itself, so that any manipulation of the closure to remove it will at least partially destroy the warranty label.

Safety rings have also been provided arranged between the closure and the neck portion of the container and consisting of a frangible area which can break off as soon as the closure begins to rotate to remove it.

It is also known to place a shroud of heat-shrinking material on the closure system and adjacent part of the container.

Holograms, which are highly advanced means, also located on the opening area of the container have also been used.

Unfortunately, all these systems are replicable and counterfeiters did not hesitate to replace one label with another, one security ring with another similar ring or one hologram with another hologram. In fact, they only need to remove the sealing means damaged by the first opening and replace them by means which, if not identical, are at least equivalent, and the pad, in this case the container, remains quite genuine in this regard.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In consequence of this, the first step in the present invention was that the container should not remain unsealed after the first use, but on the contrary, there should be some traces that could not be removed by scraping, sticking or machining without damaging the appearance of the container itself. would in any case render it unusable for reuse.

For this purpose, the first aspect of the invention relates to a system for guaranteeing the origin of a product in a container which is provided with a closure system and includes sealing means connected between the outer part of the closure system and the container so as to be destroyed by deliberate tearing when the container is first opening means, said seal means being associated with means for visually detecting said first opening, said means consisting of an engraved inscription, located partially on said sealing means once in place, and partly on an immediately adjacent portion of the container, wherein a portion of the sign is made directly in the container material and is indelible, and the complementary portion of the sign, located on an adjacent area of the sealing means, is detached when the sealing means is peeled off when opening the container, thereby causing irreparable separation of the two complementary parts of the inscription. This avoids the possibility of subsequent reassembly of both parts for fraudulent reuse of the container.

The system of the present invention may be modified according to the second aspect such that the inscription is located partly on the sealing means and partly on an adjacent portion of the container closure or on an element integral therewith.

According to a third aspect, the invention also provides a method of securing a container having closure means, comprising using removable sealing means between said closure means and the container, and making an engraved inscription positioned partially on the sealing means and partially on the container in such a position that the first time the container is opened, the part of the inscription on the sealing means and the container is separated.

In yet another aspect, the invention provides a container with means for indicating its opening, said means comprising an engraved inscription, placed in part on sealing means applied to the closure of the container with the intention of being removed and destroyed, and in part on an adjacent part of the container; closure so that when the sealing means are removed upon opening, the two parts of the inscription are separated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be explained in more detail and further features will be described by reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, which illustrate in a non-limiting manner a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a front view of the flask neck provided with the authenticating device of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view according to Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section along line III-III in Fig. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

By way of non-limiting example, the container shown in the figures and provided with a device for guaranteeing the authenticity of origin of the product it contains is a bottle 1. This bottle 1 consists, as usual, of a body 2 which passes at the top into a neck 2J adapted to pour the product. In this case, the fluid 4. The container or bottle 1 is provided with a hermetic closure system 5, which in this case consists of a plug, but could of course be replaced by a lid of another container of a wider opening. The bottle J1 shown in the figures has sealing means 6 connected between the outer part of the closure system or the stopper 5 and the neck 3 of the bottle 1. These means are adapted to be destroyed by opening by tearing off by the deliberate action of the consumer when the container opens. for the first time. In this case, the first sealing means consists of a first cap 6a enclosing said plug 5 and extending concentrically around the neck 3 of the bottle 1. This type of cap 6a is generally made of a lead-tin alloy, tin alone or an aluminum composite and / or plastic, and bears marks relating to the designation of the product. In the plane of contact 8 of the plug 5 with the neck 3, the cap 6a has a tear strip 7, which is adapted to be destroyed when the plug 5 is rotated for the first time to open. This strip 7 consists of two horizontal perforations 7a. 7b. which form a sequence of holes arranged in a single line.

In addition, the cap 6a itself is covered with a cap 6b formed by a protective layer of heat-shrinking material which also has a tear strip 9, this time vertical, consisting of at least two perforations 9a and 9b formed by a series of holes arranged in a single line. Thus, the bottle is opened by first tearing off the strip located between the two vertical perforations 9a, 9b on the cap 6tj, thereby separating it from the neck 3, and then tearing off the strip located between the two horizontal perforations 7a, 7b on the cap 6a to release the plug.

The cap 6b is preferably made of a transparent material with a length h2 that is greater than the length h1 of the cap 6a for reasons to be explained below.

The material of which the cap 6b is made can be, for example, polyvinyl chloride.

According to one feature of the invention, the sealing means 6b is connected to the first opening means 10, which consist of an engraved inscription 11 positioned partially on said sealing means 6b. as soon as they are in position, and in part on the immediately adjacent portion 1a of the container 1, so that the portion 11a of the inscription 11 formed in the material of the container 1a remains indelible, while the complementary portion 11b of the inscription 11 is formed on the adjacent area 6c of the sealing means 6b. is removed when the sealing means is peeled open, resulting in an irreparable separation of the two complementary portions 11a. 11b of the inscription 11 without the possibility of their subsequent reassembly for the purpose of fraudulent reuse of the container 1.

As mentioned above, the aforementioned sealing means 6b in this case consists of a heat-shrinking cap placed on the cap 6a.

Obviously, it would be possible to place the inscription 11 on the cap 6a and the adjacent part of the bottle 1, but this solution is disadvantageous because it would be easy to perform the falsification by replacing the cap 6a with a longer opaque cap to cover La part 11a of the inscription 11a. engraved in bottle 1 in the region 1a.

This is also why the cap 6b is longer than the cap 6a. In fact, since the present methods cannot produce alloy caps 6a in such lengths as the plastic caps 6b, part 11a of the inscription 11 will remain on the container 1 without the possibility of fraudulent renewal with a longer cap.

It is also advantageous to make the inscription partially on the cover of the heat shrinking material once it has been placed in position, since the manufacturing tolerances of the unprepared cover and its accidental shrinkage, together with the tolerances of the engraving process and container used, ultimately make it impossible to reset the parts 11a and 11b. after destroying the cap 6b carrying the part 11b.

According to another important advantageous feature of the present invention, the inscription 11 is made by engraving, for example using a laser beam extending from point to point, adapted to be fired into the glass of the bottle X in its region 1a and into the plastic cap 6b in its region 6c.

To do this, the cover 6b preferably has a thickness such that the laser beam can burn it for engraving but cannot penetrate through it, so that the characters forming part 11b of the inscription 11 are not cut off and separated from the bottom edge of said cover 6b.

According to another preferred feature of the invention, if the glass of the bottle X has a relatively light color that does not assist in the reading of the laser engraving, a local color 12 is formed in the region of the inscription 11 which is transparent on one side to prevent fraudulent masking by applying a new color and, on the other hand, it can be peeled off or scraped off so that the informed consumer can verify the authenticity of the product 4. This coloring 12 in the area of the engraved inscription 11 is achieved by inking or by screen printing or tempography.

The inscription 11 may consist of a series of figures or letters or symbols or a combination thereof in a specific code.

The label described above is located at the bottom of the neck of the bottle, but may also be placed on the top of the cap and partly on the stopper or element integral with it.

It should also be noted that the coloring can be applied by means of an adhesive component.

Claims (19)

A system for guaranteeing the origin of a product in a container, said container being provided with a closure system and comprising sealing means connected between the outer part of the closure system and the container so as to be destroyed upon detachment by deliberate operation upon first opening of the container; the sealing means are associated with means for visually detecting the first opening, the means comprising an engraved inscription positioned partially on said sealing means once in position and partly on an immediately adjacent portion of the container, the portion inscribed directly on the container material , the indelible and complementary portion of the sign, located on an adjacent area of the seal means, is detached during the opening of the seal means, thereby causing irreparable separation of the two complementary portions of the sign. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the container is a bottle, in particular a glass bottle, and that the means for sealing its closure consist of a cap enclosing said closure and extending concentrically around the neck of the bottle. System according to claim 2, characterized in that the cover is obtained from a protective layer of heat-shrinking material. System according to one of claims 2, 3, characterized in that the cap has at least one vertical tear strip, consisting of at least one perforation forming a sequence of holes arranged in one line. The system of any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the cap covers a first cap that is hermetically mounted on the stopper and top of the bottle neck. System according to claim 5, characterized in that the cap has a height (h1) smaller than the height (h2) of the cap covering it. System according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that the cover is made of a transparent plastic material. System according to claim 7, characterized in that the cap is made of polyvinyl chloride. System according to any one of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that the engraved inscription is made by means of a laser adapted to be fired into a container material and a cover material. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the cap has a thickness such that the laser beam can burn it for engraving but does not penetrate therethrough, so that the characters that form part of the inscription are not cut off and separated from the bottom edge of said cap. System according to any one of claims 2 to 10, characterized in that a color layer is applied in the region of the sign, said coloring preferably being translucent and removable by the consumer. System according to claim 11, characterized in that the coloring in the engraved area is obtained by inking or screen printing. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inscription consists of a series of letters and / or images and / or symbols. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inscription is positioned such that it is partly on the sealing means and partly on the container closure member or on a part integral with it. 15. A method of securing a container with closure means, the method comprising the use of removable sealing means between said closure means and the container and producing an engraved inscription positioned partially on the sealing means and partially on the container in such a position that when the sealing means is removed at opening the container for the first time, the portions of the inscription on the sealing means and on the container are separated. 16. The method of claim 15 wherein said sealing means is heat shrunk around the neck of said container. 17. The method of claim 15 or 16, wherein said inscription is laser formed. Method according to claim 17, characterized in that the thickness of the sealing means and the power of the laser are such that the laser beam does not penetrate completely through the sealing means. 19. A container with means indicating the opening of the container, characterized in that said means comprises an engraved inscription, located in part on the sealing means applied to the closure of the container with the intention of being removed and thereby destroyed, and in part on the adjacent part of the container; closure so that when the sealing means are removed upon opening, the two parts of the inscription are separated. FIG. 1 ¹ m ¹