US1779350A - Bottle-closure disk - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 21, 1930. w. 1 WRIGHT 1,779,350

BOTTLE CLOSURE DISK Filed March 5, 1928 Patented Oct. 21, 1930 UNITED STATE-s PATENT OFFICE WILBUR L. WRIGHT, OF FULTON, YORK, LSSIGNOB TQ `OSWEGO FALIiS CORPORA- TION, 0F FULTON, NEW YORK, OCRPQBATION OFNEW YORK no'rrLE-cnosunn msx Application tiled March 5, 1928. Serial No. 259,171. l'

This invention relates to certain improvements in paper or like fibrous material disks, sometimes known as milkcapsfor insertion under more or less pressure into the mouths of bottles and other containers to seat therein` under more or less tension or compression, for closing or sealing the containers, and. to that type of such milk caps, composed of a disk ef one piece or thickness of longitudinally splittable pulp or paper board, incised part way through its thickness from above and below to provide for splitting up a pull tab by which the necessary pull can be exerted to extract the disk from the bottle mouth, and also to provide for a pouring opening through the disk should the dlsk be not extracted from the bottle mouth; and the objects and nature of my present invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art'in the light of the following explanations of the accompanying drawings that illustrate what I now believe to be the preferred mechanical e re'ssion or embodiment of my invention om among other forms and arrangements within the spirit and scope thereof.

An object of the invention is to provide, as an article of manufacture1 a single-thickness one-piece closure disk of paper or other felted fibrous material capable of splitting or tearing in a lane between and parallel with its top and ottoni surfaces, with said disk fiat and without such projections at its top and bottom surfaces as would prevent the use thereof in machinery for automatically seating the disks in container mouths, and with said flat disk closed or imperforate againstthe passage of liquidtherethrough under usual conditions when inv use, and with said flat disk of suiiicient structural strength to withstand the pressure of the thumb or finger or the capping machine plunger in forcing the disk into a container, without splitting or tearing to open liquid leaking passages therethrough, andwith said flat disk so incised part y way through from above and below as to outline at the top and bottom faces of the single disk atop pull tab panel and a bottom depressible panel directly under and of different dimensions from the top panel with said outlined portions united and capable of being split or torn from each other and from the remainder of the disk to forma lifted tab and a depressed tab, each in thickness about half the thickness of the disk, and a pouring openin through the diskand with the top panel ormed or braced at its base junction with the body of the disk to resist separation from the disk under disk extracting pull after said top panel has been lifted at its free end and split up from the bottom panel to form a pull tab', 'and with said -iat disk preferably having a top depression, from which a plug of the paper has been cut out and removed, to expose the pick-up end of the top panel and to form a hinge or easy bend line for the depressible or bottom panel.

With this and other objects in view my invention consists in the novel article of manufacture substantiallyas hereinafter described and specified. y

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof:

'Fig 1 is a top plan of a one-piece paper disk showing an example inaccordance with Ymy invention, dotted lines indicatingthe intab having been rst split up and then pressed down' into the disk.

Fig. 5 is a section on the lline 5-5, Fig. l. Fig. 6' is a section on the line 6 6, Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a section showing the pull tab elevated and the bottom tab depressed.

Fig. 8 is a perspective showing both tabs split from ,the disk. l

yIn the particular example illustrated, the

circular flat disk 1, is imperforate, closed yor tight against the passage of liquid therethrough, and is cut from a single-thickness or one-piece sheet of paper or like felted fibrous material or so-called paper or' pulp board of the re uiredthiclmess, say solliewhere between a out forty to seventy thousandths of an inch, more or less. The disks are cut from a sheet paper product that has been inished by the paper making machinery, having usually hard or calendered fiat top and bottom surfaces of one intervening thlckness or ply of felted fibres, yet this strong stiff completed sheet material possesses the peculiar capacity of splitting, under pull in the proper direction, in a plane between and parallel with the top and bottom surfaces, into sheets of sub-thickness or that are relatively thin and raw where split.

This flat single thickness paper board disk 1, is formed with a vertical or transverse inclsion or cut 2, extending down through its top face for about one half the thickness of the disk, to outline on the top face of the disk, a tab or panel 3, remote, or located inwardly of the disk, from the periphery of the disk. The base 3, of this panel, in this particular example the outer end thereof, is permanently joined into or.xed against separation from the body of the disk, as by trans-Y verse staple 4, the legs of which are driven through the disk and clinched against or into the bottom of the disk. The opposite, or in this example, the inner end of the panel, constitutes the pick-up end 3b, thereof, and its pick-up edge is exposed in, and is freely accessible to the fingernail through a transversely elongated well or recess 5, in the top of the disk, and in depth equal to or slightly deeper than the top incision 2. This recess 5, is formed by removing a vertical plug of the disk leaving the recessconnecting and into which the inner ends of the longitudinal spaced portions of incision 2, open, so that the recess is located across or defines the inner transverse end of the panel 3, with the floor of the recess in approximately the plane (parallel with the top and bottom surfaces of the disk) atwhich the incision 2, terminates.

The top panel 3, outlined by incision 2, is designed to be picked up at its end 3", by the fing-cr nail to enable the fingers to grasp and pull upwardly thereon and thereby split or tear upwardly from the body ofthe disk longitudinally of the panel, a free end pull tab in thickness equal to the depth of incision 2, and at its base permanently joined to the disk by staple 4, which limits the longitudinal separation of the tab from the disk. This upwardly extending relatively-thin free end tab is designed to possess sufficient tensile strength, both itself and at its juncture with the disk, to withstand the pulling force necessary to extract the disk from the bottle mouth. The separation and elevation of this pull tab, forms or leaves in the top of the disk, a depression having a flat floor in continuation of the floor of recess 5, and in depth equal to the thickness of the pull tab, the under surface of which tab is raw as split from said floor.

The disk is peculiarly formed so that the provision ofa pouring or suction straw or tube opening through the floor of the depression formed by stripping and elevating the pull tab, is optional with the user. The pouring or straw opening through the disk does not exist in the article of manufacture, even after the closure disk has been put to its intended use closing the bottle, nor does an opening through the disk for pouring or straw. purposes, exist, after the user has split up the pull tab from the disk or even' used the same to extract the disk from the bottle, as the fioor of the recess from which the pull tab was torn or split still remains intact closing the disk, until the user applies the necessary downward pressure on said floor to tear and split the longitudinal marginal portions of the depressible bottom tab that constitutes the major portion of said Hoor from the body of the disk beyond the opposite longitudinal sides or margins of the recess. The bottom incision is so arranged that its longitudinal or side cuts 7, are spaced a greater distance apart than the side cuts of the top incision, and are thus vertically out off alinement therewith, the side cuts of the top incision being about centrally located between the two vertical planes of the bottom cuts. These bottom side cuts 7, are connected and joined by an elongated transverse bottom cross cut 8, to form the complete approximately U-shaped bottom incision that outlines the bottom depressible tab or panel 9. The side cuts 7, converge longitudinally with respect to the top tab panel toward the hinge end of panel 9, which is located under the top recess 5, and the inner ends of said bottom cuts 7, terminate preferably beyond the opposite ends of the floor of recess 5, without extending or cutting through the floor ot said recess. The recess 5, is thus in effect located between the separated inner ends of bottom cuts 7, and the ioor thereof is utilized to form a, flexible hinge for the depressible bottom tab. The cross cuts 8, of the bottom incision preferably extends between and traverses the vertical planes of the side cuts of the top incision and projects beyond the same, and extends across but not up into the base portion of the top tab. This long bottom cross cut or incision 8, establishes the free end of the bottom depressible tab and is approximately parallel with the length of the staple and located inwardly of the disk a short distance from said staple to take advantage of the stiffness imparted to the disk adjacent the staple, and to provide for a ledge or shoulder under the base of the top tab when elevated, and when the bottom tab has beendepressed. v

The disk is thus incised about half way through upwardly from the bottom to outline the relatively very wide bottom panel, and is incised about half way through downwardly from the top to outline the relatively narrow top panel located centrally over and longitudinally ofthe bottom panel, which bottom panel terminates short of-the staple securing the base of the top panel and includes as its hinge portion the relatively thin oor of the top recess exposing the pick-up the incisions, when the disk issubjected to downward more or less localized`pressure ofthe thumb, linger, or plunger head, exerted to force the disk to its seat within a bottle mouth, and particularly to avoid accidental splitting of the disk and depression of the top panel and bottom tabs, under such just mentioned disk forcing and bending action.

If the user wishes to extract the disk from the bottle mouth, the freeA end of the to tab is picked up and the tab is then torn ang split from the bottom tab portion to the extent permitted by the staple, and said top tab is then used to extract the disk, without disturbing the floor that closes the disk below said top tab, and which floor, except for the short ledge under the base of the top tab, constitutes the top exposed raw surface of the central longitudinal portion of the bottom panel, the inner end and opposite marginal pol-tions of which are still unbroken parts of the disk. On the other hand, if the user, after splitting and tearing up the top tab from the bottom panel, does not wish to remove ,the disk, but desires a pouring or suction straw opening through the disk, it is merely necessary to press down with the linger on the raw top surface of the floory of the recess formed by elevating the top tab, with sufficient pressure to tear and split the side marginal portionsof the bottom tab from the under side of the disk at the opposite side edges of said recess, whereupon the bottom tab will swing down on its flexible hinge formed by the thin floor of top recess 5, as

' the wide front edgeof the bottom tab is established by the long transverse part of the bottom incision which usually extends up through the floor under the top tab when torn therefrom.

I do not wish to limit all features of my invention to a one-piece disk incised at the top and bottom to provide the relatively wide depressible tab panel under tl1e\relatively narrow top pull tab panel, as my wide depressible tab bottom panel .can be' located under and covered by a free end to lift pull tab panel formed by a separate str1p`of suitable material at one end stapled or otherwise stitched to the disk at a point close to but outwardly beyond the outer or what becomes the free end of the depressible bottom panel.

I do not wish t'o limit myself to theexact forms ofthe panelsoutlined by the incisions, nor do I wish to limit all features of my invention to stitching or stapling the top panel against separation at its base from the disk, nor do I wish to'limit all features of my invention to the article of manufacture having the pick-up end of the top tab pre-split from the disk.V

What I claim is l. As a new article of manufacture,' a flat sin le-ply one-piece fibrous material closure dis closed against passage of liquid therethrough, and incised down through its top and up through its bottom but part way through the disk, to outline a relatively-wide vdepressible bottom tab panel forming an unbroken integral part of the disk, and to outline a relatively-narrow top pull tab panel arranged centrally over and longitudinally of said'bottom panel and forming an integral part thereof adapted to be elevated at i one end and torn and split therefrom to expose the raw top surface of the central longitudinal portion of the bottom tab having its marginal side portions unbroken from the disk, whereby said bottom tab can be depressed to split and tear its marginal portions from the disk.

2. As an article of manufacture, a flat paper material closure disk having a top pull tab panel and a securing staple, said disk incised upwardly at its bottom to outline a bottom depressible pull tab panel forming an unbroken integral part of the disk arranged longitudinally under and of greater width than said top pulltab and adapted to be exposed at its top for depression and tearing and splitting at its opposite side margins from the disk, when the top tab is elevated, said ldisk providing a hinge portion for said bottom tab approximately under the pick up end of the top tab, said incision providing for the free end edge of the bottom tab located inwardly from said staple.

3. As an article of manufacture, a onethickness flat paper-material closure disk incised part way through at the bottom tol outline abottom depressible tab panel forming the portion of the bottom incision locating the free end of tho bottom panel, said disk having a top recess the Hoor of which provides a flexible. hinge for `said bottom depress- 5 ible tab, said top panel forming the unbroken integral intermediate longitudial top part ot' said bottom panel capable of being split and torn up therefrom.

4. As an article of manufacture, a flat onepiece disk of paper material splittable botween its top and bottom surfaces, said flat disk closed against the passage of liquid therethrough, said disk incised part Way through from the top to provide a top pull tab panel forming an unbroken part of the disk, a staple passed through the disk at the base of the panel, the opposite end of said panel adapted to be picked up for raising to split the panel upwardly from the disk toward said staple to form a pull tab and expose the raw top surface of a floor closing the disk under the tab, said disk incised upwardly through the bottom t-o outline a bottom depressible tab panel that includes said floor and that provides at one end a hinge connection with the disk, and to form the free end of the depressed tab, with its free edge adj acent to and spaced inwardly from said staple. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Fulton, New York, this 2d day of March, 1928.

WILBUR L. WRIGHT.

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