US2944690A - Closure for vacuum insulated vessels - Google Patents

Description

| J. DARMSTADT 2,944,690

CLOSURE FOR VACUUM INSULATED VESSEL-S July 12, 1960 Filed Oct. 27, 1955 INVENTOR Louis J. Dcrmstodf BY M M WM L Q ATTORNEYS up within thefiller.

U ited St tes; 73

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Louis J.v Darmstadt, Norwich, Count; assignor to The American Thermos Products Company, a corporation f-0hi0 i 3 Filed Oct. a7,;19s s, ser.No. 543,137

3 Claims, or 2151-48) This invention relates to closures for open mouths or'necks of containers andiparticularly to tclosures for containers including vacuum'insulated bottles or flasks retain the "latter properly in position around filler 11. As pointed out in my aforementioned application, the pouring lip also acts to resiliently position and imity thereto.

commonlycalled fillers. More'especially, the invention 7 more, it has been refinements deformation is Is'om'etimes permanent-which precludes the closure from any subsequent effective sealing.

In accordance with this inventiomil have overcome this problem by providing the closure with a reinforcing section that will prevent substantial deformation of the stopper portion thereof as a result of the pressure built While .my invention contemplates the provision of this reinforcing section on either the stopper portion of the closure'or the cover insert there'- containerin which hotfliquids or other 1 maintain theupper end of filler 11 properly within the casing My improved closure as illustrated in Fig.' 1' comprises a. stopper indicated by the reference numeral 14and acover insert 15 therefor. Stopper 14 comprises a hollow stopper portion 16 and an outwardly extending flange 17 forming therewith -a unitary structure.

closure may be formed of any resilientmaterial such. as rubber or the like though I have found polyethylene to be a particularly suitable'material therefor.

The

The flange 17 of stopper 14 also includes a downwardly extending portion 18 adapted to surroundthe upper portion of pouring'lip in fairly close prox-' a 1 This assists in properly positioning the stopper on the filler neckwith the stopper portion 16 thereof entering its mouth and engaging the uppenrim portion of the inner wall of filler 11.

Insert is adapted to span the upper open end of 1 stopper portion 16 of stopper 14 and is adapted to be nonremovably (in norm'aluse) maintained thereacross.

. by having an outwardly projecting head 20 around its for, the former construction has a slight added advantage in that the reinforcing section tends torigidize wthe portion thereof which enters the mouth of the filler and Y is directly subject to the pressure therein as well as to the stored material when the container-is in other than vertical position; l f

In the accompanying drawings in which I have illustrated two forms of my invention: I V Fig. l is an elevation partly in section showing the upper portion of a vacuum insulated container with my improved closure inserted in the mouth 'thereo the aforementioned reinforcing section being in this form integral with the stopper portion of the closure;

Fig. 2 isa'vertical cross-section of a modified form of my improved closure in which the reinforcing section is integral with the cover insert member thereof; and

Fig. 3. is a fragmentary vertical section showing a stopper of this invention adapted forfsnap on positioning. I I; v The vacuum insulated-bottle or container of Figrl is much the same as that disclosed .in my copending application Serial No..466,023, filed-November 1,;1954, and assigned to the same, assignee as is this invention and now abandoned, in that it includes a pouring lip or pourer 10,which comprises the invention of that application. 7 However, the

filler 11 illustrated has a substantially broader mouth than does that of the aforementioned application. The container also includes-acase 12 surrounding filler 11 and'a breast member 13 threaded into the upper end of v 135 overlying; an outwardly extending flange of pouring lip 10 to casing 12 and having an inturned flange i 13 of the casing. For use with the closures illustrated ,inQFigs. 1 and 2 particularly, the depth of cup 25 is suchtthat the inner face of its bottom wall engages the V i closure to assure that it is double-walled vacuuminsulat'ed inforcing section. Th

, 11. As is illustrated clearly in Fig.

edge, received withinan undercut 21 just 'beneathythe openlupper end of stopper portion '16.

p, A 'substantially. .cylindr'cal reinforcing section -22 is formed integrally. with the bottom wall of stopper pop.

tion 1 6 'offstopper' 14gand extends therefrom toward insert 15,." 1 It is of. sufficie'rit length sothat its outeredge'. or '-rin'rlis .olosely adjacentto the inner face of the.insert. In'addition to rigidiz'ing'the bottom wall of stopperpor tion 16 of the closure, thereby making it better" able to. resist deformation as a result of pressures built up within the filler 11 primarily as a result of the storing therein of hot materials, it also limits the deformation thereof by engaging insert 15 which as'shown is of rela:

tively heavy section. Hence, upon a pressure build-up within filler 11 the bottom wall of stopper 14 of the closure may tend to deform upwardly. However, this 7 deformation is terminated upon engagement of reinforcing section'22 with insert 15, thereby preventing a rupture of the seal between the side wall of the hollow 16 and the upper edge or rim of filler stopper portion 1,.for example, a predetermined deformation of the bottom wall is accornmodated by the spacing between the end of the reinforcing section and the lower surface of the insert; that the extent of defor-- I It will'be observed, however, mation permitted is less than the edge-to-center depth of therconvex bottom wall. Accordingly, the permissible deformation of the bottom wall is less than that amount whichwould cause the bottom'wall to assume a concave form. ,As illustrated in Fig. 1 the closure may be filled or partially filled with an insulating material such as ground cork or the like to' minimize a heat exchange through the closure. V

The container also includes a cup .25 provided with threads at its month which may be removably secured over-the closure byengagement of its threads with corresponding threads formed externally on breast, member firmly maintained in position despite the tendency of the pressure within the filler to force the closureout.

" Turning now to Fig. 2, a according to my invention is Fig.1 except that; a reinforcing section 22 integral with insert 15'.

is formed reinforcing section 22' again is Patented sta 12, 1960 j the seek er modified form of closure illustrated which in'substantially all respects is similar to the formillustrated in and'stopper 14 contains no retionfl18' of flange 17 it is similar in all respects to the stopper'of either Fig. 1 or Fig. 2. The reentrant angle extension 30, however, makes it readily possible and easy to snap the depending portion 18 over an outwardly ex-' tending circumferential flange of the permanent filler assembly, for example, rounded flange 19 of a pouring lip which is otherwise similar to pouring lip 10 of Fig. 1. The flange 19' thus enters the undercut of depending portion 18' of the stopper and secures the latter properly positioned on the filler neck with its stopper portion 16 entering the mouth thereof and engaging the upper rim portion of its inner Wall.

I claim:

1. An insulating closure for the open mouth of a container, such as a double-walled vacuum-insulated filler, comprising a hollow, generally cup-shaped unitary stopper body formed of resilient material and having a generally conical side wall and a convex bottom wall, said stopper body having an open upper end, a closure insert secured to said stopper body and extending across the upper end thereof to enclose the hollow interior of said body and'form a hollow insulating space therein, and a substantially hollow structural reinforcing section formed integrally with one of said stopper body and insert parts and extending axiallytoward the other part, said reinforcing section comprising a wall spaced substantially outward from the center of said stopper body and substantially inward from the side wall thereof, the axial end of said reinforcing section terminating a predetermined distance short of said other part, whereby the end of said reinforcing section is positioned to engage the said other part upon predetermined deformation of said bottom wall, said predetermined deformation being less than that amount which would cause said bottom wall to assume a concave form.

2. A closure according to claim 1, in which said insert has'an outwardly extending peripheral bead and said stopper slide wall has an annular undercut just beneath the upper end thereof to receive said insert bead.

3. A closure according to claim 1 in which the substantially hollow reinforcing section is a cylindrical wall and extends from and is integral with the bottom wall of said stopper body, said reinforcing section having a length less by a predetermined amount than the distance between the inner faces of the insert and bottom wall.

-References' Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,425,841

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