US3122261A - Capseals for container closures - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 25, 1964 R. 1.. PARISH, JR., ElAL 3,122,251

CAPSEZALS FOR CONTAINER CLOSURES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 26, 1962 IQ/CHA R0 1.. PAR/SH, Jr.

. AND INVENTORS.

BERNARD E HARK/NS, Jr.

United States Patent 3 122,261 CAPSEALS eon oN'rArNEn cLosUREs Richard L. Parish, 31"., North Salem, N .Y., and Bernmd Harkins, in, South Piainfield, N.J., assignors to American Flange & Manufacturing Co., Inc, New York,

N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 26, 1962, Ser. No. 182,339 9 Claims. (Cl. 22027) This invention relates to capseals for container closures and particuiarly to such capseals as are customarily used for the sealing of closures employed on barrels and drums.

In the art of capsealing barrels and drums it is desirable to employ capseals which are tamperproof, i.e., cannot be removed without being sufiiciently destroyed as to make that removal obvious and are also leakproof. A high degree of perfection has heretofore been achieved in this art by means of metal capseals which have effective gaskets secured therein and which capseals are internally scored to facilitate their removal.

The capseal of this invention is formed as a combination of a cap constructed of a synthetic plastic material, of which low density polyethylene is a non-limiting example, and a metal sealing ring carried thereby. The cap, of inverted cup shape, forms a cover over the closure by itself. The sealing effect is achieved by the crimping in of the metal ring overlying the cap to effect sealing engagement of the cap with respect to the container closure.

The use of a capseal, principally of plastic, has several advantages over metal capseals for use in the sealing of neck type drum closures. When the proper plastic is used it forms its own gaskethig portion. The cap need not be completely destroyed to enable access to be gained to the container contents. Instead it is merely necessary to out off the top portion protruding above the metal ring, leaving the skirt portion in place seated against the closure neck. This provides a secondary seal about the losure neck.

Since the skirt of the cap does not need to be removed it can be equipped with ears for use in carrying identifying indicia.

The likelihood of workmen injuring their hands when removing the top portion or even the whole of these capseals, is greatly minimized as against the dangers inherent in tearing metal capseals apart to remove them.

The shipping of chemicals in lined drums has led to the necessity of having closures resistant to the action of the contained chemicals. Cap elements of plastic, suitably resistant to the action of the particular chemicals being shipped, can be more efiective than coated metal.

it is accordingly a principal object of this invention to provide a tamperproof and leakproof capseal for drum closures employing a cap of a synthetic plastic material.

Another object is to provide a capseal which will eliminate prior factors affording the possibility of injury to workmens hands upon removal.

Another object is to provide a chemically resistant capseal for use in the shipment of chemicals.

A further object is to provide a capseal wherein additional sealing between the container and closure is ef fected, which sealing remains effective even after the expandable portion of the capseal has been removed for providing access to the contents of the container.

A still further object is to provide a capseal which also provides a permanent tag ring.

Still further and more detailed objects will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out as the description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing proceeds.

In that drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the cap element of the capseal in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken on lines 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is atop plan view of the sealing ring of the capseal.

FIG. 4 is an elevation partly in section of the sealing ring of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section, greatly enlarged, of portions of the cap element and sealing ring in assembled relation.

FIG. 6 is an elevation partly in section of a drum closure flange container wall assembly for reception of the capseal of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6, with the capseal positioned on the flange ready for sealing.

FIG. 8 is a full elevational view of the PEG. 7 construction, with the sealing ring crimped into place to complete the capsealing.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section of the left hand portion of FIG. 8, showing the inclusion of a closure plug.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical elevation of the right hand portion of FIG. 8, showing a tag attached to the ear.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary exploded view of a portion of FIG. 8 but with the protruding top portion of the capseal removed; and

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary elevational view showing the commencement of the cut for effecting the removal of the top portion of the capseal.

The capseal of the invention is made up of a cap member, generally indicated at l which is molded from a synthetic plastic material, such as polyethylene, and a metal sealing ring generally indicated at 2.

The plastic cap member -1 comprises a flat disc-like top 3 and a stepped laterally extending skirt, generally indicated at 4. The upper portion 5 of the skirt inclines slightly inwardly from the top corner 5a thereof to the lower portion 5b. An intermediate horizontal annular portion 6 extends outwardly from the bottom of the portion 5 and turns into a lower vertically downwardly extending wall 7.

At the position where the lower portion 5b meets up with the annular portion 6, the portion 5b is recessed inwardly at 8 all the Way around its circumference, resulting in substantial reduction of the wall thickness at this position. This facilitates removal of the upper portion of the cap member as will be pointed out more fully hereinafter.

The lower vertical wall portion 7 is substantially thicker than the portion 5. Its outer surface 9 is cylindrical but its inner surface 9a is contoured to initially generally conform to the neck and flange head to which it is to be applied. The formation and wall thickness provide selfgasketing characteristics as will be pointed out. The cap member is further provided with cars it which are formed as a continuation of the skirt 4- and extend outwardly from the lower edge 11 thereof. One or both of these ears may be perforated as at 12, for the attachment thereto of a suitable tag or label 13 as shown in FIG. 10. Though preferably two ears 10 are provided only one, or more than two can be provided as desired.

The sealing ring, indicated generally at 2 in FIGS. 3 and 4, is an annular metal member of inverted L shape in cross-section with an inwardly projecting horizontal upper shoulder portion 14 which extends from a vertical extending cylindrical skirt. The shoulder 14 terminates at its inner periphery in a free end face 14a. Though the ring 2 is preferably formed of tin plate it may also be formed of aluminum or an alloy thereof.

FIG. shows the capseal 1 and sealing ring 2 in assembled'relationship. To effect this the sealing ring has to be snapped over the plastic cap member since, from the FIG. 5 showing, the end face 14a of the shoulder 14 is on a somewhat shorter radius than the top corner 5a of the'cap. The cap is sufficiently resilient to allow this snapping to be effected but, also, serves to retain the ring in assembled relationship. The horizontal shoulder 14 seats down on the horizontal portion 6 with the end face 14a lying across and substantially closing off the groove 8 at the lower end of the side wall 5. As to the skirt 15 and the wall portion 7, it will be seen that initially the wall portion 15 has its inner surface 15a spaced somewhat outwardly of the outer surface. 9 of the wall 7. The space'shown in P16. 5 is somewhat exaggerated, for all that is necessary, is the space that is needed to enable the assembly to be applied over the inserted closure flange; The plastic will yield enough to go over the flange bead so long as it is not tightly encased in metal. The space provided here at 151) provides for that give. The space must be kept at a minimum to avoid undesirable puckering of the skirt 15 when it'is crimped 1n.

FIG. 6 shows a drum closure flange and'container wall assembly ready for application of the capseal assembly. An internally threaded flange 16 'is pressed into an embossing in the drum stock 17 with the upper rim of thefiange beaded outwardly at 1-8 and overlying the upper end of the drum stock neck 1711.

FIG. 7 shows the closure assembly of FIG. 6 with the capseal assembly loosely applied thereto and before the metalsealing ring is crimped into sealing position. Here it can be seen how the special shape of the inner surface 9a of the lower vertical skirt wall 9 places the appropriate thicknesses of material of the cap skirt 9 in position around the bead 13 and below that bead in opposition to the surface of the container wall neck 170. Here, as can be seen, a substantial gap still remains between the ring skirt 15' and the capskirt 9. Though this gap, particularly the intermediate part thereof, may be momentarily substantially closed up as the thicker portion of the cap skirt 7 is snapped past the head 18, it opens again when the complete'capseal is fully seated in the FIG. 7 position.

The cap skirt 9is contoured, as best' seen in FIG. 5, with an enlarged portion which, even in the uncrimped positions, tends to swell in beneath the lower end of 15a of the flange head 13. This subsequently serves 'as an additional gasketing andsealing but initially serves to'hold the capseal in effective seated position over the closure flange assembly, ready for application of the crimping tool thereto.

The crimped position of the capseal is shown in ele- Vationin FIG. 8 and in enlarged fragmentary sectional form in FIG. 9. FIG. 9 also includes a screw threaded closure plug 24 having a slightly enlarged head 21 engaged with the inner surface of the flange bead 18 at its lower edge 22 and thus confining the plug gasket 23 on its seat 24 and between the position 22 and the uppermost thread of the threaded side wall 16a of the closure flange 16. The closure plug, however, is not contacted by the capseal and the capseal may either, in some instances, form a complete closure without the closure plugor may, in its more common usage, form a secondary closing and sealing over the closure plug.

Considering then the capshealing aspects of FIGS. 8 and 9, it will be seen that, as here shown, the skirt 15 of the sealing'ring has been crimped in all around its periphery and has carried the skirt 7 of the cap member inwardly with it, so that the inwardly contoured portion 9a of the cap skirt 7 has now been brought flush against the outer surface 17a of the drum stock flange, just below the end 18a of the bead in tight sealing contact. This sealing contact continues on down throughout the remainder of the extent of the cap skirt. Then, at the bottom of that skirt, the cars 14,, due to the change of angle of the portion of the cap skirt carrying them, will have been given a downward incline as seen best in PEG. 8, so that they are actually brought into contact 5 with the drum stock embossing, which receives the flange base.

Not only is a tight sealing effect achieved against the drum stock neck below the bead 13a, but a tight sealing is also provided against the bead itself by the upper portion 7a of the cap skirt 7 engaged therewith. Hence, in the unlikely siutation that either the flange gasket 26 or the plug gasket 23 should fail or the drum stock neck 17 should crack above the gasket 26, leakage would be precluded by the sealing effect of the cap skirt 7.

It can be readily seen from FIGS. 8 through ll, that when the ring skirt is crimped inwardly against the cap skirt 7, it adopts an inward and downward incline comparable to a frustum of acone. It is believed that it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that asthe inward crimping of the ring skirt 15 proceeds and as it tends to incline inwardly, a downward drawing action will be imparted to it by means of it and by means of the skirt shoulder 14 to the resilient material 7 of the cap skirt. This will not only enhance the sealing effect but will also somewhat straighten out the side wall 5 of the upper portion of the cap as seen from FIG. 9 and, additionally, will draw the inner face 14a of the shoulder 14 slightly away from the recess 8 in the top skirt 5, thereby exposing that recess so that any suitable instrument can be inserted into the same and be forced through the thin wall of the cap top at this position. A knife edge is not needed, the end of a screw driver or even a nail will do. In fact the recessed portion 8 can be readily fractured merely by grasping the top edge of the cap at either side of the position 5a, between the jaws of a pair of pliers and pulling backwardly toward thecenter of the cap. The application of a fracturing instrument for fracturing the upper portion of the cap is illustrated at 27 in FIG. 12, where the portion of the cap top has already been raised up. Once the portionof the periphery of the cap is cut or broken' loose in this manner, it is relatively easy to grasp the cap top by the fingers or with pliers and tear around the rest of the recessed portion 8. Cutting all the-Way around 7 7 as seen in the exploded view in FIG. 11. The screw plug, if any, can now be removed, as seen in the relationships in FIG. 9, and the contents of the container can be dispensed. Nevertheless the'cap skirt 7 remains 5 tightly sealed against the bead 18 and the drum'stock neck 17-, to prevent any leakage possibly resulting from failure of the flange gasket 26hr splitting of the drum stock neck 17. In addition the cars it) still remain in place and continue to be useahle for the holding of an identifying tag 13 as seen in FIG. 10. Thus even though the sealing effect over the main opening and over the plug, if any, may be eliminated by removal. of the top portion 3 of the seal, the remainder of the seal skirt and the metal clinching ring stay in place as a secondary closure against any possible leakage, through splits in the drum stock neck or destruction of the flange gasket 26 through overheating in the course of reconditioning the container.

Though in the foregoing the presently preferred form 7 of invention has been described in conjunction with the illustration of the accompanying drawing, it is, of course,

to be understood that such showing and description are cessed portion 3, enabling the entire top to be removed parting from the spirit and scope of that invention as set forth in the claims to follow.

Having described our invention what we claim is new and desire to obtain Letters Patent for is:

l. A capseal for container closures comprising a plastic cap having a disc-like top with a stepped laterally extending skirt therearound, said stepped skirt having an upper portion extending downwardly from said disc-like top, an intermediate horizontal portion extending outwardly from the bottom of said upper portion and a lower substantially vertical portion extending downwardly from said horizontal portion, said upper portion, near the lower end thereof, being circumferentially scored so as to enable tearing away of said disc-like top and said upper skirt portion, and a metal sealing ring having a substantially vertical skirt portion and an annular horizontal portion extending radially inwardly from the top of said skirt portion, said sealing ring being engaged over the conesponding intermediate horizontal portion and lower vertical portion of the cap skirt and being adapted to be crimped inwardly so as to compress said lower vertical portion of said plastic capseal into sealin' engagement with a container closure structure.

2. A capseal for container closure comprising a cap member and a sealing ring for securing said cap member in place on a closure member, said cap member and sealing ring being assembled together in a manner to retain them together in shipment, said cap member having a disclike top with a laterally extending stepped skirt therearound, said skirt being formed with a circumferentially disposed weakened portion of reduced cross-sectional area so as to enable tearing away of said disc-like top at said skirt weakened portion, said sealing ring surrounding a lower portion of said stepped cap skirt for clamping said cap skirt about a container closure structure, said sealing ring having an inwardly flanged portion with a depending skirt therearound, said cap skirt having a portion between said cap top and said step recessed radially inwardly to retain said sealing ring in place on said cap during shipment.

3. A capseal for container closures comprising a cap member and a sealing ring for securing said cap member in place on a closure member, said cap member and sealing ring being assembled together in a manner to retain them together in shipment, said cap member having a disclike top with a laterally extending stepped skirt therearound, said skirt being formed with a circumferentially disposed weakened portion of reduced cross-sectional area so as to enable tearing away of said disc-like top at said skirt weakened portion, said sealing ring surrounding a lower portion of said stepped cap skirt for clamping said cap skirt about a container closure structure, said sealing ring having an inwardly flanged portion with a depending skirt therearound, said ring skirt being positioned in radially spaced relationship with respect to the lower portion of said cap skirt to permit expansion of said cap skirt upon application of said capseal to a container closure structure.

4. A closure combination for containers comprising a container wall formed with an opening therein and with a substantially cylindrical neck extending upwardly around said opening, a bushing fitted within said opening having an upper portion beaded outwardly over the outer end of said neck and a capseal secured in sealing engagement over said opening, said capseal comprising a cap member formed of resilient plastic material, said cap member having a disc-like top, with a skirt extending downwardly therearound, said top overlying said opening and said skirt being formed with an outwardly extending shoulder seated on said bead, the skirt of said cap continuing downwardly beyond said bead and being engaged with the side thereof and with said container neck below said bead, a metal sealing ring having a flange portion overlying said shoulder portion of said skirt and having a depending collar portion crirnped inwardly against the lower portion of said skirt below said shoulder portion, said collar portion of said ring securing the portion of said skirt therebeneath into tight sealing engagement with said bead and with the container neck portion below said head, said cap skirt above said shoulder being formed with a circumferential weakened section so as to enable tearing away of said disc-like top thereby gaining access to said opening while said lower skirt portion and sealing ring remain intact on said container.

5. A capseal for container closures comprising a plastic cap having a disc-like top portion, a stepped laterally depending sklrt depending from and around said disc-like top, said stepped skirt having a substantially cylindrical upper wall portion depending downwardly from said disc like top portion, a substantially horizontal intermediate portion extending radially outwardly from the lower end of said upper wall portion, a substantially cylindrical lower wall portion depending downwardly from the outer periphery of said horizontal portion and terminating in a free edge, the lower end of said upper wall portion adjacent said horizontal intermediate portion being formed with a circumferentially disposed radially outwardly opening channel leaving a remaining wall portion of reduced cross-sectional area in back of said channel, said wall portion of reduced horizontal cross-sectional area acting as a weakened frangible section so as to enable tearing away or" said disc-like top and said upper wall portion, and an annular metal sealing ring having a substantially cylindrical skirt portion, an annular flange extending radially inwardly from the uppermost portion of said ring skirt and terminating in a radially inwardly facing free edge, said ring skirt terminating at its lowermost portion in a downwardly facing free edge, said sealing ring being engaged about said plastic cap with the lower surface of said annular flange lying in contact with said horizontal intermediate portion of said cap skirt, said inwardly facing free edge of said flange lying in radial opposition to said weakened frangible section of said cap skirt and said ring skirt surrounding said lower wall portion of said cap skirt and adapted to be crirnped inwardly so as to compress the lower wall portion of said cap skirt radially inwardly into sealing engagement with a container closure structure.

6. A capseal as in claim 5, wherein said lowermost portion of said ring skirt is in radially spaced relation to said lower wall portion of said cap skirt to allow for outward radial expansion of said lower wall portion upon application or" said capseal to a container closure structure.

7. A capseal as in claim 6, wherein said lower wall portion of said cap skirt as viewed in vertical cross-section has its inner surface formed in a relatively flat S-shaped configuration.

8. A capseal as in claim 5, wherein the width of the mouth of said circumferential channel is greater than the thickness of said ring flange at said free edge thereof so that access may be had to said weakened frangible area by means of a suitable implement to facilitate removal of said cap disc-like top and upper wall portion.

9. A capseal as in claim 8, wherein said upper wall portion of said cap skirt has a diameter slightly greater than the internal diameter of said ring flange free edge, said edge extending radially within said circumferential channel so as to protect against accidental dislodgement of said ring from said cap prior to securement of said capseal to a container closure structure.

References tCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,661,128 Rieke Dec. 1, 1953 3,025,988 Williams Mar. 20, 1962

Claims (1)

1. A CAPSEAL FOR CONTAINER CLOSURES COMPRISING A PLASTIC CAP HAVING A DISC-LIKE TOP WITH A STEPPED LATERALLY EXTENDING SKIRT THEREAROUND, SAID STEPPED SKIRT HAVING AN UPPER PORTION EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY FROM SAID DISC-LIKE TOP, AN INTERMEDIATE HORIZONTAL PORTION EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM THE BOTTOM OF SAID UPPER PORTION AND A LOWER SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL PORTION EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY FROM SAID HORIZONTAL PORTION, SAID UPPER PORTION, NEAR THE LOWER END THEREOF, BEING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SCORED SO AS TO ENABLE TEARING AWAY OF SAID DISC-LIKE TOP AND SAID UPPER SKIRT PORTION, AND A METAL SEALING RING HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL SKIRT PORTION AND AN ANNULAR HORIZONTAL PORTION EXTENDING RADIALLY INWARDLY FROM THE TOP OF SAID SKIRT PORTION, SAID SEALING RING BEING ENGAGED OVER THE CORRESPONDING INTERMEDIATE HORIZONTAL PORTION AND LOWER VERTICAL PORTION OF THE CAP SKIRT AND BEING ADAPTED TO BE CRIMPED INWARDLY SO AS TO COMPRESS SAID LOWER VERTICAL PORTION OF SAID PLASTIC CAPSEAL INTO SEALING ENGAGEMENT WITH A CONTAINER CLOSURE STRUCTURE.

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