US3348719A

US3348719A - Closure means

Info

Publication number: US3348719A
Application number: US512983A
Authority: US
Inventors: Rausing Anders Ruben; Ignell Rolf Lennart
Original assignee: Tetra Pak Rausing and Co KG
Current assignee: Tetra Pak GmbH and Co
Priority date: 1964-12-28
Filing date: 1965-12-10
Publication date: 1967-10-24
Anticipated expiration: 1984-10-24
Also published as: NL6516912A; DE1262877B; DK115821B; NL154976B; US3317070A; DE1261054B; BE678159A; NL6603445A; BE674417A; GB1063610A; CH458098A; GB1068488A; ES320843A1

Description

A. R. RAUSING ETAL 3,348,719

Oct. 24, 1967 United States Patent Ofllce 3,348,719 Patented Oct. 24, 1967 3,348,719 CLOSURE MEANS Anders Ruben Rausing, Sjobo, and Rolf Lennart Ignell, Lund, Sweden, assignors to Tetra Pak Rausing & Co. KG., Hochheim am Main, Germany, a company of Germany Filed Dec. 10, 1965, Ser. No. 512,983 Claims priority, application Switzerland, Dec. 28, 1964, 16,729/64; application Sweden, Mar. 20, 1965, 3,636/65 Claims. (Cl. 21S-47) ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE The invention resides in the combination of a container having an opening surrounded by an inwardly and downwardly turned lip formed of elastic material, and a closure cap also formed of elastic material having a lid portion and a detachable tubular plug portion, said plug portion extending through said opening and having spaced apart flanges on opposite sides of said lip for retaining said plug in said opening and one or more tongues sealingly engaging the inner surface of said lip.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a good tightening action in a closure means of the above kind. U.S. Patent No. 3,251,499 describes a closure means of the kind above generally described. The sealing action of this previous cap is obtained between the lower sharp edge of the inwardly turned lip and the lower flange of the tubular plug portion. However, it has been found that in certain cases one cannot relay merely upon this seal. In order to improve the sealing action of the closure means, the cap therefor as to its sealing action has been developed on entirely new lines, the present invention constituting the result of this development work. The invention thus is characterized by tightening means in the form of one or more sealing rings or sealing tongues provided in the interspace between the tubular plug portion and the inwardly turned lip, arranged sealingly to engage a substantially cylindrical surface of the inwardly turned lip.

Further features of the invention will be apparent from the following specification, in which the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 shows a fragmentary portion of a vertical section along the axis of a container and closure means according to one embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 shows a fragmentary portion of a vertical section of a modified embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings the same reference numerals have as far as possible been used as in the said U.S. Patent No. 3,251,499 for details which have direct equivalents in said patent.

The design of the closure means according to one embodiment will be apparent from the FIG. 1 which shows a section through part thereof, the package being intended to consist of a bottle. The top of the bottle 1 extends inwardly towards the centre of the bottle opening and downwardly towards the bottom of the bottle establishing a lip 6. The bottle, or at least the lip 6, is most advantageously madefrom an elastic material, for example plastic. The lip 6 presents a sharp edge 7 turned towards the bottom and a cylindrical surface which defines the bottle opening.

The cap 2 consists of two principal parts, namely a lid 3 and a tubular plug portion 5, interconnected by the connection 12. Also the cap 2 is preferably made from an elastic material, whereby the lid will form a cup spring and the tubular part a tube spring.

The tubular plug portion 5 is provided at its bottom end with a flange S having a bevel 9. The flange 8 at its outer portion has a collar 21 which extends a distance H in a direction towards the lid of the cap. A space 22 is thereby produced between the collar 21 and the tubular plug portion 5 of the cap. The bottom of the space 22 is formed by a surface 23 on the flange 8.

The tubular plug portion is besides, along the peripheral surface thereof, provided with a number of sealing tongues 24, 25. As will be seen from the ligure the lower surface 26 of each sealing tongue has been undercut at an angle of l5-20, while the upper surface has been given a steep downwardly sloping form. The advantage of this design will be evident from the following.

Between the flange 8 and the lid 3 there is a further flange 10. Furthermore, between the flange 10 and the lid 3 there is provided a tear-up indication in the form of a deep notch 11 to the connection 12, this connection 12 in the region of the lower corner of the notch 11 having a very narrow section. Finally, the lid is provided with a pulling tab (not shown) to be used in connection with the opening of the package.

Closing of the package takes place in the following way. A cap 2 is applied with the bevel 9 of the flange 8 against the lip 6, the bevel 9 engaging the surfaces which define the aperture. By pressing against the centre of the lid 3 by means of a member (not shown) the tubular plug portion 5 of the cap is moved down into the bottle opening. At the same time the cup spring, i.e., the lid 3, is tensioned. The lip 6 is moved by the bevel 9 more and more to the side until the collar 21 has completely passed the lip, at which time the latter snaps in above the collar 21. The lid 3 the total diameter of which is slightly larger than the diameter of the top of the bottle has come into contact with the bottle slightly before. The contact line is designated in the figure by the numeral 13. The last phase of the downward movement is accordingly opposed not only by friction but also by two forces, namely the action of force between lip 6 and the bevel 9 and the compressive force between the lid 3 and the top of the lip 6. The pressure on the central region of the lid 3 must therefore be increased, whereby the plate spring is further tensioned. When the lip has snapped in above the collar 21 the package is closed. The edge 7 will then sealingly engage the surface 23 of the flange 8. The engagement of the lid 3 at 13 also prevents contamination of the bottle opening.

As mentioned above it has been found that in certain cases one cannot rely merely on the sealing obtained between the sharp edge 7 of the inturned lip 6 and the surface 23 of the cap. The tubular portion of the cap was therefor in one case provided with three sealing rings each 0.2 mm. high and having a section in the form of an isosceles triangle with the base 0.2 mm. This has given good sealing except in those cases where the sealing rings were damaged by the insertion of the cap in the bottle.

The sealing rings of this design have approximately an O-ring function, while in the construction according to the patent a sleeve seal has been provided. Furthermore, the number of sealing rings or sealing tongues has been into the bottle neck that at least the lower sealing tongue 25 has been passed when the lip 6 snaps into position. The cup spring action of the lid 3 then pulls the cap back the distance H which corresponds to the height of the collar. At least the lower sealing tongue 25 is then completely protected at the introduction and by the upwards sliding movement of the cap the best possible conditions have been created for the sealing tongue to turn over in the right direction.

The sealing of the package takes place by the sharp edge 7 of the lip 6 being pressed against the surface23 of the flange 8 and above all by the cylindrical surface of the lip being pressed against the sealing tongues 24, 25. The pressure action will be maintained by three forces, namely the spring forces of the lip 6, the tubular plug portion 5 and the lid 3. If an inner pressure prevails within the package, which is the case if the filling material consists of a carbonated liquid, the sealing is further increased. This is because there will then be a pressure on the inside of the lip 6, whereby the lip 6 is actuated by a force having a radially inwardly directed component and besides, there is created a pressure on the inside of the tubular plug portion 5, whereby the tubular part tends to bulge outwardly, so that the pressure of engagement between the sealing tongues 24, and the cylindrical surface 20 of the lip increases.

Opening of the package takes place in the following way. By clasping the handle (not shown) and pulling it upwards, if the pulling force is suiiiciently great, the lid 3 will be torn away from the tubular plug portion 5 along the connection 12. The breaking will take place at the narrowest portion of the part 12, whereby burrs in the surface of fracture are substantially avoided. The tubular plug portion 5, on the other hand, will remain in the package opening because a removal of this portion is prevented by the

flanges

8 and 10. By allowing the portion 5 to remain in the bottle opening this will provide an attractive appearance by the fact that the sharp edge 7 is concealed.

The sleeve seal provided by the downwardly turned sealing tongues has proved to provide an excellent sealing action. The cap, however, is rather difficult to manufacture and requires complicated tools, which increase the price of the final product. One has therefore continued the development of the closure in the way that has been mentioned, i.e., by utilizing triangle-shaped sealing rings. But instead of providing the tubular plug portion of the cap with two or three rather small sealing rings one has, according to the other embodiment of the present invention, reduced the number of sealing rings to `a single one and this one has been made larger and rather obtuse. Further the cap has been made from a stiffer material, viz., a MD-polyethylene material, i.e., ta plastic material having a medium density. Previously one has used an LD-material which is rather soft and has a somewhat lower density. The greater stiffness of the cap material together with a larger diameter of the sealing ring will provide an extraordinarily high initial pressure between the sealing ring and the cylindrical surface `against which the sealing ring is being pressed.

yIn FIG. 2 which illustrates this second embodiment of the invention, the sealing ring has been designated 30. This single sealing ring has a cross section in the form of a triangle having a peak angle of 90. The cap is made from a rather tough stiff material, preferably MD-polyethylene. The kind of material and the sturdy dimensioning and rather obtuse form of the sealing ring will on one hand prevent ythe sealing ring from being destroyed when the cap is being pressed into the container opening, and on the other hand provide a high initial pressure between the sealing ring Iand the surface 20 due to the increased diameter and the small surface of contact. In the case when the container presents an inner pressure, which is the case when the contents of the container consists of an aerated liquid,.the sealing will be further increased by compressing the tubular plug portion 5 of the cap and the lipshaped portion 6 of the package wall. This action, which is dependent on and is made possible by the inwardly turned lip 6, as a matter of fact constitutes one of the most essential features at the present invention and is common for the both embodiments, the said action according to the invention being utilized in an advantageous way.

In FIG. 2 is shown a number of additional details which have no direct connection to the sealing function of the closure, but which for the sake of completeness will be described briefly. Thus the lid of the cap might be divided into a central portion 3 over the container opening and an outer annular portion 3". The outer portion 3 of the cap is provided with a slot (not shown) extending from a point adjacent the pulling handle 4 to wards the central portion of the cap to a point adjacent the bottom of the notch 11. `Further the lid has been provided with one additional tearing facility in the form of a slot 34 in the surface turned to the package interior. The slot 34 forms a short sector of a circle and is parallel to the connection 12 between the lid and the tubular plug portion 5.

As various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim:

1. In combination with a `container having a circular opening in the upper end thereof surrounded by a shoulder and an inwardly and downwardly extending lip, said lip having a substantially cylindrical inner edge surface, a cap for said opening comprising a lid portion normally engaging said shoulder and an integral, tubular plug portion extending into and through said opening, said plug portion having a first flange adjacent to the lower end thereof which is of greater outer diameter than the inner diameter of said lip and is normally positioned below said lip with its upper surface engaging said lip, said plug portion having a neck portion above said first ilange and 'having at least one outwardly extending sealing tongue normally engaging said substantially cylindrical surface of said lip, said plug portion having a second flange above said neck portion of greater outer diameter than the inner diameter of said lip and normally positioned above the inner edge of said lip, said plug portion having an annular recess between said ksecond fiangeand said lid portion which extends inwardly farther than said neck portion anddefines a frangible portion between said lidportion and said plug portion, -at least one of said container and said cap being elastic and the vertical distance between the upper-surface of said first flange and the lower surface of said lid portion in unstressed condition being less than the vertical distance between said shoulder and the lower edge of said lip whereby said lid portion normally is held tightly engaged with said shoulder and said lower edge of said lip is held tightly engaged with the upper surface of said first flange.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 in which said first flange has an upwardly extending collar spaced apart from said neck and extending upwardly at least to the level of said sealing tongue.

3. The combination as defined in claim 1 in which said sealing tongue is triangular in cross section.

4. The combination as defined in claim 1 comprising 5 6 at least two spaced apart outwardly and downwardly ex- References Cited tending sealing tongues on said neck portion normally en- UNITED STATES PATENTS gaging said cylindrical surface on said lip.

5. The combination as defined in claim 2 comprising 3191798 6/149 'Coven et al' 21247 fat least two sealing tongues on said neck normally engag- 5 3199748 8/196 Bross 21 '47 ing said `cylindrical surface on said lip, `at least one of x. which is below the level of the upper surface of said THERON E' CONDON Pnmary Examiner' collar. JAMES B. MARBERT, Examiner.

Claims

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A CONTAINER HAVING A CIRCULAR OPENING IN THE UPPER END THEREOF SURROUNDED BY A SHOULDER AND AN INWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING LIP, SAID LIP HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY CYLINDRICAL INNER EDGE SURFACE, A CAP FOR SAID OPENING COMPRISING A LID PORTION NORMALLY ENGAGING SAID SHOULDER AND AN INTEGRAL, TUBULAR PLUG PORTION EXTENDING INTO AND THROUGH SAID OPENING, SAID PLUG PORTION HAVING A FIRST FLANGE ADJACENT TO THE LOWER END THEREOF WHICH IS OF GREATER OUTER DIAMETER THAN THE INNER DIAMETER OF SAID LIP AND IS NORMALLY POSITIONED BELOW SAID LIP WITH ITS UPPER SURFACE ENGAGING SAID LIP, SAID PLUG PORTION HAVING A NECK PORTION ABOVE SAID FIRST FLANGE AND HAVING AT LEAST ONE OUTWARDLY EXTENDING SEALING TONGUE NORMALLY ENGAGING SAID SUBSTANTIALLY CYLINDRICAL SURFACE OF SAID LIP, SAID PLUG PORTION HAVING A SECOND FLANGE ABOVE SAID NECK PORTION OF GREATER OUTER DIAMETER THAN THE INNER DIAMETER OF SAID LIP AND NORMALLY POSITIONED ABOVE THE INNER EDGE OF SAID LIP, SAID PLUG PORTION HAVING AN ANNULAR RECESS BETWEEN SAID SECOND FLANGE AND SAID LID PORTION WHICH EXTENDS INWARDLY FARTHER THAN SAID NECK PORTION AND DEFINES A FRANGIBLE PORTION BETWEEN SAID LID PORTION AND SAID PLUG PORTION, AT LEAST ONE OF SAID CONTAINER AND SAID CAP BEING ELASTIC AND THE VERTICAL DISTANCE BETWEEN THE UPPER SURFACE OF SAID FIRST FLANGE AND THE LOWER SURFACE OF SAID LID PORTION IN UNSTRESSED CONDITION BEING LESS THAN THE VERTICAL DISTANCE BETWEEN SAID SHOULDER AND THE LOWER EDGE OF SAID LIP WHEREBY SAID LID PORTION NORMALLY IS HELD TIGHTLY ENGAGED WITH SAID SHOULDER AND SAID LOWER EDGE OF SAID LIP IS HELD TIGHTLY ENGAGED WITH THE UPPER SURFACE OF SAID FIRST FLANGE.