Receptacles – Closures – Magnetic
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-24
2002-05-07
Young, Lee (Department: 3727)
Receptacles
Closures
Magnetic
C206S818000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06382450
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a packaging device for a fluid, liquid or pasty product, for example a scent bottle.
In general, a device such as this comprises a container intended to contain the product, the neck of the container being equipped with a head for dispensing the product, and a cap is intended to at least partially cap said head. The cap, like the container, may comprise ornamental external features, for example inscriptions, marks or signs, which need to be aligned or positioned with respect to each other. The cap like the container may also have asymmetric or polygonal shapes which need to be aligned with each other when the container is closed.
In order to make sure that the external ornamental feature of the cap is correctly aligned with respect to the external ornamental feature of the container, it is possible to provide a polarizing means to allow the container to be closed by the cap in a predetermined relative position that ensures the alignment of the external ornamental features of the cap with respect to the container. However, a mechanical system such as this for providing relative positioning may lead to fumbling on the part of the user, before he or she finds the relative position allowed for the container to be closed by the cap. Furthermore, a mechanical system such as this complicates the system used to hold the cap on the container in the closed position.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks and to propose a packaging device which has a system for the relative positioning of the external ornamental features of the cap and of the container and which is simple and effective to use while at the same time allowing the container to be closed correctly by the cap.
To this end, the subject of the invention is a packaging device for a fluid, liquid or pasty product, comprising a container intended to contain said product, the neck of the container being equipped with a head for dispensing the product, and a cap intended to at least partially cap said head, the device comprising a system for the relative positioning of at least one first external ornamental feature carried by the cap with respect to at least one second external ornamental feature carried by the container in a predetermined relative position, characterized in that said system for relative positioning is a magnetic system for automatic relative positioning upon closure, said system comprising a first magnetic means which is permanently magnetized carried by the cap and a second magnetic means which is permanently magnetized carried by the container in a location such that the aforementioned first and second magnetic means face each other when the container is in the closed position, the first magnetic means having at least two opposed magnetic poles (S, N) on its face facing toward the second magnetic means, whose face facing it has complementing magnetic poles (N, S), the location of the poles of each magnetic means being determined with respect to the location of the external ornamental features so as to automatically obtain the predetermined relative positioning of said external ornamental features upon closing the container.
According to a particular feature of the invention, the container comprises a part surrounding its neck, said part having an annular housing capable of containing the aforementioned second magnetic means, and the cap also comprises an annular housing capable of containing, at its base, the aforementioned first magnetic means so that upon closure, the first magnetic means circumscribes the dispensing head and sits atop the second magnetic means with a small gap.
Advantageously, the cap and the container comprise complementing means which serve to guide the cap on the neck of the container upon closure and which allow the cap to be rotated axially with respect to the container under the effect of the magnetic forces of attraction and/or repulsion, regardless of the external shape of the cap or of the container. As a preference, the cap
3
has a circular cylindrical internal surface which is a sliding fit, upon closure, on a circular cylindrical portion of the part surrounding the dispensing head of the device.
In a first alternative form, each magnetic means consists of a multipole annular permanent magnet, each magnet being secured in its respective housing for example by bonding or wedging. In another alternative form, each magnetic means consists of a number of small permanent magnets, for example in the form of pegs, overmolded with a plastic jacket of annular overall shape, each annular jacket being fixed into its respective housing for example by bonding or wedging.
Advantageously, at least one of the first and/or second external ornamental features consists of an inscription, a mark or a sign carried by the cap or the container.
According to yet another feature, when the cap and/or the container has/have an external surface which does/do not exhibit symmetry of revolution, at least one of the first and second external ornamental features consists of the actual shape of this surface. In this case, it can be contrived that when the cap and a part surrounding the neck of the container have the same polygonal cross section, the first and second external ornamental features consist of the edges of said polygons, so that the aforementioned magnetic system for relative positioning automatically aligns the edges of the cap with those of said part.
The invention will be better understood and other objects, details, features and advantages of the invention will become more clearly apparent in the course of the detailed explanatory description which will follow of a number of alternative forms of the invention which are given merely by way of non-limiting illustration with reference to the appended diagrammatic drawing.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3716091 (1973-02-01), Gaines
patent: 4110552 (1978-08-01), Lombrdi
patent: 5392816 (1995-02-01), Hangenberg et al.
patent: 5435112 (1995-07-01), Goyet
patent: 11 90 349 (1965-04-01), None
patent: 1 046 488 (1953-12-01), None
patent: 2 680 761 (1993-03-01), None
patent: 2 731 985 (1996-09-01), None
patent: 1-167055 (1989-06-01), None
De Rosa Daniel
Do Rosario Paulo
G. Pivaudran Developpements
Ngo Lien
Young Lee
LandOfFree
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