Bottles and jars – Closures – Frangible member or portion
Patent
1996-06-14
1998-11-17
Cronin, Stephen
Bottles and jars
Closures
Frangible member or portion
215304, 215317, 215349, 220266, 220784, 220795, B65D 3900
Patent
active
058364684
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a plastic snap closure according to the features in the preamble to claim 1, and a method of manufacture of said snap closure. Snap closures of this type are used for the closure of containers, said containers possessing a circumferential bead on the outside of their approximately cylindrical mouth area. A main area of usage is the closure of beverage bottles, such as, for example, beer or mineral water bottles.
Containers of this type are frequently closed by means of metal crown caps, applied with the aid of suitable folding devices. The folded cap wall will extend over the bead on the container mouth when the container is closed. Opening of such a closure is achieved by lateral upward bending of the cap wall using a standard bottle opener, resulting in a plastic deformation of the cap wall. Thus, after initial opening of the container, the metallic crown cap can no longer be reliably used for reclosure.
The suggestion has therefore already been made in EP-21 036 to use a closure of synthetic resin in place of the metallic crown cap, said synthetic resin closure cap being able to snap onto the container mouth. To this end, the synthetic resin closure cap possesses a protruding collar around its inside circumference. In the case of a closed container, this collar engages over the bead on the container mouth in order to thus form a seal and close the bottle. Here too, opening of the closure is achieved with the aid of a normal bottle opener; as opposed to metallic crown caps, because the closure cap comprises an elastic material, it can be removed from the container mouth without plastic deformation of the cap wall. On opening, the cap wall is merely subjected to elastic expansion, and will subsequently return to its original shape. The closure cap can thus be repeatedly used, and the quality of the seal of the closure will not be adversely affected, even after several openings and reclosures.
Aside from their qualities in relation to the sealing of the container, it is frequently demanded of closure caps that they display the initial opening of the container in the most obvious way possible, and thus fulfil an anti-tamper function. In this respect, EP-21 036 suggests a reduction in the thickness of the cap wall in its lower area so that, on opening of the container, it will be subjected to deformation at this point by the grabbing edge of the bottle opener. Initial opening of the container will be displayed by means of this deformation. The quality and reliability of this anti-tamper function is highly dependent on the actual construction of the bottle opener employed. A bottle opener with a narrow grabbing edge, as for example used by the bottle openers incorporated into pocketknives, will lead to clear damage to the lower edge of the cap wall. As a rule, however, bottle openers employed for opening metallic crown caps tend to have a wider grabbing edge with which the plastic cap, as disclosed in EP-21 036, can be removed from a container without the cap wall being subjected to any obvious damage. The deformation of the cap wall caused by the grabbing edge can, to a considerable degree, return to its original shape after opening, so that the anti-tamper function will not be reliably ensured.
It is a purpose of the invention to improve the anti-tamper function of the state of the art snap closure, and create a plastic snap closure that, reliably and obviously, displays initial opening.
This purpose is, according to the invention, fulfilled by a plastic snap closure possessing the features described in claim 1, and a method of its manufacture possessing the features described in claims 9 or 11.
Protruding snapping means are arranged along the circumference on the inside surface of the cap wall and are able to snap over a bead on the container mouth. The radial thickness of said snapping means reaches a maximum in an annular snap-on area of the cap wall. During fitting, the closure cap is pressed onto the container mouth in the axial direction. With that, the cap wall will be subjec
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patent: 3675805 (1972-07-01), Shane
patent: 4333578 (1982-06-01), Di Nunzio
patent: 4561553 (1985-12-01), Crisci
patent: 4700860 (1987-10-01), Li
patent: 5294015 (1994-03-01), Landis
Bosl Udo
Pitman Kelvin
Cronin Stephen
Crown Cork AG
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