Bottles and jars – Closures – Frangible member or portion
Patent
1998-02-27
1999-12-14
Cronin, Stephen K.
Bottles and jars
Closures
Frangible member or portion
215230, B65D 4100
Patent
active
060005688
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a tamper evident closure and in particular to a closure and a system for use in relation to a container having an externally threaded neck.
In recent times it has become desirable to design closures such that once a product is enclosed by a manufacturer within a container any subsequent opening of the container is evidenced by the breaking of some part of the closure or attachment thereto.
Many commercially successful tamper evident closures have been designed and where screw threaded containers are involved the most popular designs usually involve a cap having a tamper evident band suspended beneath its skirt. Although such designs have been relatively successful there are problems associated with the unintentional breaking of the small bridges which attach the band to the skirt of the closure which breakage often occurs during the screwing on of the closure rather than the unscrewing of the closure. In some existing designs the tamper evident band becomes a nuisance once it breaks away from the closure as it either falls into the product being dispensed or falls away to create a litter/pollution problem or alternatively just gets in the way. In other designs the tamper evident feature does not provide sufficient visual evidence that a container has been opened as a closure may be resealed and only a very close inspection will reveal that the container has been tampered with.
It is accordingly the object of the present invention to overcome one or more of the deficiencies associated with existing taper evident closures for screw threaded containers or at least to provide the market with an alternative.
According to the present invention there is provided a thermoplastic closure of the type having an annular internally threaded skirt; an annular skirt extension permanently attached to the skirt adjacent the skirt's lower extremity; one or more discrete arcuate sectors of the skirt extension being configured as flaps permanently affixed to the main body of the skirt extension at a first end being the trailing end during the unscrewing operation and frangibly connected to the main body of the extension at a second end being the leading end of the flap during the unscrewing operation; container engaging means extending towards the container from each flap adjacent its second end; hinge means on each flap intermediate its first end and the container engaging means; the container engaging means being adapted to override trigger means adjacent a container neck during the running up of the closure onto the container but to lock against the trigger means during the unscrewing operation; such locking causing the frangible connection between the main body of the skirt extension and the second end of the flap to fracture; and thereafter causing the container engaging means and second end of the flap to fold inwardly about the hinge means to a tamper evident position lying against the radially inner surface of the non-folded portion of the flap; the configuration of the container engaging means and flaps ensuring that once the second end of the flap and container engaging means have folded back as above described then subsequent unscrewing and running up of the closure onto the container will not cause the leading edge of the flap and associated container engaging means to move substantially out of their tamper evident position or to resume their original position.
FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a closure in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a partial section through A--A' of the closure of FIG. 1 and a complementary container prior to closure opening;
FIG. 3 is a partial section through A--A' of the closure of FIG. 1 and a complementary container during closure opening;
FIG. 4 is a partial section through A--A' of the closure of FIG. 1 and a complementary container after closure opening;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the closure of FIG. 1 prior to opening.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the closure of FIG. 1 after opening.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an alternate
REFERENCES:
patent: 1863796 (1932-06-01), Jackson et al.
patent: 2133490 (1938-10-01), Swannell
patent: 2414420 (1947-01-01), Sebell
Cronin Stephen K.
GV Engineering PTY Ltd.
Hylton Robin A.
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