Bottles and jars – Closures – Frangible member or portion
Patent
1996-02-20
1999-04-13
Moy, Joseph M.
Bottles and jars
Closures
Frangible member or portion
B65D 4134
Patent
active
058934740
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a screw cap for closure of a container mouth according to the preamble to claim 1. These types of screw caps are mostly manufactured in one piece by the injection molding method. There are also embodiments which are both state of the art and in use, with which the actual screw cap comprises sheet aluminium, for example, and the anti-tamper strip is connected to the screw cap as a separate component. Such caps are used mainly in the beverage industry. Because of predetermined bottling-plant speeds, which are constantly increasing, there is an ever decreasing time allowed for screwing on screw caps during closure of bottles. Accordingly, there is a risk that there will be insufficient time to slowly expand the anti-tamper strip during attachment and snap the anti-tamper strip retaining elements over the complementary protrusion or bead on the bottle, with consequent destruction of the anti-tamper strip during closure of the bottle.
With regard to the applicant's EP-A-1 459 941, a screw cap has been made known which, adjacent to the vertical nominal rupture point, contains at least one relief aperture. The relief aperture serves the purpose of creating greater in anti-tamper strip elasticity for the closure sequence.
In practice, it has now been demonstrated that, mainly in the case of high closure speeds and/or retaining elements possessing high resistance, the relief aperture must be of such large dimension that the anti-tamper strip is able to elastically expand also during opening, as a result of which the retaining element can, in certain cases, lift over the complementary protrusion on the bottle neck without the anti-tamper strip being subjected to rupturing.
The purpose of the invention is to avoid the disadvantages of the state of the art, and thus in particular to create a screw cap of the type mentioned in the introduction with which, during closure of the container opening, the anti-tamper strip can expand at the nominal rupture point without damage, however with no expansion occurring during initial screwing off which could inhibit the guarantee function. According to the invention, this purpose is fulfilled with a screw cap possessing the features of the patent claims. At the same time, a relief zone is mainly used adjacent to the nominal rupture point of the anti-tamper strip, the stretchability of which increases towards the lower edge of the anti-tamper strip. During screwing on, this will mainly enable the anti-tamper strip to progressively expand with relatively slight application of force when the anti-tamper strip is expanded from below upwards as a result of retaining elements and bottle bead coming into mutual contact. If, conversely, during initial opening, the retaining element or retaining elements make contact with the bottle bead, this will cause an expansion foce extending from the upper area of the anti-tamper strip. Since the stretchability will be slighter in the upper area as a result of the relief zone, the guarantee function will remain unaffected. In the expansion area, during expansion and the expansion hysterisis, a stabilisation of the material will occur, said stabilisation having a positive effect on the guarantee function.
Raising the stretchability thus also at the same time permits variable stretchability, for example by means of restricting the wall thickness, folding of the anti-tamper strip in the region of the relief zone or relief bridges of varying length and/or varying thickness. Relief zones which possess the form of a material thinning extending towards the lower edge of the anti-tamper strip have been particularly proven, said regions extending over a portion of the anti-tamper strip. From the point of view of both manufacturing technique and closure properties, approximately triangular relief zones have been proven, the lower side of the triangle coinciding with the lower side of the anti-tamper strip, and the tip of the triangle extending upwards in the direction of the closure cap. Appropriately, the triangle is approximately an i
REFERENCES:
patent: 4278180 (1981-07-01), Willis
patent: 5111947 (1992-05-01), Patterson
patent: 5248050 (1993-09-01), Janousch et al.
patent: 5295600 (1994-03-01), Kowal
patent: 5540342 (1996-07-01), Rathbum
Herrmann Klaus-Jurgen
Kirchgessner Michael
Crown Cork AG
Moy Joseph M.
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