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EP0618146A2 - Fermeture inviolable - Google Patents

Fermeture inviolable Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0618146A2
EP0618146A2 EP94101628A EP94101628A EP0618146A2 EP 0618146 A2 EP0618146 A2 EP 0618146A2 EP 94101628 A EP94101628 A EP 94101628A EP 94101628 A EP94101628 A EP 94101628A EP 0618146 A2 EP0618146 A2 EP 0618146A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
lid
closure
base cap
container
tongue
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP94101628A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0618146A3 (fr
Inventor
James E. Herr
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Kerr Group Inc
Original Assignee
Kerr Group Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Kerr Group Inc filed Critical Kerr Group Inc
Publication of EP0618146A2 publication Critical patent/EP0618146A2/fr
Publication of EP0618146A3 publication Critical patent/EP0618146A3/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
    • B65D47/00—Closures with filling and discharging, or with discharging, devices
    • B65D47/04—Closures with discharging devices other than pumps
    • B65D47/06—Closures with discharging devices other than pumps with pouring spouts or tubes; with discharge nozzles or passages
    • B65D47/08—Closures with discharging devices other than pumps with pouring spouts or tubes; with discharge nozzles or passages having articulated or hinged closures
    • B65D47/0857—Closures with discharging devices other than pumps with pouring spouts or tubes; with discharge nozzles or passages having articulated or hinged closures made separately from the base element provided with the spout or discharge passage
    • B65D47/0876—Hinges without elastic bias
    • B65D47/089—Hinges without elastic bias located within a flat surface of the base element
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
    • B65D2401/00—Tamper-indicating means
    • B65D2401/15—Tearable part of the closure

Definitions

  • This invention relates generally to tamper-evident dispensing closures and, more particularly, to a tamper-evident closure that is simple to manufacture and that does not require any specialized equipment to be fitted to a container.
  • One approach to providing a tamper evident closure is to use a shrink wrap about the container and closure. This approach does not require the closure itself to have a tamper evident feature. In order to access the contents of the container, the shrink wrap must be punctured or torn, which leaves a visible indication that the container has been accessed and perhaps tampered with.
  • a related approach is to apply a band of tamper-evident tape about the circumference of the junction between the closure and the container.
  • each of these approaches requires that the shrink wrap or tape be provided by an additional piece of machinery through a secondary manufacturing operation after the container has been filled.
  • the capital machinery necessary to perform these steps is often expensive, which has impeded the acceptance of this approach.
  • closures themselves are made to be inherently tamper evident. Once manufactured, such closures need not require the additional assembly steps that the application of tape or shrink wrap require.
  • U.S. Patent No. 4,860,907 to Sondal describes a tamper-evident dispensing snap-on dispensing closure.
  • the closure uses a living hinge to pivot the cap on the base. It also has tearable bridges on the cap which must be torn to lift the cap from the base, thus rendering the closure tamper-evident. It further has a tear-off part which must be removed off of some length of the circumference in order to lift the cap.
  • U.S. Patent No. 4,487,324 to Ostrowsky describes a tamper-evident dispensing closure that uses a living hinge to pivot the cap on the base. A tamper-evident strip must be partially removed to allow the cap of the closure to be lifted. Unfortunately, such caps are often difficult to manufacture, and therefore expensive to produce.
  • the present invention satisfies these needs by providing a tamper-evident cap that is easy to manufacture and simple to incorporate into existing product packaging lines.
  • the closure includes both a base and a lid; the lid can be mounted on several different base caps, depending on the manufacturer's preference. For example, a manufacturer may choose to use base caps that include tamper-evident features of their own to protect the integrity of the base cap to container connection. In each case the entire closure is then threaded or otherwise attached (as by a simple press-fit) to the container neck.
  • the lid portion of the closure includes connecting structure to facilitate its connection to a base cap or, alternatively, directly to a bottle or other container.
  • the lid is provided with a tongue portion that is hinged to the remainder of the lid along a living hinge, which is used for this purpose because of the ease with which it can be manufactured.
  • the tongue is attached to the remainder of the lid along a pair of fracturable tear lines, along which the lid is of reduced thickness.
  • the tongue portion In order to access the contents of the bottle through the lid, the tongue portion must be raised, which causes the tear lines to rupture and thus provides visual indication to subsequent users that the contents of the bottle have previously been accessed.
  • the tongue of the lid may further be provided with sealing structure, such as a sealing plug, which mates with a corresponding hole in the underlying base cap. This feature allows one to reseal the container after it has been opened, but does not negate the tamper indication provided by the lid.
  • the invention does not rely on parts which must be torn off to render it tamper-evident, but rather relies on parts that tear along their length to alert the user to the previous opening of the closure. This further simplifies the manufacture of the device and (with respect to tear-away closures) reduces the amount of litter associated with the package. Concomitantly, it further reduces the likelihood that portions of the closure itself will fall into the container. Moreover, the tamper evident closure of the invention can be directly fitted onto containers with conventional capping machinery, thereby providing a tamper evident closure without the need for additional equipment such as would be required by a system relying on the use of shrink wrap or tape.
  • the tamper evident closure is generally designated 1 in FIG. 3, and comprises a base cap 10 and a lid 50, the latter being mounted onto the former by several equivalent friction fit locking elements.
  • the structure of the base cap and lid shall now be discussed in turn.
  • the base cap 10 has a generally flat top 12 and a dependant annular skirt 14.
  • the dependant annular skirt 14 has internal threads 16 which mate with complementary external threads (not shown) on the neck of a corresponding bottle or other container.
  • the base cap 10 has a dispensing orifice 18 formed on flat top 12 through which the contents of the container are normally dispensed. Although the dispensing orifice is shown to be circular in the figures, other shapes could be used as well.
  • the base cap 10 has three generally cylindrical friction fit locking cavities 20 formed projecting above the flat top 12.
  • the base cap 10 has a tamper-evident band 22 extending from the bottom of the dependant annular skirt 14.
  • the tamper-evident band comprises a plurality (e.g., 16 - depending on the size of the container neck) of equally spaced resilient tabs 24. These tabs are internally folded to slide over the container's external threads and annular shoulder as the cap is applied on the container.
  • the tabs lock against the lower surface of the container's annular shoulder to retain the tamper-indicating band on the container as the base cap is removed.
  • the separation of the tamper-indicating band and the base cap is the result of the forces generated through the breakable connectors.
  • the breakable connectors are either formed in the molding process or are formed in a post molding cutting operation. (This tamper-evident band is further illustrated and discussed in applicant's U.S. Patent No. 4,506,795, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.)
  • the lid 50 has a generally flat top 52 and a depending incomplete annular skirt 54.
  • the lid 50 has three friction fit locking plugs 56 depending from the flat top 52 (see FIG. 1B). The plugs 56 engage the three friction fit locking cavities 20 on flat top 12 of the base cap so as to lockingly attach the lid 50 onto the base cap 10.
  • the lid 50 has a hinged tongue portion 58, which is hinged to lid 50 by living hinge 66.
  • Tongue 58 is generally rectangular in shape except at the tongue skirt 62, where it forms the remainder of the annular skirt 54 (see FIGS. 1A and 2A).
  • an annular orifice-sealing plug 60 Depending from the tongue 58 is an annular orifice-sealing plug 60. Sealing plug 60 mates with dispensing orifice 18 so as to close the orifice 18, thus preventing further dispensing. This feature allows one to re-seal the container after the container has been accessed, but does not compromise the visual indication provided by the tamper evident tear lines that the container has been accessed (as is further discussed below).
  • Pull tab 64 is used for pulling the tongue 58 upward from a condition where plug 60 is sealingly closing orifice 18, to a condition where plug 60 is not sealingly closing orifice 18 (see FIG. 3), thus allowing the dispensing of the contents of the container.
  • Tamper-evident tear lines 68 connect both sides of tongue 58 to flat top 52.
  • Tamper-evident tear lines 68 also connect both sides of tongue skirt 62 to annular skirt 54 (see FIGS. 1B and 2B). These tear lines 68 are weakened portions of lid 50 that allow the tongue 58 to be separated from the lid 50 everywhere but at the living hinge 66. The tear lines are sufficiently thin that they can be torn by those who need to access the container, while still being thick and strong enough so as not to be inadvertently torn. Tear lines 68, if torn, thus alert subsequent users that the tongue has been lifted from the lid at least once and the integrity of the container violated through the lid.
  • the closure is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, being mass-producible using simple conventional molds requiring no special tooling.
  • the base cap will typically be manufactured of polypropylene (mainly to accommodate threads); the lid is preferably made of a high density polyethylene.
  • the base cap and lid collectively provide a dual tamper evident device, in which the base portion provides a tamper evident closure between the bottle and the base cap, and the lid provides a tamper evident closure between the lid and the base cap.
  • the two may be provided as an integral assembly for even easier attachment to the bottle.
  • the lid portion can be fitted to other forms of base cap, the only requirement being that the base cap have a means for securely locking the base cap to the lid to such an extent that the separation of the lid from the base cap results in the rupture of the tamper evident lines on the lid.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Closures For Containers (AREA)
EP94101628A 1993-04-02 1994-02-03 Fermeture inviolable. Withdrawn EP0618146A3 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US4307093A 1993-04-02 1993-04-02
US43070 1993-04-02

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0618146A2 true EP0618146A2 (fr) 1994-10-05
EP0618146A3 EP0618146A3 (fr) 1995-04-05

Family

ID=21925328

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP94101628A Withdrawn EP0618146A3 (fr) 1993-04-02 1994-02-03 Fermeture inviolable.

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0618146A3 (fr)
AU (1) AU5479994A (fr)
CA (1) CA2114972A1 (fr)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2791642A1 (fr) * 1999-04-02 2000-10-06 Crown Cork & Seal Tech Corp Bouchon en matiere synthetique permettant de boire directement
DE102007015100A1 (de) 2007-03-29 2008-10-02 Merck Patent Gmbh Behälter für mehrere Teststreifen
JP2020128258A (ja) * 2019-02-06 2020-08-27 リンカーン グローバル，インコーポレイテッド フォイル裏打ちｆｉｂｃ（バルクバッグ）用のハーメチックシール

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2309425A1 (fr) * 1975-04-29 1976-11-26 Angelino Roger Bouchon verseur composite pour bouteille en matiere plastique
US4506795A (en) * 1983-02-18 1985-03-26 Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corporation Tamper-evident closure
DE3581643D1 (de) * 1984-06-28 1991-03-07 Boehringer Mannheim Gmbh Behaelter fuer diagnostische testtraeger.
US5201440A (en) * 1991-10-11 1993-04-13 Seaquist Closures, A Division Of Pittway Corporation Closure with tamper-evident tear-off panel unitary with a flow control element

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2791642A1 (fr) * 1999-04-02 2000-10-06 Crown Cork & Seal Tech Corp Bouchon en matiere synthetique permettant de boire directement
DE102007015100A1 (de) 2007-03-29 2008-10-02 Merck Patent Gmbh Behälter für mehrere Teststreifen
WO2008119421A1 (fr) 2007-03-29 2008-10-09 Merck Patent Gmbh Contenant pour bandelettes réactives multiples
US7997435B2 (en) 2007-03-29 2011-08-16 Merck Patent Gmbh Container for a plurality of test strips
JP2020128258A (ja) * 2019-02-06 2020-08-27 リンカーン グローバル，インコーポレイテッド フォイル裏打ちｆｉｂｃ（バルクバッグ）用のハーメチックシール

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AU5479994A (en) 1994-10-06
CA2114972A1 (fr) 1994-10-03
EP0618146A3 (fr) 1995-04-05

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