The present invention relates to a bung plug closure for bung-hole containers, the bung plug closure comprising a bung plug for being placed in a bung neck of the bung-hole container and a seal cap for closing a plug recess formed in the bung plug, the plug recess having a receiving space for receiving a dimensionally elastic engaging body which is formed on the seal cap and which is provided with a radial locking protrusion, and the bung plug having key projections which are spaced apart from each other by gaps, are disposed on an interior wall of the plug recess and whose inner surfaces define the receiving space, matching locking elements for interlocking with the locking protrusion of the engaging body being provided in the plug recess and protruding radially inward over the locking protrusion of the engaging body after interlocking, a valve being disposed in a bottom of the plug recess, said valve having a valve body which is disposed in a valve opening of a bottom recess, said valve body being provided with a valve cover which is connected to the bung plug and which is provided with a vent.
Bung plug closures of the kind mentioned above are used to close liquid containers, which can be designed in particular as barrels or as inner containers for intermediate bulk containers (IBCs). To be able to equalize the pressure within the container interior with the surroundings of the container, bung plug closures of this kind are provided with a valve depending on the type of liquid held in the container, said valve being formed on the bung neck and disposed in the bottom of the plug recess and having a valve body which is disposed in a valve opening of the bottom recess and which allows air to flow through the valve for pressure compensation.
The known valves typically have a dimensionally elastic valve body which is disposed in a valve opening formed in the bottom recess of the bung plug. To prevent damage to the valve body, the valve is provided with a valve cover, which is a plastic grid welded to the bung plug.
The valve seal formed on the known bung plugs does provide effective protection of the valve body without affecting the valve function because the grid structure does not only act as protection but also forms a vent which allows air to flow through the valve despite the valve body being covered. However, installation of the valve cover, which requires welding in order to connect the valve cover to the bung plug, involves significant effort.
Hence, the object of the present invention is to propose a bung plug closure that allows a valve equipped with a valve cover to be provided with relatively little production effort.
To attain said object, the bung plug closure according to the invention has the features of claim 1.
According to the invention, the valve cover is an elastically deformable disk whose diameter d is smaller than a diameter D of the receiving space, the valve cover being connected to the bung plug in such a manner that a circumferential edge of the valve cover, which protrudes radially outward over the matching locking elements, is received between the locking protrusion of the engaging body and a recess edge of the bottom recess.
By disposing the valve cover between the locking protrusion of the engaging body and the recess edge of the bottom recess, the position of the valve cover relative to the valve is secured solely by the connection between the seal cap and the bung plug, said connection being required anyway, thus rendering any additional measures beyond the connection between the two aforementioned components of the bung plug closure unnecessary.
Even if the seal cap is removed from the bung plug closure, the connection still remaining between the valve cover and the bung plug ensures that the valve cover is securely positioned on the bung plug because the valve cover is received between the matching locking elements formed in the plug recess and the recess edge.
For installation, the valve cover, whose diameter is at least slightly smaller than the diameter of the receiving space, can be inserted until it comes into contact with the matching locking elements and can ultimately be inserted into the bung plug past the matching locking elements, in the course of which it is elastically deformed, and further in the direction of the bottom recess until it reaches the position in which it covers the valve.
If, according to a preferred embodiment, the connection between the valve cover and the bung plug is a clamped connection in such a manner that the valve cover is received in an axially clamped manner between the engaging body of the seal cap, which is received in the plug recess in an interlocking manner, and the recess edge even transport and handling of the container cannot affect the defined position of the valve cover relative to the valve.
Preferably, the key projections are connected to each other by gap platforms in the area of the gaps in such a manner that front surfaces of the gap platforms, which face radially inward, and lower surface portions of the inner surfaces of the key projections, which are adjacent to the recess edge, together form an enclosure radially defining the recess edge. In this way, the circumferential edge of the valve cover is received in the bung plug across its entire circumference, which means that in addition to the protective effect, protection against pollution of the valve by radial entry of dust is ensured.
Preferably, the matching locking elements are disposed at the front surfaces of the gap platforms in the area of the gaps so that for installing the valve cover by axial introduction of the valve cover into the plug recess, a handling tool for automatically installing the valve cover in the bung plug can be used immediately adjacent to the matching locking elements without risking collision with the key projections.
It proves particularly advantageous if the inner surfaces of the key projections and the front surfaces of the gap platforms form a continuous guiding surface during introduction of the valve cover into the plug recess in such a manner that the inner surfaces and the front surfaces form guiding surfaces for radially guiding the circumferential edge of the valve cover until the valve cover comes into contact with the recess edge.
If the valve cover is a cover disk whose surface is closed except for a ventilation opening for forming the vent, the effect of the cover disk as protection against pollution for the valve can be improved even further without affecting ventilation.
Ensuring that sufficient air can flow through the valve while the surface of the cover disk is completely closed is possible if the valve cover is a cover disk having a closed surface and a spacer for forming the vent as a ventilation gap, said spacer being formed at an underside of the cover disk or at the recess edge of the bung plug.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the bung plug closure will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawing.
As can be seen from a combined view of
As shown in
As illustrated in
As shown in
As can be gathered from the illustration in
As soon as valve cover 55 has reached the position illustrated in
Moreover, once engaging body 20 of seal cap 11 has been inserted into plug recess 13 in such a manner that locking protrusion 11, which is annular in this case and formed at the bottom edge of engaging body 20, is locked behind matching locking elements 32 as illustrated in
A comparison of the embodiments illustrated in
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