Not applicable.
The invention relates to a bung stopper closure for bung-type containers, in particular for bung-type barrels made of plastic for liquids, having a bung stopper made of plastic or metal, which can be screwed into a bung connecting piece of the container implemented as a threaded connecting piece, and a sealing cap made of plastic, which can be snapped onto the bung stopper, for detecting manipulations, the cup-shaped bung stopper having a cylindrical outer wall having an external thread, on whose internal circumference socket engagement eyes for a socket are situated concentrically to the stopper central axis, which extend radially and axially in the stopper depression of the bung stopper.
The sealing cap of a bung stopper closure of the type according to the species, which is described in EP 1 697 224 B1, for bung-type containers has elastic legs, which extend axially in the stopper depression and have a radially protruding foot. When the sealing cap is snapped onto the bung stopper, which is screwed into the bung connecting piece of a bung-type container, the elastic legs of the sealing cap plunge into the stopper depression and the leg feet lock with radial undercuts, which are formed on the base of the socket engagement eyes. The external diameter of the circularly situated leg feet of the sealing cap is greater than the internal diameter of the circularly situated, outwardly curved inner walls of the socket engagement eyes of the bung stopper having the undercuts for locking the leg feet of the sealing cap. This geometry of the closure stopper and the sealing cap results in difficulties when snapping the sealing cap onto the closure stopper in automatic filling plants for liquids, because the catch feet of the elastic legs of the sealing cap hit the upper edge of the socket engagement eyes of the bung stopper of the container to be closed at the beginning of the snapping procedure and are not guided by the inner walls of the socket engagement eyes of the bung stopper, but rather must be compressed far enough that the catch feet may engage with the inner walls of the socket engagement eyes.
The invention is based on the object of developing a bung stopper closure which is suitable for automatic filling plants for bung-type containers, in particular bung-type barrels. This object is achieved in one embodiment of the invention by a bung stopper closure for bung-type containers, as described herein.
This and still other objectives and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the description which follows. In the detailed description below, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in reference to the accompanying drawings. These embodiments do not represent the full scope of the invention. Rather the invention may be employed in other embodiments. Reference should therefore be made to the claims herein for interpreting the breadth of the invention.
The invention is explained hereafter on the basis of the figures of the drawing. In the figures:
The bung stopper closure 1 according to
The cup-shaped bung stopper 4 has a cylindrical outer wall 7 having an external thread 8, on whose internal circumference 9 socket engagement eyes 10 for a socket, which extend radially and axially in the stopper depression 12 of the bung stopper 4, are situated concentrically to the stopper central axis 11-11.
A concentric, delimited elastic clamping sleeve 16 is attached on the inner side 13 of the sealing cap disc 14 using tear-off webs 15, which extend axially into the stopper depression 12 and have an annular detent element 18 protruding radially into the stopper depression 12 on their inner and 17, for locking with counter detent elements 19, which are in the form of ring segments and protrude radially into the stopper depression 12, on the lower section 20 of the outwardly curved inner walls 21, in the form of cylinder segments, of the socket engagement eyes 10.
The annular detent element 18 of the clamping sleeve 16 of the sealing cap 5 and the counter detent elements 19, in the form of ring segments, on the socket engagement eyes 10 of the bung stopper 4 have hooked cross-sectional profiles 22, 23.
The external diameter D1 of the annular detent element 18 on the clamping sleeve 16 of the sealing cap 5 is approximately equal to the diameter D2 of the inner walls 21 of the socket engagement eyes 10 of the bung stopper 4, in such a way that when the sealing cap 5 is snapped onto the bung stopper 4, which is screwed into the bung connecting piece 3, the annular detent element 18 at the inner end 17 of the clamping sleeve 16 of the sealing cap 5 is guided by the inner walls 21 of the socket engagement eyes 10 before locking with the counter detent elements 19 on the inner walls 21 of the socket engagement eyes 10 of the bung stopper 4.
This mode of operation of sealing cap 5 and bung stopper 4 when the sealing cap is snapped onto the bung stopper allows machine closing of the bung connecting piece 3 of bung-type containers 2 in automatic filling plants, in particular for bung-type barrels.
In a further embodiment (not shown) of the bung stopper closure, the annular detent element 18 on the inner end 17 of the clamping sleeve 16 of the sealing cap 5 and the counter detent elements 19 in the form of ring segments on the socket engagement eyes 10 of the bung stopper 4 have a tongue-shaped cross-sectional profile.
In the further embodiment of the bung stopper closure 1 shown in
The clamping sleeve 16 of the sealing cap 5 is connected by a tear-off tab 26 to the sealing cap disc 14 in addition to the tear-off webs 15, the tear-off tab 26 being integrated in the sealing cap disc 14.
The sealing cap 5 is equipped with an outer tear-off tab 27, which is molded onto a tear-off ring 28, which is attached by tear-off webs 29 and a retention web 30 to the downwardly-directed outer edge 31 of the sealing cap 5.
When the sealing cap 5 is torn off of the bung stopper 4 using the tear-off tab 27, firstly the tear-off webs 29 of the tear-off ring 28 of the tear-off tab 27 are destroyed and then the tear-off webs 15, using which the clamping sleeve 16 is attached to the sealing cap disc 14, are broken. During this tear-off procedure, the retention web 30 of the tear-off ring 28 of the tear-off tab 27 and the tear-off tab 26, which is integrated in the sealing cap disc 14 and is connected to the clamping sleeve 16, ensure that the tear-off ring 28 having the tear-off tab 27, the sealing cap disc 14 and the clamping sleeve 16 of the sealing cap 5 remain loosely connected to one another and thus the sealing cap 5 can be removed easily with its individual components from the bung stopper 4.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2009 022 800.4 | May 2009 | DE | national |
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/787,458 filed on May 26, 2010, and claims the priority benefit of German Patent Application No. 10 2009 022 800.4 filed on May 27, 2009, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12787458 | May 2010 | US |
Child | 15412602 | US |