Patent Application
20080230505
The invention relates to the field of plastic containers that dispense liquid or viscous substances, typically creams or pastes, in particular bottles and flexible tubes used to condition cosmetic products or body-care products.
Cosmetic containers that dispense creams or other body-care products generally include a dispensing head provided with a collar or neck surrounding a dispensing opening, a container body and a shoulder connecting the neck to said body. They are often circular or elliptical in shape. The expression “circular shape” indicates, both for bottles and for flexible tubes before the transverse end weld has been made, that the body of the container has a cylindrical side wall whose section is a circle. When flexible tubes are filled and sealed by a transverse end welding, the part which forms the junction between the skirt and the edge of the shoulder always has rotational symmetry around the axis of said tube. In order to treat all containers concerned with the invention in the same way, in the following we will speak of the shape of the container by referring to the shape of the peripheral end of the shoulder to which the side wall of the container body or the flexible skirt of the tube is attached. This is in general circular or elliptical.
These containers are provided with a cap which comprises a bottom which, in closed position, surmounts the top wall (the mouth) of the neck, and to which a fastening skirt is attached which is slid around the neck, said neck and said fastening skirt being provided with further means of reversible fastening, typically screw threads and grooves or clip-fit ring-shaped ribs and grooves. The fastening skirt and the neck of the container, whether this is a bottle or a flexible tube and whether it is circular or elliptical, remain circular.
However, primarily for esthetic reasons, such containers can be of other shapes, for example shapes that are globally polygonal: triangular, square, pentagonal, hexagonal, etc Here again, the characteristic shape of the container is that of the section of the side wall of the bottle or that of the peripheral end of the tube shoulder. It is said to be globally polygonal because the angles of the polygon can be rounded by fillets, or the faces which separate the angles can be more or less hollow or convex, their curve radius being significantly higher that of any fillets. Also for esthetic reasons, the cap often has an outer wall the shape of which is adapted to that of the container. For example, by “extension” of the side wall of the bottle or the tube skirt, the side wall of the cap also has a globally polygonal shape. But although the shape of the side walls of the container and the cap may follow any globally polygonal contour, the neck of the container and the cap fastening skirt remain in almost all cases cylindrical, with circular sections, to make it easier to screw said cap onto the neck of said container.
Patent application FR 2.790.453 presents a pot with a non-circular collar—or neck—and a cap. The special system of fixing the closure system onto the neck notably includes lugs placed on the outer wall of the cap which work, after the manner of the fitting commonly known as a “bayonet” fitting, in conjunction with a ring with a noncircular contour formed close to the top wall of the collar and which extends radially towards the outside. The design of a non-cylindrical collar, in particular a collar with a section that is homothetic of that of the side wall of the container, while being motivated by esthetic reasons, also answers an engineering problem.
For pots, as indicated in FR 2.790.453, the presence of a circular collar and a noncircular side wall, pose a problem of accessibility of the consumer's fingers to that part of the product which is in particular located in the inside corners of the pot. With bottles and tubes, the dispensing opening is in general too small for the finger to directly access the product in the container. The problem of accessing the product therefore does not arise but the association of a polygonal wall with a circular neck results in a lowering of the restitution rate of the product which gets worse as the number of angles of the polygon decreases. This is because, as the distance between the edge of the circular opening and the peripheral end of the shoulder is greater in the “angular” zones, there is an increase in the extent of the dead zone, i.e. the zone in which the product does not run out or runs out very slowly, while whirling round itself, despite the pressure exerted by the user on the skirt. The angular parts of the wall, which define a relatively large volume occupied by the product as compared with the rest of the tube, are also the stiffest parts of the wall, so that even if a lot of force is applied to these angular zones, in particular near the shoulder, one has a great deal of difficulty to extract the product occupying said dead zones.
The bayonet device in FR 2.790.453 undoubtedly has great advantages for closing pots but it appears to be less advantageous for tubes and bottles, primarily because of the way in which these are mass-produced. A tube blank is produced by molding the tube head—which includes the neck and the shoulder—and by fixing this, typically by welding, onto one of the open ends of the skirt. In order to be able to fill the product through the other open end of the skirt, the dispensing opening must first be sealed, typically while fixing the cap onto the tube head, at the end of the production line of the tube (an operation known as “capping”) The most suitable kinematics for this operation is screwing: the tube blank is fixed to a mobile mandrel which is placed opposite a cap provided with a screw thread. One of the two is set rotating, while the other, prevented from rotating, is subjected to an axial translation towards the first: as a result, the cap is completely screwed onto the tube head.
Kinematics for container stoppers and heads with complementary means of fixing, of the “bayonet” type, can also be defined but they prove more problematic to regulate insofar as the rotation and translation movements cannot be constant nor independent of each other. For example, the axial translation movement must be made in two stages by bringing into play different forces: a first stage where the lugs are brought up against the ring while the latter turns around the axis of the neck, and a second stage when the lugs, which have arrived at a precise angular position of said ring, suddenly undergo an axial depression which makes them pass under said ring which continues to rotate. With such kinematics, the forces used are such that the slightest maladjustment can lead to much breakage and scrapping.
In patent application JP 10 129696, the aim is to form, on a single screw thread, radially low, regularly distributed protuberances which can act as brake, and to prevent unscrewing. These anti-unscrewing devices, instead of being relegated to the end of the thread, as they usually are, are here regularly distributed over the whole circumference and the whole height of the neck, the aim being to compensate for their low radial height by their number and their regular distribution. The advantage of such brakes is to provide better anti-unscrewing control, independently of inevitable manufacturing dimensional variations. The geometrical configuration of these brakes gives a prismatic neck whose base can be a regular octagon, decagon or a dodecagon.
The applicant has sought to develop containers, such as flexible bottles or tubes, provided with noncircular necks, which have a high restitution rate of the product to be dispensed and which are easy to cap under conditions of mass production.
A first subject according to the invention is a container, such as a bottle or a flexible tube, provided with a cap, said container comprising a side wall and a plastic head with a neck and a shoulder connecting said neck to said side wall, said cap being provided with a circular cylindrical skirt provided on its inner surface with one or more screwing means, wherein the wall of said neck has a substantially prismatic shape whose section is globally a polygon which has n-order symmetry around an axis A, substantially parallel with the generating line of said prism (the prism is superimposed on itself by a rotation of 2 π/n around said axis A), n being an integer strictly greater than 1; and in that said neck is provided on its outer surface with n second screwing means, regularly distributed around said axis A, all the n second screwing means on the neck cooperating with the first screwing means on the cap.
According to the invention, the neck is substantially a prism, of globally polygonal section. The expression “substantially a prism” means that its walls are substantially parallel, i.e. parallel or very slightly tilted, by a few degrees at the most (typically less than 15°), in relation to a given direction which corresponds to that of the axis A of the n-order symmetry of the neck. This expression also means that the tops of the polygon can be rounded by means of fillets. In addition, the polygonal sections may contain curvilinear segments: their sides may have a certain curve directed towards the inside or the outside; if they have n-order symmetry around axis A, they may appear as a polygon with n sides, with n summits on the circumscribed circle, or in the shape of a polygon with kn sides (where k is an integer strictly higher than 1) with jn summits (where j is an integer between 1 and k inclusive) if j is other than 1, n summits will arbitrarily be chosen, regularly distributed or, preferably, the n edges regularly distributed closest to said circumscribed circle, that we will refer to in the following as “short peripheral edges”. It is at the level of these summits or these edges that the n second screwing means are to be found. The n second screwing means are associated with n planes referred to as “axial planes”: each second screwing means extends on either side of a plane (referred to as the axial plan) which passes through axis A and one of the n summits located on the circumscribed circle, or which passes through axis A and which is perpendicular to one of the n short peripheral edges.
Advantageously, the set of the n second screwing means has a n-order symmetry around axis A. In this way, the capsule remains properly guided and centered on the axis of the neck during screwing.
The invention is of particular value for cases in which order n of the axis symmetry is low, typically lower than 7, preferably lower than 5, where the neck can be of a clearly original shape, removed from the conventional cylindrical shape.
Preferably, the polygon is regular and globally convex. Preferably also, its angles are rounded. Concave shapes, star shapes and sharp angles are not to be recommended because they encourage the presence of corners which are a cause of the product's being held back. Insofar as sharp angles are avoided, the term “prism” used is in theory less suitable than the term “cylinder”, but it was used in preference to the latter, which is too often associated exclusively with the conventional shape of a cylinder having a circular orthogonal (or elliptical) section. In the following, summits, even rounded ones, of the polygon are associated with the dihedra of the prism. In absence of sharp angles and plane faces, the term “dihedron” indicates the tangent dihedron, associating the planes of tangency defined in the connections of the fillets. In the geometrical configuration of the regular convex polygon, the axial plane associated with the second screwing means is a bisecting plane of one of the n dihedra of the prism.
According to the invention, the neck is provided on its outer surface with a screwing means which extends on either side, typically over a few millimeters, of the axial plane (i.e. of the plane which passes through axis A and through one of n summits located on the circumscribed circle, or which passes through axis A and is perpendicular to one of the n short peripheral edges). This screwing means is here referred to as the second screwing means, because the first screwing means is on the cap. It typically appears as a rib or groove. All these second means taken together form a discontinuous rib (or a discontinuous groove ) or several ribs (or several grooves) cooperating with one or more grooves (or one or more ribs) of the cap.
For example, the first screwing means is/are one or more helical threads and each second screwing means is a groove of which the internal part, in particular around said axial plane, is comparable to a helical groove, which is supported by a helix of axis A, all the grooves together constituting a discontinuous groove or several grooves cooperating with the threads of the cap.
But preferably, the first screwing means is/are one or more helical threads and each second screwing means is a rib of which the peripheral part, in particular around said axial plane, is comparable to a helical thread, all the n ribs together constituting a discontinuous thread or several threads cooperating with the grooves of the cap.
Each rib preferably extends circumferentially only slightly on either side of the dihedron with which it is associated and has a variable radial height, which reaches maximum around the previously-defined axial plane, i.e. the plane which passes through axis A and which passes through one of n summits located on the circumscribed circle or which is perpendicular to one of the n short peripheral edges. The base of the rib is on the prismatic surface of the neck. It is preferably sufficiently limited circumferentially for said screwing rib not to weigh down the whole of the head, and sufficiently wide on either side of the axial plane for the variation in radial height of the rib between its ends and the related axial plane to be low: typically the radial height increases at the most by 30 hundredths of a millimeter per “circumferential” millimeter traveled. This makes it possible to limit the mechanical loads generated on said thread while the cap is being screwed. The base of the rib, in relation to axis A of the prism, has a slope identical to that of the helix on which the screwing groove of the cap associated with it bears. Preferably, each rib has a radial height equal to (or very close to) said maximum radial height over a certain circumferential length, typically at least a millimeter, and preferably a few millimeters on either side of said axial plane.
In other words, the second screwing means may be either a rib with variable height, resembling, at least in the vicinity of the axial plane, a helical thread, or a groove with variable depth, resembling, at least in the vicinity of the axial plane, a helical groove.
The neck has substantially the shape of a prism which has n-order symmetry around its axis, n being an integer strictly higher than 1. Preferably, said second screwing means also respect this n-order symmetry: each second screwing means has the same slope and, around each axial plane, an identical radial maximum height (or depth). All the n second screwing means associated with the n axial planes are regularly distributed around the axis of symmetry of the neck. Each of these second screwing means is a rib or a groove which acts, at least in its median part where it is near the axial plane and where its radial height (or depth) is at a maximum, as a complementary screwing means to the first screwing means of the cap which is associated with it.
The choice may be made of providing the fastening skirt of the cap with a single helical screwing groove. In this case, the ribs will be placed on the neck so that two consecutive ribs (in the direction of screwing, for example) are offset axially by p/n, p being the pitch of the helix on which the screwing groove bears. In this way, the n ribs form a discontinuous helical screwing thread cooperating with the helical screwing groove of the cap and, although in such a configuration the ribs do not respect the n-order symmetry, the cap continues to be properly guided and centered on the axis of the neck during said screwing. This latter operation typically requires one full rotation or more of the cap around the neck. In the same way, the choice may be made of providing the fastening skirt of the cap with a single helical screwing thread. In this case, the grooves are placed on the neck so that two consecutive grooves are axially offset by p/n. Here also, although these grooves do not respect the n-order symmetry, the cap continues to be properly guided and centered on the axis of the neck during screwing.
But, preferably, the fastening skirt is provided with n identical and regularly distributed quick-screw grooves (high helical pitch). In this case, each of the n ribs, regularly distributed around axis A, has the same slope, the same radial height and the same axial position (they thereby respect the n-order symmetry) and the cap can be closed in less than one nth of a turn. In the same way, the choice may be made of providing the fastening skirt of the cap with n helical quick-screw threads. In this case, the n grooves laid out regularly on the neck have n-order symmetry.
In a preferred method of the invention, the container head and the capsule are provided with anti-unscrewing devices.
The invention relates to any container having a prismatic neck with a substantially polygonal section. It relates specifically to containers which themselves have a substantially polygonal shape, i.e. with a peripheral part of the shoulder—directly connected to the side wall of the body of the bottle or to the skirt of the tube—that has a contour of substantially polygonal shape. Advantageously, containers whose substantially polygonal neck is homothetic of said contour of the peripheral part of the shoulder provide a high product restitution rate.
The invention relates in particular to containers provided with a closure, whose external side wall is also substantially prismatic polygonal with a shape adapted to that of the wall of the container body, for example deduced by construction of a prism starting from the polygonal contour of the peripheral part of the shoulder.
Another subject of the invention is the head of a container such as a bottle or a flexible tube, provided with a neck and a shoulder designed to connect said neck to the side wall of said container, wherein the wall of said neck has substantially the shape of a prism whose section is substantially a polygon with n-order symmetry around an axis A substantially parallel to the generating line of said prism, n being an integer strictly greater than 1, and in that said neck is provided on its outer surface with n screwing means, regularly distributed around said axis A.
All the n second screwing means advantageously have n-order symmetry around axis A. In this way, the cap designed to close said container head remains properly guided and centered on the axis of the neck during screwing onto said neck.
As indicated above, the polygon has n summits which are on the circumscribed circle of the polygon or n short peripheral edges which are near the circumscribed circle. It is at the level of these summits or these short peripheral edges that the n second screwing means are to be found: each second screwing means extends on either side of an axial plane which passes through axis A and one of the n summits located on the circumscribed circle, or which passes through axis A and which is perpendicular to one of the n short peripheral edges.
Preferably, each one of these screwing means takes the form of a discontinuous rib (a discontinuous groove) or several ribs (several grooves) of which the peripheral part (the interior part), in particular close to the axial planes, is comparable to one or more helical threads (one or more helical grooves).
Preferably, these are screwing ribs which have an identical maximum radial height in the region of each axial plane. All of the corresponding n ribs are regularly distributed around axis A with n-order symmetry of the neck, and each rib acts, at least in its mid part—which is in the axial plane and at the level of which the rib has maximum radial height—, like a helical screwing thread able to work in tandem with the helical screwing groove of a closure. Preferably, each rib has a radial height equal to (or very close to) said maximum radial height over a certain circumferential length, typically at least a millimeter on either side of the bisecting plane of the diedron.
a illustrates, as an axonometric projection, the head of a container according to the invention, without its closure: it has a substantially square neck, with rounded angles.
b illustrates the container head in
a illustrates, as an axonometric projection, the head of the container in
a to 4e illustrate various neck shapes according to the invention, seen from above.
The container in example 1 is a flexible tube, as it appears before being filled with the product that it is designed to condition.
The shape of the neck 122 is substantially a prism whose section is a square with angles that have been rounded by fillets. The plane faces of the prism are slightly tilted, by about 5° in relation to axis A. The wall of the neck is close to 1 mm thick. Typically, the side of the square is close to 15 mm long, the fillet radius in the angles being close to 2.5 mm.
The cap 200 is provided with a cylindrical circular fastening skirt 220, provided on its inside surface with several helical screwing grooves 226. The neck 122 is provided on its outer surface with four ribs 125. Each rib 125 extends on either side of an axial plane which is the bisecting plane B of the related dihedron D. All four ribs of the neck constitute four helical quick-screw threads (with a high slope, typically corresponding to a pitch of 4 mm per screw turn). These threads are complementary to the 4 helical screw grooves 226 worked onto the cylindrical skirt 220 of cap 200.
The ribs 125 have a small circumferential surface area, typically 7 mm on either side of the dihedron with which they are associated. They have a maximum radial height of 2 mm over a circumferential length of approximately 2 mm on either side of the bisecting plane B of said dihedron D.
The neck 122 has a 4-order symmetry around its axis A. Each rib 125 has the same slope and, around each angle, an identical maximum radial height. All 4 ribs 125 corresponding to the 4 dihedra of the neck are regularly distributed around the axis of symmetry A of the neck. Each rib 125 acts, at least in its median part where n is near the axial plane B with which it is associated and where it has a maximum radial height (or depth), as a screw thread complementary to the screw groove 226 which is associated with it.
The fastening skirt 220 is provided with 4 identical and regularly distributed quick-screw grooves 226. The 4 ribs 125 have the same slope, the same radial height, the same axial position (they are located close to the base of the neck), and they respect the 4-order symmetry around axis A. The cap can be closed in less than one quarter of a turn.
The skirt 110 itself has a globally square shape. The peripheral part 115 of shoulder 121—directly connected to the skirt—has a contour that is globally square shaped with rounded angles. The neck section is homothetic of the contour of the peripheral part 115 of shoulder 121. A geometrical configuration of this kind endows the tube with a high product restitution rate. The outer side wall 210 of cap 200 is also globally square.
The container head and the cap are provided with screw stops and anti-unscrewing devices, typically four studs 123, regularly distributed and placed at the base of the neck, in the vicinity of the axial planes, and four pairs of axial ribs worked onto the open end 221 of the fastening skirt 220. The studs 123 are placed at the base of the neck 122, at the level of the junction with the shoulder 121, which has been designed with an average thickness similar to that of the rest of the shoulder and neck so that it has a certain elastic flexibility. The open end 221 of the fastening skirt 220 is provided with four pairs of axial ribs designed to block and trap the studs 123 as the cap is screwed tight. The ribs used to block screwing are referred to as 223 in
The anti-unscrewing ribs are not shown in
a to 4e illustrate some examples of non-circular necks provided with screwing devices according to the invention.
a illustrates a prismatic neck with regular pentagonal section seen from above, the tops of the pentagon being rounded by fillets. Five screwing ribs 125a extend on either side of the 5 axial planes Ba, which are also the bisecting planes of the 5 dihedra of the prism.
a illustrates a prismatic neck with an equilateral triangle section seen from above, the tops of the triangle being rounded by fillets. Three screwing ribs 125b extend on either side of the 3 axial planes Bb, which are also the bisecting planes of the 3 diedra of the prism.
c illustrates, from above, a prismatic neck whose section has a concave shape with four branches, recalling a motif known as “hounds-tooth”. The polygon has twelve summits but only four on its circumscribed diameter Cc. Four screwing ribs 125c extend on either side of the 4 axial planes Bc, associated with the four summits located on the circumscribed diameter (because of the even-order symmetry, these planes merge two by two).
d illustrates, from above, a prismatic neck whose section has a concave shape with four branches, recalling the Saint-Andrew's cross, the facets having a certain curve and the angles being rounded by fillets. This polygon has twelve summits, of which eight are on its circumscribed diameter Cd and 4 short peripheral edges 129d which unite two by two said summits located on the circumscribed diameter. Four screwing ribs 125d extend on either side of the 4 axial planes Bd, which pass through axis A and are perpendicular to said short peripheral edges.
e illustrates, from above, a prismatic neck whose section has the shape of a flat bar. This polygon is a flattened rectangle, the faces corresponding to the length of the rectangle being concave, those corresponding to the width being domed; it has 4 summits on the circumscribed diameter Ce and 2 short peripheral edges 129e which unite said summits two by two. Four screwing ribs 125e extend on either side of the 2 axial planes Be (merged), which pass through axis A and are perpendicular to said short peripheral edges.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0505450 | May 2005 | FR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/FR2006/001162 | 5/22/2006 | WO | 00 | 3/24/2008 |
