The invention relates to a fillable cap closure which is sealed at the bottom with a film, wherein the content is emptied into the container, with which the closure is provided, by rotating the cap of the closure, on the one hand, or by purely axially pressing the cap.
Many beverages are already produced by mixing a concentrate with water nowadays. Instead of distributing the finished mixture, it would be much more efficient if the bottle fillers could simply fill water locally, and the concentrate were only added to the water in the bottle and then mixed with it by means of the initial opening of the bottle by the consumer. All kinds of sensitive active ingredients and light-sensitive vitamins can also be metered by means of such a closure.
A known solution for metering a separate liquid is a plastic metering closure and an associated container neck for a container as indicated in WO2012/175317 A1. This is a fillable closure comprising a push-button for release, which functions with a separately filled capsule. The closure consists of a closure cap which can be screwed onto the threaded connection piece of a container and into which said separately filled capsule can be inserted from below in the closed state, the capsule having a downwardly directed sealing film. The upper side of the inserted capsule is designed to be deformable and can be pressed axially downwards so that the downwardly directed sealing film of the capsule can be broken or caused to split. According to this document, this is brought about by means of a profile which is integrally formed on the underside of the closure cap and projects axially downwards, and which fits into a depression that is disposed in the deformable upper side of the inserted capsule and matches the cross-section of this profile. By pressing down said profile into the depression, the outer lower corners of the profile are pressed onto the sealing film of the capsule. The sealing film is provided with weakening lines so that these corners impinge on the angle bisectors of the circle segments formed by the weakening lines, and the same can be pivoted downwards from the corners after the weakening lines split and can then be held pivoted downwards. In practice, however, it has been found that although this solution works in principle, it does not work properly in every case, i.e. not in 100% of cases. Therefore, this solution is insufficiently suitable for implementation in practice in which hundreds of thousands of closures have to be delivered and each individual closure has to function perfectly.
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a fillable cap closure comprising the film sealing of contents, the filled contents of which fall into the container provided with the closure either by means of rotating the cap, by cutting open and folding down the film, or the emptying of which can be triggered purely by axially pressing the cap. This fillable closure is intended to be even simpler to produce and assemble, consist of a minimal number of parts, and only be operated by means of a single action, namely either by rotating the cap or by axially pressing the cap in such a way that the film is cleanly cut open and then folded down such that its content or filling fall totally safely and reliably into the container provided with the closure. The closure is intended specifically to ensure that the film being once folded down cannot be pivoted halfway closed again. In addition, the filling in the closure should be protected against oxygen, UV radiation and water vapour entering from the surroundings.
This object is achieved by a fillable cap closure for receiving and film-sealing a liquid or pourable filling in the interior thereof and for emptying purely by rotating the cap or purely by axially pressing the cap, consisting of a receiving part which can be screwed onto the threaded connection piece of a container and has a cylinder which is open at the bottom, wherein the cylinder is film-sealed at the bottom, and a cup which can be inserted headfirst into said cylinder, comprising at its edge at least one piercing and cutting tooth which extends over said edge in the axial direction, and guide means on the outer side of the cup, and a twist cap having drivers engaging in the guide means on the cup for the axial displacement of the cup downwards in order to pierce the film, then to horizontally rotate the cup thereby cutting the film open in the process along its circumference by less than 360°, and then to axially displace the cup downwards again in order to fold down the cut-out film.
The film is thus pierced precisely and reliably at its periphery, and the film once pierced is then cut open along its circumference by approximately 360°, and in a third step, said film is folded down by approximately 90° over the film edge which is left and not cut open, and releases the cup such that the contents thereof fall completely and reliably downwards into the container provided with the closure, irrespective of whether the cup contents are liquid or solid. Furthermore, the laminate structure of the film ensures impermeability against the penetration of oxygen, water vapour or UV radiation.
The figures show said fillable cap closure and its individual components in different views, specifically an embodiment which can be emptied by means of purely rotating, and an embodiment which can be emptied by means of purely axially pressing the cap. The various embodiments of this cap closure are described in detail and their functions are explained on the basis of these figures.
In a first embodiment, this cap closure consists of a total of four parts, of which the plastic parts 1, 2 and 3 are shown in
Proceeding from the top, the cap closure, configured here as a twist cap closure, consists of the twist cap 1, then, under same, a fillable cup 2 and finally, at the very bottom, a receiving part 3, into which the cup 2 can be inserted. When the cup 2 is inserted into the receiving part 3, the piercing and cutting teeth 5, which are integrally formed below said cup on the edge 4 thereof and project downwards beyond same, do not extend all the way to the lower edge 6 of the cylinder 7 in the interior of the receiving part 3. At the upper end, this cylinder 7 is connected to the outer region of the receiving part 3, as is again clear on the basis of further representations. In the interior of the twist cap 1, on the lid of the twist cap, axially downwardly projecting drivers 8 can be seen, which are intended to interact with guide means on the cup 2. These are formed, firstly, from two mutually facing depressions 9 on the outer side of the cup 2, and, secondly, the axially extending ribs 10 on the outer side of the cup 2, and, thirdly, the push rods 11 on the upper side of the edge 4 of the cup 2, said edge being at the bottom and projecting outwards. On the inner side of the twist cap 1, the stopper 12 can also be seen for rotating the receiving part 3, by means of its internal thread 13, onto the threaded connection piece of a container. Furthermore, on the inner side of the twist cap 1, on the underside of the cap lid 15, a groove 17 formed by two concentric tube sections 16 can be seen, which fits over the upper end of the cylinder 7 in the receiving part 3. The twist cap 1 is provided with a ribbing 18 on the outside so that it can be rotated firmly by hand without the hand slipping. A ring 21, which is held via fine material bridges, is integrally formed on the lower edge of the twist cap 1 as a tamper-proof guarantee. The receiving part 3 has a circumferential projecting ring 14 on the outside, can be placed over the two mutually facing bead sections 19 on the inner side of the twist cap wall 20 and then close below the ring 14 for retaining the twist cap 1 on the receiving part 3 and for ensuring that the twist cap 1 can rotate on the receiving part 3. A projecting circular ring 22 can be seen on the receiving part 3, which rests on a container connection piece on the upper edge thereof after the receiving part 3 has been unscrewed. Guide ribs 23, 24 can be seen on the inside in the cylinder 7 of the receiving part 3, said guide ribs interacting with the ribs 10 on the cup, as further explained below.
The film 33 to be welded or adhesively bonded onto the cylinder 7 consists of a laminate, comprising a carrier material of at least 0.2 mm thickness, then a barrier film thereon outwards with respect to the cup, said barrier film being in the form of an oxygen barrier, water vapour barrier and UV radiation barrier, and a sealing layer in the form of a lacquer or a PE laminate layer is sprayed or laminated onto said barrier. So that the cup 2 is also impermeable to water vapour or the content is protected against water vapour penetrating from the outside, there are different ways in which same can be designed and configured. In a first embodiment, the cup 2 can be injection-moulded with a special plastic which contains a silica gel that is admixed in the polymer to be injection-moulded. This is known as an Advanced Desiccant Polymer. Using such polymers, the benefits of traditional polymers can be combined with the benefits of silica gel for moisture protection so that any moulds and packaging can be injection-moulded with plastic, and these behave in a moisture-absorbing manner. A second embodiment consists in separately injection-moulding the insert for the interior of the cup from such an Advanced Desiccant Polymer, which is inserted into the interior of the cup. This insert has to have a wall thickness of 0.8 mm in order to ensure sufficient water vapour absorption. In a third embodiment, a water vapour barrier is formed by spraying an EVOH layer (EVOH=ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer) onto the inner sides of the cup to protect the contents from water vapour. In a fourth embodiment, the cup can be produced in a conjective method, in which an EVOH component is injected into the centre of the still soft layer between an injected cavity in the injection moulding tool such that the EVOH bonds with the remaining plastic in contact on both sides.
The assembled twist cap closure is shown in
As a special feature, the cup 2 is formed with its lower edge in such a manner that same forms three downwardly projecting piercing tips 35. The edge between said piercing tips is in the form of three arcs 34, each having a downwardly projecting sharp edge. When the cup 2 is pressed down in a purely axial manner in the interior of the receiving part 3, by virtue of the fact that the dome thereof is pressed down with the pusher surface 38, the three piercing tips arranged in a distributed manner over the circumference pierce the film 33 at three points, and, when pushed down further, the arcs 34 with their sharp edges act as blades. The one arc is cut out higher so that when the cup 2 is pressed down, the film is cut open along its circumference only by about 340°, and thus approximately by 360°. In addition, the higher cut-out arc is produced with a blunt edge at its centre over about 20°. If the cup 2 is pressed further downwards, the cut-out film disk 33 is pivoted downwards about the material bridge left and the entire contents of the cup 2 fall into the container provided with the closure. The cap closure can now be unscrewed from the container connection piece and the ready-prepared and mixed beverage is available for drinking.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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01356/15 | Sep 2015 | CH | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2016/072167 | 9/19/2016 | WO | 00 |