Patent Application
20140263155
The present invention relates generally to the field of metal closures for containers. The present invention relates specifically to a metal closure and seal combination which interacts with the neck of a plastic bottle to maintain the shape of the neck while the closure is sealed to the neck.
This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Closures are utilized to seal or close containers for a wide variety of items including food, drink, medicine, cleaning products, etc. For many applications, integrity of the closure and integrity of the seal between the closure and the container, and the shape of the container neck must be maintained from the time when the container is filled and sealed until the closure is removed from the container by the end user. A closure and container combination may be subject to a variety of impact events (e.g., dropping, impact with processing machinery, impact with adjacent containers and/or shipping materials, etc.) that may inadvertently breach the integrity of the seal between the closure and the seal which may result in contamination, spoilage or spillage of the contents of the container.
One embodiment of the invention relates to a metal closure comprising. The metal closure includes a circular, closure panel having an internal surface extending to a periphery; a concentric channel extending from the periphery along an angled wall into a parallel wall generally parallel to the closure panel, the parallel wall extending into a first rounded wall having a center of radius within the closure, wherein the parallel wall is offset from the closure panel by a first distance; a concentric flange extending from the first rounded wall into a second rounded wall having a center of radius external to the closure into a transition wall which extends into third rounded wall having a center of radius within the closure, wherein the first rounded wall transitions into the second rounded wall at a second distance from the periphery, the second distance being at least 2 times as large as the first distance; a cylindrical skirt extending from the concentric flange; at least 4 equally spaced rolled flanges extending from the cylindrical skirt; at least one thread engagement flange located between each pair of rolled flanges; and a resilient polymeric material which fills the concentric channel.
Another embodiment of the invention relates to a metal closure. The metal closure includes a circular, closure panel having an internal surface extending to a periphery, wherein a vacuum indicating panel is located at the center of the internal surface; a concentric channel extending from the periphery along an angled wall into a parallel wall generally parallel to the closure panel, the parallel wall extending into a first rounded wall having a center of radius within the closure, wherein the parallel wall is offset from the closure panel by a first distance; a concentric flange extending from the first rounded wall into a second rounded wall having a center of radius external to the closure into a transition wall which extends into third rounded wall having a center of radius within the closure, wherein the first rounded wall transitions into the second rounded wall at a second distance from the periphery, the second distance being at least 2 times as large as the first distance, the radii of the first and second rolled walls are smaller than the radius of the third rolled wall, the angle between the angled wall and the parallel wall is between 20 and 75 degrees, the transition wall is generally parallel to the closure panel and the parallel wall, and a plane passing through the transition wall is displaced further from the parallel wall than the closure panel; a cylindrical skirt extending from the concentric flange; at least 4 equally spaced rolled flanges extending from the cylindrical skirt; at least one thread engagement flange located between each pair of rolled flanges wherein the engagement flanges include a tapered, rolled tip which facilitates sliding of the engagement flanges relative to a thread on a respective container neck; and a resilient polymeric material which fills the concentric channel.
Another embodiment of the invention relates to a sealed container. The sealed container includes a plastic container including a threaded neck which provides an opening to the container, the neck including generally parallel internal and external walls terminating at a sealing edge and a metal closure. The metal closure includes a circular, closure panel having an internal surface extending to a periphery, wherein a vacuum indicating panel is located at the center of the internal surface, a concentric channel extending from the periphery along an angled wall into a parallel wall generally parallel to the closure panel, the parallel wall extending into a first rounded wall having a center of radius within the closure, wherein the parallel wall is offset from the closure panel by a first distance, a concentric flange extending from the first rounded wall into a second rounded wall having a center of radius external to the closure into a transition wall which extends into third rounded wall having a center of radius within the closure, wherein the first rounded wall transitions into the second rounded wall at a second distance from the periphery, the second distance being at least 2 times as large as the first distance, the radii of the first and second rolled walls are smaller than the radius of the third rolled wall, the transition wall is generally parallel to the closure panel and the parallel wall, and a plane passing through the transition wall is displaced further from the parallel wall than the closure panel, a cylindrical skirt extending from the concentric flange, at least 4 equally spaced rolled flanges extending from the cylindrical skirt, at least one thread engagement flange located between each pair of rolled flanges wherein the engagement flanges include a tapered, rolled tip which facilitates sliding of the engagement flanges relative to a thread on a respective container neck, and a resilient polymeric material which fills the concentric channel; wherein the tapered, rolled tips are engaged with the threaded neck so that the sealing edge is forced into the polymeric material so that polymeric material engages the sealing edges to resist deformation of the neck when forces between the tips and threaded neck are sufficient to seal the closure to the neck.
Alternative exemplary embodiments relate to other features and combinations of features as may be generally recited in the claims. Additionally, the dimensions used in the claims are approximate in that they are dimensions which would be expected from metal closures stamped from metal in a die designed to give a particular dimension. However, variables in processing, material quality, material consistency, etc. will cause expected variations in dimensions. Accordingly, it is the intent of the inventors that the dimensions recited in the claims cover a commensurate range beyond the specific numbers recited.
This application will become more fully understood from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements in which:
Before turning to the figures, which illustrate the exemplary embodiments in detail, it should be understood that the present application is not limited to all of the details or methodology set forth in the description or illustrated in the figures. It should also be understood that the terminology is for the purpose of description only and should not be regarded as limiting.
Referring to
Referring to
The inventive features of closure 10 are useable with any shape neck of a container. For non-circular containers, the closure 10 thread engagement flanges 20 would be configured so that closure 10 would be pushed (as opposed to turned) onto the container 11. (Note however, that certain circular threaded closures are pushed onto the circular threads of a corresponding container neck even though the end user twists the cap to open the closed container.) In the push-on situation, the thread engagement flanges would be further configured for a particular container so that the component of radial force between the thread engagement flanges and neck reaches is maximum level after the sealing edge is sufficiently engaged with the polymeric material in the channel. Engagement is sufficient when it is able to resist radial deformation of the corresponding neck. As material costs, manufacturing costs, shipping costs, disposal costs and other costs resulting from the use of materials in containers increase, the need for a closure having the features of closure 10 will increase. Examples of such costs are given above, but there may be other costs incurred during the full life cycle of a closure and container, and this cycle which spans from the time the closure and container are manufactured to the time the closure and container are recycled or disposed.
Further details of an embodiment closure 10 will now be described in reference to
The concentric channel 14 is configured so that it contains enough material 40 to permit adequate engagement of edge 39 with the material 40 as discussed above. In one embodiment the channel 14 is formed so that the large cross-sectional width of the material is at least 1.5 to 2.5 times the cross-sectional height of the material 40 as shown in detail in
The concentric channel 14 extends from the periphery of closure panel 12 along an angled wall 50 into a parallel wall 52 generally parallel to the closure panel 12. The parallel wall 52 extends into a rounded wall 54 having a center of radius within the closure 10. The parallel wall 52 is offset from the closure panel 12. An exemplary range for this offset distance is between 0.051 and 0.068 inches.
The concentric flange 16 extends from the rounded wall 54 and transitions into a second rounded wall 56 having a center of radius external to the closure 10. The transition between walls 54 and 56 includes a flat transition wall which may have an angle from 0 to 15 degrees where the top of this transition wall is closer to the periphery than the bottom of this transition wall. The second rounded wall 56 extends into a transition wall 58 which extends into a third rounded wall 60 having a center of radius within the closure 10. The radii of the rounded walls 54 and 56 are preferably smaller than the radius of the rounded wall 60. An angle θ1 between the angled wall 50 and the parallel wall 52 may be between 20 and 75 degrees but in one embodiment is 28 degrees. The transition wall 58 is generally parallel to the closure panel 12 and the parallel wall 52. A plane passing through the transition wall 58 (plane not shown) is displaced further from the parallel wall 52 than the closure panel 12. An exemplary range for this displacement distance is between 0.099 and 0.156 inches. In preferred embodiments, this displacement distance will typically vary in accordance with the offset distance discussed above in a ratio of about 2 to 1, displacement distance to offset distance. However, depending upon the particular application for the cap, this ratio could range between 1 to 1, to 3 to 1.
Furthermore, the height of the combination of the walls 54, 56, 58 and 60 (“combination height”) are typically designed relative to a particular container neck. In particular, this height is roughly equal (plus or minus 20%) to the distance from the top of thread 38 to edges 39. As such, referring to
The cylindrical skirt 18 extends from the concentric flange 16, and supports the thread engagement flanges 20 at the bottom thereof (e.g. 4-10 thread engagement flanges depending upon the neck configuration). The thread engagement flanges 20 are preferably equally spaced around the skirt 18, and are separated by rolled flanges 62. The combination of rolled flanges 62 and thread engagement flanges 20 provides a generally smooth bottom surface for closure 10. The thread engagement flanges 20 include a tapered, rolled tip 64, such as that shown in the figures, which facilitates sliding of the engagement of thread engagement flanges 20 relative to a thread 38 on a respective container neck 30.
Referring to
While not shown in the figures, it may be desirable to apply a coating to all or a portion (e.g. skirt 18) of closure 10 which improves gripping when closure 10 is metal or another smooth material. Coating the gripping surface of a metal cap/closure with soft-touch polymer can improve the haptics of the gripping surface. The improved gripping surface allows energy to be applied to the rotation and translation with a reduction of force needed for gripping the closure. Suppliers of the soft touch polyurethane coating system are: Alsa Corporation, Sun Chemicals, Valspar and Bayer. Examples of polymer used are polyurethane dispersions, polyester polyurethane dispersions, polycarbonate polyesters, HDI isocyanurates, HDI biuretes, and HDI polyisocyanat. Soft touch coatings may be applied by spraying or applying a film having a soft touch surface thereon.
In various embodiments, the closures discussed herein may be of various sizes intended to seal containers of various sizes and having various contents. In some exemplary embodiments, the closures are configured to seal containers such as metal, glass or plastic containers or bottles for holding liquids, granular materials, food, etc.
Further modifications and alternative embodiments of various aspects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this description. Accordingly, this description is to be construed as illustrative only. The construction and arrangements of the closure, as shown in the various exemplary embodiments, are illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail in this disclosure, many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters, mounting arrangements, use of materials, colors, orientations, etc.) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter described herein. Some elements shown as integrally formed may be constructed of multiple parts or elements, the position of elements may be reversed or otherwise varied, and the nature or number of discrete elements or positions may be altered or varied. Other substitutions, modifications, changes and omissions may also be made in the design, operating conditions and arrangement of the various exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention.
