Patent Application
20160347513
The present application describes a metallic screw cap for bottles that comprises a cork section with truncated cone shape joined to the inner surface of the upper end of said cap.
The present invention is useful for bottling bottles of wine, spirit drinks, beer, sparkling wine, among others.
The metallic screw caps for bottles used until now by the potable liquids industry have an inner liner with disc shape that is inserted into the inner part of the top of the cap intended for sealing the container.
Several kinds of sealing discs are known from the state of the art, which are the most used in industry for this type of cap, namely:
The metallic screw cap for bottles described in the present invention allows:
An embodiment of the metallic screw cap for bottles comprises a cork section with truncated cone shape, i.e. a truncated cone joined to the inner surface of the top end of said cap.
In a further embodiment, said cork section of the described metallic screw cap can further comprise a cylindrical cork layer between the section with truncated cone shape and the inner surface of the upper end of said cap, and joined to said section and surface.
In another embodiment, the metallic screw cap described may further comprise a polymeric sealing layer on the inner surface of the top end of the said cap between the cork section with truncated cone shape and the cap. In another embodiment, the preferred sealant is silicone.
In another embodiment, said cork section or the cylindrical layer of cork of described metallic screw cap may be joined to the inner surface of the top end of said cap by means of an adhesive. In another preferred embodiment, the adhesive is suitable for food contact; even more preferably, the adhesive may be hot glue or hot melt adhesive, particularly Koramelt 316™.
In another embodiment of the described metallic screw cap, the polymeric sealant and the adhesive may be of the same material.
In another embodiment of the described metallic screw cap, the diameter of the cylindrical cork layer may be substantially equal, preferably equal to, the inner surface of the top end of said cap.
In another embodiment of the described metallic screw cap, the cork section with truncated cone shape or the cylindrical cork layer of said cap may comprise agglomerated cork in cork granules with a particle size distribution between 0.2-5 mm. The determination of the particle size distribution can be obtained by mechanical screening, for example by the method described in NP 115:1994 (3rd Ed.). The cylindrical cork layer should have a thickness in a range between 1 and 4 mm.
In another embodiment of the described metallic screw cap, the cap further comprises decorations or coatings, namely colors and/or insertion of informative or decorative elements. In even another embodiment, the cap part made of cork can further comprise decorations, namely colors and/or insertion of informative or decorative elements.
In another embodiment of the described metallic screw cap, it may comprise aluminum, among other metallic materials.
Another aspect of the present invention is a bottle that comprises any of the described metallic screw caps, preferably a bottle that comprises liquid, in particular wine, spirit drinks, sparkling wine, beer and others.
Thus, the present embodiment is also useful to create the concept of an obturator composed of a stopper and cap, simultaneously conferring better seal and decoration of the container's neck.
This embodiment finds application in glass containers, preferably containing potable liquids such as wine, among others.
One of the objectives of the metallic screw cap is to increase the sealing capacity of the cap, preferably made of aluminum with screw, making it resistant to variations and large thermal amplitudes. With this technique, concretely it is intended to solve the problem of sporadic oxidation of wine with cork stopper and give the aluminum screw cap a new attribute, favoring micro oxygenation, allowing the positive evolution of wine, namely the red, whilst extending the lifetime in the container.
The metallic material cap with cork stopper allows increasing the lifetime of certain potable liquids in the container, such as wine, as compared to metallic material cap with screw commonly known as “screwcap”, because of the cork's natural properties.
Being the cork a natural and biodegradable product, once used with the metallic material cap it immediately promotes the following advantages:
Following, an embodiment of the invention of described metallic screw cap with cork is presented.
The cap now shown is comprised of a metallic material cap, preferably aluminum, in conjunction with a stopper made of cork or cork agglomerate (section with truncated cone shape), preferably in the shape of cork micro surfacing, having a particle size distribution of the granules between 0.5 to 4 mm, and both connected through a suitable adhesive for contact with food, in particular KORAMELT 316™.
The described cap also has the ability to be opened and closed multiple times.
The manufacture of this type of container cap comprises the following steps:
Surface treatments applied to the stopper are intended to increase the ease of insertion and extraction of this same component of the container's neck. An example is the food innocuous silicone based treatments to facilitate insertion and extraction of the cap.
The junction of the stopper with the metal component may be made by the following steps:
The preparation of the cap ends here, the remaining operations may be performed at the bottler, particularly with the following steps:
Processing of this cap implies that during the encapsulation/corking, the stopper is to be pressed into the container's neck and then molded to the upper part by virtue of the capper's presser foot, which exerts a force of between 150 and 250 Kg of pressure on the upper part and between 5 and 15 Kg on the side rollers. Thus, a tight seal is obtained due to the reaction force of the section with truncated cone shape against the wall of the container's neck as well as the force exerted by the aluminum in the stopper throughout the life of the assembly. This cap still features the ability of being reusable thus providing the stopper a further practical character.
The manufacture of this type of container cap comprises the following steps:
Surface treatments applied to the stopper are intended to increase the ease of insertion and extraction of this same component of the container's neck. One example is the food innocuous silicone based treatments to facilitate insertion and extraction of the cap.
Thus, the described metallic screw cap improves the sealing properties as well as oxygen transfer and maturation. Compared with the prior art, it thus becomes possible a double seal on the upper part and side of the container, also taking advantage of the natural properties of micro oxygenation of the cork.
The disclosed metallic screw cap will specifically benefit all products requiring consistent sealing, as well as micro oxygenation during the storage period, for example in the case of red wines.
For an easier understanding of the invention the attached figures are joined, which represent preferred embodiments of the invention that, however, are not meant to limit the object of the present application.
In said figures, (1) represents the metallic screw cap, (3) represents the cork section with truncated cone shape and (2) the cork layer.
This embodiment is naturally not in any way restricted to the embodiments described in this document and a person of ordinary skills in the area may provide many modification possibilities thereof without departing from the general idea as defined in the claims.
All embodiments above described are obviously combinable with each other. The following claims further define preferred embodiments.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 107435 | Jan 2014 | PT | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2015/050600 | 1/27/2015 | WO | 00 |
