Patent Application
20220097935
The present invention relates generally to a polymeric closure for a package. More specifically, the present invention relates to a polymeric closure with a tamper-evident band and package using the same.
Polymeric closures have been used in many applications over the years in conjunction with containers. The polymeric closures are adapted to thread on and off of the container. Many polymeric closures also include a tamper-evident feature such as a tamper-evident band. A tamper-evident band, when properly designed and located, indicates to a user that the container has been opened. This indication can be accomplished after opening, for example, by leaving a second portion of the closure around the container while a first portion of the closure is removed from the container. The placement of the polymeric closure onto the container is important for removal of the closure and for the effectiveness of a tamper-evident band.
One of the problems of placing a polymeric closure onto a container occurs when a portion of the tamper-evident band is not positioned properly with respect to an A-collar or A-diameter of the container during the opening process. If the tamper-evident band is not properly positioned, a user could potentially open the container without the closure separating into two pieces, indicating tamper-evidency. Or, alternatively, the user could have difficulty in breaking the frangible connection when the tamper-evident band rotates inwardly into an exterior wall of the container or unfolds.
It would be desirable to provide a closure for a package that addresses and avoids these above-noted situations, while still performing other desirable properties of a closure.
According to one embodiment, a closure includes a first closure portion and a second closure portion. The first closure portion includes a polymeric top wall portion and a polymeric annular skirt portion depending from the polymeric top wall portion. The annular skirt portion includes an exterior surface and an interior surface. The interior surface of the annular skirt portion includes an internal thread formation for mating engagement with an external thread formation of a container. The second closure portion includes a polymeric tamper-evident band depending from and being at least partially detachably connected to the polymeric annular skirt portion by a frangible connection. The polymeric tamper-evident band includes a first portion and a second portion connected via a bending area. The second portion extends generally upwardly from the bending area towards the polymeric top portion and is located inwardly from the first portion of the polymeric tamper-evident band. The second portion of the tamper-evident band includes a tab portion and an extension portion. The extension portion is located further from the bending area than the tab portion. The average thickness of the tab portion is greater than the average thickness of the extension portion. The extension portion extends continuously around an entire inner circumference of the closure.
In another embodiment, a closure includes a first closure portion and a second closure portion. The first closure portion includes a polymeric top wall portion and a polymeric annular skirt portion depending from the polymeric top wall portion. The annular skirt portion includes an exterior surface and an interior surface. The interior surface of the annular skirt portion includes an internal thread formation for mating engagement with an external thread formation of a container. The second closure portion includes a polymeric tamper-evident band depending from and being at least partially detachably connected to the polymeric annular skirt portion by a frangible connection. The polymeric tamper-evident band includes a first portion and a second portion connected via a bending area towards the polymeric top wall portion. The second portion extends generally upwardly from the bending area and is located inwardly from the first portion of the polymeric tamper-evident band. The second portion of the tamper-evident band includes a tab portion and an extension portion. The extension portion is located further from the bending area than the tab portion. The average thickness of the tab portion is greater than the average thickness of the extension portion. The extension portion extends around the entire inner circumference of the closure in a substantially continuous manner.
In a further embodiment, a package includes a container and a closure. The container has a neck portion defining an opening. The container has an external thread formation on the neck portion and an A-collar. The closure is configured for fitment to the neck portion of the container for closing the opening. The closure includes a first closure portion and a second closure portion. The first closure portion includes a polymeric top wall portion and a polymeric annular skirt portion depending from the polymeric top wall portion. The annular skirt portion includes an exterior surface and an interior surface. The interior surface of the annular skirt portion includes an internal thread formation for mating engagement with the external thread formation of the container. The second closure portion includes a polymeric tamper-evident band depending from and being at least partially detachably connected to the polymeric annular skirt portion by a frangible connection. The polymeric tamper-evident band includes a first portion and a second portion connected via a bending area. The second portion extends generally upwardly from the bending area towards the polymeric top portion and is located inwardly from the first portion of the polymeric tamper-evident band. The second portion of the tamper-evident band includes a tab portion and an extension portion. The extension portion is located further from the bending area than the tab portion. The average thickness of the tab portion is greater than the average thickness of the extension portion. The extension portion extends continuously around an entire inner circumference of the closure. The extension portion abuts with an exterior surface of the A-collar of the container.
The above summary is not intended to represent each embodiment or every aspect of the present invention. Additional features and benefits of the present invention are apparent from the detailed description and figures set forth below.
Other advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Referring to
Referring back to
As shown in
In another embodiment, the closure may include other sealing mechanisms. For example, the closure may include a polymeric lining material that provides a seal to the closure. This would be a two-piece closure. Non-limiting examples of a closure including a polymeric liner and a polymeric disk can be found at U.S. Publication No. 2018/0099795, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In this embodiment, the closure would be formed from separate components, but would function as the one-piece closure discussed except with a different sealing mechanism. In another embodiment, the closure may include either a polymeric outer seal or a continuous plug seal. It is contemplated that the closure may include other sealing mechanisms.
As shown in, for example,
The polymeric tamper-evident band 30 includes a first portion 32 and a second portion 34 connected via a bending area 36. The first portion 32, the second portion 34 and the bending area 36 are typically integrally connected. The second portion 34 is folded over inwardly and upwardly (arrow A in
It is noted that when manufacturing the closure, the second portion 34 initially extends downwardly (arrow B in
The second portion 34 of the tamper-evident band 30 includes a tab portion 38 and an extension portion 40. The extension portion 40 assists in initially locating and maintaining the position of the tab portion 38 during the opening process. The extension portion 40 is located further from the bending area 36 than the tab portion 38 as shown in
It is desirable for the tab portion 38 and the extension portion 40 to be vertical or substantially vertical so as to prevent or inhibit the tab portion 38 from rotating inwardly towards an exterior wall of a container or bottle finish, or by unfolding. It is desirable for the tab portion 38 and the extension portion 40 to be substantially vertical to prevent or inhibit from being located too sharply against the interior surface 14b of the polymeric annular skirt portion 14.
By keeping the tab portion 38 from rotating inwardly or unfolding assists in avoiding or inhibiting problems in the opening process by a user. Specifically, when a user applies vertical and axial forces in opening the closure, it is desirable for these forces to be substantially applied to breaking the frangible connection instead of transmitting the energy into moving (i.e., rotating or unfolding) the tab portion 38. When the tab portion remains generally in place, the vertical and axial forces from the user transmits only to or substantially to the opening of the frangible connections (e.g., breaking the bridges).
In one embodiment, to assist in preventing or inhibiting the tab portion 38 and the extension portion 40 from being vertical, the first portion 32 may include an inwardly-extending bead 46. The bead 46 prevents or inhibits the tab portion 38 and the extension portion 40 from folding too sharply against the interior surface 14a of the polymeric annular skirt portion 14.
If desirable to make the tab portion 38 and the extension portion 40 more vertical, an inwardly-extending bead may be made smaller than the inwardly-extending bead 46 of
If the tab portion moves inwardly towards an exterior wall of the bottle finish or the tab portion unfolds, this can lead to undesirable results. For example, if a certain percentage of the bridges in the frangible connection are not broken (typically on one side) because energy is transmitted into moving the tab portion, a user may have difficulty in opening and accessing the contents of the container. Specifically, when some of the bridges remain unbroken, this can lead to a tether-like or hinged-band scenario. This can lead to the closure being in a hanging or stuck position. When bridges remain unbroken, the closure becomes looser with more ability or freedom to move around, resulting in potential undesirable movement. For example, a side-to-side movement of the closure can result in a user inadvertently pulling the closure to one side that makes the closure off-centered.
When all of the bridges are not broken, several scenarios can occur. In one scenario, the entire tamper-evident band may go underneath the A-collar or A-diameter of the finish, which may make the closure difficult to open. In another scenario, some section of the tamper-evident band may lift over and partly above the A-collar of the finish, which leads to a hiked band that makes the closure difficult to open. In a further scenario, the positioning of the tab portion could lead to the tamper-evident band riding entirely over an A-collar of the finish and coming off with the remainder of the closure when the container is being opened. This is undesirable for several reasons including making the opening of the container more difficult and defeating the tamper-evident aspects of the package because the tamper-evident band should remain with the container after the closure is unthreaded.
The tab portion 38 is desirably positioned to remain below and adjacent to a bottom surface of an A-collar of the finish of the container. The tab portion 38 as discussed above is desirably spaced from an exterior wall of the container finish. The tab portion 38 includes a ledge 38a. The ledge 38a desirably seals under the A-collar of the finish.
Referring to
In another embodiment, the extension portion extends around the entire inner circumference of the closure in a substantially continuous manner. This embodiment also assists in placing and positioning the extension portion adjacent to and abutting an exterior surface of the A-collar. In one embodiment, the extension portion extends from about 75% to about 99% around the inner circumference of the closure. In another embodiment, the extension portion extends from about 80 to about 99% around the inner circumference of the closure. In another embodiment, the extension portion extends from about 90 to about 99% around the inner circumference of the closure. In a further embodiment, the extension portion extends from about 95 to about 99% around the inner circumference of the closure. If the extension portion does not extend around the entire inner circumference of the closure in at least a substantially continuous manner, it will not desirably and consistently assist in preventing or inhibiting the extension portion from moving underneath the A-collar of the finish during the opening process.
The extension portion in a more desirable embodiment extends around the entire inner circumference of the closure and maintains a position adjacent to and abutting an exterior surface of the A-collar without the extension portion moving underneath the A-collar. By having the extension portion abutting an exterior surface of the A-collar and not being underneath the A-collar, problems discussed above such as having difficulty in opening the container or having the tamper-evident aspects defeated are substantially or entirely avoided.
As shown best in
The extension portion 40 of the tamper-evident band 30 conforms with and abuts an exterior surface 106a of the A-collar 106. The extension portion 40 desirably forms a seal with the exterior surface 106a of the A-collar 106. The ledge 38a desirably is located underneath the A-collar 106 and away from the sidewall of the finish. As shown in
To better conform and abut with the A-collar 106, the extension portion 40 has a smaller diameter than the A-collar 106. This is shown in
It is desirable to have the extension portion 40 initially angled at angle A such that the A-collar 106 abuts and moves the extension portion 40. It is desirable to have a more reduced angle on the same to assist in the manufacturing process of removing the closure from the associated tooling. Referring back to
The diameter of the extension portion 40 is smaller than the diameter of the A-collar 106. Because the diameter of the extension portion 40 is smaller than diameter of the A-collar 106, the extension is moved outwardly (in the direction of arrow D in
The thickness and the materials used to form the extension portion 40 allow it to be moved from the position in
As shown in
The average thickness of the tab portion is greater than the average thickness of the extension portion. The average thickness T1 of the tab portion 38 as shown in
The average thickness T1 of the tab portion 38 of the tamper-evident band 30 in
The length L1 of the tab portion 38 of the tamper-evident band 30 in
The average thickness T2 of the extension portion 40 of the tamper-evident band 30 in
The length L2 of the extension portion 40 of the tamper-evident band 30 in
The length of the tab portion is typically greater than the length of the extension portion. The length L1 of the tab portion 38 as shown in
The polymeric annular skirt portion includes an internal thread formation for mating engagement with an external thread formation of a container. Specifically, the polymeric annular skirt portion 14 of
The first closure lead 62 begins near the polymeric top wall portion 12 at a first position (not shown in
It is contemplated that the first and second closure leads may be discontinuous. It is also contemplated that the internal thread formation of the closure may differ from a helical thread formation. It is also contemplated that other internal thread formations may be used in the closure.
There may be applications where there are not multiple thread segments in the closure, but they are typically used for packages holding less than 45 psi. It is contemplated that the thread closure turns may be continuous, especially in those applications with packages having less than 45 psi. It is also contemplated that the internal thread formation of the closure may differ from a helical thread formation. It is also contemplated that other internal thread formations may be used in the closure.
The frangible connection 50 may be formed by molded-in-bridges in one embodiment. The molded-in-bridges are typically formed using a feature in the mold. In another embodiment, the frangible connection may be formed using scoring or scored lines, notches, leaders, nicks or other lines of weaknesses.
The closure 10 of the present invention may be used with a container 108 used to form a package 100 of
The first finish lead 142 begins near the open end of the container 108 and extends in a helical fashion to a second position that is closer to the closed end of the container. Similarly, the second finish lead starts closer to the open end of the container 108 and extends in a helical fashion to a second position that is closer to the closed end of the container. Each of the first and second finish leads is continuous. The first positions of the first and second finish leads are typically located roughly 180 degrees apart from each other and, thus, begin on opposing sides of the neck portion 102 of the container 108. When opening the container 108, the first closure lead 62 is desirably in contact with the first finish lead 142 and the second closure lead 64 is desirably in contact with the second finish lead 144. It is contemplated that the external thread formation of the container may have discontinuous leads.
It is contemplated that the external thread formation of the container may be different than that disclosed with respect to the container 108.
The closures of the present invention may include an oxygen-scavenger material. This oxygen-scavenger material may be distributed within the closure or may be a separate layer. The oxygen-scavenger material may be any material that assists in removing oxygen within the container, while having little or no effect on the contents within the container.
Alternatively, or in addition to, the closures may include an oxygen-barrier material. The oxygen-barrier material may be added as a separate layer or may be integrated within the closure itself. The oxygen-barrier materials assist in preventing or inhibiting oxygen from entering the container through the closure. These materials may include, but are not limited to, ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH). It is contemplated that other oxygen-barrier materials may be used in the closure.
Additionally, it is contemplated that features other than the tamper-evident band may be included in the closure described above. For example, U.S. Publication No. 2018/009979, U.S. Publication No. 2017/0349336, U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,126,726, 9,085,385, 8,763,830, 8,485,374, U.S. Publication No. 2009/0045158 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,212 all include such features that may be incorporated in the closures of the present invention. All of these references are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
The top wall portion 12, the annular skirt portion 14, and the tamper-evident band 30 are made of polymeric material. The top wall portion 12, the annular skirt portion 14, and the tamper-evident band 30 are typically made of an olefin (e.g., polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP)), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or blends thereof. One example of a polyethylene that may be used in high density polyethylene (HDPE). It is contemplated that the top wall portion, the annular skirt portion, the tamper-evident band may be made of other polymeric materials. The tamper-evident band 30 is typically made of the same materials as the top wall portion 12, and the annular skirt portion 14.
The closures are typically formed by processes such as injection or compression molding, extrusion or the combination thereof.
The container 108 is typically made of polymeric material. One non-limiting example of a material to be used in forming a polymeric container is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP) or blends using the same. It is contemplated that the container may be formed of other polymeric or copolymer materials. It is also contemplated that the container may be formed of glass. The container 108 typically has an encapsulated oxygen-barrier layer or oxygen barrier material incorporated therein.
To open the container 108 and gain access to the product therein, the closure 10 is unthreaded by turning the closure 10 with respect to the container 108. After the closure has been unthreaded, the closure 10 can be removed from the container 108. When using this method, the tamper-evident band 30 is desirably fully separated from the reminder of the closure 10 via the frangible connection 50, which indicates that the closure 10 has been unthreaded with respect to the container 108.
The neck portion 102 of the container 108 includes the external thread formation 104, the A-collar 106 and the continuous outer ring 110. The continuous outer ring 110 assists in positioning the tamper-evident band 30 if the annular skirt portion 14 is unthreaded from the neck 102 of the container 108 by the breaking of the frangible connection 50. The continuous outer ring 110 also assists in simplifying the handling of the container during the formation and filling of the container during the manufacturing process.
The polymeric closures of the present invention are desirable in both low-temperature and high-temperature applications. The polymeric closures may be used in low-temperature applications such as an ambient or a cold fill. These applications typically include pressurized products such as carbonated soft drinks. It is contemplated that the closure may be used in other applications such as water, sports drinks, and aseptic applications such as dairy products. It is contemplated that other low-temperature applications may be used with the polymeric closures of the present invention.
The polymeric closures of the present invention may be exposed to high-temperature applications such as hot-fill, pasteurization, and retort applications. A hot fill application is generally performed at temperatures around 185° F., while a hot-fill with pasteurization is generally performed at temperatures around 205° F. Retort applications are typically done at temperatures greater than 250° F. It is contemplated that the polymeric closures of the present invention can be used in other high-temperature applications.
