This invention relates to a plastic cap for a threaded bottle with vents. More specifically, the invention relates to a plastic cap which can exhibit tamper-evident properties reliably even when applied to the mouth of a container having variations in dimensional accuracy.
As a cap for a container filled with a liquid such as a beverage, wide use is made of a resin cap to be mounted on the mouth of the container by thread engagement. Widely used as such a resin cap is a cap in which a tamper-evident band (hereinafter referred to as a TE band) is formed at the lower end of a skirt of the cap via a breakable weakened portion in order to prevent misapplication.
An unsealing demonstrating function by the TE band is a function performed through the following mechanism: When the cap is turned for unsealing, the body of the cap is raised, while the TE band engages the container mouth, and its ascent is suppressed. As a result, the breakable weakened portion is broken, whereupon the TE band is cut off from the cap body and remains on the container mouth. Thus, only the cap body is removed from the container mouth, demonstrating that the cap has been once unsealed.
In order for the TE band to exhibit a reliable unsealing demonstrating function, it is important that the turning angle of the cap at which the weakened portion between the cap body and the TE band is broken (this angle may hereinafter be referred to as “bridge break angle”) be smaller than the turning angle of the cap at which the sealability of the container is released (this angle may hereinafter be referred to as “seal break angle”).
If a plastic container, to which such a TE band is applied, is filled with contents having an autogenous pressure, such as a carbonated beverage, or is even filled with contents having no autogenous pressure, such as a non-carbonated beverage, under aseptic conditions, hot pack conditions or the like after a liquid nitrogen drip-feed step for replacing air in a head space within the container by nitrogen, internal pressure is exerted on the interior of the container. To relieve the internal pressure efficiently by turning the cap up to the seal break angle, therefore, a vent is formed in the container mouth, that is, an axial notch is formed in a screw of the container mouth (Patent Document 1).
As a container lid to be applied to aseptic filling, a proposal has been made for a container lid comprising a top panel wall, and a skirt wall extending downward from the peripheral edge of the top panel wall, wherein an inner cylindrical sealing piece (inner ring) and an outer cylindrical sealing piece (outer ring) are provided on the inner surface of the top panel wall; the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylindrical sealing piece extends out downward in a radially outwardly inclined manner at an inclination angle θ1 with respect to the central axis of the container lid, and then extends out downward in an inwardly inclined manner; an upper part of the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylindrical sealing piece extends out downward in a radially outwardly inclined manner at a larger angle θ3 than the inclination angle θ1 with respect to the central axis; the wall thickness of the inner cylindrical sealing piece gradually decreases downwardly; and the outer cylindrical sealing piece extends out downward in a radially outwardly inclined manner with respect to the central axis of the container lid (Patent Document 2).
When a cap with a TE band is applied to a container provided with notches in its screw for forming a vent on the container mouth, however, it has been found that a seal break may occur at a smaller angle than an expected seal break angle. The present inventor and others have closely investigated such a container mouth, and have found the following facts: A difference in the amount of resin shrinkage due to molding strain such as sink marks arises near the inner surface of the container mouth corresponding to a part where the notch is formed in the thread of the screw for formation of the vent, and a part where no notch is formed in the thread (ordinary thread). Such an inner surface of the container mouth is a site to be contacted by the inner ring of the cap for ensuring the sealability of the container, and the above difference in the amount of shrinkage at that site results in the generation of irregularities. These irregularities, if generated at a seal point ascribed to the inner ring, lead to the occurrence of a part which the inner ring fails to contact intimately. Hence, the sealability of the container is liable to be released at a smaller angle than the desired seal break angle.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a plastic cap to be applied to a container having a screw formed with a vent, wherein a seal point of an inner ring with respect to a mouth of the container and a seal point of an outer ring with respect to the container mouth are switched during an unsealing step, whereby reliable sealability can be shown even when the plastic cap is applied to the container having poor dimensional accuracy and, if a TE band is present, a seal break is reliably achieved after a bridge break, so that excellent TE properties can be manifested.
According to the present invention, there is provided a plastic cap to be applied to a mouth of a resin container having a screw formed with a vent, the vent comprising notches and extending axially, the plastic cap comprising a top plate section and a skirt section suspending from the top plate section, wherein an outer ring for sealing at least the outer surface of the mouth of the container, and an inner ring for sealing the inner surface of the mouth of the container are formed on the inner surface of the top plate section, while a screw is formed on the inner surface of the skirt section; the inner surface of the outer ring has a shape inclined toward the interior of the cap and, in a closed state, at least a seal point on the inner surface of the outer ring is pressure-contacted with the outer surface of the mouth of the container, whereby sealability is maintained; and in an unsealing step, a seal point on the outer surface of the inner ring is shifted into a pressure-contacted state on the inner surface of the mouth of the container located above a starting point of the screw of the mouth of the container before a seal by the outer ring is released, whereby sealability is maintained.
In the plastic cap of the present invention, the following features are preferred:
1. The seal point of the inner ring is an outermost diameter portion bulging outwardly, whereas the seal point of the outer ring is an innermost diameter portion at the lower end of the inner surface inclined downward.
2. A contact ring which contacts the leading end of the mouth of the container is formed between the outer ring and the inner ring.
3. A tamper-evident band is formed at the lower end of the skirt section via a breakable weakened portion and, after the breakable weakened portion is broken, a seal by the inner ring is released.
4. The seal point of the inner ring in the closed state is at a position on the inner surface of the mouth of the container corresponding to the notch formed first in a path beginning at the starting point of the screw formed on the outer surface of the mouth of the container and heading in the direction of threading.
5. If it is assumed that the axial length from the upper end of the notch formed in a threaded part of the screw at an uppermost level of the resin container to the leading end of the mouth of the container is W, a distance for which the cap ascends from the closed state until release of sealing by the outer ring is X, a distance for which the cap ascends from the closed state until breakage of the weakened portion is Y, and a distance for which the cap ascends from the closed state until a seal break is Z, the following formulas Y<Z and X>(Z−W) are satisfied.
6. The resin container is a resin container for aseptic filling, whose mouth is amorphous and in which nitrogen is enclosed after contents are filled into the container.
With the plastic cap of the present invention, at the time of initial unsealing of the cap, the seal point between the cap and the container mouth is switched from that of the seal by the outer ring to that of the seal by the inner ring in conformity with the turning angle of the cap. By so doing, even when the cap is applied to a container inferior in dimensional accuracy, sealability can be ensured reliably.
If the plastic cap has a TE band, moreover, the seal break is sure to occur subsequently to the bridge break, thus enabling excellent TE properties to be exhibited.
For the plastic cap of the present invention, the following are important features: The outer ring has a shape inclined toward the interior of the cap. In the closed state, sealability is maintained at least by the outer ring. The seal point of the inner ring after the seal by the outer ring is released is located above the starting point of the screw of the container mouth.
As stated earlier, the inner surface of the container mouth, which corresponds to parts where notches are formed in the screw of the container mouth for the purpose of forming a vent in the screw, may be formed with irregularities. According to the present invention, however, even if the inner ring contacts the inner surface portion of the container mouth where the irregularities may occur, sealability is ensured by the outer ring. After sealing by the outer ring is released, on the other hand, a seal point is produced by the inner ring which lies at a position above the starting point of the screw of the container mouth, namely, at a position on the inner surface of the container mouth where there is no risk of irregularity formation. Hence, even if irregularities are formed on the inner surface of the container mouth corresponding to the parts where the notches are formed in the screw, reliable sealability is ensured.
The present invention will be described below based on the accompanying drawings.
A step 5 associated with a parting line produced during container molding is formed on an outer surface near the leading end of the container mouth.
An engaging projection 6 for engagement with flap pieces formed on the inner surface of the TE band of the cap is formed in a lower part of the container mouth.
The plastic cap of the present invention, indicated entirely at 10, comprises a cap body 10a composed of a top plate section 11, and a skirt section 12 suspending from the peripheral edge of the top plate section 11; and a TE band 20 molded integrally with the cap body 10a via a weakened portion 17. The top plate section 11 is formed with an inner ring 13 for contacting the inner surface 1a of the container mouth 1 to ensure sealability; an outer ring 14 for contacting the outer surface 1b of the container mouth; and a contact ring 15 formed between the inner ring 13 and the outer ring 14, and located outwardly of the base of the inner ring 13, for making contact with the leading end 1c of the container mouth. In the skirt section 12, a screw 16 is formed for engaging the screw 2 formed in the container mouth. On the inner surface of the TE band 20, a plurality of flap pieces 21 extending upward from the lower end are formed.
In the present invention, the inner surface of the outer ring 14 has a shape inclined toward the interior of the cap. As shown in
In this state, moreover, a seal point Q1 of an outermost diameter portion of the outer side surface of the inner ring 13 makes intimate contact with the inner surface 1a of the container mouth downwardly of the seal point P1 of the outer ring 14 and in the neighborhood of the threaded part 2a at the upper level in the container mouth (concretely, at a position on the inner surface of the container mouth corresponding to the notch 3a formed first in a path beginning at a starting point 4 of the screw of the container mouth 1 shown in
When the cap 10 is turned for unsealing, and begins to move upward, the contact ring 15 first leaves the leading end 1c of the container mouth. Then, the pressure contact between the seal point P1 of the outer ring 14 and the outer surface 1b of the container mouth is released. In this state, the seal point Q1 of the inner ring 13 is in pressure contact with the inner surface 1a of the container mouth above the starting point 4 of the threaded part 2a of the container mouth. That is, the seal point Q1 of the inner ring 13 maintains the intimate contact state while moving upward, during the unsealing step beginning in the closed state of
The inner ring 13 also has a straight-line portion 13a suspending from the top plate section 11, and the outer surface of the inner ring 13 bulges out in an arcuate form, whereby the seal point Q1 makes intimate contact with the form of the inner surface 1a of the container mouth. Thus, the straight-line portion 13a elastically deforms in accordance with the seal point Q1.
With the plastic cap of the present invention, it is important that in the closed state, the outer ring be capable of ensuring sealability. The length of the outer ring that fulfills this condition varies with the shape of the mouth of the container to which the cap is to be applied. Preferably, however, the outer ring has a length of 1.0 to 1.6 mm. The angle of inclination of the inner surface of the outer ring toward the interior of the cap (the angle with respect to the axial direction) is preferably 10° or less, especially 4 to 10°.
For the container mouth according to the present invention, the turning angle of the cap during initial unsealing varies with the pitch or the like of the screws of the container mouth and the cap. In the case of a resin container of a generally distributed size, the turning angle is 120 to 180 degrees, and the vertical axial height is 0.3 to 0.6 mm, for a turn from the closed state of
In a PCO-1881 bottle (outer diameter of the mouth: 28 mm, pitch of the screw: 2.7 mm), a general container as a polyester bottle, the turning angle is set to be about 150 degrees for a turn from the sealed state of
The site of the inner surface of the container mouth, which the inner ring contacts and where the irregularities attributed to the difference in the amount of resin shrinkage occur, is a site 1.7 mm or more below the upper end of the container mouth. In the state of
Let the axial length from the upper end of the above-mentioned site of the inner surface of the container mouth, which the inner ring contacts and where the irregularities attributed to the difference in the amount of resin shrinkage occur (i.e., the upper end of the notch formed in the threaded part at the uppermost level), to the upper end of the container mouth be W; the distance for which the cap 10 ascends from the closed state of
The plastic cap of the present invention uses, for example, a thermoplastic resin, such as low, medium or high density polyethylene, linear low density polyethylene, isotactic polypropylene, syndiotactic polypropylene, poly-1-butene, poly-4-methyl-1-pentene, random or block copolymer of α-olefins such as ethylene, propylene, 1-butene, or 4-methyl-1-pentene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-(meth)acrylic acid copolymer, ethylene-(meth)acrylate copolymer, or ion crosslinked olefin copolymer (ionomer). The plastic cap can be molded, for example, by compression molding or injection molding.
The plastic cap of the present invention can be used for a resin container formed with a vent mechanism, in which a screw and a notch constituting a vent are formed simultaneously with the molding of the mouth of the container, so that irregularities due to molding strain such as sink marks are apt to occur in the inner surface of the mouth of the container.
Such a resin container formed with a vent mechanism is put to a use for filling contents having an autogenous pressure, such as a carbonated beverage, and a use such as aseptic filling or hot packing (hot filling). In the present invention, in particular, the resin container can be put suitably to a use such as aseptic filling using a polyethylene terephthalate bottle having an uncrystallized mouth.
1 container mouth; 2 screw; 3A, 3B vents; 3a, 3b notches; 4 starting point of screw; 5 step; 6 engaging projection; 10 cap; 11 top plate section; 12 skirt section; 13 inner ring; 14 outer ring; 15 contact ring; 16 screw; 17 weakened portion; 20 TE band; 21 flap piece.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2019-033541 | Feb 2019 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2020/005068 | 2/10/2020 | WO | 00 |