Patent Application
20050051554
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,082,944 and 6,015,062, assigned to the assignee of this application, Dayton Systems Group, Inc., disclose closure construction for reclosable containers (e.g, a can body) wherein a domed container end with a neck portion having a pour opening is provided with a reclosable lugged type of cap. International Application No. PCT/US01/49392 entitled DOME FORMNG SYSTEM, filed 27 Feb. 2002 by said Assignee, published on 6 Sep. 2002, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, and International Application No. PCT/US04/ entitled CONTAINER END FORMING SYSTEM, filed 30 Aug. 2004 by said Assignee, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, disclose methods and apparatus for making such caps.
That invention of the two U.S. patents provides a unique and versatile container for fluids, e.g. liquid or fluent materials, wherein various standard can bodies are provided with an end including a neck with a pour opening, a thread lug formation on the neck below the pour opening, together with a reclosable cap having a lug formation which can interlock with the thread lug formation on the neck and including a seal surrounding the pour opening, and capable of maintaining product under pressure or vacuum.
In particular, the above identified International applications disclose systems (method and tooling) for producing lugged cap members in a single apparatus, e.g. a press or presses fitted with appropriate tooling, which is capable of precise high speed operation to achieve acceptable commercial production of the cap.
The present invention provides an improved cap, and apparatus and a method for making such cap, including tooling for the first station. The improved cap is provided with a central button feature in its top panel that can move slightly upward or downward with respect to the remainder of the cap. When a container is filled, liquid Nitrogen is added just before the cap is applied. The liquid Nitrogen turns into gas and creates pressure in the container, causing the button to rise. Other methods can be used to pressurize the contents. When a consumer opens the cap, the gas is released and the button returns to its normal (down) position, or if pressure is accidentally lost the button returns to its normal (down) position. Thus, this feature will indicate loss of pressurization before intended opening, and possible resulting spoilage, or will indicate to the consumer that the container has been open, and may contain only partial product, if he should replace the cap to protect remaining product.
A coin ring is used to coin the metal of the cap central portion in a band of relatively narrow width and of significantly less diameter than the cap itself. This creates slack metal from down in the near-center area of the panel, and results in an ‘oil can’ configuration, which responds to the increased internal pressure upon filling and closing by causing the central area to “click” or snap to an extended (outward) position. When the container is opened, internal pressure is released and the central area returns to its state before filling. In the meantime, if internal pressure is lowered sufficiently (e.g. below a predetermined value) or released, the central area of the cap will snap (with an audible click) to indicate the internal pressure has been compromised or lost.
Details of the two station progressive tooling in a cap making press and associated transfer apparatus are disclosed in the published International application PCT/US01/49392 identified above. The present invention relates to different and unique tooling for the first station(s) of such an apparatus, and the uniqueness of the cap so produced.
A coil or sheets of metal material M, typically Aluminum or thin cold rolled steel, which may have on its upper surface appropriate patterns of lithographed materials for the exterior of each cap 11, are fed centrally into the first station(s) by appropriate feeding mechanism of known construction. Sheet feed mechanism which moves the material in step-wise fashion, synchronized to the press strokes, along the feed path indicated by arrow N in
The first station tools comprise an upper or blank punch tool 45 (
An upper cavity within piston head 55 receives the head of threaded suspension rod 59 which descends into the lower cavity 62 within blank punch 45. An upper coining tool 60 is fitted to rod 59, and may be adjusted vertically, to locate the coining ring 61 (
The lower tooling of the first station(s) comprises compound lower tooling including a cylindrical base ring 70 with an inner diameter that receives a lower draw pad 71. During the initial operation of the first station tools, with the lithographed patterns (if present) aligned with respect to the first station tools, a blank is cut from the material (typically aluminum or thin cold rolled steel) on the down stroke of the press by blank punch 45 passing through cut edge ring 72 on top of lower die ring 70. On the continuation of the down stroke, the lower or forming edge 75 of blank punch 45 moves the cap material about the upper configured edge of draw punch 77, with the material of the disc being carried downward between the exterior side of draw punch 77 and the interior of blank punch 45. These tools cooperate such that the blank is drawn into a cup shaped cap part (see upper portion of cup in
At that location (the bottom of the press stroke) the upper coining tool 60 has descended to adjacent the lower coining tool 80 which is fitted into a cavity 82 within the top of a draw punch 77. The adjustable screws 83 and 84 provide for precise positioning of the draw punch and lower coining tool 80. When these coining tools 60 & 80 engage the central panel of the cup part between them, they form the depressed panel shape 12A into the cap top panel 12, including the surrounding centered coined band B (
On the press up stroke draw pad 71, at the inner upper edge of which the lower curl ring 85 is formed, raises under spring pressure with the blank punch 45. That pressure is provided by rods 88 which extend upward through the lower tooling support plates and against the lower portion of draw pad 71. Fluid pressure from a suitable source (not shown) acts against pistons 89 at the lower ends of rods 88 to provide the effect of a lower ‘gas spring’. The bottom edge of the cap wall is curled outward into the cavity of curl ring 85 at the upper inner edge of draw pad 71, completing a formed cap 11 with an outward curled rim 15.
The formed cap in the first station, which is in the nature in an inverted cup, is biased against the upper forming die by a first air stream introduced through passage 50 into the cap as the first station tooling opens, and causes the cap to follow upward against the bottom of the punch 45. As explained in the above identified published International Application (Ser. No. PTC/US01/49392), during the upward travel of the cap, a second air stream is initiated in a direction across the upper fist station tooling toward a transfer chute (not shown) and is at its full power when punch 45 (with a cap 11 held thereto by the upward directed first air stream) traverses the space through which the second air stream is directed. By the time the first station tooling reaches full open at TDC of a press stroke, the cap has actually been transferred into a second station for formation of the cap lugs.
The cap provided by this invention may be used with a container initially filled with (for example) a liquid into which a small charge of liquid Nitrogen is introduced at the end of a filling, just before such cap as herein described is applied to the container. That charge will change into gaseous state and the container and its contents will be internally pressurized. This action causes the cap to snap or ‘click’ outward, and to remain in that state until the container is first opened. Then, the internal pressure is relieved and the cap will snap in a reverse manner. The visible change in shape of the cap's top panel will signal that the container has been opened (or perhaps has leaked), and additionally the audible ‘click’ sound will provide a further signal.
While the methods herein described, and the forms of apparatus for carrying these methods into effect, constitute preferred embodiments of this invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these precise methods and forms of apparatus, and that changes may be made in either without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the appended claims.
This application is related to U.S. Provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/501,374 filed 9 Sep. 2003, entitled PRESSURE INDICATING FEATURE FOR REPLACEABLE CONTAINER CAPS, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60501374 | Sep 2003 | US |
