Patent Application
20180016057
Two-piece dispensing closures have been used for decades in the packaging industry, most commonly for dispensing dry goods, such as sugar, salt, spices, etc. Two-piece closures have been used on composite cans and more recently have been applied to plastic canisters. The typical construction of a two-piece dispensing disclosure includes a base part that fits on top of the container, where a disk-shaped rotor is rotatably positioned on top of the base part. The rotor is configured to rotate to align various openings in both the rotor and base to selectively dispense product in the container.
A prior art two-piece dispensing closure 11 used in the packaging industry is illustrated in
There are several challenges with conventional dispensing closures. For example, conventional dispensing closures require the formation of two separate pieces (a base and a rotor), which must be assembled in a subsequent process to the formation of the pieces. Further, for smaller dispensing closures, it is very difficult to get the breakout piece to separate from the base as the whole or aperture through which one must push the breakout piece out is quite small and often times requires a tool or other hard device to punch through the breakout piece to get it to detach. Further, with conventional closure devices, the detached breakout piece often falls into the product to be dispensed from the container.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved dispensing closure device that overcomes the various disadvantages of the prior art closure devices.
Embodiments of the disclosure may provide a dispensing closure for a container that includes a base having a substantially planar upper surface having a central hub aperture and at least one product dispensing aperture formed therein; a rotor having a substantially planar lower surface having at least one product dispensing aperture formed therein; a breakout plug integrally molded with the rotor and being connected thereto by at least two axially aligned breakaway securing members; a hub integrally molded with the rotor and extending therefrom through the central hub aperture; and a hub securing member positioned on a distal end of the hub that extends through the central hub aperture, the hub securing member having a larger diameter than a diameter of the central hub aperture.
Embodiments of the disclosure may further provide a dispensing closure for a container that includes a base having a contoured upper surface; a rotor having a contoured lower surface that substantially conforms to the contoured upper surface, the lower surface being positioned immediately on the upper surface; a first product dispensing aperture formed in the base and a second product dispensing aperture formed in the rotor; and a breakout plug positioned in the second product dispensing aperture and being integrally molded with the rotor, the breakout plug being connected to a main body of the rotor by at least two axially aligned breakaway securing members.
Embodiments of the disclosure generally provide a dispensing closure for a dry goods container. The closure includes a base secured to a top portion of a dry goods container and having a substantially planar upper surface with a central hub aperture and at least one product dispensing aperture formed therethrough, the base being molded in a first shot of a two-shot process from polyethylene material or syndiaotactic polyethylene. The closure further includes a rotor having a substantially planar lower surface having at least one product dispensing aperture formed therethrough, the rotor being molded in a second shot of a two-shot process from a low density polyethylene, the rotor being molded directly on the base in the two-shot process. A breakout plug is integrally molded with the rotor and connected by at least two axially aligned breakaway securing members, the breakaway securing members each having a structural connection between an outer perimeter surface of the breakout plug and a main body of the rotor, the structural connection having a larger cross sectional area at a connection adjacent the breakout plug than a cross sectional area at a connection adjacent the main body of the rotor. A hub is integrally molded with the rotor and extending therefrom through the central hub aperture, and a hub securing member is positioned on a distal end of the hub that extends through the central hub aperture, the hub securing member having a larger diameter than a diameter of the central hub aperture.
The present disclosure is best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying Figures. It is emphasized that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.
It is to be understood that the following disclosure describes several exemplary embodiments for implementing different features, structures, or functions of the invention. Exemplary embodiments of components, arrangements, and configurations are described below to simplify the present disclosure; however, these exemplary embodiments are provided merely as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Additionally, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various exemplary embodiments and across the Figures provided herein. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various exemplary embodiments and/or configurations discussed in the various Figures. Moreover, the formation of a first feature over or on a second feature in the description that follows may include embodiments in which the first and second features are formed in direct contact, and may also include embodiments in which additional features may be formed interposing the first and second features, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. Finally, the exemplary embodiments presented below may be combined in any combination of ways, i.e., any element from one exemplary embodiment may be used in any other exemplary embodiment, without departing from the scope of the disclosure.
Additionally, certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, various entities may refer to the same component by different names, and as such, the naming convention for the elements described herein is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, unless otherwise specifically defined herein. Further, the naming convention used herein is not intended to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. Additionally, in the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to.” All numerical values in this disclosure may be exact or approximate values unless otherwise specifically stated. Accordingly, various embodiments of the disclosure may deviate from the numbers, values, and ranges disclosed herein without departing from the intended scope. Furthermore, as it is used in the claims or specification, the term “or” is intended to encompass both exclusive and inclusive cases, i.e., “A or B” is intended to be synonymous with “at least one of A and B,” unless otherwise expressly specified herein.
The breakaway securing members 112 may also be configured to readily detach from the main body of the rotor 102 when rotated or pivoted. For example, the breakaway securing members 112 may be wider or otherwise have a larger cross sectional surface area approximate the breakaway securing member 112, while also having a narrower or otherwise smaller cross-sectional surface area proximate the main body of the rotor 102. Having the narrower or smaller cross-sectional surface area near the main body results in the breakaway securing members 112 detaching or breaking away from the rotor main body 102 at or very near the main body of the rotor 102 when the breakout plug 108 is pivoted or rotated.
The breakout plug 108 also includes a raised button portion 110 generally positioned on a distal end of the breakaway plug 108. The raised button portion 110 may be actuated by pushing down on one side of the breakout plug 108, thus causing the breakout plug 108 to pivot or rotate on the axis formed by the breakaway securing members 112. As noted above, this pivot or rotational movement of the breakout plug 108 causes the narrow or smaller cross-sectional area portion of the breakaway securing members 112 to detach from the main body of the rotor 102, thus causing the breakout plug 108 to be able to be removed from the rotor 102 and allows product stored in the container upon which the dispensing closure 102 is attached to flow therethrough.
In operation, the dispensing closure 100 of the present disclosure allows for easy removal of the breakout plug 108 from the closure device. To do so, the user simply pushes downward on the raised button 110 of the breakout plug 108. The downward force on the raised button 110 causes the breakout plug 108 to pivot or rotate about an axis that extends through the breakaway securing members 112. The pivotal or rotational movement of the breakout plug 108 and the attached breakaway securing members 112 causes the breakaway securing members 112 to detach from the main body portion of the rotor 102, as the cross-sectional area of the breakaway securing members 112 immediately adjacent the rotor 102 is substantially less than the cross-sectional area of the breakaway securing members 112 adjacent the breakout plug 108. Thus, rotation of the breakout plug 108 causes the breakaway securing members 112 to detach from the rotor 102 main body, and therefore allows for the breakout plug to be easily removed, thus opening the aperture 106 in the rotor 102. Once the aperture 106 is free of the breakout plug 108, the rotor 102 may be rotated to align the aperture 106 in the rotor 102 with the aperture 128 in the base. Aligning the two apertures 106, 128 allows for the product in the container upon which the dispensing closure 100 is placed to flow through both apertures 106, 128 and to be dispensed therefrom.
The dispensing closure 100 of the present disclosure is generally manufactured by an overmolding type process. Overmolding is generally described as an injection molding process whereby a first part is molded and then a second part is molded on top of or around the first part. As such, the first part serves as all or a portion of the mold for the second part's molding process. One type of overmolding process is known as multiple material molding or two shot molding. Two shot molding requires a special injection molding machine that is equipped with two or more barrels, thus allowing for two or more materials to be shot into the same mold during the same molding cycle or process. Therefore, when the dispensing closure 100 of the present disclosure is molded, generally the base 104 will be injection molded first. Thus, the base 104 will be molded and then positioned for a second shot of molding whereby the rotor 102 will be on top of the base 104. More particularly, once the base 104 is molded, the part may be positioned in a second part of the mold where portions that form the base aperture 128 and the hub hole 134 in the base 104 are open to receive the rotor mold material. These portions of the base mold need to be removed so that the second shot molding process that forms the rotor 102 is allowed to flow the molding material into these areas where the rotor 102 will need to be formed.
Once the base 104 is molded and the portions of the base mold are removed, the next step is to mold the rotor 102 on top of the base 104. During this process the base 104 may be positioned in a second mold or another portion of the initial mold, whereby this second position or mold includes a support structure for the base 104 that covers the base aperture 128 and the hub hole 134 with the appropriate molding structure to form the portions of the rotor 102 that will extend in or through these apertures/holes. This portion of the molding process covers the bottom side of the base 104. The top side of the base 104 where the rotor 102 is generally formed will also include a second mold structure that will be positioned in the recess 130 of the base 104. The second molding structure will have the shape of the rotor 102 and will be positioned immediately above the upper flat surface 138 of the base 104. Once the molding structures are in place, the second shot injection molding may be used to form the rotor 102 directly on top of the base 104, and specifically, the rotor 102 will be formed directly on the upper flat surface 138 of the base 104. Further, the second shot molding will form the rotor features that extend through the hub hole 134 and the base aperture 128. These features (that extend through the base 104) include the breakout plug 108, the center hub 118, and the hub securing member 120.
Conventional two shot injection molding processes are typically configured to have the second shot component adhere or otherwise bond to the first shot component so as to form a unitary final component. The present disclosure uses an unconventional two shot molding process in that the materials for the first and second shot are selected specifically to not adhere or otherwise physically or chemically bond with each other, i.e., the materials are selected to have a lack of affinity for each other. Further, the current two shot injection molding process is also unconventional in that there are no coatings applied to the first component before the second component is shot or molded. Therefore, the present disclosure provides an unconventional two shot molding process whereby a second component is directly molded upon a first component, where the end result is that the second component is freely movable in relation to the first component, without having any additional chemicals or materials being applied to the first component to separate it from the second component during the molding process. More particularly, the present disclosure provides a novel process for molding the base 104 and a first shot and then molding the rotor 102 and a second shot, where the molding process uses no chemicals or additional materials to separate the first and second shot materials, and further, when the molding process is completed the rotor 102 is freely movable/rotatable on the base 104. The rotor 102 being freely movable on the base 104 requires no additional assembly or labor, rather the ability of the rotor 102 to rotate or move on the base 104 is purely the result of the novel two shot molding process and the careful selection of the first and second shot molding materials.
The material selection process for the first and second shot materials includes consideration of a number of properties. For example, the durometer or hardness of the material along with the modulus of the materials is important to the resulting flexibility and resistance to bending of the end component. The coefficient of friction between the two shot materials is also very important, as the current dispensing closure 100 seeks to minimize or eliminate friction between the rotor 102 in the base 104 so that the components may rotate relative to each other. As such, it is critical that the materials be selected to have the lowest amount of friction therebetween. Similarly, the adhesion of the two shot materials to each other is also an important parameter, as it is desired that the first and second molding materials not adhere or bond to each other in any way so that the rotor 102 and the base 104 can be freely movable relative to each other immediately after the injection molding process is completed. The melting temperature of the respective shot materials is also critical, as the material used to form the rotor 102 must have a melting temperature that is less than the mold dispensing temperature of the material used to form the rotor 104. If the melting temperature of the base 104 material is not sufficiently higher than the melting or dispensing temperature of the rotor 102 material, then the base 104 will melt or otherwise deform during the second shot of the molding process when the rotor 102 is formed thereon.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the base 104 may be injection molded in a first shot using a polyethylene material or syndiaotactic polyethylene, which are generally known to be inexpensive hard plastic materials used in injection molding. The rotor 102 may be injection molded in a second shot directly on top of the base 104 using a low density polyethylene, which is known as a common plastic material used in several everyday items. These two materials have shown the ability to be two shot molded without chemical or physical bonding between the respective materials/components and are able to be two shot molded without significant deflection, warping, burning, or other undesirable characteristics. Further, the first shot component (polyethylene) has shown to be freely movable from the second shot component (polyethylene) without requiring any additional materials, chemicals, releasing agents, coatings, or other components being applied to the first shot component before the second shot component is molded.
The foregoing has outlined features of several embodiments so that those skilled in the art may better understand the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the present disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and that they may make various changes, substitutions and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
