Composite Closure

Abstract

A composite closure consisting of a flexible plastic fitment and a gasketed rigid metal closure panel. The metal closure panel is retained within the fitment by a circumferential shoulder. A lifting ring in the top of the flexible plastic fitment is joined to marginal portions of the fitment panel by breakable bridging portions and by a substantially unbreakable integral hinge portion attached directly to a portion of the skirt. Once the breakable bridging portions are broken, the semidetached ring serves to alert shoppers that the closure has been previously tampered with or removed. The exterior face of the downwardly extending skirt of the plastic fitment is substantially straight, and extends to tight abutment with a shoulder on the container making it difficult to pry the fitment off the container with an ordinary knife blade. In a preferred embodiment, the ring and peripheral portion of the flexible plastic fitment have a cooperative relationship with a recess in the metal closure panel to form a stacking ring to assist in the stabilization of stacked containers.

Description

This invention relates to container packages in general and, more specifically, it is directed to a dual-purpose tamper-proof composite closure for use on a container to form a package. The present invention relates to a composite closure consisting of an outer flexible plastic fitment and an inner rigid closure panel. This invention may be considered an advance with respect to the composite closure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,701. The rigid closure panel of this invention may be formed from metal and, unlike the composite closure disclosed in the previously cited patent, the closure panel has no appreciable skirt dependent therefrom. Moreover, the plastic fitment of this invention, unlike the fitment disclosed in the patent aforesaid, provides no convenient point or structure which is readily engageable by a prying tool, for removal thereof. Containers contemplated for use in accordance with this invention include glass, metal, and plastic containers.

It has been observed in the course of the utilization of the composite closure heretofore disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,701 that, in some instances, consumers attempt to remove the cover member by means of a prying tool be engaging the plastic fitment in the curve of the neck thereof, or by attempting to pry the cover from the container by means of a tool such as a coin, a knife blade, etc. applied between a shoulder of the container, and the lowermost edge of the fitment. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to virtually eliminate structures which are readily engaged by hand tools for the improper removal of the composite closure.

It is a general object of composite closures improved by the present invention to provide a package which though recloseable provides a tamper-warning when the inner seal is broken. Hence, it is considered particularly advantageous to provide the art with a composite closure of this type which is extremely difficult to remove by any means which avoid giving the tamper-warning.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a composite closure having a tamper-warning lifting or removal ring thereon, which ring also serves to permit normal removal of the closure without the aid of tools or the like. It is another object of this invention to provide a new and improved composite closure which is inexpensively manufactured, easily applied, and which includes a stacking ring which not only functions as a shock absorbing means to prevent loss of the seal should the package be subjected to accidental impact, but which moreover assists, to a very high degree, in the stabilization of an article stacked upon a like article.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following description and the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like parts.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan fragmentary view of a glass container package having a composite closure of the present invention assembled to hermetically seal the package.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken approximately along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional fragmentary elevational view taken approximately along the line 3--3 of FIG. 1 illustrating the structural relationships obtained upon stacking a plurality of like containers of this invention.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating the use of the lifting ring for removal of the composite closure from the container improved in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional elevational view illustrating the relative positioning of members at an intermediate stage during removal of the composite closure from the container.

In accordance with this invention a package generally indicated at 10 comprises a glass container generally indicated at 12 and composite closure generally indicated at 14.

In the illustrated embodiment container 12 includes a relatively large product-enclosing portion 16, a shoulder portion 18, and a relatively short cylindrical neck 20 providing mouth 22 through which access to the contents of product-enclosing portion 16 can be gained. Neck 20 has a smoothly rounded end finish 24 which provides a seat for the sealing means which will be described hereinbelow. The outer surface 26 of neck 20 includes relatively long side finish 28, inwardly necking surface 30, and relatively narrow diameter neck portion 32. Side finish 28, and necking surface 30 can be considered a radially extending flange extending from narrow portion 32. In the illustrated embodiment surface 30 converges downwardly and inwardly, and this configuration is a preferred configuration. However, surface 30 may alternatively extend substantially perpendicularly from narrow portion 32.

Composite closure 14 includes outer flexible plastic fitment 34, relatively rigid closure panel 36 and sealing gasket 38.

Rigid closure panel 36 has the general configuration of a relatively flat disc and includes no neck-encircling skirt portion. The diameter of closure member 36 is substantially equal to, or slightly less than, the maximum external diameter of neck 20 at side finish 28. It will be appreciated from a consideration of the enlarged cross-sectional views (e.g., FIG. 2) that closure panel 36 is shaped at its periphery and in the region immediately adjacent its periphery to provide a downwardly opening concave gasket channel 40, an upwardly opening concave portion 42 adjacent, and immediately inward of, channel 40, and central generally flat portion 44.

Flexible gasket 38 is preferably permanently bonded to closure member 36 within downwardly opening concave channel 40 thereof. It will be appreciated from the enlarged cross-sectional view that when a container in accordance with this invention is assembled, gasket channel 40 mates with end finish 24, and the surface of gasket 38 takes on the shape of the end finish 24 to provide a reliable hermetic seal. Thus, closure member 36, has the general appearance, as indicated hereinbefore, of a relatively flat disc, and gasket 38 lines the recess of concave portion 40.

Upwardly opening concave portion 42 functions as part of an annular stacking groove. It will be appreciated from the description following, that it provides a seating configuration which cooperates with structures in flexible fitment 34 to provide the full mechanical equivalent of stacking rings which were used heretofore, and which, when formed entirely in plastic fitment 34 or its equivalent, as heretofore suggested, required excessive, or at least excess, quantities of plastic in the molding thereof.

Plastic fitment 34 includes substantially cylindrical skirt portion 46, and an end panel generally indicated at 47 which comprises inwardly extending fragmentary planar flange portion 48, and lifting-ring 50 which are joined by a plurality of readily breakable bridging portions 52, 52. It will be appreciated from a consideration of FIG. 1 that the only direct connection in the horizontal plane ,i.e., the plane of panel 47, between lifting ring 50 and flange 48 are bridging portions 52, 52, and that ring 50 is also directly connected to skirt 46 by relatively wide band 54 which is an integral hinge due to the flexible character of fitment 34.

Skirt 46 includes a smooth outer face 56, and, in cross-section, has a relatively thin portion 58 and a relatively thick end portion or collar-bead 60. Hence, because of the difference in thickness at different locations of collar 46, a recess 62 is provided around the inner surface of collar 46 adjacent end panel 47 thereon. Thus, only inner surface 64 of collar 46 is shaped for mating with structures on neck 20. Tapering portion 66 of inner surface 64, which is at the transition between recess 62 and enlarged end portion 60, is the portion which engages the corresponding, abutting necking portion 30 of neck 20 to retain composite closure 14 on container 12. Recess 62 also serves to loosely retain rigid closure panel 36, therein, so that fitment 34 and end panel 36 constitute an assembly when panel 36 resides in recess 62 of fitment 34.

Lifting-ring 50 includes relatively flat thin portion 57 and enlarged central portion 68. It will be appreciated from the following description of the use of lifting-ring 50 that enlarged central portion 68 not only serves to structurally reinforce lifting-ring 50, but moreover, assists in the stabilization of a like package 10' when seated upon package 10, e.g., as suggested in FIG. 3 herein.

OPERATION

When, in accordance with the use of this invention, lifting-ring 50 is disconnected from planar flange portion 48 by the breaking of bridging portions 52, 52 (see FIG. 4), band 54 can transmit forces directly to skirt 46. As perhaps best appreciated from a consideration of FIG. 5, the direction in which force is applied, when lifting ring 50 is substantially perpendicular to the end panel 47 of package 10, is substantially parallel to the elongated (axial) dimension of skirt 46. It will be appreciated that the initial forces which are thus applied will be concentrated at that portion 70 of skirt 46 immediately adjacent band 54. The only structure initially resisting movement of skirt 46 is enlarged bead 60 of skirt 46, and more specifically tapered surface 66 of skirt 46 which butts against the outwardly extending enlarged bead or side finish 28 of neck 20 of container 12. Thus, all the initially applied withdrawing forces are focused on surface 66 at portion 70 of skirt 46 and, because of the slightly flexible, elastic nature of fitment 34, surface 66 slides over necking portion 30. Upon initial withdrawing of plastic fitment 34 from neck 20, the enlarged bead 60 begins to peel around necking surface 30 moving enlarged bead 60 around wide bead 28 of neck 20 (FIG. 5). Since rigid panel 36 has no greater diameter than the widest diameter of neck 20 at side finish 28, skirt 46, when sliding off neck 20, does not engage rigid panel 36 while most of recessed portion 62 passes over closure panel 36. However, as the withdrawal of plastic fitment 34 continues, inwardly extending surface 66 engages the periphery of panel 36. This is made possible due to the fact that end 24 is smoothly rounded, whereas rigid closure member 36, is generally flat, disc-shaped and has a diameter substantially equal to maximum diameter of side finish 28. It will be appreciated that continued exertion of withdrawing force in the direction of the arrow at FIG. 5 now causes a lifting action at the abutment of surface 66 and closure member 36. Thus, at this point, there is now a concentration of the withdrawing forces on the task of breaking the seal between gasket 38 and finish 24 (initially overcoming a vacuum) and lifting rigid closure member 36 from sealing engagement with end finish 24. Upon complete removal of closure 14, closure panel 36 remains retained within recess 62 whereby composite closure 14 remains an integral assembly for convenient reclosing.

Thus it will be appreciated from a consideration of the foregoing description that, as a consequence of the novel combination of structural relationships provided in the described embodiment, the withdrawing forces urge collar 46 in an axial direction, and the entirety of the withdrawing forces are utilized initially to peel skirt bead 60 around neck side finish 28, and subsequently the forces are utilized almost entirely for the breaking of the seal between rigid closure member 36 and neck 20. Thus, much less force is required in the lifting of the composite closure of this invention than was required in heretofore available composite closures in which both the vacuum seal and the bead-peeling operation had to occur simultaneously.

It will be appreciated from a consideration of FIGS. 1 and 3 that the peripheral flange 48 of plastic fitment 34 overlays part of peripherally curved portion 40 of rigid closure member 36. Thus, downwardly recessed upwardly opening portion 42, in cooperation with peripheral flange 48 which, though substantially flat nonetheless has some cross-sectional thickness, defines an outer limit of a stacking ring which is actually a combination of the two members. Outer edge 72 of lifting-ring 50, even though lifting-ring 50 is relatively flat, cooperates with recessed portion 62 of rigid closure member 36 to define an inner limit of a stacking ring or composite annular stacking groove which is, again, a combination of the closure member 36 and plastic fitment 34. Thus, a mating bottom projection 75 in like-package 10' can rest in, and mate with, the composite stacking ring described hereinbefore. Moreover, lifting-ring 50, and particularly enlarged portion 60, also engages the recessed lower portion 77 to assist in the stabilization of package 10' in its stacked condition on package 10. Plastic bridging portions 52 are preferably narrow, as illustrated, to permit it to hug depression 52 in cove panel to facilitate stacking.

Also, because of the interposition of plastic fitment 34 between rigid closure member 36 and package 10' stacked thereon, inadvertent vibration, and shock-forces are better absorbed by the flexing of plastic fitment 34, and by the flexing or bowing of rigid member 36 in central flat region 44.

Claims

We claim:

1. A package comprising in combination:

a container, and a composite closure member;

said container including an enlarged product-enclosing portion, a shoulder portion, and a neck portion, the neck portion having a rounded end thereof, and having an outwardly extending neck bead around the entire circumference of the end thereof;

said composite closure member including a substantially disc-shaped rigid closure member and a flexible outer neck-engaging fitment, the relatively rigid closure member having means for forming a compression seal disposed around the periphery thereof by which said closure member sealingly engages the end of said neck, said rigid closure member having a diameter substantially equal to the widest outside diameter of said neck bead;

said flexible outer fitment including a perforate end panel and a collar portion, said end panel having pull tab means, said collar portion having a smooth, substantially straight outer face, and including an inwardly directed collar bead means positioned to extend beyond, and for engaging said neck-bead when the flexible outer fitment is in position around said neck, said collar portion extending along the entire length of said neck to firmly butt against the shoulder of said container, said fitment including recess means in said collar portion for loosely retaining said rigid closure member in a relatively wide zone adjacent to said end panel, said recess means and said closure member being so sized that said closure member fits loosely within said recess means , said inwardly directed collar bead means defining a lower extreme of said recess means, whereby axially directed pulling of said tab means sequentially urges said radially inwardly directed means around said side finish in the region of the tab while said sealing member remains fixed with respect to said neck, and thereafter continued axial urging of said tab brings said radially inwardly directed collar bead means to bear against and urge in an axial direction said sealing member away from said neck;

said perforate end panel including fragmentary, inwardly directed flange means;

lifting-ring means attached directly to said collar portion, and including at least one frangable bridge means for initially connecting said lifting-ring to said perforate end panel.

2. A package comprising in combination:

a container and a composite closure member;

said container including an enlarged product-enclosing portion, a shoulder portion, and a neck portion, the neck portion having a rounded end finish and having an outwardly extending side finish around the entire circumference of the end thereof;

said composite closure member including a substantially disc-shaped rigid closure member and a flexible outer neck-engaging fitment, the rigid closure member having gasket means for forming a compression seal around the periphery thereof by which said closure member sealingly engages the end of said neck, said closure member having a diameter substantially equal to the widest outside diameter of said side finish;

said flexible outer fitment including an end panel and a skirt dependent from said end panel, said skirt having a smooth, substantially straight outer face, and including an inwardly directed skirt bead means positioned to reside between said outwardly extending side finish and said shoulder for engaging said side finish when the flexible outer fitment is in operating position around said neck, said skirt extending along the entire length of the neck and firmly butting against the shoulder of said container, said fitment including recess means within the enclosure of said skirt for loosely retaining said rigid closure member therein in a relatively wide zone adjacent to said end panel, said recess means and said closure member being so sized that said closure member fits loosely within said recess means, said end panel having pull tab means, said inwardly directed skirt bead means defining a lower extreme of said recess means, whereby axially directed pulling of said tab means sequentially urges said radially inwardly directed means around said side finish in the region of the tab while said sealing member remains fixed with respect to said neck, and thereafter continued axial urging of said tab brings said radially inwardly directed skirt bead means to bear against and urge in an axial direction said sealing member away from said neck;

said end panel including fragmentary, inwardly directed flange means, and pull tab means attached directly to said skirt, and at least one frangable bridging portion for initially connecting said pull tab means to said inwardly directed flange means.

3. A press-on pull-off composite closure for a container having a neck with a side finish extending radially outward from said neck, said closure comprising a substantially disc-shaped rigid sealing member and a flexible outer neck-engaging fitment, said fitment having a perforate end panel including pull tab means, a generally cylindrical skirt depending from said end panel and recess means inside said skirt for loosely but permanently retaining said sealing member within said fitment, radially inwardly directed means extending from said skirt of said fitment for engaging said side finish on said neck for retaining said composite closure on said container, said radially inwardly directed means defining a lower extreme of said recess means, whereby axially directed pulling of said tab means sequentially urges said radially inwardly directed means around said side finish in the region of the tab while said sealing member remains fixed with respect to said neck, and thereafter continued axial urging of said tab brings said radially inwardly directed means to bear against and urge in an axial direction said sealing member away from said neck.