Containers

Abstract

A container such as, e.g., a bottle of synthetic material, has a neck closed by a lid integrally moulded with the neck. A cap of elastic material is moulded over the lid and the end of the neck.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to containers or bottles made by moulding in any suitable synthetic material, such as polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride.

More particularly but not exclusively, the invention relates to bottles of this kind which are intended to contain or do contain a medicinal product. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing containers.

These containers are, for example, bottles of physiological serum used for a perfusion.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In order particularly to preserve the indispensable sterility of their contents, these bottles are hermetically closed and sealed and access to their interior for the purpose of adding an adjuvant to their contents when the latter are used, and/or for the purpose of taking out all or some of said contents, is obtained by perforation with the aid of any tubular intervention tool which is forced through any of the walls of the bottle.

The synthetic material of which the bottle is made, and which is selected for its suitability for the usual methods of forming hollow bodies by moulding, extrusion, or blowing for example, has practically no elasticity.

Consequently, when the intervention tool penetrates its, this synthetic material tears irregularly, most frequently in a star-shaped tear, and consequently does not fit the external contour of said tool as perfectly as would be desirable. This results in leaks around said tool; the risk of leakage becomes still greater when the intervention tool is withdrawn from the bottle, since the perforation caused by the tool closes up only incompletely after its withdrawal. Apart from leaks and undesirable discharge which such lack of tightness may cause, this lack of tightness may also give rise to ultimate pollution of the contents of the bottle.

In order to obviate this disadvantage it is customary for the wall of the bottle which is to be perforated to be lined locally by a seal of elastic material which makes up for the lack of elasticity of said wall; it is this seal which closes up either on the intervention tool or on itself and which consequently provides the desired tightness.

A seal of this kind may be disposed in any position on the bottle.

Nevertheless, it is convenient to dispose it within the device closing the filling neck of the bottle, or any other mouth provided on the latter for that purpose, both because of the more considerable area which is available in this position and favourable to a plurality of interventions, and also because of the usual arrangements according to which the bottle is used in the inverted position, that is to say with the neck downwards.

However, in a technique which is tending to be developed at the present time the bottles of synthetic material are filled in the machine which enables them to be moulded, this being done while their filling neck is still hot and therefore plastic, and they are then closed and sealed in the same machine by the final pinching of their neck; in short, the bottles leave the machine in the filled condition with their necks closed by a lid integrally moulded with said neck.

There is consequently no longer any question of providing a stopper device for a neck of this kind or even of incorporating any elastic seal therein.

It has therefore been proposed to replace this seal by an elastic cap disposed on the end of the neck.

In practice, however, this arrangement is not found satisfactory for the following reasons. Firstly, the lid closing the neck usually has very considerable surface irregularity, which is inherent in the manner in which it is formed.

This has the consequence that the cap fitted to the neck cannot in any circumstances fit the surface of said lid, and that consequently a free space exists between said cap and said lid; for the reasons explained above, the free space is entered by the contents of the bottle once the latter has been perforated by an intervention tool and inverted, with the consequent risk of leakage and pollution.

Moreover, this risk is all the more serious because the cap in question is fitted on the bottle neck while in the cold state, at a more or less late stage in the preparation of the latter and consequently the lid closing said neck may have been contaminated on its surface after the process of sterilisation of the bottle.

SUMMARY

According to the invention a container, e.g., a bottle of synthetic material, comprises a neck closed by a lid integrally moulded with the neck, and a cap of elastic material moulded over said lid and the end of said neck.

The container may be one for which the fitting of this cap constitutes one of the normal stages of manufacture, or one for which the fitting of this cap constitutes in a way an additional operation with the particular aim of improving its characteristics.

Accordingly, the invention also includes in the manufacture of a container, e.g., a bottle of synthetic material, having a neck, the step of overmoulding a cap of elastic material on the neck, said neck having been previously closed by a lid integrally moulded with the neck.

However this may be, the overmoulded cap according to the invention closely fits the suface irregularities of the lid closing the bottle neck, so that between said cap and said lid there remains no void or break in continuity capable of giving rise to any leak; in these circumstances the cap and the lid may be considered to form conjointly a composite material of which one layer has the elasticity necessary for the desired tightness.

Moreover, the overmoulding of the cap is preferably effected in the hot state, for example at about 120.degree. - 140.degree. C, or in any case at a temperature sufficient to effect final sterilisation of the surface of the lid before the latter is covered over; the surface of said lid can therefore no longer give rise to any pollution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective, by way of example, of a bottle to which the invention may be applied;

FIG. 2 is a view in section of the neck of the bottle of FIG. 1 and also of the cap which it is possible to fit independently on said neck;

FIG. 3 is a similar view to FIG. 2, showing the bottle neck provided with an overmoulded cap according to the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates diagrammatically the overmoulding of said cap;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are patial views on a larger scale of the neck of the bottle, which is assumed to be inverted, and of its overmoulded cap, illustrating the manner of intervention of said cap when the bottle is used;

FIGS. 6 to 11 are half-views in section similar to FIG. 3, each relating respectively to a modified embodiment; and

FIG. 12 is a view similar to FIG. 3, relating to an additional embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 illustrates the application of the invention to a bottle of synthetic material, having a carrier base and a square section; these arrangements however are naturally not in any way restrictive and the invention may be applied to bottles of circular or other section, as well as to entirely flexible bottles.

FIG. 1 illustrates more particularly the case where a bottle of this kind has a neck 10 which is closed by a lid 11 formed by pinching said neck 10 after the bottle has been filled with a product.

As illustrated, the neck 10, in this example, has on the outside a circular band 12, the purpose of which will be seen later on; but this again is not an arrangement restricting the invention.

Because of the manner in which it is formed the lid 11 has numerous surface irregularities; consequently, if a separate cap 13 (FIG. 2) is fitted on the neck 10 a free space 14 will be left between said cap 13 and the lid 11, and this free space 14 may give rise to the difficulties mentioned above.

According to the invention (FIG. 3), a cap 15 of elastic material, for example a natural elastomer, synthetic elastomer, or thermoplastic homopolymer or copolymer, is moulded over the end of the neck 10 and over the lid 11; elastic materials which are more particularly satisfactory in this connection are in particular ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymers, for example of the type sold under the trade name "ALATHON," and styrene/butadiene copolymers, for example of the type sold under the trade name "CARIFLEX."

This overmoulding may be easily achieved with the aid of two moulding dies 16A, 16B disposed around the neck 10 and together forming the mould cavity 17 for the cap to be formed, one of said dies having a passage 18 for the injection of the overmoulding material, as indicated diagrammatically in FIG. 4; this overmoulding could also be achieved by any other means, for example with a gun.

It is clear that this overmoulding may be applied to any type of bottle or other container, and even to those for which such overmoulding had not originally been contemplated.

It is important to emphasise that this overmoulding leads to the obtaining of a cap 15 which closely fits the surface of the lid 11, so that all along the corresponding joint plane P between the lid and the cap there exists no free space or other break in continuity.

The advantages of this arrangement will be better seen by referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, which illustrate diagrammatically the utilisation of the bottle; these figures relate more paticularly to the removal of the contents of the bottle, which is why the cap 15 and the lid 11 are shown therein in inverted positions.

As has been explained above, the utilisation of the bottle, comprising the addition of an adjuvant or the removal of the contents, is effected with the aid of a tubular intervention tool 19, such as a hollow needle, perforation tip, trocar, or the like, which is engaged by force, by perforation, through the cap 15 and lid 11, as illustrated in FIG. 5A.

This tool 19 forces elastically a passage 20 through the cap 15, but because of the elasticity of the material of which the latter is made the walls of this passage are applied closely and therefore hermetically against the outer contour of said tool.

On the other hand, the perforation 21 formed by the tool 19 in the lid 11 produces a veritable tear and is therefore irregular; there exists at least locally a void between the walls of this perforation and the tool 19, so that if the joint plane P between the lid 11 and the cap 15 were not tight the contents of the bottle would leak out laterally along this joint plane and could well up on the periphery of the cap; in addition, these contents could be polluted on contact with the lid 11.

This would be the case with the cap 13 illustrated in FIG. 2.

On the other hand the overmoulding of the cap 15 according to the invention provides the desired tightness of the joint plane P; as indicated above, it also ensures the sterilisation of the surface of the lid 11.

When the intervention tool 19 is withdrawn (FIG. 5B), the walls of the passage 20 close against one another, thus ensuring a permanent seal, although the perforation 21 continues to gape open.

In the foregoing it has been assumed that the band 12 of the neck 10 was smooth.

The variants illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 12 relate to the case where a band of this kind is provided with anchoring means, in relief or in the form of depressions and so shaped as to resist the tearing off of the cap 15.

FIG. 6 illustrates a single continuous annular groove 22 of semicircular section; this section could equally well be square, rectangular, or of dovetail or other shape.

In FIG. 7 there are two continuous annular grooves 23, the section of which has the form of a half-ellipse.

In FIG. 8 there are three continuous annular grooves 24; their section is an irregular triangle of which the side nearest the end of the neck 10 is the shortest of the sides and is preferably perpendicular to the axis of the neck.

FIG. 9 relates to grooves 25 which have a section in the form of an isosceles triangle.

In FIG. 10 the anchoring means carried by the band 12 of the neck 10 comprises one or more helicoidal screwthreads 26.

In FIG. 11 the anchoring means comprises a single groove 27 of rectangular section broken into successive discontinuous portions 28.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 12, the cap 15 according to the invention is associated with a security ring 29 which is known in itself and which makes the cap tamperproof; this is a ring, of metallic or other material, which laterally encloses the cap 15 and is folded axially over the latter, for example by lock beading or other means, particularly with the aid of the band 12 of the neck 10.

In a manner known in itself this ring 29 also provisionally secures a protective plate 30 which can be torn off by means of a gripping tongue 31 in order to use the bottle.

The invention is naturally not limited to the embodiments described and illustrated, but extends to any modified construction, and/or combination of their various elements, particularly with regard to the anchoring means which may be provided on the neck of the bottle.

It is also clear that the nature of the synthetic material used for moulding the bottle is immaterial; this may for example be a polyethylene, polyvinyl, polycarbonate, or polypropylene.

Furthermore, the invention is applicable generally to any type of container other than bottles, for example flasks, cans, etc.

Claims

I claim:

1. A bottle of synthetic molded material having a neck, a lid integrally molded with the neck and closing off the end thereof, and a cap of elastic material in continuous molded contact along the entire outer surface of the lid and at least part of the lateral surface of the neck, the outer surface of the lid being formed with surface irregularities, the surface of the cap in contact with the lid having irregularities complementary to those of the outer surface of the lid thereby effecting said continuous contact.

2. A bottle according to claim 1, wherein the bottle contains a product.

3. A bottle according to claim 1, wherein the cap is of a material selected from the group consisting of natural elastomers, synthetic elastomers, and thermoplastic homopolymers and copolymers.

4. A bottle according to claim 1, wherein the neck has at least one laterally extending anchoring means shaped to resist the tearing off of the cap.

5. A bottle according to claim 4, wherein the anchoring means comprises at least one annular groove.

6. A bottle according to claim 4, wherein the anchoring means comprises at least one helical screwthread.

7. A bottle according to claim 5, wherein the annular groove has a section of profile selected from a half-circle, half-ellipse, dovetail, square, rectangle, isosceles triangle, irregular triangle of which the side nearest the end of the neck is the smallest side and is perpendicular to the axis of the neck.

8. A bottle according to claim 1, wherein the cap is enclosed by a ring folded over said cap.

9. A bottle according to claim 8, wherein a tear-off protective plate is disposed on the cap and secured by said ring.