Container Closure Particularly For Sealing Bottles Having A Gas Emitting Content

Abstract

A container closure particularly for sealing bottles which have gas contents comprises a sealing member having a deformable disc portion which engages into the bottle neck and which has a side wall with a sealing lip engaged against the interior of the neck wall and a centering lip portion which is connected to the lower end of the disc and extends into the bottle neck. A holding element portion is connected to the opposite end of the wall of the disc portion from the centering lip and it extends over the annular mouth bead or rim of the container and terminates in a skirt portion on the exterior extending around the bead and includes an inturned bottom portion which engages the bead from the exterior. The holding element portion carries a tab which projects outwardly from one side and the material of the sealing member increases in thickness substantially from the center of the disc member toward the end which is opposite to the tab end.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates in general to seals for containers and in particular to a new and useful seal particularly for bottles having a gas pressure producing content and which includes an elastic sealing body which comprises a deformable disc admitted by gas pressure and at least one sealing lip designed to bear on the neck of the container and with a holding element having a tab which serves to embrace the mouth bead or rim of the container from the top.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A principal concern of the present invention is to provide a seal for containers which reseal a container in a gas tight condition after a part of its gas pressure producing contents has been removed. Particularly in bottles which contain mineral water, cider, wine, beer, etc. there is difficulty in finding a device which can adequately reseal containers to insure that further gas emission will be curtailed. The only known devices at the present time are very expensive and they do not always seal satisfactorily. It is particularly desirable that a seal of this nature be constructed so that it may be easily mechanically attached to the container and it must be shaped to accelerate the attachment compared to conventional seals in order to facilitate the removal of the seal from the container and also to permit a higher gas pressure in the container without the seal becoming detached therefrom. A preferred seal should not fit so tight that there is a danger that the container will burst but rather it should become detached before the critical gas pressure is attained. A further desirable feature therefore is that the seal be such that it will be thrown off substantially in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the container and hence will be hurled in most cases vertically upwardly. It was found that seals which are not absolutely circularly symmetrical can take courses which deviate substantially from the longitudinal axis and thus hurt people in the vicinity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention there if provided a sealing member which includes an inner cylindrical portion which is adapted to fit into the container neck and to be sealed therewith and a holding portion which engages around the rim of the container and is sealed on the exterior therewith. Such a closure member includes a tab on its one end at the exterior and the material of the member is made so that it increases in thickness substantially from the center of the disc portion toward the end opposite to the tab. The construction also includes a centering lip connected to the periphery of the disc portion and extending into the container neck portion along the walls of the container.

Accordingly it is an object of the invention to provide a container closure of improved sealing characteristics and which includes a central disc portion which engages within a container neck and a holding portion which extends over the rim of the container and terminates in a skirt portion with a radially extending projecting tab and with the material of the member being made so that it increases in thickness toward the end opposite to the tab preferably from about the center of the disc portion.

A further object of the invention is to provide a closure device which is simple in design, rugged in construction and economical to manufacture.

For an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference is made to the following description of a typical embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

In the Drawing:

FIG. 1 is a partial transverse sectional view taken along the line I--I of FIG. 2 and showing a container seal with a closure member constructed in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the seal shown in FIG. 1.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings in particular, the invention embodied therein comprises a closure or sealing member generally designated 50 for a container 52 which comprises a bottle having an elongated neck portion 2 with a top rim or mouth bead 1 surrounding a pouring opening.

In accordance with the invention a closure member 50 includes a deformable disc 4 which is made of an elastic material and which is advantageously curved inwardly toward the interior of the bottle. A holding element portion 3 is engaged with the upper end of a vertical wall portion 52 of the disc portion 4 and extends around the mouth bead 1 and terminates on the exterior of the container in a skirt portion with an inwardly extending tightening ring 5 which embraces the mouth bead 1 and bears against a stop edge 6 defined at the under side of the mouth bead 1 when the pressure in the bottle increases. With a rising gas pressure and a resultant slight detachment of the disc 4 the tightening ring 5 is pressed against the stop edge 6 and this results in a further detachment of the seal and in a slight rotation of the holding elements toward the outside so that this tightening ring 5 is pressed even further against the mouth bead 1.

With the inventive construction the disc 4 is reinforced toward one side or end and this is achieved by increasing the thickness of the sealing member 50 from the center location at 41 toward the opposite edge 42. This thickening of the disc portion insures that the disc 4 will remain elastic in its center and offers a great resistance to the gas pressure. This contrasts with the known discs of constant thickness in which it is possible for the disc to be moved toward the open mouth and become detached from the wall of the bottle neck so that the seal becomes lost and the sealing effect is destroyed so that the gas escapes from the contents.

In accordance with a further feature of the construction the side wall 52 of the disc portion 4 carries an inwardly extending sealing lip 7 which engages against the interior wall of the neck 2 of the container 52. The lip 7 is rounded off at its highest point so that it is not damaged by frictional engagement with the bottle neck when the seal is loosened as would be the case for example with a sawtoothed sealing lip.

The increase in gas pressure within the container also causes a flattening of the disc 4 by the upward flexure of the central wall portion and this results in the pressing of the sealing lip 7 further against the bottle neck 2 so that a good seal is achieved.

An annular centering lip 8 extends downwardly, that is inwardly into the container from the periphery of the disc 4. The outside that is the lower diameter of the sealing lip 8 as shown in FIG. 1 is less than the inside diameter of the bottle neck so that the sealing lip 8 defines a ring slot 9 with the interior wall of the bottle 52. When the seal member 50 is attached the slot 9 is centered relative to the bottle even if the sealing member is attached slightly eccentrically and even if individual bottles have neck portions 2 of different internal diameters, for example smaller diameters so that the size of the slot 9 becomes reduced. The centering is good even if individual seals are not attached exactly axially by the sealing machines but are placed slightly askew that is inclined to the bottle center line.

The exterior of the closure member holding portion 3 is provided with a tab 10 which extends outwardly from one side. This tab 10 is provided with thickened portions or ribs 101 which have been found by tests to insure that the rising gas pressure in the container cause unsymmetrical stresses in an exactly circularly symmetrical seal. Therefore a circularly symmetrical seal will detach itself from the container after the critical gas pressure has been exceeded first on the side opposite to the tab 10 and then be thrown off in a very great angle to the container of up to 45.degree. and even more. Since one becomes accustomed to corks being thrown off substantially in a longitudinal direction of the bottle this greatly different direction of motion is unexpected and therefore a seal flying off in this direction can hurt people standing next to the bottle. In order to insure that such a seal behaves similar to a cork in this respect the edge 31 of the holding element 34 which embraces the mouth bead from the outside is designed so that its thickness increases from the tab to the diametrically opposite point on the wall edge 31. This is achieved by making the outer wall 32 of the wall 31 eccentrically in respect to the inner wall portion 33. The eccentricity is exxagerated in the drawing for clarity sake and actually only a fraction of a millimeter is sufficient to compensate for the stresses. Though the stresses are not distributed evenly in this way over the circumference of the seal, they are made equal with regard to a plane 11 as shown in FIG. 2 so that the seal will be thrown off substantially in an axial direction.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A container closure particularly for sealing bottles having a gas emitting content and with a wall defining a neck with a pouring opening surrounded by an annular mouth bead, comprising a sealing member having a deformable disc portion engageable into the bottle neck opening and having a side wall with an external seal lip engageable against the interior neck wall, a centering lip portion protruding into said neck from said disc portion, a holding element portion connected to the periphery of said disc portion on the end opposite to said centering lip and extendable over the bottle mouth bead and around a portion of the exterior of the neck wall and having a tightening ring portion engageable with the mouth bead and including a tab extending outwardly from one side, said disc and said holding element portion increasing in wall thickness at least from substantially the center of said disc portion toward the end of said sealing member opposite to said tab.

2. A container closure according to claim 1, wherein said holding element portion includes an outer and inner wall with the surface of the outer wall being eccentric to the inner wall surface.

3. A container closure according to claim 1, wherein the diameter of said centering lip portion at its outer free end is smaller than the outside diameter of said sealing lip.

4. A container closure according to claim 1, wherein said sealing member side disc includes a central wall portion enclosing the inner end of said side wall and being curved inwardly.

5. A container according to claim 4, wherein said sealing lip is adapted to be flattened at its outer exterior defining a surface which is engageable with the interior wall of the container.

6. A container according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of said holding element portion increases from said tab end toward the opposite end, said tab having a plurality of ribs defined thereon.