U.S. patent number 3,904,062 [Application Number 05/484,112] was granted by the patent office on 1975-09-09 for tamper-proof and loss-proof screw-type bottle cap.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Somepla S.A.. Invention is credited to Jean Grussen.
United States Patent |
3,904,062 |
Grussen |
September 9, 1975 |
Tamper-proof and loss-proof screw-type bottle cap
Abstract
Bottle cap has an internally threaded upper part, a lower
retaining ring cooperating with a shoulder formed by the base of
the bulge in the neck of a bottle to be capped, and a cylindrical
strip forming a collar connecting these two members and comprising
two rows of pins along its edges connecting it to said members so
that it may be partially separated therefrom.
Inventors: |
Grussen; Jean
(Neuilly-sur-Seine, FR) |
Assignee: |
Somepla S.A. (Lausanne,
CH)
|
Family
ID: |
9121918 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/484,112 |
Filed: |
June 28, 1974 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Jul 2, 1973 [FR] |
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73.24265 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
215/252; 215/258;
215/306 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D
41/3447 (20130101); B65D 55/16 (20130101); B65D
2401/30 (20200501); B65D 2401/35 (20200501) |
Current International
Class: |
B65D
41/34 (20060101); B65D 55/00 (20060101); B65D
55/16 (20060101); B65d 049/12 () |
Field of
Search: |
;215/250,252,253,254,256,258 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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1,013,586 |
|
Dec 1965 |
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GB |
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1,436,645 |
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Mar 1966 |
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FR |
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1,475,794 |
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Feb 1967 |
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FR |
|
Primary Examiner: Ross; Herbert F.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Brisebois & Kruger
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. Tamper-proof and loss-proof cap for a bottle having a neck
provided with external threads and an external shoulder beneath
said threads, said cap comprising
a continuous lower collar dimensioned to be engaged beneath said
shoulder,
an upper part having internal threads mating with the external
threads on said bottle, and
a connecting strip having two discrete ends and upper and lower
edges, encircling said body between said upper and lower parts, so
that said two ends at least nearly abut each other, said upper edge
being attached to said upper part and said lower edge to said lower
collar by rows of pins extending the greater part of the length of
said edges, said upper edge being also attached adjacent one of
said ends to said upper part by a web substantially wider and
stronger than said pins while said lower edge is attached near the
other of said ends to said lower collar by a web substantially
wider and stronger than said pins,
whereby rotation of upper part in one direction carries said lower
part unruptured with it due to abutment of said strip ends, whereas
rotation of said upper part in the opposite direction results in
rupture of said pins with said upper part remaining attached to
said lower collar only by said connecting strip.
2. Cap as claimed in claim 1 which comprises, a sealing skirt
depending from and within said internally threaded upper part, the
upper part of said skirt having an external diameter greater than
the internal diameter of the neck of the bottle, while its lower
part has a smaller thickness and external diameter than said upper
part, is connected to said upper and thicker part by a
frusto-conical portion and terminates at its lower edge in an
external chamfer, said lower part facilitating the introduction of
said sealing skirt into the neck of the bottle.
3. Cap as claimed in claim 2 in which the central portion of said
upper part inside the sealing skirt is thicker than its peripheral
portion surrounding said skirt.
Description
This invention relates to a new tamper-proof screw-type cap
characterized by the fact that it comprises at its bottom a
retaining ring adapted to cooperate with a shoulder on the lower
part of an external bulge on the neck of the bottle to be capped.
The upper part of this neck is provided with a molded thread
adapted to cooperate with an internal thread inside said cap. The
lower retaining ring is connected to the threaded part of the cap
by a cylindrical strip which is attached to the lower part and to
the upper part principally by two rows of frangible connecting pins
regularly spaced along almost all of the upper and lower edges of
the strip, and also by two continuous elongated parts in alignment
with these series of pins and permanently connecting the strip to
the threaded upper part of the capsule and to its lower part.
The separable strip thus makes it impossible to lose part of the
cap because the lower part of the cap cannot pass over the bulge on
the neck of the bottle, but may on the contrary descend along the
neck of the bottle and rotate when the upper part of the cap is to
be screwed back on, by reason of its connection to said strip.
It should be noted that one of the essential characteristics of the
new cap according to the invention resides in the direction of this
strip which is so chosen that the screwing on of the cap results in
rotation of the strip as well as the lower part of the cap without
tearing the connecting pins, while the unscrewing of the upper part
automatically breaks these pins, the rigidity of the strip between
the two rows of pins being insufficient to insure, in this case,
that the lower part of the cap will be rotated.
The characteristics of the present invention will be better
understood from a reading of the following description of one
embodiment of the tamper-proof and loss-proof cap according to the
invention, which embodiment is given purely by way of illustration
and example, and described with respect to the accompanying
drawings, on which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bottle equipped with said cap
after the connecting pins have been torn, showing the loss-proof
property of the cap;
FIG. 2 is an elevational view showing the same bottle before
tearing; and
FIG. 3 is a diametral section taken along the line III--III of FIG.
2.
FIG. 1 shows a bottle 1 equipped with a cap having three distinct
superposed parts, to wit: a lower collar 2, a partially separable
strip 3 provided with two rows of pins, and an upper part 4 having
an internal thread (not shown on FIG. 1) and adapted to cooperate
with the threads 5 on the outer part of the neck 6 of the bottle
1.
FIG. 1 also shows that the strip 3 is attached permanently to the
lower collar 2 by a continuous portion 7 and to the upper part 4 by
a continuous portion 8 of substantially equal length.
FIG. 2 shows the bottle 1, the upper part 4, and the lower collar 2
as well as the separable strip 3.
It is easy to understand that unscrewing of the externally knurled
part 4 causes, through the connection 8, a rupture of the lower and
upper pins shown at 9 and 10 on FIG. 2. The knurled periphery 11
which facilitates the screwing and unscrewing of the part 4 is
visible on FIG. 3 which shows a section taken through this cap at
the level of the space 12 (also visible in FIG. 2), which space
separates the two ends of the partially separable tongue.
It will finally be noted that the new cap preferably has an
internal sealing skirt 13 of a conventional type cooperating with
the internal part of the nect 6 of the bottle 1 and, which
comprises a lower portion 13a having a reduced thickness, which is
chamfered at its lower edge at 13b and adapted to facilitate the
introduction of said skirt into the neck 6. A hermetic seal may be
assured by imparting to the external portion of the sealing skirt
13 a diameter a little greater than the internal diameter of the
neck 6.
Such sealing skirts are already used on one piece caps of the type
comprising a simple external retaining member used to snap it onto
the neck of a bottle.
Finally, FIG. 3 shows the internal profile of the lower collar 2
and the way in which this collar cooperates with the shoulder 14 at
the base of the neck 6, thus forming a supplemental retaining
joint, the effect of which is added to that of the threads in the
upper part 4 of the cap.
As has already been stated, the lower collar 2 may fall in response
to gravitational force along the neck 1a of the bottle 1 after the
cap has been unscrewed from the bottle, but this collar 2 can in no
case slide upward to the top of the neck of the bottle 1.
It will of course be appreciated that the embodiment which has just
been described may be modified as to detail, and improvements or
additions be made, and that certain components thereof may be
replaced by their mechanical equivalents without thereby departing
from the basic principles of the invention.
* * * * *