A tamper evident closure for a container having a bead provided on the outside surface of the neck thereof. The closure includes a top section and an outer skirt extending downwardly from the top section. The outer skirt includes a tamper evident strip extending along only a portion of the outer perimeter. The tamper evident strip is connected to a remaining portion of the outer skirt by a tear membrane, wherein the tamper evident strip may be separated from the remaining portion along the tear membrane. A first lug is provided at least partially on an inner surface of the temper evident strip and one or more second lugs are provided on an inner surface of the remaining portion of the outer skirt. The first lug and the one or more second lugs are each adapted to engage the bead on container to secure the closure to the container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a closure for a container such as a bottle, and more particularly, to a resealable, tamper evident closure for a container such as a bottle.

2. Description of the Related Art

The use of tamper evident or indicating closures has become quite common, particularly in connection with the packaging of consumer products such as food and beverage products. The tamper evident nature of the closure provides a level of confidence to consumer that the product they have purchased has not been previously opened or tampered with. Several temper evident closure structures are known in the art.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,268 to Bullock, III describes a plastic cap for a container that has a top disk, an upper skirt extending downwardly from the top disk, and a lower skirt extending downwardly from the upper skirt. The upper and lower skirts are joined by a line of minimum thickness that extends around the entire circumference of the cap. Both the upper skirt and the lower skirt are provided with locking beads formed in three separate sections around the inner circumference of the respective skirt. The locking beads are designed to engage corresponding beads provided on the container. In order to remove the cap from the container, a user pulls a tear tab provided on the lower skirt and separates the lower skirt from the upper skirt along the line of minimum thickness.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,920 to Dahl describes a closure for a container that includes an end panel and a skirt depending downwardly therefrom. The skirt includes a lower band having a notch in which a tamper indicating member is provided. The tamper indicating member is attached to the skirt by axial bridges and to the lower band of the skirt by circumferential bridges. The tamper indicating member is provided with a bead on the internal surface thereof that engages a bead provided on the container to which the closure is attached so as to interlock the tamper indicating member with the container. The lower band does not include a locking bead and does not interlock with the container. The bridges may all rupture when the closure is removed from the container with the tamper indicating member dropping out and leaving a readily observable notch in the band. Alternatively, one of the circumferential extending bridges may be made of sufficient strength so that the tamper indicating member remains attached to the closure, but its rupture from the remainder of the closure is obvious.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,050 to Janousch et al. describes a tamper-evident screw cap for a bottle that includes a lower guarantee strip having a predetermined breakage point at which the guarantee strip is able to be separated though its entire width. The predetermined breakage point includes at least two ribs that connect the ends of the guarantee strip across a separation space. A window-shaped stress relief aperture is arranged near the predetermined breakage point to improve the expandability of the guarantee strip when the cap is being screwed on to the bottle for the first time. In this instance, the stress relief aperture prevents the forces caused by the circumferential expansion of the guarantee strip from breaking the predetermined breakage point. When screwing the cap off for the first time, a flow of forces is created in the guarantee strip such that the stress relief aperture is no longer effective and the guarantee strip fulfills its function by tearing or otherwise separating from the cap to indicate that the cap has been removed. The portion of the guarantee strip that separates from the cap includes a retention element in the form of a bead that engages a corresponding bead on the bottle. The portion of the guarantee strip that is not separated from the cap does not include a similar bead. The upper portion of the cap includes threads for screwing the cap onto the bottle.

While the above described container closures may be effective for particular applications, there is room for improvement in the field of resealable, tamper evident container closures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a tamper evident closure for a container such as a bottle containing a liquid, wherein the container has a bead provided on the outside surface of the neck of the container. The closure includes a top section and an outer skirt extending downwardly from the top section. The outer skirt includes a tamper evident strip extending along only a portion of the outer perimeter. The tamper evident strip is connected to a remaining portion of the outer skirt by a tear membrane, wherein the tamper evident strip may be separated from the remaining portion along the tear membrane. A first lug is provided at least partially on an inner surface of the temper evident strip and one or more second lugs are provided on an inner surface of the remaining portion of the outer skirt. The first lug and the one or more second lugs are each adapted to engage the bead on the outside surface of the neck of the container to secure the closure to the container. When the tamper evident strip is separated from the remaining portion, it is an indication that the container has been opened. Also, the closure, without the tamper evident strip, may be re-secured to the container by way of the remaining lugs. The closure may also include a valve or plug extending downwardly from the top section. In such a case, the valve is located within the outer perimeter of the outer skirt.

In one embodiment, the entirety of the first lug is provided on the inner surface of the tamper evident strip such that it is completely separated along with the tamper evident strip. In another embodiment, at least a first portion of the first lug is provided on the inner surface of the temper evident strip, and a second portion of the first lug is provided on the inner surface of said remaining portion.

The top section of the closure may be circular, and the valve, if provided, and the outer skirt may be circumferential in nature. In addition, the valve may have a first height and the outer skirt may have a second height that is greater than the first height. In the preferred embodiment, the tamper evident strip extends along approximately one third of the outer perimeter of the outer skirt. Also, the one or more second lugs are preferably two lugs that are evenly spaced along the remaining portion of the outer skirt. The top portion may have an outer lip having a portion that is thicker than a remainder of the outer lip to aid in removal of the closure from the container. Preferably, the closure is a plastic material, and the tear membrane is a line of reduced thickness plastic. The tamper evident strip preferably includes a tab, such as a tab extending downwardly from tamper evident strip, to facilitate separation of the tamper evident strip.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1is a side elevational view of a closure5attached to a container10, such as a bottle containing a liquid, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The closure5is a tamper evident closure, preferably made of a plastic material or the like, capable of indicating that closure5has been removed from container10. In addition, the closure5may be reattached to the container10to reseal container10.FIG. 2is a view of an enlarged portion ofFIG. 1, namely an upper portion of container10.FIG. 3is a cross-sectional view of closure5and a portion of container10, with a portion of closure5shown in phantom lines. Similarly,FIG. 4is a cross-sectional view of closure5, without container10, with a portion of closure5shown in phantom lines.FIG. 5is a bottom plan view of closure5.

Closure5includes a generally flat, circular top section15having a circumferential inner valve or plug portion20(FIGS. 3 and 4) depending downwardly therefrom. The inner valve or plug portion20is adapted to fit inside the top lip25of the neck30of the container10to provide a seal. Also depending downwardly from the top section15and spaced outwardly from the inner valve or plug portion20is a circumferential outer skirt35. Preferably, the outer skirt35extends downwardly from the top section15to a larger degree than the inner valve or plug portion20(i.e., the outer skirt35has a larger height than the inner valve or plug portion20). In an alternative embodiment, the inner valve or plug portion20is omitted, and a container10is initially sealed, underneath closure5, using another mechanism, such as, for example, a piece of foil or a piece of corrugated material.

The outer skirt35is adapted to fit around and engage the outside of the neck30of the container10. The outer skirt35includes a removable tamper evident strip40that is attached to the remainder of the outer skirt35by a tear membrane45consisting of a thin membrane of plastic (thinner than the plastic forming the outer skirt35). The tamper evident strip40makes up only a portion of the outer skirt35, preferably one-third of the outer skirt35as seen in the Figures. In other words, the tamper evident strip extends along only a portion of, and not the entirety of, the outer perimeter of the outer skirt35. The inside of the tamper evident strip40is provided with a lug50A that extends longitudinally along a portion of the tamper evident strip40. Similar lugs are provided on the inside of the remainder of the outer skirt35in substantially the same plane as lug50A. Preferably, two such lugs50B and50C are provided and spaced along the remainder of the outer skirt35(to make a total of three lugs). The lugs50A,50B,50C are each designed to engage a locking bead55(FIG. 3) provided around the outer circumference of the neck30container10and thereby secure the closure5to container10.

When the closure5is removed from the container10for the first time, a user grips the tamper evident strip40by a downwardly extending tab60and separates the tamper evident strip40completely from the remainder of the outer skirt35along the tear membrane45.FIGS. 6 and 7are bottom plan views of closure5attached to container10(container10is shown in cross-section), whereinFIG. 6shows the tamper evident strip40partially separated from the remainder of the outer skirt35andFIG. 7shows the tamper evident strip40completely separated from the remainder of the outer skirt35. Once the tamper evident strip40has been separated from the remainder of the outer skirt35, the closure may be taken off of the container10by applying a generally upward force on top section15. In order to facilitate this process, top portion15is preferably provided with a thickened outer lip portion65(FIG. 3) adjacent to the location of the tamper evident strip40(i.e., thickened with respect to the remainder of the outer lip of top portion15). The absence of the tamper evident strip40on closure5indicates that the container10has been previously opened and most likely that the closure5has been previously removed.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the closure5may be reattached to the container10after it has been removed. The closure5will, in such cases, be secured in place as a result of the remaining lugs50B and50C provided on the remaining portion of the outer skirt35engaging the bead55provided on neck30of container10. When reattached in this manner, the inner valve or plug portion20will provide a seal by fitting inside the top lip25of the neck30of the container10.

FIG. 8is a side view of a closure5′ attached to a container10according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention. As seen inFIG. 8, tear membrane45has a portion45′ that dips downwardly in an arc from a horizontal portion45″. Portion45′ crosses over lug50A such that a first portion65A of lug50A resides on the inside of the remainder of the outer skirt35, and second and third portions65B and65C of lug50A reside on the inner surface of tamper evident strip45. As a result, when the tamper evident strip40is separated from the remainder of the outer skirt35along the tear membrane45(and along portion45′), the remainder of the outer skirt35will have the portion65A thereon, which, along with lugs50B and50C, will facilitate reattachment of the closure5′ to the container10by engaging the bead55provided on the neck30of container10.