PIERCING CLOSURE CAPSULE FOR DROPPERS OR THE LIKE

Abstract: Container (1) of plastic material for the controlled delivery of powders and of liquids as drops, provided with piercing closure capsule (6) actuatable at use time, comprising a body, possibly provided with tabs (7) for in-­ series interconnection with other containers, having a neck with thread intended for engaging a capsule, provi­ ded with axial, cylindrical tubular extension with transversal membrane diaphragm (9) upstream a divergent cone-frustum (4") shaped outlet mouth: a circumferential groove (5) is provided on the outer surface of said extension in the nearby of said diaphragm.

Description: The invention relates to a plastic container for the controlled delivery of powders and of liquids as drops, provided with piercing closure capsule; actuatable at use time, i.e., a vial made from flexible plastic material equipped with a capsule provided with a piercing element, which allows an opening to be accomplished, which is particularly suitable for the administering of liquids for dropwise administering, e.g. of pharmaceutical type, or also of powders. The prior state of the art comprises vials of plas­ tic material or glass, provided with stem dropper, which must be inserted or screwed down to allow the liquid contained in the same vials to be delivered; furthermore, plastic vials are known, the outlet mouth of which can be activated by the tearing of a shutter provided with grip tab actuatable by torsion. However, the stem dropper, besides resulting not hygienic, is expensive and involves auxiliary operations, whilst the tearable dropper does not result hygienic as relates to the re-use of the shutter, and, furthermore, it does not allow calibrated drops to flow down, particularly because of the fringes generated by the tearing of the outlet orifice. Such a prior state of the art can be improved as relates to the possibility of overcoming the indicated drawbacks. From the above, it derives the need for solving the technical problem of finding out a device for plastic vial, which allows the outlet mouth of the same vial to be closed and controlled, to the purpose of contempora­ neously achieving a warranty hygienic seal and a delivery of the liquids contents as uniform drops: that in a simple, convenient and cheap way. The present invention solves the above said technic­ al problem by adopting a container made from flexible plastic material, either as an isolated piece, or as a piece in series with other pieces, provided with threaded neck having an axial, cylindrical tubular extension with transversal membrane-diaphragm, upstream an outlet mouth of divergent cone-frustum shape of said extension; the outlet bore of said extension is calibrated, and has a diameter larger than the minimum diameter of said outlet mouth; and on the outer surface of the said extension a circumferential groove is provided; a capsule for seal­ ing, piercing, and subsequently closing the container, provided with outer operation tab, has on its inner wall a first threaded length, for being coupled with the thread provided on container neck: at the end of the threaded length, towards the inside of the capsule a restraint ring protrudes, which is destined to get en­ gaged in a springwise fashion inside said groove, in order to guarantee the sealing; from the bottom of the same capsule, a piercing element protrudes in the axial direction, which is suitable to pierce said membrane and make the edges thereof to adhere to the inner surface of the bore of said cylindrical neck extension, so to equal­ ize the inner diameter of the said bore to the minimum diameter of the cone-frustum shaped outlet mouth of the same extension: that after that, due to the effect of screwing down of the capsule onto the neck, said res­ traint ring is obliged to deform and to exit the related groove, to follow the forward motion of the capsule. The advantages the present invention allows to be achieved are: warranty seal, obtained by means of the transversal diaphragm and the coupling of the restraint ring of the capsule with the groove provided in the neck extension; delivery of the liquid obtained, the first time, by the piercing of said diaphragm by said piercing element provided inside the capsule; metering of the drops obtained thanks to the effect of the flare down­ stream the diaphragm, with the adhesion of the edges of the same diaphragm to the inner surface of the outlet bore provided in the extension of container neck; pos­ sible re-use of the container, in case of a multi-dose container, with the hygienic re-applying of the capsule to the neck of the same container; operation simpleness; low cost. A form of practical embodiment of the invention is shown, to purely exemplifying purposes, in the hereto attached drawing table, wherein: Figure 1 shows the front view of a series or array of multi-dose containers of plastic material, each pro­ vided with a neck having a with threaded end provided with a neck extension to the purpose of obtaining a controlled outlet mouth; Figure 2 shows a front view such as that of Figure 1, but with said ends being each inserted in a sealing, piercing and closure capsule; Figure 3 shows an axial, sectional scrap view of the coupling region of the container outlet portion with said capsule provided with piercing element; Figure 4 if the bottom view of Figure 3. There are indicated: with 1, the body of the con­ tainer of plastic material, provided with tabs 2 for interconnection with other container, to be actuated by tearing; with 3, a cylindrical portion of the neck of container 1, provided with fast-screwing thread; with 4, a cylindrical tubular extension of said neck, of reduced diameter, provided with calibrated bore 4′: said bore has a diameter slightly larger than the minimum diameter of the outlet mouth 4″, flared to a divergent cone frustum shape, to calibrate the drop; with 5, a circumferential restraint groove provided on the outer surface of the extension 4, destined to be engaged in a springwise fashion by the restraint ring 5′ (Figure 3) the cylin­ drical capsule 6 incorporated in the tab 7 for tearable connection with the tabs of adjacent capsules is inter­ nally provided with, at an intermediate height; with 8, the entrance end of capsule 6, internally provided with thread 8′, destined to get coupled with the thread 3′ of neck 3 of container 1; with 9, a membrane acting as a transversal diaphragm for the closure of container 1, situated inside the extension 4 as a separation element between said calibrated bore 4′ and said outlet mouth 4″: said membrane is integral with said extension; with 10, a piercing pin, which protrudes centrally from the bottom of chamber 11 of capsule 6, to enter the outlet mouth 4″ of the extension 4, on the outer side relative­ ly to membrane 9. The operation is as follows: during the manufactur­ ing step, the capsule 6 is applied onto the neck of the container 1 until ring 5′ is made springwise enter the corresponding groove 5 of extension 4: in such a posi­ tion, the thread 3′ on neck 3 engages the thread 8′ of capsule 6: thus, the container 1 is ready for transporta­ tion, and for being filled, with the subsequent welding of the opposite end edge, initially open. The cone-­ frustum flare 4″ of the outlet mouth allows the drop to be formed with precision and constancy: thus, the drops is calibrated. At use time, the user - after tearing the tabs 2 and 7, to separate container 1 and capsule 6 from adjacent containers and capsules - rotates, by gripping by one of his hands the tab 7 and by his other hand the container 1, the capsule 6, thus causing it to be screwed down on thread 3′of neck 3 and, as a consequence, the piercing pin 10 to move inwards towards the membrane 9, which gets pierced and is obliged to adhere to the inner surface of bore 4′, so to sensibly make the end diameter of said bore equal to the initial diameter of the outlet mouth 4″. During this operation, the restraint ring 5′ is deformed, and exits the related groove 5. After unscrew­ ing capsule 6 by acting on tab 7, the user can use the vial liquid contents, which flows down as calibrated drops from bore 4′-4″, by squeezing container 1. The capsule 6 can be then screwed down again to the purpose of tightly sealing the container, thanks to the coupling of the ring end of outlet mouth 4″ against the bottom of chamber 11. In the practical embodiment, the materials, the dimensions, the structural details may be different from, but equivalent to, those as shown, without however going out of the juridical domain of the present invention. Thus, the container 1, besides being a multi-dose container, can be as well a single-dose container, i.e., to be exhausted in one operation only.

Claims: 1. Container of plastic material for the controlled delivery of powders and of liquids as drops, provided with piercing closure capsule actuatable at use time, comprising a body (1), possibly provided with tabs (2) for in-series interconnection with other containers, characterized in that it has a neck (3) with thread (3′) intended for engaging a capsule, provided with axial, cylindrical tubular extension (4) with transversal mem­ brane diaphragm (9) upstream a divergent cone-frustum shaped outlet mouth (4″): a circumferential groove (5) is provided on the outer surface of said extension in the nearby of said diaphragm. 2. Container of plastic material, according to claim 1, characterized in that it has a capsule (6) for said neck (3) acting as a sealing, piercing, and, in case of multi-dose container, closing again capsule. 3. Container of plastic material, according to claims 1, 2, characterized in that said capsule has an inner length provided with thread (8′), for coupling with the thread (3′) of neck (3), followed by a restraint ring (5′) protruding inwards and suitable to be inserted, in a springwise fashion, inside the groove (5) close to said diaphragm. 4. Container of plastic material, according to claim 3, characterized in that from the bottom (11) of capsule (6) beyond said ring (5′), a piercing pin (10) protrudes, which is suitable to pierce said diaphragm (9) when, with the capsule (6) being screwed down onto said neck (3), said restraint ring (5′) exits said circumferential groove (5) of the tubular extension (4). 5. Container of plastic material, according to claims 3,4, characterized in that the inner bore (4′) of said tubular extension (4) upstream said diaphragm (9) has a diameter larger than the minimum diameter of the divergent cone-frustum shaped outlet mouth (4″) and such to become equal to said minimum diameter by the overlap­ ping of the diaphragm edges generated by the piercing action of piercing pin (10) of capsule (6).

Inventors: CAMPANINI, ROMANO, FABBRI, EVRO, FERRARI, GIOVANNI, FONTANA, ANTONIO
Applicants: FERRARI GIOVANNI & C LAMEPLAST, SCLAVO SPA
Application year: 1986
Main classification: B65D51
IPC codes: B65D47, B65D1, B65D35