SECURITY CLOSURE AND CARRYING HANDLE FOR A CONTAINER

Abstract: A security closure is described for use in carrying a container (11). The closure comprises a first member (1) formed with projections (3) for passing through holes (12) formed in the mouth of the container (11) and a second member (2) for engagement with the first member (11) and the projections (3) thereof to close the mouth of the container and hold it closed. At least one of the members is formed with a carrying handle (6,9) and one of the members is formed with an apertured portion (4) to receive a tell-tale (15) or security member passing through an aperture (5) is said portion. The apertured portion is located so that the container cannot be opened from the closed position, either without damaging the tell-tale (15) or due to the presence of the security member (24). The members may be in the form of panels, preferably hinged or one is a panel (20) and the other a rod (23). The container (11) may be a bag, preferably transparent, or a carrying case.

Description: This invention relates to the combination of a container in the form of a bag, sack or the like, and a security closure for the container which cannot be opened without obvious evidence that it has been opened. The closure is particularly suitable for use with a bag for transporting bullion and coins between banks and bullion houses. GB-A-2 150 531, representing the state of the art according to the preamble of claim 1, describes a device for use in closing a bag which is formed with holes in the mouth region thereof. The device comprises first and second members, in the form of two shells, adapted to engage about the mouth of the container, one of the shells having a projection for passing through the holes in the mouth of the container and being formed with a carrying handle, and there being means to hold a dissuasive seal, or a tell-tale or security member. In the use of this device, the mouth of the bag is bunched up and the projection is passed through the holes in the mouth of the bag. The two shells, which are connected by a hinge, are closed about the bunched mouth of the bag and a dissuasive seal can then be secured in one or other of the two locations for the seal, being either at the end of the projection or at a location where the two shells clip together. With this device, some 30% of the volume of the bag is not available for the reception of goods to be carried, due to the bunching of the mouth of the bag and the bag is not suitable for documents which have to be kept flat. Furthermore, in order to be certain that the device and bag have not been tampered with, two dissuasive seals would be required. It is an object of the present invention to overcome these disadvantages and to provide a container with a simple security closure which cannot be opened without obvious evidence that it has been opened and which restricts or prohibits unauthorised entry to the container. According to the present invention there is provided the combination of a container in the form of a bag, sack or the like, and a security closure for the container, wherein the container is formed with holes in the mouth region thereof, and the closure comprises first and second members adapted to engage about the mouth of the container, the first member having at least one projection for passing through the holes in the mouth of the container and being formed with a carrying handle, and there being means to hold a tell-tale or security member, characterised in that the first member is in the form of at least one panel extending for the whole length of the mouth of the container when two opposite sides of the mouth lie adjacent one another in an unbunched configuration, and has a plurality of first projections spaced from one another along the length of the panel, each projection being formed with an aperture and the apertures being aligned in a direction parallel to the plane of the panel, and in that the second member is in the form of a rod adapted to pass through the aligned apertures, whereby the container can be closed by passing the projections through the holes in the container with the mouth of the container in a flat unbunched configuration and by passing the rod through the aligned apertures to hold the mouth of the container closed against the panel, one of said members being formed with an apertured portion to receive a tell-tale or security member passing through an aperture in said portion, said portion being located in a position such that the container cannot be opened from the closed position either without damaging said tell-tale or due to the presence of the security member. Further embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims. In order to enable the invention to be more readily understood, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate diagrammatically and by way of example some embodiments thereof, and in which:- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a security closure in use with a carrying bag, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the mouth of the bag shown in Figure 1 with the mouth open, and Figure 3 is a plan view of a moulding which can be used as a security closure. Referring now to Figure 1 of the drawings, there is shown a security closure which comprises a substantially rectangular panel member 20 which is formed with a large aperture 21 constituting a handhold. The panel is also formed with a series, in this case four, of projections 22, each of which, as shown in the cross-sections to the right of the figure is either in the form of an apertured projection or in the form of a strap of the panel material pushed out of the plane of the panel, in each case the projections defining a series of aligned apertures or hoops for receiving a rod 23. The rod 23 has a thickened portion 29 at one end and the other end is formed with an aperture (not shown). A security collar 24 can be slid on to the other end of the rod 23 and is formed with an aperture 25 which can be registered with the aperture in the rod whereafter a tell-tale or security member can be passed through the registering apertures. The security closure shown in Figure 1 is shown for use with a bag 26, the mouth of which is shown in Figure 2 in an open state. From Figure 2, it can be seen that the mouth of the bag is formed on each side with an upper row of holes 27 and a lower row of holes 28. The spacing between the holes in each row is equal to the spacing of the projections 22. After the bag 26 has been filled, the mouth is closed so as to bring the holes 27 and 28 on each side of the bag into register. The top of the bag is then folded over, as shown in Figure 1, so that the holes 27 are in register with the holes 28, and the bag is presented to the panel 26 so that the projections 22 are passed through the holes. The rod 23 is then passed through the apertures defined by the projections 22 and secured in place by the security collar 24, whereafter the tell-tale is applied. When the rod 23 has been fitted in place a security member or tell-tale can be passed through the registering apertures in the security collar and rod and this may take the form of a padlock or a plastics ratchet moulding that is irreversible and has to be cut to release it. Alternatively, a plastics or other strip which has a security stamping or identification symbol can be adhesively secured through the slot. Any unauthorised attempt to open the carrying container is either prevented by the security member, e.g. a padlock, or results in destruction or defacing of the tell-tale. Figure 3 shows a moulding for forming a security closure for a bag. The moulding comprises two panel portions 30 and 31, the panel portion 30 being formed with apertures 32 and the panel portion 32 being formed with U-shaped projections 33. The panel portion 31 also has an integral hand grip 34 of inverted T-section as shown in the cross-sections to the right of the figure taken along the line III-III. On each side of the hand grip 34, the panel portions 30 and 31 are joined by straps 35 which can act as hinges. The moulding can also include a rod 36, shown in broken lines, which is thickened at one end 37 and formed with an aperture 38 at the other. The rod 36 is joined to the panel portion 30 by runners 39 during moulding. These runners can subsequently be removed so that the rod is available for locking the closure. In the use of this moulding, the two panel portions are folded about the hinges 35, the projections 33 are passed through holes in the mouth of a bag and through the apertures 32, whereupon the rod 36 is passed through the projections and held in place by a security member and/or tell-tale. The panels 20 or 30,31 and the rods 23 or 36 can be made of any suitable material but are preferably made of polypropylene as this has the necessary resilience and toughness to provide a suitable hinge and snap fitting. Furthermore, it is convenient to form the panels and integral hinge by moulding them from polypropylene. However, it would be possible to make the members or at least the projections of a frangible material so that any unauthorised attempt to open the closure would cause the projections to snap off and provide evidence of tampering. When the present closure is used in conjunction with a bag the bag is conveniently made of plastics material and is preferably transparent so that the contents can be viewed. The bag may have a mouth that is slightly narrower than the closure. However, if a gusseted bag is used then it is desirable for holes to be formed in the gusset so that the gusset can be held securely between the panels 30 and 31. The mouth of the bag is desirably reinforced in the region in which the apertures 27 and 28 are formed and this may be achieved by gauge banding during manufacture or by folding the mouth of the bag to provide double thickness in this region. The present closure and bag are suitable for transporting bullion and coin between banks and bullion houses. The present linen bags which are used have the disadvantages that they are not transparent (and banks prefer to see the contents in order to ensure valid coin without opening) and they require new string and crimped closure each time they are used and this closure is said not to be tamper proof. Many modifications of the present closure are possible and while the panels members have been shown and described as being rectangular or somewhat rounded, it will be appreciated that they could be of any desired shape. It will also be appreciated that the projections and the locking rods can also have different shapes.

Claims: The combination of a container in the form of a bag, sack or the like, and a security closure for the container, wherein the container is formed with holes in the mouth region thereof, and the closure comprises first and second members adapted to engage about the mouth of the container, the first member having at least one projection for passing through the holes in the mouth of the container and being formed with a carrying handle, and there being means to hold a tell-tale or security member, characterised in that the first member is in the form of at least one panel (20; 30, 31) extending for the whole length of the mouth of the container (26) when two opposite sides of the mouth lie adjacent one another in an unbunched configuration, and has a plurality of first projections (22; 33) spaced from one another along the length of the panel, each projection being formed with an aperture and the apertures being aligned in a direction parallel to the plane of the panel, and in that the second member is in the form of a rod (23;36) adapted to pass through the aligned apertures, whereby the container can be closed by passing the projections through the holes (27; 27,28) in the container with the mouth of the container in a flat unbunched configuration and by passing the rod through the aligned apertures to hold the mouth of the container closed against the panel, one of said members being formed with an apertured portion to receive a tell-tale or security member passing through an aperture (38) in said portion, said portion being located in a position such that the container cannot be opened from the closed position either without damaging said tell-tale or due to the presence of the security member. The combination claimed in Claim 1, wherein the second member has a thickened portion (29; 37) at one end and is formed with an aperture (38) at the other, and wherein a security collar (24) is provided and can be slid into the said other end of the second member, the security collar being formed with an aperture (25) which can be registered with the aperture in the rod to receive a tell-tale or security member passed through the registering apertures. The combination claimed in Claim 1, wherein the first member is in the form of two panels (30,31) adapted to be fitted or clamped together about the mouth of the container, one of said panels (31) being formed with said projections (33) and the other of said panels (30) being formed with apertures (32), each intended to receive a respective projection after the latter has passed through a respective hole (27) in the mouth of the container. The combination claimed in Claim 3, wherein the two panels are hinged together (35). The combination claimed in Claim 3 or 4, wherein the two panels (30,31), hinge means (35) and carrying handle means (34) are formed as an integral moulding. The combination claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the container is formed with two rows of holes in its mouth region, and the mouth of the container can be folded over to bring one row of holes into register with the other for engagement by said projections. The combination claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the first and second members are made of plastics, such as polypropylene. The combination claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the container is transparent. The combination claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the mouth of the container is reinforced.

Inventors: JENNINGS, ANTHONY BRIAN
Applicants: JENNINGS, ANTHONY BRIAN
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B65D33
IPC codes: B65D33, B65D5