Closure for containers

Abstract: The invention provides a container closure (1) moulded from plastics material and comprising a crown (2), an annular skirt (3) depending from the crown and formed with a screw thread (4)on its internal surface; and a tamper evident ring (6) connected to the end of the skirt remote from the crown by a series of frangible bridges (5) extending across an axial gap between the ring and the skirt, or by a band of the material with a circumferential line of weakening therein; said ring (6) having spaced along its inner surface a plurality of radially inwardly projecting protrusions (11) each having an abutment surface (12) generally facing the crown, but having a slight inclination away from the crown in the radially inward direction, and an inwardly facing cam surface (9a) inclined away from the crown; wherin the inwardly facing cam surface has a compound curve (9a.9b) tapering downwardly from the crown (2) and towards the screwing-on direction, thereby to assist capping.

Description: The present invention relates to closures for containers. In our EP-A-0408364, we have described a container closure moulded from plastics material and comprising a crown, an annular skirt depending from the crown and formed with a screw thread on its internal surface, and a tamper evident ring connected to the end of the skirt remote from the crown by a series of frangible bridges extending across an axial gap between the ring and the skirt, or by a band of the material with a circumferential line of weakening therein; said ring having spaced along its inner surface, a plurality of radially inwardly projecting protrusions each having an abutment surface generally facing the crown but having a slight inclination away from the crown in the radially inward direction, and an inwardly facing cam surface inclined away from the crown. Whereas this arrangement works satisfactorily there are improvements which can be made to improve its performance. One of the problems with arrangements of the above type is that in order to provide an adequate abutment surface for contact with the shoulder of a security band formed on the neck of the container to which the closure is to be applied, we to provide regularly spaced double-ended protrusions disposed at regular intervals about the ring. The effect of this is to reduce the extensibility of the ring because the relative lengths of the protrusions have the side effect of reducing the flexibility and extensibility of the ring. The effect of this is to require a relatively high torque setting on the capping machine, during assembly with a container neck, in order to force the ring over the security band on the neck of the container during the capping procedure. Because the torque setting of the capping machine has to be high, a further side effect is that the closure is driven onto the container neck by the capping machine such that unscrewing can require significant strength. Further, because of the lack of extensibility there is a certain failure rate among the closures and the capping rate is reduced. In order to address this problem therefore the present invention is characterised in that the inwardly facing continuous cam surface has a compound curve tapering downwardly away from the crown and toward the screwing on direction. The compound curve may be formed with an inclined surface tapering downwardly from the crown and toward the screwing on direction and a more sharply re-entrant inclined surface directed toward the screwing off direction. By means of this arrangement the protrusions in accordance with the present invention can be radially truncated since it has been found that the double ended arrangement of our previous application is not always necessary and that the compound curve of the present invention allows the protrusions to be made relatively shorter in the circumferential direction thereby increasing the extensibility of the ring to allow a reduction in the capping machine setting for successful application of the closures in accordance with the present invention to a container. In a preferred form of the invention the spacing between the protrusions on the inner periphery of the ring exceeds the length of each protrusion. More preferably the ratio of the spacings between the protrusions and the length of the protrusions per se is between 1:1.5 to 2:1.5. Preferably the protrusions are so disposed about the central axis of the closure that no two protrusions are diametrically opposed to each other. The protrusions may be uniformly disposed about at least a major proportion of the ring. In a particularly preferred form of the invention, the ring has a section of its circumference without any protrusions. In this instance the section with protrusions may be provided with an axial line of weakness thereby to cause the ring to fracture during removal but to be retained with the closure for disposal. The invention will now be described by way of illustration only with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 shows a side elevation in part section of a closure in accordance with the present invention, Figure 2A shows a transverse cross-section along a line AA of Figure 1, Figure 2B shows a transverse cross-section along a line BB of Figure 1, and Figure 3 shows a side elevation of a protrusion of the Prior Art in accordance with our European Patent Application No. 0408364. With reference first to Figure 3, which shows a Prior Art arrangement in accordance with our European Patent Publication No. 0408364, there is provided a tamper evident band (6) provided with an annular groove (7) secured to the lower edge of the inner skirt (3) by means of frangible bridges (5). In this Prior Art arrangement double ended protrusions (21) are provided with an upper abutment surface (22) for inter-engagement with the shoulder of a security band portion disposed on the neck of a container (not shown). Abutment surface (22) is radially inwardly disposed and slightly inclined away from the crown portion of the container. The downwardly and inwardly inclined portion (21) has a uniform curved configuration. With reference particularly to Figure 1, a tamper evident closure (1) is formed in accordance with the usual moulding procedures with the crown portion (2) from which depends an annular skirt (3) provided on its inner surface with a screw thread portion (4) for engagement with a corresponding screw thread portion on the neck of a bottle or container to which the closure is to be applied. The neck of the container or bottle is also provided with accurately spaced security band (not shown). At the foot of the annular skirt (3) are provided a plurality of axially directed frangible bridges (5) which interconnect the lower end of the annular skirt (3) with a tamper evident band (6) generally of known construction. The tamper evident band (6) is in this instance provided with an annular groove (7) on its external periphery which allows, during the stripping of mould at manufacture, the ready outward flexing of the lower hinged skirt portion (8) of the tamper evident band (6). Disposed at regular intervals at least over a major proportion of the inner circumferential surface of the tamper evident band (6) are a plurality of protrusions (11). The protrusions (11) are each provided with an abutment surface (12) which faces generally upwardly toward the underside of the crown (2) but which is also slightly radially inwardly and relatively downwardly inclined. The protrusion (11) is also provided with a compound curve (9) shown best in Figures 2A and 2B. The compound curve (9) extends from the radially inner edge of the abutment surface (12) downwardly towards the lower edge of the tamper evident band (6). The compound curve (9) of the protrusion (11) comprises in the onscrewing direction an extended gentle radius (9a), see Figure 2b, and a smaller radius (9b). The major face of the protrusion (11) is also formed with an obverse curve (13) in the offscrewing direction. Obverse curve (13) is much more sharply defined than the other portion of the compound curve (9) as shown in Figure 2B. In use the capping machine is provided with a closure in accordance with Figure 1 and is arranged to introduce the closure onto a container neck by rotatory action in accordance with known procedures. In the onscrewing direction (to the right of the lower portion of Figure 1) the comparatively gentle curve (9a) and obverse curve (13) will encounter the security band portion of the neck of the container which rotationally and vertically combine to gently prise the ring apart, because of its extensible characteristics by virtue of the relatively wider spacing of the protrusions. Accordingly during the capping procedure, the tamper evident portion (6,8), swings outwardly from the bridges to accommodate the shoulder of the security band portion before returning to its at rest condition as shown in 'ghost lines' in Figure 1. Thus, by means of the arrangement in accordance with this invention, the protrusions allow the closure to be readily applied to a container neck with reduced wear and reduced torque settings. When the closure (1) is first removed from the bottle or container neck it will be unscrewed such that the obverse curve (13) presents a leading edge to the security band portion, and furthermore the sharper definition of curve (13), makes it much more difficult for the ring to 'jump' the shoulder of the security band and hence be withdrawn with the closure without fracture of the frangible bridges (5). Indeed we have found that closures in accordance with Figure 1 are able to be removed from their container necks in a fashion which ensures that the frangible bridges (5) virtually always fracture. In our EP-A-0306259 we have described a closure of the above type provided with a tamper evident ring having an annular groove disposed on radially outer surface of the ring at a location axially between the upper contact faces of the protrusions and the frangible bridges. This serves as described above and is well suited to arrangements of the invention. The invention therefore is directed to an improved container closure of the type including an improved tamper evident band, provided with inwardly directed protrusions having a major face comprising a compound curve as hereinbefore described.

Claims: A container closure (1) moulded from plastics material and comprising a crown (2), an annular skirt (3) depending from the crown and formed with a screw thread (4)on its internal surface; and a tamper evident ring (6) connected to the end of the skirt remote from the crown by a series of frangible bridges (5) extending across an axial gap between the ring and the skirt, or by a band of the material with a circumferential line of weakening therein; said ring (6) having spaced along its inner surface a plurality of radially inwardly projecting protrusions (11) each having an abutment surface (12) generally facing the crown, but having a slight inclination away from the crown in the radially inward direction, and an inwardly facing cam surface (9) inclined away from the crown; characterised in that the inwardly facing continuous cam surface has a compound curve (9a.9b) tapering downwardly from the crown (2) and towards the screwing-on direction. A container closure according to Claim 1, wherein the compound curve is formed with an extended gentle radius (9a) in the on-screwing direction, and a smaller radius (9b) tapering downwardly from the crown. A container closure according to either of the preceding Claims, wherein the spacing between the protrusions (11) in the radial sense exceeds the length of each protrusion. A container closure according to Claim 3, wherein the ratio of radial spacing between the protrusions to the length of the protrusions is of the order of 1:1.5 to 2:1.5. A container closure according to any preceding Claim, wherein the protrusions (11) are so disposed about the central axis of the closure (1), that no two protrusions are diametrically opposed to each other. A container closure according to any preceding Claim, wherein the protrusions (11) are uniformly disposed about a major proportion at least of the ring(6). A container closure according to any preceding Claim, wherein the ring (6) has a section of its internal circumference without any protrusions (11) formed thereon, and wherein the said ring has an axial line of weakness thereby to cause the ring to fracture during removal but to he retained with the closure for disposal.

Inventors: THOMPSON NIGEL, THOMPSON, NIGEL
Applicants: METAL CLOSURES GROUP LTD, M C G CLOSURES LIMITED
Application year: 1993
Main classification: B65D41
IPC codes: B65D41