Abstract:
The invention relates to a plastic closure ( 1 ) for malleable containers ( 2 ), comprising a spout ( 3 ) having an outside thread ( 4 ) and a terminal flange ( 5 ) for fastening to the container ( 2 ) and a cap ( 6 ) which has an inside thread and can be screwed onto the outside thread of the spout ( 3 ) in a closable manner, characterized in that the spout is directly or indirectly operatively connected to a membrane ( 10 ) which reduces the flow and has at least one perforation ( 11 ), wherein in the usage position the membrane ( 10 ) runs at least approximately in the region of the flange ( 5 ) and parallel thereto.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a plastic closure for malleable containers, comprising a spout having an outside thread and a terminal flange for fastening to the container and a cap which has an inside thread and can be screwed onto the outside thread of the spout in a closable manner. 
         [0002]    For environmental and economic reasons, containers are being manufactured with ever-decreasing wall thickness. In so doing, the containers are increasingly becoming easier to deform. This is also the case with containers which are manufactured from film material. These are especially containers which are formed as collapsible containers and the film of which is produced having a plurality of layers consisting of different materials, in particular paper or cardboard, a barrier layer of aluminum and a sealing impregnation layer made from plastic. 
         [0003]    Recently more and more containers are however coming onto the market, which consist of a single or multilayered plastic film and are referred to as so-called tubular bags even if the container is made of film sheets and no longer of film tube. 
         [0004]    In the case of such containers produced from film, there are basically two types, namely those which are aseptically filled with the commodity to be contained therein and the container is welded completely closed. A closure is then mounted to the container, which pierces through or cuts open the film of the container during the initial opening thereof. This type of container is especially used for food items and cosmetic or pharmaceutical products. 
         [0005]    In the case of a simpler solution, the containers are made of film material; however, an outlet opening has already been installed therein and the plastic closure is mounted on the bag such that the spout thereof comes to rest exactly over said previously installed opening. Solutions of this kind are particularly used with products having an exceptionally long shelf-life and with products that are not vulnerable to a possible contamination. Products of this kind include cleaning substances, certain oils and also certain bulk goods. 
         [0006]    When opening the plastic closure, the user holds the container in one hand and unscrews the screw cap of the plastic closure with the other hand. The thinner the wall thickness of the relevant containers the greater said containers are deformed simply by holding them. The more force that the user has to apply in order to loosen the screw cap the more tightly said user has to hold the container, and accordingly he or she thereby exerts a greater force onto the container. As soon as the torque to be applied becomes less, said user should also reduce the holding force and thereby the pressure on the container in order to prevent the contents from being pressed out of said malleable container when the cap is completely opened and removed. The majority of users carry out this temporal coordination of forces unconsciously and correctly; however, the greater the torque to be applied is the more difficult said coordination is. In addition, there are many users whose sensory system is less developed and therefore have problems with coordinating these movements. This leads to material often slopping out of the spout during the initial use and opening of the container if said container is already still completely filled. 
         [0007]    This problem has not been recognized to date and therefore approaches related to solving said problem which are strictly oriented thereto are not yet known. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    It is therefore the aim of the present invention to improve a plastic closure of the type mentioned at the beginning of the application in such a way that the stated problem is substantially reduced. It is furthermore an aim to solve this problem for plastic closures which are mounted on malleable containers having an already existing outlet opening as well as for malleable containers which are completely closed prior to the initial opening and the outlet opening is first formed in the wall of the container when said container is initially opened. 
         [0009]    The aim mentioned first is met by a plastic closure of the type mentioned at the beginning of the application, which is characterized by the fact that the spout is indirectly or directly operatively connected to a membrane which reduces the flow and has at least one perforation, wherein in the usage position the membrane runs at least approximately in the region of the flange and parallel thereto. 
         [0010]    A second variant of the plastic closure is for completely closed containers made of film material, wherein an inside thread is present in the spout, in which thread a cylindrical piercing means, which is open to both sides and has at least one cutting tooth, can be actuated via driving elements on the inside of the screw cap, wherein the at least one driving element on the cap interacts with a mirror-inverted driving element on the inside of the piercing means, and therefore the film material of the container is cut open during the initial opening. This solution is thereby characterized by the fact that the membrane comprising the at least one perforation is disposed in the piercing means in the region above the at least one tooth thereof and below the at least one mirror-inverted driving element therein. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    Further preferred embodiments to the two main variants ensue from the dependent claims and are explained below with reference to the attached drawings. In the drawings: 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  shows a first example of a flexible container having a plastic closure mounted thereupon, wherein the flexible container is a bag having a substantially cubical design and the perspective depiction of which is shown; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  shows a flexible, malleable container which is designed rather bottle-like and comprises a differently designed plastic closure, once again in perspective depiction; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  shows a schematic depiction of the flange part of a plastic closure in diametric cross-section, in which the membrane is welded or adhesively bonded to the underside of the flange; 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  shows a similar depiction of an identical flange part, in which the membrane is held by a ring and is held in a positively-locking manner in the spout of said flange part; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  shows in turn a diametric vertical section of a flange part comprising an integrally molded membrane which is formed in one piece by means of injection molding, whereas 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  shows once again a diametric vertical section through a flange part, in which the membrane is part of the container wall on which the flange part is welded. 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  shows a plastic closure in perspective view with a view to the underside of the flange in the case of a solution pursuant to  FIG. 3  and 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  shows a plastic closure for aseptically sealed, malleable containers comprising a piercing means, in which the membrane is integrally molded with said piercing means, whereas 
           [0020]      FIG. 9  shows membranes comprising perforations in different implementations a) to h). 
           [0021]      FIG. 10  shows a plastic closure comprising a piercing means, in which said piercing means pursuant to  FIG. 8  is depicted separated from the flange part and beneath the same. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0022]    Malleable containers are known today on the market in two versions. The older version of such malleable means originated from pure plastic film, and these containers were aseptically sealed and on the market without a plastic closure. In order to open said containers, a corner was in each case cut away with scissors and an outlet opening was thereby created. 
         [0023]    Later malleable containers, in particular from the firm Tetra Laval, came onto the market, which were formed from a plurality of layers of film from different materials. Said containers comprise a paper or cardboard layer, an aluminum foil layer and a plastic film layer and can be provided with additional barrier layers. These containers were also initially brought onto the market without plastic closures; however, were later provided with plastic closures of the type which is of interest here. These plastic closures comprise a spout having an outside thread and a terminal flange for fastening to the container as well as a cap which has an inside thread and can be screwed onto the outside thread of the spout in a closable manner. Closures of this type were later improved to the point where a piercing means is disposed in the spout, said piercing means comprising an outside thread which embeds with an inside thread in the spout. The screw cap has at least one driving element on the inside thereof, which interacts with a driving element in the piercing means. When initially opening a container, said piercing means is screwed downwards and cuts open the films of the malleable container with at least one cutting tooth. With all of these easily malleable containers, the danger exists that a portion of the contents is pushed outside said container during the opening process without this being intended. 
         [0024]    The present invention shows a solution which to a great extent produces a splatter guard for all of these malleable containers and the plastic closures which are correspondingly mounted thereon. 
         [0025]      FIG. 1  shows a malleable container which has a substantially cubical design and a top portion in the form of a gabled roof, wherein a plastic closure, which in the entirety thereof is denoted with the numeral  1 , is mounted on the angular face of the gabled portion. The malleable container is denoted with the numeral  2 . The plastic closure  1  has a flange  5  or respectively a flange part  5 , which is welded or adhesively bonded to the film of the container  2 . 
         [0026]    In a similar manner, the same features can be recognized with regard to the solution pursuant to  FIG. 2 . Once again the plastic closure is denoted in the entirety thereof with the numeral  1  and the malleable container with the numeral  2 . The flange, respectively flange part  5 , is in this instance somewhat in the shape of a ship and is welded or adhesively bonded between the front and the back film-like container walls. In both versions, a cap  6  can be seen which is designed as a screw cap. 
         [0027]    The different types representing the different embodiment variants are depicted in  FIGS. 3 to 6  in a somewhat simplified manner, wherein the respective screw cap has been left out for the sake of clarity. The flange part consists on the one hand of the actual flange  5  and the spout  3  that is molded thereon. In the embodiment pursuant to  FIG. 3 , a membrane  10  is welded or adhesively bonded to the underside of said flange  5 . The film F of the container  2  is disposed so as to adjoin or overlap said membrane in the flange region and the said flange  5  is welded or adhesively bonded to said film F. The connection between the membrane  10  and said film F results, of course, in the overlapping region. Said membrane  10  comprises at least one or as the case may be a plurality of perforations. The shape of the perforations  11  can practically be designed in any number of ways; however, said perforations should ultimately not match the contents of the malleable container  2  in size or number. Reference is made in this regard particularly to the  FIG. 9   a )- 9   h ). 
         [0028]    According to the embodiment pursuant to  FIG. 4 , a further solution is shown, in which the membrane  10  is held by a ring  14 . A circumferential groove is molded into the inner wall of the spout  3  for fixing the ring  14 , and the ring  14  including the membrane  10  thereof engages with a corresponding circumferential bead into said circumferential groove  24  in a positive-locking manner. The membrane  10  can also in this case be produced as one piece with the ring  14 , for example by means of injection molding. 
         [0029]    A third embodiment is shown in  FIG. 5 . The flange part comprising the flange  5  thereof is once again welded to a film F. The flange part has further a spout  3  having an outside thread  4  on which in turn a cap, which is not depicted here, can be screwed. In this case, the membrane  10  including the perforations  11  thereof is integrally formed as a part of the flange part. The perforations  10  are depicted identically for all of the variants pursuant to  FIGS. 3 to 6 ; however, they can, as previously mentioned, have all possible shapes and particularly, as will be yet depicted (see  FIG. 8 ), have the shape of slots that are arranged in a star-shaped manner, said slots defining resilient lugs. 
         [0030]    A final embodiment is depicted in  FIG. 6 . The flange part, which consists of the spout  3  having the outside thread  4  and the lower peripheral flange  5  that faces peripherally outwards, does not itself have a membrane, but the film F has perforations  11  in the region of the spout  3  which communicate with the same and thus functions as the splatter proof membrane  10 . 
         [0031]    A solution according to the variant pursuant to  FIG. 3  is once again depicted merely for the sake of clarity in  FIG. 7 , wherein the entire plastic closure  1  is shown in this case but not the film F, on which said plastic closure  1  is fastened in the assembled state. In contrast to the previously described embodiments pursuant to  FIGS. 3 to 6 , the cap, respectively screw cap  6 , can be seen here. The spout  3  is now visible from the outside and the flange  5  can also be seen here as a part of the flange part by means of a view of the underside of the latter. The membrane  10  is welded down here to the flange  5  and the perforations  11  in said membrane  10  can be seen purely symbolically, conceived as elliptical shapes. 
         [0032]    Whereas the embodiments shown up until now assume malleable containers, which have a perforation or opening approximately in the size of the spout  3 , plastic closure  1  pursuant to  FIG. 8  relates to a variant which is mounted on a completely closed malleable container. This plastic closure  1  can also be closed using a screw cap  6  which can be screwed on the spout  3 . On the inside of said screw cap and in particular on the top surface thereof, a driving element protrudes from the inside downwardly and interacts with a driving element in a piercing means  20 . In the position depicted here, the screw cap  6  is for the most part unscrewed and the piercing means  20  has now already cut open the film F (not shown here) of the malleable container  2 . This cutting action takes place by means of at least one and in this case two cutting teeth  21 . It is obvious that in such an embodiment version, the membrane  10  which serves as splatter guard can, of course, neither be fastened in the spout  3  nor on the flange  5  because the piercing means  20  would otherwise penetrate and remove the membrane  10 . For that reason, said membrane  10  is itself integrated into said piercing means  20 . In the present example, the membrane  10  is now arranged as one piece with said piercing means  20  by means of injection molding. Said piercing means  20  consists substantially of a cylindrical part  26 , as can be seen in  FIG. 10 . In the version pursuant to  FIG. 8 , said membrane  10  has a plurality of slots  12  oriented radially outwards from the center, and therefore a somewhat triangular looking lug  13  is defined between two adjacent slots. The aforementioned lug  13  has a certain resilient functionality. The slots  12  are aligned so narrowly that hardly any fluid from the container can autonomously flow through the membrane if a targeted pressure is not exerted on the malleable container. As soon as said targeted pressure lets up, the lugs  13  resiliently spring back into the original position thereof. 
         [0033]    The design of the plastic closure, which is best known from prior art, is depicted in  FIG. 10  in a more detailed manner. The flange part consisting of the spout  3  and the flange  5  has like the previously described embodiments an outside thread  4  on the outside of the spout  3 . In contrast to the previously described examples, an inside thread  15  is now present on the inside of the wall of the spout  3 . A piercing means  20  now embeds in the inside thread  15  so as to be movable in a screw-like fashion. Said piercing means  20  has a substantially cylindrical part  26  on the outside of which an outside thread is integrally formed, which mates with the inside thread  15  in the spout  3 . Said piercing means  20  has, as previously mentioned, at least one cutting tooth  21 . Whereas in the embodiment pursuant to  FIG. 8  the membrane is part of said piercing means and is manufactured as one piece with the same, the membrane  10  is in this case held by a ring  14  which is connected to a support  27 . Said membrane  10  once again has perforations  11 , which, of course, also in turn can be configured in the shape of slots and lugs that are correspondingly disposed therebetween. In principle, the ring  14  could also be held here in a circumferential groove  24 , as is indicated here by means of a dashed line. In the present case, a support  27  molded into the wall of the cylindrical part is however present. The corresponding ring  14  including the membrane  10  bears in a force-fitting or positive-locking manner on said support  27 . Said piercing means  20  has a driving element  22  which is disposed above said membrane  10  and interacts with a driving element (not depicted here) in the cap  6 . When initially unscrewing the plastic closure  1 , the driving element of the screw cap rests against the driving element  22  of said piercing means  20 . If the cap  6  is now unscrewed, the screw cap  6  thus moves upwards as seen in relation to the flange  5 , and said piercing means  20  moves correspondingly downwards. In the original position prior to the initial opening of the container, said piercing means  20  lies completely in the spout  3 , and therefore the cutting tooth  21  lies above the still closed film F, which is not depicted here. This film F is now cut open, wherein said film is not completely separated from the remaining material but pivots into the container in the shape of a round lug. A deflector  28  ensures that said lug cannot come to rest in front of the opening in said piercing means  20 . Said piercing means  20  is ultimately provided with a second cutting tooth  21 . 
         [0034]    The support  27  can also be designed as a horizontal support surface instead of here as an obliquely depicted support surface which is to extend in a conically tapering manner. In this case, the membrane  10  can also be welded to this planar circumferential surface. The support  27  can however also be configured in the form of a plurality of recesses and the ring can have integrally formed cams that are directed radially outwards and are capable of engaging in said recesses.