Patent Publication Number: US-7219820-B2

Title: Closure

Description:
This invention relates to closures for glass bottles, in particular, versatile closures for bottling and storing of alcoholic beverages in such bottles. 
   Known is a safety lock for bottles and similar containers comprising a cylindrical sleeve with teeth on its internal surface on the side of its outlet end, a pouring member with male thread and fixing teeth that interact with the teeth of the cylindrical sleeve, a cap comprising an inner hood with female thread, a locking ring and an external hood with an interlock in the form of suitable longitudinal ribs, said cap being installed on the pouring member, and a removable lock with a one-way valve. The pouring member has a skirt, which has windows at its outlet end spaced equally over its circumference with transverse inward protrusions, under which longitudinal protrusions are located. The removable lock is a hollow cylinder with annular sealing lips on its external surface; said cylinder is connected to a larger diameter hollow cylinder by means of a bridge fitted with an external annular collar for fixing the bridge on the pouring member; the larger diameter hollow cylinder accommodates a valve; there are equally spaced circumferential longitudinal stiffening ribs on the internal surface and annular sealing lips on the external surface of said cylinder (RU No. 42034, U 1, 2003). 
   A drawback to the known safety lock for bottles is inadequate sealing reliability due to possible leaks or evaporation of the liquid during transportation, handling or storage, through gaps between the skirt of the pouring sleeve and the body because there are no interlocks above the windows in the skirt. 
   A technical result of the invention is increased bottle sealing reliability. 
   The technical result is on account of design of the closure, which has a body with teeth on its internal surface, a pouring sleeve with a skirt and a liquid stream splitter with longitudinal ribs on its internal side surface, a male thread and fixing teeth that interact with the teeth of the body, windows in the walls of the skirt with transverse protrusions directed inside the pouring sleeve, a lock in the form of hollow cylinder with annular sealing lips on its external surface, said cylinder connected to a larger diameter hollow cylinder by means of a bridge having an external annular flange for fixing in the pouring sleeve, a valve and a cap installed on the pouring sleeve by means of a thread joint. The cap consists of an internal hood with female thread, a locking ring and an external hood with interlocks in the form of longitudinal splines. 
   The body and the skirt of the pouring sleeve have retaining annular protrusions located on the internal surface of the body and the external surface of the skirt above the windows; the inner hood has a recess on its end face and the external hood has a multifaceted hollow protrusion on the internal surface of its top face matching the said recess; the external hood has a barrel-shaped extra hood; there is a multifaceted protrusion on its external bottom surface, which is congruent with the multifaceted protrusion on the external hood and interacts with it. 
   The liquid stream splitter is a disc with a central hole and circumferential ports that are formed by bridges connecting the disc and the pouring sleeve. 
   The valve is a disc with a rod located in its center coaxially and able to close the central hole of the stream splitter. 
   There is a recess on the external surface of the barrel bottom; said recess mates the protrusion on the top face of the external hood. The larger diameter hollow cylinder of the lock has annular sealing lips on its external surface and longitudinal stiffening ribs spaced equally on its internal surface. The valve rod has a through hole. The barrel is shaped as a cylinder or a truncated cone, or a truncated multifaceted pyramid and its top is covered with a protective cap, which has a protrusion interacting with the internal surface of the barrel. The body has a decorative shell made of metal foil and shaped as an annular ribbon. 
   Providing the body and the skirt with retainers in the form of annular protrusions located on the internal surface of the body and the external surface of the skirt above the windows, respectively, prevents their longitudinal moving relative to each other and improves the bottle closing due to a tighter fit. 
   The presence of a recess on the inner hood and a multifaceted hollow protrusion on the external hood and the provision of the external hood with an extra hood in the form of a barrel with a multifaceted protrusion on the external surface of its bottom provides their reliable engagement, makes the screwing of the cap easier, thus improving the closure reliability. 
   The stream splitter having the form of a disc with a central hole and circumferential ports and the valve having the form of a disc with a rod to close the central hole in the stream splitter improve the closure reliability, since, while screwing the cap, the face of recess in the inner hood abuts against the valve rod thus pressing its disc to the lock tightly. 
   The presence of a recess in the barrel bottom and a protrusion on the top face of the external hood and the provision of the larger diameter hollow cylinder with annular sealing lips and longitudinal stiffening ribs provides a reliable fixing of the barrel to the external hood and of the lock to the pouring sleeve. 
   The through hole in the valve rod ensures air inflow and prevents a pressure decrease in the bottle when liquid flows out, thus accelerating the pouring. 
   The presence of a protective cap with a protrusion rules out contamination of the internal barrel surface and makes it possible to use the barrel as a measuring glass; and the provision of the body with a decorative shell shaped as a annular ribbon made of metal foil improves the outward appearance of the apparatus and allows indication of additional information on the ribbon. 

   
     The essence of the invention is shown on the following drawings: 
       FIG. 1  shows the general view of the apparatus; 
       FIG. 2  shows the view of the extra hood; 
       FIG. 3  shows the view of the external hood; 
       FIG. 4  shows the view of the inner hood; 
       FIG. 5  shows the view of the locking ring; 
       FIG. 6  shows the view of the body; 
       FIG. 7  shows the view of pouring sleeve; 
       FIG. 8  shows the view of the valve; and 
       FIG. 9  shows the view of the lock. 
   

   The closure comprises the body  1  with teeth  2 , the pouring sleeve  3  with a skirt  4 , the liquid stream splitter having the form of a disc  5 , longitudinal ribs  6 , a thread  7 , fixing teeth  8 , windows  9 , transverse protrusions  10 , the lock  11  having the form of a hollow cylinder  12  with annular sealing lips  13 , said hollow cylinder connected to a larger diameter hollow cylinder by a bridge  15  fitted with external annular flange  16 , the valve  17  and a cap consisting of inner hood  18  with thread  19 , locking ring  20  and external hood  21  interlocked by longitudinal splines  22 ,  23  and  24 , respectively. The body  1  and the skirt  4  of the pouring sleeve have retaining annular protrusions  25  and  26 , the inner hood  18  has a recess  27  on its end face and the external hood  21  has a multifaceted hollow protrusion  28 ; furthermore, the external hood has an extra hood having the form of a barrel  29  with a multifaceted protrusion  30 , a recess  31  and a protective cap  32  with a protrusion  33 . The disc  5  has a central hole  34 , circumferential ports  35  and bridges  36 . The valve  17  consists of a disc  37  and a rod  38  with a hole  39 . The hollow cylinder  14  of the lock  11  has annular sealing lips  40  and longitudinal stiffening ribs  41 . The body  1  has a decorative shell made of metal foil shaped as an annular ribbon  42 . 
   The closure will be assembled as follows: 
   The lock  11  with the valve  17  shall be inserted into the pouring sleeve  3 . This assembly shall be inserted from below into the body  1  until it rests and, the retaining annular protrusions  25  and  26  interlock with each other. The inner hood  18  and the locking ring  20  shall be then inserted from below into the external hood  21  up to the stop at the rear and this cap shall be screwed with an effort onto the pouring sleeve  3 . Having done this, an extra hood  29  having the form of a barrel shall be installed from above onto the external hood  21 . The multifaceted protrusion  30  of that extra hood fits tightly in the recess  27  of the external hood. 
   The assembled closure shall be forced onto the bottle neck (not shown in the Fig.). While this is being done, the transverse protrusions  10  and longitudinal ribs  6  arranged on the internal surface of the skirt  4  and the annular sealing lips  13  of the pouring sleeve  3  provide a tight fit of the closure on the bottle neck.