Patent Publication Number: US-9834466-B2

Title: Bottle neck with internal embossments and method manufacture

Description:
The present disclosure relates to manufacture of longneck bottles having at least one internal embossment on the bottle neck for affecting flow of fluid during dispensing through the bottle neck. 
     BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     Longneck bottles are popular in the beverage packaging industry, particularly for packaging beer. A general object of the present disclosure is to provide a longneck bottle having at least one internal embossment in the bottle neck for affecting flow of fluid during dispensing through the bottle neck. 
     The present disclosure embodies a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or in combination with each other. 
     A method of making a bottle includes (a) forming a parison, (b) blowing the parison into a bottle of one-piece integrally formed construction, and (c) during the step (a) and/or the step (b), forming internal features on a neck of the bottle. Step (c) includes (c1) forming external features on the neck during the step (a), (c2) pushing the external features into the neck during step (b), and forming the internal features to be disposed entirely within the neck where the neck widens and at positions spaced from an internal surface of a neck finish and not extending into a shoulder of the bottle. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The disclosure, together with additional objects, features, advantages and aspects thereof, will best be understood from the following description, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an elevational view of a longneck bottle in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS. 2, 3 and 4  are sectional views taken substantially along the respective lines  2 - 2 ,  3 - 3  and  4 - 4  in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is an elevational view of a longneck bottle in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS. 6, 7 and 8  are sectional views taken substantially along the respective lines  6 - 6 ,  7 - 7  and  8 - 8  in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 9  is an elevational view of a longneck bottle in accordance with a third exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS. 10, 11 and 12  are sectional views taken substantially along the respective lines  10 - 10 ,  11 - 11  and  12 - 12  in  FIG. 9 ; 
         FIG. 13  is an elevational view of a longneck bottle in accordance with a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS. 14, 15 and 16  are sectional views taken substantially along the respective lines  14 - 14 ,  15 - 15  and  16 - 16  in  FIG. 13 ; and 
         FIGS. 17 and 18  are elevational views of longneck bottles in accordance with respective further exemplary embodiments of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a longneck bottle  20  in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure as including a bottle body  22  having a closed base  24  and a shoulder  26 , and a bottle neck  28  extending along an axis  29  from shoulder  26  to a bottle mouth  30  ( FIGS. 2 and 3 ). Neck  28  terminates in a neck finish  32  contoured for attachment of a desired closure. Bottle  20  has an overall height  34 , and neck  28  (including neck finish  32 ) has a height  36 . For purposes of the present disclosure, the term “longneck bottle” is defined as a bottle in which the height  36  of the bottle neck is at least 25% of the overall bottle height  34 . In exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, neck height  36  is in the range of 33% to 40% of bottle height  34 . 
     Longneck bottle  20  is of one-piece integrally formed construction, preferably glass or metal construction. (The term “integrally formed construction” does not exclude one-piece integrally molded layered glass constructions of the type disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,401, or one-piece glass or metal bottles to which other structure is added after the bottle-forming operation.) Longneck glass bottles can be fabricated in a press-and-blow manufacturing operation. A molten glass charge or gob is placed in a blank mold and a plunger is moved into the blank mold to form the molten glass gob against the inside surfaces of the blank mold. The glass preform or parison is then removed from the blank mold and placed in a blow mold, in which the parison body and a major portion of the neck are stretched by blow gas (usually air) against the internal surfaces of the blow mold while the neck finish remains in the geometry formed in the blank mold. Longneck glass bottles also can be formed in a blow-and-blow manufacturing operation. Longneck metal bottles can be formed by any suitable technique. 
     In accordance with the present disclosure, at least one internal feature or embossment is formed on bottle neck  28  for affecting flow of liquid through the bottle neck during dispensing. In the embodiment of  FIGS. 1-4 , such internal feature or embossment takes the form of a plurality of internal ribs  40  that spiral around axis  29 , which preferably is coaxial with body  22  and forms the central axis of the bottle. Spiral ribs  40  preferably are substantially identical and at uniform angular spacing from each other. As liquid product, such as beer, soda or other beverage, is dispensed from bottle  22 , spiral internal ribs  40  impart a swirling action to the liquid. 
       FIGS. 5-8  illustrate a longneck bottle  42  in accordance with a second exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Elements in bottle  42  (and in the bottles of  FIGS. 9-17 ) that are the same or substantially the same as elements in bottle  20  of  FIGS. 1-4  are indicated by correspondingly identical reference numerals. In bottle  42 , the internal embossments or ribs on bottle neck  43  take the form of closed elliptical ribs  44 . Each elliptical rib  44  preferably is disposed in a plane at an angle to axis  29 . There are three elliptical ribs  44  in the exemplary embodiment of  FIGS. 5-8 . Elliptical ribs  44  preferably are in spaced parallel planes at an angle to the axis  29  of the bottle. As liquid beverage is dispensed from bottle  42 , passage over ribs  44  tends to agitate the liquid and release gas from the liquid helping to form a head in beer, or to aerate wine for example. 
       FIGS. 9-11  illustrate a longneck bottle  46  in which the internal embossments on neck  48  take the form of angularly spaced longitudinal ribs  50 . Each rib  50  is coplanar with axis  29 . In the example of  FIGS. 9-12  in which neck  48  is substantially conical, each rib  50  is linear and at an angle to axis  29 . If neck  48  were of the “bulged” configuration of  FIG. 13 , longitudinal ribs  50  would be curved but still coplanar with axis  29 . Ribs  50  extend in the direction of the bottle neck—i.e., ribs  50  are not angled to the direction of product flow through the bottle neck. Ribs  50  thus tend to channel product flow and to reduce agitation of product during dispensing. 
       FIGS. 13-16  illustrate a longneck bottle  52  in accordance with a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Bottle  52  has a neck  54  that is of exemplary bulged geometry, as compared with the more conical geometries of bottle necks  28 ,  43  and  48  in  FIGS. 1-12 . The internal embossments in bottle  52  include at least one annular internal rib  56  disposed in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis  29  of neck  54 . In the example of  FIGS. 13-16 , there are a pair of axially spaced internal ribs  56  in parallel planes on the inside surface of neck  54 . Ribs  56  tend to agitate product as the product is dispensed through the bottle neck, releasing gas and tending to form a head in beer for example. 
       FIG. 17  illustrates a longneck wine bottle  60  having a body  62  and a neck  64  with a cork-type finish  66 . Spiral ribs  68  are formed on the inside surface of neck  64 .  FIG. 17  also illustrates that the internal embossments in the bottle neck are not necessarily confined to the neck but can extend into the body  62  of the bottle. 
     A longneck bottle may be made by forming a preform or parison, such as in a plunger-type pressing operation although a blowing operation could be employed. The parison is then moved from the parison or blank mold to a blow mold in which the bottle neck and body are formed in a blowing operation. The bottle neck finish  32  or  66  typically is formed to final geometry in the parison-forming operation, while the bottle neck and the bottle body are reformed in the blowing operation. The exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings include screw thread-type neck finishes  32  for attachment of threaded closures. However, the neck finish could be of any suitable geometry, such as a crown finish geometry for crimp-attachment of a bottle cap or a cork-type finish  66 . 
     The internal embossments on the bottle neck that characterize the present disclosure could be formed in any suitable operation. In one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the internal neck embossments are formed in accordance with the disclosure of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/904,437 filed Sep. 27, 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Briefly stated, the blank mold body has an internal surface with at least one debossment or pocket of predetermined geometry (a rib-shaped geometry in the present disclosure) corresponding to the geometry of the desired internal embossment on the bottle neck. The neck portion of the parison is pushed against the internal surface of the blank mold body forming at least one external embossment on the neck portion of the parison corresponding to the at least one internal debossment on the mold body internal surface. When the parison subsequently is blown against the internal surface of the blow mold, the external embossment on the parison neck is effectively pushed through the wall of the neck to form at least one internal embossment corresponding to the external embossment on the parison. Forming at least one internal embossment, preferably but not necessarily rib-shaped on the bottle neck in accordance with the present disclosure, does not preclude also forming internal functional and/or ornamental embossments on the bottle body. 
     As an alternative method of manufacture illustrated in  FIG. 18 , the at least one internal embossment on the bottle neck  70  in accordance with the present disclosure could be made by forming at least one external channel  72  on the bottle neck and a corresponding internal rib  74  on the neck during the parison-forming or the operation in which a bottle is blown from the parison. If the external channel and corresponding internal rib are formed during the parison-forming operation, the external channel will tend to disappear during the bottle blowing operation. 
     As clearly shown in  FIGS. 2-4 , the spiral rib embossments or features in the embodiment of  FIGS. 1-4  extend inwardly from an inside surface of the bottle neck. The inner edges of these ribs are rounded. The same is true of the embodiment of  FIGS. 5-8 , embodiment of  FIGS. 9-12 , the embodiment of  FIGS. 13-16  and the embodiment of  FIGS. 17-18 . As also clearly shown in  FIGS. 1-4 , the spiral rib embossments or features in this embodiment are disposed around neck  28  well below the inside surface of finish  32  and where the neck widens between finish  32  and shoulder  26 . The same is true in the other embodiments. 
     In summary, a longneck bottle in accordance with the present disclosure is of one-piece integrally formed construction and has a neck that is at least 25% of the overall height or length of the bottle, preferably at least 33% to 40% of the overall bottle length. The bottle neck has at least one internal embossment for affecting flow of liquid through the bottle neck during dispensing. In the several exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, such internal embossments include spiral ribs ( FIGS. 1-4 and 17 ) for imparting a swirling action to the liquid during dispensing, longitudinal ribs ( FIGS. 9-12 ) for retarding swirling action during dispensing, and elliptical ribs ( FIGS. 5-8 ) or annular ribs ( FIGS. 13-16 ) for agitating the liquid during dispensing. 
     There thus have been disclosed a longneck bottle and method of manufacture that fully satisfy all of the objects and aims previously set forth. The bottle and method of manufacture have been disclosed in conjunction with several exemplary embodiments, and additional modifications and variations have been discussed. Other modifications and variations readily will suggest themselves to persons of ordinary skill in the art in view of the foregoing description. The disclosure is intended to embrace all such modifications and variations as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.