Patent Publication Number: US-11661255-B1

Title: Water jug safety seal

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Non-applicable. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to a safety seal and more specifically to a safety seal for a water jug. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Many people around the world enjoy drinking water from water cooler. These water coolers often have a five gallon water jug secured upon the top of the water cooler. Many offices and even some households will have five gallon water jugs delivered weekly. 
     While this practice is convenient and provides clean and reliable drinking water often times the entire neck of the bottle is dusty or dirty due to exposure or storage. If a user merely uncaps the water bottle and places it into the water dispensing cooler—the dust or dirt may be transmitted into the body of the cooler. In order to avoid this problem a need exists for a way to keep a larger portion of the water bottle neck clean. The development of the water jug safety seal provides a solution to this problem in a manner that is safe and cost effective. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     To achieve the above and other objectives, the present invention provides for a bottle safety seal which has, a safety seal adapted to cover a top of a bottle. The safety seal may be a plastic film that is applied over the top of the bottle when the bottle is filled with a product. The plastic film may be transparent such that one or more labels are applied to the bottle are read through the plastic film. The plastic film may include a plurality of heat shrink properties that the plastic film tightens against the bottle when warm air is blown on the plastic film. The bottle may be selected from the group consisting of a 5-gallon water bottle, a water bottle, a wine bottle, a soda bottle, or a juice bottle. 
     The safety seal may be adapted to be shaped to fit on the upper half of the bottle which includes a neck, a shoulder, and at least a portion of a body of the bottle. The safety seal may include an inverted funnel and a top portion that surrounds a neck of the bottle, a bottom section that surrounds some or all of the body of the bottle. A middle section may surround a shoulder of the bottle and may transition between a plurality of different diameters of the top portion and the bottom section. The safety seal may include a tear line that is a perforation in the safety seal that creates a weakness in the safety seal. The safety seal may tend to rupture at the tear line when an external force is applied to remove the safety seal. The safety seal may be coupled to a tamper-evident band of the bottle cap. The bottle safety seal wherein removing the tamper-evident band to open, the bottle pulls on the safety seal and may cause the safety seal to separate from the bottle such that the safety seal is removed from the bottle prior to removing the bottle cap. The tear line may align with a pull tab such that pulling on the pull tab to remove the tamper-evident band ruptures the safety seal at the tear line and pulls the safety seal as the tamper-evident band is removed. The safety seal may include a low-tack adhesive to retain the safety seal in place until the bottle is opened. 
     The low-tack adhesive may adhere the safety seal to the bottle until an external force pulls the safety seal away from the bottle. The bottle may be shipped to a storage area and resides in the storage area long enough to be exposed to one or more contaminants which settle onto the safety seal at one or more non-vertical surfaces of the bottle. The safety seal may prevent a plurality of contaminants from collecting on a plurality of exposed non-vertical surfaces of the bottle. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The advantages and features of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following more detailed description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like elements are identified with like symbols, and in which: 
         FIG.  1    is an isometric view of a bottle safety seal, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  2    is a side view of a bottle safety seal, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and, 
         FIG.  3    is a bottom view of a bottle safety seal, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and, 
         FIG.  4    is a top view of a bottle safety seal  100 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTIVE KEY 
     
         
           100  bottle safety seal 
           200  safety seal 
           210  top portion 
           212  middle section 
           214  bottom section 
           220  tear line 
           900  bottle 
           912  neck 
           914  shoulder 
           916  body 
           920  bottle cap 
           922  tamper-evident band 
           924  pull tab 
           930  contaminants 
       
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a bottle safety seal (herein described as the “invention”)  100 . The invention  100  may comprise a safety seal  200  that covers the top of a bottle  900 . The safety seal  200  may prevent contaminants  930  from collecting on exposed non-vertical surfaces of the bottle  900 . As non-limiting examples, the contaminants  930  may be from storing the bottle  900  in a warehouse or other storage area where the bottle  900  may be exposed to dust, dirt, spilled liquids, machinery lubricants, and even urine and feces from pests present in the storage area. The safety seal  200  may be separable from the bottle  900  such that the safety seal  200  may be removed from the bottle  900  prior to pouring or drinking from the bottle  900 . As non-limiting examples, the bottle  900  may be a water bottle, a wine bottle, a soda bottle, or a juice bottle. The invention  100  may be particularly suitable for use on five-gallon (5 Gal.) water cooler bottles which may present larger exposed surface areas and may spend longer periods of time in storage before being used. 
     The safety seal  200  may comprise a plastic film that may be applied to the bottle  900  after the bottle  900  is filled with product. The safety seal  200  may be shaped to fit on the upper half of the bottle  900  which may comprise a neck  912 , a shoulder  914 , and at least a portion of a body  916  of the bottle  900 . The safety seal  200  may generally be the shape of an inverted funnel and may comprise a top portion  210  that surrounds the neck  912  of the bottle  900 , a bottom section  214  that surrounds some or all of the body  916  of the bottle  900 , and a middle section  212  that may surround the shoulder  914  of the bottle  900  and may transition between the differing diameters of the top portion  210  and the bottom section  214 . 
     In some embodiments, the plastic film may be clear such that labels applied to the upper half of the bottle  900  may be read through the plastic film. In some embodiments, the plastic film may comprise heat shrink properties that such the plastic film may tighten against the bottle  900  when warm air is blown on the plastic film. 
     In some embodiments, the safety seal  200  may cover a mouth of the bottle  900  prior to a bottle cap  920  being placed over the mouth of the bottle  900 . 
     The safety seal  200  may comprise a tear line  220 . The tear line  220  may be a perforation in the safety seal  200  that creates a weakness in the safety seal  200 . The safety seal  200  may tend to rupture at the tear line  220  when an external force is applied to remove the safety seal  200 . 
     In some embodiments, the safety seal  200  may be coupled to the bottle cap  920 . Specifically, in some embodiments, the safety seal  200  may be coupled to a tamper-evident band  922  of the bottle cap  920 . Removing the tamper-evident band  922  to open the bottle  900  may pull on the safety seal  200  and may cause the safety seal  200  to separate from the bottle  900  such that the safety seal  200  may be removed from the bottle  900  prior to removing the bottle cap  920 . 
     In some embodiments, the tear line  220  may align with a pull tab  924  such that pulling on the pull tab  924  to remove the tamper-evident band  922  may rupture the safety seal  200  at the tear line  220  and may pull the safety seal  200  as the tamper-evident band  922  is removed. The pull tab  924  may extend away from the tamper-evident band  922  outside of the bottle cap  920  and the tamper-evident band  922  to facilitate access to grasping the pull tab  924 . 
     In some embodiments, the safety seal  200  may comprise a low-tack adhesive to retain the safety seal  200  in place until the bottle  900  is opened. Low-tack adhesives are known in the art; an example of a low-tack adhesive may be found in off-the-shelf products commonly available in office supply stores where a low-tack adhesive is applied to the back of a slip of paper to create a product useful for posting notes for others to read. The low-tack adhesive may adhere the safety seal  200  to the bottle  900  until an external force pulls the safety seal  200  away from the bottle  900 . The external force required to separate the safety seal  200  and the bottle  900  may easily be exerted by the user&#39;s hand. 
     In use, a bottle  900  may be filled with the product and the safety seal  200  may be placed over the top of the bottle  900 . The bottle cap  920  may be placed onto the bottle  900  and may be coupled to the safety seal  200 . The bottle  900  may be shipped to a storage area and may reside in the storage area long enough to be exposed to contaminants  930  which may settle onto the safety seal  200  at non-vertical surfaces of the bottle  900 . The bottle  900  may subsequently be delivered to a user. The user may remove the tamper-evident band  922  of the bottle cap  920  by pulling on the pull tab  924  of the tamper-evident band  922 . The pull tab  924  extends externally from the tamper-evident band  922 . The process of removing the tamper-evident band  922  may separate the tear line  220  of the safety seal  200  and may begin to pull the safety seal  200  from the bottle  900 . The user may complete removal of the safety seal  200  and may discard the safety seal  200 . The bottle cap  920  may be removed from the bottle  900  and any portion of the safety seal  200  remaining under the bottle cap  920  may be removed and discarded before pouring or drinking the product from the bottle  900 . 
     The exact specifications, materials used, and method of use of the invention  100  may vary upon manufacturing. The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.