Patent Publication Number: US-2011049161-A1

Title: lid-container for independent mixing and a method for its application

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of the priority filing date in PCT/UA2009/000014 referenced in WIPO Publication WO/2009/136885. The earliest priority date claimed is May 5, 2008. 
    
    
     FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
     None 
     SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM 
     None 
     STATEMENT REGARDING COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL 
     Portions of the disclosure of this patent document contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Pertinent Art 
     The claimed invention relates to the fields of food, pharmacology and medicine for the aseptic sealing of bottles, flasks and other vessels and containers. It can be widely used in making drinks or liquid medicinal preparations that have a short shelf life in ready-to-use solutions or mixtures. 
     2. State of the Art 
     Hereinafter, “solution” or “mixture” means an end-product obtained as a result of mixing elementary or compound components: 
     the first one depends on the nature of the origin of the component; 
     the second one depends on the component shelf life; 
     and the third one depends on the state of the component (solid, liquid or gaseous). 
     Hereinafter, “lid” means an item designed for sealing a container that can have a round, square or polygonal shape, symmetrical about its longitudinal axis. 
     “Vessel” hereinafter means a structure that has an inner cavity and is designed for transportation and storage of solid, bulk, liquid and gaseous products. 
     Known is a lid with a screw thread designed for sealing bottles (RUDOLF, V. V. et al.      .   [Manufacturing of Non-Alcoholic Beverages. Manual], St. Petersburg, “Professiya” Publishing House, 2000, p. 139). A shortcoming of this lid is that this design does not make it possible to seal and store solution components separately, and when it is necessary to mix the bottle contents, the seal is disturbed and it is not possible to avoid exposure to the environment. Herein, the bottle sealing is disturbed by applying force directed along a tangent to the side plane of the lid. 
     Known is a lid with a screw thread and a removable container attached to it. The lid is designed for sealing and storing solution components separately (for instance, see the specification of German patent No. 3327615 A1, IPC B65D 25/08). It comprises a body in the form of side walls with a bottom and a plane forming an inside space where an additional vessel in the form of a glass is formed. The glass diameter is smaller than the diameter of the vessel opening. Herein, the glass side wall has a shoulder so that the cross-section has minimal thickness, and the contour of the glass opening has a flanged protrusion interacting with the face of the vessel opening. In the lid&#39;s inner space, there is a cylindrical tube-insert. Its outside diameter is commensurate with the inside diameter of the glass shoulder. 
     Herein, isolation of the lid contents from the vessel contents is broken by applying force directed along a tangent to the lid side plane, and converted into translational movement of the tube-insert. During its translational movement, the tube-insert abuts the glass&#39; circular protrusion and pushes it out into the vessel cavity. 
     This design makes it possible to separately seal and store solution components in the vessel, which are located in the inner cavities of the vessel and glass. To ensure the design&#39;s function, the design components must meet stringent process requirements. 
     The method for application of the known design does not make it possible to ensure reliable isolation of the vessel contents from the environment. This is because the same force directed along a tangent to the lid side wall is used both for sealing and opening. In other words, mixing from the very start disturbs the state of stable isolation in the lid interaction with the vessel. 
     Moreover, the technical characteristics of the method for application of the known design do not ensure a reliable isolation of the contents during storage, and the method is useless for sterile packaging and storage of medicinal preparations and food products that are not resistant to microbial contamination. Known is a lid with a screw thread comprising a body in the form of side walls with a bottom and a plane forming an inside space where a PAM (independent mixing device) plug is located. For the claimed invention, this design is the closest technical solution. 
     The PAM plug (independent mixing device) is protected by Russian Federation patent No. 2276049, IPC B 65D 81/32, B 65D 51/28. It comprises a cylindrical body with its bottom part pressed onto a bottle neck, and a lid with a screw thread, to be installed on the cylindrical body. The body has a bottom overlapping its top face and forming a glass wherein an insert in the form of a central tube parallel to the body axis is located. The central tube wall is connected to the body&#39;s cylindrical section by means of radial partitions that form compartments with sealing plates, and the body bottom has segment-shaped holes for placing a vane-fitted glass with vanes. The glass can move along the axis, and the number of vanes matches the number of compartments. The body has a circular recess with a toothed surface for installation of a protective toothed strip. Isolation of the bottle&#39;s contents is broken by removing the toothed strip and applying force to the lid directed along a tangent to the lid side plane. When the lid is screwed on as far as it will go along the thread, the force is converted to translational movement of the inside plane of the lid bottom along the lid axis. As it slides along the surface of the bottom of the vane-fitted glass, the inside plane of the lid bottom applies increasing pressure to the bottom of the vane-fitted glass, forcing it to perform transitional movement along the longitudinal axis. The glass vanes press against the inside surface of the sealing plates and push them out from the inside of the compartments. The protruding part of the central tube enters a recess in the lid center. The vane-fitted glass moves until the inside plane of the glass bottom touches the outside surface of the body&#39;s bottom. It is impossible to continue applying tangent forces to the lid side surface and screw on the lid. The sealing plates are pushed out, and the compartment holes are open to the inside of the bottle. In this process, the bottle remains closed and isolated from the environment. In addition to the lid&#39;s main purpose of isolating the vessel contents from the environment, this design makes it possible to dissolve one or several substances located in the lid&#39;s body compartments in the liquid inside the vessel immediately before use and prior to final unsealing of the bottle or other vessel. 
     However, this design has substantial volume limitations of components for mixing. At the same time, it sets stringent process requirements for manufacturing and assembling the structural components and for filling compartments with materials for mixing. Herein, the method for application of the known design, as well as the method described earlier, does not facilitate a reliable isolation of vessel contents from the environment during mixing. This is because the essence of these methods is that the same force tangent to the lid side wall is used for both isolation and opening. In other words, a stable state of isolation in the lid interaction with the vessel is disturbed from the very beginning. 
     Moreover, due to its technical characteristics, the above method for packaging does not provide reliable isolation of the contents during storage. Therefore, it is useless for sterile packaging and storage of medicinal preparations and food products that are not resistant to microbial contamination. 
     BRIEF ESSENCE OF THE INVENTION  
     The objective of the invention is to develop a lid design that would not set stringent process requirements for its manufacture and application, while at the same time ensuring sterile conditions for dissolving and mixing substances in a liquid and providing reliable isolation of vessel contents from the environment. 
     The lid-container for independent mixing that is claimed as the invention solves this objective. It comprises a body in the form of side walls with a bottom and a sealing plane that form the body&#39;s inside space where an insert interacting with the bottom is located. The body has a mechanism for connecting to the vessel rim. The lid-container&#39;s distinctive feature is that the body&#39;s bottom or side wall has a corrugation, and the sealing plane is hermetically attached to the side walls of a film. This solution makes it possible to create an additional sterile cavity in the lid&#39;s inside space. It is possible to place and store components of a future solution or mixture in this additional inside cavity. This solution also makes it possible, while maintaining dynamic stability, to mix the mixture components when breaking the sealing film by applying force to the bottom of the lid-container along the longitudinal axis of the vessel and/or lid. 
     The second additional distinctive feature is that on the side of the end section of the lid with the hermetically attached film, the mechanism for connecting to the vessel rim forms a continuation of side walls of the lid body for pressing onto the vessel neck and has a circular shoulder interacting with the neck. A film is hermetically attached to the shoulder. The body opening is located across from the insert. At the other end, the side walls of the body have a screw thread. The corrugated bottom has a circular shell with a matching female thread. This solution makes it possible to seal glass vessels that are currently in circulation using the lid-container for independent mixing. 
     The third additional distinctive feature is that the lid body is rigidly attached to the vessel rim by means of a circular shoulder with a hermetically attached film on the side of its inside space. The circular shoulder opening is located across from the insert, wherein at the other end, the side walls have a screw thread, and the corrugated bottom has a circular shell with a matching female thread. 
     This solution makes it possible to seal PET bottles and other widely used plastic vessels by means of the lid-container for independent mixing. The fourth additional distinctive feature is that the insert is made in the form of a tablet, a sphere or a briquette. 
     This solution makes it possible to use the dynamic stability of a tablet, a sphere or a briquette to break the sealing film in order to combine components of the future solution or mixture without disturbing their isolation from the environment. The stated objective is solved by the claimed method for application of the lid-container for independent mixing. When it is necessary to use product components located in the lid&#39;s additional cavity, and stored separately, force must be applied to the structure of the additional enclosed inside space of the lid, thereby destroying it and freeing the contents into the vessel&#39;s inside space. The distinctive feature is that force is applied to the lid-container bottom and directed along the longitudinal axis of the lid-container or vessel. Alternatively, force is applied in the direction perpendicular to the glass bottom or close to the perpendicular direction. This method for application of the lid-container makes it possible to maintain the factory sealing when preparing a solution or mixture of isolated components in a vessel, which in turn makes it possible to ensure the content&#39;s isolation from the environment. 
     In addition to the primary purpose of storing and transporting the vessel contents, and the lid&#39;s purpose of isolating the vessel contents from the environment, the solution of the stated objective by means of the claimed design of the lid-container for independent mixing and the method for its application, makes it possible to mix or dissolve one or several substances (isolated in the additional sealed cavities of the lid or the vessel neck) in the liquid contained in the vessel immediately before use and prior to unsealing a bottle, flask or other vessel sealed with a lid, while maintaining factory isolation of the vessel&#39;s contents from the environment. 
     The claimed design and the method for its application are novel because, as of the application date, no similar solution has been known to the author and applicant from available sources of information. The claimed design and the method for its application are inventive because, prior to the application date, no person skilled in the pertinent art has offered a similar solution, with minimum investment and substantially longer shelf life of solution components. 
     The claimed design and the method for its application are applicable industrially because an average person skilled in the field would not doubt the possibility of their implementation into production and in daily life. The invention, in any form of embodiment of the inventive concept, is realizable industrially using regular machine building means. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention is explained in the following drawings. 
         FIG. 1  shows a cross-section of the lid-container for independent mixing with a corrugated bottom. 
         FIG. 2  shows a cross-section of the lid-container for independent mixing with a corrugated side wall. 
         FIG. 3  shows an embodiment of the lid-container for using on glass containers. 
         FIG. 4  shows an embodiment of the lid-container for PET vessels. 
         FIG. 5  shows an embodiment of the lid-container with a tablet. 
         FIG. 6  shows an embodiment of the lid-container with a sphere. 
         FIG. 7  shows an embodiment of the lid-container with a briquette. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Information Confirming the Possibility of Realizing the Invention: 
     The lid-container for independent mixing comprises a body in the form of side walls  1  with a bottom  2 , and a sealing plane  3 , and is an integral product with a mechanism for connecting to a vessel rim. The sealing plane  3  is located in the lower end section of the side walls and made as a film  3  that is hermetically attached to the side walls  1  along the entire contour and creates an enclosed and sealed inside space  4  with an insert  5 . The bottom  2  can have corrugation  6  or the side walls  1  can have corrugation  6 . The bottom  2  and the side walls  1  can have corrugation  6  separately or together. In any of the embodiments, between the bottom and the sealing film  3 , there is an insert  5  which interacts with the bottom  2 , and there is a circular shell  7  with a female thread  8  attached to the side walls , for attachment to a vessel neck rim. 
     In addition, one embodiment of the lid-container installed on the rim of a glass vessel is that on the side of the end face section of the lid-container with a hermetically attached film  3 , the mechanism for connecting to the vessel rim is made as a continuation  9  of the side walls  1  of the lid body for pressing onto the vessel rim, and it has a circular shoulder  10  which interacts with the neck. The film is hermetically attached to the shoulder, and the shoulder opening  11  is located across from the insert  5 , wherein the screw thread  12  is made at the opposite end on the side walls  1 . The corrugated bottom  2  has a circular shell  7  with a matching female thread  8 . 
     Alternatively, as an embodiment of the lid-container for use in PET vessels, the side walls  1  of the lid-container body are rigidly attached to a PET vessel rim by means of the circular shoulder  10  with the film  3  hermetically attached to it on the side of the inside space. The circular shoulder  11  opening is located across from the insert  5 , wherein the screw thread  12  is made at the opposite end on side walls  1 . The corrugated bottom  2  has a circular shell  7  with a matching female thread  8 . 
     In either of the above embodiments of the lid-container for independent mixing, between the bottom  2  and the sealing film  3 , there is an insert  5  interacting with the bottom  2 . The insert  5  can be made in the form of a hollow cylindrical body, a cone, a tablet, a sphere, or a briquette. In other words, the insert can be made of a material that is not a component of the finished solution, or conversely, it can be made of a material that is a component of the solution. 
     An assembled lid-container can be screwed onto a vessel neck (see  FIGS. 1 ,  2 ,  5  and  6 ), its bottom section can be pressed onto a vessel neck (see  FIG. 3 ), or its bottom section can be a continuation of a vessel neck (see  FIG. 4 ). The lid-container&#39;s inside space is filled with the required amount of substances intended for dissolving or mixing in liquid contained in the vessel. The inside space is covered with a sealing film  3 , and an insert  5  is installed between the sealing film and the bottom. 
     The Operation of the Claimed Device and a Brief Essence of the Method for Its Application: 
     The operation of the lid-container for independent mixing is illustrated in  FIGS. 1-6 . To dissolve the substance located in the lid-container&#39;s inner space, force is applied and directed along the longitudinal axis of the lid or vessel. The force is applied to the bottom  2  perpendicularly to the plane of the bottom  2  or close to this direction by pressing on the bottom  2 . Due to the pressing on the corrugation  6 , on the bottom  2  or the side walls  1 , the insert  5  moves along the side walls  1  until the sealing film  3  is broken. The contents of the inner space of the lid-container, or of the hollow insert  5 , drops under gravity into the vessel contents, and the mixing process takes place. 
     The inside cavity of the vessel, along with the inside cavity of the lid-container, are still isolated from the environment, and the factory packaging is not destroyed. For the substances to better dissolve, it is necessary to turn the vessel upside down several times. By getting into the inner cavity of the lid-container, the liquid washes the remains of substance out of the cavity. 
     Thus, the claimed solution makes it possible, with minimal process requirements for production, to ensure separate storage and transportation of several substances of a solution in a single packaging and to dissolve these substances in a liquid contained in a vessel, with reliable isolation of the substances from the environment. 
     The above examples of embodiments of the inventive concept and the examples of process capabilities do not cover all specific designs and all possible aspects of industrial application of the device according to the invention, and they in no way limit the scope of the inventor&#39;s rights.