Patent Publication Number: US-9834346-B1

Title: Adaptable bottle seal breaker cap

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to medicine or supplement bottles with caps and sealed foil tops. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Many food and pharmaceutical products and others are packaged in containers with screw-on caps having an adhesively attached tamper evident membrane over the opening. The seals may be aluminum foil, cardboard, or plastic membranes. Some seals have integral removal tabs which may be difficult to grasp especially by arthritis afflicted senior citizens. In any case, after the cap is initially unscrewed, the membrane must next be removed before the product can be used. 
     Often, consumers must resort to the use of improvised tools at hand such as knives, screwdrivers, or scissors to penetrate the membrane and either cut it or create a hole in it so that it can be torn and removed by hand. This creates an inconvenient and dangerous situation. Clearly, a safe convenient means for penetrating the membrane should be attached to or part of the screw cap. 
     The prior art reveals two US patents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,616,090 and 8,844,406) of Joseph Ferraro entitled Bottle Seal Breaker, which show four embodiments of membrane seal breakers which are part of the bottle caps. The present invention (also of Applicant Joseph Ferraro) is yet another embodiment which is an improvement over the prior art. 
     The first embodiment of the cited patents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,616,090 and 8,844,406 of Ferraro) illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 of Ferraro &#39;090 and &#39;406 has a straight notch on the bottom edge of the cap forming a short outer segment used for penetrating the membrane. While easy to manufacture and safe, it requires a bottle cap with enough bottom extension beyond the start of the threads to provide a notch deep enough for penetration without interfering with smooth thread operation. 
     The second embodiment of the cited patents (FIGS. 4 and 5 of Ferraro &#39;090 and &#39;406) shows a curved slot near the top surface of the cap on the side that is used for membrane penetration. Two aspects which add cost to the cap of this embodiment are the use of a more complex mold with a movable feature to form the side slot and the need for extra material thickness on the side of the cap to provide the required slot depth. 
     The third and fourth embodiments of the cited patents (FIGS. 6 and 7 of Ferraro &#39;090 and &#39;406) use pointed cap extensions to form membrane penetrating elements. The material of the extensions is a slight extra cost enhancer, while the pointed extensions are a hazard that may cause scratches in use. 
     The present invention overcomes all of these shortcomings. 
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of this invention is to provide a bottle seal breaker cap which is adaptable to a wide variety of bottle caps, easily manufactured, safe, and economical. 
     It is also an object of the present invention to provide a bottle seal breaker cap which is easy to use and safe to handle. 
     Other objects will become apparent from the following description of the present invention. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a bottle seal breaker cap which is adaptable to a wide variety of bottle caps. It has one or more notches, preferably a single notch, extending up from the bottom peripheral lip of a bottle cap, including a cutting surface deep enough to cut into a sealed foil substrate installed for sanitary reasons on top of the body of a medicine or supplement bottle. 
     It is a notch in the form of a right triangle on the bottom edge of the bottle cap. The short vertical wall is angled to form a dull cutting edge while the longer sloping side is full material width. In fact, the notch can be molded in a simple mold as part of the cap. It adds no time nor extra material in the manufacturing phase. The notch is adaptable to a wide variety of caps needing neither height nor thickness enhancement for operation. It is safe in that it provides one rounded point at the bottom edge of the cap which is not a location of frequent finger contact. The notch fits in such a manner as to not impinge on the internal cap threads, and it even works on caps with multiple thread starts. The seal breaker of this invention is ergonomically designed for easy use; it is easy to align with the side of the membrane using the sloping edge as a guide. While the notch follows the circular bottom contour of the bottle cap, both the short vertical cutting edge and the longer sloping edge are seen as intersecting straight lines in a side elevation. 
     This invention is adaptable to bottle caps formed by injection molding using unscrewing molds, molds using collapsing cores, or molds using the bump-off method without secondary operations. The invention is also compatible with metal bottle caps, but secondary operations such as die cutting or grinding would be used to form the notch. 
     In alternate embodiments, the side elevations of the notch can show contours which deviate from straight lines. In fact, an infinite variety of contour shapes can be used. The cutting edge may be serrated. Concave arcuate contours of either the short cutting edge or the long sloping edge or both may be used to enhance the ergonomics or the aesthetics of the side notch. A single continuous contour can be used to form a notch. A notch formed as a shallow wide rectangular shape with a single pointed tooth in middle (as a single serration) can also be used. Other geometric shapes may be used as well, such as serrated edges, which are not shown 
     For example, the notched cut may assume any infinitely variable geometric shape for a cap with a notched opening extending up from a bottom edge of the bottle cap, which performs the same function of breaking a foil seal on top of a medicine or supplement bottle. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention can best be understood in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is noted that the invention is not limited to the precise embodiments shown in drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a container with a seal breaker cap of this invention screwed on; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of an inverted cap of this invention with a single thread showing the fit of the side notch; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an inverted cap with four thread starts of this invention showing the fit of the side notch; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a bottle with top sealing membrane and a seal breaking cap of this invention in an orientation of penetrating the membrane. The bottle can be held in one hand while the cap is held in the other in the orientation shown; 
         FIG. 5  is a side elevation detail of the corner of the notch penetrating the membrane in the relative orientation of  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a side elevation showing a bottle cap of this invention showing a concave sloping notch edge; 
         FIG. 7  is a side elevation of a notched bottle cap showing a concave beveled cutting edge; and, 
         FIG. 8  is a side elevation of a notched bottle cap showing concave cutting edge as well as a concave sloping edge. 
         FIG. 9  is a side elevation of a notched bottle cap having a notch formed by a single continuous curve. 
         FIG. 10  is a side elevation of a notched bottle cap having a notch with a single pointed tooth serration. 
         FIG. 11  is a side elevation of a notched bottle cap having a notch with a plurality of pointed teeth serrations. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows a sealed bottle  1  with a bottle seal breaker cap  10  of this invention. Cap  10  is simply screwed onto bottle  3 . The seal breaking feature is the notch formed by sloping side  12  and seal breaking short edge  14  which is angled to a dull cutting edge which can be formed by the cap mold with no secondary operations. 
       FIG. 2  shows upside down the notch on cap  10  with a single start thread  16 . Note the fitting of the notch in the cap whereby the sloping part  12  fits under the first thread spiral and the cutting edge  14  fits under the second thread spiral. Note that thread  16  is not impinged in any fashion. 
       FIG. 3  shows upside down a seal breaker cap  20  having a four start thread  18 . The features of the notch fit the same way as in the single start cap  10 . This type of cap is common on juice or milk cartons which are sometimes membrane sealed. 
     The method of use for puncturing and then cutting a membrane is shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 . Note membrane  22  is in place sealing the top opening of bottle  3 . In  FIG. 4 , the cap has been removed and the end of notch line  14  (the cutting edge) has penetrated membrane  22  and will continue to cut it at the edge as cap  10  is moved along path  24  following the edge of the top opening of bottle  3 . The penetration is better illustrated in the side elevation detail of  FIG. 5  as the point at the end of notch side  14  is below the surface of membrane  22 . 
       FIGS. 6-8  show alternate embodiments using concave arcuate line elements to form the membrane cutting notch on the bottle cap.  FIG. 9  shows a notch formed by a single continuous curve. Note that all notches shown fit as shown in the inverted cap drawings of  FIGS. 2 and 3  regardless of the contours; they do not impact the threads. 
     Bottle cap  30  in  FIG. 6  uses the same straight cutting edge  14  as in  FIGS. 1-5 , but the sloping edge is now a concave arcuate shape  32 . Bottle cap  35  in  FIG. 7  shows a straight sloping side  12  as shown in  FIGS. 1-5 , but a tilted concave arcuate shape  36  is used for the beveled cutting edge.  FIG. 8  shows bottle cap  40  with a notch having arcuate cutting edge  36  mated with arcuate sloping edge  32 .  FIG. 9  shows bottle cap  50  with a notch  52  formed by a continuous curve. Since this particular notch is symmetrical and either end can be used for cutting, it is equally convenient for both left and right-handed consumers to use. 
     Bottle cap  60  in  FIG. 10  shows a side view with a notch  62  as a shallow rectangle with a single tooth  64  pointed downward (a serration) in the center of the notch. Tooth  64  is used to pierce and cut the sealing membrane  22 . It is known that multiple teeth  64  can be provided in a serrated version of the seal breaker, as shown in  FIG. 11 . 
     In the foregoing description, certain terms and visual depictions are used to illustrate the preferred embodiment. However, no unnecessary limitations are to be construed by the terms used or illustrations depicted, beyond what is shown in the prior art, since the terms and illustrations are exemplary only, and are not meant to limit the scope of the present invention. 
     It is further known that other modifications may be made to the present invention, without departing the scope of the invention, as noted in the appended Claims.