Patent Description:
In the field of liquid packaging, it is very common to seal the aperture of a container with a stopper, often made from a plastic material. Such container is usually a plastic or glass bottle, but other materials may be used as well.

The stopper has a tubular shape closed at its top edge by a top wall. The stopper comprises a roof attached to a tamper shell through bridges. Bridges are distributed around the circumference of the roof and the tamper shall. The bridges may be made when molding the stopper or after through undergoing a cutting step during the manufacturing process.

Usually the bottle neck includes outer fixation feature, such as thread(s) for screw type stopper or annular fixation rings for snap type stopper, to secure the stopper on the bottle neck.

For screw type stoppers, the tamper shell comprises inner thread(s) arranged inside side walls. The bottle neck fixation feature may include outer thread(s). Such combination of outer and inner thread(s) allows the stopper to be screwed on a bottle neck to seal it and unscrewed for bottle opening. A snap type stopper may include an inner annular area and the bottle neck fixation feature may include outer fixation ring, in order to slot in force the stopper on the bottle neck. A snap type stopper may include a tamper shell with a movable sealing roof from a closed position to a partial opening position, and reversely. The roof may be separated upon opening or may be connected to the tamper shell.

In a bottle sealing position of the stopper, the tamper shell may be secured around the bottle neck through inner shell retaining features or through the retaining features diameter being smaller than a diameter of a tamper shell of the bottle neck.

The roof may be removable. During bottle opening, the bridges form a weakness line and may be torn apart from the roof, separating it from the bottle. The weakness line may be torn when user unscrews the tamper shell of the stopper or when user lifts the roof by tilting.

There is a recycling risk with separable roof as consumers may not always screw or snap back the roof onto the bottle neck once empty. The stopper may be thrown away as litter or put into the trash bin, or worse make its way into a landfill, which is not good in view of the environmental considerations.

One solution includes linking the roof to the tamper shell secured on the bottle neck, so the roof stays attached to the bottle after bottle opening. Such an attached stopper may be called a "tethered stopper.

<CIT> teaches a plastic screw stopper including a peripheral strip between a tamper shell and a roof. Such peripheral strip is linked to the tamper shell through a bottom weakness line and to the roof through a top weakness line. The bottom weakness line and top weakness line are parallel and extend across the periphery of the stopper in order to incorporate one or two hinges in close proximity to each other. When unscrewing the stopper the bottom weakness line and top weakness line tear apart, but the two hinges hold the roof on the tamper shell. The roof becomes unmovable and as capable of toggling around the hinges beside of the stopper secured on the bottle neck.

<CIT> teaches a plastic screw stopper comprises a helicoidal strip between a tamper shell and a roof. Such helicoidal strip is obtained by cutting the tamper shell around the stopper. The outer wall of the tamper shell is placed against a blade and the stopper is moved in rotation relative to the blade according to an angular stroke greater than an entire turn or more than <NUM>°. During rotation, the stopper is being moved in an axial movement relative to the blade. The cut line forms a helicoidal weakness line which remains attached at one end to the tamper shell and at its opposite end to the roof after opening.

Other known art prior art systems include a tethered stopper comprising a spiral strip. The spiral strip is made during the stopper molding so there is no cutting or slitting operations. Other known prior art systems includes tethered stoppers comprising two strips linking the closure shell to the tamper band secured on the bottle. <CIT> discloses a tethered plastic screw stopper according to the preamble of claim <NUM>.

This invention is a tethered plastic screw stopper where its closure shell remains attached to its tamper band after bottle opening through a link formed into the ridge of the top edge of the tamper band. The link may be angularly made by molding or cutting into the material of the tamper band around the stopper and under a weakness line separating the closure shell from the tamper band. The link remains also connected to the closure shell at its opposite end through a remaining bridge which is not broken when unscrewing the closure shell when bottle opening.

The figures are not necessarily to scale and some features may be exaggerated or minimized, such as to show details of particular components. Emphasis is placed on illustrating the principles of the invention. In the figures, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views.

In some instances, well-known components, systems, materials or methods have not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present disclosure.

Phrasing such as 'configured to' perform a function, including in the claims, can include any or all of being sized, shaped, positioned in the arrangement, and comprising material to perform the function.

Terms indicating quantity, such as 'first' or 'second' are used for exemplary and explanation purposes and are not intended to dictate the specific ordering of a component with respect to other components. Terms indicating position such as 'top' or 'bottom' and 'left' or right' are used for exemplary and explanation purposes with respect to other components.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed herein. The described embodiments are merely exemplary illustrations of implementations set for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Variations, modifications, and combinations may be made to the described embodiments without departing from the scope of the claims. All such variations, modifications, and combinations are included herein by the scope of this disclosure and the claims.

This invention is a tethered plastic screw stopper <NUM> for closing a bottle. The stopper <NUM> may be formed by one plastic piece by a molding fabrication step. Other parts or elements of the stopper <NUM> can be further formed into the plastic piece by cutting or slitting manufacturing step. The stopper <NUM> is a screw type and comprises inner fixation features, such as thre. ad(s), designed to cooperate with outer complementary fixation features made on the bottle neck.

The stopper <NUM> comprises a closure shell <NUM> and a tamper band <NUM> underneath the closure shell <NUM>. Positioned at the bottom edge the tamper band <NUM> are the retaining features. The retaining features act to secure the stopper <NUM> when sealing the bottle. Additionally, the retaining features can be made to form a collar. After the collar is inverted inside the tamper band <NUM>, during the bottle sealing process the collar locks the tamper band <NUM> and the stopper <NUM> against a tamper evident ring positioned outwardly around the bottle neck. The retaining features can also be molded directly during the injection process resulting in beads that do not need to be inverted like the collar.

Tamper band <NUM> and the closure shell <NUM> are separably connected together through a weakness line <NUM>. The weakness line <NUM> is positioned between the bottom edge of the closure shell <NUM> and the top edge of the tamper band <NUM>. The weakness line <NUM> may be formed into the plastic material of the stopper <NUM> when molding or through a further cutting operation. The weakness line <NUM> is formed and comprises bridges <NUM>. These bridges <NUM> are distributed along the weakness line <NUM>, in regular or irregular spacing. The bridges <NUM> link the top edge of the tamper band <NUM> to the bottom edge of the closure shell <NUM>. Between the bridges <NUM>, the weakness line <NUM> comprises spaces or slitting material, with a less thickness, which allow the closure shell <NUM> to be removed from the tamper band <NUM> when opening the bottle by unscrewing the stopper <NUM>. Thus, when unscrewing the closure shell <NUM> from the tamper band <NUM>. the bridges <NUM> are broken. So the closure shell <NUM> can be manually removed by the consumer, in order to open the bottle and access the bottle's contents.

The stopper <NUM> is tethered and when the bottle is opened, the closure shell <NUM> remains attached to the tamper band <NUM> and is secured on the bottle neck by its retaining features. The stopper <NUM> comprises a link <NUM> formed into a ridge <NUM> on the upper area of the tamper band <NUM>. Typically, the ridge <NUM> has a greater thickness relative to the tamper band <NUM>. The link <NUM> has a small portion of the upper area of the tamper band <NUM> or of its top edge.

Separation lines <NUM>,<NUM> is formed respectively along the bottom and top of the link <NUM> and the top of the remaining material of the tamper band <NUM>. At one end, the link <NUM> remains connected to the tamper band <NUM>. One or more of the separation lines <NUM>, <NUM> angularly extends to determine the length of the link <NUM>. The separation line <NUM> can be made of a less thick material or of space bridges or of at least one bridge, so when unscrewing the closure shell <NUM> the separation line <NUM> is tom apart and allows the link <NUM> to separated from the tamper band <NUM>.

According to an embodiment, the link <NUM> angularly extends around the stopper <NUM> into the tamper band <NUM> between <NUM>° to <NUM>°. According to one embodiment the link <NUM> angularly extends at <NUM>°. The bottom separation line <NUM> of the link <NUM> is formed during the stopper <NUM> manufacturing process or by a cutting or slitting during the manufacturing process. An opposite end <NUM> of the link <NUM> may also be separated from the ridge <NUM> by a space. In some embodiments as shown in <FIG>, <FIG> and <FIG>, the opposite end edge <NUM> may be inclined or curved. In other embodiments as shown in <FIG>, the opposite end edge <NUM> is vertical.

In some embodiments, the bottom separation line <NUM> comprises a breakable bridge <NUM> (<FIG>) under the opposite end <NUM>. The breakable bridge <NUM> may be designed to secure the opposite end <NUM> of the link <NUM> when first applying the stopper <NUM> to the bottle (e.g., during manufacturing). The breakable bridge <NUM> is tom apart and separates when unscrewing the closure shell <NUM> (e.g., by a user opening the bottle), releasing the opposite end <NUM> of the link <NUM>.

At its top end, the link <NUM> may be attached to the closure shell <NUM> through at least one of the bridges <NUM> which does not break when unscrewing the closure shell <NUM>, relative to the other bridges <NUM> which are torn and broken when unscrewing the closure shell <NUM>. So when the bottle is opened, the opposite end of the link <NUM> remains attached to the closure shell through the at least one remaining bridge <NUM>. The remaining bridge <NUM> is shown in <FIG> and <FIG> after opening the bottle.

The remaining bridge <NUM> is configured to retain connection between the link <NUM> and the bottom edge of the closure <NUM>. In some embodiments, the remining bridge <NUM> be integrally formed (e.g., during molding) as a part of the link <NUM>. In other embodiments, the remaining bridge <NUM> is formed independent from the link <NUM> and subsequently attached to the link <NUM> (e.g., during a manufacturing operation).

According to the invention, multiple remaining bridges <NUM> are not broken and are still attached at the link opposite end to the closure shell <NUM>. The at least two remaining bridges <NUM>, close to each other, stay attached to the closure shell <NUM>. According to the present invention, the additional remaining bridge is located diametrically opposed to the remaining bridge <NUM> (i.e., <NUM>° opposite of the remaining bridge <NUM>).

The remaining bridges <NUM> have a greater thickness and/or cross-sectional area relative to the other breakable bridges <NUM>. For example, the thickness and/or the cross-sectional area of the remaining bridges <NUM> is at least <NUM>% greater than the respective thickness and cross-sectional area of the normal bridges <NUM>. As another example, the thickness and/or the cross-sectional area of the remaining bridges <NUM> is <NUM>% or <NUM>% of the section of the normal bridges <NUM>.

Claim 1:
A tethered plastic screw stopper (<NUM>), comprising:
a closure shell (<NUM>)
a tamper band (<NUM>) connected to the closure shell (<NUM>) by a plurality of bridges (<NUM>) that connect a bottom edge of the closure shell (<NUM>) to a top edge of the tamper band (<NUM>); and
a ridge (<NUM>) forming a link (<NUM>) that separably connects the closure shell (<NUM>) and the tamper band (<NUM>) by a weakness line (<NUM>) containing a plurality of first bridges (<NUM>) and at least one second bridge (<NUM>), wherein the at least one second bridge (<NUM>) has a cross-sectional area greater than the cross-sectional area of the first bridges (<NUM>), wherein
the link (<NUM>) is formed by a separation line (<NUM>,<NUM>) made along the bottom of the link (<NUM>) and the top remaining material of the tamper band (<NUM>), the link (<NUM>) remaining attached to the tamper band (<NUM>) by the at least one second bridge (<NUM>) when the plurality of first bridges (<NUM>) is broken, and
characterized in that there are at least two second bridges (<NUM>) diametrically opposed, each configured to remain attached to the closure shell (<NUM>) and allow the link (<NUM>) to remain attached to the tamper band (<NUM>).