Patent Description:
The invention also relates to a corresponding container closed and sealed by the new cover or cap as briefly illustrated above.

Everyone knows the need and the usefulness either of screwing a cover, a lid or a cap firmly and stably on a container or a similar item, in order to be sure that the container is sealed and closed well, once the cover or the lid or the cap has been screwed onto the same container, or of unscrewing easily, if necessary, a cover a lid or a cap from a container or a similar item, even when the cover or the lid or the cap has previously been screwed and tightened on the same container with a high and excessive force or torque.

Unfortunately, the present conventional covers or lids or caps, as offered by the prior art, provided to be screwed/unscrewed onto/from a container or a similar article, are not always able to fully satisfy the above need.

In fact, it occurs that, very often, a user encounters problems when firmly and stably screwing a conventional cover or cap to a container, i.e. he not always is able to apply a sufficient force or torque so as to screw the cover or cap firmly and securely onto the container.

It follows that, with these conventional covers or caps, the user is never sure, after screwing the cover or cap onto the container, that the latter is closed well and in a firmly and stable manner, i.e. that the screwing between the cover or cap and the container cannot be loosened, with the consequent unscrewing of the cover or cap from the container itself.

This need is particularly felt in the case of relatively large containers with a certain capacity, which are therefore closed and sealed by corresponding covers and caps, also relatively large and of a certain diameter, which in turn must be screwed with a not negligible and often even high force.

Similarly, a user, using a conventional cover or cap, very often has difficulty when unscrewing the cover or cap from the container, especially if the cover or cap had previously been screwed onto the container with excessive force or torque.

Unfortunately, as already pointed out, it is observed that in the prior art the problem of making the screwing of a cover or cap on a container more secure and firm and facilitating the subsequent unscrewing of the cover or cap from the same container is at least apparently rather neglected.

In fact, the current conventional covers or caps, in particular those of a certain diameter, usually do not provide specific and particular arrangements such as to make them suitable both to be firmly screwed and to be easily unscrewed, if necessary, onto/from a respective container, whereby, in addition to not ensure a stable and secure closure of the cover or cap on a container, they are also inconvenient and uncomfortable to use.

Therefore, with these conventional covers or caps, the possibility of screwing them firmly and stably by a user to a container, as well as the possibility of unscrewing them easily from the same container afterwards, it is in fact dependent on the user's capability to manually apply a sufficient force or torque to screw/unscrew the cover or cap onto/from the container, so that if the user is unable and not capable of applying this sufficient force or torque there is a risk that the cover or cap may loosen over time.

Moreover, the actual containers, once sealed and closed by the respective covers and caps, in particular when these containers are of great capacity and of considerable size, are very often uncomfortable and impractical to move and transport, and in any case they require particular attention and special precautions, like that of being held stably by the user with his two hands, in order to be moved and transported safely.

This limit of a not always easy and convenient transportability occurs both for containers, currently offered on the market, closed and sealed by covers and caps screwed on the same containers, and for containers closed and sealed in other ways, for example by covers and caps associated with hooks and spring systems.

For the sake of completeness, <FIG>, divided into sections (a)-(b), shows some examples of glass containers, currently offered in the market, which are closed and sealed by covers and caps of conventional type and therefore have the limits illustrated here before and above all that of an uneasy transportability.

For completeness, there are also mentioned the following patent documents <CIT> <CIT>, <CIT> which describe some embodiments of plastic caps and lids that can be screwed onto containers of various types, wherein these caps and lids exhibit a hand grip, in particular in the form of a recess or a bar, accessible by a user along an upper face of the cap and lid to allow the same user to unscrew/screw the cap and lid from/on the respective container.

However, also the screwable plastic caps and lids known from these documents are not free from drawbacks and in particular, when the hand grip is in the form of a bar, they have not a low and competitive production cost.

Therefore, in the light of the above-described context, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a new cover or cap, practical and convenient to use, which can be screwed/unscrewed onto/from a container, a vessel, a recipient, a can or a similar article, which is able to overcome the drawbacks of the conventional covers and caps, as offered by the prior art and currently in use in the market, and in particular it is able to be firmly screwed onto the container so as not to be subject to unscrewing and loosening over time, and it is also suitable to be easily unscrewed, even after it has been screwed onto a container with a high screwing force or torque.

Another object, no less important than the preceding one, of the invention can also be identified in that of providing a new cover or cap, which can be screwed onto a container or a similar article, which offers and is associated with advantageous additional functions, in addition to closing and sealing the container, and in particular it allows an easy and convenient handling and transportability of the container on which the cover or cap is screwed.

Finally, a further object of the present invention is also to provide a new cover or cap of the type that can be screwed/unscrewed onto/from a container or a recipient or a similar article, which, in addition to allowing a user to screw firmly and easily unscrew the same cover or cap on/from the container, it also has a configuration simple and achievable in an industrial way with low costs.

The above objects can be considered fully achieved by the cover or cap, suitable to be screwed/unscrewed onto/from a container, having the characteristics recited by the independent claim <NUM>.

Particular embodiments of the new cover or cap which can be screwed/unscrewed onto/from a container are further defined by the dependent claims.

As it will become better apparent in the following description, the new cover or cap, which can be screwed/unscrewed onto/from a container or a similar article or object, according to the present invention, offers a series of significant and unique advantages, partly already previously announced, among which the following are mentioned purely by way of example:.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of some preferred embodiments thereof, given purely by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:.

With reference to the drawings, and in particular to <FIG>, a cover or cap or lid, hereinafter also synthetically referred to and called cap, adapted to be screwed/unscrewed manually by a user U on/from a container C, a vessel, a recipient, a receptacle, a can or a similar article, is generally indicated with <NUM>.

The container C on which the cap <NUM> can be screwed and from which it can be unscrewed can be a usual container or container made of various materials and in particular glass, having a main body CO which defines at the top a threaded mouth B on which and from which the cap <NUM> can be screwed and unscrewed.

wherein, according to a salient feature of the invention, this body <NUM>, made of plastic material, has, along an upper surface or face <NUM>" thereof, a manual grip or handle, generally indicated with <NUM>, suitable for receiving and being gripped by the fingers D and the palm PA of the user's hand M, when screwing/unscrewing the cap <NUM> on/from the same container C.

In greater detail, as clearly shown in the drawings, this manual grip or handle <NUM> is formed by:.

Moreover, this recess <NUM> has an opening <NUM>' on the upper surface or face <NUM>" of the body <NUM> of the cap <NUM> and is in turn formed between a substantially flat upper wall <NUM> which extends along the upper face <NUM>" of the body <NUM> of the cap <NUM> and a concave lower wall <NUM> extending along a lower face of the body <NUM> of the cap <NUM>.

Therefore, thanks to the aforesaid configuration of the cap <NUM>, the upper wall <NUM> is able to be gripped by the fingers D and by the palm PA of the user's hand M, with the respective four index finger IN, middle finger ME, ring finger AN and little finger MI, side by side, which are received, all or some, by the recess <NUM> and with the thumb PO that closes outside the recess <NUM> on the body <NUM> of the cap <NUM>, so as to provide the hand grip or handle <NUM> that can be gripped by the fingers D and the palm PA of the user's hand M, when screwing/unscrewing the cap <NUM> on/from the container C.

As stated, the body <NUM> of the cover or cap <NUM> is made by moulding a plastic material, for example, but not exclusively, propylene.

Moreover, advantageously, this main body <NUM> can be constituted by two parts, indicated respectively by 11a and 11b, moulded separately, which can be snap-coupled to each other as indicated by an arrow in <FIG> - section (c), wherein the part 11a defines the flat upper wall <NUM>, and the portion 11b defines the lower wall <NUM>, having a lowered dome shape, of the cap <NUM>.

In use, as shown in <FIG> the cap <NUM> is screwed or unscrewed from the container C, as indicated by an arrow F1 and an arrow F2, respectively, by gripping with the fingers and the palm of the user's hand U the handle <NUM> formed in the same cap <NUM>, that is, by inserting the fingers into the recess <NUM> and holding the upper wall <NUM> with the palm of the hand, so as to manually exert the force and therefore the torque necessary to screw the cap <NUM> firmly or unscrew the container C.

For a clearer and more complete information, <FIG>, divided into sections (a)-(f), shows, in addition to the photographic images of <FIG>, the cap <NUM> and the respective container C on which the cap <NUM> is screwed.

Moreover, <FIG>, divided into sections (a)-(b), and <FIG>, divided into sections (a)-(c), show in section the cap <NUM>, the parts 11a and 11b constituting its main body <NUM>, and the manner in which these parts 11a and 11b are snap-connected to each other.

Of course, the diameter D and the height H of the cap <NUM> can assume very different values depending on the diameter and configuration of the threaded mouth B of the container C on which the cap <NUM> is screwed, and for example, in widely used ranges of variation, they can be comprised respectively between <NUM> and <NUM> and between <NUM> and <NUM>.

With reference to the drawings, and in particular to <FIG>, a cover or lid or cap, hereinafter also synthetically referred to as cap, according to the present invention, adapted to be screwed/unscrewed manually by a user U on/from a container C, a vessel, a recipient, a receptacle, a can or a similar article, is generally indicated with <NUM>.

The container C on which the cap <NUM> can be screwed and from which it can be unscrewed can be a usual container made of various materials and in particular glass, having a main body CO which defines at the top a threaded mouth B on which and from which the cap <NUM> can be screwed or unscrewed.

In detail, the cap <NUM> of the invention comprises:.

wherein, according to a salient feature of the invention, this body <NUM>, made of plastic material, has, along an upper surface or face <NUM>" thereof, a manual grip or handle, generally indicated with <NUM>, suitable for receiving and being gripped by the fingers D and the palm PA of the hand M of the user U, when screwing/unscrewing the cap <NUM> onto/from the same container C.

Therefore, thanks to the aforesaid configuration of the cap <NUM>, the bar <NUM> is able to be gripped and embraced by the fingers D and the palm PA of the user's hand M, with all or some of the four index finger IN, middle finger ME, ring finger AN and little finger MI which engage and embrace, side by side, the bar <NUM>, and with the thumb finger PO closing on the body <NUM> of the cover or cap <NUM>, so as to provide the hand grip or handle <NUM> which can be gripped by the fingers D and the palm PA of the user's hand M, when screwing/unscrewing the cap <NUM> onto/from the container C.

The main body <NUM> is constituted by two distinct parts, as shown in <FIG>, indicated respectively with 111a and 111b, moulded separately and coupled, for example by snap action, so as to form the main body <NUM>, wherein the part 111a defines the bar <NUM> and the part 111b defines a lower wall <NUM>, exhibiting a slightly outwardly convex shape, of the cap <NUM>.

In use, as shown in <FIG>, the cap <NUM> is screwed or unscrewed from the container C, as indicated by an arrow F1 and an arrow F2, respectively, by gripping with the fingers and the palm PA of the user's hand U the handle <NUM>, i.e. the bar <NUM> formed by the body <NUM>, so as to exert manually the force and therefore the torque necessary to screw firmly or unscrew the cap <NUM> on or from the container C.

Of course, the diameter D and the height H of the cap <NUM> can assume very different values depending on the diameter and configuration of the threaded mouth B of the container C on which the cap <NUM> is screwed, and for example, in widely used ranges of variation, they can be comprised between <NUM> and <NUM> and between <NUM> and <NUM> respectively.

Claim 1:
Cover or cap (<NUM>) adapted to be manually screwed/unscrewed by a user onto/from a container (C), a recipient, a vessel, or a similar article, comprising:
- a body (<NUM>), made by moulding a plastic material,
wherein said body (<NUM>), has along a respective upper surface or face (<NUM>") a manual grip or handle (<NUM>) adapted to receive and be gripped by the fingers (D) and the palm (PA) of the hand (M) of the user (U), when screwing/unscrewing the cover or cap (<NUM>) onto/from the container (C).
wherein said manual grip or handle (<NUM>) is formed by:
- a bar (<NUM>) which extends transversely along said upper surface or face (<NUM>') of the body (<NUM>) of the cover or cap (<NUM>) and is sized in such a way as to be suitable to be gripped and embraced by the fingers (D) and from the palm (PA) of the user's hand (M), with all or some of the four index finger (IN), middle finger (ME), ring finger (AN) and little finger (Ml) engaging and embracing, arranged side by side, said bar (<NUM>), and with the thumb finger (PO) closing on said body (<NUM>) of the cover or cap (<NUM>),
whereby said bar (<NUM>) provides said manual grip or handle (<NUM>) that is suitable for being gripped by the fingers (D) and by the palm (PA) of the hand (M) of the same user (U), when screwing/unscrewing the cover or cap (<NUM>) onto/from the container (C).
wherein said cover or cap (<NUM>) is characterised in that said body (<NUM>) is made up of two parts (111a, 111b), moulded separately, of which a first part (111a) defines said bar (<NUM>) and a second part (111b) defines a lower wall (<NUM>) of the body (<NUM>) of the cover or cap (<NUM>).