Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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rrhe present invention relates to a closure means of
the kind disclosed in the preamble -to the following claim 1.
The closure means is intended for bottles, jars and similar
con-tainers with A mouth substantially cylindrical internally.
For a long time it has been known to use a stopper of cork,
rubber, plastic or other elastic material, particularly when it
is a question of containers with relatively large tolerances
on the inner diameter of the mouth. The diameter of the stopper
has to be somewhat larger than the inside diameter of the
container mouth, so that the stopper is compressed during
insertion and thereby provides a seal. The stopper is usually in
contact with the inside of the mouth along the whole of the
part of the stopper which is pushed into the mouth. This involves
a relatively large contact surface forming a sealing surface,
but simultaneously forming a friction surface. In certain cases
the stopper must be pressed in with relatively large force,
so that it must also be pulled out with a correspondingly large
force. If, furthermore, the contents of the bottle is a liquid
which is sticky and also possibly has the property of drying out,
a film of the liquid serving as a cementing agent can be obtained
between the stopper and the mouth, making it very difficult
to pull the stopper out.
In the mass production of glass bottles, for example,
the inside diameter of the mouth in a certain series of bottles
can vary within relatively wide limits. This means that the
stoppers must be dimensioned for the greatest diameter allowed
for the mouth. But the same stopper shall also be usable for
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the least mouth diarneter in the series, where the stopper
will thus be most compressed and thereby offer the greatest
resistance to insertion and removal. The necessary maximum
forces can usually be exerted by normally healthy and strong
persons, but for handicapped or weak persons it can be impossible
to pull out such a stopper, or press it into the mouth
sufficiently hard for obtaining a seal.
In order to obtain a more easily handled closure it
is conceivable to use a screw cap or a snap-on cap. In practice,
however, such closures will also be in many cases nearly
impossible to open with the small force and capacity of movement
which can be achieved by a gravely disabled person. If a screw
cap is to seal satisfactorily, there is namely the requirement
that its bottom engages against the bottle mouth with a certain
pressure, which in turn requires that the cap is tightened
with a rather large force, and this usually means that a force
at least as great is required to unscrew the cap. With regard
to snap-on caps, relatively large forces are also required
here, since these caps must be pressed over a bead when closing
or opening.
Against the background of the abovementioned drawbacks
in known closures, the invention has the object of providing a
closure means with a stopper retained with very little frictional
force in the sealing position irrespective of whether the mouth
diameter of the container is in the upper or the lower portion
of the tolerance range allowed for the prevailing series of
containers.
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~ ccorcling to -the present invention there is provided a closure means
for containers such as bottles, jars and the like, having a mouth which is
substantially cylinclrical on the insicle, said closure means comprising two
separate main parts of plastic situated axially in tandem, one main part
forming a ~ u~part which at its lower end is sealingly attachable to the
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mouth edge of a container, and having interiorly a central, axial tube-like
sealing portion which extends downwardly into and seals with a container
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mouth when said ~nY~ part is attached to a container, said tube-like portion
having on its inner surface two axially spaced-apart resilient annular flanges
each of which slopes downwardly and radially inwardly, the second main part
forming an upper part having a central, axial, outwardly cylindrical sealing
stopper portion which is introduced into the tube-like sealing portion such
that said flanges grip and seal with the circumference of said stopper
portion.
The lower part may consist of elastically yielding plastic and can
be provided with a groove in a known mode, into which the bead-shaped edge
of the container mouth can be pressed and secured. The elastically resilient
plastic lower part can be pressed onto a container mouth into a secured
position, which mouth does not need to be precision made, but can be allowed
to have a relatively wide diameter range. The free portion of the resilient
annular flanges form elastic sealing rings, the diameter of which can be
kept within narrow limits since the lower part may be injection moulded with
high precision in plastic in a known manner. When the stopper portion of the
upper part is pressed down into the lower part, it will push the flanges out
somewhat to engage with an elastically sealing pressure against the stopper.
Since the upper part with stopper may also be an injection moulded plastic
part, the stopper can be made with great accuracy so that the engagement
pressure of the flange against the stopper will be substantially constant
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for the whole serics of a certaill size of closure means. When fitting to a
containcr, the uppcr part is ~ut -toge-ther wi-th the lower part as a unit,
which can be pressed fast onto the container mouth by known closure machinesO
Sealing tests with a closure me~ms for bottles, made according to
the invention, have shown that the stoppe:r seals extremely effectively, while
the force for inserting the stopper into the lower part is very small.
Similarly~ a very small force is also required for withdrawing the stopper,
and it can be selected sufficiently small so that it substantially falls
below the forces required in closures known up to now, where a stopper is
pressed down sealingly in direct contact with the inside of the container
mouth. The closure means according to the invention can thus be handled
comfortably by persons who, for different reasons, cannot achieve the same
forces as a normal healthy and strong person.
For transporting a container equipped with a closure means accord-
ing to the invention, it is suitable for the closure means to be provided
with a bayonet fastening, known per se, between the upper part and lower
part. The upper part can thereby be turned
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from a free position where it can be p-ll]ed ol~ of the lower
part to a locking position where locking teeth on the upper part
coact with peripheral locking splines on the lower par-t. Without
any inconvenience, the bayonet fastening can be so made that the
upper part can be turned relatively easily from the locking
position to the free position, since tightening down the bayonet
fastening does not effect the efficient seal obtained between
the stopper and the flange or flanges. In some cases it is,
however, desirable to have a closure means where the bayonet
fastening is relativel~ difficult to open after it has been locked.
This is applicable to such containers which preferably cannot
be opened by minors, e.g. children of about 3-4 years old. For
this purpose, it is suitable to use an upper part wherein the
locking teeth are somewhat larger than the locking teeth allowing
lS turning with relatively small force. The larger locking teeth
will then engage harder against the locking splines or engaging
portions of the lower part, so that turning the upper part between
the free and locked positions goes substantially more stiffly.
If the cover is also made with a smooth outside, a small child
cannot open the closure.
The closure means is also suitably provided with a
security seal which must be broken in order to open the closure.
In cases where the closure means according to the
invention is combined with a security seal which must be broken,
and a locking device such as a bayonet fastening, it is usually
necessary for the handicapped person to have help in opening the
container the first time. Thereafter the handicapped person can
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open an~l close the closure means without difficulty, using the
small force enabled by the means according to the invention.
These and other distinguishing features and advantages
of the invention will be explained more closely while referring
to an embodiment of the closure means according -to the invention,
shown as an example on the attached drawings.
Fig. 1 is an axial section through the closure means
according to the invention, mounted on the mouth of a bottle and
with the upper part withdrawn to an intermediate position in
relation to the lower part clamped onto the bottle. Fig. 2 is
a cross section according to the line 2-2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a
side view to an enlarged scale of a portion of the means shown
in Fig. 1, and shows a security seal means, Fig. 4 is a section
along the line 4-4 in Fig. 3 through the security seal means,
Fig. 5 shows a portion of the inside of the lower part provided
with a number of peripheral locking splines incorporated in a
bayonet fastening for locking the closure means. Fig. 6 is a
section along the line 6-6 in Fig. 5, Fig. 7 is a section along
the line 7-7 in Fig. 3 showing one of the radial teeth of the
bayonet fastening, and Fig. 8 corresponds to Fig. 1, with the
difference that the upper part is pressed down into its bottom
position on the lower part, the security seal being shown in an
unbroken condition.
The closure means consists of two main plastic parts made
by precision injection moulding, i.e. an upper part 10 serving
as a cover or cap, and a lower portion 11 attached to the mouth
of a container, which in the example shown is a glass bottle 12
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with a bead-shaped mouth edc~e 13 whereon the bottom part is
clamped fast. The uppe~ part may be of relat:ively hard plastic,
while the lower part is of somewhat softer and elastically
yielding plastic.
The cap or upper part consists of a cylindrical portion
14 which is closed with a flat bottom 15 at its upper end. From
the underside of the bottom there extends coaxially a cylindrical
tubular stopper lÇ.
The cylindrical wall has a groove 17 at its bottom edge~
and at a plurality of places in this groove the upper part is
formed with radially projecting locking teeth 18. In the example
shown, the bottom sides 19 and top sides 20 of the teeth are
chamfered ~Fig. 7) to facilitate fitting the upper part to the
lower part.
At a place along the circumference oE the cylindrical
wall, there is an axial pocket 21, having side walls 22 and a
bottom wall 23, as apparent from Figs. 3 and 4.
The bottom part 11, which is of an elastically resilient
plas~ic, consists of a cylindrical wall 24 formed on its inside
with a radial, annular intermediate wall 25, having its inner
edge merging into an upwardly directed tubular sealing portion
26 and a downwardly directed sleeve 27 engaging sealingly with
the inside of the mouth of the bottle 12. Below the intermediate
wall 25, the cylindrical wall 24 is formed with an inwardly directed
bead 28, gripping the bead~d edge 13 of the bottle. Fitting the
lower part is carried out in a known way by pressing it axial~y
downwards onto the mouth of the bottle,the wall 24 deflecting
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outwards over the beaded edge 23 and the bead 28 snapping
over the beaded edge 23 into the locked-on position shown. The
part will be securely and tightly clamped on to the edge bead
13 even if the bottle mouth is not manufactured with any great
dimensional accuracy.
On the inside of the cylindrical tube-like sealing
portion 26 there are two flanges 2~,30, axially spaced and
directed slopingly downwards. In the Figures, the cylindrical
stopper 16 is inserted into the lower part and has expanded th~
elastically resilient flanges 29,30 somewhat so that these engage
with a certain pressure against the stopper to achieve an
effective seal.
At its upper end the tube-like sealing portion 26 is i-
flaired into a sealing flange 31 which also facilitates pouring
a liquid from the container.
Above the intermediate wall, the cylindrical wall 2~
forms an annular edge portion 32. On the inside of this there
are formed peripheral locking splines 33 with the chamfered cross
section apparent from Fig. 6. The splines are spaced from each
other to form gaps 35 with which the locking teeth 18 can be meshed
or unmeshed. At one end, each spline is provided with a slopingly
downwardly directed guiding portion 36 extending right down to
the intermediate wall.
When the upper part is fitted to the lower part, forming
a unit which is subsequently to be fitted to the mouth of a
container, this operation is suitably executed so that the upper
part is placed in a predetermined rotary relationship to the
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lower part, whereafter both parts are pressed together into .
~he position shown ln Fiy~ 8. The locking teeth 18 of the upper
part will thereby be guided into a pos.ition past the locking
splines 33 while the annular edge portion 32 is elastically pressed
out, wherea~ter the locking teeth finally snap down into the
locking position below the locking splines J where the chamfered
upper sides 20 of the locking teet:h engage against the chamfered
bottom sides of the splines 33. Chamfering the top sides 20 of
the locking teeth makes it possibl,e to open the security seal
by withdrawing the upper part 10 axially without first turniny
it to the free position where the teeth are opposite the gaps
35 between the splines. The force required for this withdrawal
is comparatively large however, for which reason this possibility
is only intended as a reserve if the one using the closure does
not understand that the upper part must be turned to disengage
the bayonet fastening. When the upper part is turned, the teeth
will strike against the sloping guiding portions 36 to ride up
on these and out through the gaps 35.
If it is desired to have an upper part with a stiff
bayonet fastening, this can be easily arranged by making the
locking teeth 18 somewhat larger so that, for example, they
press harder against the inside of the annular portion 32 or
against the bottoms of the splines 33. The bayonet fastening can
thus be made so stiff that small children, e.g. those about
3-4 years old, cannot open the fastening, which can be made even
; more difficult by making the outside of the upper part completely
~ smooth.
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As is apparen-t Erom Figs. 3 and 4, and by way of
example, there are three axial, relatively slender pins 39 formed
at the edge oE the annular portion 32 to carry a locking tongue
40 with parallel side edges and a cross section -tapering towards
its upper end as indicated in Fi~. 4. When the upper part lO is
pressed down from the intermediate position in Fig. ~ to the bottom
position in Fig. 8, the locking tongue ~0 will be urged into a
locking position in the pocket 21 to form a security seal. In
this position the locking teeth 18 are under the splines 33.
The security seal is further such that the locking tongue is
completely sunken and thus does not form any projection which ~`
can be a hindrance in handling the closure means according to
Fig. 8 in a closure machine.
To break the security seal, the upper part is turned
relative to the lower part, the pins 39 being so slender that they
are shorn off without difficulty. The locking tongue remains 1-
squeezed into the pocket 21.
As is apparent from Fig. 8, the flanges 29,30 seal
against the stopper 16 so that a possible excess pressure in the
container urges the flanges 29,30 into harder contact against
the stopper. On its part, the sealing flange 31 engages
sealingly against the underside of the bottom 31 and is so
directed that,in the event of a negative pressure occurring in
the bottle, the flange 31 will press harder against the bottom
15. This can be of importance when the bottle is filled with a
warm content, which is allowed to cool after fitting the closure
means to the container.
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