TEAR-OFF CAPS FOR CLOSING BOTTLES

CAPSULE A BANDE D'ARRACHEMENT POUR BOUTEILLES

English Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A tear-off closing cap comprising a flat disc-shaped
part made of a light metal and having a circumferential flap
for application to the neck of a bottle. On the disc-shaped
part there are two lines of incision which delimit a tear-
off band and extends in the form of a pullout tongue. The
tear-off band has on the part two lateral zones on the bottom
surface of which is attached to a disc-shaped gasket which is
not fastened to the band.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A light metal tear-off cap for closing bottles
comprising a circumferential flap and a flat disc-shaped part
a tear-off band crosses the disc-shaped part and circumferential
flap and extends beyond the same in a pullout tongue, a disc-
shaped gasket fastened only partially to the bottom surface of
the metal disc-shaped part characterized in that said disc-shaped
gasket is fastened to said metal disc-shaped part only in zones
disposed laterally of and outside the tear-off band.
2. A cap according to claim 1 characterized in that
the tear-off band is delimited by two lines of incision which
constitute the extensions of the edges of the pull out tongue and
which stop at the circumferential flap opposite said tongue before
reaching the free edge of the circumferential flap.
3. A cap according to claim 2 characterized in that
the tear-off band delimits in the disc-shaped part two equally
shaped zones.
4. A light metal tear-off cap for closing bottles com-
prising a flat disc-shaped part surrounded by a circumferential
flap, a tear-off band formed in said disc-shaped part and cir-
cumferential flap and extending therebeyond in a pull out tongue,
a circular gasket disposed within said cap having only a portion
fastened to the interior surface of said cap characterized in that
said gasket is fastened to said cap interior in spaced zones
separated from each other by unfastened portions of said gasket
in said tear-off band.

Description

The Present invention relates to a tear-off closure
cap for closing bottles.
Caps for closing bottles, made of light metal and
comprising a circumferential flap clasped to the edge of the
bottle opening and an overhanging flat disc-shaped part, wherein
there is a central tear-off band that crosses the circumferen-
tial flap and extends beyond same in a pullout ton~ue are known.
The seal of the closure is generally assured by a disc-shaped
or ring gasket disposed between the top edge oE the bottle open~
ing and the bottom surface of the disc-shaped part. For use,
these caps must inter alia meet the following two re~uirements:
(a) the neck of the bottle must be easily removable
from the cap; and
(b) the caps must be t~nporarily reusable even after
tear o~f.
'rO reconcile khese re~ui,rements~ which in practice
~:iv~ rise to contrasting problems, there has already been pro-
posed(British patent No. 1,320,~90) a cap with a disc-shaped
gasket skuck to the bottom surface of the disc-shaped part of
2~ the cap itself but corresponding to a zone opposite the pull-
out tongue and arranged transverse to the incisions. In this
way the in.itial tear-oEf of the cap is not hindered by the
disc-shaped gasket, which remains intact and affords subsequent
reuse of the cap itself. A disadvantage of this is that the
reclosable nature of the cap for subsequent usage is basically
dependent on the residual elasticity of t'he metal of which it is
made. ~lowever, after two or three uses on the bottle, the
residual elasticitv of the metal is nearly exhausted, and there-
fore -the now unreliable reclosure continues to lose its efEective-
ness.
~ ccording to the present invention there is provideda tear-Qff cap ~or closing bottles made o~ h-t metal Wi-t}l a

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circumEerential flap and an overhanging flat disc-shaped part,
a tear~of~ band which crosses the circumferential flap and ex-
tends beyond same in the form of a ~ullout tongue, and a disc
shaped gasket fastened only partially to the bottom surface of
the disc-shaped metal part, the disc-shaped gasket being fastened
to said disc-shaped metal part corresponding to two zones outside
the t~ar-off band.
In this way there is provided the advantage of having
a reclosure that depends on the elasticity of the disc-shaped
yasket, which not only does not weaken even after numerous re-
closings, but also enables the cap, even when torn, to assume
the same position it had before the tear-off, thus constituting
a reclosllre in an "active" rather than passive sense.
Also according to a preferred embodiment of the in-
vention, the tear-off hand can be delimited by two lines of
incision which consti1:ute the extensions of the pullout tonyue
edg~s and which stop at the part opposite said tongue before
reclchi.ng the free edge of the clrcumferential flap.
The present invention will be further illustrated by
way o~ the accompanying drawings in which:-
Figure l is a perspective view of a cap according toone embodiment of the invention applied to a bottle;
Figure 2 is a sec-tion taken along the line II-II of
Figure l, and
Figure 3 is the same view as Figure ~ after tear-
of f and subsequent reapplication to the neck of the bottle.
. Referring to the drawings, the tear-off cap according
to the invention is made of a metal and comprises a disc-
shaped -Elat upper part (l) encIrcled by a downwardly turned
flap (2~. Starti~g from one zone of the -flap is a pullout
tongue (-3I, the edges of which extend al.ong two lines of
~i~nci5Ion (4) which completely cross the flap (2) and the
--2~

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the disc-~haped part (1~, stopping on said flap in a position
opposite the tongue (3). The two incisions (4) thereFore pro-
vide a tear-off band (5~, which basically constitutes the
extension of the tongue (~) on the disc~shaped part (1), and
two lateral parts (6).
On the disc-shaped part (1) is a seal gasket (7).
It is ,fastened to the bottom surface of said circular part but
only on the two lateral parts (6), thus ]eaving completely
~ree the tear-off band (5) and the two incisions (4) which
delimit it.
For the first application to the neck of the bottle,
the cap according to the invention requires the same operations
that are conventionally required by other caps and which
therefore have no need of further description.
Also at the moment of pullout, the operations that
khe user must do are basically the same. It should be noted
that the interruption of the incisions (4) allows the torn
cap to remain in one piece.
The cap is removed ~rom the neck (8) oE the bottle
due to the elastic yielding of the disc-shaped gasket (7),
~hich enab]es the separation of the two opposite sections (9)
o~ the flap, with the relative parts (6), from the neck (8) of
the bottle. After the cap has been completely removed, the
elasticity of the gasket (7) bring those flap sections (9) back
- to kheir original position. To reapply the cap to the bot-tle,
the operation can be easily and effectively done by gently
pulling apart the two sections (9) of the flap (2) and thus
subjecting to tension the disc-shaped gasket (7) which, once
the cap has been reapplied, brings both sections (9) back to
the original closure position.
Thusr in the cap according to the invention, the disc-
h~ped gasket ('7) performs, besides the conventional Eunction
--3 ~

S3~i
consisting in assuri.ng a closing seal, the further function
of elastically preserving the original shape of the cap and
thus affording an almos~ unlimited number of active reclosings.
ln
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30.