Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Description
Tamper Resi~tant Clo~ure
Technical Field
This invention relates to an improvement in caps
for bottles or other containers which will provide a visual
indication at the point of purchase or before use if the
cap has been previously removed, and in one aspect, to an
improved cap and liner construction.
sackground Art
This invention relates to an improvement in a cap
for a container which includes a container seal secured
within the cap to afford the consumer the opportunity to
readily determine whether or not the cap has been
previously opened or tampered with since the container left
the manufacturer or packaging company.
The need for seals to seal the container beneath
the cap and to seal the cap to the container has become
accepted to determine whether or not there was any
tampering with the container at the point of purchase. The
present invention provides a tamper-indicating inner seal
for caps having at least a portion of the top thereof being
transparent by which one can readily tell whether or not
the cap has been tampered with at the point of purchase.
The need for preventing one from readily removing
the seal of a container and replacing the ~ame without
detection has been present for some time. One prior patent
relating to a rupturable container closure which is used in
the seal for a container is ~hown in U.S.A. patent
2,131,774, iæsued October 4, 1938 to Waring. This patent
discloses a cap which is used to force a plate against a
liner or gasket to seal the top of the bottle. Between the
plate and the cap is a rupturable disc of fibrous or other
suitable rupturable material having impressed thereon a
safety design of a type making the duplication or
counterfitting of such a di~c as difficult as possible. It
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is desirable to bind the disc to the plate by some suitable
adhesive or cemen~. The cap however is provided with prongs
which, after the cap is in place, are forced downward to penetrate
the rupturable disc in areas above a groove formed in the metal
plate. When openir,g the container it is merely necessary for the
user to impart a reverse turning movement to the closure. During
the first portion of this movement the metal shell will turn
independently of the packing liner or gasket, the plate and the
rupturable disc, and the prongs ~ill move along the groove and
tear the material of the disc forming jagged and irregular tears
in the disc. After the prongs have once been placed through the
disc it would be extremely difficult to remove the cap in a manner
which could avoid detection.
The invention of the present application provides for
the destruction by rupturing, tearing, or disfiguring of the inner
seal upon rotation of the cap in much the same manner, but,
adhesives are used to adhere a rupturable liner to the inside of
the cap. The liner comprises means to bond the inner seal to the
container such that movement between the cap and container causes
the destruction of the liner and a very visible indication of
tamperin~ with this closure.
The present invention has the advantage of being formed
for use with normal cap lining equipment and with induction
sealing equipment which seals the existing cap liner materials to
the container upon the containers being filled.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention provides a closure for a container
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having a surface surroundlng an opening to the container, a
removable translucent cover member removably mounted over said
opening in the container, a membrane defining a seal for said
container which is bonded in fixed relationship to said surface of
said container surrounding said opening, and a deposit of adhesive
adhered to the inside of said cover member and to said membrane,
said deposit of adhesive being spaced from the surface surrounding
said opening and being spaced from the center of said cover
whereby relative movement between the cover member and said
container will cause a tearing of said membrane by said deposit of
adhesive within the area of said opening.
The cap lnner seal or membrane material may be punched
from a web of material and placed in the cap utilizing standard
machinery for inserting cap liners in the caps. The adhesive is
applied to the cap and the seal material is placed in the cap,
then the seal material is pressed into the cap to contact the
adhesive to the cap and disc. After the container is filled the
cap and the membrane or inner seal will be placed on the
container. Induction heating may be utilized to seal the inner
seal to the container about the opening thereof. The adhesive
between the cap and the rupturable material, which is adhered to
the container, will cause the rupturable disc to tear as the
adhesive moves with the cap relative to the container. The same
rupturing occurs with a translucent polymeric cap whether threaded
on or snapped on over a rib or shoulder formed around the open end
of the container when the cap is rotated to the open position.
The rupturable disc is preferably formed of a thin layer
~2643V3
of metal foil such as aluminum which is coated with a heat
sealable layer such as polyethylene. The rupturable disc would
preferably be prlnted or coated with colored materials to readily
expose in the ruptured areas of the rupturable disc indicating
that the container has been opened or attempted to be opened.
Other suitable materials include paper, thin films,
perforated films or foils or a composite of two foils each coated
with a sealing layer.
Brief DescriPtion of Drawinq
This invention will be further described with reference
to the accompanying drawing wherein:
Figure 1 is an exploded view with the cap and liner in
vertical section to illustrate interior features;
Figure 2 is a fragmentary top perspective view
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aS -
showing the cap turned and the liner ruptured;
Figure 3 i4 a diagram~atic sectional view of a
second embodiment of a cap and liner constructed in
accordance with the present invention; and
Figure 4 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a
cap, liner and container constructed according to a further
embodiment.
Detailed Description
The present invention provides an improved
10 tamper-indicating closure for a container which w~.^n se~lcd
to a container will provide a readily detectable
tamper-indicating closure for the container. As illustrated
in the attached drawing, where similar numerals on the
various figures illustrate identical parts, a cap 10 formed
15 of a translucent polymeric material, e.g., a transparent
polyolefin and having internal threads 11 is adapted to
mate with the threads 12 provided on the outer cylindrical
surface of the neck of a container 13. The cap 10 may be
provided with annular ribs 14 formed in the top of the cap
and positioned to be opposite the upper surface of the neck
of the container. The ribs 14 terminate in narrow edges for
concentrating the sealing heat and pressure in this region.
A cap liner is placed inside of the cap and this
is usually done by the cap manufacturer, and the caps are
supplied to the packager with the liner placed in the cap.
The cap liner is generally designated by the reference
numeral 15 and comprise~ a disc 16 of rupturable material
coated with a sealing layer 17. A deposit of adhesive 20
- i8 placed in the cap 10 for adhering the disc 16 to the
interior surface 21 of the top of the cap 10. At least a
portion of this top must be translucent as will be
explained below.
The web from which the cap liner 15 is die cut
comprises the layer 16 of aluminum foil which may be 0.025
mm (0.001 inch) in thickness, although foils from 0.05 mm
~0.002 inch) and thinner have been used with success. The
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layer 16 has a coating 17 of a heat sealable material such
as polyethylene. Indicium, ~ormed by a layer ~2, preferably
an ink, is printed on the surface of the layer 15 opposite
the adhesive coating. The indicium 22 may alternatively be
5 a layer of colored material. The deposit of adhesive 20 may
be a spot of adhesive used to join the layer 16 to the
surface 21 of the cap. Spots of adhesive may be placed also
in a random dot pattern on the web from which the liner 15
is cut. The adhesive is preferably a spot of Jet Melt 3764
10 adhesive available from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
Company, St. Paul, MN, U.S.A. This adhesive is a -IOt melt
adhesive. Spots or strips of a strong pressure-sensitive
adhesive could be substituted.
When sealed to a container 13 the cap 10 is
positioned tightly on the neck of the container, the adhe-
sive 20 seals the disc 15 to the cover 10 and the layer 17
seals the disc 15 to the surface of the container surrounding
the container opening. As illustrated in Figure 2, when
the cover is turned in a counterclockwise direction to
remove the cover equipped with screw threads, the adhesive
20 tears the disc 15 due to the relative movement between
the cover and disc. A similar rupture would occur if the
cover were turned to a position matching an arrow on the
cover with an arrow on the container to permit the cover to
be lifted off the container. The removal of the cap thus
also tears out the container seal affording direct imme-
diate access to the contents without breaking another seal.
~his package could then be used for the sterile delivery of
medical devices or materials in operating rooms, clinics
etc. After the package is sealed, sterilization by ethylene
oxide ga3 or gamma radiation can sterilize the contents,
and they can be delivered ~terile by removing the cap, thus
tearing the seal, and emptying the container.
Figure 3 illustrates a further embodiment of the
present invention wherein the cap 10 has a disc 15 sealed
by adhesive 20 to the cap. A second disc 35 is placed in
the cap in contact with the disc 1~. Disc 35 may comprise a
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layer 36 of metal foil coated with a heat ~ealable material
37. When placed on a container the induction heating
process causes the disc 15 to bond about its periphery to
the layer 36 which in turn i9 bonded to the edge of the
container surroundin~ the opening by layer 37.
The disc 15 may be color coated or printed with
suitable ink 22 to bear a desired me~sage or the
manufacturer's logo. The disc 35, or layer 36 thereof is
printed with indicia of contrasting color or coated with a
contrasting color to be clearly visible when the disc lS is
torn to indicate the cover has been tampered with or
opened.
The present invention provides a cap liner which
provides a tamper indication and the use of metal, i.e.,
aluminum foil, for the rupturable layer 16, and for layer
36 allows the sealing layers 17 and 37 to be a normally
nontacky material activated to have adhesive quality when
the assembled cap, liner and container are exposed to
energy to inductively heat the foil layers to activate the
sealing layers. The layer 16 however could be a paper or
perforated film material and easily rupturable which is
bonded by a pre~sure-sensitiv% adhesive coating 17 to the
contrasting layer 36 of the disc 35. Relative rotational
movement would result in the paper or film layer being torn
25 and peeled from the layer 36 exposing the layer 36 through
the cover 10.
~ n Figure 4 a cap 40 is illustrated wh~ch i~ of
the child-resistant type which has a recess 41 formed on
the side walls to mate over an interrupted rib 42 on the
container 43. The cap 40 and container 43 each have an
arrow 44 molded therein or placed thereon to permit the
discontinuity in the rib 42 to be aligned with the
projection in the cap 40 to permit removal of the cap.
A deposit of adhesive 45 in the form of a spot of
curable adhesive or a strip of pressure-sensitive adhesive
extending acro~s a surface of a disc 46 adheres the disc 46
to the cover. The disc 46 may ~e 0.0025 mm (0.001 inch)
dead ~oft aluminum foil.
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In this embodiment an activatable adhesive
material is coated on the container 43 on the surface
surrounding the opening. This adhesive will bond the disc
46 to the container. One adhesive substance may be an
ethylene vinyl acetate which will bond upon the application
of heat. Other suitable adhesives may be coated on and
activated by presure.
Havin~ disclosed the invention with reference to
several embodiments it is understood that modifications can
be made without departin~ from the spirit or scope of the
invention as defined in the appended claims.
