Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TAMPER EVIDENT CLOSURE WITH IIANDLE
Back~round of the Invention
Technical Field:
This invention relates to tamper evident flexible closures
with handles integrally formed therewith for containers such as
blow molded containers useful for packing various beverages and
the like.
Descri~tion of the Prior Art:
Flexible handles on rings adapted to be appliecl to containers
may be seen in U.S. Patents 3,000,527 of Sept. 19, 1961 to W.C.
10 Jennings, et al. and 3,311,252 of Aug. 14, 1964 to I.~. Swartwood.
A handle comprising a flexible strip having its opposite ends
secured at spaced locations on a container may be seen in U.S.
Patent 3,623,633 of Nov. 20, 1971 to A.W. Kinn and handles pivot-
ally attached to rings for application to containers are disclosed
15 in U.S. Patents 3,275,366 of Sept. 27, 1966 to W.E. Hidding and
3,638,823 of Feb. 1, 1972 to J.J. McCoy. Tear skirts are relatively
common in the closure art and one such tear skirt having a closure
on one side and a cylindrical bottle neck cover therebelow is dis-
closed in U.S. Patent 4,506,797 of March 26, 1985 to J.J. Bullock.
The present invention provides a device having the dual
function of a closure with a tamper evident portion which must
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be removed to permit the closure -to be disengaged from the con-
tainer and positions a ring therebelow adapted to be engaged over
and positioned beneath an annular rib on the neck portion of the
container. A flexible handle is integrally f'ormed with the ring
and the tear skirt has thin wall, f'rangible connecting portions
joining the uppermost portion oI the tear skirt to the lower edge
of the annular depending flange of the closure and the lowermost
portions of the tear skirt to the upper edge of' the ring carrying
the handle.
Summary of the Invention
A tamper indicating closure f'or a container with appropriate
neck configurations takes the form of a cap portion having a top
with a depending f'lange on its peripheral edge and a depending
f'lexible annular -tear skirt extending downwardly from the depend~
ing flange together with an integrally formed ring formed on the
lower edge of the flexible tear skirt, the ring having an integrally
formed flexible handle. A pull tab on the depending f'lexible annular
tear skirt enables the same to be removed from the device permitting
the closure to be disengaged from the container on which it is
positioned and the ring with the handle remains on the container.
Description of the Drawin~s
Figure 1 is a side elevation oi the tamper evident
closure with handle, broken lines indicating an alternate
position oi the handle;
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the tamper indicating
closure with handle showing a portion o~ the -tear skirt
removed therefrom;
Figure 3 is a vertical section through a por-tion of the
tamper evident closure with handle and a portion o~ a neck of
a container on which the closure wi-th handle is applied showing
the engagement of the flexible tear skirt over an annular rib
on the neck of the container; and
Figure 4 is a vertical section through a portion of the
tamper evident closure with handle after the -tear skirt has been
removed and showing the closure on a portion oi' the neck of a
container in sealing relation and the ring with the handle
securely engaged on the container beneath the annular rib thereo~.
Description of the Preferred ~mbodiment
By referring to the drawings and Figure 1 in particular
a side elevation of the tamper evident flexible closure with handle
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for a container may be seen, the closure including a top por-
tion 10 with a depending annular flange 11 joined by a thin
frangible wall 12 to the upper edge of a depending distortable
annular tear skirt 13. The lower edge O:e the annular tear
skirt is integrally joined by a second thin f'rangible wall 14
-to the upper edge of an annular ring 15 which in turn is
integrally formed with a flexible handle 16 of a generally
U-shape, the ends of the arms of the generally U-shaped handle
16 extending from locations on -the opposite sides o e the
ring 15. The handle 16 is initially -formed as illustrated in
solid lines in Figure l of the drawings and like the remainder
of the tamper evident closure is f'lexible and capable of being
moved to an upright position as shown in broken lines in Figure
l~ The base of the generally U-shape of' the handle 16 is a
straight portion extending between the arms of the handle 16
and oppositely disposed ribs 17 are ~ormed thereon to reinf'orce
the same and provide a more convenient and comfortable hand
grip.
The tamper evident closure with the handle is -formed of' a
resilient molded plastic material. The several portions o~' the
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closure being moldecl of different thicknesses o.E material,
for example the top 10 O:e the cap portion is of a firs-t known
thickness so as to be able to carry an annular downturned
sealing flange 18, see Figures 3 and 4, on its inner surface.
The depending flange 11 on the peripheral of the top 10 has
a relatively thicker wall section than the known thi.ckness of
the top 10 and is preferrably provided with a continuous thread
pattern 19 on its inner surface, see Figures 3 and 4. The
continuous thread pattern may be formed in an i.nterrupted
configuration and the configuration of the thread pattern used
to frictionally engage a neck portion of a container or it may
threadably engage the same as illustrated in the embodiment of
the invention shown in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings. The
lower edge of the depending flange 11 is integrally formed with
the thin deformable resilient flexible tear skirt 13 and the thin
wall section of the tear skirt 13 extends from the thin frangible
wall 12 where it joins the lower edge of the annular flange 11
to the second thin frangible wall 14 by which it is affixed to
the upper edge of the ring 15. The ring 15 is formed with a
somewhat thicker annular body and reinforced by a plurality of
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circumferentially spaced ribs 20 positioned vertically on the
exterior o~ the ring 15. The ribs 20 and the handle 16 are
arranged to permit the ring 15 to be stretched and positioned
downwardly over an annular rib 21 ~ormed on a container C just
below the neck portion thereof which receives the cap portion oi
the closure. The resilient quality of the material irom which
the closure is made and the di~ering thicknesses o~ the
several wall sections enable the ring 15 to be sel~-retaining
on the container beneath the annular rib 21 so that when the
container such as a two li-ter size is ~illed with a beverage
the same can be picked up and carried by the handle with no
possibility o~ the ring and handle-moving away from their position
beneath the annular rib 21 on the neck of the container. Sti]l
reierring to Figure 3 of the drawings it will be seen that when
the ring 15 is moved downwardle forceably over the annular rib
21 on the container C the ilexible and resilient tear skirt 13
is stretched to con~orm with -the shape of the annular rib 21
to which it closely adheres and the thin ~rangible wall 12
and the secondary thin i'rangible wall 14 are spaced vertically
and horizontally with respect to one another. By re~erring now
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to Figures 1 and 2 o~ the drawings, i-t will be seen that the
depending flexible tear skirt 13 has a pull tab 22 formed
integrally therewith which extends beyond a vertically positioned
frangible wall 23 defining the ends of the flexible tear skirt
13 and that when the pull tab 22 is grasped and moved to the
right as shown in Figure 2 o~ the drawings, the thin ~rangible walls
12,14 &23 will separate.withthe one end of the Ilexible tear skirt
13 moving away from its engagement with the annular flange 11
and the ring 15 so as to be completely removed from the tamper
evident closure with handle leaving the closure portion of the
device on the container C as shown in Figure 4 of the drawings
and the ring 15 with the handle 16 still positioned on the
neck of the container C and beneath the annular rib 21 thereon.
It will occur to those skilled in the art that the distorted
position of the flexible tear skirt 13 o~ the device performs
two ~unctions. The first of these occuring when it is removed
providing visible evidence of the fact that the closure has been
tampered with and/or opened and second assisting in securing the
cap portion of the device including the top 10 and the annular
depending flange 11 in position on the neck o~ the container C
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around the opening thereo~ and in sealing relation thereto.
There is a supplemental or a third advantage which is best
illustra-ted in Figure 3 of the drawings wherein it will be
observed that when the flexible -tear skirt 13 is in stretched
installed position it assists in holding and positioning the
ring 15 on the neck of the container C beneath the annular
rib 15 on the container. This fact contributes to the
security oi the placement of the ring 15 to which the hand].e
16 is attached insuring tha-t it will not accidentally move
upwardly and over the annular rib 21 of the container when
the container and its liquid contents are lifted by the handle.
It will thus be seen that the tamper evident flexible
closure with handle for a container disclosed herein has an
effective sealing means with respect to the opening in the
container over and around which it is positioned as well as
the tamper evident tear skirt which changes the appearance of
the closure substantially when it is removed and it provides
a highly desirable convenient and practical handle for carrying
the container and the beverage or other liquid contained therein.
An additional advantage inherent in the construction disclosed
is the ability of the closure portion o~ the device to be
reapplied to the container about the opening therein to
provide resealing or closing of the same as desired. Having
thus described my invention, what I claim is:
