Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02600684 2007-09-04
Sealing Cap
Reference to related applications
This application claims the priority of the Swiss Patent
Application No. 00366/05, which was filed on March 3, 2005 and
the complete disclosure of which is herewith incorporated by
reference.
Background
The invention relates to a sealing cap for a container wherein
at least one preset breaking point is provided to guarantee a
first opening. Furthermore, the invention relates to a container
with a sealing cap of this type and a method for producing a
container of this type.
Prior Art
Packages and containers are often provided with a so-called
"first opening guarantee". A first opening guarantee of this
type indicates to the user of the container whether the container
has previously been opened.
There are a number of reasons why containers are provided with
such a first opening guarantee. In particular, the unnoticed
removal or addition of contents is prevented in this way. Not
least, there are legal provisions which absolutely stipulate a
first opening guarantee for certain products.
Containers having a first opening guarantee are used, in
particular, in the fields of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food.
In containers having a sealing cap, such as bottles or tubes, the
first opening guarantee can, for example, be realized by a collar
which surrounds the cap and a part of the container and which
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must be broken for opening. Among other things, this solution
has the disadvantage that a significant amount of waste is
produced when opening.
A relatively simple solution is to securely stick a strip, e.g.
of paper, to the sealing cap and container part which is torn
apart when the sealing cap is first removed. However, this
solution has the disadvantge that it is not secure because the
strip can generally also be removed without damage. Furthermore,
the strip cannot always be optimally integrated in the optical
product design and can, in particular, appear cheap and
unprofessional.
Furthermore, there are solutions in which the opening of the
container is sealed directly and not the sealing cap, e.g. with
a twist-off pin or a sealing foil. In these solutions also,
waste is produced when first opened. In addition, they are often
expensive to produce and at times inadequate with respect to
their user friendliness.
Furthermore, it is known, e.g. from EP 0 254 810, to configure
the cap with a lower part, whereby the lower part is fastened to
the container by means of a thread and/or by snapping on. Preset
breaking points are provided between the sealing cap and the
lower part which break when the sealing cap is first removed.
The lower part remains on the container even after opening.
However, these solutions have the disadvantage that the container
must have a thread or a snap ring and that it can, under certain
circumstances, be possible to remove the sealing cap together
with the lower part and then put on again, so that the preset
breaking points remain intact. Furthermore, the production is
expensive since the preset breaking points should not already
break during the initial mounting of the cap.
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Description of the Invention
Therefore, the object is to provide a sealing cap of the
aforementioned type which is simple and economical to produce,
which, with respect to the first opening guarantee, offers great
security and which is user friendly.
This object is solved in that the sealing cap has a sealing cap
body and a seal projection with a welding body for welding to the
container, wherein the at least one preset breaking point is
designed to break a connection between sealing cap body and
welding body.
In a preferred embodiment, removal means are provided which
remove remnants of the connecting means of the connection between
sealing cap body and welding body from the welding body. This
is accomplished by cutting or shearing off these remnants by
means of removal means when turning the sealing cap body relative
to the stationary welding body fastened to the container during
the initial turning movement of the sealing cap. As a result,
protruding remnants of the connecting means are removed which is
advantageous, in particular, for a liquid or ointment for eye
drops or the like to be applied to the human or animal body, as
the danger of injury due to the remnants is thereby avoided.
Brief Description of the Drawincts
Further advantages, designs and preferred embodiments are found
in the dependent claims and in the following description with
reference to the drawings, showing:
Fig. 1 a sealing cap according to the invention in an
embodiment with two stays;
Fig. 2 a container for closing with the sealing cap
according to the invention;
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Fig. 3 the container from Fig. 2 after it has been
closed and sealed with the sealing cap of Fig. 1;
Fig. 4 the container from Fig. 3, after the sealing cap
has been lifted a bit and the preset breaking
point severed;
Fig. 5 the container from Fig. 4, after the sealing cap
has been completely removed;
Fig. 6 a preferred embodiment of the sealing cap and the
container with sealing cap with removal means for
the connecting means in a closed position;
Fig. 7 the embodiment of Fig. 6 during opening of the
container with destroyed breaking point;
Fig. 8 the embodiment of Fig. 6 with a sealing cap
turned further in direction of opening and
removed connecting means;
Fig. 9 the embodiment of Fig. 6 with opened container;
and
Fig. 10 the sealing cap of the embodiment of Fig. 6.
Methods for Carrying Out the Invention
Fig. 1 shows an example of a sealing cap 1 according to the
invention. The sealing cap 1 has a sealing cap body 2 and a seal
projection 3. The sealing cap body 2 has e.g. essentially the
shape of a cone or is cylindrical and has a longitudinal median
axis about which the sealing cap is turned when the container
sealed with the sealing cap is opened. The outer surface of the
sealing cap body has e.g. grooves 8 which serve to improve the
grip. Furthermore, it has one or two or more ridges 7. A
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projection 7 of this type can be used to align the sealing cap
during assembly with respect to a rotation about its axis. The
seal projection 3 consists of a welding body 6 and, preferably,
of connecting means 4 between the sealing cap body 2 and the
welding body 6, preferably in the form of a stay 4 or, as shown,
two stays 4. The seal projection 3 preferably has the shape of
a disk, i.e. it is flat and its surface is essentially formed by
two even, in particular parallel, surfaces, a first inner one for
support and for welding to the container and a second, outer
surface as point of application for the welding device. The
inner surface, and possibly also the outer surface, can also be
curved for adapting to the container. The disk is preferably,
but not necessarily, round, in particular, it can also extend
straight on the connection for the connecting means 4. On the
end of the connecting means 4 on the sealing cap body side, here
on the end of each stay 4, there is a preset breaking point 5.
It is situated directly on the sealing cap body 2, so that only
minimal remnants of the seal projection 3 remain on the sealing
cap body 2 after the first opening. Preferably, the sealing cap
1 according to the invention is made as one piece. Furthermore,
it is preferably an injection-molded part consisting of plastic.
Fig. 2 shows a container 9 for sealing with the sealing cap of
the invention. The container can, for example, be a tube or a
bottle. In particular, the container can be a polyfoil laminate
tube. The sealing cap is placed on a spout 11 with an opening
10. Preferably, the container 9 has a welding surface 12 for
welding the welding body 6 on. The welding surface 12 is
preferably formed by a neck of the container which has about the
same diameter, i.e. in the range of plus/minus 1 mm, as the end
of the sealing cap 1 on the container side.
Fig. 3 shows the container 9 of Fig. 2 after it has been sealed
with the sealing cap 1 of Fig. 1 and the seal projection 3 has
been welded onto the welding surface 12 of the container 9.
Preferably, the welding body 6 is welded to the welding surface
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12 by means of ultrasonic welding. The sealing cap 1 is
preferably configured in such a way that the preset breaking
points 5 are bent during assembly, so that they break more easily
during the first opening. In particular, this can be attained
in that the seal projection 3 first projects essentially radially
after the injection molding, as shown in Fig. 1, and is then bent
in an essentially axial direction. The sealing cap 1 is held at
least by the seal projection 3 on the spout of the container 9.
However, it is also possible to provide a snap ring or a thread
on the inside of the sealing cap 1 and correspondingly on the
outside of the spout 11. As a result, the container 9 can be
configured so as to be resealable.
Fig. 4 shows the container of Fig. 3 after the sealing cap 1 has
been removed and the preset breaking points 5 severed.
Fig. 5 shows the container of Fig. 4 after the sealing cap 1 has
been completely removed. The seal projection 3 remains on the
container 9.
In the sealing cap according to the invention, the seal
projection is preferably welded onto the container with
ultrasound. Basically, however, other types of mountings are
also possible, e.g. other welding methods, a fastening by means
of gluing or a fastening by means of a snap mechanism.
Figs. 6 to 10 show a preferred embodiment in which the sealing
cap is provided with removal means for the connecting means. The
same reference numbers as have been used thusfar will thereby
designate the same elements. In this embodiment, two stays 4
with preset breaking points 5 are again provided on the sealing
cap as connecting means 4 between sealing cap 2 and welding body
6, however, only one stay 4 can also be provided or e.g. a wider
band-shaped stay. Removal means 14 are placed on the sealing cap
and fastened to it, in particular made as one piece with the
sealing cap 2. The removal means are cutting means or shearing
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means and serve to remove the connecting means 4 from the welding
body 6 by means of the sealing cap 2. Fig. 6 thereby shows the
sealing position in which the undamaged seal indicates that the
safety seal of the container 9 has never been opened. Fig. 7
shows a position during the opening in which the preset breaking
point 5 of the connecting means 4 or, in this example, the two
preset breaking points 5 of the two stays 4 are broken open by
turning the sealing cap 2, so that the sealing cap 2 is separated
from the connecting means 4 or the two stays 4. In the position
shown in Fig. 7, the removal means 14 also turned when the
sealing cap 2 is turned are just about to contact the connecting
means 4 remaining on the welding body 6. The removal means are
designed in such a way that they form a cutting edge or shearing
edge for the connecting means 4 which cut or shear the connecting
means from the welding body 6 when the sealing cap is turned
further in direction of opening. For this purpose, a weakening
zone can also be provided between the connecting means 4 and the
welding body 6 or, in this example, a weakening zone between the
stays 4 and the welding body 6, respectively, which facilitates
the cutting of shearing of the connecting means 4 or the stays
4 or defines the cutting or shearing range more accurately than
without a weakening zone. However, in any event, the weakening
zone is designed in such a way that it does not give way during
turning of the sealing cap to open it instead of the preset
breaking point, so that the opening of the safety seal always
accompanies the destruction of the preset breaking point S.
Fig. 8 shows the position of the sealing cap in which the
connecting means 4 or the stays 4 is or are already completely
separated from the welding body by the removal means. The now
loosened stays are designated with 4' in the figure. Fig. 9
shows the container 9 with the sealing cap removed from it and
it can be seen that the connecting means 4 or the stays 4 are now
removed from the welding body in most points, so that almost no
projecting remnants of the connecting means protrude on it. This
can be further improved if the front end of the welding body 6,
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at which the connecting means are connected with it, is a
straight front end, so that the welding body is no longer
circular, but only still partially circular or even square or
rectangular. In this way, protruding remnants of the connecting
means are avoided by the removal means when the container is open
which can simplify the handling of the container and, in
particular, makes it more secure if the container is to be
brought to the eyes of a user, e.g. when applying eye drops from
the container, as no protruding remnants of the connecting means
can then injure an eye. Fig. 10 shows the sealing cap 1 with its
sealing cap body 2 and the seal projection 3 with the welding
body 6 and the connecting means 4. Furthermore, the removal
means 14 can be seen which are situated on the sealing cap body
in such a way that, in a fixed welding body and turning sealing
cap body 2, i.e. in the situation which results when a closed
container 9 is opened, the connecting means 4 separate from the
welding body after a predetermined opening angle of rotation has
been completed.
While preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the
present application, it should be clearly pointed out that the
invention is not restricted to them and can also be designed in
another way within the scope of the following claims.
