Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02724437 2010-11-04
W02009/136885
A Lid-Container for Independent Mixing and a Method for Its Application
Pertinent Art
The claimed invention relates to the fields of food, pharmacology and medicine
for the aseptic sealing of
bottles, flasks and other vessels and containers. It can be widely used in
making drinks or liquid
medicinal preparations that have a short shelf life in ready-to-use solutions
or mixtures.
State of the Art
Hereinafter, "solution" or "mixture" means an end-product obtained as a result
of mixing elementary or
compound components:
- the first one depends on the nature of the origin of the component;
- the second one depends on the component shelf life;
- and the third one depends on the state of the component (solid, liquid or
gaseous).
Hereinafter, "lid" means an item designed for sealing a container that can
have a round, square or
polygonal shape, symmetrical about its longitudinal axis.
"Vessel" hereinafter means a structure that has an inner cavity and is
designed for transportation and
storage of solid, bulk, liquid and gaseous products.
Known is a lid with a screw thread designed for sealing bottles (RUDOLF, V.V.
et al. I1pOW3BO,gCTBo
6e3anK0ronbHb1x HanITKOB. CnpaBO.HwK [Manufacturing of Non-Alcoholic
Beverages. Manual], St.
Petersburg, "Professiya" Publishing House, 2000, p. 139). A shortcoming of
this lid is that this design
does not make it possible to seal and store solution components separately,
and when it is necessary to
mix the bottle contents, the seal is disturbed and it is not possible to avoid
exposure to the environment.
Herein, the bottle sealing is disturbed by applying force directed along a
tangent to the side plane of the
lid.
Known is a lid with a screw thread and a removable container attached to it.
The lid is designed for
sealing and storing solution components separately (for instance, see the
specification of German
CA 02724437 2010-11-04
2
patent No. 3327615 Al, IPC B65D 25/08). It comprises a body in the form of
side walls with a bottom
and a plane forming an inside space where an additional vessel in the form of
a glass is formed. The
glass diameter is smaller than the diameter of the vessel opening. Herein, the
glass side wall has a
shoulder so that the cross-section has minimal thickness, and the contour of
the glass opening has a
flanged protrusion interacting with the face of the vessel opening. In the
lid's inner space, there is a
cylindrical tube-insert. Its outside diameter is commensurate with the inside
diameter of the glass
shoulder.
Herein, isolation of the lid contents from the vessel contents is broken by
applying force directed along a
tangent to the lid side plane, and converted into translational movement of
the tube-insert. During its
translational movement, the tube-insert abuts the glass' circular protrusion
and pushes it out into the
vessel cavity.
This design makes it possible to separately seal and store solution components
in the vessel, which are
located in the inner cavities of the vessel and glass. To ensure the design's
function, the design
components must meet stringent process requirements.
The method for application of the known design does not make it possible to
ensure reliable isolation of
the vessel contents from the environment. This is because the same force
directed along a tangent to
the lid side wall is used both for sealing and opening. In other words, mixing
from the very start disturbs
the state of stable isolation in the lid interaction with the vessel.
Moreover, the technical characteristics of the method for application of the
known design do not ensure
a reliable isolation of the contents during storage, and the method is useless
for sterile packaging and
storage of medicinal preparations and food products that are not resistant to
microbial contamination.
Known is a lid with a screw thread comprising a body in the form of side walls
with a bottom and a plane
forming an inside space where a PAM (independent mixing device) plug is
located. For the claimed
invention, this design is the closest technical solution.
The PAM plug (independent mixing device) is protected by Russian Federation
patent No. 2276049,
IPC B 65D 81/32, B 65D 51/28. It comprises a cylindrical body with its bottom
part pressed onto a bottle
neck, and a lid with a screw thread, to be installed on the cylindrical body.
The body has a bottom
overlapping its top face and forming a glass wherein an insert in the form of
a central tube parallel to the
body axis is located. The central tube wall is connected to the body's
cylindrical section by means of
radial partitions that form compartments with sealing plates, and the body
bottom has segment-shaped
CA 02724437 2010-11-04
3
holes for placing a vane-fitted glass with vanes. The glass can move along the
axis, and the number of
vanes matches the number of compartments. The body has a circular recess with
a toothed surface for
installation of a protective toothed strip. Isolation of the bottle's contents
is broken by removing the
toothed strip and applying force to the lid directed along a tangent to the
lid side plane. When the lid is
screwed on as far as it will go along the thread, the force is converted to
translational movement of the
inside plane of the lid bottom along the lid axis. As it slides along the
surface of the bottom of the vane-
fitted glass, the inside plane of the lid bottom applies increasing pressure
to the bottom of the vane-fitted
glass, forcing it to perform transitional movement along the longitudinal
axis. The glass vanes press
against the inside surface of the sealing plates and push them out from the
inside of the compartments.
The protruding part of the central tube enters a recess in the lid center. The
vane-fitted glass moves
until the inside plane of the glass bottom touches the outside surface of the
body's bottom. It is
impossible to continue applying tangent forces to the lid side surface and
screw on the lid. The sealing
plates are pushed out, and the compartment holes are open to the inside of the
bottle. In this process,
the bottle remains closed and isolated from the environment.
In addition to the lid's main purpose of isolating the vessel contents from
the environment, this design
makes it possible to dissolve one or several substances located in the lid's
body compartments in the
liquid inside the vessel immediately before use and prior to final unsealing
of the bottle or other vessel.
However, this design has substantial volume limitations of components for
mixing. At the same time, it
sets stringent process requirements for manufacturing and assembling the
structural components and
for filling compartments with materials for mixing. Herein, the method for
application of the known
design, as well as the method described earlier, does not facilitate a
reliable isolation of vessel contents
from the environment during mixing. This is because the essence of these
methods is that the same
force tangent to the lid side wall is used for both isolation and opening. In
other words, a stable state of
isolation in the lid interaction with the vessel is disturbed from the very
beginning.
Moreover, due to its technical characteristics, the above method for packaging
does not provide reliable
isolation of the contents during storage. Therefore, it is useless for sterile
packaging and storage of
medicinal preparations and food products that are not resistant to microbial
contamination.
Brief Essence of the Invention
The objective of the invention is to develop a lid design that would not set
stringent process
requirements for its manufacture and application, while at the same time
ensuring sterile conditions for
CA 02724437 2010-11-04
4
dissolving and mixing substances in a liquid and providing reliable isolation
of vessel contents from the
environment.
The lid-container for independent mixing that is claimed as the invention
solves this objective. It
comprises a body in the form of side walls with a bottom and a sealing plane
that form the body's inside
space where an insert interacting with the bottom is located. The body has a
mechanism for connecting
to the vessel rim. The lid-container's distinctive feature is that the body's
bottom or side wall has a
corrugation, and the sealing plane is hermetically attached to the side walls
of a film. This solution
makes it possible to create an additional sterile cavity in the lid's inside
space. It is possible to place and
store components of a future solution or mixture in this additional inside
cavity. This solution also makes
it possible, while maintaining dynamic stability, to mix the mixture
components when breaking the
sealing film by applying force to the bottom of the lid-container along the
longitudinal axis of the vessel
and/or lid.
The second additional distinctive feature is that on the side of the end
section of the lid with the
hermetically attached film, the mechanism for connecting to the vessel rim
forms a continuation of side
walls of the lid body for pressing onto the vessel neck and has a circular
shoulder interacting with the
neck. A film is hermetically attached to the shoulder. The body opening is
located across from the insert.
At the other end, the side walls of the body have a screw thread. The
corrugated bottom has a circular
shell with a matching female thread.
This solution makes it possible to seal glass vessels that are currently in
circulation using the lid-
container for independent mixing,
The third additional distinctive feature is that the lid body is rigidly
attached to the vessel rim by means
of a circular shoulder with a hermetically attached film on the side of its
inside space. The circular
shoulder opening is located across from the insert, wherein at the other end,
the side walls have a
screw thread, and the corrugated bottom has a circular shell with a matching
female thread.
This solution makes it possible to seal PET bottles and other widely used
plastic vessels by means of
the lid-container for independent mixing.
The fourth additional distinctive feature is that the insert is made in the
form of a tablet, a sphere or a
briquette.
CA 02724437 2010-11-04
This solution makes it possible to use the dynamic stability of a tablet, a
sphere or a briquette to break
the sealing film in order to combine components of the future solution or
mixture without disturbing their
isolation from the environment.
The stated objective is solved by the claimed method for application of the
lid-container for independent
mixing. When it is necessary to use product components located in the lid's
additional cavity, and stored
separately, force must be applied to the structure of the additional enclosed
inside space of the lid,
thereby destroying it and freeing the contents into the vessel's inside space.
The distinctive feature is
that force is applied to the lid-container bottom and directed along the
longitudinal axis of the lid-
container or vessel. Alternatively, force is applied in the direction
perpendicular to the glass bottom or
close to the perpendicular direction. This method for application of the lid-
container makes it possible to
maintain the factory sealing when preparing a solution or mixture of isolated
components in a vessel,
which in turn makes it possible to ensure the content's isolation from the
environment.
In addition to the primary purpose of storing and transporting the vessel
contents, and the lid's purpose
of isolating the vessel contents from the environment, the solution of the
stated objective by means of
the claimed design of the lid-container for independent mixing and the method
for its application, makes
it possible to mix or dissolve one or several substances (isolated in the
additional sealed cavities of the
lid or the vessel neck) in the liquid contained in the vessel immediately
before use and prior to unsealing
a bottle, flask or other vessel sealed with a lid, while maintaining factory
isolation of the vessel's
contents from the environment.
The claimed design and the method for its application are novel because, as of
the application date, no
similar solution has been known to the author and applicant from available
sources of information.
The claimed design and the method for its application are inventive because,
prior to the application
date, no person skilled in the pertinent art has offered a similar solution,
with minimum investment and
substantially longer shelf life of solution components.
The claimed design and the method for its application are applicable
industrially because an average
person skilled in the field would not doubt the possibility of their
implementation into production and in
daily life. The invention, in any form of embodiment of the inventive concept,
is realizable industrially
using regular machine building means.
CA 02724437 2010-11-04
CA 02724437 2010-11-04
6
Brief Description of the Drawings
The invention is explained in the following drawings. Fig. 1 shows a cross-
section of the lid-container for
independent mixing with a corrugated bottom, Fig. 2 shows a cross-section of
the lid-container for
independent mixing with a corrugated side wall. Fig. 3 shows an embodiment of
the lid-container for
using on glass containers. Fig. 4 shows an embodiment of the lid-container for
PET vessels. Fig. 5
shows an embodiment of the lid-container with a tablet. Fig. 6 shows an
embodiment of the lid-container
with a sphere. Fig. 7 shows an embodiment of the lid-container with a
briquette.
Information Confirming the Possibility of Realizing the Invention
The lid-container for independent mixing comprises a body in the form of side
walls 1 with a bottom 2,
and a sealing plane 3, and is an integral product with a mechanism for
connecting to a vessel rim.
The sealing plane 3 is located in the lower end section of the side walls and
made as a film 3 that is
hermetically attached to the side walls 1 along the entire contour and creates
an enclosed and sealed
inside space 4 with an insert 5.
The bottom 2 can have corrugation 6 or the side walls 1 can have corrugation
6. The bottom 2 and the
side walls 1 can have corrugation 6 separately or together. In any of the
embodiments, between the
bottom and the sealing film 3, there is an insert 5 which interacts with the
bottom 2, and there is a
circular shell 7 with a female thread 8 attached to the side walls , for
attachment to a vessel neck rim.
In addition, one embodiment of the lid-container installed on the rim of a
glass vessel is that on the side
of the end face section of the lid-container with a hermetically attached film
3, the mechanism for
connecting to the vessel rim is made as a continuation 9 of the side walls 1
of the lid body for pressing
onto the vessel rim, and it has a circular shoulder 10 which interacts with
the neck. The film is
hermetically attached to the shoulder, and the shoulder opening 11 is located
across from the insert 5,
wherein the screw thread 12 is made at the opposite end on the side walls 1.
The corrugated bottom 2
has a circular shell 7 with a matching female thread 8. Alternatively, as an
embodiment of the lid-
container for use in PET vessels, the side walls 1 of the lid-container body
are rigidly attached to a PET
vessel rim by means of the circular shoulder 10 with the film 3 hermetically
attached to it on the side of
the inside space. The circular shoulder 11 opening is located across from the
insert 5, wherein the
screw thread 12 is made at the opposite end on side walls 1. The corrugated
bottom 2 has a circular
shell 7 with a matching female thread 8.
CA 02724437 2010-11-04
7
In either of the above embodiments of the lid-container for independent
mixing, between the bottom 2
and the sealing film 3, there is an insert 5 interacting with the bottom 2.
The insert 5 can be made in the
form of a hollow cylindrical body, a cone, a tablet, a sphere, or a briquette.
In other words, the insert can
be made of a material that is not a component of the finished solution, or
conversely, it can be made of
a material that is a component of the solution.
An assembled lid-container can be screwed onto a vessel neck (see Fig. 1, 2, 5
and 6), its bottom
section can be pressed onto a vessel neck (see Fig. 3), or its bottom section
can be a continuation of a
vessel neck (see Fig. 4). The lid-container's inside space is filled with the
required amount of
substances intended for dissolving or mixing in liquid contained in the
vessel. The inside space is
covered with a sealing film 3, and an insert 5 is installed between the
sealing film and the bottom.
The Operation of the Claimed Device and a Brief Essence of the Method for Its
Application
The operation of the lid-container for independent mixing is illustrated in
Figs. 1-6. To dissolve the
substance located in the lid-container's inner space, force is applied and
directed along the longitudinal
axis of the lid or vessel. The force is applied to the bottom 2
perpendicularly to the plane of the bottom 2
or close to this direction by pressing on the bottom 2. Due to the pressing on
the corrugation 6, on the
bottom 2 or the side walls 1, the insert 5 moves along the side walls I until
the sealing film 3 is broken.
The contents of the inner space of the lid-container, or of the hollow insert
5, drops under gravity into the
vessel contents, and the mixing process takes place.
The inside cavity of the vessel, along with the inside cavity of the lid-
container, are still isolated from the
environment, and the factory packaging is not destroyed. For the substances to
better dissolve, it is
necessary to turn the vessel upside down several times. By getting into the
inner cavity of the lid-
container, the liquid washes the remains of substance out of the cavity.
Thus, the claimed solution makes it possible, with minimal process
requirements for production, to
ensure separate storage and transportation of several substances of a solution
in a single packaging
and to dissolve these substances in a liquid contained in a vessel, with
reliable isolation of the
substances from the environment.
Obviously, the above examples of embodiments of the inventive concept and the
examples of process
capabilities do not cover all specific designs and all possible aspects of
industrial application of the
device according to the invention, and they in no way limit the scope of the
inventor's rights.
