Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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A BOTTLE WITH A SECURE CAP
The present invention relates to a bottle with a secure
cap.
Caps are known in the art which are designed so that,
once they have been attached to a bottle, they are
difficult, in practice, to remove. Such caps are designed
so that they cannot be removed by an average person using
just their hands. It may, however, be possible for the cap
to be removed by the use of tools or in some other way
applying an unusually high force, but any such removal will
often result in destruction of the bottle.
Screw-on caps are known which have ratchet teeth which
bias the lid in such a way as to prevent engagement of the
complimentary screw threads as the lid is rotated in a
direction opposite to the direction in which it was screwed
onto the lid. Whilst such mechanisms are effective, the
requirement for a screw thread and the ratchet teeth results
in a lid which is reasonably thick to accommodate the
mechanism. Also, the shape of a cap does not always lend
itself to a screw thread engagement, for example if the
lower edge or outer skirt of the cap has a non-planer
profile.
A number of documents are known in the art (for
example, US 4,022,464, US 3,237,819, EP 1 847 472, GB 1 107
605 and US 3,295,730) which disclosed snap-on lids, in which
a limited amount of rotation of the cap is specifically
provided for in order to open up dispensing orifices. Such
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containers are generally used for fine powdery material,
such as talcum powder and the like. These closures have
nothing to do with the secure closure contemplated by the
present invention.
The present invention is specifically designed for a
bottle which provides a refill for soap and the like which
is then dispensed by an automatic dispenser. Once the
refill is empty, if the user could remove the cap and refill
the bottle, there is a danger that they would fill the
bottle with a product which was incompatible with the
dispensing device, or would fail to replace the cap properly
resulting in leakage into a dispenser which would at best be
messy and at worst would damage the device.
One way of addressing this problem is disclosed in our
earlier application GB 0820984.3. In this, we disclose a
bottle with a tamper-proof cap. This is designed with a
retaining member for the lid which is held in place by a
frangible member. The frangible member is broken when the
cap is removed so that the cap cannot subsequently be
retained on the bottle.
While this is effective in achieving the purpose of
preventing re-use of the bottle, because it allows the lid
to be readily removed, if a consumer inadvertently removes
the lid, for example, if they wish to smell the contents of
the bottle, they will render the bottle unusable.
According to a first aspect of the present invention,
there is provided a bottle with a secure cap, comprising:
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a bottle having an open neck and a first retaining
flange around at least a portion of the neck; and
a push-on cap fitted over the neck, the cap having an
outlet with a valve for controlling flow through the outlet
and a second retaining flange positioned so that, upon
placement of the cap on the bottle, the first and second
retaining flanges deflect relatively to one another as they
pass and snap back into place once they have passed with a
shoulder of the first retaining flange engaging a shoulder
on the second retaining flange to hold the cap securely on
the bottle;
one of the bottle neck and cap having a protrusion
which fits into a complimentary recess on the other of the
bottle neck and cap to substantially prevent relative
rotation of the cap and bottle.
The present invention therefore takes a fundamentally
different approach from that of GB 0820984.3 in that, rather
than preventing re-attachment of the cap, it aims to prevent
the cap from being removed at all.
The combination of the engaging shoulders of the first
and second retaining flanges, together with the means to
prevent relative rotation of the cap and lid makes it very
difficult for an average person to gain sufficient purchase
on the cap to remove it readily. The mechanism could, of
course, be defeated by a determined effort, for example a
person inserting a knife or some other implement between the
cap and bottle. However, the mechanism can be made robust
enough to resist all but the most determined efforts to
remove it.
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The first and second retaining flanges may be
configured so that one or both of them is arranged to be
damaged if the cap is removed from the bottle thereby
compromising the functionality of the cap.
Preferably, the cap is provided with an auxiliary
flange which is positioned so that, with the cap on the
bottle, the first retaining flange is retained between the
second retaining flanqe and the auxiliary flange. The
auxiliary flange acts to prevent inward deflection of the
first retaining flange, thereby making it more difficult for
the user to disengage the two shoulders.
Preferably, there is more than one protrusion and
corresponding complimentary recess. The protrusion is
preferably provided on the bottle while the recess is
preferably provided on the lid. The recess is preferably
defined by a pair of ribs which extend between an outer
skirt of the cap and an inner circumferential element which
defines the second retaining flange. This provides
structural rigidity for the ribs.
Preferably, at least one of the protrusions, recesses
first and second shoulders are provided with bevelled edges
to provide guide surfaces as the cap is placed onto the
bottle.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is
provided a bottle with a secure cap, comprising a bottle
having an open neck and a first retaining flange around at
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least a portion of the neck; and a push-on cap fitted over
the neck, the cap having an outlet which is closed by a
closure which is openable by a non-rotational movement and a
second retaining flange positioned so that, upon placement
of the cap on the bottle, the first and second retaining
flanges deflect relatively to one another as they pass and
snap back into place once they have passed with a shoulder
of the first retaining flange engaging a shoulder on the
second retaining flange to hold the cap securely on the
bottle; one of the bottle neck and cap having a protrusion
which fits into a complimentary recess on the other of the
bottle neck and cap to limit or prevent rotation of the cap
and bottle.
The closure may be any element which does not rely on
rotational movement of the cap in order to open. It could,
for example, be a piercable foil but is preferably a
resiliently deformable member such as a zel/slit valve or a
valve member biased onto its seat by resiliently deformable
members.
An example of a secure cap will now be described with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a plan view of the bottle;
Fig. 2 is a side view of the bottle;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the bottle;
Fig. 4 is an underneath plan of the cap;
Fig. 5 is an underneath perspective of the cap;
Fig. 6 is a cross-section showing the cap on the
bottle;
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Fig. 7A is the partial cross-section of the cap and
bottle just prior to insertion of the bottle into the cap;
Fig. 7B is a similar view with the bottle fully
inserted;
Fig. 7C is a similar view showing a slight rotation of
the bottle with respect to the cap;
Fig. 8 is an underneath perspective of a second example
of the cap;
Fig. 9 is an underneath plan of a second example of the
cap; and
Fig. 10 is a cross-section through the cap of Figs 8
and 9 and the lower end of the second bottle.
The bottle 1 is a generally rigid plastics container
containing liquid soap and the like. It is generally
elliptical in cross-section as shown in Fig. 2. It may also
be used to dispense other liquid or semi-liquid products
(ideally with a viscosity greater than water), such as hand
cream, body lotion, moisturiser, face cream, shampoo, shower
gel, foaming hand wash, shaving cream, washing-up liquid,
toothpaste, or a sanitising agent such as alcohol gel. The
bottle is specifically designed to be used in an inverted
configuration on an automatic dispenser. However, this does
not form part of the present invention and will not be
described here.
The bottle has a neck 2 which is surrounded by a first
retaining flange 3. This may either be continuous around
the circumference of the neck, or may be intermittent. As
shown in Fig. 6, the retaining flange 3 is provided with a
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projection having a tapered surface 4 on one side and a
shoulder 4' on the other for the reasons described below.
At diametrically opposed locations on the upper portion
of the neck, there are a pair of protrusions 5 which have a
tapered upper surface 6 as shown in Fig. 3. There could
equally be only one or more than two of these protrusions.
The cap 7 is best shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The cap has
a qenerally elliptical shape corresponding to that of the
bottle and is provided, from the inside out, with a circular
auxiliary flange 8 which may or not be continuous, a second
retaining flange 9 described in more detail below and an
outer skirt 10 having the elliptical shape of the lid and
being provided with a pair of lugs 11 to locate on the
dispenser (not shown). The auxiliary flange 8 also serves
to seal against the inner wall of the neck 2.
The second retaining flange 9 is best shown in Fig. 6.
This may be intermittent or circumferentially continuous and
projects upwardly from the lower surface of the cap. The
free end of the flange 9 is an enlarged portion 12 defining
an upper tapered surface 13 and a downwardly facing shoulder
13'.
At diametrically opposed locations which correspond to
the locations of the protrusion 5, the second retaining
flange 9 is provided with a number of notches 15 which allow
the second retaining flange 9 to deflect as the bottle is
inserted into the cap. Between each pair of notches 15 are
a pair of radial ribs 16 which extend outwardly to the outer
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skirt 10. Between the ribs 16, the second retaining flange
is interrupted and this defines recesses 17 which
accommodate the protrusions 5. Circumferentially outwardly
of the ribs 16 is a tapered surface 18.
The manner in which the bottle 1 is inserted into the
cap will now be described with reference to Fig. 7A. This
shows the bottle partially inserted into the cap. In this
case, the bottle is slightly out of alignment with the cap
and the tapered surfaces 6 on the protrusions co-operates
with the surfaces 18 in the cap to guide the bottle to the
correct alignment. As the bottle is inserted, the tapered
surface 4 on the first retaining flange 3, co-operates with
the tapered surface 13 on the second retaining flange 9 to
deflect it outwardly aided by the notches 15 until the
shoulders 4', 13' pass one another at which point the second
flange 9 snaps back into place thereby securely locating the
shoulders as shown in Fig. 6 retain the first flange 3
between the second flange 9 and auxiliary flange 8.
As shown in Fig. 7B, the protrusions 5 are within
recesses 17. The cap can rotate to a small degree (less
than 25 , more preferably less than 20 and most preferably
less than 15 ) until the protrusions 5 abut one of the ribs
16 (as shown in Fig. 7C) to prevent further rotation.
In this position, the cap is securely retained on the
neck of the bottle and it is very difficult for a user to
gain any purchase on the cap, particularly as they are
unable to rotate it to any significant extent. In practice,
the cap and neck are designed so that the cap cannot be
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removed by force of less than 15kg, preferably less than
20kg, and more preferably 30kg. When such a force is
applied, one of the first three and second flanges is
designed to be broken or plastically deformed to such an
extent that the cap can no longer be retained on the bottle.
It will also be noted from Figs. 7A to 7C that, as well
as having a generally elliptical configuration, the upper
edge 21 of the skirt 10 and the facing surface 22 of the
bottle 1 have a curved profile. Under these circumstances,
any significant relative rotation of the cap and bottle 1
would re-generate a significant force tending to separate
the cap from the bottle. By preventing or significantly
limiting relative rotation of the two components, this force
cannot be applied. Also, if the cap could be rotated
relatively to the bottle, because of the substantially
elliptical shape, there would be a large overhang between
the bottle and cap which would allow the user to gain
significant purchase on the lid. Again, this is prevented
by preventing or significantly limiting the relative
rotation of the lid on the bottle.
Also shown in Fig. 6 is the valve mechanism. The lower
surface of the cap has an outlet orifice 30 surrounded by an
annular wall 31. The valve element 32 sits on top of the
wall 31 and is biased in place by the plurality of resilient
members 33. An air inlet opening 34 shown schematically and
is closed by a valve member 35. In use, the bottle is
placed into a base in the orientation shown in Fig. 6. The
base is provided with a spigot (not shown) the top of which
is provided with castellations. The spigot opens the valve
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element 32 against the action of the resilient members 33
thereby creating a flow path beneath the valve element 32
and through the castellations in the spigot. As liquid
leaves the bottle 1, pressure drops and the lowering in
pressure causes the air inlet valve element 35 to open to
allow air into the bottle.
The second example of a cap end bottle is shown in
Figs. 8 to 10. This is similar in most respect in the first
example. The same reference numerous have been used as
appropriate. The same valve 32 and outlet 30 shown in Fig.
6 will also be present although this is not shown in Fig.
10.
The only difference relates to the configuration of the
second retaining flange 9'. In this case, the continuous
flange of the first example has been replaced by a component
with supported on a plurality of support members 36
separated by gaps 37. Above each gap is a tapered surface
13' with a similar cross-section to the surface 13 on the
first example. As shown in Fig 10, the engagement is
similar to that of Fig. 6, although the intermittent nature
of the second retaining flange 9' enables greater overlap
between the two parts in the assemble state. Also, the
provision of a number of discrete sections engaging with the
first flange 3 increases the likelihood that one or more of
these will be broken as the cap is removed.
