Title of Invention

A CLOSURE OF TAMPER EVIDENT TYPE FOR A CONTAINER

Abstract

Packaging containers such as tubes or bottles or the like arrangements for packaging liquid or pasty filling materials, that is to say goods or items, are provided with closures referred to as tamper evident closures which indicate manipulation effected in regard thereto, for the purposes of safeguarding the integrity of the goods or items. Such indications are generally difficult to perceive. The invention provides a closure which permits manipulation to be seen both upon visual and upon manual checking. FIG 1.

Full Text

KK-86878/CH Container closure The invention relates to a closure for a container, as set forth in the classifying portion of claim 1. The shopping habits of the average consumer are determined by so-called self-service, in particular for items which are basic or everyday necessities. The consumer on his own selects, checks and takes from a shelf assembly or storage unit the goods which he proposes to purchase. In regard to packaged items, this kind of trading involves both purchasers and vendors in certain safety risks which predominantly derive from the integrity of the packagi ng contai ners. Damaged packagings are an indication of unusable contents, which the vendor is also under an obligation to check. Damage can occur deliberately or unintentionally. To obviate unintentional damage the packaging industry provides its products with adequate safeguard or protection means which sufficiently protect the packaged material in the course of trade. To afford protection from deliberate damage the packaging industry has predominantly directed its attention to safeguarding closures for filling openings. Those safeguard or protection means are generally developed for a specific packaging and cannot be readily transferred to a different packaging, for the same purpose. In spite of the large number of safeguard or protection means available, they are intended to satisfy all the following requirements. A safeguard or protection means is to be releasable only once, that is to say irreversibly, and without involving the application of an excessive amount of force. Release of the safeguard or protection means must be indicated, as of itself, while such indication is not to be concealable. The indication that the closure has been opened must be visible when subjected to fleeting, visual checking. In addition, released safeguard or protection means must not impair the aesthetic appearance of a packaging or a closure, nor the convenience of use thereof. Closures with safeguard or protection means which can be released only once and irreversibly and the indication of release of which is perceivable of itself and in such a way that it cannot be concealed are referred to. that is to say qualified, in the technical language as "tamper evident closures". The invention relates to the area of rotary closures complying with that qualification (hereinafter referred to as closures for the sake of brevity) for tubes, bottles or the like containers such as cans or tins for packaging solid. pasty or liquid filling materials. A closure comprising plastic material or metal is known, which includes a screwcap with a safeguard or security ring which is formed on the open end thereof. In the event of manipulation on the screwcap. for example rotary movements in the direction of opening thereof, the security ring which is brought into engagement with the container is separated from the screwcap by virtue of the fact that the security ring does not follow the movement of the screwcap. Separation occurs along a desired-rupture line between the screwcap and the rotary closure. Upon separation, the separation edges become visible, but they are difficult to visually perceive as soon as the rotary closure is rotated back into its original closed position. The same applies to an increased degree in relation to small-sized closures of that kind. Added to that is the point that the separation edges which are difficult to perceive can be relatively easily concealed. Furthermore, in subsequent normal use of the container, the security ring which has been separated from the closure cap should be removed for aesthetic and hygiene reasons. Visually unsatisfactory perceptibility, the ease of concealing release of the safeguard arrangement by virtue of being separated off and the manual effort required to remove the security ring are disadvantages of the known closure. The closure of the above-identif1ed design conf1guration was structurally modified to overcome the indicated disadvantages by virtue of the fact that the security ring is not connected to the closure cap integrally, that is to say all around same, but by way of leg portions, while the security ring has rupture notches arranged to extend in the longitudinal direction of the closure cap in the proximity of the leg portions. With that construction, when the closure cap is rotated, the security ring is not separated therefrom, but segments of the security ring are spread open outwardly. That makes it markedly easier to see that the security arrangement has been released. but conveni ence of use of the closure is perceptibly impaired because use of the container requires removal of the spread-open segments which, after being removed, leave sharp break-away edges on the closure cap. With this construction although it is markedly easier to see that the security arrangement has been released, by virtue of the presence of the spread-away segments, it is very much easier to conceal the fact that the closure has been opened, in comparison with the first construction described, insofar as it is only necessary for the segments to be moved back into their original position. The security rings are to be applied around the outlet openings of containers, with close tolerances being maintained. If the tolerances are too tight, removal of the security ring in the non-segmented construction becomes difficult. If the tolerances are too wide, the closure cap together with for example the security ring can be turned or pulled off the outlet opening of a container, that is to say the security ring is not properly operable. The object of the present invention is to provide a closure with which the disadvantages known from the state of the art are avoided. That object is attained by a closure having the features of claim 1. The invention departs from the teaching which is known from the state of the art. involving providing closures with security arrangements. The invention provides a closure of "tamper evident" type, in which the closure cap performs the function of a rotary or push-on closure and that of a security arrangement. The invention provides that for the first time material integrity checking is afforded besides visual checking. If the closure cap is separated from the outlet, which can be readily visually perceived, then the closure has been the subject of previous manipulation. If the closure cap was only partially separated from the outlet opening by virtue of manipulation, then that condition can be detected visually and/or manually.. The closure cap could be moved onto the outlet, if partial separation had occurred. Further configurations of the closure according to the invention are characterised by the features of the claims following claim 1. Further advantages, features and details of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment and the drawing in which: Figure 1 is a view in partial section of a tube head with a closure arranged on the tube head in accordance with the invention and a tube body formed on the tube head, Figure 2 is a highly diagrammatic and simplified view in longitudinal section of an apparatus for the production of the closure according to the invention, and Figure 3 is a view on an enlarged scale showing a detail indicated at J in Figure 1, illustrating a fixing device between the cap and the outlet. Figure 1 is a partly sectional view of a packaging tube 10 (referred to hereinafter as the tube for the sake of brevity) comprising a tubular tube body 11 (referred to hereinafter as the tube portion) which is arranged at one end on a tube head 12 (referred to hereinafter as the head for the sake of brevity). The head 12 in turn includes a shoulder 13 and a tubular outlet 14 which, in the illustrated embodiment,carries on its outer periphery a male screwthread which can be brought into engagement with a female screwthread 16 at the inner periphery of the closure cap 17 (referred to hereinafter as the cap for the sake of brevity) when the tube 10 is to be opened or closed in normal use in the intended fashion. In regard to the directions of movement of filling material, a movement in the direction B denotes a downstream direction of movement and a movement in the direction C denotes an upstream direction of movement, and such di recti ons are to be appl i ed to techni cal features of the packaging tube 10. such features accordingly being arranged. di sposed. oriented, opening, closing, formed etc.. in relation to the downstream direction or the upstream direction. In accordance with that convention for defining the downstream and upstream directions, the interior A of the outlet 14 opens at one end on the upstream side by way of the interior of the shoulder 13 into the tube portion 11 and at the other end on the downstream side into the outlet opening 18 (referred to hereinafter as the opening for the sake of brevity), provided in an outlet cover portion 19 (referred to hereinafter as the cover portion for the sake of brevity). The cover portion 19 with tube inside surface 20 (referred to hereinafter as the upstream surface) and the tube outside surface 21 (referred to hereinafter as the downstream surface) surrounds the opening 18 provided therein, preferably in concentric relationship in the case of single-chamber tubes. The cap 17 is in the form of a tube which is closed at one end, including a cover disc 23 with a surface 24 at the upstream side (being the outside surface) and a surface 25 at the downstream side (being the inside surface) and with a hollow-cylindrical portion 26: the female screwthread 16 is provided on the inside peripheral surface 30 of the portion 26 while provided on the outside peripheral surface 31 of the portion 26 are corrugations or ribs 27 to make it easier to operate the cap 17. Reference numeral 29 denotes the open end of the cap 17. which is disposed in opposite relationship to the cover disc 23 which closes the hollow-cylindrical portion 26 at one end. As shown in Figure 3 the cap 17 is connected to the outlet 14 by means of a fixing device 28. The device 28 is disposed between the downstream surface 21 of the cover portion 19 of the outlet 14 and the surface 24. at the upstream side, of the cover disc 23 of the cap 17. it is in engagement with the identified downstream surface 21 and the surface 24 at the upstream side and thus - releasably once in accordance with the invention - fixes the cap 17 to the outlet 14 of the tube 12. As shown in Figure 3. in a preferred embodiment the fixing device 28 is in the form of an annular leg portion (hereinafter referred to as the leg portion 28) which extends around the outlet opening 18 without a spacing. Extending around the outlet opening without a spacing means that the leg portion 28 directly adjoins the periphery of the outlet opening 18, with a first side 28a which is towards the outlet opening 18. Disposed opposite the first side 28a. at a spacing in a transverse direction with respect to the longitudinal axis of the head 12. is a second side 28b of the leg portion 28, and they form a radial transverse dimension of the leg portion 28. while the axial spacing 28c between the downstream surface 21 of the cover portion 19 and the surface 24 at the upstream side of the cover disc 23 determines the height of the leg portion, the transverse dimension and the height constituting the axial cross-sectional area of the leg portion 28. The leg portion 28 and with same the fixing of the closed outside surface 24 of the cover, disc 23 of the cap 17 on the downstream surface 21 of the outlet cover portion 19 of the outlet 14 form a preferred embodiment of the invention in which the outside surface 24 of the cover disc 23 is intended as the closure for the outlet opening 18 and the leg portion 28 is intended as the security device or indicator device for revealing previous manipulation operations on the closure 22 according to the invention. If. when using the closure 22 which is the preferred structure in accordance with the invention, the cap 17 which is open at the downstream side is rotated or loaded with a force in the longitudinal direction at a spacing with respect to the longitudinal axis of the tube 10. the leg portion 28 entirely or partially breaks, with the result that the cap 17 is separated from the head 12 or the fixed connection between the cap 17 and the head 12 is released. For that purpose, the following dimensions for the leg portion 28 have been found to be advantageous: The spacing between the first side 28a and the second side 28b of the leg portion 28 is between 0.1 mm and 0.5 mm. preferably between 0.2 and 0.4 mm. while the spacing 28c is between 0.05 mm and 0.5 mm. preferably between 0.1 and 0.3 mm. For the production of tubes, either tube portions are joined to prefabricated heads, or they are combined with the latter during the operation of forming same by virtue of injection moulding or press moulding. Particularly when the procedure involves using injection moulding or press moulding of heads with simultaneous joining to tube portions, the materials adopted for heads are such that they are suitable for being joined to the material or materials of the tube portions during that working step. Polyolefins, for example polyethylene, have proven to be successful for the tube and the head, for that purpose. In the case of caps, material compatibility with the tube is not critical as, as is known. they are always produced separately and screwed onto the head. Figure 2 shows in greatly simplified and diagrammatic form an apparatus 40 for the production of a tube 10 in accordance with the invention. The production procedure includes connecting a tube body 11 to the head 12. that is to say to the peripherally extending edge of the shoulder 13 of the head 12, wherein the connection operation is effected during the operation of forming the head 12. simultaneously with the cap 17. With the closure according to the invention therefore, caps 17 are therefore now no longer separately produced and screwed on. The shaping operation is based on the principle of press moulding, that is to say a heated portion of plastic material is subjected to pressure in a tool to put into a definitive shape which corresponds to the contouring of the tool. The apparatus 40 for the production of a tube 10 which includes a tube portion 11, a head 12 with shoulder 13 and outlet 14 on which the closure 22 according to the invention is arranged comprises a bar or mandrel 41, a female mould or die 42 and a so-called screwthreaded hole punch sleeve 45 (hereinafter referred to as the punch for the sake of brevity). The female mould or die 42 is of a multi-part structure. Besides the mould portion 46 which forms the outside surface of the shoulder 13 and which at the same time forms the tube portion 11 on the shoulder 13. the female mould or die 42 has three or four mould jaws 43 which are designed to be horizontally displaceable and which in the assembled position. adjoining the shoulder 13. form the outside surface of the outlet 14. that of the leg portion 28 and that of the cap 17. The bar or mandrel 41 forms the inside surface of the shoulder 13. that of the outlet 14 and that of the outlet opening 18. The wall thicknesses thereof are dimensioned in accordance with the dimensions of the mandrel or bar 41 and the female mould or die 42. The horizontal displaceability of the mould jaws 43 performs the purpose of freeing the shaped body or moulding, with its undercut configurations which occur by virtue of the moulding procedure adopted, so that the moulding can be removed from the mould portion formed by the jaws 43. Undercut configurations are for example the male screwthread 15 and also the cover disc 22. The female mould or die 42 is closed off by means of a sleeve 45 in which a shaping pin member 47 rotates: the free end of the shaping pin member 47 forms the female screwthread 16 of the cap 17. In the working position of the apparatus 40. the mould jaws 43 are together.and the shaping pin member 47 is moved into the mould jaws 43. or into the opening in the mould jaws 43. that forms the cap 17. When the bar or mandrel 41 is still withdrawn, the female mould or die 42 is charged with a plasticised blank of plastic material, preferably in an annular configuration and falling freely downwardly. Falling freely downwardly means that the blank is expelled from an extruder (not shown) and that it falls freely, impacting against the end face of the shaping pin member 47. After the female mould or die is charged in that way. the bar or mandrel 41 with the tube portion 11 disposed thereon moves into the female mould or die, forming the head 12 with closure 22 according to the invention by pressing of the blank. In the unloading position, the shaping pin member 47 rotates out of the cap 17. the jaws 43 open and thus free the portions of undercut configuration, and the bar or mandrel 41. with the formed tube 10. moves out of the female mould or die 42. The tube 10 is then stripped off the bar or mandrel 41. Figure 2 shows a female mould or die 42 whose mould portion 46 shapes the entire shoulder. The horizontal separation E between the mould portion 46 and the jaws 43 is therefore at the transition D from the shoulder 13 to the outlet 14. The transition D is not shaped in the jaws 43 but in the mould portion 46. in the form of a round hole 44 whose diameter determines the largest possible diameter Fof the cap 17 so that the tube 10 which is finished in accordance with the invention, that is to say its head 12 with cap 17. can be removed from the female mould or die. by passing through the hole 44. Figure 2 shows a female mould or die 42 whose interior is of such a contour that it shapes a cap 17 whose outside diameter corresponds to about 50% of the outside diameter G of the tube portion 11. The diameter of the hole 44 would increase by displacing the separation line E in the direction of the transition H from the tube portion 11 to the shoulder 13. so that it is possible to shape caps 17 whose outside diameter F would approximately correspond to the outside diameter G of the tube portion 11. In that situation, the outside diameter of the outlet 14 could be varied. The outside diameters of the outlet 14 with head 12 can also be reduced in the opposite direction to the view shown in Figure 2. by leaving the separation line E at the transition D from the shoulder 13 to the outlet 14. but suitably reducing the contouring in the mould jaw 43. In that way it is possible to vary the outside diameters of the cap 17 and the outlet 14. The simultaneous formation of the outlet 14. the leg portion 28 and the cap 17 is preferred in accordance with the invention, as described above. It is however also possible to produce the cap 17 with a leg portion 28 separately, and to join the cap 17 by means of the leg portion 28 to the downstream surface 21 of the cover portion 19. by means of friction welding. The term friction welding is used to denote making a join by using movement - here for example rotation of the cap 17 - and pressure - in this case pressing the cap 17 against the cover portion 19. A further possible way of attaining the object in accordance with the invention is that of arranging an adhesive layer to connect the outlet 14 and the cap 17 as the fixing means 28 between the downstream surface 21 of the cover portion 19 and the outside surface 24 of the cover disc 23. That adhesive layer can comprise applied adhesive or it can be in the form of a foil or ,sheet which is adhesive on both sides. Setting adhesives are preferred in both cases so that, in the event of manipulation of the closure, it is not possible to make use of a residual adhesive force for concealment purposes. WE CLAIM: 1. A closure of tamper evident type for a container or the like arrangement, in particular packaging tubes, including an outlet with an outlet opening and a closure cap co-operating with the outlet, comprising a hollow-cylindrical wall portion and a closed cover disc with inside and outside surface, the cover disc closing the wall portion at one end. characterised in that the closure cap (17) is arranged releasably on the outlet (14), covering over the outlet opening (18) with the outside surface (24) of its cover disc (23). 2. A closure according to claim 1 characterised in that the closure cap (17) is arranged on the outlet (14) with a fixing device (28). 3. A closure according to claim 2 characterised in that the fixing device is in the form on an annular leg portion which extends around the outlet opening (18). 4. A closure according to claim 1 characterised in that the fixing device (28) is in the form of a foil which is adhesive on both sides. 5. A closure according to claim 2 characterised in that the fixing device (28) is in the form of an adhesive layer. 6. A closure according to claim 4 or claim 5 characterised in that the adhesives are hardening adhesives. 7. A closure according to claim 3 characterised in that the leg portion (28) has axial cross-sectional surfaces formed from a radial spacing of a first side (28a) and a second side (28b). spaced from each other at between 0.1 mm and 0.5 mm. preferably between 0,2 mm and 0.4 mm. and an axial spacing (28c) of between 0.05 mm and 0.5 mm. preferably between 0.1 mm and 0.3 mm. 8. A closure according to claim 2 characterised in that the closure cap (17), the outlet (14) and the fixing device (28) are formed from plastic material by press moulding in a condition of being fixed together as one piece. 9. A closure of tamper evident type for a container, substantially as herein described, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

1869-mas-1998-abstract.pdf

1869-mas-1998-claims duplicate.pdf

1869-mas-1998-claims original.pdf

1869-mas-1998-correspondence others.pdf

1869-mas-1998-correspondence po.pdf

1869-mas-1998-description complete duplicate.pdf

1869-mas-1998-description complete original.pdf

1869-mas-1998-drawings.pdf

1869-mas-1998-form 1.pdf

1869-mas-1998-form 26.pdf

1869-mas-1998-form 3.pdf

1869-mas-1998-other documents.pdf

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