Color-coded closure system with heat attached tamper evidencing band

Abstract

A packaging system for improved management of cap inventory when different beverages, such as different types of milk (skim, 1%, 2% and whole) or water (spring, distilled, fortified, mineral etc.) are bottled in the same bottling lines at various facilities. The system includes maintaining a supply of standard caps, which may be free of colorants or pigments, and a supplies of reels of different colored (or differently printed) shrinkable band material. The different types of beverage are bottled in containers that have a single standard cap and standard uniform bottles, and the different contents of said bottles are differentiated from one another by the application of colored (or distinctively printed) bands. The cap and/or the bottle neck are adapted to be engaged by the band in a way that protects the bottle from being tampered with, and when threaded caps are used, helps prevent the inadvertent loosening of the caps during in shipment. In an alternative embodiment, a band is strapped over the top of the cap and is heat welded or otherwise adhered at both ends to the bottle neck, effectively restricting removal of the bottle cap without detaching at least one end of the band.

Description

[0001] This is a continuation-in-part application of parent application Ser. No. 10 / 644,491 filed Aug. 20, 2003.BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to closure devices, and in particular, relates to heat attached tamper evidencing bands and injection molded caps for blow molded bottles which hold liquids, such as milk, water or juice, and a system for providing color-coded heat attached tamper evidencing bands and injection molded caps for blow molded bottles. [0003] Injection molded caps for blow molded bottles (made of HDPE—high density polyethylene) have been used for many years. In addition, shrink wrapping bottle cap and necks has been used for many years. Generally, two types of bottle caps are available, push-on caps and thread-on caps. Push-on caps are installed by aligning the cap with the opening of a bottle and simply applying an axial force to the top of the cap. Thread-on caps generally require that the cap and bottle be aligned and that...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] In order to eliminate many of the problems associated with capping systems now in place, the inventions disclosed and claimed herein, in a milk bottling application, allow a bottler to use caps of a single color, e.g., white or pigment-free, for all kind of milk, and then relies upon shrinkable or heat sealable bands of different colors placed over the cap and neck of a bottle to differentiate one kind of milk from another. In one embodiment, the cap and neck of a bottle are configured in such a way as to allow a mechanical interference between the band and both the cap and the bottle neck to help prevent the cap from backing off of a tightened position during shipment. In another embodiment, a band is strapped across the top of the cap and is connected to the top of the bottle cap and at both ends to the bottle neck. The band closely conforms to the shape of the cap, effectively preventing the cap from being removed from the bottle without detaching at least one end of the band from the bottle. As a cap is unscrewed, the threads on the outside of the bottle neck and on the inside of the cap engage in such a manner to force the cap away from the bottle. The band, being attached to the bottle and the cap, and closely conforming to the shape of the cap, restrains such movement of the cap.

[0011] By placing bands of different colors on the bottle neck and by using caps of one standard color, a line change will entail a simple change in the color of ribbon or shrink wrap rather than unloading and loading different colored caps from the feeder bowls and capping apparatus within the bottling line. By using different colored bands, instead o

Problems solved by technology

In the bottled water industry the pull tab on push-on caps for 5-gallon containers, for example, is not easily removable from the cap, and only partial tearing of the pull tab allows removal of the cap from the bottle.

While the combination of a bottle cap with a tamper evidencing ring and a bottle neck with ratchet teeth provides for an acceptable tamper-evident connection and seal, this combination does have its limitations.

Furthermore, on smaller or single serving containers, the ratchet ring can become a nuisance as a consumer takes a sip directly from the bottle.

In some cases the hoppers from which caps are fed are difficult to access and empty.

These changeovers can require considerable time and effort to accomplish, and may be required to be done every day, or even multiple times a day.

Other problems associated with capping facilities using the typical capping system that relies upon cap color to differentiate the kind of

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