Reclosable metal bottle

Abstract

Disclosed is an unique reclosable metal bottle in which a trim portion of the neck can be reused and mounted on the neck as a collar, or a separate collar provided, that has the structural rigidity necessary to form threads or lugs for recloseability. Thin wall metal bottles, having thicknesses on the order of thin wall metal cans currently in use, can be made using this process with minimal material waste since the trim neck portion is reused as a threaded collar. Structural rigidity and strength can be added by using fillers to backfill the indentations of the threads in the collar. Threads or lugs can be used, including pressure release lugs, that add both safety and convenience. Since the reclosable metal bottle is an all-metal container, the bottle can be recycled without introducing contaminants.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 715,052 entitled “Reclosable Metal Bottle” by Christopher J. Olson, filed Sep. 7, 2005, the entire contents of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference for all that it discloses and teaches.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] a. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention pertains generally to containers and more specifically to metal containers. [0004] b. Description of the Background [0005] Metal containers for containing beverages have been in existence for some time. One of the goals of the container industry has been to fabricate a reclosable metal bottle that is capable of withstanding the pressures that can be created by carbonated fluids in the metal bottle that can exceed 100 pounds per square inch. Attempts have been made to provide reclosable metal bottles that use threaded plastic outserts that are mounted ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] The present invention may further comprise a reclosable metal bottle comprising: a thin wall metal body portion; a neck portion that has been formed from the thin wall metal body portion; a collar trimmed from the neck portion and secured to an outside surface of the neck portion; threads formed in the collar; filler material that is backfilled into openings formed by the threads on the inside surface of the collar, the filler material providing strength and rigidity to the threads.

[0010] The present invention may further comprise a reclosable metal bottle comprising: a thin wall metal body portion; a neck portion that has been formed from the thin wall metal body portion; a metal collar that is secured to an outside surface of the neck portion; threads formed in the collar; filler material that is backfilled into openings formed by the threads on the inside surface of the collar, the filler material providing strength and rigidity to the threads.

Problems solved by technology

One of the problems associated with the use of plastic outserts is that contaminants from the plastic can be introduced during the burn off period when the metal bottles are melted for recycling purposes.

In addition, the plastic outserts can be expensive which raises the overall price of the container.

Also, impact extruding processes that are typically used to form metal containers can be expensive when forming a metal bottle because of the large number of necking stages that are required to neck the container into a bottle shape.

As such, the overall cost of making a metal bottle is high and requires a large capital investment.

Images