Anti-refillling device for the neck of a container, typically a bottle, and a composite stopper cap including said device

US20100018940A1Inactive Publication Date: 2010-01-28ALCAN PACKAGING CAPSULES
12 Cites 15 Cited by

Patent Information

Authority / Receiving Office
US · United States
Current Assignee / Owner
Publication Date
2010-01-28
Estimated Expiration
Not applicable · inactive patent

Smart Images

  • Figure 1
    Figure 1
  • Figure 2
    Figure 2
  • Figure 3
    Figure 3
Patent Text Reader

Abstract

An anti-refilling device, designed to be fixed irreversibly to the neck of a container containing a liquid and to be closed by a stopper cap. The device has an axis coinciding with the axis of the neck when it is fixed on the neck, and has an axial dispensing duct for the liquid through which a transverse wall extends, fixed irreversibly to the anti-refilling device and provided with a plurality of traversing channels, each of the channels connecting an external opening, directed towards the outside of the container, to an internal opening, directed towards the inside of the container. The smallest dimension of the external opening is less than a critical dimension determined according to the critical surface tension of the material making up the transverse wall, typically about 0.7 mm, and the smallest dimension of the internal opening is greater than the critical dimension.
Need to check novelty before this filing date? Find Prior Art

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The invention relates to the field of stopper caps, and more particularly that of anti-fraud stopper caps for the conditioning of liquid products of great value or great fame, typically in the field of wines, alcohols, liquors or spirits. In the following we will use the expression “anti-fraud” for the function of anti-refilling, preventing or indicating any fraudulent re-use of a container by filling with a liquid different from the original liquid. The term “tamper resistance” will be used for the “first opening indicator” function, in general performed by a strip or a skirt connected to the capsule by a line of breakable bridges, also known as a “weakening line”, which is detached when first opening.BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART

[0002] A great number of patents describing capsules providing an anti-fraud or anti-refilling function have already been disclosed.

[0003] The following may be quoted, as examples: French patents no 2 730 705, 2 406 578, 2 387 1 66, 2...

Examples

examples of embodiments

A. Transverse Wall (FIGS. 1a, 1b and 2; FIGS. 5 to 9, FIG. 3, FIGS. 10 and 11)

[0051]FIG. 1a illustrates the characteristics common to all the anti-refilling devices according to the invention: said device has an axis (10) which coincides with the axis of the neck (40) of the container when it is fixed to the latter. It has an is axial duct (39) for dispensing said liquid through which a transverse wall (6) passes, fixed irreversibly to said anti-refilling device (3) and provided with a plurality of traversing channels (63). Each traversing channel (63) connects an external opening (60) directed towards the outside of the container to an internal opening (61) directed towards the inside of the container. The smallest dimension of said external opening (60) is selected for it to remain lower than a critical dimension determined according to the critical surface tension of the material used to make said transverse wall. On the other hand, the smallest dimension of said internal opening...