Press-On Closure with Top Sealing Rib

Abstract

A closure for glass and polycarbonate bottles. The closure is the press-on and pull off type, i.e., it is unthreaded. The closure has a down-outwardly extending rib on the underside of the lid that forms a seal on the upwardly and outwardly facing surface of the neck of the bottle. The closure has a removable tamper indicating ring connected to the lower portion of the skirt of the closure by a reduced-thickness tear strip. In one embodiment, slits are formed in the tear strip to further increase the sensitivity of the tear strip to tampering. Between the slits, links in the tear strip act to hold the ring in connection with the lower portion of the skirt. The circumferential length of the slits is significantly greater than the circumferential length of the links, and the slit to link length ratio is preferably at least about 20 to 1, but may be increased or decreased depending upon the desired level of tamper evidencing required, and depending upon the amount of interference between the bead on the ring and the corresponding bulge on the bottle to which the closure is applied.

Description

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY[0001]The cap shown and described herein relates to closures for containers for beverages, such and milk, other dairy products and juice, and in particular to containers formed of glass and polycarbonate, as opposed to the more commonly used blow-molded containers made of HDPE (high density polyethylene).[0002]Caps typically used on glass and polycarbonate containers in the dairy and juice markets (such as ½ gallon bottles), have a plug that seals against the upper portion of the inside surface of the neck of the bottle. A secondary seal is also formed by an outer latch bead that presses against the underside of a bulge near the top of the container.[0003]Making a closure that is tamper-indicating and that is used on glass bottles (and similarly smooth plastic surfaces) is particularly challenging, because glass is very smooth and has a very low coefficient of friction. Closures applied to glass bottles tend to slide on and off the bottle neck with relative eas...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0003]Making a closure that is tamper-indicating and that is used on glass bottles (and similarly smooth plastic surfaces) is particularly challenging, because glass is very smooth and has a very low coefficient of friction. Closures applied to glass bottles tend to slide on and off the bottle neck with relative ease without any indication that the closure has been removed and re-installed. The ease with which plastic closures slide on and off very smooth bottle necks makes it difficult to design a reliable closure that shows evidence that a closure has been removed from such necks.

[0004]Many bottles made of glass and polycarbonate are intended to be returnable and re-useable, i.e., the bottlers retrieve the containers, clean them and re-fill them. The array of bottles in systems where bottles are returned and re-use

Problems solved by technology

Making a closure that is tamper-indicating and that is used on glass bottles (and similarly smooth plastic surfaces) is particularly challenging, because glass is very smooth and has a very low coefficient of friction.

The ease with which plastic closures slide on and off very smooth bottle necks makes it difficult to design a reliable closure that shows evidence that a closure has been removed from such necks.

The array of bottles in systems where bottles are returned and re-used is such that they may be made by different manufacturers or on different forming equipment, and are at least likely to have been made at different times. Furthermore, because the bottles may have been used a number of times, the condition of the surfaces relied upon for sealing and retention may be far less than ideal, and may vary significantly from bottle to bottle.

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