Closure system for bottles comprising a stopper and a sealing element

Abstract

The present invention relates to a closure system for a bottle designed for commercial bottling of a beverage or liquid food, preferably a wine bottle. The closure system comprising a stopper having a stopper part for introduction into a mouth of the bottle and a head part for remaining outside of the mouth, the head part having a diameter which is larger than that of the stopper part. The closure system also comprises a sealing element which is separate from the bottle and from the stopper. The closure system is configured such that the sealing element is forced against the inner wall of a mouth of the bottle, upon introduction of the stopper into the mouth, bringing the closure system into a locked state, and the stopper part comprises interlocking means to engage with counterpart interlocking means on the sealing element. The said interlocking means are configured to permit bringing the closure system into an unlocked state by an action which comprises rotating the stopper with respect to the bottle. The stopper part of the stopper also comprises a holding means configured to form an interlocking connection with counterpart holding means of the sealing element, to hold the stopper in a secured position with respect to the sealing element when the closure system is in a preassembled state.The present invention also describes a method of preassembling the closure system for a bottle and a method of closing a bottle using the preassembled closure system.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The invention relates to a closure system for a bottle, preferably a beverage bottle, like a wine bottle, and a stopper and sealing element for sealing the stopper for a bottle. The invention further relates to a method of sealing a bottle.BACKGROUND[0002]A sealable bottle is known from European patents EP 1 451 081 B1 and EP 1 456 092 B1. A bottle disclosed in these patents comprises a stopper which is made of glass and can be inserted into the bottle opening. The bottle further comprises a fixing element that is attached to the bottle body in a detachable manner and retains the stopper inserted in the bottle opening in place. However, such a bottle presents several drawbacks. It is expensive since the fixing element needs to be attached to the bottle body. It is not reusable since once the detachable fixing element is removed it cannot generally be reattached. Therefore, proper sealing cannot be achieved any longer once the bottle has been opened. As a ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text describes how a bottle is designed to prevent liquid from leaking out. This is accomplished by using a sealing element that is fully expanded only after it is fully inserted into the mouth of the bottle. This makes it easier to insert the sealing element, ensuring the bottle is properly sealed.

Problems solved by technology

However, such a bottle presents several drawbacks.

It is expensive since the fixing element needs to be attached to the bottle body.

It is not reusable since once the detachable fixing element is removed it cannot generally be reattached.

Therefore, proper sealing cannot be achieved any longer once the bottle has been opened.

As a consequence, it cannot be stored any more, e.g., in horizontal position.

The closure systems disclosed in EP 1 451 081 B1 and EP 1456 092 B1 present another drawback, when used in the wine industry for closing a wine bottle.

Indeed, since the closure systems cannot cope with the manufacturing tolerances of ordinary wine bottles, these closure systems require a specific wine bottle, the mouth of which is specifically adapted to the shape and dimensions of the stopper.

Therefore, wine producers wishing to adopt such a closure system for sealing their wine bottles instead of corks made of natural or synthetic cork will be forced to change their bottling processes and adapt them to these specific bottles, which are more expensive than standard bottles and are also only available from a few glass bottle manufacturers.

The need for two steps makes bottling expensive.

Further, the user needs to rotate the stopper over several turns before completely unscrewing the stopper, which makes the opening process cumbersome.

Therefore, the user sometimes mistakes the stopper to be made of more robust material than glass which leads to the breaking of the stopper due to misuse.

Furthermore, the design of the stopper requires that its bottom part is relatively thin, which makes it breakable if the stopper is realized in glass.

This makes it difficult to provide a tight seal because liquid may go into the windings of the screw thread.

It also causes the problem of providing a balance between a tighter sealing between the stopper and the sealing element and reduced friction between the interlocking means.

That is, if a tighter seal is provided, it causes additional friction in the interlocking means making it difficult to rotate the stopper for unlocking.

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