Closure manufacturing

Abstract

Manufacturing tamper-evident container cap or closure, such as for example, a bottle cap, may involve molding or forming a container cap in such a way that allows for its secure attachment and safe detachment from a container. However, the process of molding container closures with outwardly extending projections or tabs, which can then be folded inwardly to achieve a secure lock, presents significant manufacturing challenges. A container closure described herein is manufactured to comprise tabs, which extend laterally outwardly from a rim of that container closure. This approach allows to further fold the tabs upwardly, medially, and downwardly, to facilitate secure attachment of a bottle cap to a container.

Description

CLOSURE MANUFACTURING

[0001] This application claims priority under 35USC§ 119(e) to US provisional patent application 63 / 511,873 filed July 4, 2023, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.Technical Field

[0002] The subject matter of the patent application is generally related to the field of manufacturing tamper-evident bottle / container caps or closures.Background

[0003] This section is intended to provide a background or context of the invention. The description herein includes concepts that could be pursued but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise specified herein, what is described in this section is not a prior art to the description in this application and is not admitted being prior art by inclusion in this section.

[0004] When it comes to the manufacturing of container closures, such as bottle caps, the process called injection molding is a common manufacturing technique. These processes offer high manufacturing precision of even complex structural designs, while also enabling a high-volume production. The injection molding process starts with the design of a mold, which is typically made from steel or aluminium. The molds used for injection molding typically consist of two main parts (i.e., the cavity part defining the exterior surface shape and the core part defining the interior surface shape), allowing to create a hollow space in the desired cap shape. The cavity and core parts of a mold are tightly clamped together by the injection molding machine to prevent their separation during the injection process. During this process, the molten material, such as, for example, thermoplastic provided by a homogeneous molten mass, which has reached a specific temperature and viscosity, is injected into a mold cavity under high pressure, to ensure that it takes the shape of a mold. After that, the molten material cools down and solidifies within the mold.

[0005] A technique, such as compression molding, may also be considered whenmanufacturing a bottle closure. The compression molding process is typically used for manufacturing large moderately curved structures. During this process, for example, a thermoplastic material is placed in between the two parts of a pre-heated mold (i.e. , a cavity mold), which may then press or squeeze that material allowing it to take the shape of that cavity. After, the mold is cooled, allowing the material within it to solidify, and the final structure is ejected from the mold. Comparing to injection molding, compression molding of a thermoplastic material may have a longer cycle time, which should be considered when it comes to manufacturing a high volume of small and intricate parts, such as bottle closures.

[0006] In any of the above-mentioned manufacturing processes, an ejected bottle closure may be passed for further examination to detect any structural imperfections, such as, for example, some excess material at the open boundary (i.e., the rim) of a bottle closure. In this case, a bottle closure may undergo additional trimming or polishing process to remove any excess material and achieve a specific shape.

[0007] The body of a tamper-evident bottle cap (or closure) typically has a cylindrical or dome shape. It may comprise: the top portion (or a top surface), which user may interact with to open a container; the bottom portion that typically includes a tamper-evident band and a liner for sealing that cap with the bottle neck; for screw- on type caps, feature threads on the inner surface of the bottle closure offering a secure and tight fit of that cap; a skirt that comprises grip -enhancing ridges and constitutes a part of the bottom portion of the bottle cap, offering a secure attachment of that bottle cap to the corresponding bottle neck. A bottle cap may be scored to allow further detachment of the top portion of a bottle closure from the bottom portion, and to obtain a tether, which may constitute a part of the tamper-evident band and allows the top portion of a bottle closure to remain attached to the bottom portion when that bottle is open.

[0008] Scoring of the cap is typically done after molding in a slitting machine, and it is widely used in the production of container caps. Such a process is known as die cutting, as it relies on the specializer cutting tools, i.e., a die, allowing accurately and efficiently achieve a desired cut. Some caps may also be manufactured with pre-designed scoring features during the molding process, which, in this case, requires mold to incorporate a scoring pattern. Also, a laser cutting process, where a laser beam is used to create the desired score lines with high precision, may also be used to score container caps.

[0009] For many containers, a tamper-evident band of a cap comprises inwardly facing projections or tabs allowing to fasten the bottom portion of a cap to a closure retaining protrusion in the lower part of a bottle neck (for instance, refer to the protrusion 4 and inwardly facing tabs 8 of a tamper-evident bottle cap with a tether 5 disclosed in the prior art reference US5725115A in Figures 1 and 2, and shown here in Figures 1A and IB, respectively). In other words, a tamper-evident band is a ring around a lower part of the neck of a container that breaks or separates from the top portion of a cap when that container is opened, e.g., when a cap is unscrewed or detached from a container for the first time. To produce a tamper-evident band, the bottom portion of a cap is scored (i.e., perforated) enabling it to break off from the upper portion of the neck of a container, in order to facilitate the opening of a container. In addition to providing a break-away top portion of a bottle cap, scoring is also known to provide a tether that offers a connection between a cap and a container, which prevents a cap from being separated or lost when a container is open. The attachment points of a tether are usually located on the cap’s inner side wall or cap’s skirt.

[0010] When manufacturing a tamper-evident bottle cap using the injection or compression molding, it is a challenging task to produce the inwardly facing tabs, as they generally require the core part of the injection mold to include moveable parts allowing to release the molded cap. In other words, the core part of the mold may comprise a mechanism allowing to reduce, for example, its diameter, in order for that core part to be ejected (e.g., unscrewed or removed) from the molded cap without breaking the inwardly facing tabs. Therefore, manufacturing a bottle cap with its tabs extending outwardly laterally or upwardly (i.e., vertically) from its bottom portion may be a better solution when it comes to the molding process. However, this creates another challenge of then folding such outwardly laterally or upwardlyextending tabs inward and downward, in such a way that they provide ridges for securely attaching a bottle cap to the bottle neck.Summary

[0011] The present disclosure provides novel and innovative solution for the above- mentioned needs in the art which will become apparent to those skilled in the art once given this disclosure.

[0012] When a tamper-evident container cap or closure is molded or formed in a way that its bottom portion does not include inwardly facing projections (for simplicity, further referred as tabs in the description), it is possible to manufacture a cap or closure with foldable tabs extending outwardly laterally or upwardly (i.e., extending vertically in upward direction) from the bottom portion of the cap or closure that, when folded around to be inside the bottom portion of a cap, will provide the inwardly facing tabs allowing for further secure attachment of that cap to the container. However, molding such a cap that includes tabs extending outwardly laterally or upwardly from cap’s bottom portion and transforming or folding these raw-molded cap tabs inward, in order to achieve a secure locking mechanism between a cap and a container, is a challenging task.Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013] The invention will be better understood by way of the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

[0014] Figure 1A is a perspective view of a tamper-evident cap known in the prior art (from US5725115).

[0015] Figure IB is a sectional view of the cap of Figure 1A.

[0016] Figures 2A is a perspective view of a tamper-evident bottle cap with its tabs extending laterally outward from the bottom portion of the bottle cap according to an embodiment.

[0017] Figure 2B is a sectional view of the cap of Figure 2A.

[0018] Figure 3 illustrates steps of a folding process of a bottle cap according to an embodiment in which there is shown an oblique view of the bottle cap with its tabsextending upwardly (see Step 1), a side view of the bottle cap being cut with a continuous motion slitter (see Step 2), a schematic oblique view of the bottle cap with its tabs being folded inward so, as the result, they extend medially (i.e., radially inward) from the bottom portion of the bottle cap toward the central axis of the bottle cap, i.e., imaginary center line, around which the bottle cap is symmetrically balanced (see Step 3), an oblique schematic view of the bottle cap with its tabs being folded downward (see Step 4).

[0019] Figure 4A is a schematic perspective view of a production machine comprising three turrets for folding laterally outwardly extending tabs to achieve a resulting cap shape shown in Figure 3 (see Step 4).

[0020] Figure 4B is a schematic perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the production machine comprising two turrets for folding laterally outwardly extending tabs to achieve a resulting cap shape shown in Figure 3 (see Step 4).

[0021] Figure 5A illustrates the first turret of the production machine shown in Figure 4.

[0022] Figures 5B and 5C illustrate a cross-sectional view of the first turret and the tool used to fold the tabs of the bottle cap upward with the tool withdrawn in Figure 5B and inserted in Figure 5C.

[0023] Figure 5D schematically illustrates the final cap shape achieved by the first turret, i.e., the cap with its tabs folded upward, as shown in Step 1 of Figure 3.

[0024] Figure 6A schematically illustrates the second turret of the production machine shown in Figure 4, which is used to gradually fold inward the upwardly extending tabs of the bottle cap, so they then extend medially toward the central axis of the bottle cap by rolling the cap against the knurled or folding segments in carousel fashion, with the bottle cap going through the folding process.

[0025] Figures 6B and 6C schematically illustrate a magnified views 60 and 62 of Figure 6A, wherein a bottle cap is at the beginning and at the end of the folding process, respectively.

[0026] Figure 6D schematically illustrates a magnified view of the second turret comprising a blade, which may be installed on the opposite side of the ribbing of theknurled and folding segment to provide a slitting station for the neighboring turret.

[0027] Figure 7A schematically illustrates the third turret of the production machine shown in Figure 4, which is used to fold medially extending tabs of the bottle cap downward.

[0028] Figure 7B schematically illustrates a magnified view 72 of Figure 7 A, where the bottle caps as shown if Step 3 of Figure 3 are passed to third turret 43 for further folding to achieve the bottle cap shape as shown in Step 4 of Figure 3.

[0029] Figure 7C schematically illustrates a magnified view 74 of Figure 7A, wherein the tabs of the bottle cap, which extend medially, are folded downward.

[0030] Figure 7D illustrates an alternative embodiment of the first turret and the second turret, wherein the first turret allows to fold the tabs upward (as shown in Step 2 of Figure 3), and the second turret allows to then fold the tabs progressively medially and then progressively downward (as shown in Step 4 of Figure 3).

[0031] Figure 7E schematically illustrates a magnified view 76 of the first turret illustrated in Figure 7D.

[0032] Figure 7F schematically illustrates a magnified view 78 of the second turret illustrated in Figure 7D.

[0033] Figure 8A illustrates an arbor press, i.e., a traditional folding tool, which in this case is used to fold the tabs of the bottle cap upward.

[0034] Figure 8B schematically illustrates a magnified cross-sectional view of the tool shown in Figure 8A used to push a bottle cap through the opening in the work area.

[0035] Figures 9A to 9D illustrate folding of the upwardly extending tabs of the bottle cap inward, so they are extending medially toward the central axis of the bottle cap, by rolling the cap against the knurled or folding segments in linear fashion, with the cap being at the beginning of the folding process in Figure 9 A and at the end of the folding process in Figure 9D.

[0036] Figure 10A is a side sectional view of a cap and folding apparatus prior to folding.

[0037] Figure 10B is a side section view of a cap and folding apparatus with thestripper pin engaged and the floor partly retracted.

[0038] Figure 10C is a side section view of a cap and folding apparatus with the tabs of the bottle cap being folded upwardly.

[0039] Figure 10D is a magnified view 100 of the side section view of a cap and folding apparatus shown in Figure 10C with the tabs of the bottle cap being folded upwardly.

[0040] Figure 10E is a side section view of a cap and folding apparatus with the folding tool raised and the folding sleeve lowered to provide a room for the slitting station.

[0041] Figure 10F is a side section view of a cap and folding apparatus with the cap ejected from the folding tool.

[0042] Figure 10G is a side section view of a cap and folding apparatus with the tabs of the bottle cap being folded downwardly.

[0043] Figure 11A is a perspective view of a bottle cap according to an embodiment.

[0044] Figure 11B illustrates a side view of the bottle cap attached to the bottle neck (depicted by thin segments), and the open bottle with the top portion of the bottle cap but still being attached to the bottom portion using a tether.

[0045] Figure 12A is a schematic side sectional view illustrating an embodiment for performing a first inward fold of the upwardly extending tabs of the bottle cap using a mandrel head with a concave cone-shaped opening.

[0046] Figure 12B is a schematic side sectional view illustrating an embodiment for performing a second inward fold of the upwardly extending tabs of the bottle cap using a mandrel head with a cone-shaped opening.

[0047] Figure 12C is a schematic side sectional view illustrating an embodiment for performing a third inward fold of the upwardly extending tabs of the bottle cap using a flat mandrel head.

[0048] Figure 12D is a schematic side sectional view illustrating an embodiment for performing a fourth fold of the tabs of the bottle cap using a convex cone-shaped mandrel head.

[0049] Figure 12E is a schematic side sectional view illustrating an embodimentfor performing a fifth fold of the tabs of the bottle cap using a convex cone-shaped mandrel head.

[0050] Figure 12F is a schematic side sectional view illustrating an embodiment for performing a sixth fold of the tabs of the bottle cap using a smaller diameter flat mandrel head.Detailed Description

[0051] To avoid repetition, the following description will refer to a bottle and a tamper-evident bottle cap, with the understanding that each instance may be understood to equally relate to any container and to any closure. While screw-on caps may be the most common container closures, the manufacturing methods described herein may be also applied, for example, to snap-on and press-and-turn caps as well. The manufacturing of a tamper-evident bottle cap, which may have upwardly or laterally extending tabs (such as the one shown in Figure 2A), may be achieved by but not limited to injection molding and compression molding techniques. As an example, the cap body described in this application has a cylindrical shape, however, it may not be limited to any shape or design. As well, the manufacturing methods for producing a bottle cap of a specific design that are described herein offer a possibility of using the same thermoplastic material (such as, for example polyethylene), which may be used to manufacture a bottle, as this further facilitates the recycling process.

[0052] Figures 1A and IB illustrate tamper-evident bottle cap 10, which is known in the prior art (see Figures 1 and 2 of US5725115A, respectively). Tabs 18, which inwardly extend from the bottom portion of bottle cap 10, allow for secure attachment of bottle cap 10 to closure retaining protrusion 14 in bottle neck 17. In this case, once bottle cap 10 has been unscrewed, tether 15 allows top portion 12 of the bottle cap to remain attached to bottom portion 13 of the bottle cap.

[0053] When a bottle cap comprises tabs that extend laterally outwardly (as shown in Figure 2A) or upwardly (as shown in Step 2 of Figure 3), it is a challenging task to fold or bend such tabs inward and further downward in such a way that will not damage or break the tabs and at the same time allow for future secure attachment of such tabs to the closure retaining protrusion in the bottle neck as, for example,illustrated in Figure 1A. Therefore, present description provides a method of manufacturing a tamper-evident bottle cap with inwardly facing tabs, starting from the point when those tabs extend laterally outwardly or upwardly from the bottom portion of a bottle cap.

[0054] As illustrated in Figure 2A, tamper-evident bottle cap 20 described herein may comprise top portion 21, which may include flat top surface 27. A user may interact with top portion 21 to open or close a bottle. Cap body 20 may further comprise bottom portion 22, which may allow for attaching that bottle cap to the bottle neck. The bottle cap may be scored along the path 29a, to allow separating top portion 21 from bottom portion 22. Additionally, bottle cap 20 may be scored along path 29b, to obtain tether 28 (see Figure 11B). Screw-on type caps may comprise feature threads 24 (see Figure 2B) on the inner surface of a cap (also shown by dashed segments in Figure 2B) offering a secure and tight fit of that cap onto the closure retaining protrusion 117 of the bottle neck (see Figure 11B). Tabs 25, which may extend laterally outwardly from bottom portion 22 of cap 20, may offers structural support and grip-enhancing ridges for further attachment of the cap to the closure retaining protrusion in lower part of the bottle neck (for instance, see protrusion 117 in Figure 11B). Tabs 25 may form flange 26, which may have an undulating shape. Bottom portion 22 may comprise interior sidewall 23a and exterior sidewall 23b, both of which may comprise a ribbing. Figure 2B illustrates a cross-sectional view of bottle cap 20.

[0055] Figure 3 shows the steps of folding laterally outwardly extending tabs 25, which enables a tamper-evident bottle cap to safely attach and lock onto the bottle neck. The shapes of a bottle cap, achieved at each step of the folding process are illustrated.

[0056] In Figure 3, at the first step bottle cap 20, which may be heated to a specific temperature to become pliable, and the tabs that extend laterally outwardly may be bent upward. At the second step, bottle cap 20 may be put through the slitting process that involves scoring a bottle cap along the path 29a and / or 29b (for example, to obtain a tether 28, as shown in Figure 11B, which may allow for top portion 21 of cap 20 toremain inseparable from bottom portion 22 of the cap when that cap no longer covers the bottle opening) with blades 30, allowing for further separation of top portion 21 of the cap from its bottom portion 22 (see Figure 2A). For the scoring process, different scoring patterns may be used to achieve different types of perforation. At the third step, bottle cap tabs 25 may be folded inward, so that they may extend medially (i.e., radially inward), or equivalently, in the direction perpendicular to the central axis of bottle cap 20 (i.e., the imaginary center line, around which the bottle cap is symmetrically balanced). As mentioned above, heat may be applied to ensure that the plastic material is folded in accordance with the mechanical forces applied so that the new shape holds. At the fourth and final step, bottle cap tabs 25 may be folded downward. Depending on the manufacturing process, which may further account for the future secure attachment of a bottle cap to the bottle neck, the forth step may be achieved by simply placing bottle cap 20 shown in Step 3 of Figure 3 on top of bottle opening 116 (see Figure 11B) and applying force to that bottle cap in such a way that tabs 25 may fold downward while sliding onto the bottle neck allowing to securely attach that bottle cap to closure retaining protrusion 117 on the bottle neck (for instance, see Figures 11A and 11B).

[0057] Additionally, tabs 25 may be pinched against interior sidewall 23a of bottle cap 20, using either a tool which may have smaller diameter than the diameter of an aperture of cap 20 but nonetheless may force tabs 25 to engage interior sidewall 23a, or heat ironing them to interior sidewall 23a, which may allow bottle cap tabs 25 to stay in place and after safely lock onto the closure retaining protrusion of the bottle neck. Since the purpose of the tabs is to remain engaged against closure retaining protrusion 117 of the bottle neck (see Figures 11A and 1 IB) the operation of pinching the tabs of the bottle cap to make the tabs assume a permanent position may be optional since the biasing of the tabs would be against the neck.

[0058] The above-mentioned manufacturing method may be implemented but not limited to using production machines and their various embodiments further provided in the description. It is appreciated that folding of the bottle cap tabs may be performed, for example, using turret (or carousel tab) folding machine or lineartab folding machine. It may also be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that any other folding techniques, mechanisms or an apparatus may be used to fold tabs 25 in such a manner, which may allow to prevent breaking tabs 25 while folding them and ensure further secure attachment of a bottle cap onto a bottle neck. Furthermore, it may be appreciated that each folding stage described herein may be achieved using one machine or multiple machines. It may also be appreciated that one machine may comprise a plurality of mechanisms allowing to achieve each folding stage of bottle cap tabs 25, i.e., starting from tabs 25 extending laterally outwardly (see Figure 2A) or upwardly (see Step 1 of Figure 3) and finishing with tabs 25 extending medially (see Step 3 of Figure 3) or downwardly (see Step 4 in Figure 3).

[0059] Figure 4A illustrates production machine 40, which may comprise a plurality of turrets 44, each of which may be equipped with a plurality of working heads (or mandrels) 45. In one embodiment, Figure 4 illustrates a production machine which may comprise three turrets 41, 42, 43, where bottle cap 20 is passed from one turret to another one in a specific order (in this example, bottle cap 20 may be passed to turret 41, then turret 42, and then turret 43) to achieve its resulting shape shown in Step 4 of Figure 3.

[0060] Figure 4B schematically illustrates an alternative embodiment of production machine 40, which may comprise two turrets, i.e., turret 42 and turret 43, allowing to fold tabs 25. Turret 42 may be used to fold laterally outwardly extending tabs 25 upward (as shown, for example, in Step 1 of Figure 3) and then fold upwardly extending tabs 25 inward (as shown in Step 3 of Figure 3). Turret 43 may then be used to fold inwardly facing tabs 25 downward (as shown in Step 4 of Figure 3). The folding mechanism provided by turret 42 may have the same principle as further illustrated in Figures 9A to 9D.

[0061] Figure 5A illustrates first turret 41 (see Figure 4A). In turret 41, bottle cap 20 may be fed into pocket 50 of a plurality of pockets that further may guide that cap to a cavity 51 of a plurality of cavities of turret 41. Then, mandrel 52 of a plurality of mandrels may push bottle cap 20 through an opening of cavity 51, which may force laterally outwardly extending tabs 25 of bottle cap 20 to bend upward. For that, abottle cap may be heated to a specific temperature, so that the material it has been made from (e.g., thermoplastic, such as polyethylene) becomes pliable and tabs 25 do not break when force is applied to bottle cap by mandrel 52.

[0062] Figure 5B illustrates a cross-sectional view of cavity 51 and mandrel 52. The cap may be stabilized against telescopic floor 54 using stripper pin 56. Telescopic floor 54 may follow the movement of mandrel 52, to provide stability to bottle cap 20. As shown in Figures 5B and 5C, telescopic floor 54 may lower, and bottle cap 20 may fall into cavity 51. The vertical downward movement of the mandrel 52 may continue until the mandrel contacts the interior part of the cap’s top surface 27 (see Figure 5C), which may force tabs 25 to bend upward, as illustrated in Figure 5D. Once the tabs of the cap have been folded upward, mandrel 52 and stripper pin 56 may retract, allowing further transferring of the cap to the second turret 42 (see Figure 4).

[0063] Alternatively, laterally outwardly extending tabs 25 of bottle cap 20 shown in Figure 2A may be folded upward using a mandrel (which may have a smaller diameter then the aperture of bottle cap 20) that may be placed inside the bottle cap and may engage interior sidewall 23a of bottle cap 20 providing traction to that mandrel. Then, mandrel 52 may be rotated and may force the bottle cap to rotate while being pressed along the elongated surface that may have a twisted or spiral shape allowing tabs 25 to progressively fold upward and preventing them from breaking.

[0064] As illustrated in Figure 6A, in second turret 42, bottle cap 20 may be placed onto telescopic floor 54 of a plurality of telescopic floors which pass through a cavity of the plurality of cavities of turret 42. Telescopic floor 54 may be lifted allowing the interior part of the cap’s top surface 27 to contact mandrel 52, which may have a smaller diameter then the aperture of bottle cap 20. Mandrel 52 may contact interior sidewall 23a of bottle cap 20, and then bottle cap 20 may be rolled in a carousel manner along first elongated surface 63 (see Figure 6B schematically illustrating a magnified view 60 of Figure 6A), which may have an arcuate shape and may further referred to as knurled segment, whereas the second elongated surface 64, which may also have an arcuate shape and may further referred to as folding segment, mayprogressively fold tabs 25 inward over edge 65 of the head of mandrel 52, with the bending angle starting at 0 degrees, i.e., when the tabs 25 extend upwardly, and gradually reaching 90 degrees, i.e., when the tabs 25 extend medially from the bottom portion of the bottle cap, i.e., towards the central axis of the bottle cap (see Figure 6C schematically illustrating a magnified view 62 of Figure 6A). It may be appreciated that the bending angle may not necessarily reach 90 degrees, as long as the next step of the manufacturing process may allow to further fold tabs 25 in a desired manner.

[0065] As shown in Figure 6B, edge 65 of the mandrel head 52 may play an important role in creating the crease in the right place of the tabs root. Knurled segment 63 may comprise ribbing 63a, which may engage with the ribbing of exterior sidewall 23b and improve traction between exterior sidewall 23b of the bottle cap and that knurled segment, to prevent bottle cap 20 from slipping while gradually folding the tabs inward. Folding segment 64 may be located on top of knurled segment 63, and it may slightly and increasingly protrude over that knurled segment. It may be appreciated that any other arrangement of knurled segment 63 and folding segment 64 may be possible, as long as such an arrangement allows to fold tabs 25 in a desired manner.

[0066] Figure 6C illustrated the result of the Step 3 (see Figure 3), where tabs 25 of the bottle cap have been folded in such a way that they now may extend medially from bottom portion 22 of bottle cap 20. In one embodiment, at least one blade 30 shown in Step 2 of Figure 3 may be installed at the end of any of the knurled or folding segments, or in between both segments, for scoring the cap and allowing for further separation of top portion 21 from bottom portion 22 of bottle cap 20, and / or in order to cut tether 28 (see Figure 11B). At the end of this process, bottle cap 20 may then be transferred to third turret 43 (see Figure 4).

[0067] Figure 6D schematically illustrates a magnified view of turret 42. The latter may further include blade 30, which may be installed at the opposite side of ribbing 63a of knurled segment 63 and folding segment 64, which may provide a slitting station for the neighboring turret.

[0068] In some embodiments, a processing apparatus for causing the folding of thetabs 25 may comprise a mechanism for rotating the cap 20 against and while moving relative to a tab engaging surface (e.g., an elongated spiraling or twisted surface 63) to cause the first and second folding steps. Such a processing apparatus can use a pocket or cavity wheel or can be linear. The rotation mechanism can be a mandrel that moves, or the cap can be rotated in place while the elongated surface can move with respect to the tabs. The tab engaging surface may also be a short flat surface that pivots while the cap turns to cause the tabs to undergo the first and second folds.

[0069] In third turret 43, which is illustrated in Figure 7A, bottle cap 20 may be placed inside cavity 51, and then tabs 25 of cap 20 may be folded downward using a traditional press tool 70 or any other suitable tool, so that the final shape of the bottle cap, which is illustrated in Step 4 of Figure 3, may be achieved (see Figure 7C, which schematically depicts a magnified view 72 of Figure 7 A).

[0070] Figure 7B schematically illustrates a magnified view 74 of Figure 7 A, where the bottle caps as shown if Step 3 of Figure 3 may be passed to third turret 43 for further folding to achieve the bottle cap shape as shown in Step 4 of Figure 3.

[0071] In an alternative embodiment of the above-described production mechanism, additional turrets may be integrated into production machine 40 (see Figure 4) or a separate machine may be used to insert a sealing liner into the cap.

[0072] Coming back to Figure 4B, in another alternative embodiment, if bottle cap 20 may be manufactured or pre-folded in such a way that its tabs 25 extend upwardly, only two turrets, namely turret 42 (i.e., a main turret) and turret 43 (i.e., a folding turret) may be used to achieve the bottle cap shape as provided in Step 4 of Figure 3.

[0073] In an alternative embodiment shown in Figure 7D, tabs 25, which may extend laterally outwardly, may be folded to extend upwardly using the main turret (see Figure 7E schematically depicting a magnified view 76 of the first turret shown in Figure 7D), and then be passed to the folding turret to be progressively folded medially and then directly folded downward (see Figure 7F schematically depicting a magnified view 78 of the second turret shown in Figure 7D depicting tabs folded medially).

[0074] As an illustration of the manufacturing process, the first step may berepresented by a manual arbor press 80 shown in Figure 8A which may be used to fold or bend cap tabs 25 upward (see Step 1 of Figure 3). To achieve this, bottle cap 20 may be placed into work area 81 of the arbor press, which may comprise cavity 84, and then bottle cap 20 may be forced by mandrel 83 of the arbor press mechanism through an opening of cavity 84 (see Figure 8B schematically showing a magnified view 82 of Figure 8A). The cap with its tabs folded upward may then be transferred to a programmable or CNC (Computer Numerical Control) milling machine, which may be used to progressively fold the tabs inward, so that they may extend medially from the bottom portion of the bottle cap.

[0075] In Figure 9A, the milling’s spindle (not shown) may drive mandrel 52, which may have a smaller diameter than the aperture of bottle cap 20, in linear manner, while the cap travels along knurled segment 92, which may have a linear shape and may also comprise ribbing 63a to engage exterior sidewall 23b of bottle cap 20, while providing better traction between the bottle cap and knurled segment and helping mandrel 52 to drive the cap as it rotates against folding segment 93, which may progressively push the tabs inward allowing them to fold, with the bending angle starting at 0 degrees, i.e., when tabs 25 extend laterally outwardly, and gradually reaching 180 degrees, i.e., when tabs 25 extend medially from the bottom portion of bottle cap 20. In one embodiment, folding segment 93 may be located on top of knurled segment 92, and folding segment 93 may slightly and increasingly protrude over knurled segment 92 in such a way that allows gradually folding the tabs of a cap upward and then inward. It may be appreciated that the bending angle may not necessarily reach 180 degrees, as long as the next step of the folding process may allow to bend tabs 25 downward, ensuring future secure attachment of the bottle cap onto the bottle neck. It may also be appreciated that any other arrangement of knurled segment 92 and folding segment 93 may be possible, as long as such an arrangement allows to fold tabs 25 in a desired manner.

[0076] In Figure 9B, edge 65 (also see Figure 9D) of the head of mandrel 52 may play an important role in creating the crease in the right place of the root of tabs 25. Additionally, at least one blade 30 shown in Step 2 of Figure 3 may be installed atthe end of any of the knurled or folding segments, or in between both segments, for scoring the cap to allow further separation of the top portion of the cap from the bottom portion of the cap, or / and in order to cut a tether. Figures 9B, 9C and 9D schematically illustrate the folding of tabs 25 of bottle cap 20 in order to achieve a bottle cap shape as shown in Step 3 of Figure 3, wherein Figure 9B illustrates bottle cap 20 at the beginning of the folding process, Figure 9C illustrates bottle cap 20 at Step 2 (see Figure 3) of the folding process, and Figure 9D illustrates bottle cap 20 at the end of the folding process. At the last step (i.e. , see Step 4 in Figure 3), the tabs of the cap may be folded inward using a traditional folding tool, such as arbor press 80 shown in Figure 8A.

[0077] Mandrel 52 associated with the main turret 41 and illustrated in Figure 10A may comprise stripper pin 56, folding tool 104, and internal tool 105. The head of mandrel 52 may have a smaller diameter than the aperture of bottle cap 20. Telescopic floor 54 and folding sleeve 102 may be located in each cavity of main turret 41. As shown in Figure 10B, after transferring bottle cap 20 to first turret 41, stripper pin 56 may be lowered to stabilize bottle cap 20, and then folding sleeve 102 may be raised to contact tabs 25 of bottle cap 20, i.e., to locate bottle cap 20 (see Figure 10C). As further illustrated Figure 10D, illustrating the magnified view 100 of Figure 10C, to fold tabs 25 of bottle cap 20 upward and achieve the cap’s shape shown in Step 1 of Figure 3, stripper pin 56, as well as folding sleeve 102 and telescopic floor 54, may be raised to fold the tabs of the cap over folding tool 104. After, as illustrated in Figure 10E, folding tool 104 may be raised and folding sleeve 102 may be lowered to provide a room for the slitting station 106, which may comprise the under-blade segment 107, which may further incorporate knurls contacting exterior sidewall 23b of bottle cap 20, and over-blade segment 108. In this case, bottle cap 20 may be pinched between internal tool 105 and blades 107 and 108. Then, bottle cap 20 may be rotated by the gear attached to mandrel 52 along the knurls of blade 107. Tabs 25 may be folded inward by over-blade tool 108 over shoulder 109 of internal tool 105, so that they extend medially from the bottom portion of bottle cap 20 (see Step 3 of Figure 3). Additionally, bottle cap 20 may be scored along path 29a, to allow further separationthe top portion of a cap from its bottom portion, and also along path 29b, in order to obtain tether 28 (for instance, see Figures 2A and 11B). Then, bottle cap 20 may be ejected from the internal tool 105 as illustrated in Figure 10F.

[0078] After tabs 25 have been folded to extend medially from the bottom portion of a cap, bottle cap 20 may be transferred to the folding turret shown in Figure 10G. Folding turret 42 may comprise spring-loaded sleeve 111 and plunger 112. Bottle cap 20 may be located and constrained by spring-loaded sleeve 111, and tabs 25 of bottle cap may be inverted by plunger 112 in a downward motion to achieve the shape of the cap shown in Step 4 of Figure 3. When plunger 112 is retracted from bottle cap 20 in the upward motion, spring-loaded sleeve 111 may further maintain the cap against the dial surface 113 of folding turret 42 to prevent any structural damage of bottle cap 20.

[0079] In an alternative embodiment, instead of upper tool 83 of arbor press 80 shown in Figure 8A or instead of plunger 112 of folding turret 42 shown in Figure 10G, it may be possible to use, for example, a plurality of mandrels each comprising a head having a cone-shaped cavity 121 (for instance, see Figures 12A and 12B), where the circumference of a cone may have a diameter larger than the diameter of the bottle cap, or a pointy cone shape 122 (for instance, see Figures 12D and 12E), where the circumference of a cone may also have a diameter larger than the diameter of the bottle cap.

[0080] For each mandrel head 121 having cone-shaped cavity, the slant height of a cone (i.e., the distance from the apex to any point on the circumference of a cone) may decrease starting from a large value, i.e., when the cone apex angle is acute (see Figure 12A), to a smaller value, i.e., when the cone apex angle is obtuse (see, for instance, Figure 12B). Such mandrel heads with decreasing cone apex angle may then be used to progressively fold tabs 25, so they may extend medially. As shown in Figure 120, mandrel with a cylindrically shaped head 123a (here, for example, illustrated having a diameter larger than the aperture of the bottle cap, but may also have a smaller diameter that the aperture of the bottle cap as long as mandrel head 123a contacts tabs 25) may be used to complete the folding of tabs 25 medially to achievethe cap’s shape shown in Step 3 of Figure 3.

[0081] For each mandrel head 122 having a pointy cone shape (further referred simply as a cone-shaped mandrel head), the slant height of a cone may increase starting from a small value, i.e., when the cone apex angle is obtuse (see Figure 12D), to a larger value, i.e., when the cone apex angle is acute (see, for instance, Figure 12E). Such mandrel heads may be used to progressively fold tabs 25 downward while, for example, pushing bottle cap 20 through an opening of a cavity of a turret (e.g., cavity 51 shown in Figure 5C). As shown in Figure 12F, a mandrel with a cylindrically shaped head 123b, which has a smaller diameter than the aperture of the bottle cap (as long as mandrel head 123b contacts tabs 25), may be used to complete the folding of tabs 25 downward to achieve the resulting cap’s shape shown in Step 4 of Figure 3.

[0082] In an alternative embodiment, a mandrel head 122 having a cone-shaped cavity with an obtuse cone apex angle may be used to slightly fold cap tabs 25 inward (as shown in Figure 12A), and then a mandrel head 123b, which may have a cylindrical shape with a smaller diameter that the aperture of the bottle cap (see Figure 12F) may be used to fold tabs 25 downward (as shown in Step 4 of Figure 3). Alternatively, cone-shaped mandrel heads with increasing cone apex angle (such as those shown in Figures 12D and 12F) may be employed to progressively fold tabs 25 downward.

[0083] Alternatively, bottle cap 20 with its tabs being slightly folded inward (for example, see Figure 12A) may be forced onto the opening of a bottle neck and safely lock onto a bottle neck protrusion 117 (see Figures 11A and 11B). This may be done as part of the capping process of a filled container.

[0084] It may be understood by a person skilled in the art that the spatial orientation provided herein, such as “top and bottom portion of the bottle cap” and bottle cap tabs being folded “upwardly” and “downwardly”, were chosen arbitrarily for the current description and may change depending on the manufacturing process.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing a container closure for a container having a neck and a closure retaining protrusion on the neck, the method comprising: providing a container closure comprising tabs extending laterally outwardly from a rim of said container closure forming a skirt of said container closure; first folding, wherein said laterally extending tabs of the container closure are folded upward; second folding, wherein the upward extending tabs of said container closure are folded inward allowing them to extend medially from said bottom of the container closure; and scoring said container closure to allow a top portion of the container closure to separate from a bottom portion by breaking an interconnection between said top portion and said bottom portion; wherein said tabs of said container closure, in use, can serve to engage a closure retaining protrusion of a neck of a container so that said bottom portion remains attached to said neck, and so that separation of said top portion from said bottom portion of said container closure provides tamper evidence of a first opening of said container closure on the container.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising scoring of said container closure to obtain a tether connecting said top portion to said bottom portion.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein said container closure is heated to a temperature to become pliable.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said first folding is performed by forcing the container closure through an opening using at least one of a plurality of mandrels.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said forcing the container closure through an opening is performed using a turret machine in which container closures are fed into cavities of a turret having plungers actuated to push the container closures through the cavities.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said first folding is performed by inserting a mandrel into the container closure to cause the container closure to move along and press against a wall and rotate, said wall having a first elongated surface twisted to engage said tabs to cause said first folding.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said wall further has a second elongated surface for pressing said tabs to cause said second folding.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said mandrel has a diameter that is smaller than an aperture of said container closure with said tabs following said second folding, allowing to safely disengage said mandrel from said container closure at the end of said second folding.

9. The method of claim 6, 7 or 8, wherein said mandrel comprises a plurality of mandrels arranged in a turret machine in which container closures are fed into cavities of a turret, said wall being arcuate.

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said second folding is performed by inserting a mandrel into the container closure to cause the container closure to move along and press against a wall and rotate, said wall having a second elongated surface for pressing said tabs to cause said second folding.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said mandrel comprises a plurality of mandrels arranged in a turret machine in which container closures are fed into cavities of a turret, said wall being arcuate.

12. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said second folding is performed by pressing a cone-shaped member onto said tabs to bend them medially.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said second folding is performed using a turret machine in which container closures are fed into cavities of a turret, said cone-shaped member comprising a number of cone-shaped members actuated to press against said tabs of the container closures in said pockets during rotation of said turret.

14. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising performing a third folding of said tabs to extend in a direction of a top portion of said container closure.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising pinching said downward folded container closure tabs in such a way that they engage an interior sidewall surface ofsaid container closure.

16. The method of claim 14 or 15, wherein said third folding comprises pressing a plunger into said container closure.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said third folding is performed using a turret machine in which container closures are fed into pockets of a turret, said plunger comprising a number of plungers actuated to press against said tabs of the container closures in said cavities during rotation of said turret.

18. A method of manufacturing a filled container product comprising: providing a container having a neck and a closure retaining protrusion on the neck; manufacturing a container closure according to any one of claims 1 to 13; filling the container; applying the container closure to the container by which said tabs of the container closure undergo a third folding to extend in a direction of a top portion of said container closure.

Images