A cap for a jar or tin

Abstract

A wad 20 for fitting to the mouth of a container having an adhesive layer that adheres the wad to a rim of the container, the wad has at least one shaped hole formed on it. The wad may have openings of different sizes with a larger first opening (40 fig 2) and a plurality of smaller second openings (42 fig 2). The plurality of second openings may be substantially circular and of the same size and shape. The area of the larger first opening may exceed the combined area of the smaller second openings. The smaller second openings may be circular and have a diameter less than 25% the diameter of the mouth of the container. The larger first opening may have a circular, disc or segment shape. The wad may have a heat sealant or pressure sensitive glue coated on at least a portion of one of its surfaces. A removeable cap (50 fig 4) may contain the wad and have a means of retaining it prior to adhering it to the container. The means of retaining the wad may comprise one or more protrusions, beads or ridges on the inside of the wall of the cap.

Description

18 01 24 Field This invention relates to a cap for a container, more particularly but not exclusively, to a cap for a food container, such as a jar or tin. Background Food containers, especially jars that contain dried herbs and spices, often have a screw cap in order to ensure jars remain airtight and so prolong the shelf life of their contents. This is important for retailers such as supermarkets. However, some food suppliers also wish to sell their herbs and spices with a so-called flapper cap. A flapper cap is a cap with a cap body that is attached to the cap and has a hinged element which flaps open to reveal an opening, such as dispensing mesh, which allows the contents to be sprinkled in a controlled way. The flapper cap is usually formed from synthetic plastics material and relies on the flexibility of its constituent material to form a hinge joint. The hinge joint allows the flapper to be opened and reclosed. The flapper cap may have an edge or raised pip which acts as a detent which deforms resiliently to enable the flapper to clip the cap shut and prevent spillage of the contents of the jar. A problem has been that flapper caps cannot be easily and cheaply replicated in metal as continual bending of a metal hinge will be weakened and lead to failure. Despite increasing legislative pressures in many countries to adopt more sustainable use of recyclable materials and ‘environmentally friendly’ manufacturing processes, because of the advantages of existing synthetic plastic flapper caps, there has been very little effort to develop an equivalent to the synthetic plastic flapper caps. Therefore, food manufacturers and suppliers requiring the functional features of synthetic plastic flapper caps have little option other than continue to use these types of synthetic plastics flapper caps which generally are not easily recyclable. Attempts have been made to use a separate metal insert which fits in the opening of a container. These metal inserts have punched holes to enable the contents to be sprinkled in a controlled way in order to emulate the functionality of a flapper cap. However, disadvantages of these formed pierced metal pieces are that two metal parts 18 01 24 have to be manufactured and have to be fitted to the container. Therefore, what at first sight appears relatively trivial and cheap in fact has required an additional process step during filling of the container and therefore has entailed substantial modifications to existing production and food container filling lines and the cost of an additional metal formed component. An aim of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned problems. Another aim of the present invention is to provide a wad which can be used in a container to achieve a similar result as existing flapper caps. Summary of the Invention According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a removable cap which includes a wad for fitting to a mouth of a container, the wad has an adhesive layer which adheres the wad to a rim of the container, a second liner is retained in the cap to provide long term sealing in use and is separable from the wad when the removable cap is first unscrewed to reveal at least one shaped opening formed in the wad; and a means retains the wad in the cap prior to adhering the wad to the mouth of a container, wherein the wad has at least one shaped opening formed therein. In some embodiments the wad is circular in shape and is shaped and dimensioned to be received on a cylindrical container, such as a tin or glass jar. The invention ideally uses a sealing type wad, or wadding material, which seals around an opening of the container. Bonding is achieved with the sealing type wad or wadding material for example by induction heat sealing or using a glue that reacts under pressure when a cap is fitted to the container. In some embodiments the wad or wadding material, (hereinafter wad) has openings of different sizes. For example, the openings may comprise at least one larger first opening and a plurality of smaller second openings. The second openings are of the same size and optionally of the same shape. Preferably the plurality of second openings is substantially circular. In some embodiments the area of the larger first opening exceeds the combined area of the smaller second openings. 18 01 24 Preferably the combined area of the second openings is less than 20%, preferably less than 15%, and more preferably less than 10% of the area of the larger first opening. In some embodiments the smaller second openings are circular and have diameter which is preferably less than 25% of the diameter of the mouth of the container, more preferably less than 10% of the diameter of the mouth of the container and most preferably less than 5% of the diameter of the mouth of the container. Preferably the larger first opening is in the shape of a circular segment, disc segment or is crescent shaped. Ideally the wad has an induction heat sealant or pressure sensitive glue coated on at least a portion of one of its surfaces, preferably around an outer periphery thereof. Although the wad may be supplied as pre-cut discs or on a roll, optionally the removable cap used to close the container may include the wad by way of a retaining means which may be for example one or more protrusions, beads or ridges on an inside wall of the removable cap. The removable cap, which may be metallic and may optionally also be fitted with a second liner to provide long term sealing in use by the consumer. The second liner is separable when the removable cap is first unscrewed to reveal the at least one shaped opening formed therein which ideally functions as a sprinkle mesh sealed to the top of the container. Advantages of the invention are that it enables a conventional threaded metal cap to be used and thus no modification of existing production and food container filling lines is required. Another advantage is that the consumer has the option to retain the wad, which provides a sprinkler or to remove it, by peeling off the wad to reveal a spoonable container, with a wide mouth opening, as is currently available. Another advantage is that the producer may use the layout, size, shape or configuration of either the smaller openings or the larger opening, for branding purposes, or for displaying a logo, or for indicating other visual information which may relate to the type or nature of the contents of the container. 18 01 24 The invention will now be described, by way of examples only, and with reference to the following Figures in which: Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 shows an overall view of a wad according to one example of the invention, before it is fitted to a container (jar); Figure 2 shows an overall view of the jar with the wad sealed onto its open end (mouth); Figure 3 shows an overall view of the jar, with the wad heat sealed thereto, and with a cap for placement on the jar; and Figure 4 shows an overall view of the jar with the wad heat sealed thereto and with a cap, shown in part-sectional view, fitted to the jar and with a seal created between a top edge of the mouth of the jar and an underside rim portion of the wad. Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiment of the Invention Figure 1 shows an example of a container (jar) 10 before being fitted with a wad 20 onto an opening (mouth) 30 at the top of the jar 10. The jar is glass and is open ended with a circular rim 32 defining its mouth 30 and has a threaded part 35 for receiving a threaded cap 50. However, in other examples, container the jar or rim may have a different shape and the jar may be made of different materials such as metal or a synthetic plastics material. Figure 1 shows a view of the wad 20 before it is fitted to the jar 10. Figure 2 shows an overall view of the jar 10 with the wad 20 sealed around its periphery onto rim 32. The wad 20 has a shape which generally conforms to the shape of the open end 30 of the container 10 and has a plurality of cut-outs or openings formed therein. In preferred embodiments there is at least one larger first opening 40 and a plurality of smaller second openings 42A, 42B, 42C, etc. These smaller second openings are shown as circular cut outs or perforations, although they may take a variety of forms such as slots or be oval in shape. The at least one (main) larger opening or cut-out 40 is preferably generally segment shaped, such as a circular segment, crescent or a 18 01 24 disc segment, or may take the form of a brand or logo or visual representation of the contents of the container. Outer edge of the at least one larger or main opening or cut-out 40 has a generally circular shaped edge to conform with an external circumference of the jar 10; and a portion of its inner edge 43 is straight or has less curvature that its circular edge 44. The smaller openings 42A, 42B, 42C, etc individually have an area which is less than 15%, more preferably less than 10% and most preferably less than 5% of the area of the larger first opening or cut-out 40. The diameters of the smaller of smaller second openings 42A, 42B, 42C, etc are preferably less than 20% of the size of the radial width of the larger first opening or cut-out 40; preferably the diameters are less than 10% and preferably less than 5% of the radial width of the larger first opening or cut-out 40. Referring to Figure 3, there is shown a view of the jar 10, with the wad 20 heat or pressure sealed thereto. Cap 50 is shown ready for screwing onto the thread 35 of the jar 10. Figure 3 shows that once the wad 20 is heat or pressure sealed onto the top of the jar 10m sealing its contents (not shown) therein, the cap may be placed on the jar 10. Optionally when this occurs, the cap may be used to seal the wad 20 around the rim 32 of the jar 10 by way of a compression seal. This process may be performed with the wad 20 retained in the cap 50 prior to the heat or pressure sealing. The cap 50 may include means to temporarily retain the wad prior to it being deployed to seal the jar and after said cap is removed. The invention therefore permits either heat and compression adhesion of the wad 20 to the jar and enables the cap 50 to be press fitted to the jar 10 or to be screwed onto the jar 10 when fitted with a corresponding external thread on its top portion. Ideally the wad 20 has a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive or heat activated glue, (not shown) applied in the form of a ring to an underside of its periphery. Established pressure or heat sealing processes may then be used to seal the wad 20 onto the jar 10 after its contents have been added. Specifically, the wad 20 is sealed to the circumference of the container by existing process machinery. Figure 3 shows the jar 10 with the wad 20 sealed onto its open end 30. The larger opening orifice 40 is for dispensing larger amount of the contents of the jar when filled 18 01 24 and the smaller second openings 42A, 42B, 42C, etc can be used so as to sprinkle smaller amounts of contents from the container. As the wad 20is adhered around its edge, it can also be removed by the consumer so that the contents of the jar 10 can be emptied in one shot for transfer, or so as to access to the jar with a spatula or spoon in order to spoon the contents. For clarity the contents of the container are not shown in the Figures. Figure 4 shows the container with the cap 50 fitted to it; that is to say once the cap 50 is pressed on or screwed down / torqued down to the jar 10 to create a sealed edge between the top of the container 10 and an underside rim of the wad 20 by sandwiching the wad 20 against an inner surface of the underside of the cap 50. It should be noted that the portion of the cap 50 is shown for illustration purposes and is shown as a schematic representation, as a part-sectional view, fitted to the jar 10 and with a seal created between a top edge of the mouth of the jar and an underside rim portion of the wad 20. Optionally wad 20 preferably comprises two layers, a top layer which may be card or cardboard and a bottom layer that may be foil, such as a metal foil or a polymer foil. When the jar 10 is opened the top and bottom layers can separate; with the upper cardboard layer being retained within the cap, and the foil portion of the wad still forming a seal on the container to seal the contents, as will be described hereinafter. Reference herein to the term ‘size’, unless indicated otherwise should be interpreted as area of an opening. The term ‘sealed’ in relation to the wad being sealed to the container or receptacle, unless otherwise indicated, should be understood as forming a seal at the, or with the circumference of the open end of the container or receptacle and that such a seal may be temporary, for example if a user choses to remove the wad. It will be appreciated that variation to the aforementioned embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of protection as defined by the claims.

Claims

08 12 231. A removable cap includes a wad for fitting to a mouth of a container, the wad has an adhesive layer which adheres the wad to a rim of the container and a means retains the wad in the cap prior to adhering the wad to the mouth of a container, wherein the wad has at least one shaped opening formed therein.

2. A removable cap according to claim 1 wherein the wad has openings of different sizes.

3. A removable cap according to claim 2 wherein the shaped opening comprises at least one larger first opening and a plurality of smaller second openings.

4. A removable cap according to claim 3 wherein the plurality of second openings is of the same size.

5. A removable cap according to claim 3 wherein the plurality of second openings is of the same shape.

6. A removable cap according to claim 5 wherein each of the second openings is substantially circular.

7. A removable cap according to any of claims 3 to 6 wherein the area of the larger first opening exceeds the combined area of the smaller second openings.

8. A removable cap according to claim 7 wherein the combined area of the second openings is less than 20%, preferably less than 15%, and more preferably less than 10% of the area of the larger first opening.

9. A removable cap according to any of claims 3 to 8 wherein the smaller second openings are circular and have diameter which is preferably less than 25% of the diameter of the mouth of the container, more preferably less than 10% of the diameter08 12 23of the mouth of the container and most preferably less than 5% of the diameter of the mouth of the container.

10. A removable cap according to any of claims 3 to 9 wherein the larger first opening is in the shape of a circular segment, disc segment or crescent shaped.

11. A removable cap according to any of claims 3 to 10 wherein one or more openings is shaped or are arranged in the form of a brand or logo or to represent the contents of the container.

12. A removable cap according to any preceding claim wherein the wad has a heat sealant or pressure sensitive glue coated on at least a portion of one of its surfaces.

13. A removable cap according to any preceding claim wherein the wad is circular.

14. A removable cap according to any preceding claim wherein the means to retain the wad comprises one or more protrusions, beads or ridges on an inside wall of the cap.

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