Stretched Glass Vial Neck Thread Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manufacture of drawn glass bottles with complex shapes or neck designs, such as those requiring external threads, is costly and prone to high scrap rates due to non-homogeneous glass softening and tooling inefficiencies, making it challenging to produce bottles with suitable necks for standard closure systems.
Innovation Solution
A drawn glass bottle design featuring a neck with an external thread and a ring having a central groove, allowing the entire bottle to be manufactured from a single glass blank without increasing external dimensions, which reduces the glass mass to be softened and minimizes temperature heterogeneity, thereby decreasing scrap rates and manufacturing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If drawn glass technique is used to manufacture bottles, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but the shape complexity is limited and cannot produce crafted necks with threads
Solution Approach 1:
The neck is divided into distinct functional zones: a thickened portion for thread formation and a thinner portion for the bottle body. This segmentation allows the thickened zone to be specifically shaped with threading tools while the rest of the bottle maintains the simple drawn glass cylindrical form, thus achieving complex neck features without complicating the overall manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The glass blank is locally thickened only at the neck region where threads are required, while the rest of the bottle body maintains uniform thin wall thickness. This localized modification of glass distribution enables thread formation in the thickened zone without affecting the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of the drawn glass process for the main bottle body.
2Ease of manufacture
If glass is thickened at one end by progressive crushing to form a neck mass, then external threading is possible, but temperature distribution becomes non-homogeneous leading to high scrap rates
Solution Approach 1:
The glass blank is pre-thickened at the neck end before the threading operation. This preliminary thickening creates a sufficient glass mass reservoir that can be uniformly heated and shaped without causing temperature heterogeneity during subsequent forming operations, thereby reducing scrap rates while enabling thread formation.
Solution Approach 2:
The glass is thickened beyond the minimum required amount at the neck end, creating an excessive mass that can be uniformly distributed during heating. This excess glass ensures homogeneous temperature distribution during the threading process, preventing defects and reducing scrap rates, while the final thread geometry is achieved by removing the excess material.
3Shape
If external forming tools are used on thickened glass to produce external relief, then crafted necks can be made, but 30-40% of bottles become non-compliant forming scrap
Solution Approach 1:
The glass blank is pre-thickened at the neck end before the external relief forming operation. This preliminary thickening ensures sufficient glass mass and uniform temperature distribution during the forming process, allowing external threading and relief features to be produced with high precision and minimal defects, thereby reducing the scrap rate from 30-40% to acceptable levels.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enables the production of bottles with reduced scrap rates and lower manufacturing costs while maintaining compatibility with conventional closure systems, ensuring effective sealing and ease of capsule separation without damaging the thread, thus improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the process.
Implementation Method 1
the softening of the glass must concern a large mass of the latter
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
The invention relates to a vial obtained by stretching that comprises a substantially cylindrical body (1) and a neck provided, from the locking ring (3), an outer thread (4) and a ring (5) having an outer diameter substantially equal to the diameter at the top of the thread (4), characterised in that the ring (5) includes a central groove (7).