Wire Bottle Hood with Integrated Butterfly Clasp
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wire hoods for bottle corks are complex to produce, often result in non-uniform and aesthetically poor products, pose safety risks due to sharp edges, and lack customization and trackability, leading to issues with positioning, counterfeiting, and environmental pollution.
Innovation Solution
A wire hood design featuring a cap, hood, and belt with a butterfly clasp or plastic band that simplifies production, ensures precise positioning, and includes biodegradable materials, allowing for customization and anti-counterfeiting features like micro-cuts and embedded seals, and uses moulds for manufacturing, reducing production complexity and costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If traditional wire hoods are produced using complex multi-step machines, then the hood structure can be formed, but the production complexity increases and manufacturing precision decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the hood and belt into a single integrated wire structure, eliminating the need for separate production machines for each component. The wire is formed in one continuous process to create both the hood portion and the belt portion with their respective functions, thereby reducing production complexity while maintaining structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The wire hood is divided into distinct functional segments: the hood portion that covers the cork, the stem portion that engages with the bottle neck, and the belt portion that secures the assembly. This segmentation allows each part to be optimized for its specific function while being produced as a unified structure.
2Manufacturing precision
If the wire hood is positioned on the bottle cork, then the cork is secured, but the wire hood does not position straight with respect to the bottle axis due to interference from the tie
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the traditional separate tie component that caused positioning interference. Instead, the belt portion is integrated directly into the wire structure and positioned to engage with the bottle neck without interfering with the axial positioning of the hood on the cork.
Solution Approach 2:
The stem portion acts as an intermediary element that connects the hood and belt portions while ensuring proper positioning. The stem engages with the bottle neck and guides the entire assembly into correct axial alignment, preventing the positioning interference that occurred with separate tie components.
3Ease of manufacture
If the wire hood structure is simplified, then production costs decrease, but the ability to prevent counterfeiting and provide trackability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The wire hood can be produced in different colors and finishes, providing a visual identifier that is difficult to replicate. The integrated design allows for consistent color application throughout the structure, making counterfeiting more difficult while maintaining production efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The wire hood can incorporate embedded seals, micro-cuts, or other security features within the wire structure itself. These features are integrated into the manufacturing process rather than added separately, maintaining production cost efficiency while enhancing anti-counterfeiting capabilities.
4Strength
If metal wire is used for the entire wire hood, then structural strength is maintained, but safety risks increase due to sharp edges
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the wire edges through forming processes that create rounded or flattened edge profiles. The wire is shaped during manufacturing to eliminate sharp edges while maintaining the overall structural strength required for securing the cork and engaging with the bottle neck.
Data Source
Figure 1~5A
Figure 6~7C
Figure 8~11A
AI summary
This invention relates to a wire hood for bottle corks which features a cap (2), realised with metallic or plastic material, which features a configuration convex enough to couple with the upper part of a cork and is equipped with a micro-chip or a code with data and information relating to the bottle. The wire hood comprises a hood structure (3 ) constituted of an essentially circular upper part (30) from which four equidistant stems (3 1 ) run down, which are each equipped with an eyelet (32) inside which a belt (4) will run. The belt is realised employing diverse configurations and materials. One embodiment of the belt envisages that the said belt is not fastened with a rear tie, instead it is open and equipped, at each end, with a curl (40). The curls are designed to overlap one another and be mutually engaged, passing one over the other to fasten the belt and releasing them, thereby separating the two ends, to open it. A further type of belt is a single-use band made of plastic material.