EP1254059B1 - Closure cap for standard glass ring - Google Patents

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of capsules and more particularly to screw closure capsules for closing containers or bottles whose glass ring has a thread.
These bottles are typically bottles of aperitifs, liqueurs, alcohols, alcoholic beverages, whose consumption is typically staggered, which requires the ability to close and open, possibly a large number of times said bottles.
These capsules most often include a tape tamper or guarantee.

STATE OF THE ART

We already know a lot of caps.
Some of these capsules are made of plastic, as described in European Patent No. 0107 680 to the applicant, and typically for the capping of water bottles of plastic.
Others are metallic, as described in the French patent application No. FR-A-2 763 046 in the name of the applicant, and typically for the capping of bottles of alcohols, aperitifs and spirits. These capsules include a threaded plastic insert. The preamble of claim 1 is based on this state of the art.

PROBLEMS POSED

The screw closure capsules for capping appetizers, alcohols and spirits comprise a threaded plastic insert fixed inside a capsule blank, typically metal, so that no threading is externally apparent.
A first problem posed by the capsules of the state of the art is the need to use containers, typically bottles, having an expensive glass ring because specifically adapted to this type of capsule. These capsules are known under the Supaluxe ® brand and therefore there is a specific glass ring standard for these capsules.
A second problem is the cost of the insert, in particular the material cost of the insert.
Indeed, the plastic insert caps closure of the prior art has a certain thickness that required the development of a specific glass ring.
The object of the invention is a thin-skirted insert closure cap which simultaneously makes it possible to use standard glass rings and to reduce the material cost of the insert and the bottle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

• épaisseur en fond de filet : 3 mm
• épaisseur en sommet de filet : 4 mm
• hauteur de jupe : 25 mm
• poids : de 4 à 5 g

La simple comparaison de ces données montre l'immense écart entre les inserts selon l'état de la technique et selon l'invention.
Suite à ses essais et à ses travaux, la demanderesse a constaté qu'il était possible, moyennant des adaptations, et contrairement à ce qu'elle croyait initialement :

• de mouler un insert à jupe de faible épaisseur, du moins dans certaines limites,
• de manipuler et assembler en ligne des inserts, même très légers, avec des ébauches de capsules,
• d'obtenir une capsule finale fonctionnant correctement sur bague de verrerie standard, tant en ce qui concerne le vissage que l'étanchéité, à condition que l'assemblage dudit insert et de ladite ébauche soit solide.

En effet, la demanderesse a observé que, dans les inserts selon l'invention, et contrairement aux inserts de l'état de la technique, l'insert seul ne présenterait pas les caractéristiques mécaniques suffisantes pour assurer le vissage et l'étanchéité. Par contre, la demanderesse a observé qu'un insert selon l'invention, même avec une jupe très mince, présentant en lui-même de faibles caractéristiques mécaniques, pouvait remplir les fonctions attendues en ce qui concerne notamment le vissage et l'étanchéité dans la mesure où il était solidarisé à une ébauche de capsule, ou du moins à une jupe présentant les caractéristiques mécaniques requises. According to the invention, the closure cap (1) to be screwed onto a container, for example on a bottle having a threaded neck, comprises a capsule blank (2) having a skirt (21) and optionally provided with a head (20), and a plastic insert (3) with a skirt (31) threaded fixed to said blank (2), the thread being molded with the insert, said plastic having mechanical characteristics, including a hardness , at least equal to those of PE at 25 ° C, and is characterized in that said threaded skirt (31) comprises an internal thread (32) whose bottom (320) has a thickness ranging from 0.40 mm to 0.150 mm , the ratio between the thickness of said net at its top and at its bottom being between 2 and 10.
Preferably, said thickness is 0.25 mm to 0.20 mm. In the capsules according to the invention, the ratio between the thickness of said net at its top and at its bottom is preferably between 5 and 9.
The inserts according to the invention may have a height ranging from 10 mm to 20 mm. A typical insert of the invention has a skirt height of between 12 and 14 mm, the thickness at the bottom of the skirt of said insert being between 0.15 and 0.30 mm, and a weight typically between 0. , 8 and 1.5 g, these characteristics being those which correspond to a standard glass ring according to the French standard NF H35-103, with a diameter typically ranging from 30 to 31.5 mm in the case of the most common diameters, or according to any other ISO, CEN or AFNOR standard of glass or plastic screw ring that can receive a capsule.
The capsule of the invention is characterized by the fact that the insert has a very thin skirt, so as to simultaneously solve all the problems of the invention.
By comparison, the inserts of the state of the art have the following characteristics:

• thickness at the bottom of the net: 3 mm
• thickness at the top of the net: 4 mm
• skirt height: 25 mm
• weight: from 4 to 5 g

The simple comparison of these data shows the huge difference between the inserts according to the state of the art and according to the invention.
Following its testing and work, the Applicant found that it was possible, with adaptations, and contrary to what she initially believed:

• to mold a skirted insert of small thickness, at least within certain limits,
• to handle and assemble inserts, even very light ones, with blanks of capsules,
• to obtain a final capsule operating correctly on standard glass ring, both with regard to screwing and sealing, provided that the assembly of said insert and said blank is solid.

Indeed, the Applicant has observed that, in the inserts according to the invention, and unlike the inserts of the state of the art, the insert alone does not have sufficient mechanical characteristics to ensure screwing and sealing. On the other hand, the Applicant has observed that an insert according to the invention, even with a very thin skirt, which in itself has low mechanical characteristics, could fulfill the functions expected particularly with regard to screwing and sealing in the extent to which it was secured to a capsule blank, or at least a skirt having the required mechanical characteristics.

In the capsules according to the state of the art, the insert, considered as an entity, was made integral with the rotating capsule blank, since the manual tightening or unscrewing force exerted on the blank was required. exterior is transmitted to the inner insert.
With the inserts according to the invention, the applicant therefore found that it was sufficient for the insert to retain a thread of sufficient thickness - typically of the order of 1 mm, and a skirt of small thickness - typically 0.2 mm, but just sufficient to allow the formation of said insert and its handling. The Applicant therefore found that the net could perform its technical functions, simply provided that it is secured to a rough mechanical characteristics sufficient, the thin skirt used for the manufacture and handling of the insert, and n bringing a secondary contribution in the mechanical strength of the net, being virtually no longer necessary.

With a weight divided by 4 or 5 and a thickness at the bottom of the net which can be divided by more than 10 with respect to an insert of the state of the art, the inserts according to the invention are not only an improvement or a improvement of the known inserts. They are actually a new generation of inserts.
These inserts are the result of exploratory tests undertaken without any real hope of success because outside the area considered realistic by the skilled person, given the foreseeable problems, whether to inject such inserts skirt so thin, to assemble insert as light and to obtain the same properties of use as those obtained with the insert of the state of the art.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a view in axial section of a capsule (1) according to the invention set on a standard glass ring with attached seal (4). For the sake of clarity the blank (2) and the insert (3) are presented with a space between them, while they are closely interdependent. It is the same in the following figures.

FIG. 2 is a view in axial section of the insert of the capsule of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a partial view in axial section of a capsule according to the invention similar to that of Figure 1, wherein said insert consists of a skirt.

FIG. 4 is a partial view in axial section of a capsule according to the invention similar to that of Figure 1, wherein said blank consists of a skirt. FIG. 4a is a method of assembling a capsule according to FIG. 4.

FIG. 5, similar to FIG. 4, shows a capsule in which the head of the insert carries a sealing lip which replaces the attached seal of the capsules of the previous figures.

FIGS. 6 and 7, similar to FIG. 1, show a capsule (1) provided with a sealing lip (33) in place of the attached seal (4) of FIG. 1 and comprising, in FIG. an anti-drip device (6), pre-assembled to said capsule by virtue of said lip (33), and fixed, during capping, inside the glass ring (51) of the neck (5), thanks to fixing fins (60), whereas, in FIG. 7, the capsule comprises a non-refill device (7), which is typically similar to the anti-drip device (6), but typically comprises a ball (70) between lower lip (72) preventing the ball from falling and preventing the subsequent filling of the container or bottle, and between an upper membrane (71) preventing the extraction of the ball (70) while allowing the flow of the liquid contained in the bottle.
In Figures 6a and 7a, similar to Figures 6 and 7, the inserts have a shutter (35).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, the skirt (31) of said insert (3) is fixed to the skirt (21) of said blank (2) by gluing, typically through an adhesive layer, by force fitting or by heat sealing.

Preferably, the bonding is used. This collage can be obtained either by using a adhesive layer providing the connection between said insert and said blank, typically a hot-applied adhesive layer, known as "hot-melt", either by using a blank having an inner surface adapted to adhere to said insert. So, as described in the French application FR-A-2 763 046 in the name of the applicant, it is possible to use a blank lined internally with a layer comprising material plastic constituting said insert in the divided state, and thus able to be heat-sealed audit insert.

According to one embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 5, said insert (3) can comprising a head (30) typically having an inner lip (33) ensuring the sealing of the closure.

But, as shown in Figures 1 to 4, an insert (4), integrated in the capsule and held at the bottom of the capsule by a rib (34), can seal the closure. In this case, said insert (3) can be constituted simply by a threaded skirt (31), as illustrated in FIG.
As illustrated in FIGS. 6a and 7a, the insert may comprise a shutter (35).

According to the invention, said blank (2) can be chosen from metal blanks, typically aluminum, metalloplastic blanks of multilayer material, blanks formed by stamping or rolling of the corresponding strip material, and able to be crimped under the counter - neck ring. The mechanical characteristics of these blanks must be sufficient in particular to ensure the crimping of the capsule and to contain the radial or axial forces exerted on the insert during screwing or unscrewing of the capsule. Typically, the thicknesses of these blanks may range from 100 μm to 300 μm depending on the specific mechanical characteristics of the materials used.
Said blank (2) may be constituted by a skirt (21), as illustrated in Figures 4 and 4a.

It is important that said insert (3) is formed of a plastic material that is at once moldable injection molding, suitable for food contact, and which at 25 ° C mechanical characteristics, and in particular a hardness, at least equal to that of PE. It is thus possible to use PE or mixtures of PE, PP, all materials that satisfy requirements and which are among the least expensive plastics, or still PET or PBT.

Preferably, said plastic material is a polyolefin comprising a mineral filler intended to increase the mechanical characteristics of said plastic material. The content by weight% of said filler in said plastic material can range from 5 to 50%.
Thus, said plastic material may be PP and said weight content may be between 35 and 45%. As mineral filler, one can take talc, typically micronized. Thus, for example, with 40% of talc, a flexural modulus of elasticity of 4490 MPa is obtained. But, one can take other mineral fillers, such as phyllosilicates.

In addition, according to the invention, said threaded skirt (31) of said insert, just like said net (32), may be discontinuous in the axial plane, so that the fixing of said capsule to said threaded neck, so-called capping operation, can be carried out by simple axial pressure, without the need to screw said capsule to said threaded neck.

• indication de première ouverture, avec une ligne d'affaiblissement,
• ouverture facile, avec une languette d'ouverture,
• irremplissabilité, avec un dispositif ad hoc, amovible ou pré-assemblé dans l'insert à l'emplacement du joint, à introduire dans le goulot lors du capsulage, le dispositif irremplissable étant dit « in bore »,
• anti-coulure, avec un verseur anti-goutte amovible ou pré-assemblé dans l'insert à l'emplacement du joint, à introduire dans le goulot lors du capsulage.

In addition, the capsule (1) according to the invention may comprise means for performing one or more of the following additional functions:

• indication of first opening, with a line of weakness,
• easy opening, with an opening tab,
• non-refillable, with an ad hoc device, removable or pre-assembled in the insert at the location of the seal, to be introduced into the neck during capping, the non-refillable device being called "in boron",
• anti-sag, with a removable anti-drip or preassembled in the insert at the location of the seal, to introduce into the neck during capping.

a) on approvisionne des ébauches de capsule (2),

b) on forme par moulage lesdits inserts (3),

c) on assemble les inserts (3) dans les ébauches (2) pour former lesdites capsules (1), typiquement en utilisant une couche de hot-melt.

d) on assemble, typiquement avec ledit insert, d'autres éléments éventuellement présents dans la capsule tels qu'un joint rapporté (4), un dispositif d'irremplissabilité ou un dispositif anti-coulure.

Another object of the invention is a method of manufacturing capsules (1) according to the invention. In this process:

a) supplying blanks of capsule (2),

b) molding said inserts (3),

c) assembling the inserts (3) in the blanks (2) to form said capsules (1), typically using a hot-melt layer.

d) other elements optionally present in the capsule are assembled, typically with said insert, such as an attached gasket (4), a non-refill device or an anti-drip device.

Preferably, an expandable core mandrel is used so that it can be removed from the mold without unscrewing.
The blanks of capsules may be formed by stamping or rolling and lateral welding of strip or sheet materials of thickness and required structure.

EXAMPLES OF REALIZATION

Capsules according to Figures 1 to 5 were manufactured.
The injection molding of a mixture of LDPE and HDPE 50/50 by weight was used to form the inserts (3).
PP and PET copolymer inserts, as well as 40 vol% PP filled with talc, were also molded as thermoplastic molding materials.
It has been possible to manufacture inserts (3) according to the invention with standard equipment, without having to unscrew the central mandrel of the mold, but it has been observed that the production was of more regular quality by using an expandable mandrel so as to avoid any risk of damage to the net (32) inside the insert when the insert (3) is removed from the mold.
All the inserts (3) had a skirt (31) whose dimensions are shown in FIG.

• on a introduit un adhésif hot-melt sur la jupe (21) des ébauches (2) en aluminium,
• on a fixé ensuite l'insert (3) dans l'ébauche (2),
• on a introduit ensuite, le cas échéant, le joint rapporté (4).

The blank (2) used an aluminum alloy blank 0.21 mm thick and 60 mm high.
A hot melt type adhesive was used to attach the inserts to the blanks.
A standard commercial insert (4) was used.
The various elements were assembled on line as follows:

• a hot-melt adhesive was introduced onto the skirt (21) of the aluminum blanks (2),
• the insert (3) is then fixed in the blank (2),
• then, if necessary, the insert (4) is introduced.

Tests carried out on bottles with a standard neck or glass ring (5) gave full satisfaction.

Overall, the capsule (1) according to the invention has a double advantage, since it is in itself more economical than a standard capsule, and since can be used on standard bottles.

LIST OF FIGURES

Capsule closure 1 Roughing capsule 2 Head 20 Skirt 21 Plastic insert 3 Head 30 Threaded skirt 31 Net 32 Net background 320 Net top 321 Sealing lip 33 Holding rib 34 Shutter 35 Reported seal 4 Bottle neck 5 Net of the ring 50 Against-ring 51 Anti-drip device 6 Fixing fins. 60 Refillable device 7 Ball 70 Upper membrane 71 Bottom lip 72

Claims (20)

1. Closing cap (1) to be screwed onto a receptacle, for example onto a bottle with a threaded neck, comprising a blank cap (2) with a skirt (21) and possibly with a head (20) and an insert (3) made of a plastic material with a threaded skirt (31) fixed to the said blank (2), the thread being moulded with the insert, the said plastic material having mechanical properties and particularly hardness at least equivalent to those of PE at 25°C, characterized in that the said threaded skirt (31) comprises an inner thread (32), with a bottom (320) with a thickness varying from 0.40 to 0.150 mm, the ratio between the thickness of the said thread (32) at its vertex (321) and at its bottom (320) being between 2 and 10.
2. Cap according to claim 1, in which the said thickness varies from 0.25 mm to 0.20 mm.
3. Cap according to either of claims 1 and 2, in which the height of the skirt (31) of the said insert (3) varies from 10 mm to 20 mm.
4. Cap according to claim 3, in which the said insert (3) is provided with a skirt (31) with a height of between 12 and 14 mm, the thickness of the bottom (320) of the thread (32) of the skirt of the said insert being between 0.20 and 0.30 mm, and typically with a weight of between 0.8 and 1.5 g.
5. Cap according to any one of claims 1 to 4, in which the skirt (31) of the said insert (3) is fixed to the skirt (21) of the said blank (2) by gluing, typically using an adhesive layer, or by force fitting or by heat sealing.
6. Cap according to any one of claims 1 to 5, in which the said insert (3) comprises a head (30) typically provided with an inner lip (33) making the cap leak tight.
7. Cap according to any one of claims 1 to 5, in which an add-on seal (4) makes the cap leak tight.
8. Cap according to claim 7, in which the said insert (3) is composed of a threaded skirt (31).
9. Cap according to claim 5, in which the said gluing is achieved either by using an adhesive layer forming the link between the said insert (3) and the said blank (2), typically a hot melt layer, or by using a blank (2) with an inner surface capable of bonding to the said insert.
10. Cap according to any one of claims 1 to 9, in which the said blank (2) is chosen from among metallic blanks, typically aluminium, metalloplastic blanks made of a multilayer material, blanks formed by stamping or rolling of the corresponding strip material with a thickness typically between 100 and 300 µm.
11. Cap according to any one of claims 1 to 10, in which the said blank (2) consists of a skirt (21).
12. Cap according to any one of claims 1 to 11, in which the said insert (3) is formed from a plastic material that can be injection moulded, and is also suitable for contact with food.
13. Cap according to claim 12, in which the said plastic material is a polyolefin comprising a mineral filler designed to improve the mechanical properties of the said plastic material.
14. Cap according to claim 13, in which the content by weight % of the said mineral filler in the said plastic material varies from 5 to 50%.
15. Cap according to claim 14, in which the said plastic material is PP and the said content by weight is between 35 and 45%.
16. Cap according to claim 15 in which the said filler is talc.
17. Cap according to any one of claims 1 to 16, in which the said threaded skirt (31) of the said insert, like the said thread (32), is discontinuous in the axial plane, such that attachment of the said cap to the said threaded neck, call the capping operation, can be done by applying simple axial pressure without it being necessary to screw the said cap to the said threaded neck.
18. Cap according to any one of claims 1 to 17, comprising means of performing one or more of the following complementary functions:

    indication of the first opening with a line of weakness,

    easy opening, with an opening tab,

    refill prevention with an ad hoc device that may be removable or preassembled to the cap, to be inserted in the neck when capping,

    anti-drip, with an anti-drip pouring spout that may be removable or preassembled to the cap, to be inserted in the neck when capping.
19. Process for making a cap according to any one of claims 1 to 18, in which:

    a) cap blanks (2) are supplied,

    b) the said plastic inserts (3) are made by moulding,

    c) the inserts (3) are assembled in the blanks (2) to form the said caps (1), typically using a hot-melt layer,

    d) other elements present in the cap, such as an add-on seal (4), a fill prevention device or an anti-drip device are assembled, typically with the said insert.
20. Process according to claim 19, in which an expandable core mandrel is used to mould the insert, so that it can be extracted from the mould without unscrewing.

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