US3138279A

US3138279A - Container and closure

Info

Publication number: US3138279A
Application number: US214609A
Authority: US
Inventors: William E Meissner
Original assignee: FMC Corp
Current assignee: FMC Corp
Priority date: 1962-08-03
Filing date: 1962-08-03
Publication date: 1964-06-23
Anticipated expiration: 1981-06-23
Also published as: GB980152A

Description

June 23, 1964 w. E. MElssNl-:R

CONTAINER AND cLosuRE Filed Aug. 3, 1962 l/llllll United States Patent Otice e Patented June 23, 1964 Y 3,138,279 p n CONTAINER AND CLOSURE William E. Meissner, Devon, Pa., assignor, by mesne assignments, to FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 3, 1962, Ser. No. 214,609 2 Claims. (Cl. 21S-32) This invention relates to containers, particularly molded plastic containers and more especially to unitary sealed containers wherein a cap, cover or closure is formed integrally with the main body of the container or is permanently secured to the main body.

Generally speaking, containers may be classified as two-piece if they are to be opened by manually separating two distinct elements, eg., unscrewing a cap or prying off a lid; and as one-piece or unitary if they are opened by cutting or tearing or yotherwise rupturing a single piece of material forming the entire container and closure. Within this broad classification, a container may be considered as one-piece even though actually formed of more than onemember, so long as'it is not readily capable of being or intended to be opened by separating the individual members. The present invention is directed toward an improved one-piece or unitary container.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved unitary container so constructed and arranged that a portion thereof may be severed to gain access to the contents and the severed portion utilized to reclose the container to protect; the unused contents.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a container of the type referred to'wherein there is no danger of contaminating the unused contents due to contact with the severed portion of the container when the severed portion is used as a closure. l

A still further object of the invention is to provide a wide mouthed container which is opened by cutting around the upper portion of the container to provide a severed portion which may be used as a reclosure member in such manner as to avoid contamination of the contents.

Toward the attainment of the above and other objectives the present invention embodies novel features of construction as will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing showing a preferred embodiment and wherein:

FIG. l is a vertical section of apparatus useful in making the novel container;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are sectional views showing the method of forming the container; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the upper portion of the container showing the novel manner of using a severed portion thereof as a closure or cover.

Referring first to FIG. 5, the container is indicated generally at and comprises a main body or receptacle 11 having a substantially cylindrical neck member 12 around the outside of which extend a plurality, a pair being shown, of circumferential ridges 13 and 14 dening a groove therebetween. Formed integrally with neck 12 is a top closure or cap 16 which extends radially outward from the outer end of the neck for a distance such that the diameter of a cylindrical portion 17 of the cap is greater than the diameter of the neck and of the outer diameter of ridges 13 and 14. Cylindrical portion 17 merges with a substantially flat surface 18 which, as indicated, extends over neck 12 at a distance beyond the neck which is greater than the. distance between the end of the neck and circumferential ridge 13.

Depending to a certain extent upon the nature of the fluid material being packaged, the container may be formed of any of a wide variety of plastic materials which when set will form a resilient structure. To open the container it is cut with a knife or a special tool provided for that purpose along the line where the top closure 16 is connected to or merges with neck 12. This cutting will result in providingan inwardly directed annular flange 19 on the severed closure 16 and when it is desired to reclose the container the closure is pressed down around the neck until flange 19 snaps over ridge 13 and into the groove between ridges 13 and 14, as`shown in dotted lines. The resiliency of the plastic material from which the container is formed permits the closure 16 to deform sufficiently forange 19 to pass over the ridge 13 when force is applied to the mid-portion of the at surface 1S. To again remove the closure, it is merely necessary to apply an upward force along one side of annular flange 19 so that it will be forced over ridge 13.

It will be observed that the above described construction is admirably suited for wide mouthed containers and since it is not necessary for the user to contact any portion of top 16 which will later be contacted by the contents the possibility of contaminating the contents is minimized.

If desired, the entire container 10 may be injection molded and thenlled through a small needle hole which is later sealed or it may be molded without a bottom, iilled and then supplied with a bottom sealed to the main body of the container. It is also within the purview of the invention to mold the neck 12 and top cover 16 as one piece and then attach the neck in a permanent manner to a previously'lilled, open ended receptacle. Any of these methods of construction will result in a one-piece container within the above broad classification. However, a preferred method of making and iilling the container is illustrated in FIGS. l-4, as will now be described.

The liquid to be packaged is supplied from a container 2t) to a nozzle 21 through a three-way valve 22. A concentric device 23 surrounds nozzle 21 and a conduit 24 directs a suitable plastic material into said concentric device. At the beginning of ythe operation, in a manner presently to be described, the plastic material issuing from the concentric device 23 is pinched together so as to form a plastic mass 25 blocking nozzle 21. A two part hinged mold 26 having a molding cavity corresponding to the desired outer configuration of the container rests upon a vertically reciprocatable platform 27 and the upper walls of said mold fit snugly about the end of concentric device 23. Thus at the vbeginning of the operation, plastic mass 25 protrudes into the cavity of the mold.

When the fluid `product is admitted through valve 22 it contacts the closed mass of plastic 25 and expands it into conformity with the mold cavity, additional plastic being admitted through line 24 as the plastic mass expands. The wall thickness of the container is of course determined by the rate at which additional plastic rnaterial is supplied. It is not desirable to till the container above the point where top closure portion 16 joins the neck 12 and therefore prior t-o the time that the mold cavity is completely filled, three way valve 22 is operated to shut olf the flow of the liquid product and admit air or other suitable gas under pressure to nozzle 21 through a line 28 leading to said valve. It is the air pressure which completes the expansion of the plastic material into full conformity with its mold cavity. Depending upon the nature of the liquid product, it is also possible to simultaneously admit the product and air in such proportions that when the container is completed, as indicated in FIG. 3, the level of the product will settle to a point below the top of the neck portion of the container.

When the mold cavity is thus completely filled, platform 27 is lowered slightly so that the top of the mold is lower than the bottom of nozzle 21 and its concentric device 23. A pair of

pincher plates

29 and 30 are then moved together as indicated in FIG. 4 to pinch the plastic and seal the container and to provide another closed plastic mass 25 for the start of the next molding and filling operation. If desired the top surface 18 of the container may be subjected to a finishing operation to remove the evidence of the pinch created by the

plates

29 and 30 and provide the container with the smooth top shown in FIG. 5.

As previously mentioned, a wide variety of plastic materials are suitable for forming the container. Examples include vinyl resins, such as polyvinyl acetate, copolymers of vinyl chloride and Vinyl acetate, copolymers of acrylonitrile and vinyl acetate, polyacrylonitrile and copolymers of acrylonitrile with vinyl chloride, Vinyl acetate, methacrylonitrile, and so forth, polyethylene, linear superpolymers of the polyester or nylon (polyamide) type, polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl alcohols, polyvinyl ethers; elastomeric types may include neoprene, polymers of chloroprene, copolymers of butadiene with styrene or acrylonitrile, polyisobutylene, and so forth. It is to be understood that the mentioning of these particular materials is not intended to limit the invention thereto but merely to illustrate the wide variety of film-forming materials that can be used in carrying out the invention. Of course, the selection of any particular material depends upon the character of the liquid to be packaged. Thus, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl acetals and polyvinyl alcohols and neoprene, especially the latter two types, are highly advantageous when packaging oils especially of the hydrocarbon type. Polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl chloride, related copolymers of these two monomers, and polyethylene are particularly adaptable to the packaging of aqueous liquids.

The film-forming plastic material may be converted to a fluid by fusion or by the incorporation of plasticizers or solvents capable of dissolving or dispersing the material. Thus, any of the thermoplastic materials may be heated to fusion and the liquid to be packaged may be introduced into a mass of the fused material preferably at the same temperature as the fused material. If necessary, the temperature of fusion may be lowered by the incorporation of a plasticizer either of solid or liquid character. When plasticizers or solvents are incorporated into the plastic material to form the mass, the plasticizer or solvent is preferably insoluble in the liquid to be packaged unless the particular use to which the liquid packaged is to be put allows of the presence of the plasticizer or solvent that is used. The cooling of the fused plastic mass whether it contains or does not contain a plasticizer or plasticizers when the expanded container strikes the wall of the mold serves to set the plastic material into the shape desired conforming with the wall of the mold. Volatile solvents may be employed for dissolving or dispersing the film-forming material so that the mass 25 may be formed at room temperature and expanded with a liquid at room temperature, the setting or coagulation of the expanded container occurring by volatilization of the solvent after expansion into the mold. Known solvents and plasticizers may be employed, the selection depending upon the particular film-forming material to be used. Thus acetone or dioxane may be used for vinyl acetate or copolymers of vinyl acetate or vinyl chloride or acrylonitrile. The concentration of the film-forming material when a solution thereof is used, is preferably as great as possible, the concentration being limited only by the necessity that the plastic mass expand under the pressure available for exertion upon the liquid during the filling operation.

Having thus described a preferred embodiment of the invention, as well as a preferred method of making it, what is claimed is:

1. A wide mouthed container closure comprising a substantially cylindrical neck member connected at one end to a container, a circumferential ridge around the outside of said neck member, said ridge being located a predetermined distance from the outer end of said neck member, a cap formed integrally with said neck member, said cap comprising an annular portion extending radially outward from the outer end of said neck member for a distance such that the outer diameter of said annular portion is greater than the diameter of said circumferential ridge, said cap having a cylindrical portion one end of which merges with the outer periphery of said annular portion, the other end of said cylindrical portion being removed from said one end a distance greater than the distance between said ridge and the outer end of said neck member, and means closing the said other end of said cylindrical portion.

2. The container closure set forth in claim l comprising a second ridge around the outside of said neck member, said second ridge being spaced from said first mentioned ridge to provide a groove between the two ridges, whereby when said closure is opened by cutting along the line where said cap joins said neck member it may be reclosed by snapping the cut portion of the cap into said groove.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 698,992 Great Britain Oct. 28, 1953 1,142,720 France Sept. 20, 1957 70,174 France Oct. 20, 1958 2nd add. of 1,147,313