WO2004035394A1

WO2004035394A1 - Bottle neck and container comprising the same

Info

Publication number: WO2004035394A1
Application number: PCT/IB2003/004516
Authority: WO
Inventors: Marco Cerracchio
Original assignee: Famart Distribution Co NV
Current assignee: Famart Distribution Co NV
Priority date: 2002-10-14
Filing date: 2003-10-14
Publication date: 2004-04-29
Anticipated expiration: 2005-04-14
Also published as: AU2003269330A1; ITIM20020004A1

Abstract

Bottle neck (3) of the kind having a top mouth (4) recloseable with a seal cap (5), allows cooperation between cap and a support ring (10) to prevent the forcing of the same cap and it comprises: an engagement section (6), adjacent to the mouth (4) of the bottle neck (3), wherein there are formed means (7) for engaging the seal cap (5) to the bottle neck (3); an annular rib (8), located adjacent to said engagement section (6) onto the end opposite with respect to the mouth (4), radially projecting to cooperate with the lower edge (9) and the internal surface of the seal cap (5) in correspondence of the lower edge (9), providing the required seal (5) to the cap; and a support ring (10), of a diameter greater with respect to that of the annular rib (8), located into contact with said annular rib (8) so as to have the latter basically form a step onto the support ring (10), apt to cooperate in support with the lower edge (9) of the seal cap (5) .

Description

BOTTLE NECK AND CONTAINER COMPRISING THE SAME

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a bottle neck of the kind having a top mouth recloseable with a seal cap, engaged onto the neck at said mouth.

The present invention further relates to the container, and specifically, but not exclusively, to the bottle comprising said neck. Hereinafter, for bottle neck it will be meant the projecting portion of container defining the mouth of the same container and receiving said cap, regardless of the shape of the container, which therefore could be a can, a demijohn, a flask and the like.

It is known that the closure of a container, designed to contain a product and to be marketed, is usually entrusted to an antitamper cap, having means for clearly indicating an initial opening of the same cap, so as to^' enable the purchaser or the consumer to check that the content of the container has not been replaced, consumed, tampered with or contaminated.

Said means for clearly indicating an initial opening are usually activated by an initial rotation of the cap according to a predetermined sense of rotation. Such a rotation is required to disengage the cap from its joint or to unscrew it from a screw engagement. It causes the rupture, or anyhow the irreversible modification of components internal to the cap or of the constraints implementing the engagement of the cap, so that said rupture or modification be immediately apparent to the view and may not be repaired.

An exemplary cap with antitamper device is disclosed in the International Application Publ. No. WO 02/057141. In spite of the effectiveness of said devices, in several circumstances the cap may possibly be forced without leaving any trace. In particular, in some cases, it is theoretically possible to insert a wedge or the end of a lever under the lower edge of the cap to force it, optionally exploiting the elasticity of the materials of the cap and neck, without causing rotations that would activate the antitamper device.

Thus, it could be possible to extract small quantities of liquid material, or to tamper with or even contaminate the content by injecting substances therein.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, to date coatings for the cap and the neck and/or collars engaging the lower edge of the cap have been resorted to. Such elements arrest any insertion of wedges, levers, needle points and the like and have to be irreversibly removed before opening the cap, but, on the other hand, they introduce remarkable complications in the bottling and closing steps, as well as additional costs and further materials, usually different from those of the cap and container, requiring their own disposal and recycling line when the empty container is thrown away.

The technical problem underlying the present invention is to provide a bottle neck and a related container allowing to overcome the drawbacks mentioned with reference to the known art .

Such a problem is solved by a bottle neck as specified above, comprising:

* an engagement section, adjacent to the mouth of the bottle neck, wherein there are formed means for engaging the seal cap to the bottle neck;

* an annular rib, located adjacent to said engagement section onto the end opposite with respect to the mouth, radially projecting to cooperate with the lower edge and the internal surface of the seal cap in correspondence of the lower edge, providing the required seal to the cap; and

* a support ring, of a diameter greater with respect to that of the annular rib, located into contact with said annular rib so as to have the latter basically form a step onto the support ring, apt to cooperate in support with the lower edge of the seal cap.

According to the same inventive concept, the invention further relates to any container having a bottle neck, apt to receive an antitamper seal cap, according to the invention.

The main advantage of the bottle neck and of the container according to the present invention lies in allowing cooperation between cap and support ring to prevent the forcing of the same cap. Advantageously, the support ring will consist in the transport ring that, when present, is provided to support the container in the steps of forming, bottling and cap assembling.

The present invention will hereinafter be disclosed according to a preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of example and not for limitative purposes. It will be made reference to the annexed drawings, wherein:

* Figure 1 shows a perspective and partially sectional view of a bottle incorporating a bottle neck according to the invention;

* Figure 2 shows a partially sectional side view, taken along a symmetry plane, of the bottle and of the related neck of Figure 1; and * Figure 3 sectionally shows a magnified detail of the bottle neck of the preceding figures.

With reference to the figures, the bottle neck according to the present embodiment is incorporated in a bottle 1, in particular a bottle for drinks made of a thermoformable plastic material, commonly polyethylene terephthalate (PET) .

Hence, it comprises a bottle body 2 that is obtained by hot-blowing a plastic semifinished product that originally comprises a preformed bottle neck, which in the present embodiment is indicated by 3.

This neck 3, which is formed in one piece, has a top mouth 4 recloseable with a seal cap 5 (partially depicted in Figure 3) .

Advantageously, said seal cap 5 is of the antitamper kind, constructed so as to clearly indicate the initial opening to an observer.

In the present embodiment, the cap 5 is of the kind wherein the antitamper device is activated by the initial rotation of the cap according to a predetermined sense. For this purpose, the neck 3 comprises an engagement section 6, adjacent to the mouth 4 of the bottle neck 3, in which there are formed means for engaging the seal cap 5 to the bottle neck 3.

In the present embodiment, such engaging means consist of a screw engagement, with respective threads 7 formed inside of the cap 5 and on said engagement section 6.

Moreover, the neck 3 comprises an annular rib 8, located adjacent to said engagement section 6 onto the end opposite with respect to the mouth 4, radially projecting to cooperate with the lower edge 9 and the internal surface of the seal cap 5 in correspondence of the lower edge 9, providing the required seal to the cap 5.

Lastly, the neck comprises a support ring 10, of a diameter greater with respect to that of the annular rib 8, located into contact with said annular rib 8 so as to have the latter basically form a step onto the support ring 10.

This ring 10, basically disc-shaped, projects so as to form, in the present embodiment, the transport and blowing ring that is used to support the bottle during the steps of hot-blowing, filling and assembling of the cap 5.

It is apt to cooperate in support with the lower edge 9 of the seal cap 5, so as to hinder the insertion of a wedge or of a lever point below the lower edge 9 of the cap 5.

The dimensions of the ring 10 can anyhow respect the standards allowing the bottle neck and the related bottle to be introduced in a forming, filling and closing cycle carried out with machineries requiring no technical modifications. In general, the diameter of the support ring 10 will be greater than or equal to that of the seal cap 5.

Advantageously, in the present embodiment said support ring 10 has an annular recess that can receive the lower edge 9 of the cap, increasing the hindrance to the insertion of wedges or points. In this case, the diameter of the support ring 10 will be greater than that of the seal cap 5.

Additionally to the main advantage, it will be appreciated that such a bottle neck structure allows to reduce, in the traditional thermoformed bottles in a plastic material, a quantity of the latter that is non- negligible in the light of the large numbers of alike bottles produced.

To the abovedescribed neck and to the related bottle or container comprising the same, a person skilled in the art, in order to meet further and contingent needs, might effect several further modifications and variants, all encompassed by the protective scope of the present invention, as defined by the annexed claims.

Claims

1. A bottle neck (3) of the kind having a top mouth (4) recloseable with a seal cap (5) , comprising:

* an engagement section (6), adjacent to the mouth (4) of the bottle neck (3) , wherein there are formed means

(7) for engaging the seal cap (5) to the bottle neck (3);

* an annular rib (8), located adjacent to said engagement section (6) onto the end opposite with respect to the mouth (4), radially projecting to cooperate with the lower edge (9) and the internal surface of the seal cap (5) in correspondence of the lower edge (9), providing the required seal (5) to the cap; and

* a support ring (10), of a diameter greater with respect to that of the annular rib (8), located into contact with said annular rib (8) so as to have the latter basically form a step onto the support ring (10), apt to cooperate in support with the lower edge (9) of the seal cap (5) .

2. The bottle neck (3) according to claim 1, wherein the diameter of the support ring (10) is greater than or equal to that of the seal cap (5) .

3. The bottle neck (3) according to claim 2, wherein the diameter of the support ring (10) is greater than that of the seal cap (5) .

4. The bottle neck (3) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the support ring (10) has an annular recess (11) that can receive the lower edge 9 of the cap.

5. The bottle neck (3) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said engaging means consist of a screw engagement, with respective threads (7) formed inside of the cap (5) and on said engagement section (6).

6. Bottle neck (3) according to any one of the preceding claims, which is formed in one piece.

7. A container, in particular a bottle (1), comprising the bottle neck (3) of any one of the claims 1 to 6.

8. The container, in particular a bottle (1), according to claim 7, made of thermoformable plastic material, in particular polyethylene terephthalate (PET) .

9. The container, in particular a bottle (1), according to any one of claims 7 or 8, comprising a bottle body (2) that is obtained by hot-blowing a plastic semifinished product that originally comprises a bottle neck (3) .

10. The container, in particular a bottle (1), according to any one of the claims 7 to 9, comprising a seal cap (5) of the antitamper kind.

11. The container, in particular a bottle (1), according to claim 10, wherein the seal cap (5) is of the kind activated by an initial rotation of the cap (5) according to a predetermined sense.

12. The container, in particular a bottle (1), according to claim 9, wherein the support ring (10) is basically disc-shaped and projects so as to form the transport and blowing ring that is used to support the bottle (1) during the steps of hot-blowing, filling and assembling of the seal cap (5) .