ANTI-ADULTERATION CLOSURE DEVICE FOR BOTTLES

The present invention refers to an anti- adulteration closure device for bottles, capable of indicating the adulteration of the content of a bottle intended, in particular but not exclusively, for table condiment liquids (oil, vinegar, etc.).

Closure devices for bottles holding food liquids, such as oils and table condiments in general, usually comprise a cap of the capsule type, constrainable against the neck of the bottle, and a pouring spout pressure-inserted into the opening provided for in the neck of the bottle itself .

The cap is generally provided with an internal threading adapted to engage, opening or closing the bottle, with a corresponding threading provided for on the external upper edge of the neck of the bottle or, alternatively, on the external surface of the pouring spout .

Upon opening a bottle provided with such closure device for the first time and once the content therein has been partially or entirely poured, it is extremely easy to alter and/or adulterate the content itself without such operations being clearly noticeable. As a matter of fact, all that is required is to remove the pouring spout from the neck of the bottle to proceed, for example, to refill the bottle with a different

content or with a content of lower quality with respect to the one initially held therein. Upon refilling, the pouring spout may once again be fitted in the operative position without allowing, even for the keenest observers, detecting the adulteration performed and, often, reiterated.

According to the current standards in the food industry, restaurateurs and people running similar refreshment services are however prohibited from refilling, even with a content similar to the initial one, the bottles holding oils or other types of table condiments, with the aim of preserving the food quality of the abovementioned condiments which are often subject to protections through geographical indications and designations of origin.

In light of the points argued above, it is thus clear how important it is to be able to have an anti- adulteration closure device for bottles, in particular for bottles containing liquid table condiments, capable of visibly indicating in an unequivocal manner the possibility that the contents of the bottle might have be altered or that such contents might not actually correspond to the contents indicated on the label of the bottle itself. Therefore, an object of the present invention is that of overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art,

providing an anti-adulteration closure device for bottles, in particular for bottles containing table liquid condiments, capable of preventing or at least considerably complicating operations aimed at tampering with or adulterating the contents of a bottle, especially the operation of continuous refilling of the same bottle with liquids even different from each other.

Then, another object of the invention is that of providing an anti-adulteration closure device for bottles wherein the small number of components and assembly simplicity make the device itself economically advantageous .

Lastly, another object of the invention is that of providing an anti-adulteration closure device for bottles such device being easy and intuitive to use.

These objects according to the present invention are attained by making an anti-adulteration closure device for bottles, in particular for bottles holding table liquid condiments, as described in claim 1.

Further characteristics of the invention are outlined by the subsequent claims.

Characteristics and advantages of an anti- adulteration closure device for bottles according to the present invention shall be clearer from the subsequent exemplifying and non-limiting description

with reference to the attached schematic drawings wherein: figure 1 is a side elevated view, partially in section, of an anti-adulteration closure device for bottles according to the present invention, wherein highlighted are the single structural elements; figure 2 is a perspective view, partially in section, of the device of figure 1, in the closed configuration preceding the first opening of the bottle; figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the device of figure 1, in the closed configuration preceding the first opening of the bottle; figure 4 is a side elevated view, partially in section, of the device of figure 1, in the closed configuration preceding the first opening of the bottle; figure 5 is a side elevated view, partially in section, of the device of figure 1 upon performing the first opening of the bottle; figure 6 is a perspective view of the device according to the invention, shown in the configuration of figure 5; figure 7 is a side elevated view, partially in section, of the device of figure 1, in a configuration wherein the device itself has been tampered with;

-5 -

figure 8 is a perspective view of the device according to the invention, shown in the configuration of figure 7; and figure 9 is a perspective view, partially in section, of an anti-adulteration closure device according to the present invention, in particular applied to a bottle made of plastic material.

Referring to the figures, shown is an anti- adulteration closure device for bottles according to the present invention, generally indicated with reference number 10.

The closure device 10 first and foremost comprises a covering shell 12 made of metal (for example aluminium) or plastic, of the capsule conventional type and provided, in the illustrated embodiment, with a lower annular band 14 surrounding the neck of the bottle 16 and joined with the capsule 12 by means of a predefined breakable annular ring 18.

In the illustrated embodiment, provided for in the tubular side portion of the capsule 12 is a threading

20 adapted to engage with a corresponding threading 22 provided for on the neck of the bottle 16. The engagement between the threading 20 and the related threading 22 therefore determines the closure of the capsule 12 and, consequently, of the device 10, on the neck of the bottle 16.

008/002765

- 6 -

The closure device 10 further comprises a pouring spout or diffuser 24 substantially cylindrical-shaped (figure 1) , made of moulded plastic and configured to be pressure-inserted into the neck of the bottle 16. Provided on the inner side of the pouring spout 24 is a valve for dispensing the liquid held in the bottle 16, such valve being made up of, in the illustrated example, a ball 26 restrained by one or more annular containment walls 28 when the bottle 16 is at a vertical position. The pouring spout 24 is also provided, at an opposite position with respect to the position of the annular containment walls 28, with a cage 30 provided with a plurality of openings or nozzles through which the contents of the bottle 16 can be dispensed.

According to the invention, the pouring spout or diffuser 24 is made up of two distinct and coaxial annular elements 32 and 34, connected to each other by means of a plurality of frangible bridges 36. More precisely, provided for are a first lower element 32, provided on which is the annular containment wall or walls 28 of the ball 26 and the dispensing cage 30, and a second upper element 34, provided with a dispensing edge 38. Therefore, provided for respectively on the external annular surface of both the lower 32 and upper

34 elements of the pouring spout 24 are one or more flexible fins 40 and 42 adapted to be sealingly compressed against the internal walls of the neck of the bottle 16 (figures 3 and 4) when the pouring spout 24 is mounted at an operative position. Advantageously, according to the embodiment shown in the figures, the fins 40 of the lower element 32 of the pouring spout 24 are larger with respect to the fins 42 of the upper element 34 with the aim of guaranteeing a better sealing of such lower element 32 against the internal wall of the neck of the bottle 16 compared to the upper element 34. Obviously, the fins 40 and 42 can also be made of the same size, or the fins 40 of the lower element 32 can also be smaller with respect to the fins 42 of the upper element 34, without for this reason departing from the scope of protection of the present invention. The fins 40 and 42 shall in any case be dimensioned in a manner suitable to be adapted to the various internal diameters of the necks of the various types of bottles available in the market.

The closure device 10 according to the invention can also be provided with a disk-shaped element 44, preferably made of moulded plastic and interposed between the capsule 12 and the upper edge 38 of the pouring spout 24. The disk-shaped element 44 can serve as a cap for sealing the bottle 16, given that it is

65

- 8 -

provided with a lower annular projection 46 which ends up pressure-inserted into the hole made in the pouring spout 24, at its upper dispensing edge 38.

The disk-shaped element 44 is preferably completed by a lower annular band 48, also made of moulded plastic, connected to the disk-shaped element 44 itself by means of a plurality of frangible bridges 50. The annular band 48, if present, is configured to be engaged both with the neck of the bottle 16 and with the upper element 34 of the pouring spout 24, and, for such purpose, it is provided with two convex engagement portions 52 and 54 arranged to be fitted into corresponding grooves 56 and 58 provided for on said neck of the bottle 16 and on said upper element 34 of the pouring spout 24.

Operatively, once completed the step of assembling the closure device 10 onto the bottle 16, the bottle appears in the configuration shown in figures 2 - 4, wherein the shell or the capsule 12 allow indicating whether the packaging had been previously opened depending on whether the annular ring 18 is integral or not.

In the sectional view of figures 3 and 4, representing the bottle 16 at a vertical position and thus not in use, primarily the effect of the presence of the ball 26 in the diffuser 24 can be observed. As a

matter of fact, should someone attempt to refill the bottle 16 following its first opening, the ball 26, would keep the lower hole of the diffuser 24 closed due to gravity, actually preventing the entry of any liquid into the bottle 16 itself.

Subsequently to the first opening of the bottle 16 (figures 5 and 6) , the sealing cap is separated into two parts due to the breakage of its frangible bridges 50. Consequently, the disk-shaped element 44 remains withheld inside the capsule 12, while the annular band 48 creates a sealing ring which fixes the diffuser 24 against the neck of the bottle 16. Therefore, in order to remove the diffuser 24, first and foremost it will be necessary to remove the disk-shaped element 44, clearly indicating that the bottle has been tampered with right away.

However, even in case the annular band 48 is removed, the bottle 16 cannot be refilled successfully, in that the diffuser 24 is configured to break in case of any attempts to remove it from the neck of the bottle 16 (figures 7 and 8) . As a matter of fact, by exerting a traction force on the upper element 34, which is the only element projecting from the mouth of the bottle 16, the frangible bridges 36 of the diffuser 24 would break almost immediately, leaving the lower element 32 withheld in the bottle 16, due to the

greater contact force that its fins 40 exert against the internal wall of the neck with respect to the fins 42 of the upper element 34.

In the same manner, should the traction force be applied to the cage 30, constrained against the lower element 32 of the diffuser 24, it would break before the entire diffuser 24, or at least its lower element 32, be somehow removed from the neck of the bottle 16. Lastly, any possible action on the ball 26 to free the lower hole of the diffuser 24 would only lead to dropping the ball 26 itself into the bottle 16.

It is therefore clear that any attempt to tamper with the closure device 10 according to the invention, performed operating on its various components, only leads to damaging the device 10 itself, not allowing altering the product initially held in the bottle 16 without such action being noticed somehow.

Lastly, shown in figure 9 is a closure device 10 according to the invention, applied to a particular bottle 16 made of plastic material, for example polyethylene. The device 10 is entirely similar illustrated up to this point, but it guarantees a higher level of safety in that present inside the neck of the bottle 16 is an undercut 60 which interferes with the fins 40 of the lower element 32 of the diffuser 24, with the aim of complicating its

extraction further. A similar undercut 60 may be present also in the neck of bottles made of materials different from plastic, for example in a bottle made of glass similar to the one present in the present description.

It has thus been seen that the anti-adulteration closure device for bottles according to the present invention attains the objects outlined beforehand, among which we mention: - immediate noticeability of any attempt to tamper with and/or adulterate the contents of the bottle; easy to assemble; relatively low production costs,- easy to use. The anti-adulteration closure device for bottles of the present invention thus conceived is in any case subject to various modifications and variants, all falling within the same inventive concept.

Furthermore, all details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements. In practice, the materials used, alongside their dimensions and components, may vary depending on the technical requirements .