Priority

This PCT Application claims priority benefit of US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/588,330 filed November 18, 2017, incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

Background-Field of Invention

The present invention relates to closures for containers, and more specifically, to a closure for a drinking, pouring or dispensing container, wherein the closure is of the tethered type.

Background- Description of Prior Art

Many of the container closures at the present time are of the tamper evident type. This type of cap or closure usually provides a retaining ring. This is also known as the tamper evident ring or TE band. This band is intermittently attached to a main cap body by frangible sections of plastic that tear away when the cap is unscrewed to provide tamper evidence. The prior art closures of this type show the cap may remain attached to the bottle after opening but the cap may interfere with the function of the bottle during use. In Patent US 8,720,716 B2, the interference problem was resolved by introducing an integral tether with a built-in biasing force that holds the cap in a stay put, held in a non-interfering position after opening.

Objects of the Invention

Accordingly, it is the objective of the present invention to provide an improved closure, wherein the tether is molded or slit into the side wall of the cap, and the tamper evident band may be slit in a post molding operation.

The objects of the invention are to provide a closure that:

a. is inexpensive to manufacture;

b. does not require a departure from already in place manufacturing processes;

c. can be utilized on a wide variety of containers; and

d. provides an alternative manufacturing method over existing manufacturing methods, in that the tether can be defined into the side wall of the cap, yet the partial separation of the tamper band from the cap can be created using existing slitting machinery thereafter without modification.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. l is a front view of a closure in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a closure of FIG.1 showing a tamper evident band that is completely slit circumferentially;

FIG. 3 is an orthographic view of a closure in accordance with the present invention showing a closure that has a completely, circumferentially slit sidewall in the open condition;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of another embodiment of a closure in accordance with the present invention showing a tamper evident band that is intermittently slit circumferentially;

FIG. 4A is a blow up showing a molded return groove that is designed to prevent a frangible tab being formed on the outside wall of the cap at the foot attachment of the tether;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a closure of the type shown in FIG. 4 showing a tamper

evident band that is intermittently slit circumferentially and showing the retaining feature in the folded up position;

FIG. 6 is an orthographic view of a closure of FIG. 4 showing a closure in the open condition; FIG. 7 is a front view of a closure of the present invention showing a straight line slit defining the tether portion;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a closure of FIG. 7 showing the interior, molded in place, foot attachment;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view of a closure of a closure of FIG. 7 showing a straight-line slit running in the reverse direction and having the same helix angle as thread assembly;

FIG. 10 is front view of a closure of the present invention showing and open molded straight-line tether groove;

Fig. 11 is a front view of a closure of Fig. 10 showing and open molded tamper evident band;

Fig. 12 is an orthographic view of FIG. 7 showing the closure in the open condition;

FIG. 13 is a front view of the closure of one embodiment of the present invention showing the closure mounted on a bottle in the sealed condition;

FIG. 14 is a front view of the closure of FIG. 13 showing the closure in the partially open condition; FIG. 15 is a front view of the closure of FIG.13 showing the closure in a fully opened docked condition; and

FIG. 16 is a front view of a closure of FIG. 13 showing the closure in another docked position.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Referring to FIGs. 1-3, a closure 10 of the present invention is comprised of a circular top wall 12 and a depending cylindrical sidewall 14 terminating with a cylindrical retaining band 7. The sidewall 14 includes an open molded window having a circumferential section 22 and an inclined leg 24. A complete circumferential slit 26 intersects the base of the leg 24 forming rectangular retaining band 7 and defining a tether section 40.

Referring to FIG. 2, a retaining element 16 is provided and molded to retaining band 7 to aid in securing the retaining or tamper band 7 on the container. Many types of retaining element combinations are available today. The retaining element 16 will be folded upward in a post molding folding procedure. The continuous uninterrupted slit 26 cut through the closure sidewall 14 defines the cap portion 20 and tamper band 7. Cap portion 20 and the band 7 have a built up internal thickened wall pad 30 at the base of the tether 40 molded into the inner side wall of the cap and tamper band section. Frangible protrusions 42 are equally spaced around the interior of the cap as well. Built up pad 30 has a lower portion substantially attached to the inner wall of retaining band 7 and an upper end to the sidewall. When the band is scored by slitting at location 26 the cap wall is cut through completely leaving interior frangible tabs 42 fully intact and thickened pad 30 fully intact. The“A” section has no frangible elements. When closure 10 is opened, all frangible tabs 42 break, leaving only pad 30 intact, thereby anchoring and

maintaining a cap portion permanently attached to the tamper band 7. The retaining element 16 is shown in the molded condition and is folded upward in a post molding operation commonly referred to as“folding”. A stand -off element 48 is molded into the open molded tether window to aid in preventing compression deformation of the cap 20 and tether during the filling and capping phase of the container.

Referring to FIG. 3, the closure 10 is shown in the open condition showing a completely slit side wall. The frangible elements 42 are shown broken and thickened pad 30 is shown anchoring the tether 40 to retaining band 7. Referring to FIGs. 4, 4A, 5 and 6, another type of slit condition is shown where the closure wall is completely cut through but slit in an interrupted manner. In this method, a slit 60 is shown cutting completely through the cap sidewall in an interrupted manner leaving frangible sections 62 of the cap side wall intact as well as the built- up tether attachment pad 64 completely intact. Built up tether attachment pad 64 is shown here as a segment of the thread assembly molded in the same helix angle of the thread to aid in de-molding the closure. Pad 64 may be incorporated into the thread assembly as well by being an extension of the threads 34. Upon opening of the closure frangible elements 62 break leaving only built up tether attachment pad 64 intact thereby permanently retaining the cap 50 attached to the retaining ring 7 by the tether 40. As seen in drawing item A open molded window 20 may have a return leg groove 72 running horizontally for a short distance equal in length to the attachment pad 64 following the path of interrupted slit 60 to aid in the visual appeal of the closure. This leg 72 will be a groove the depth of the cap wall thickness. This horizontal“in line” groove 72 will eliminate the necessity of registering the closure during the slitting process as any frangible element 62 that may land at that location will not show up since there will be no side wall material present.

FIG. 5 shows a sectional drawing of closure 10 in the post molded interrupted slit and folded condition ready to be installed on a bottle. Retaining feature 24 may provide a lowered section at the location of tether attachment pad as indicated by section 36 to allow room for the tether attachment pad 64 once folded.

FIG. 6 shows an orthographic view of the closure 10 in the open condition showing tether attachment pad 64 anchoring tether 40 to the tamper band 7. Frangible elements 62 are shown having been broken allowing the cap section 50 to be lifted away from the tamper band 7.

FIGs. 7-9 illustrate the closure of the present invention in a post slit condition with a straight-line angled tether 60 defined by slit 62 built into the cap sidewall. Angled straight line 62 terminates in the cap side wall on its high end and terminates at circumferential slit 26 at its low end. Referring to FIG. 8 show a sectional inside view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 7. This view shows a wedge-shaped tether anchoring pad 70 spanning the separating line of the cap side wall and tamper band 7. Frangible elements 42 are shown molded into he cap inside sidewall and also bridging slit line 26.

FIG. 9 shows a cap of FIG.7 showing angled straight line 62 formed in the opposite direction and aligned with the helix angle of threads 34. This approach may be advantageous to use on low profile closures where space may be limited. The closure operation is not affected when the tether is right handed or left handed.

Referring to FIG. 10 shows the same type of closure as FIG. 7 but having an open molded window tether groove 64. Groove 64 intersects completely circumferential slit 26 and defines a wedge-shaped tether 60. A thickened tether anchor pad 70 as shown in FIG. 8 is located at the intersection of groove 64 and slit 26 on the inner surface and is indicated here with dashed lines.

Referring to FIG. 11, a closure of the type shown in FIG. 7 has an open molded groove 64 defining tether 60 and an open molded groove defining the tamper band 7.

Referring to FIG. 12 shows an orthographic view of the closure of FIG. 7 in the open condition. Frangible elements 42 are broken allowing separation of the cap section from the tamper evident band 7 with tether 60 remaining attached to the tamper band 7 by thickened tether anchoring pad 70. A foldable retaining feature 16 is molded into the bottom edge of the cap and is designed to aid in retention of the cap on the bottle. Foldable retaining feature 16 is shown in the unfolded condition. During a post molding folding operation, the foldable feature 16 will be inverted and oriented upward.

FIG. 13 shows a bottle with the closure of one embodiment of the present invention in the capped condition.

By unscrewing the closure FIG. 14, the cap portion rises and the tether follows upwardly in a scissor like lifting effect while remaining anchored by the thickened interior pad the tether remains attached to the retaining ring 7. Frangible elements have broken free at his point and tamper band 7 stays in place thereby maintaining the cap portion with the bottle.

As the cap is further rotated, the cap portion clears the bottle neck threads and the cap portion can be docked as shown in FIG. 15. FIG. 16 shows cap portion tuned upside down in a resiliently docked position furthest remote from the bottle drinking aperture.

Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.