FIELD

The disclosure relates to a condiment grinder with a tamper resistant lid. The disclosure also relates to processes for manufacturing the grinding assembly of a condiment grinder using bi-injection moulding or over-moulding.

BACKGROUND

Condiment grinders are typically made up of a grinding assembly that sits on top of a container that contains spices, condiments, or other dry goods. The grinding assembly can include a mechanism with grinding components that are engaged when the body of the mechanism rotates, resulting in the condiments being ground for use.

Condiment grinders are often provided with a lid that sits on top of the grinding assembly. In single use condiment grinders (i.e. for one “fill” of the container), or grinders that are applied to containers with prepackaged contents, such as those sold to end users in supermarkets, it is desirable to seal the lid closed so as to avoid tampering, and potential contamination of the contents of the container. This is usually achieved by using shrink sleeves that wrap parts of the lid and the body of the grinding assembly with heat-shrinkable film to thus prevent removal of the lid. The use of shrink wraps adds an additional layer of complexity to the manufacture of condiment grinders and is wasteful because the shrink wrap material is generally not recyclable. There is therefore a need to provide a tamper proof lid that does not require shrink wrapping.

The grinding components, the body, and the lid, in existing single use grinding assemblies are all manufactured from the same hard plastic material, such as acrylics. The reason for the choice of hard plastic material is that the materials used in the grinding components need to provide efficient grinding and to avoid unwanted plastics shearing off during use, and potentially contaminating any consumables that are being used in the grinder and representing a risk to the user. As the grinding assembly is often made using a single injection of plastic into a single mould, the body and the grinding components of the grinding assembly are all made of the same hard plastic material. Although suitable for providing good grinding, hard plastic material, such as those used in the manufacture of condiment grinding assemblies, tend to be brittle - that is, their shear and flexural strength is greater than their tensile strength.

It is thus desirable to have a tamper-proof condiment grinder without using shrink sleeve wraps and a method for manufacturing such a grinder assembly. SUMMARY

A grinding assembly for grinding condiments stored within a container is presented. The grinding assembly is suitable for attaching over an aperture of the container, and the contents of the container may be ground using the grinding assembly. The assembly comprises a rotatable grinder body that is arranged to be manually rotated by a user to drive a plurality of grinding components to grind condiments. The grinder body has two ends: one is a container attachment end, which is arranged to attach to the container, and the second is a distal end, which is arranged to receive a removable lid. The assembly comprises the removable lid, which has a sidewall and an exterior face. The grinder body has a collar at its distal end, which defines an interior cavity for receiving the lid. Importantly, the collar has a frangible tab that, when broken, exposes the interior cavity and the sidewall of the lid. In this way, the frangible tab provides tamper proofing for the grinder. When the frangible tab is broken, the sidewall of the lid is accessible to the user, who may then use their fingers to provide the necessary force to remove the lid from the cavity.

Optionally, the lid has an outside diameter arranged to form an interference fit with an interior diameter of the cavity. In this way, the lid sits snugly within the cavity when the grinder is not in use, and when the frangible tab is removed, the user can apply enough force to overcome the interference fit between the outer diameter of the lid and the interior diameter of the cavity.

Optionally, the lid and the collar are arranged to form a flush outer edge when the lid is located in the cavity. Furthermore, the collar can have a side wall and an end face such that the face of the lid at the end distal from the container and the end face form the flush outer edge. The end face of the collar is a circular rim. The flush outer edge formed by the rim and the lid means that the lid cannot be removed from the cavity without first breaking the frangible tab. There is nowhere for a user to apply a lifting force to the lid to remove it from the cavity. Any attempt to apply a lever between the lid and the interior wall of the collar will deform the plastic such that a user will be able to see visible traces of tampering.

Optionally, the lid is arranged to seal the cavity and the frangible tab is arranged to prevent digital manipulation of the lid. That is, because the lid is sealing the cavity, the only way that the grinder can be opened, i.e., the only way to remove the lid, is by breaking the tab. Once the tab is broken from the collar, a finger space is left where the tab used to be, which allows the user to remove the lid.

Optionally, the frangible tab is connected to the collar with one or more tab stems protruding from the collar. The tab stems are of a diameter that means that a relatively small force can break them, to remove the frangible tab.

Optionally, the container attachment end is arranged to be removably attached to the container, and he rotatable grinder body comprises, around the container attachment end, a tamper band. The tamper band is arranged to be connected to the rotatable grinder body with one or more band stems and to detach from the body when the grinding assembly is removed from the container by breaking the band stems. This provides additional tamper proofing for the grinder as it provides evidence of tamper when the grinding assembly is removed from the container for, for example, refilling purposes.

Optionally, the rotatable grinder body, the lid, the collar, and the tab are manufactured from a first material and the plurality of grinding components are manufactured from a second material.

Optionally the first material is polypropylene and the second material is acrylic plastic material.

A process for manufacturing a grinding assembly for a condiment grinder is presented. The process includes providing a first injection unit for injecting the first material into a first part of a mould for the rotatable grinder body and the lid. A second injection unit is provided for injecting the second material into a second part of the mould for a plurality of grinding components. Depending on the desired manufacturing process, the injection of the first and second materials into their respective moulds can be performed either contemporaneously or sequentially.

Where the injection is contemporaneous, the process involves injecting the first material into the first part of the mould using the first injection unit substantially contemporaneously with injecting the second material into the second part of the mould using the second injection unit.

Where the injection is sequential, the process involves either injecting the first material into the first part of the mould using the first injection unit followed by injecting the second material into the second part of the mould using the second injection unit, or injecting the second material into the second part of the mould using the second injection unit followed by injecting the first material into the first part of the mould using the first injection unit.

The mould used in the above processes comprises the first and second parts in situ.

Optionally, injecting the first material into the first part of the mould comprises utilising a first slide that shuts off around a first core, thereby creating a gap between the rotating grinder body and the tab.

Optionally, the process further comprises utilising the first slide to create the one or more tab stems.

Optionally, the process further comprises demoulding the grinding assembly by retracting the first slide away from the first core at 90 degrees to a demoulding direction.

Optionally, the process further comprises utilising a second slide that shuts off around a second core, thereby creating a gap between the rotating grinder body and the band. Optionally, the process further comprises utilising the second slide to create the one or more band stems.

Optionally, the process further comprises demoulding the grinding assembly by retracting the second slide away from the second core at 90 degrees to a demoulding direction.

A mould for moulding a grinder assembly is presented. The mould assembly is arranged to produce a grinder assembly suitable for attaching over an aperture of the container, and the contents of the container may be ground using the grinding assembly. The assembly comprises a rotatable grinder body that is arranged to be manually rotated by a user to drive a plurality of grinding components to grind condiments. The grinder body has two ends: one is a container attachment end, which is arranged to attach to the container, and the second is a distal end, which is arranged to receive a removable lid. The assembly comprises the removable lid, which has a sidewall and an exterior face. The grinder body has a collar at its distal end, which defines an interior cavity for receiving the lid. Importantly, the collar has a frangible tab that, when broken, exposes the interior cavity and the sidewall of the lid. In this way, the frangible tab provides tamper proofing for the grinder. When the frangible tab is broken, the sidewall of the lid is accessible to the user, who may then use their fingers to provide the necessary force to remove the lid from the cavity.

BRIEF DESCRITPION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will now be described with reference to a number of non-limiting examples, as shown in the following figures, in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic example of a grinding assembly;

Figures 2 shows an exploded image of a grinding assembly;

Figures 3 - 7 show more details of the components of a grinding assembly;

Figure 8 shows assembled components of a grinding assembly;

Figure 9 shows the upper part of a grinder body with a lid and a frangible tab;

Figure 10 shows upper and lower parts of a grinder body with a tamper band; and

Figure 1 1 shows example processes for manufacturing a grinding assembly;

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the invention will now be described in the context of a number of exemplary systems and methods in which the invention may be implemented. Those skilled in the art will understand that the devices and methods described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings are non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made to the described embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. The features illustrated or described in connection with one exemplary embodiment may be combined with features of other embodiments, or features and/or steps described herein may be replaced with structurally similar and/or functionally equivalent means or steps. Such modifications and variations are included within the scope of the present disclosure.

Moreover, the skilled person will understand that relative terminology used in the following description is used for convenience only and is not intended to be limiting on the scope of the invention. For example, the terms such as “lower”, “upper”, “top”, and “bottom” designate directions in the drawings to which reference is made. These terms are not intended to be limiting on the orientation of devices described herein. The terms “comprising” and “including” are used to refer to non-exhaustive lists of components or steps, and devices or methods according to the invention may include additional features or steps not listed in the claims or description.

With reference to Figure 1 , assembly 100 depicts a schematic example of a grinding assembly, according to the present invention, for grinding condiments in a condiment grinder. The assembly comprises a rotatable body assembly 102 that can be screwed on top of, or otherwise attached to, a condiment container. The grinder body 102 is rotatable so that, as well as protecting the contents of grinder from exposure to the ambient environment, the rotation of the grinder body 102 engages a grinding mechanism for grinding the contents of the container. The ground condiments are delivered to a user via an opening on top of the body 102, which can be covered with lid 101. In use, the opening is made to be the lowermost part of the grinding assembly/container, such that the condiments fall under the weight of gravity onto the grinding mechanism, and thereafter fall out of the grinding assembly onto whatever is below the grinding assembly.

With reference to Figure 2, an exploded image of the grinder assembly 100 is shown. An opening in the upper part 103 of the grinder body 102 is configured to receive lid 101 . When in use, ground condiments pass through apertures in the upper part 103 of the grinder body and are thus delivered to the user. The grinder body 102 also houses the grinding mechanism, which typically comprises a male grinder 104 and a female grinded 05a and 105b. The upper part 103 and lower part 106 of the grinder body 102 are rotatably connected to each other such that, when in use, a user grips the upper part and rotates the upper part 103 which is free to rotate relative to the lower part 106. The movement of the burrs of the male grinder 104 past the burrs of the female grinder causes the condiments to be ground as they pass from the interior of the container to the exterior through the space between the male grinder 104 and the female grinder 105a, 105b. The lower part 106 is screwed, or otherwise attached, onto the condiment container. More detailed drawings of parts 101 - 106 are shown in Figures 3 - 7, and Figure 8 shows an assembled grinder body with the lid on.

As can be seen in Fig.3 the lid 101 comprises an exterior face 101a and a side wall 101 b. The exterior face 101a shown comprises a curved surface, though it will be appreciated that other configurations are possible. The side wall 101 b extends around a circumference of the lid 101 , and extends away from a lip 101 c.

The upper part 103 of the rotatable grinder assembly 100 is shown in cross-section in Fig. 4. Upper part 103 comprises a one-piece rotatable member which has a cavity 103a defined by a collar 103c. The outer surface 103b is curved, and may comprise ergonomic features to allow the outer surface of part

103 to be easily manipulated by hand. The upper part comprises a central protrusion 103f which extends from the cavity 103a towards a container attachment end of the grinder assembly, when the pieces of the grinder assembly are assembled. The interior of side wall 103b comprises an annular recess 103e around its inner circumference, for receiving a corresponding portion of the lower part 106, described further below. Central protrusion 103f may be regarded as a drive shaft, upon which the male grinder

104 may be mounted. Central protrusion 103f may comprise a serrated external geometry.

Fig. 5 shows a cross section of the male grinder 104, which comprises coarse burrs 104a and fine burrs 104b located around a portion of its outer circumference, (also seen in Fig. 2). Male grinder 104 also comprises a central cavity 104f which has dimensions such that it fits closely around the central protrusion 103f of the upper part 103. As seen in Fig. 2 the central cavity 104f comprises a geometry designed to prevent motion of the central protrusion 103f relative to the central cavity 104f . That is to say, due to the relative geometries of the cavity 104f and the central protrusion 103f, relative motion of the two pieces is prevented, when they are engaged. When the user rotates the upper part 103, the torque applied to the upper part is transferred to through the interaction of the central protrusion 103f and the cavity 104f such that the male grinder 104 is thus also rotated. Although a serrated “star” shaped central cavity is shown in Fig. 2, which engages with a corresponding protrusion 103f (not shown in Fig. 2) via the teeth of the cavity/shaft, it will be appreciated that various shaped are possible, as long as they provide the necessary friction to enable the male grinder 104 to rotate with the upper part 103.

Fig. 6 shows the female grinder 105. Female grinder 105 comprises male splines 105a on its outer surface; the example shown in Fig .2 comprises 4 splines equally spaced about the circumference. The female grinder 105 comprises an interior cavity 105b on which burrs 105c are formed. The burrs 105c interact with the external burrs 104b of the male grinder 104 to grind condiments.

Fig. 7 shows the lower part 106 of the grinder assembly 100. The lower part comprises a central cavity 106a, into which female grinder 105 may be mounted. The interior cavity 106a comprises female splines which correspond to the male splines 105a on the female grinder 105, such that the relative positions of the lower part 106 and the female grinder 105 are held together. The lower part comprises an annular protrusion 106e which is arranged to engage the annular recess 103e of the upper part 103. The relative geometries of the recess 103e and the protrusion 106e are such that the upper part 103 and the lower part 106 may be held together. Fig. 7 also shows the tamper band 106f , attached to the lower part 106.

With reference to Figure 9, the upper part 103 of the grinder body 102 has a collar 103c that receives lid 101. That is, collar 103b defines a cavity within which the lid can sit firmly. Advantageously, the lid 101 can have an outside diameter that is arranged to form an interference fit with the internal diameter of the cavity. That is, the diameter of the lid 101 compared to the diameter of cavity is such that when the lid 101 is placed inside the cavity, the lid 101 fits snugly within the cavity. Furthermore, the lid 101 and the collar 103b can be arranged to form a flush outer edge when the lid 101 is inside the cavity.

This can also be seen in Figure 8 where the lid and the cavity form a flush outer edge. In particular, the lid 101 may comprise lip 101 c which is arranged to engage with a shoulder 103g formed on the interior of the collar 103c. It can be seen that none of the side wall 101 b is accessible when the lid is located in the cavity 103a prior to the breaking of the frangible tab. The interference fit between the lid 101 and the upper part 103 is such that there is no gap between the exterior of the lateral portions of the lid 101 and the upper part 103. Also shown in Fig. 8 are internal threads 106g formed on the lower part 106, arranged to engage a threaded portion 107b of a container. The tamper band 106f may be shaped so as to engage a protrusion 107f on the container. The unscrewing of the lower part 106 from the container causes the lower part 106 to separate it from the tamper band 106f which remains in place through the interaction of the protrusion 107f and a corresponding protrusion on the interior face of the tamper band 106f .

According to the present invention, the collar 103b includes a tab 103a, which is frangible. That is, tab 103a is breakable such that when the tab breaks, it reveals the cavity and the sidewall of the lid 101 that is located in the cavity. Advantageously, the lid 101 can be arranged to seal the cavity that collar 103b defines and within which the lid sits. Additionally, the frangible tab 103a can be arranged to provide tamper-proofing for the lid. That is, the tab can be arranged to prevent digital manipulation of the lid - manipulation of the lid using fingers. Because the lid 101 is sealing the cavity, the only way that the grinder can be opened, i.e., the only way to remove the lid 101 , is by breaking the tab 103a. Once the tab 103a is broken from the collar, a finger space is left where the tab used to be, which allows the user to remove the lid 101 .

In this way, the removal of lid 101 by hand is only possible by breaking the frangible tab 103a. This provides effective tamper-proof sealing for the grinding assembly and obviates the need for the use of heat shrinking films. The frangible tab 103a may be connected to the collar 103b with one or more stems that protrude from the collar. While ensuring the tab 103a remains connected to the collar 103b prior to use, the stems facilitate the breaking of the tab when a user wishes to use the grinder for the first time. The grinder body and grinding mechanism of single use condiment grinders are typically made using the same material in a single plastic injection mechanism and a single mould. That is, traditionally, all the parts seen in Figures 3 - 8 are made using the same material in a single injection moulding process. The grinding mechanism necessitates the use of hard plastics, such as acrylics, that can provide effective grinding of condiments without unwanted plastic shearing off during use - they must be rigid enough that they can withstand the pressures within the grinding mechanism. Acrylics, which are cheap and light, have a flexural strength that is higher than their tensile strength, thus making them ideal for the manufacture of a grinding assembly.

For example, the flexural strength of a typical acrylic material used in the manufacture of a grinder assembly can be in the region of 70 MPa, while the flexural strength can be in the region of 100 MPa. However, the low tensile strength of the acrylic material makes it unsuitable for the manufacture of a frangible tab because the material would easily break in the moulding/demoulding process, which involves the use of a slider mechanism, as will be discussed later on. This would be especially problematic for moulding the stems that connect the tab to the collar as the stems are of the order of millimetres in size and can easily break in the manufacturing process. Using shrink-sleeves, as in existing grinder mechanisms increases the packaging time and is also detrimental to the environment because it cannot be recycled.

A novel solution, according to the present invention, is to use two different materials for the manufacture of the grinding assembly: one material for the grinder body and another for the grinding components. In this way, a material with a higher tensile strength can be used for the manufacture of the grinder body and a different material with a lower tensile strength (such as acrylics) can be used for the grinding components. A softer plastic material, i.e., one whose tensile strength is higher than its flexural strength, such as polypropylene is suitable for the purpose of making the grinder body and lid. That is, with reference to Figures 2 and 9, the lid 101 , the upper part 103, including tab 103a and collar 103b, and lower part 106 of the grinder body, are all made of soft plastic material such as polypropylene. The grinding components, 104, 105a and 105b, on the other hand, are all made of hard plastic material such as acrylics.

Advantageously, the use of softer plastic material such as polypropylene facilitates the manufacture of frangible tab 103a and the stems that connect the tab with the collar 103b in the upper part of the grinder body. Providing a frangible tab 103a, which needs to be broken prior to first use of the grinder provides effective tamper proofing and obviates the need for the use of shrink-sleeves for tamper-proofing the grinder. This, in turn, reduces the condiment grinder packaging time and the amount of packaging material that is used in the process of manufacturing a condiment grinder.

Another advantage of the use of material such as polypropylene is that it is widely recyclable. The recycling of the grinder assembly according to the present invention is further facilitated by the fact that a material such as polypropylene has a lower density compared to acrylics and water while acrylics have a higher density than water. Therefore, during the recycling process, acrylic parts sink while those parts made of polypropylene float, making it easier to recycle the polypropylene content.

With reference to Figure 10, in addition to using a frangible tab for tamper proofing the lid of a condiment grinder, the grinder assembly can have additional tamper proofing by providing a tamper band 106a around the lower part 106 of the rotatable grinder body. As can be seen in Figure 10, the lower part 106 of the grinder body is screwed on top or otherwise attached to the condiment container 107. Tamper band 106a is detachably connected to lower part 106 with one or more band stems. Any attempt to unscrew or otherwise detach the grinder body from the container 107 would result in the band stems breaking, thus providing evidence of tamper. That is, any attempt at removing the grinder assembly from the container for the purpose of, for example, refilling the container, is detected, and this provides additional tamper proofing for the grinder.

Advantageously, the tamper band and the band stems are manufactured from the same soft plastic material that the grinder body is made from.

A mould for moulding a grinder assembly according to the present disclosure is provided. The mould may be used to manufacture a grinder assembly as presented herein. The mould may comprise two distinct parts, such that the elements of the grinder assembly may be assembled after moulding. Alternatively, the mould may be arranged to permit the over-moulding of the grinder assembly, with a first portion arranged to produce the grinding components from a first material, and a second portion arranged to produce the other elements of the grinding assembly described herein, including the rotatably grinder body, the upper part, the lower part, the tamper band, and the lid. The mould arranged for overmoulding the grinder assembly means that the complete grinder unit may be extracted from the mould once the moulding process is complete, without requiring further assembly.

In a second aspect of the invention, a process for manufacturing the grinding assembly is presented with reference to Figure 1 1 . Two main methods are presented for the manufacture of the grinding assembly from two different materials, i.e., using soft plastic material for the grinder body and lid and using hard plastic material for the grinding components. The grinding assembly may be manufactured using bi-injection moulding, according to steps 1 101 , 1 102 and 1 103a in Figure 1 1 . In such a process, a two-part mould is provided, where the first part is a mould for the grinder body and lid and the second part of for the grinding components. At step 1 101 , a first injection unit is provided for injecting the first material (the soft plastic) into the first part of the mould. At step 1 102, a second injection unit is provided for injecting the second material (hard plastic) into the second part of the mould. At step 1 103a, the first material is injected into the first part of the mould and the second material is injected into the second part of the mould. The pieces are then assembled into the finished grinder assembly. In this way, the grinding assembly can be moulded from two different materials. An alternative process for the manufacture of the grinding assembly is the use of over-moulding. The process of over-moulding involves injecting the first and second materials into their respective mould sequentially. In the process described at step 1 103b, the first material is injected into the first part of the mould before the second material is injected into the second part of the mould. The reverse is also possible, as outlined in step 1 103c, where the second material is injected into the second part of the mould before the first material is injected into the first part of the mould. An advantage of manufacturing the grinding assembly using over-moulding is that less material may be used in the manufacture of the grinder parts, since the relative geometries of the pieces are not required to account for the assembly process.

The manufacture of the frangible tab involves the use of a slide mechanism, where a slide can be used to create gap between the collar of the grinder body and the tab. In order to manufacture the frangible tab, a slide is used that shuts off around a core, thereby creating a gap between the grinder body and the tab. The slide can also be used to create the stems that connect the tab to the collar of the grinder body.

In order to demould the assembly, the slide is retracted away from the core at right angles to the demoulding direction. The plastic material of the grinder body allows the use of the slide mechanism in this way because, unlike acrylics and hard plastics, the soft plastic does not break when a slide is inserted and retracted in the manufacturing process.

In a similar way to moulding the tab, the tamper band 106a can be manufactured using a second slide mechanism that shuts off around a second core and creates a gap between the lower part of the grinder body and the tamper band. A similar process can be used to manufacture the band stems that connect the lower part of the grinder body to the tamper band. Again, the assembly can be demoulded by retracting the second slide from the second core at right angles to the demoulding direction.

In this way, a light, recyclable tamper proof grinder assembly can be manufactured without the use of shrink-sleeves. Furthermore, no excess packaging is required, which shortens packaging time and the dual tamper-proofing provides evidence of any attempt at either opening or refilling the grinder.