Subject of invention

The subject of invention is the cover with container for multiple sealing of plastic bottles, glass bottles and other vessels, where the filler (e.g. substance in the powder or granulate form, tablets and other dry, solid or liquid forms), which is stored in the container of the cover with container and tightly isolated from external conditions, is inserted into the liquid of a plastic bottle, glass bottle or other vessel with the attached cover with container, at the moment when the cover with container is being removed, i.e. immediately before use.

The invented cover is intended primarily for use in food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries, agriculture, or other sectors. Its conceptual solution can be used on vessels with various neck sizes and types of thread on vessels, while the volume of the container can be customized according to needs.

Technical problem

The technical problem addressed by the subject of invention is how to improve covers with container intended for multiple sealing of plastic bottles, glass bottles and other vessels (hereinafter: vessels), where the container can contain filler, e.g. substance in the powder or granulate form, tablets and other dry, solid or liquid forms, and be subsequently sealed. Such a cover with a sealed container that contains filler is then mounted on the neck of the vessel.

When a vessel using such a cover with container is opened for the first time, the bottom separating the container from the interior of the vessel is breached in size that approximately corresponds with the width of the bottom of the cover, allowing the filler from the container to drop or pour unobstructed into the liquid of the vessel regardless of the type and/or form of the filler (e.g. large tablets, etc.). The vessel can then be sealed tightly again with the same cover, without any need to remove parts of the cover prior to sealing or give it any thought whatsoever.

Some solutions are designed in such a way that the cover with container obstructs or limits the release of larger forms (e.g. tablets) from container into vessel, or obstructs the flow of liquid from vessel through the container, while some solutions have problems with providing adequate sealing or require several different actions from users (turning the cover left and right and/or pushing part of the cover along the axis required for penetrating the bottom of the container), in order for them to successfully open the cover and allow the transmission of filler from the container into the liquid of the vessel.

Another problem addressed by the subject of invention is how to use the construction of the cover with container to reduce the likelihood of damaging the elements for sealing the container while mounting the cover with container, which has already been filled and sealed, onto the vessel.

Another technical problem addressed by the subject of invention is how to use the construction of the cover to achieve greater stability when mounting the cover with container onto the vessel while avoiding the need to lengthen the neck of the vessel, and minimizing the use of strengthening elements on the cover with container, especially on the part that is mounted onto and into the vessel's opening.

State of the art

There are seven known patent applications or granted patents, namely; EP 2657149A2, US 2011284402A1 , US 2012/0193249A1, WO2008002160, WO 2008017890A1, R0090014699 and KR 2008002160A2, all of which, however, address the technical problem in a profoundly different way than is addressed by the subject of invention.

Definition of the terms used

For the purpose of describing the subject of invention the expression "thread pair" comprises both inner thread and corresponding outer thread.

The expression "multilevel thread" means the thread with multiple parallel helices. The expression "leading flank" means the flank of the tooth, which is located in the first position in the direction of rotation.

Short description of figures

Hereinafter, the subject of invention is described with attached figures that

Figure 1 : cover with container 1 in assembled state, in cross-section;

Figure 2A: vessel 2, in cross-section;

Figure 2B: vessel 2, from above;

Figure 3 A: cover 10, in cross-section;

Figure 3B: cover 10, from below;

Figure 4A: crown 20, in elevation;

Figure 4B: crown 20, in vertical transverse cross-section;

Figure 4C: crown 20, from above;

Figure 4D: crown 20, from below;

Figure 5: neck 30, in cross-section.

Short description of the invention

The subject of invention addresses the technical problem by introducing container 1, which consists of three parts, namely cover 10, crown 20 and neck 30, as shown in image 1. As described below, the cover with container, after being filled with filler, is tightly sealed with foil on its lower side.

The cover with container 1 from the subject of invention is then assembled and together with the filled container attached to vessel 2.

Detailed description of the invention

Cover 10 is shown in figures 3 A and 3B. Cover 10 is designed as a classic cover for vessels, especially plastic bottles, but also for glass bottles and other vessels with a round neck. The outer side of cover 10 is grooved which gives us a better grip. On the inner side it has thread 11 to attach the cover on the outer thread 31 of neck 30. The already mentioned thread pair 11, 31 can have one or more helices, preferably two or three. On the lower part of cover 10 there is a sealed ring 14. These types of sealed rings are already known in the field of mechanics, and will hot be described in detail. On the inside of cover 10 there are rod cradles 12 which extend perpendicularly from the inner surface of the upper wall 15 of cover 10 and then downwards almost to the line L of the lower rim of the basic body of cover 10 (without the sealed ring). At this point the elements are united at the circular strip 12C, as shown in figure 3 A. Rod cradles are arranged in a uniform angular distance in the circumference K. In the example shown in figure 3B we have six rod cradles 12, but their number can also be larger or smaller, depending on the diameter of the circumference K, i.e. the number of the rod cradles increases when the diameter of circumference K is larger and decreases when the diameter of circumference K is smaller.

Cover 10

The flank 12A of the rod cradle 12, which is the leading flank when the cover 10 is rotated to the right, extends to the circular strip 12C, while the opposite flank 12B is undercut in its lower part. As shown in the figure 3B, the rod cradles are evenly curved throughout the whole height in such a way that the flank 12A is moved closer to the centre of the circumference K. With the curvature of the rod cradles 12 we reach A and an unimpeded placing of cover 10 on neck 30. At the same time the shift of the flank 12A towards the centre provides greater steadiness of the cradles 12.

On the inner surface of the upper wall 15 of cover 10 there is a circular sealing rim 13. In the figure 3B there is a representation of the placement and the direction of curved rod cradles 12 and also the course of the sealing rim 13.

Crown 20 is actually shaped as a tube and has the upper rim 28 and the lower rim 29. In the upper inner part, crown 20 has a saw-toothed bite formed by teeth 21. Each tooth 21 of the bite has a longer oblique flank 21 A and a shorter oblique flank 2 IB. In the example shown in the figure 4C, teeth 21 are placed in such a way that the longer oblique flank 21 A is placed on the left side of the apex of tooth 21 in the direction of the rotation of crown 20 from right to left. Teeth 21 are evenly distributed along the circumference which actually coincides with circumference K. the number of teeth 21 of crown 20 is significantly larger than the number of rod cradles 12. The number of teeth 21 of crown 20 can also be a multiple of rod cradles 12. In the centre of the outer surface of the crown 20 there is the multilevel thread 23 of crown 20, which fits the upper inner multilevel thread 32 of the neck 30. On the outer surface in the lower part and above the line of the lower rim of crown 20 there is a convex sealing rim 27 which ensures a sealing between crown 20 and neck 30.

From the lower surface of crown 20 blades 22A, 22B, 22C extend downwards. These blades have an oblique and sharpened lower rim 24 and a longer vertical rim 25, while the shorter vertical rim 26 is levelled. In the example, crown has three blades 22A, 22B, 22C as shown in the figure 3D. The mutual separate distance between blades 22B and 22C is approximately the same and is significantly smaller than the mutual separate distance between blades 22A and 22C.

The priority execution, the mutual separate distance between 22A and 22B and between blades 22B and 22C is approximately 90°, while the mutual separate distance between blades 22A, 22C is between 150° and 180°.

Neck 30 is made as a tubular one-piece element and is assembled from the upper part 301 with a larger inner diameter and a lower part 302 with a smaller diameter, which is from the outside almost entirely encased in the securing collar 303.

Due to the change of the inner diameter, there is the inner joint 34 designed between the upper part 301 and the lower part 302. On the rim of the upper part 301 there is the outer tread 31 which fits the inner thread 11 of cover 10. The mentioned thread pair 11, 31 may have one or more helices, preferably two or three of them and their number depends on the middle diameter of the thread pair 11, 31. Under the mentioned thread 31 there is a snap-circular rim 33. Over this rim the sealed ring 14 of cover 10 skips while tightening. With that we prevent the unwinding of cover 10 without separating the sealed ring 10 from the rest of cover 10. On the inner side of the upper part 301 there is the upper inner multilevel thread 32 in the lower part, where the outer multilevel thread of crown 23 fits.

The priority realization of the multilevel thread of the thread pair 23, 32 has six helices but their number may be larger or smaller, which depends on the middle diameter of the thread pair 23, 32 (in the priority realization that is from 2 to 9). The helices of the already mentioned upper inner multilevel thread 32 are in the upper beginning 32A (figure 5) thinned so they allow that the lower beginning of the outer multilevel thread 23 of crown 20 skips over the starting points of the helices threads of thread 32 and fits exactly on the helices which can be found right under them.

The lower part 302 of neck 30 is mostly encased in the securing collar 303 which is closed on the top and has a sealing rim 38 in the inner part on the upper surface; in the inner part of the securing collar 303 there is the internal thread of the securing collar 37 which fits the thread 2A on the neck of vessel 2 onto which cover with container 1 will be placed. In the lower part, the securing collar 303 notably widens and on the inside of the above mentioned cone-shaped widened part there are teeth of the unidirectional coupling 39 which prevents unwinding of cover with container 1 once it is attached on the thread 2A of vessel 2.

In this example, the line of the bottom rim 35 of neck 30 runs under the line of the bottom rim of the securing collar, it can be in line with it or it can run above it; this depends on the neck line of the vessel to which we will attach cover with the container, it also depends on the client's requests regarding the volume of the container.

The description of the assemblage of the cover with container

We push crown 20 into the upper part 301 of the neck with the container 30 using blades 22B, 22B, 22C facing downwards, until the outer thread of the crown abuts on the upper internal thread 32 in the upper part 301 of the neck with the container 30. In this position, the upper rim 28 of the crown 20 is underneath the upper rim 36 of the neck with container 30, the outer multistage thread 23 of the crown 20 optionally skips the initial threads of the internal multilevel threads 32 of the neck with the container, the crown 20 reaches its lowest position during the installation, while the blades 22A, 22B, 22C don't reach the line of the bottom rim 35 of neck 30 and are positioned at an at least 1 mm distance D from it.

As described above, it is possible to skip the beginning of the outer multilevel thread 23 of the crown over the initial parts of the helix threads of thread 32 due to its thinner initial part, so that it abuts on the helices directly beneath them. There are 6 helices in the described example and 6 skipping points.

After that we put cradle 12 of cover 10 into crown 20 and tighten cover 10 onto the outer thread 31 of the upper part 301 of neck 30. Since the cradles reach only the line L of the cover and they do not project from cover 10, they are not obtrusive during the installation or during later use.

Due to the described curvature of rod cradles 12 on cover 10 and slanting teeth 21 of crown 20, every rod cradle 12 fits with its curved surface to its matching longer oblique flank 21 A of tooth 21 of crown 20 in such a way that the undercut flank 12B of rod cradle 12 fits in a gap created by two successive teeth 21.

Joint of cradles 12 of cover 10 and teeth 21 of crown 20 forms a unidirectional coupling. That way the cover travels downwards in case of a right thread pair 11, 31 if the cover is rotated right, cradles 12 are in traction with teeth 21 of crown 20, so crown 20 can also rotate by rotating cover 10.

Since the direction of the thread of thread pair 23, 32 is opposite to the direction of the thread pair 1 1, 31, namely left in the described example, crown 20 does rotate while tightening cover 10, however, due to the opposite direction of thread pair 23, 32, thread 23 of the crown skips over the upper thread 32 of neck with container and the crown doesn't travel downwards, while cradles 12 slip down teeth 21.

When cover 10 is completely tightened, rod cradles 12 are inserted into notches 21 of crown 20 for depth T (image 1), circular sealing rim 13 seals the juncture between cover 10 and neck 30, and sealing ring 14 on cover 10 skips the latching circular rim on container 33.

Thus assembled cover with container 1 , as shown in image 1 , has a cylindrical cavity in its central part, which represents container 1A that is limited above by the inner surface of the upper wall 15 of the cover 10, below by the surface that goes in line with the bottom rim 35 of neck 30. Along the circumference it is mostly limited by the inner cylindrical coat of crown 20 and the bottom part of the inner cylindrical coat of the bottom part 302 of neck 30.

The described assembled cover with container 1 is ready to be filled with a filler in form of powder, granulates, tablets and other solid or liquid forms to which follows the sealing of the cover with container 1 with foil (not presented), which is placed on the bottom rim 35 of neck 30. Cover with container 1 is sealed with foil, preferably aluminum foil, such as used in food or pharmaceutical industry, which is stuck or welded on the bottom rim 34 of neck 30. Such foils, as well as procedures of their placement are well known in engineering; therefore they are not described in detail.

Assembled cover with container 1 can be filled and sealed on location that is independent of the manufacturing site as well as the site of installation on vessel 2. We then tighten the assembled cover with container 1 , which had been filled with the filler and sealed, onto the outer threads 2A on the neck of vessel 2. The sealing rim 38 within securing collar 303 seals the juncture between cover with container 1 an vessel 2, and the teeth of unidirectional coupling 39 in the below part of securing collar 303 slide over the teeth of unidirectional coupling 2B on vessel 2 at the same time, which ensures the seal between cover with container 1 and vessel 2 and prevents later loosening of the cover with container 1 from the neck of vessel 2.

Once cover with container 1 is completely tightened on vessel 2, the bottom rim 35 of neck 30 is approximately in line with the bottom rim 2C of the neck of vessel 2.

In the example, demonstrated on the accompanying images, the thread pair 2 A, 39 is right, along with the direction of the teeth of unidirectional coupling 2B (image 2B), which enables the sliding of the teeth of securing collar 39 over teeth 2B only when cover with container 1 is rotated right, while mutual movement of vessel 2 and cover with container 1 is disabled in case of rotating left.

It is characteristic of cover with container 1 according to the subject of invention that container 1A is placed into the neck of vessel 2, which enables better stability of container 1A, therefore additional reinforcements, which would be needed if container 1A was completely placed over the neck of vessel 2, are not necessary. As a result, the entire height of vessel 2 with a mounted cover with container 1 according to the subject of invention is significantly lower than it would be otherwise.

Description of opening the cover with container

We open the cover with container 1 , which is filled with filler, sealed and mounted on vessel 2, as follows: in case of right thread pairs 11 , 31 and 2A, 39, we rotate cover 10 left. Cover 10 loosens and travels upwards, rod cradles 12 which are inserted into notches 21 of crown 20 rotate the crown left and the outer multilevel thread 23 of crown 20 travels on the inner multilevel thread 32 of neck 30 downwards and cuts into the circumference of the sealing foil (not presented) with longer vertical rims 25 of blades 22A, 22B, 22C.

When the cover (10) is opened for the first time, the sealing ring tears off and separates from cover (10) and is left on the circular rim of the container (33).

Steps of the thread pair 11, 31 and of the thread pair 23, 32, the direction of which is opposite to the direction of the thread pair 11 , 31 , are different, namely the step of the thread pair 23, 32 is significantly longer than the step of the thread pair 11 , 31. Ratio in the presented construction example is 1 :3, so the step of the thread pair can be 3 mm, for example, and the step of the thread pair 23, 32 would in this case be 18 mm.

Because of the difference in the steps of the thread pairs, cover 10 travels 3 mm upwards when it is rotated by a full turn, while crown 20 travels 18 mm downwards and rotates by a full turn (360°) at the same time.

While opening cover with container 1 according to the subject of invention, the cover must be rotated in the opening direction by less than 270°, preferably by less than 180° so that the crown cuts the foil on the majority of the foil's perimeter in the preferred execution by an angle between 330° and 359°, even more preferably by an angle of 350°. During the rotation of crown 20, the three blades 22A, 22B, 22C simultaneously cut into the foil and the crown must be rotated by such an angle that the longer rim 25 of the first blade 22A does not reach the place where the longer rim 25 of the last blade 22C was in the moment of contact of the blades 22A, 22B, 22C with the foil, namely where the last blade 22C cut into the foil.

Meanwhile, the line of the bottom rim 29 of crown 20 does not drop under the line of the bottom rim of container 1 , so crown 20 does not obstruct the flow of the fluid from vessel 2. Since the bottom rim 35 of neck 30 is approximately located in the line of the bottom rim 2C of the neck of vessel 2, the flow of the fluid from vessel 2 is not obstructed by the bottom part of container 1 A either. Therefore, the cover with container according to the subject of invention enables undisturbed flow of the fluid from vessel 2 through the cover with container 1 once the foil is cut.

Thus cut foil, regardless of the form and size of the filler's particles in container 1A (e.g. large tablets), withdraws or bends downwards due to the operation of blades 22A, 22B, 22C and the weight of the filler in container 1A, and the filler drops into vessel 2 unobstructed.

Downward movement of crown 20 is restricted by joint 34 so that crown 20 cannot drop through the neck with container 30. Once crown 20 reaches the previously mentioned joint 34, the rod cradles are almost completely pulled out of crown 20 and undercut flanks 12B of rod cradles 12 lose traction with slanting teeth 21, so rod cradles 12 skip on slanting teeth 21, which prevents overload and, consequently, breaking of rod cradles 12.

Cover 10 according to the subject of invention also enables tight reclosing of vessel 2. During reclosing, the curved rod cradles 12, which are turned towards the center of cover 10, slide over slanting teeth 21 of crown 20 and crown 20 does not rotate anymore during subsequent closing and opening. As described above, rod cradles 12 in the inner side of cover 10 are lower than the bottom line L of cover 10 and are not obtrusive when cover 10 is put down on a flat surface.

All described elements, namely cover 10, crown 20 and neck 30 are one-piece and are made of artificial materials.

Subject of invention is described above using an example; however, the latter does not limit the invention itself in any way. Therefore, the use of opposite threads is apparently also possible; however, the direction of all threads must be changed along with the curvedness and form of rod cradles and inclination of the crown's teeth and other elements that define the subject of invention. Various versions of the described invention are possible, which will be clear to persons skilled in the art.