DESCRIPTION

The present invention refers to a dosing cap of high density plastic material, provided with a closing seal.

Dosing caps are widely used in many technological sectors, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector, to keep separate until the time of use a first component, contained in the cap, and a second component contained in the bottle.

With explicit reference to the pharmaceutical field, if an active ingredient (for example an antibiotic or a vitamin complex) is (more) easily degradable if it is dissolved in the component contained in the bottle, it is common practice to package said active principle in the cap in a (more) stable form (for example in the form of a liquid or powder) and mix it at the time of use with the component contained in the bottle, by exerting an axial pressure on the upper part of the dosing cap, which causes opening of said cap.

Many types of dosing caps closed by a membrane are known to the art: purely by way of non limiting example, dosing caps are cited in which the membrane is ruptured by a body having a slanting profile, also called an oblique neck, and those (described, for example, in patents EP 1 550 619 and WO 2007/006414 in the name of the Applicant) which comprise a rod-shaped body placed inside the dosing cap, suitable to rupture the closing membrane in response to axial pressure exerted on the upper- part of the dosing cap.

It has been seen that dosing caps of the prior art have serious limits and drawbacks if the product contained therein is hygroscopic: in fact, if the dosing cap is made of low density plastic material it is easy to break its closing membrane, but the cap is moisture permeable and, consequently, unsuitable to keep a hygroscopic product

(which must be used within a short time of packaging) unchanged for long, whereas if the dosing cap is made of a high density plastic material it is very difficult (if not impossible) to rupture the closing membrane, but the cap is impermeable to moisture and, consequently, suitable to keep a hygroscopic product unchanged for a long time.

Object of the present invention is to provide a dosing cap that is easy to open and impermeable to moisture, that is, a dosing cap able to overcome the limits and 5 drawbacks presented by dosing caps of the prior ait.

This object is achieved with a dosing cap that has the characteristics of appended independent claim 1 ; further characteristics of the invention are apparent from the dependent claims. I O

The invention will now be described with reference to a purely exemplifying and therefore non limiting embodiment thereof, illustrated in the appended drawings, wherein:

- Figure 1 shows diagrammatically, in section, a dosing cap produced according to the 15 invention;

- Figure 2 shows diagrammatically, enlarged, the detail designated by A in Figure 1 ;

- Figure 3 shows diagrammatically, in section, the dosing cap of Figure 1 , opened by axial pressure exerted on its upper part.

In the appended figures corresponding elements will be designated by the same 0 reference numerals.

The present invention refers to a dosing cap, .made of high-density plastic material, which comprises a upper part, a body and a bottom and which has - between the lower end of the body and the bottom, a gap closed by a closing seal, fixed to the5 lower end of the body and easily removable.

Figure 1 shows diagrammatically, in section, a dosing cap 1 produced according to the invention; visible in Figure 1 are the body 2, the bottom 3 and the gap 4 (more visible in the enlarged detail of Figure 2), present between the lower end of the body 2 and0 the bottom 3 and closed by the closing seal 5, welded or glued to the lower end of the body 2 and easily removable in response to axial pressure F (Figure 3) exerted on the upper part 6 of the dosing cap 1.

In the embodiment described herein by way of non-limiting example, the dosing cap 15 is derived from that described, for example, in patent EP 1550619 in the name of the Applicant, from which it differs in the presence of the gap 4 and of the closing seal 5 but, without departing from the scope of the invention, the dosing cap 1 can be derived (by providing the gap 4 and adding the closing seal 5) from another per se known dosing cap.

The dosing cap 1 is made of a high density plastic material (for example, high density polyethylene): the closing seal 5 preferably consists of a thin sheet of aluminium or other per se known material, easily tearable and/or detachable from the body 2 in response to an axial pressure F (Figure 3) applied on the upper part of the dosing cap

The bottom 3 is advantageously joined to the body 2 of the dosing cap 1 by a stem 7, which prevents the bottom 3 from dropping, after breaking of the seal 5, into the bottle (omitted in the appended figures to simplify the graphic representation) in the neck of which the cap is inserted.

Figure 2 shows diagrammatically, enlarged, the detail designated by A in Figure 1 and makes it possible to see the gap 4 present between the bottom 3 of the dosing cap and the lower part of the body 2 of the dosing cap 1 , and the closing seal 5 which closes the gap 4.

Figure 3 shows diagrammatically, in section, the dosing cap of Figure 1 , opened by the axial pressure F exerted on the upper part 6 thereof which, by sliding in the body 2, has caused, by means of the rod-shaped body 8, detachment or rupture of the seal 5 and opening of the bottom 3, which remains attached to the body 2 by means of the stem 7.

Without departing from the scope of the invention, an expert in the field can make to the dosing cap of high density plastic material, provided with a closing seal, forming the subject matter of the present invention all those changes and improvements suggested by his experience and by the natural evolution of the art.