The present invention refers to a closure device for bottles, in particular a closure device for bottles of the type provided with anti-tamper means able to give an immediate visual indication to the user of whether the bottle has or has not been opened at least once .

More specifically, the present invention refers to a closure device for bottles of the type provided with anti-tamper means that are arranged in an inaccessible position when the stopper has been assembled, thus not being visible to the user.

Currently, different closing devices for bottles, in particular for bottles containing alcoholic beverages or spirits, are known. These closing devices generally consist of a stopper and a pourer.

The stopper is usually equipped with an internal thread adapted for engaging, to open or close the bottle, with a corresponding thread provided on the outer surface of the pourer. The latter is fixed by pressure, or through other known means, outside or inside the mouth of the bottle. A jacket for covering the stopper, made with an aluminium film or plastic, can also be provided.

Currently, the market demands that the end purchaser can clearly recognise the state of integrity of a bottle and, consequently, of its content. Signalling a previous "first opening" of a bottle is indeed necessary, since once the bottle is open it is possible to alter its content. Therefore, different closing devices for bottles have been made comprising anti-tamper means able to make a previous opening of the bottle immediately visible. Most of these anti-tamper means consist of mobile elements, elastic or in any case shaped, arranged inside the stopper. These elements are configured so that, after the first opening of the bottle, they are internally arranged between the stopper and the pourer, limiting the closing stroke of the stopper. A closure device for bottles of the known type, comprising anti- tamper means, is described for example in document WO 2008/041119 A2 in the name of the same applicant.

The limitation of the closing stroke of the stopper leaves a portion of the pourer or of the neck of the bottle exposed to view. This portion is, on the other hand, concealed prior to the first opening of the bottle. Being able to see this portion therefore demonstrates, clearly and reliably, the first opening of the bottle has occurred.

Since the elements of the stopper that act as anti- tamper means are normally obtained inside the stopper itself, such elements are per se accessible from inside the closure device even when such a closure device is assembled on the bottle. Being accessible, it is not consequently possible to rule out tampering with these elements, for example by acting with scissors or similar objects.

Tampering with anti-tamper means is not always noticeable once the closure device has been assembled on the bottle. Obviously, by tampering with the closure device to remove its anti-tamper means, the visual function of first opening is not obtained, even if from the outside the closure device applied onto the bottle seems perfectly intact, even if only apparently.

The purpose of the present invention is therefore to make a closure device for bottles, in particular a closure device for bottles of the type provided with anti-tamper means able to give an immediate visual indication to the user of whether the bottle has or has not been opened at least once, which is able to solve the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art in an extremely simple, cost-effective and particularly functional manner.

In detail, a purpose of the present invention is to make a closure device for bottles that provides an alternative solution, with respect to those known today, to clearly show whether a bottle has been opened at least once after its original packaging.

Another purpose of the present invention is to make a closure device for bottles provided with anti-tamper means that are not accessible either from the inside, or from the outside when the closure device is assembled on the bottle.

These and other purposes according to the present invention are accomplished by making a closure device for bottles, in particular a closure device for bottles of the type provided with anti-tamper means able to give an immediate visual indication to the user of whether the bottle has or has not been opened at least once, as outlined in claim 1.

Further characteristics of the invention are highlighted by the dependent claims, which are an integral part of the present description.

The characteristics and advantages of a closure device for bottles according to the present invention will become clearer from the following description, given as a non-limiting example, referring to the attached schematic drawings, in which:

figure 1 is an exploded view of the main components of the closure device for bottles according to the present invention;

figure 2 is a view of the closure device of figure 1, shown in assembled configuration on a bottle and prior to its first opening;

figure 3 is a section view obtained along the line III-III of figure 2;

figure 4 is a view of the closure device of figure 1, shown in assembled configuration on a bottle and after its first opening;

figure 5 is a section view obtained along the line

V-V of figure 4;

figure 6 is a section view obtained along the line

VI-VI of figure 5;

figure 7 is a section view obtained along the line

VII-VII of figure 6;

figure 8 is a side elevation view of a component, in this case the inner stopper, of the closure device of figure 1;

figure 9 is a section view obtained along the line

IX- IX of figure 8; and

figure 10 is a section view obtained along the line

X-X of figure 9.

With reference to the figures, a closure device for bottles according to the present invention is shown, wholly indicated with reference numeral 10. The closure device 10 comprises a stopper group 12 and 14, capable of being set in rotation by the user to open and close the closure device 10 itself.

The closure device 10 also comprises a pourer 16 constrainable at the mouth of a bottle 50. The pourer 16 can be constrained both outside and inside the mouth of the bottle 50. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the pourer 16 is fitted outside the mouth of the bottle 50.

The pourer 16 can be manufactured in a single piece, typically made of plastic material or metallic foil, or it can consist of a plurality of distinct components but are mutually coupled. The pourer 16 is in any case provided with an upper portion 18, in turn provided with an outer thread 20, and with a power portion 22, configured for the irreversible connection with the mouth of the bottle 50.

The outer thread 20 of the pourer 16 is configured to couple with a corresponding internal thread 24 provided in the stopper group 12 and 14. In detail, the stopper group 12 and 14 is of the type comprising an inner stopper 12 of the cap-type, provided with the internal thread 24 and rotatably associated with the pourer 16, and an outer stopper 14 of the cap-type, fitted and associated with the inner stopper 12 so as to be constrained both by rotation and by pulling off with respect to such an inner stopper 12.

The closure device 10 also comprises anti-tamper means 26 and 28 integrated in the stopper group 12 and 14, in particular in the inner stopper 12, configured to make visually evident the occurred first opening of the closure device 10. The anti-tamper means 26 and 28 are configured to limit the re-screwing stroke of the stopper group 12 and 14 on the pourer 16, thus exposing a part of the upper portion 18 of such a pourer to view, which, on the other hand, is hidden before the first opening of the closure device 10.

According to the invention, the anti-tamper means

26 and 28 comprise on one side a plurality of elastic lateral tabs 26 having an elongated shape, arranged circumferentially on the lower surface of the inner stopper 12, and on the other side an annular protrusion 28 arranged on the outer lateral surface of the pourer 16. The annular protrusion 28 is provided with a curved lower profile 30, facing the lower portion 22 of the pourer 16, and with a flat upper profile 32, facing the upper portion 18 of such a pourer 16.

In the configuration prior to the first opening of the closure device 10, shown in figures 2 and 3, the stopper group 12 and 14 is completely screwed onto the pourer 16. In this configuration, obtained during manufacturing of the closure device, the elastic lateral tabs 26 of the inner stopper 12 are beneath the annular protrusion 28 of the pourer 16.

During the first opening of the closure device 10 the elastic lateral tabs 26 are able to bypass, by moving upwards (i.e. moving away from the mouth of the bottle 50), the annular protrusion 28 due to its curved lower profile 30. Vice-versa, during the subsequent closing of the closure device 10 the elastic lateral tabs 26 stop, in their downward movement (i.e. approaching the mouth of the bottle 50), on the annular protrusion 28, due to its flat upper profile 32, thus limiting the re-screwing stroke of the stopper group 12 and 14 on the pourer 16. This latter configuration is shown in figures 4 and 5.

Advantageously, the closure device 10 is provided with a cylindrical jacket 34 that at least partially covers the pourer 16. This cylindrical jacket 34, in the assembled configuration of the closure device 10, is made integral both with the pourer 16, through nonremovable mutual engagement means 38 and 40, and with the outer stopper 14, through at least one circumferential breakage line 36.

The occurred first opening of the closure device 10 is therefore made immediately evident by a shift of the stopper group 12 and 14 with respect to the cylindrical jacket 34, as shown for example in figure 4. As well as a different positioning of the elastic lateral tabs 26 of the inner stopper 12 with respect to the annular protrusion 28 of the pourer 16, the first opening of the closure device 10 indeed also results in the detachment (movement away) of the stopper group 12 and 14 with respect to the cylindrical jacket 34, obtainable through the breaking of the circumferential line 36.

The non-removable mutual engagement means 38 and 40 between the cylindrical jacket 34 and the pourer 16 can consist of at least one annular rib 38, formed on the inner surface of such a cylindrical jacket 34, and of at least one corresponding annular groove 40, formed on the outer surface of the lower portion 22 of the pourer 16. The circumferential breakage line 36 can consist of a plurality of frangible bridges. Alternatively, the circumferential breakage line 36 can consist of a reduced-section material portion.

Each elastic lateral tab 26 is deformable in the radial direction inside a respective through-hole 44 having circumferential development, formed on the lower surface of the inner stopper 12. Each elastic lateral tab 26 can also be provided, at the free end thereof, i.e. the end engaging with the annular protrusion 28, with at least one tooth 42 having radial development ( figure 6 ) .

The flat upper profile 32 of the annular protrusion 28 develops along a surface substantially perpendicular to the rotation axis of the closure device 10, i.e. a surface having substantially radial development. Consequently, after the first opening of the closure device 10 and during subsequent closing, each tooth 42 having radial development is configured to increase the engagement surface of the respective elastic lateral tab 26 with the flat upper profile 32 of the annular protrusion 28, preventing the elastic deformation of the tab 26 itself.

This particular configuration of the annular protrusion 28 and of the elastic lateral tabs 26 makes it possible, in the configuration of the closure device 10 shown in figures 4 and 5, to prevent the stopper group 12 and 14 going back into contact with the cylindrical jacket 34 even if a considerable locking torque is applied on such a stopper group 12 and 14. Finally, the particular positioning of the elastic lateral tabs 26, completely covered by the outer stopper 14 and closed between such an outer stopper 14 and the pourer 16, makes the anti-tamper means 26 and 28 difficult to access in any operative configuration of the closure device 10.

It has thus been seen that the closure device for bottles according to the present invention achieves the purposes highlighted earlier.

The closure device for bottles of the present invention thus conceived can in any case undergo numerous modifications and variants, all of which are covered by the same inventive concept; moreover, all of the details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements. In practice, the materials used, as well as the shapes and sizes, can be whatever according to the technical requirements.

The scope of protection of the invention is therefore defined by the attached claims.