TAMPER-PROOF DEVICE FOR CLOSING BOTTLES

The present invention refers to a tamper-proof device for closing bottles.

Currently, different devices for closing bottles are known, generally made up of a cap and a pourer or diffuser.

The cap has an internal threading suitable for engaging, to open or close the bottle, with a corresponding threading foreseen on the outer surface of the pourer. The latter is pressure-fixed in the opening of the neck of the bottle or, through known means, to the neck of the bottle.

Moreover, a further case for covering the cap is foreseen, made from aluminium foil or plastic. In general, closing devices known today have devices to make it clear whether the bottle has been opened before with respect to its assembly.

The indication of a bottle having been opened previously is necessary since, once the bottle has been opened, it would be extremely simple to remove the cap to alter the content of the bottle itself. Therefore, a market requirement is that the end user can clearly recognise the state of integrity of the bottle and, consequently, of its content. There are different types of such "tamper-proof" means.

For example, some devices for closing bottles comprise

an annular band provided with a predetermined breaking line to join the cap to the neck of the bottle before it is opened for the first time.

The presence of this annular band acts to make it clear whether the bottle has been opened before. Indeed, the bottle cannot be opened without causing the aforementioned annular band to break, at the predetermined breaking line. Consequently, a broken annular band indicates that the bottle has been opened before.

Other types of "tamper-proof" means consist of suitable surfaces formed on the cap suitable for blocking its reclosing movement. In this way, as the cap cannot go back into the original assembly position, it clearly highlights that tampering has taken place.

However, this last category of closing devices, in which the reclosing stroke of the cap is blocked with respect to the assembly position, has the drawback of not ensuring an optimal seal/closing of the cap itself with the diffuser to which it is connected.

Indeed, by turning the bottle upside down when it is in closed position after the first time it has been opened, precisely due to the fact that to highlight that tampering has taken place the cap is prevented from descending fully onto the relative diffuser, the liquid contained in the bottle comes out from it and reaches

the spaces left free between diffuser, valve and cap. In light of the above, it is clear that there is a need to be able to have a device for closing bottles, like the one according to the present invention, which makes it possible to eliminate or in any case reduce the possibility of a violation of the integrity of the bottle, i.e. it being opened and consequently with possible alteration or contamination of its content, not being immediately obvious, at the same time preventing the fact that there can be undesired leaks of liquid in the closing steps of the device after assembly. Therefore, a purpose of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art, providing a device for closing bottles that clearly and obviously shows whether a bottle has been opened at least once after its original manufacture .

Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a device for closing bottles that even when turning the bottle upside down in closed position after the first time of opening, ensures that the liquid contained in the bottle does not come out from it re-establishing the contact between diffuser, valve and cap like the one present in the assembly step. Finally, another purpose of the present invention is to provide a device for closing bottles that is simple and cost-effective to make.

These purposes according to the present invention are accomplished by making a tamper-proof device for closing bottles as outlined in claim 1.

Further characteristics of the invention are highlighted by the following claims.

The characteristics and advantages of a tamper-proof device for closing bottles according to the present invention shall 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 perspective view of a closing device according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a side elevation view partially in section of the closing device of figure 1, mounted on the neck of a bottle, in a closed configuration prior to the first time of opening;

Figure 3 is a side elevation view partially in section of the closing device of figure 1, in a closed configuration after the first time of opening; Figure 4 is an enlarged detail of figure 2; and Figure 5 is an enlarged detail of figure 3. With reference to the figures, a device for closing bottles according to the present invention is shown, wholly indicated with 100. The closing device 100 comprises a cap 1, a diffusing group 2, 12, equipped with at least one lip 3, and a

covering case 4.

The case 4, also in a known way, is made up of a top portion 4' and a bottom portion 4'' joined along an annular predetermined breaking line 6 that is necessarily lacerated during the first time of opening of the bottle 5.

Such an annular predetermined breaking line 6, as known today is equipped with a plurality of bridges. In the figures shown the diffusing group 2, 12 comprises a bottom diffuser 12 and a top diffuser 2, suitable for fixedly connecting respectively to the neck of a bottle 5 and to the cap 1.

In the following description, with reference to the figures shown, we shall refer to the bottom diffuser 12 and to the top diffuser 2 separately, but alternatively the diffusing group 2, 12 can also be integral. In order to ensure a good coupling between the bottom portion 4'' and the top diffuser 2 a toothing 50 is foreseen, arranged in an outer bottom position of the top diffuser 2, and a counter-toothing 60 in the inner top portion of the bottom portion 4' ' .

Both in the case in which the bottom diffuser 12 is integral with the top diffuser 2, and when it is a distinct element, like in the example embodiment shown in the figures, it can be fixedly connected in a known manner to the neck of the bottle 5.

During the first time of opening, by acting on the top portion 4', it separates from the bottom portion 4'' of the case 4 along the tearing line 6.

The cap 1, associated on the inside with the diffuser 2 and on the outside with the top portion 4', comprises a flat top portion 7 and a tubular side portion 8 equipped with an internal threading 55, suitable for engaging with a corresponding threading 56 of the top diffuser 2, and with an external threading 155, suitable for engaging with a corresponding threading 156 located on the side of the top portion 4' .

The engagement between the threading 55 of the inner side portion 8 of the cap 1 and the threading 56 of the top diffuser 2 determines the closing of the cap 1 on the top diffuser 2 and consequently of the closing device 100 on the neck of the bottle 5.

The engagement between the threading 155 of the outer side portion 8 of the cap 1 and the threading 156 of the top portion 4 ' determines the movement of the latter with respect to the cap 1.

Of course, in the invention other types of coupling different to those described above and shown in the figures are also foreseen. The side portion 8 of the cap 1 extends from the top portion 7 until it reaches the predetermined breaking line 6 with its bottom end part, in such a way the cap 1

at assembly is entirely covered by the top portion 4'. According to the invention, the closing device 100 comprises means 9, 19, 99, 199 for restricting the movement of the top portion 4' with respect to the cap 1. In particular, such means 9, 19, 99, 199 ensure that, starting from the closed assembly configuration in which the top portion 4' entirely covers the cap 1, the top portion 4' is initially mobile so that it can irreversibly reach a position in which it is firmly connected with the cap 1.

In particular, in such a second position, which occurs after the first time of opening of the device 100, the top portion 4' only partially covers the side surface 8 leaving a bottom portion 16 thereof uncovered. In the example embodiment shown in the figures, these restriction means 9, 19, 99, 199 are a bottom outer annular projection 9 and a top one 99, formed on the outer side portion 8 of the cap 1, and a bottom inner annular projection 19 and a top one 199 formed on the side portion of the top portion 4' .

As outlined above, according to the invention during the assembly of the closing device 100, the cap 1 is mounted together with the rest of the components of the closing device so that the top portion 4' is mobile and completely covers the cap 1.

In the example embodiment shown in figures 2 and 4, such

a configuration is reached thanks to the fact that the inner bottom annular projection 19 of the top portion 4', which is initially arranged at the breaking line 6, is located below the outer bottom annular projection 9 of the cap 1.

Moreover, during assembly the inner top annular projection 199 of the top portion 4' is located between the bottom and top outer annular projections 9, 99 of the cap 1, as can be seen in figure 2 and in the enlarged detail of figure 4. In such conditions the top portion 4' is mobile with respect to the cap 1 thanks to the quoted threaded coupling 155, 156 and to the fact that the quoted restriction means 9, 19, 99, 199 do not prevent it from moving. During the first time of opening, by acting upon the top portion 4', as it is free to do so, it moves with respect to the cap 1, which stays in its assembly position until the restriction means 9, 19, 99, 199 according to the invention force the top portion 4' to be fixedly connected with the cap 1.

In such a condition, with the top portion 4' fixedly connected with the cap 1, a further movement of the top portion 4' forces the cap 1 itself to move with respect to the diffuser 2. In the example shown, figures 3 and 5, this is accomplished thanks to the fact that the inner top

projection 199 of the top portion 4', after an initial relative movement on the cap 1, goes into abutment with the outer top projection 99 of the cap 1.

In such a situation by continuing to act upon the top portion 4', precisely due to the aforementioned coupling of projections 99, 199 and the threaded coupling 155-156, it pulls the cap 1 behind it, which, thanks to the threaded coupling 55-56 with the top diffuser 2, shall proceed to free the passage for the liquid contained in the bottle.

Once such couplings are attained, which can be seen in figures 3 and 5, according to the present invention the restriction means 9, 19, 99, 199 force the portion 4' to irreversibly move as a unit with the cap 1. In other words, by acting upon the top portion 4' even during the closing steps of the device 100, one will right away be acting upon the cap 1 without a relative downward movement of the portion 4' onto the cap 1, which only occurs at the first time of opening. In the example embodiment, such a restriction is achieved with the inner bottom projection 19 of the top portion 4' that, after having passed over the outer bottom projection 9 of the cap 1, thanks for example to profiles with recesses, during the first time of opening thereafter remains irreversibly in abutment with it.

In this way the top portion 4' is no longer mobile,

neither up nor down, with respect to the cap 1 because it is restricted on top by the coupling in abutment of the projections 99-199 and at the bottom by the coupling in abutment of the projections 9-19. Therefore, as stated above, by acting upon the top portion 4', which can no longer move relative to the cap 1, movement shall be given directly to the cap 1 on the relative diffuser 2. In summary, it should be noted how according to the invention the step of the first time of opening corresponds to two movements in sequence, first of the top portion 4' and then of the cap 1, whereas during the closing and opening steps after assembly, the top portion 4' and the cap 1 are irreversibly fixedly connected to one another in a position such that a bottom portion 16 of the cap 1 is no longer covered, as it was at assembly, by the top portion 4' . In this condition, the top portion 4' of the case 4 stays separate with respect to the bottom portion 4'' making the bottom end part 16 of the side portion 8 of the cap 1 always visible and, consequently, making it clear when the bottle 5 has been opened for the first time . It should also be noted that in the closing steps after the first time of opening the movement of the cap 1 is not hindered by any geometric coupling and thus is free

to go back into the position on the diffuser 2 that it had taken up during assembly.

As already stated above, it is possible to associate a bottom diffuser 12 and a valve 13' equipped with a ball 13 with the top diffuser 2, as well as to equip the cap 1 with a central pin 14 for the interaction with said bottom diffuser 12.

An advantageous aspect of the present invention is that the opening can be even more obvious by providing the bottom end part 16 of the side portion 8 of the cap 1 with a contrasting colour to the colour of the case 4. From the description that has been made the characteristics of the system object of the present invention are clear, just as the relative advantages are also clear, which include:

- impossibility for the bottle to be opening without it being obvious that this has occurred;

- repositioning, during closing after assembly, of the cap on the relative diffuser like in the assembly configuration;

- intuitive operation;

- simplicity of construction;

- relatively low manufacturing costs.

It has thus been seen that a tamper-proof device for closing bottles according to the present invention achieves the purposes outlined previously.

The tamper-proof device for closing bottles of the present invention thus conceived can 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 their sizes, can be whatever according to the technical requirements .