US3006493A - Closure cap - Google Patents

Description

D. D. ACTON Oct. 31, 1961 CLOSURE CAP 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 14, 1958 INVENTOR. DAN/5L D. Ac ro/Y z aliz @295 ATTORNEY Oct. 31, 1961 D. D. ACTON 3,006,493

CLOSURE CAP Filed Aug. 14, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. DAN/5L D 4cro- United States Patent Gfifice 3,006,493 Patented Oct. 31, 1961 3,006,493 CLOSURE CAP Daniel D. Acton, Lancaster, Ohio, assignor to Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation, Lancaster, Ohio, :1 corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 14, 1958, Ser. No. 755,053 1 Claim. (Cl. 21544) The present invention relates to the sealing art and more particularly to a screw type closure cap, the method of making the cap and a sealed package therefor.

Screw caps fall into two general classes. First, caps which have a continuous thread to cooperate with a corresponding thread on the container; secondly, caps which have a plurality of spaced lugs which cooperate with corresponding cams or thread segments on the container finish. V

Lug caps are easier to apply and remove than continuous thread caps. One or more complete turns may be required to remove the continuous thread cap while a fraction of a turn will apply and remove lug caps.

In recent years it has been the practice to package certain food products, such as powdered coffee, in a package having a cap with a long or deep skirt. The deep skirt is preferred because it conceals the usual bead appearing below the container finish which is utilized to transfer the container from one mold to another during the manufacture of the container. The concealment of this bead by the deep skirt improves the appearance of the package.

Such deep skirt closure caps have been provided with a continuous thread for applying it to a container. The presence of such a continous thread detracts from the appearance of the finished package. Moreover, the continuous thread prevents the closure cap from dropping far down on the finish so that it is diflicult to utilize automtaic sealing machines to screw continuous thread closures onto containers with any great speed.

In addition, the usual sealing liner which is placed in such continuous thread caps many times remains on the rim of the container when the cap is removed and is sometimes inadvertently discarded by the housewife.

The present invention minimizes these disadvantages and has for one of its objects the provision of an improved closure cap having a deep skirt which will hide the usual bead on the container to improve the appearance of the package.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved closure cap having a deep skirt which will permit caps to be applied to containers by an automatic sealing machine at greater speed.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved means for retaining sealing liners in the closure cap.

Another object of the present invention is to provides an improved container finish on which a closure cap can be easily applied.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved closure cap which has a pleasing appearance z md which is inexpensive to manufacture.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the cap;

FIG. 2. is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the finish of the container for use with the cap shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a cap in position to be screwed onto a container;

FIG. 4 is an elevational View of a cap laid out flat showing the indentations in the cap and lugs for retaining the linear in position on the cap;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the container finish laid out fiat showing the container thread segments;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view laid out fiat showing the relative positions of the lugs of the closure cap and the thread segments of the container finish before the cap is screwed onto the container;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing the relative positions of the lugs of the cap and the thread segments of the container finish after the cap has been screwed thereon;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line 88 of FIG. 6 showing the relative position of the lugs before the cap is screwed onto the container; and

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along line 99 of FIG. 7 showing the position of the lugs after the cap has been screwed onto the container.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the closure cap 1 of the present invention is provided with a cover portion 2 which is adapted to overlie the container and a skirt portion 3 depending therefrom. The skirt 3 is of suflicient length or depth to conceal the usual bead below the container finish. The edge of the skirt 3 is rolled or curled outwardly to form a bead 4 to strengthen the cap and to conceal any rust which may form on the cap and prevent rust from falling into the contents of the container. The cover 2 has a circumferentially located depressed Zone 5 which is adapted to overlie the rim of a container and press a liner onto the container rim to form a seal with the rim of the container when the closure cap is screwed thereon, as best shown in FIG. 9.

A plurality of spaced inclined indentations, thread segments or inclined cams S are struck inwardly from the skirt 3 to cooperate with thread segments on the container finish to retain the cap on the container. It will be noted that the locking lugs or cams 8 are located in the upper portion of the skirt 3.

It will also be noted that the inclined thread segments 8 of the cap do not constitute an interrupted thread but are thread segments or cams having their lower and higher edges starting and terminating at the same elevational planes. This permits force to be applied uniformly when the cap is screwed onto the container and results in a better seal.

The closure cap is also provided with a plurality of horizontally located liner-retaining lugs 7 which are preferabiy formed by indentations struck inwardly from the skirt portion 3 of the closure cap and which are adapted to support and retain a liner therein. The liner-retaining lugs 7 are locate-d near the top of the skirt above the inclined locking lugs 8 and they are also located directly above the spaces between the inclined locking lugs or cams 8 of the closure and circumferentially spaced from the ends, which may be regarded as the leading and trailing edges, of the locking cams 8. This will prevent the liner-retaining lugs 7 from interfering with the application of the cap on the container, as will be more fully referred to hereinafter.

The closure cap is provided with a liner 6 which is pressed into the cap and held therein by the liner-retain ing lugs 7 (FIG. 1). The liner shown in the drawings is the usual paperboard liner used in such closure caps. However, it will be understood that other types of liners or gaskets may be used.

If desired, instead of a paperboard liner, a suitable sealing material, such as a rubber compound, can be flowed or poured into the closure cap to form a sealing gasket.

The container made in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIG. 2 and comprises a container finish 11 provided with a plurality of thread segments or inclined earns 13 which are adapted to cooperate with the inclined indentations or cams 8 on the closure cap to lock the closure in position on the container.

The container is also provided with a circumferential bead 1'2 directly below the finish 11 to permit the container to be easily grasped when moved from one mold to another during its manufacture. This transfer bead 12 is located at a higher position than in the usual container so that it may be easily concealed by the deep skirt of the closure cap, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 8 of the drawings, illustrating the screwing of the cap on the container, the closure cap 1 is initially placed onto the container finish 11 in any desired manner, for example, by an automatic capping mechanism. The inclined locking lugs 8 on the cap are placed in the spaces between the inclined thread segments or cams 13 on the container. This will permit the cap to overlie the rim of the container in a substantially horizontal position which will facilitate the use of an automatic sealing machine to screw the cap onto the container. This will also permit the cap to lie deep down on the container finish so that the skirt portion 3 will conceal the bead 12 to improve the appearance of the package.

The closure is applied to the container by a twisting motion in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 7. The inclined lugs 8 on the cap will be cammed underneath the thread segments 13 on the container finish 11 and will be held thereby to lock the closure in position. When the cap is tightened onto the container, the depressed zone of the cap will overlie the rim of the container (FIG. 9) and the liner 6 will be pressed therebetween to form a tightly sealed package.

In order to remove the cap, the cap is twisted in the reverse direction to move the lugs 8 from underneath thread segments 13 on the container finish 11.

During the application or removal of the closure cap the liner retaining lugs 7 will not strike thread segments or cams 13 on the container finish since they are located between locking lugs 8 of the cap and hence will not interfere with the application or removal of the cap onto the container.

It will be seen from the above that the present invention provides an improved closure cap which does not have a continuous thread to improve the appearance of the package and which has a skirt of sutficient depth to hide the usual bead below the container finish to further improve the appearance of the finished package. The invention also provides a closure cap in which the possibility of liners being discarded is minimized. Another important advantage of this invention is that the closure cap can be easily applied to the container by an automatic sealing machine and that the liner-retaining lugs do not interfere with the application or removal of the closure onto the container.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A closure cap comprising a cover portion and a skirt portion, a plurality of spaced inclined indentations on said skirt portion forming locking cams, said locking cams being on the same elevational plane with each other and being located in the upper Zone of said skirt portion, a liner in said closure cap and a second plurality of circumferentially spaced indentations formed in the upper zone of said skirt portion adjacent said cover portion above the level of said locking cams and in close adjacency to said level to form liner-retaining lugs to support and retain said liner in said cap, each of said linerretaining lugs being of approximately the same length as each of said locking cams and being located directly above the space between two of said locking earns, the leading and trailing edges of each cam being circumferentially spaced from the trailing and leading edges respectively of the next adjacent pair of lugs, and the spacing of the lugs above the level of the cams and the circumferential spacing of the lugs from each other being such that when the cap is screwthreadedly seated on a container having circumferentially spaced thread segments each lug will be spaced circumferentially short of the leading edge of one of said thread segments.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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