Closure mechanism that prevents accidental initial opening of a container

• US 10,640,270 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2017
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Original Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Inventors: Port, Markus, Ulas, Ibrahim
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomas, Kareen K
• Application Number:
  US15/718,645
• Publication Number:
  US 20180086521A1
• Time in Patent Office: 950 Days
• Field of Search: 220114, 2202543, 2202541, 2202549, 2202591, 220212, 220265, 220266, 215243, 215237, 215235, 215228, 215250, 215254, 215253, 222568, 222567, 222562, 222559
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 2401/00 Tamper-indicating means
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 47/0857 made separately from the base element provided with the spout or discharge passage
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 55/06 Deformable or tearable wires, strings, or strips containers specially constructed to be opened by tear-strips, strings or the like B65D17/00; caps or cap-like closures with tear-strips B65D41/32; Use of seals , e.g. destructible locking pins B65D55/022 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention is directed toward providing container closure structures that include at least one breakable or irreversibly deformable engagement element. Specifically, a closure having at least one engagement element that is breakable or irreversibly deformable upon application of an opening force that is equal to, or higher than, a threshold force value, wherein the closure comprises one or more moveable parts and one or more fixed parts; and wherein the engagement element engages the moveable part and the fixed part of the closure; and wherein the mechanical part inhibits the separation between the moveable and the fixed part of the closure upon application of opening force below the threshold force value; and sealing together the moveable part and the fixed part of the closure at one or more locations; a breakable splint which connects the moveable and fixed parts of the closure created by a two step molding process.

Claims

1. A closure comprising at least one engagement element that is breakable or irreversibly deformable upon application of an opening force that is equal to, or higher than, a threshold force value, wherein the closure comprises one or more moveable parts and one or more fixed parts;

and wherein the engagement element engages one or more moveable parts and one or more of the fixed parts of the closure; and

wherein the engagement element is selected from a group consisting of;

(a) a mechanical part which is attached to one or more of the moveable parts or one or more of the fixed part of the closure and wherein the mechanical part inhibits a separation between the moveable and the fixed part of the closure upon application of opening force below the threshold force value; and

wherein the closure is a pin-and-hole flip top and the engagement element is a mechanical part attached to a lower part of a pin having a width larger than a width of an adjacent portion of the pin and wherein the mechanical part is breakable or irreversibly deformable upon application of an opening force that is equal to, or higher than, a threshold force value wherein the closure comprises a mushroom pin inserted through an orifice of the closure for dispensing and wherein the engagement element is not visible at a closed state of the container;

(b) sealing together one or more of the moveable parts and one or more of the fixed parts of the closure at one or more locations and wherein the engagement element is not visible at a closed state of the container wherein the sealing together of the moveable part and the fixed part of the closure is achieved by welding wherein the welding is produced by a light energy wherein the light is a laser;

(c) a breakable splint which connects one or more of the moveable and fixed parts of the closure created by a two step molding process wherein (1) a first step results in a closure that includes a hollow space which spans in both the moveable and the fixed parts of the closure at a closed position and wherein the engagement element is not visible at a closed state of the container and wherein

(2) a second step includes a filling of the hollow space with a liquid plastic which solidifies or hardens upon cooling or upon thermosetting;

and wherein a ratio of the threshold force value to a required force to open the closure after an initial opening is larger than 1.25.

2. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of the threshold force value to the required force to open the closure after the initial opening is larger than 1.5.

3. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of the threshold force value to the required force to open the closure after the initial opening is larger than 2.

4. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of the threshold force value to the required force to open the closure after the initial opening is larger than 3.

5. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of the threshold force value to the required force to open the closure after the initial opening is larger than 4.

6. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of the threshold force value to the required force to open the closure after the initial opening is larger than 5.

7. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the threshold force required to open the closure for a first time is from 12 N to 50 N.

8. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the threshold force required to open the closure for a first time is from 18 N to 40 N.

9. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the threshold force required to open the closure for a first time is from 20 N to 35 N.

10. The closure according to claim 1, wherein the closure is constructed by a thermoplastic material.

11. The closure according to claim 1, wherein the closure is a flip top closure.

12. The closure according to claim 1, wherein the closure is a disk closure.

13. The closure according to claim 1, wherein the engagement element is a mechanical part which is attached to the moveable part of the closure.

14. The closure according to claim 13 wherein the engagement element is breakable.

15. The closure according to claim 1, wherein the engagement element is a sealing together of the moveable part and the fixed part of the closure at one or more locations.

16. The closure according to claim 15, wherein the sealing together of the moveable part and the fixed part of the closure is achieved by gluing.

17. The closure according to claim 16, wherein the sealing together of the moveable part and the fixed part of the closure is achieved by applying an adhesive after an injecting molding process and a hardening of material.

18. The closure according to claim 1, wherein the engagement element is a breakable splint which connects the moveable and fixed parts of the closure created by a two step molding process wherein (1) a first step results in a closure that includes a hollow space which spans in both the moveable and the fixed parts of the closure at a closed position and wherein (2) a second step includes the filling of the hollow space with a liquid plastic which solidifies or hardens upon cooling or upon thermosetting.