Safety sealed reservoir cap

• US 9,126,731 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2008
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Sunrider Corporation
• Original Assignee: The Sunrider Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Tei Fu
• Primary Examiner(s): Mathew, Fenn
• Assistant Examiner(s): Smalley, James N
• Application Number:
  US12/253,404
• Publication Number:
  US 20090139951A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,517 Days
• Field of Search: 206/222, 206/0.5, 206/219, 215/227, 215/297, 222/83
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 51/225 and further comprising a device first inhibiting displacement of the outer closure B65D51/223 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 51/2835 ruptured by a sharp element, e.g. a cutter or a piercer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 215/08 Mixing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49945 by driven force fit

Abstract

A sealed reservoir cap for attaching to a bottle includes an annular part slidably received into another annular part to define an enclosed reservoir there between that is closed off by a punchable seal.

Claims

1. A sealed reservoir cap comprising:

a first hollow part capped at one end thereof and formed with a protrusion on an outer diameter of the first hollow part, wherein said protrusion comprises a ring;

a second hollow part having a punchable seal closing one end thereof and slidably receiving the first hollow part therein with the punchable seal axially opposite from the capped end to define an enclosed reservoir therebetween;

the second hollow part comprising;

a recess to receive the protrusion therein, the two hollow parts defining a first annular space therebetween sealed by engagement of the protrusion against the recess;

a notched groove positioned on a wall of the recess and arranged in said inner diameter to receive said ring when the first hollow part is pressed into the second hollow part through the punchable seal; and

an annular part disposed around and securely attached to the outside of the second hollow part to define a second annular space between the annular part and the second hollow part, the annular part formed with threads extending around an inner diameter of the annular part to threadably engage a bottleneck in the second annular space and dispose the punchable seal within the bottle; and

a removable annular seal holding the two hollow parts in an axially fixed, spaced apart relationship and, upon removal of the removable annular seal, allowing the first hollow part to be pushed into the second hollow part for the first protrusion to be received in the second recess and the uncapped end of the first hollow part to dislodge the punchable seal.

2. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 1, wherein the punchable seal has a scored line of weakness such that the uncapped end dislodges a portion of the punchable seal.

3. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 1, wherein the uncapped edge is defined by an oval.

4. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 1 fabricated from materials selected to prevent degradation of contents within the enclosed reservoir.

5. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 1, wherein the enclosed reservoir contains dry or liquid contents.

6. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 5, wherein the contents of the enclosed reservoir are released upon dislodging the punchable seal.

7. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 5, wherein the contents of the enclosed reservoir are released upon dislodging the punchable seal.

8. A sealed reservoir cap comprising:

a first hollow part capped at one end thereof;

a second hollow part having a punchable seal closing one end thereof and slidably receiving the first hollow part therein with the punchable seal axially opposite from the capped end to define an enclosed reservoir therebetween;

a removable annular seal holding the two hollow parts in an axially fixed, spaced apart relationship and, upon removal of the removable annular seal, allowing the first hollow part to be pushed into the second hollow part allowing for engagement of a locking means and an uncapped end of the first hollow part to dislodge the punchable seal, and an annular part disposed around the outside of the second hollow part to define a first annular space between the annular part and the outside of the second hollow part, the annular part formed with threads extending around an inner diameter of the annular part to threadably engage a bottleneck in the first annular space and dispose the punchable seal within the bottle;

a ring portion attached to the annular part, said ring portion having a groove; and

a notch set on an exterior portion of the first hollow part and positioned such that it interfaces with the groove of the ring portion when the first hollow part is pressed into the second hollow part through the punchable seal.

9. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 8, further comprising an annular seal wherein the first hollow part is formed with a recess around an outer diameter of the first hollow part and the second hollow part is formed with a protrusion around an inner diameter of the second hollow part and the two hollow parts define a second annular space therebetween sealed by engagement of the protrusion of the second hollow part into the recess of the first hollow part.

10. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 8, wherein the punchable seal has a scored line of weakness such that the uncapped end dislodges a portion of the punchable seal.

11. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 8, wherein the uncapped edge is defined by an oval.

12. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 8 fabricated from materials selected to prevent degradation of contents within the enclosed reservoir.

13. The sealed reservoir cap of claim 8, wherein the enclosed reservoir contains dry or liquid contents.

14. A sealed reservoir cap comprising:

a first hollow part capped at one end thereof and comprising a protrusion and a recess around an outer diameter of the first hollow part, wherein said first protrusion comprises a ring;

a second hollow part having a punchable seal closing one end thereof and slidably receiving the first hollow part therein with the punchable seal axially opposite from the capped end to define an enclosed reservoir therebetween;

the second hollow part further formed with a barrier surface around an inner diameter of the second hollow part and a notched groove arranged in the inner diameter of the second hollow part to receive said ring when the first hollow part is pushed into the second hollow part through the punchable seal, the two hollow parts defining a first annular space therebetween sealed by engagement of the barrier surface against a surface forming the recess on the outer diameter of the first hollow part;

a removable annular seal holding the two hollow parts in an axially fixed, spaced apart relationship and, upon removal of the removable annular seal, allowing the first hollow part to be pushed into the second hollow part for the uncapped end of the first hollow part to dislodge the punchable seal, and an annular part disposed around and securely attached to the outside of the second hollow part to define a second annular space between the annular part and the outside of the second hollow part, the annular part formed with threads extending around its inner diameter to threadably engage a bottleneck in the second annular space and dispose the punchable seal within the bottle.

15. A method for forming a sealed reservoir cap comprising the steps of:

forming a first hollow part capped at one end thereof with a first protrusion, wherein said first protrusion comprises a ring;

forming a second hollow part having a punchable seal closing one end thereof and capable of slidably receiving the first hollow part therein with the punchable seal axially opposite from the capped end to define an enclosed reservoir therebetween;

forming a barrier surface around the inner diameter of the second hollow part;

forming a notched groove arranged in said inner diameter to, when the first hollow part is pushed into the second hollow part through the punchable seal, receive said ring;

forming a recess to receive the protrusion therein;

forming a first annular space between the two hollow parts;

sealing said first annular space by engagement of the barrier surface with the first hollow part;

forming a removable annular seal disposed to hold the two hollow parts in an axially fixed spaced apart relationship;

allowing the first hollow part to be pushed into the second hollow part for the protrusion to be received in the recess and the uncapped end of the first annular part to dislodge the punchable seal by removing the removable seal;

forming an annular part disposed around the outside of the second hollow part to define a second annular space between the annular part and the outside of the second hollow part; and

forming threads extending around the inner diameter of the third annular part to engage a bottleneck in the second annular space and dispose the punchable seal within the bottle.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of scoring a line of weakness such that the uncapped end dislodges only a portion of the punchable seal.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of forming the uncapped end in an oval shape.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of forming the sealed reservoir cap from materials selected to prevent degradation of contents within the enclosed reservoir.

19. A method of providing a powder or liquid to a bottle using a sealed reservoir cap formed by the method of claim 15, comprising the steps of one selected from the group of sterilizing, filtering, pasteurizing and combinations thereof the contents of the bottle container prior to providing the sealed reservoir cap to the bottle.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising the step of mixing the released reservoir contents with the contents of the bottle.

21. The method of claim 19, comprising the steps of removing the sealed reservoir cap from the bottle and heating the contents of the bottle container prior to removal of the removable seal.