Safety closure means for pressurized bottles and other like containers

A sealed bottle of sparkling wine or the like, said bottle having a neck defining an opening from the surrounding atmosphere to the bottle interior, said opening sealed against the passage of air by a resealable safety closure, said closure comprising the combination of a removably secured metal cap means and a self-releasing plug means, said cap means having a crown and a skirt depending therefrom and screw threads on said skirt, said plug means at least partly enclosed by and retained by said cap means so that same may be simultaneously removed from and reapplied to said bottle, said plug means comprising

• tubular member means readily insertable into said opening,
• flange means near one end of said tubular member means and retained by the interior of said cap means in axially slidable relationship thereto, said flange means adapted to seat upon the area of the bottle adjacently surrounding the opening when said tubular member means is disposed within the opening to limit movement of the tubular member means into the opening,
• said tubular member means including
• transversely expandable annular sealing area means located along said tubular member means an axial distance below said flange means sufficient to avoid substantial restriction by said flange means of transverse expansion of said sealing area means,
• button member means located radially centrally of said tubular member means and engageable with the interior crown of said cap means,
• connecting means connecting said button means to said sealing area means wherein axial movement of said button means is translated by said connecting means to transverse movement of said sealing area means, said sealing area means capable of variation of expansion, for a predetermined axial movement of said button means, with the diameter of the opening of the bottle to effectively seal a relatively wide range of diameters of bottle openings against leakage of bottle contents
• said connecting means including
• relatively rigid inclined wall means,
• a relatively flexible annular first hinge means connecting said wall means to said sealing area means,
• a relatively flexible annular second hinge means connecting said wall means to said button means,
• said inclined wall means extending downwardly and outwardly from said second hinge means to said first hinge means,
• said connecting means being transversely narrower in axial cross section than said button means,
• said first and second hinge means axially substantially thinner and transversely substantially narrower than said inclined wall means,
• said cap means and said plug means cooperating so that when said cap means is in said sealed position,
• i. said button means is axially depressed,
• ii. said plug means is in an unstable position,
• iii. said sealing area means is in a transversely expanded position of sealing engagement against the interior neck of said bottle, said plug means then forming an air-tight barrier between the bottle contents and the surrounding atmosphere, and
• iv. said second hinge means is axially closer to said flange means than said first hinge means,
• said cap means movable from said sealed position into an unsealed position by unscrewing same, said cap means and said plug means cooperating when said cap means is in said unsealed condition so that
• i. said button means has moved to an axially higher equilibrium position,
• ii. said plug means is in an equilibrium position, and
• iii. said sealing area means is out of sealing engagement with the interior neck of said bottle.

A plug means for use in a resealable safety closure, which closure can be applied by conventional high-speed equipment to annular openings in necked containers, wherein the closure also includes metal capsule means having a crown and a skirt depending thereform, said capsule means adapted to enclose at least a portion of the neck of said container and being convertible into a removably secured cap means by the in situ formation of screw threads thereon by a rolling operation while said capsule is fitted on said neck,

• said plug means when used in said safety closure being at least partly enclosable by and retainable by said capsule means so that same may be simultaneously applied and removed from the container,
• said plug means comprising
• tubular member means readily insertable into a container opening,
• flange means near one end of said tubular member means and retainable by the interior of said capsule means in axially slidable relationship thereto, said flange means adapted to seat upon the area of the container adjacently surrounding the opening when said tubular member means is disposed within the opening to limit movement of the tubular member means into the opening,
• said tubular member means including transversely expandable annular sealing area means located along said tubular member means an axial distance below said flange means sufficient to avoid substantial restriction by said flange means of transverse expansion of said sealing area means,
• button means located radially centrally of said tubular member means and engageable with the interior crown of said capsule means,
• connecting means connecting said button means to said sealing area means wherein axial movement of said button means is translated by said connection means to transverse movement of said sealing area means, said sealing area means capable of expansion, for a predetermined axial movement of said button means, with the diameter of the opening of the container to effectively seal a relatively wide range of diameters of container openings against leakage of container contents
• said connecting means including
• relatively rigid inclined wall means,
• a relatively flexible annular first hinge means connecting said wall means to said sealing area means,
• a relatively flexible annular second hinge means connecting said wall means to said button means,
• said inclined wall means extending downwardly and outwardly from said second hinge means to said first hinge means,
• said connecting means being transversely narrower in axial cross section than said button means,
• said first and said second hinge means being axially substantially thinner and transversely substantially narrower than said inclined wall means,
• said plug means cooperable with said cap means so that when said cap is secured to said container,
• i. said button means is axially depressed,
• ii. said plug means is in an unstable position,
• iii. said second hinge means is axially closer to said flange means than said first hinge means, and
• iv. said sealing area means is in a transversely expanded position of sealing engagement against the interior neck of said container, said plug means then forming an air-tight barrier between the container contents and the surrounding atmosphere,
• said plug means further cooperable with said cap means so that when said cap means is unscrewed from said container,
• i. said button means is in an equilibrium position,
• ii. said plug means is in an equilibrium position, and
• iii. said sealing area means is out of sealing engagement with the interior neck of said container.