US 5,439,124 AGranted

Closure unit on flowable product container

AssigneeTetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A.

InventorElmar Mock

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Abstract

A closure unit for a container for storing and handling flowable products is made from at least two different thermoplastic materials, the different materials fulfilling different functions. A basic thermoplastic material (A.2) is used for sealing against the container (G.2), and an area made of another different thermoplastic material (B.2,C) is provided to fulfill additional sealing functions, to increase mechanical stability, to have a reduced permeability, and to provide increased elasticity for additional opening and closing and/or absorption characteristics. The closure unit is produced by a multimaterial injection molding process, so that contact surfaces between the different thermoplastic materials can be interconnected by reversible or irreversible positive engagement and/or by more or less pronounced melting into one another. The closure unit is in two parts and comprises a pouring part (1.2) and a closure part (2.2), or is in one part. The two-part closure unit is produced in a single operation in a closed state.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A closure unit made from thermoplastic material for closing a container for the handling and storing of a flowable product, the closure unit comprising:

a first continuous area made from a basic thermoplastic material;
and
at least a second continuous area made from another thermoplastic material which differs from the basic thermoplastic material in at least one property;
said first continuous area having a closed sealing surface which is connectable around a container opening in a tight sealing manner with respect to the container material;
said first and second continuous areas being coupled to one another such that they are separable only as a result of an at least partial destruction of at least one of said first and second continuous areas;
a pouring part which comprises at least a portion of said first continuous area, and which is at least partly made from said basic thermoplastic material;
and
a closure part for closing said pouring part, said closure part comprising at least a portion of said second continuous area, and said closure part being at least partly made from said another thermoplastic material;
said basic thermoplastic material and said another thermoplastic material having respective properties such that they can be molded onto one another without coalescing;
at least one of said pouring part and said closure part having positive engagement means for engaging the other of said pouring part and closure part;
and
said pouring part having at least one sealing surface made from said basic thermoplastic material, and said closure part having at least one sealing surface made from said another thermoplastic material, said sealing surfaces of said pouring part and said closure part, in a closed state of the closure unit, resting on one another and together with said positive engagement means forming a reversible, tight connection of said closure part to said pouring part.

9 more elements

In a container made from coated cardboard for containing a flowable product, the container having a closure unit made from thermoplastic material, and the closure unit being fixable on the container, the improvement wherein the closure unit comprises:

a first continuous area made from a basic thermoplastic material;
at least one second continuous area made from another thermoplastic material;
said basic thermoplastic material and said another thermoplastic material differing from each other in at least one property;
the first continuous area having a closed sealing surface which is connectable around a container opening in tight manner with the container material;
the first and second continuous areas being separable only as a result of at least partial destruction of at least one of said first and second continuous areas;
a pouring part which comprises at least a portion of said first continuous area, and which is at least partly made from said basic thermoplastic material;
and
a closure part fur closing said pouring part, said closure part comprising at least a portion of said second continuous area, and said closure part being at least partly made from said another thermoplastic material;
said basic thermoplastic material and said another thermoplastic material having respective properties such that they can be molded onto one another without coalescing;
at least one of said pouring part and said closure part having positive engagement means for engaging the other of said pouring part and closure part;
and
said pouring part having at least one sealing surface made from said basic thermoplastic material, and said closure part having at least one sealing surface made from said another thermoplastic material, said sealing surfaces of said pouring part and said closure part, in a closed state of the closure unit, resting on one another and together with said positive engagement means forming a reversible, tight connection of said closure part to said pouring part.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 08/050,417Filed 14 May 1993
Priority: CH 2739/9117 Sep 1991
Granted: 8 Aug 1995
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

B65D 41/32
Caps, e.g. crown caps or crown seals, i.e. members having parts arranged for engagement with the external periphery of a neck or wall defining a…:…
B29C 45/1675
Making multilayered or multicoloured articles: using exchangeable mould halves
B65D 39/00
Closures arranged within necks or pouring openings or in discharge apertures
B65D 39/0058
Made in more than one piece: from natural or synthetic cork, e.g. for wine bottles or the like