EP2321192B1

EP2321192B1 - Security capsule with breakable reservoir and cutter

Info

Publication number: EP2321192B1
Application number: EP08876045A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Valerio Paganuzzi
Original assignee: Bormioli Rocco and Figlio SpA
Current assignee: Bormioli Rocco SpA
Priority date: 2008-09-10
Filing date: 2008-09-10
Publication date: 2012-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 2028-09-10
Also published as: EP2321192A1; ATE548290T1; BRPI0820125A2; WO2010029585A1; BRPI0820125B1; US20100282624A1

Abstract

A safety capsule (1) with a reservoir (2) is breakable by means of a cutter (3), and is usable for single-dose or multi-dose containers. The capsule comprises a cap (4) associated to a mouth (7) of the container, in which the reservoir (2) destined to contain the cutter (3) is afforded, and a closing cover (5), provided with a security strip (6); first connecting means (4a, 6a, 4e, 5d) prevent, with the security strip (6) unbroken, an axially-directed translation between the cover (5) and the cap (4); second connecting means (4b, 5b), when the capsule is unopened, render the cover (5) and the cap (4) solid in rotation in a screwing-on direction of the cap (4) on the mouth (2) and free in rotation in an unscrewing direction of the cap (4) on the mouth (2); third connecting means (4c, 5c) render the cover (5) and the cap (4) solid in rotation when the cover is in the lower position (B) thereof.

Description

Technical Field

The invention relates to a security capsule with a breakable reservoir and cutter.

Background Art

The prior art comprise packs, both single-dose and multi-dose, which comprise a container, containing a liquid, on which is mounted a closing capsule, of various types; a reservoir is arranged internally of the closing capsule, provided with a breakable bottom, internally of which there is a cutter element which following a pressure exerted thereon causes the breakage of the breakable bottom. A substance is contained in the reservoir, in general powder or granules, which on breaking the breakable bottom of the reservoir, falls into the container and is dissolved in the liquid contained in the container. In this way the desired solution is prepared at moment of use. At times it happens that the user, perhaps distracted or not familiar with the correct use of these capsules, removes the capsule from the container, or removes the cutting element from the reservoir, without the reservoir's having been broken and thus without the substance contained in the reservoir entering the container and dissolving in the liquid to give rise to the desired solution.
Both these manoeuvres lead to considerable drawbacks: if the capsule is removed from the container, the user drinks only the solvent without obtaining any of the effects desired by the administration of the solution; if the cutting element is removed from the reservoir the powders contained within, apart from degrading on coming into contact with the air, can be dispersed and in any case it is hard to subsequently insert them in the container.
EP 1 795 457 discloses a safety capsule according to the preamble of claim 1.
The aim of the present invention is to obviate the drawbacks by providing a capsule according to claim 1 which enables the known-type capsules to be used, and which does not enable the container to be opened before the powders contained in the reservoir are introduced into the container.
An advantage of the present invention is that it enables use of the capsule by simple rotating movements.
A further advantages of the present invention is to provide a capsule with a reservoir which is easy and simple to use.

Disclosure of Invention

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will better emerge from the detailed description that follows of an embodiment of the capsule with the reservoir of the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying figures of the drawings, in which:

figure 1 is an exploded view of the single pieces which make up the capsule of the invention;
figure 2. is an exploded view of the pieces, partially assembled, which make up the capsule of the invention;
figure 3 is a vertical-elevation section of the capsule of the invention, mounted on the mouth of a container, in the upper position A thereof;
figure 4 is a detail, in enlarged scale, of the capsule of figure 3;
figure 5 is a vertical-elevation section of the capsule of the invention, mounted on the mouth of a container, in its lower position B;
figure 6 is a vertical-elevation section of the capsule of the invention, unscrewed from the mouth of a container.

For the sake of clarity, note that the positions indicated in the description as "upper - high" and "lower - low", attributed to various elements of the capsule relate to a normal positioning of the capsule itself above a container in an erect position resting with the bottom thereof on an underlying plane.
In the figures, 7 denotes the mouth of a container (not shown in its entirety) which is closed by a capsule 1 of the present type. The capsule, as almost all the known capsules of this type, exhibits a substantially cylindrical conformation.
A reservoir 2 is associated to the capsule 1, in a way which will be more fully described herein below, which reservoir 2 can contain substances, in particular powders or granules. This type of capsule, as with capsules of known type, is normally used for single-dose or multi-dose containers that are used to provide a solution of a substance contained in the reservoir, which immediately before use is made to fall, usually by force of gravity, into a solvent, generally a liquid solvent, contained in the container. The fall of the substance into the solvent is caused by the breakage of a breakable bottom of the reservoir 2 obtained, as in known-type capsules, by means of a cutter 3 which is normally constituted by a superiorly-closed cylindrical element having a fluted bottom which can be opened by pressing on the bottom of the reservoir and breaking the bottom open. The cutter occupies a large part of the internal space of the reservoir, so that often the cutter itself acts as a reservoir for at least a part of the substances contained. Also in known-type applications, the cutter is snugly inserted in the reservoir and can further be provided with a stop which inserts in a cavity of the reservoir and which makes the cutter difficult to extract completely from the reservoir.
The capsule 1 of the invention comprises a closing cap 4 of the mouth 7 of the container which contains the solvent; the cap 4 is fixed on the mouth of the container by a threaded coupling; the connection is removable such as to enable both screwing-on of the capsule on the container during assembly or closure after first use thereof, and opening of the container once the liquid-substance solution has been obtained. The cap 4 is normally made of an elastically-deformable plastic material.
The reservoir 2 is afforded in the cap, the reservoir 2 developing towards the inside of the container starting from the upper surface of the cap. The reservoir 2 is preferably made by moulding in a single piece with the cap itself. When the cap is screwed onto the mouth of the container, the upper surface thereof strikes against the upper part of the mouth 7 of the container to define the maximum screwed-up position of the cap on the mouth. The cap 4 is further normally provided with an internal stop, visible in the figures, which inserts in the mouth of the container to better fix the positioning of the cap on the container itself, and to guarantee sealing thereof. The cutter 3 is a separate part and is inserted in the reservoir 2 such that the upper wall thereof extends upwards with respect to the upper surface of the cap 4.
The capsule further comprises a closing cover 5 which is provided with a security strip 6 connected to the lower part thereof, with an easy-break connection. The cover is normally made of a not-greatly-deformable plastic material. The cover is associated to the cap 4 such as to make the cap inaccessible from the outside and such as to press, following a downwards translation, on the upper wall of the cutter 3. The closing cover 5 is normally, with the capsule whole, in an upper position A (shown in figure 3) in which the security strip is whole and the lower surface of the strip 6 is in contact with the lower part of the cap 4. In this position the internal wall of the cover 5 is not in contact with the upper wall of the cutter 3. When the security strip breached the closing cover 5 can translate with respect to the cap 4 and in an axial direction, between the upper position A and a lower position B (illustrated in figure 5) in which the security strip has been removed and the lower surface of the cover 5 is in contact with the lower part of the cap 4; during this translation, the internal wall of the cover 5 comes into contact with the upper wall of the cutter 3.
A threaded coupling is provided between the cap 4 and the cover 5, which coupling comprises a threaded zone 4d, which is fashioned on the external wall of the cap 4, and comprises at least a tract of thread 5d fashioned on the internal wall of the cover 5. This tract of thread 5d has further functions, which will be better described herein below.
Two or three tracts of thread 5d are advantageously fashioned, which are arranged in such a way as not to interfere with the threaded zone 4d when the cover is in the position A and such as to enter into gripping contact with the threaded zone 4d when the security strip 6 is removed and the cover is slightly lowered down on the cap.
For reasons which will better emerge during the course of the following description, the easy-break connection between the security strip 6 and the closing cover 5, a connection which as usually happens develops along a circumferential line which exhibits connecting struts between the cover and the strip, exhibits, on at least a part thereof, a frontally-engaging profile 56, teeth of which are fashioned partly on the cover 5 and partly on the strip 6; in other words the connecting line is not a circumference but, at least in some tracts thereof, exhibits square arches which define, on the cover and on the strip, teeth and recesses of the frontal engagement 56.
The capsule of the invention comprises first connecting means, between the cover 5 and the cap 4, which, when the strip 6 is whole or when the capsule has not yet been opened for the first time, prevent axially-directed translation between the cover and the cap. In the illustrated embodiment these first connecting means comprise a first annular meeting plane 6a which is fashioned inferiorly on the security strip 6; when the capsule is in its upper position A, this first annular plane 6a rests on a second annular meeting plane 4a which is fashioned externally of the cap 4 and prevents any further descent of the cover with respect to the cap, but would not prevent its rising; in order to prevent the rising of the cover with respect to the cap, i.e. totally preventing the reciprocal movements of axial translation of the two elements, the first means further comprise an annular projection 4e, which is fashioned superiorly on the cap 4, below which, when the capsule is in the position A thereof, an internal annular projection 5d is arranged, fashioned internally of the cover 5. This first means does not however prevent rotation between the two elements.
Preferably, as happens in the illustrated embodiment in the figures, the internal annular projection 5d is represented by the tracts of thread 5d. There is, therefore, a zone on the cap 4 between the annular projection 4e and the threaded zone 4d in which the elements 5d are arranged when the capsule is whole. These elements 5d therefore have a double function: together with the projection 4e they prevent the cover from rising with respect to the cap when the capsule is whole, while together with the threaded zone 4d they allow the screwing of the cover onto the cap when the security strip 6 is removed.
The capsule of the invention further comprises second connecting means, located between the cover 5 and the cap 4, which when the capsule is whole render the cover and the cap solid in rotation in the screwing direction of the cap 4 onto the mouth 2, leaving them free in rotation in the unscrewing direction. In the illustrated embodiment the second connecting means comprise a plurality of first projections 4b which have a saw-tooth section and which are arranged, in a radial direction, on the upper surface of the second annular meeting plane 4a afforded externally of the cap 4. The first projections 4b couple with a plurality of second projections 6b also having saw-tooth shaped teeth, which are arranged in a radial direction on the lower surface of the first annular meeting plane 6a, fashioned inferiorly on the security strip 6. The sections of the first and second projections have opposite inclinations such that the projections engage with one another during the stage of screwing-on of the cover on the cap and slide with respect to one another during the stage of unscrewing the cover from the cap.
The capsule of the invention further comprises third connecting means which render the cover and the cap solid in rotation in any direction when the cover is in the lower position B thereof.
In the illustrated embodiment the third connecting means comprise a first cogged crown 5c, which is fashioned on the internal wall of the cover 5, which engages in a second cogged crown 4c, fashioned superiorly of the cap 4, when the cover 5 is in the lower position B. Preferably, as shown in the figures, the second crown 4c is fashioned on the annular projection 4e; the first crown 5c is arranged, internally of the cover 5, in a position such as not to interfere with the second crown 4c when the capsule is whole.
In other words, the crowns 5c and 4c constituted a sort of engagement with frontal teeth that engage when the cover is in a lower position B.
The use of the capsule is as described herein below.
The capsule 1, which as mentioned is realised in three distinct pieces, is assembled by the constructor who inserts the cutter 3 containing the substance to be mixed with the contents of the container on which the capsule will be applied in the reservoir 2. The cap 4 is then covered with the cover 5; this operation, performed by a press-fitting, is possible thanks to the elastic deformability of the cap which can deform in a radial direction and allow passage of the annular projections 5d, present internally of the cover, over the annular projection 4c present on the cap 4.
The insertion of the cover 5 on the cap 4 is complete when the meeting plane 6a, fashioned on the security strip, goes into contact with the meeting plane 4a afforded on the cap 4; the capsule 1 is then in the first position denoted by A in the figures.
In this conformation the cover 5 completely covers the cap 4. Worthy of note is the fact that during the assembly stage between the cap and the cutter, the substance to be mixed can be container, according to the type of machine used for the packaging, either in the cutter or in the reservoir.
Thus assembled, the capsule is inserted on the mouth of the container by screwing; this operation is done by gripping, generally using automatic machines, the cover of the capsule and rotating the cover, and consequently the cap which is solid in rotation with the cover thanks to the presence of the sawtooth projections 4b and 6b in the screwing direction. Note that in capsules of this type, insertion of the capsule must be done by screwing and not pressing as a pressure on the cover might cause the cutter to lower and thus lead to the breakage of the reservoir. Note also that the presence of the square arches, i.e. the frontally-engaging profile 56, along the easy-break connection between the cover 5 and the strip 6, prevents accidental breakage of the easy-break connection during the stage of screwing of the capsule onto the container.
The whole container-capsule pack, thus assembled, is ready for use. In this conformation the capsule is in the upper position A (figure 3) and has the security strip intact, signalling that the assembly has never been opened. The only accessible part of the capsule is the cover, and it is only by acting on the cover that the following operations can be performed; in this position it is not possible to unscrew the capsule as the cap is not solid in unscrewing rotation with the cover; it is also not possible to perform a further screwing of the capsule inasmuch as the cap strikes against the mouth of the container; finally, an axial translation of the cover with respect to the cap is not possible as this operation, thanks to the presence of the first connecting means, can be done only by breaking the security strip and thus making it obvious that the capsule has been opened. The presence of the frontally-engaging profile 56 further prevents the user from inadvertently breaking the easy-break connection by forcing a possible screwing movement of the cover on the cap which, in the absence of the frontal engagement 56, would cause rupture between the connection 5 and the strip 6.
At moment of use the security strip is broken, i.e. it is removed in a known way, enabling a downwards translation of the cover with respect to the cap. In this situation too it is not possible, thanks to the presence of the annular projections 4e and 5d, to raise the capsule, and it is therefore not possible to open the container.
Thus cover 5 is therefore pushed slightly downwards up to inserting the tracts of thread 5d on the threaded zone 4d; the further descent of the cover on the cap is done by screwing the cover on the cap, made possible by the threaded coupling between the two elements. This movement, which brings the capsule into its lower position B (figure 5), causes the descent of the cutter with respect to the reservoir, the breakage of the bottom of the reservoir and the consequent falling into the container of the substance contained in the reservoir. Note that with respect to a pressing movement, the rotation movement causing the breaking of the bottom of the reservoir is much easier for the user. Note also that in order to cause the descent of the container onto the cap, a screwing movement has been described, evidently obtained with a right-wise thread coupling; should a lowering of the container on the cap using an unscrewing direction be required, it will be necessary to adopt a left-wise thread coupling between the container and the cap.
This lowering movement of the container on the cap also brings the crown 5c to engage with the crown 4c and thus solidly engages the cover and the cap in rotation; cover and cap are therefore solid in axial translation inasmuch as the threaded coupling existing between the cover and the cap does not permit an axial translation by raising between the two elements. It is thus possible to unscrew the cover, and the cap which is solid in rotation therewith, and open the container to gain access to the contents thereof.
With the capsule of the invention it is not possible to open the container without the mixing of the substance contained in the reservoir with the contents of the container having taken place; nor is it possible to extract the cutter from the reservoir in order to accede to the contents of the reservoir, without causing the breakage of the security strip and in any case the visible deformation of the capsule. The capsule, in its position B can, finally, be used as a normal screw-cap, for re-closing the container if the container is of the multidose type.

Claims

A safety capsule (1) with a reservoir (2) which is breakable by means of a cutter (3), for single-dose or multi-dose containers, of a type usable for mixing substances with liquids at moment of use and comprising: a cap (4) associated to a mouth (7) of the container by means of a threaded coupling, an upper surface of which cap (4), from which the reservoir extends towards an inside of the cap (4), strikes against an upper part of the mouth (7) of the container to define a position of maximum screwing-on of the cap (4) on the mouth (7); a closing cover (5), provided with a security strip (6) connected to a lower part thereof by an easy-break connection, associated to the cap (4) such as to make the cap (4) inaccessible from outside and such as to press, following a downwards translation, on the upper wall of the cutter (3); wherein the upper wall of the cutter projects upwards with respect to the upper surface of the cap (4); the closing cover (5) can translate with respect to the cap (4) and in an axial direction between an upper position (A) in which the security strip is unbroken and the lower surface of the strip (6) is in contact with the lower part of the cap (4), and a lower position (B) in which the security strip has been removed and the lower surface of the cover (5) is in contact with the lower part of the cap (4); characterized in that it further comprises, between the cover (5) and the cap (4); first connecting means (4a, 6a, 4e, 5d) for preventing, with the security strip (6) unbroken, an axially-directed translation between the cover (5) and the cap (4); second connecting means (4b, 5b) which, when the capsule is unopened, render the cover (5) and the cap (4) solid in rotation in a screwing-on direction of the cap (4) on the mouth (2) and free in rotation in an unscrewing direction of the cap (4) on the mouth (2); third connecting means (4c, 5c) for rendering the cover (5) and the cap (4) solid in rotation when the cover is in the lower position (B) thereof.
The capsule of claim 1, wherein a threaded coupling is provided between the cap (4) and the cover (5), which threaded coupling comprises a threaded zone (4d), fashioned on an external wall of the cap (4), and comprises at least a tract of thread (5d) which is fashioned on an internal wall of the cover (5) and is arranged such as not to interfere with the threaded zone (4d) when the cover is in the upper position (A) and in order to enter into an engagement with the threaded zone (4d) when the security strip (6) is removed.
The capsule of claim 2, wherein the easy-break connection between the security strip (6) and the closing cover (5) develops along a circumferential line on at least a part of which a frontally-engaging profile (56) is fashioned, teeth of which profile (56) are fashioned partly on the cover (5) and partly on the strip (6).
The capsule of claim 1, wherein the first connecting means comprise: a first annular meeting plane (6a) fashioned inferiorly on the security strip (6), which rests on a second annular meeting plane (4a) fashioned externally on the cap (4), when the capsule is in the upper position (A); an annular projection (4e), fashioned superiorly on the cap (4), below which an internal annular projection (5d) is arranged, fashioned internally on the cover (5) when the capsule is in the upper position (A).
The capsule of claim 1, wherein the second connecting means comprise a plurality of first projections (4b), having a sawtooth section and arranged in a radial direction on an upper surface of a second annular meeting plane (4a) externally fashioned on the cap (4), which plurality of first projections (4b) couples with a plurality of second projections (6b), having a sawtooth section and arranged in a radial direction on a lower surface of a first annular meeting plane (6a), fashioned inferiorly on the security strip (6); the sections of the first projections (4b) and the second projections (6b) having opposite inclinations such that the first projections (4b) and the second projections (6b) engage with one another during a screwing-on of the cover on the cap and slide with respect to one another during a stage of unscrewing of the cover from the cap.
The capsule of claim 1, wherein the third connecting means comprise a first cogged crown (5c), fashioned on an internal wall of the cover (5), which engages in a second cogged crown (4c), fashioned superiorly on the cap (4) when the cover (5) is in the lower position (B) thereof.