JP7605714B2 - Bottle caps - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a bottle cap that is attached to the mouth of a bottle body.

As a prior art related to a cap for a bottle mouth, the following Patent Document 1 describes a bottle stopper that has an inner stopper that is attached to the bottle mouth and a side portion that covers the bottle mouth.
The bottle stopper described in Patent Document 1 comprises a cut portion 21 provided on the side portion 20 extending upward from the lower end, a thin-walled portion 23 formed by alternating and continuous circulation portions 23a that run around the outer periphery of the side portion 20 and inclined portions 23b that are formed upward from the circulation portions 23a, a separated thin-walled portion 15 that runs around the outer periphery of the side portion 20 at the boundary between the head 12 and the side portion 20, an engagement portion 24 provided on the inner surface of the side portion 20 to engage with the annular engagement portion A2 of the bottle A, and a gap portion 25 provided in the engagement portion 24 corresponding to the position at which the thin-walled portion 23 is provided, and the outer shape of the edge portion 14 at the head 12 is formed larger than the outer shape of the bottle mouth portion A1. Furthermore, an engagement portion 24 that protrudes in the inner diameter direction is integrally formed on the upper inner surface of the side portion 20, and when the inner stopper 10 is attached to the bottle mouth portion A1 after the contents are filled into the bottle A, the engagement portion 24 engages with the annular engagement portion A2 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the bottle mouth portion A1, thereby allowing the bottle A to be closed.

JP 2017-197196 A

However, in the conventional bottle caps described above, the inner plug is not configured with a gas barrier function, so there is a risk that the liquid inside the bottle will oxidize or the smell of the liquid (such as the smell of alcohol) will leak out of the bottle, resulting in the loss of flavor and aroma of the liquid.

In addition, the above-mentioned conventional bottle caps are configured so that the lower part of the stopper is wrapped in aluminum foil or the like to prevent oxidation of the contents or transfer of odors. However, after use, the stopper and aluminum foil must be separated and disposed of, which is a cumbersome and impractical process, resulting in a problem of lack of consideration for the environment.

The present invention aims to solve the problems of the conventional technology described above by creating a bottle cap that has high gas barrier properties and eliminates the need for separation work when discarded.

Among the means for solving the above problems, the first main means of the present invention is:
A cap for a bottle mouth, comprising: an inner plug portion having a stepped portion protruding from the underside of a top wall portion and a fitting tubular portion suspended from the underside of the stepped portion , for sealing a bottle mouth; and a cap body for fitting over the bottle mouth sealed by the inner plug portion,
The cap body has a side wall in which a weakened portion constituting a breaking groove is formed, and is configured to be separable from the inner plug portion,
The center plug portion is characterized in that it has a barrier layer containing a gas barrier resin within a top wall portion, and that the top wall portion, the step portion and the basic portion forming the fitting tube portion excluding the barrier layer are made of PET resin .

The second aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first aspect,
The entire top wall or an outer surface portion of the top wall is whitened (11A) by whitening treatment.

The first and second means of the present invention are provided with a gas barrier function that prevents oxidation of the liquid contents filled in the bottle and the smell from leaking out to the outside of the bottle, thereby suppressing the loss of flavor and aroma of the liquid contents.

Another aspect of the present invention is any one of the above aspects, further comprising the step of forming a barrier layer inside the fitting tubular portion.
The above means can further improve the gas barrier function.

Another aspect of the present invention is any of the above aspects, further comprising the addition that the barrier layer is formed of any of ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), polyamide (PA), and MX nylon (MXD6).
The above-mentioned means can improve the gas barrier mechanism, so that the flavor and aroma of the content liquid can be maintained for a long period of time.

In the bottle mouth cap of the present invention, the inner plug portion is configured to have a gas barrier function, which prevents the oxidation of the contents and prevents the smell of the contents filled inside the bottle from leaking out to the outside of the bottle, thereby suppressing the loss of flavor and aroma of the contents.
Furthermore, since aluminum foil as in the past is no longer necessary, separation work at the time of disposal is also not required.

1 is a front view showing a bottle mouth cap according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a half cross-sectional view of a bottle cap according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a half cross-sectional view of a bottle cap according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a half cross-sectional view of a bottle cap according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The bottle mouth cap 1 of the present invention is attached to the bottle mouth 31 of a glass bottle body 30, such as a 1.8L bottle (a 1800ml bottle) or a No. 4 bottle (a 720ml bottle) for holding alcoholic beverages such as sake, shochu, or wine, or other liquid contents (such as soy sauce, vinegar, etc.), to seal the bottle body 30. The bottle body 30 is not limited to being made of glass, and may be made of ceramics, metal, synthetic resin, etc.

In the following description, the vertical direction along the container axis O of the bottle body 30 is referred to as the axial direction, the direction perpendicular to the container axis O is referred to as the radial direction, and the direction going around the container axis O is referred to as the circumferential direction. Furthermore, among the directions along the container axis O, the direction (side) having the bottle mouth 31 is referred to as the upper side (upper side), and the direction (side) having the bottle bottom (not shown) is referred to as the lower side (lower side).

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a bottle cap according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a half sectional view showing a bottle cap according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
The bottle mouth cap 1 of the present invention is composed of an inner plug portion 10 (see Figure 2) that is attached to a cylindrical bottle mouth 31 that opens at the top of a bottle body 30 and seals the bottle mouth 31, and a cap body 20 that encloses the entire bottle mouth 31 with the inner plug portion 10 attached from the outside, all of which are made of synthetic resin material.

As shown in FIG. 2, the stopper portion 10 shown as the first embodiment is integrally formed with a disk-shaped top wall portion 11, an annular stepped portion 12 circumferentially protruding from the underside of the top wall portion 11, and a short cylindrical fitting tube portion 13 suspended from the underside of the stepped portion 12 on the inner diameter side. The outer surface of the fitting tube portion 13, which fits tightly with the inner peripheral surface of the bottle mouth 31, and the stepped portion 12, which abuts against the upper surface of the bottle mouth 31, function as a seal portion 14.

The inside of the stopper 10, i.e., the inside of the top wall 11 and the inside of the fitting tube 13, is provided with a barrier layer 15 containing a resin with excellent gas barrier properties. The barrier layer 15 is composed of a first barrier layer 15a arranged horizontally inside the top wall 11, and a second barrier layer 15b arranged inside the fitting tube 13 and suspended from the lower surface of the first barrier layer 15a. By providing the first barrier layer 15a at least inside the top wall 11, it is possible to provide a gas barrier mechanism that prevents oxidation of the liquid contents filled in the bottle body 30 and suppresses the loss of the flavor and aroma of the liquid contents, and by providing the second barrier layer 15b inside the fitting tube 13, the gas barrier function can be improved.

Here, in the inner plug part 10 shown in the first embodiment, the basic parts forming the top wall part 11, the step part 12, and the fitting tube part 13, excluding the barrier layer 15, are made of PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) resin, which makes it possible to suppress odor transfer of the odor of the contents to the inner plug part 10. In addition, since the inner plug part 10 does not use aluminum foil as in the conventional case, it is also possible to eliminate the need for separation work at the time of disposal.
In particular, in terms of improving the prevention of oxidation of the content liquid, it is also possible to use, in addition to PET resin, known resins such as polyolefin resins such as PP resin and PE resin as the resin forming the basic part of the inner plug portion 10.

The resin forming the barrier layer 15 may be any of the known resins with gas barrier properties, such as ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), polyamide (PA), and MX nylon (MXD6, etc.), depending on the purpose of the barrier. In particular, MX nylon (MXD6, etc.) is preferred in terms of its barrier properties against oxygen and against flavors and aromas.

The barrier layer 15 may be formed by blending the resin forming the base portion with the resin forming the barrier layer 15. The seal portion 14 of the inner plug portion 10 may be made of PET resin as described above, but may also be formed by fitting or inserting a separate material (PP or PE) into the seal portion 14.

As shown in FIG. 3 of JP 2021-54430 A, for example, the bottle mouth cap 1 is formed by insert molding the inner lid body B into the outer lid body A (corresponding to the cap body 20) as an insert material, and the inner lid body B is formed integrally with a part of the outer lid body A (top lid portion 2), thereby forming the inner plug portion 10 of the present invention, and the outer lid body A (cap body 20) may be configured to separate from the inner plug portion 10 when a weakened portion formed in the sealing tube portion 3 constituting the outer lid body A is broken.

The cap body 20 is formed with a disk-shaped top surface portion 21 and a cylindrical side wall (sealing tube portion) 22 suspended from the outer edge of the top surface portion 21. A horizontally weakened portion 23 consisting of a thin-walled breaking groove is provided annularly around the upper end of the side wall 22, and an arc-shaped notch portion 24 is formed at the lower end of the side wall 22. An inclined weakened portion 25 consisting of a thin-walled breaking groove is disposed at an angle between one location of the horizontally weakened portion 23 on the upper side and the notch portion 24, and a knob portion 26 is formed at the lower end of the side wall 22 at a position that corresponds to the lower end of the inclined weakened portion 25, which extends in the circumferential direction and protrudes in a convex manner toward the notch portion 24.
When opening the bottle, the hand holding the knob 26 is rotated in a circumferential direction to break the inclined weakened portion 25 and the horizontal weakened portion 23, thereby allowing the cap body 20 to be easily removed from the bottle mouth 31.

The inner peripheral surface of the side wall 22 is formed with a fall prevention means 27 on the upper side and with a movement restriction means 28 on the lower side.
One of the fall prevention means 27 is a member for preventing the inner plug portion 10 from coming out or falling out from within the cap body 20 by holding the outer edge of the inner plug portion 10, and is formed by a locking protrusion 27a that protrudes circumferentially from the inner surface of the side wall 22 toward the container axis O, having a convex curved shape in cross section, at a position on the inner surface of the side wall 22 slightly below the horizontal weakened portion 23.

The other movement restriction means 28 restricts the axial movement of the bottle mouth cap 1 relative to the bottle mouth 31 by engaging a locking recess 32 that is provided around the outer circumferential surface of the bottle mouth 31 and has a concave curved cross-sectional shape when viewed from the outside when the bottle mouth cap 1 is attached to the bottle mouth 31. The movement restriction means 28 is formed with a locking body 28A that protrudes around the inner circumferential surface of the side wall 22 and has a convex curved cross-sectional shape toward the container axis O, and flaps 28B that are formed at multiple points on the lower side of the locking body 28A and have an inclined cross-sectional shape.

As shown by the dashed line in FIG. 2, flap 28B has a connecting portion 28a at its base end that is connected to the inner peripheral surface of side wall 22, and its tip is a free end that extends diagonally downward as shown. As shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, flap 28B can be folded back by its tip elastically deforming upward with connecting portion 28a as a fulcrum.

The bottle mouth cap 1 is attached by plugging the bottle mouth 31 with the inner plug portion 10 loaded in the cap body 20, and the fitting tube portion 13 constituting the seal portion 14 fits tightly into the bottle mouth 31 and the step portion 12 abuts the upper surface of the bottle mouth 31, so that the inner peripheral surface of the bottle mouth 31 is sealed by the seal portion 14. At the same time as the plugging, the cap body 20 moves downward, and the flap 28B hits the upper surface of the bottle mouth 31, and the flap 28B is folded back with the connecting portion 28a as a fulcrum to overlap the surface of the locking body 28A. Then, when the cap body 20 moves further downward, the overlapping flap 28B and locking body 28A fit into the locking recess 32 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the bottle mouth 31. The flap 28B presses the locking recess 32 radially inward with a large elastic force, making it possible to firmly seal the bottle mouth 31.

FIG. 3 is a half sectional view of a bottle cap showing a second embodiment of the present invention.
The bottle mouth cap shown in the second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the configuration of the inner plug portion 10. Since the configuration of the cap body 20 is the same as that of the first embodiment, only the differences will be explained below.

As shown in FIG. 3, the inner plug portion 10 shown in the second embodiment is made of PET resin or the like, like the inner plug portion 10 described above, and is integrally formed with a disk-shaped top wall portion 11, a circular step portion 12 protruding from the underside of the top wall portion 11, and a short cylindrical fitting tube portion 13 suspended from the underside of the inner diameter side of the step portion 12, and the outer surface of the fitting tube portion 13 and the step portion 12 function as a seal portion 14 for tightly fitting with the inner surface of the bottle mouth 31.

The inner plug portion 10 is provided with a whitened portion 11A that has been subjected to a whitening treatment (crystallization treatment) by heating the top wall portion 11 to a predetermined temperature. The whitened portion 11A may be configured such that the entire top wall portion 11 is whitened as shown in FIG. 3, but it is sufficient that at least the outer surface portion of the top wall portion 11 is whitened.

The whitened portion 11A can increase the density of the inner plug 10, and can provide a gas barrier function to the top wall 11. Therefore, in the second embodiment as well, the gas barrier function can prevent oxidation of the content liquid and deterioration of the flavor and aroma, inhibit odor transfer of the content liquid to the inner plug 10, and further eliminate the need for separation work at the time of disposal.
In addition, the whitening portion 11A not only functions as a gas barrier, but also prevents the transmission of light, making it possible to suppress deterioration of the content liquid due to ultraviolet rays and the like.

In this configuration, the step portion 12 and the fitting tube portion 13 are not subjected to a whitening treatment. Therefore, the step portion 12 and the fitting tube portion 13 do not harden and are not damaged as a result, so the step portion 12 and the fitting tube portion 13 retain the function of the seal portion 14, just like in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a half sectional view of a bottle cap showing a third embodiment of the present invention.
The bottle mouth cap 1 shown in the third embodiment differs from the first and second embodiments in the configuration of the inner plug portion, and since the configuration of the cap body 20 is the same as that of the first embodiment, only the differences will be explained below.

The inner plug portion 10 shown in the third embodiment has a configuration in which the second embodiment has been added to the first embodiment. That is, like the inner plug portion 10 shown in the first embodiment, it is integrally formed with a disk-shaped top wall portion 11, a step portion 12, and a fitting tube portion 13 made of PET resin or the like, and the outer peripheral surface of the fitting tube portion 13 and the step portion 12 function as a seal portion 14 for tightly fitting with the inner peripheral surface of the bottle mouth 31.

Furthermore, in the middle plug portion 10 shown in the third embodiment, as in the first embodiment, a barrier layer 15 is provided by disposing a first barrier layer 15a inside the middle plug portion 10, i.e., inside the top wall portion 11, and disposing a second barrier layer 15b inside the fitting tube portion 13. In addition, as in the second embodiment, a whitened portion 11A is provided in which the entire top wall portion 11 or the outer surface of the top wall portion 11 has been subjected to a whitening treatment (crystallization treatment).

In the above-mentioned third embodiment, the inside of the inner plug portion 10 is provided with a double gas barrier mechanism consisting of the barrier layer 15 and the whitened portion 11A, and therefore, it is possible to exhibit a higher gas barrier function than that of the first or second embodiment.
Furthermore, it goes without saying that the inner plug portion 10 of the third embodiment, like the first and second embodiments, has the effect of suppressing oxidation of the contents and odor transfer, and furthermore, of eliminating the need for separation work at the time of disposal.

Although the configuration and the effects of the present invention have been described above based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.
For example, in the above second and third embodiments, the gas barrier function is imparted by whitening the outer surface portion of the top wall portion 11, but the gas barrier function can also be imparted by other coating techniques, such as DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon) or silica deposition to form a thin film.

This invention can expand the scope of applications in the bottle cap field to a wider range of areas.

1: Cap for bottle mouth 10: Inner plug portion 11: Top wall portion 11A: Whitened portion 12: Step portion 13: Fitting cylinder portion 14: Sealing portion 15: Barrier layer 15a: First barrier layer 15b: Second barrier layer 20: Cap body 21: Top surface portion 22: Side wall (sealing cylinder portion)
23: Horizontal weakened part (weakened part)
24: Engagement portion 25: Slope weakened portion (weakened portion)
26: knob 27: fall prevention means 27a: locking protrusion 28: movement restriction means 28a: connection portion 28A: locking body 28B: flap 30: bottle body 31: bottle mouth 32: locking recess O: container axis

Claims (4)

A cap for a bottle mouth comprising: an inner plug portion (10) having a stepped portion (12) protruding from the underside of a top wall portion (11) and a fitting tubular portion (13) suspended from the underside of the stepped portion (12) for sealing a bottle mouth (31); and a cap body (20) for fitting over the bottle mouth (31) sealed by the inner plug portion (10),
The cap body (20) has a side wall (22) in which weakened portions (23, 25) constituting a breaking groove are formed, and is configured to be separable from the inside plug portion (10);
The inner plug portion (10) has a barrier layer (15) containing a gas barrier resin within the top wall portion (11) , and the top wall portion (11), excluding the barrier layer (15), the step portion (12), and basic portions forming the fitting tubular portion (13) are made of PET resin . 2. A cap for a bottle mouth according to claim 1 , wherein the entire top wall portion (11) or a part of the outer surface of the top wall portion (11) is made into a whitened portion (11A) which has been subjected to a whitening treatment. 3. The cap for a bottle mouth according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein a barrier layer (15) is formed inside the fitting tubular portion (13). The cap for a bottle mouth according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the barrier layer (15) is formed of any one of ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), polyamide (PA), and MX nylon (MXD6).

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