Color-coded shrink wrapped closure system

Abstract

A packaging system for improved management of cap inventory when different beverages, such as different types of milk (skim, 1%, 2% and whole) or water (spring, distilled, fortified, mineral etc.) are bottled in the same bottling lines at various facilities. The system includes maintaining a supply of standard caps, which may be free of colorants or pigments, and a supplies of reels of different colored (or differently printed) shrink sleeve material. The different types of beverage are bottled in containers that have a single standard cap and standard uniform bottles, and the different contents of said bottles are differentiated from one another by the application of colored (or distinctively printed) shrink sleeves or bands. The cap and / or the bottle neck are adapted to be engaged by the shrink band in a way that protects the bottle from being tampered with, and when threaded caps are used, helps prevent the inadvertent loosening of the caps during in shipment.

Description

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0001] This invention relates to closure devices, and in particular, relates to a shrink-wrapped and injection molded tamper resistant bottle cap and neck for bottles which hold liquids, such as milk, water or juice, and a system for providing color-coded shrink-wrapped injection molded tamper resistant bottle cap and neck for bottles. [0002] Injection molded caps for blow molded bottles (made of HDPE—high density polyethylene) have been used for many years. In addition, shrink wrapping bottle cap and necks has been used for many years. Generally, two types of bottle caps are available, push-on caps and thread-on caps. Push-on caps are installed by aligning the cap with the opening of a bottle and simply applying an axial force to the top of the cap. Thread-on caps generally require that the cap and bottle be aligned and that a rotational force be applied to the cap. In some cases, threaded caps, if carefully designed in conjunction with the b...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005] Another way of providing evidence of tampering is to apply a shrink wrapped band at the interface between a cap and a bottle. This technique is commonly used on glass bottles containing liquids, such as juice, or other food product. See AXON® Corporation—Styrotech® of Raleigh, N.C., for an example of such shrink wrapping systems at http: / / www.axoncorp.com / heatshrink / , and U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,215, entitled Machine for applying tamper evident bands to container. Commonly, the shrink sleeve or band is transparent. This allows the color and decorative features of the closure to be easily seen by consumers.

[0063] Thus, it is seen that an improved tamper resistant bottle cap and neck are provided which satisfy the need for a bottle with an improved tamper resistant seal. The inventions described and claimed herein includes a bottle cap with an improved means for connecting and sealing the cap to a bottle, which limits the ability of a person to defeat the sealing action of the shrink wrap seal on the bottle cap and neck and which limits the leakage or spillage from a loose seal during transport.

Problems solved by technology

In the bottled water industry the pull tab on push-on caps for 5-gallon containers, for example, is not easily removable from the cap, and only partial tearing of the pull tab allows removal of the cap from the bottle.

While the combination of a bottle cap with a tamper evidencing ring and a bottle neck with ratchet teeth provides for an acceptable tamper-evident connection and seal, this combination does have its limitations.

Furthermore, on smaller or single serving containers, the ratchet ring can become a nuisance as a consumer takes a sip directly from the bottle.

In some cases the hoppers from which caps are fed are difficult to access and empty.

These changeovers can require considerable time and effort to accomplish, and may be required to be done every day, or even multiple times a day.

Other problems associated with capping facilities using the typical capping system that relies upon cap color to differentiate the kind of milk in a container, include the fact that ample supplies of each color of cap must be kept on hand.

This requires significant storage space and lead times in ordering different colored caps for the inventory.

Using caps of several different colors complicates transportation and warehousing, and can result in delays in bottling operations.

The storage of caps will often take up large portion of floor space at the bottling facilities, as well as at the distribution center.

Yet, since the bottles themselves are reused over and over again the bottles cannot effectively be used for product identification.

Specifically, when the bottle cap is fully threaded onto bottle neck, the shrink wrap seal of the cap completely surrounds the skirt and partial portion of the top of the cap, so that it is very difficult to tamper with.

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