CLOSURE FOR A CONTAINER AND CONTAINER WITH SUCH A CLOSURE

Abstract

The present invention relates to a closure for a container with a base element and a flip-top lid attached to said base element by a hinge, such that the flip-top lid can be moved between a fully open and a fully closed position. The flip-top lid has a protrusion extending outwardly from said flip-top lid and said skirt having a tongue member extending from an upper region of the skirt of said base member. The invention also relates to a container with such a closure.

Claims

1. Closure for a container with a base element (100), a flip-top lid (200) attached to said base element (100) by a hinge (150) such that the flip-top lid (200) can be moved between a fully opened and a fully closed position, said base element (100) having a skirt (110) with attachment means (132, 134) for attaching the closure to the container, said skirt (110) having an upper region and a lower region, the upper region being closer to the flip-top lid (200) than said lower region when said flip-top lid is in its fully closed position, said skirt (110) having a tongue member (120) extending from said upper region of said skirt (110) into an upward direction, said flip-top lid (200) having a protrusion (220) extending outwardly from said flip-top lid (200) in a direction being normal to said upward direction into which said tongue member (120) extends, said tongue member (120) and said protrusion (220) being positioned and arranged such that, during a movement of said flip-top lid (200) between its fully closed and its fully opened position, said protrusion (220) and said tongue member (120) are, over a first predetermined angular range of the position of the flip-top lid (200) relative to the base element (100) during its movement between its fully closed and its fully opened position, in contact with each other, such that the protrusion (220) exerts a force onto said tongue member (120) in an inward direction and said tongue member (120) exerts a counter-force to said protrusion (220), such that, when said flip-top lid (200) is within a second predetermined angular range relative to said base element (100), said counter-force supports a movement of said flip-top lid (200) in a direction towards its fully opened position, wherein said tongue element (120) or an outer surface (122) thereof extends, in an upper part thereof, at least partly into an inward direction.

2. Closure according to claim 1, wherein an angle of opening () of said flip-top lid (200) between its completely closed and its completely opened position is equal to 180 and preferably greater than 180.

3. Closure according to claim 1, wherein the hinge (150) comprises two parts, especially two elastic sheets (152), connecting the flip-top lid (200) and the base element (100).

4. Closure according to claim 3, wherein said tongue member and said protrusion are positioned, in a circumferential direction of said closure, between said two parts of said hinge.

5. Closure according to claim 1, wherein said tongue member (120) has a portion (122) which extends both into an upward direction and an inward direction of the closure (10), preferably a radially inward direction of the closure (10).

6. Closure according to claim 1, wherein an upper part (124) of the tongue member (120) extends only in an upward direction.

7. Closure according to claim 1, wherein an outer surface (126) of said tongue member is, in one portion (122) of the tongue member (120), curved, preferably in a convex form.

8. Closure according to claim 1, wherein an outer surface (126) of said tongue member (110) has, in one portion (122) thereof, an at least partly convexly formed cross section, which preferably turns, in a more upward direction, into a concavely formed cross section, while further preferably in the most upper portion (124) of the tongue member (120) the cross section of the outer surface (126) of said tongue member (120) is essentially linearly formed.

9. Closure according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion of the flip-top lid (200) is positioned at an upper portion of the flip-top lid (200) and extends outwardly, preferably radially outwardly.

10. Closure according to claim 1, wherein the angular extension of said protrusion (220) and/or said tongue member (120), in a circumferential direction of the closure (10), is in the area of about 10 to 40, preferably 15 to 30.

11. Closure according to claim 1, wherein the angular extensions of said protrusion (220) and said tongue member (120) in a circumferential direction of the closure are exactly identical and overlapping.

12. Closure according to claim 1, wherein the angular extension of said protrusion (220) is smaller than the angular extension of said tongue member (120) in a circumferential direction of the closure.

13. Closure according to claim 1, wherein a height of the skirt (110) of said base element (100) is different over its circumferential extension, while the height of the skirt (110) is largest in a circumferential area where said tongue member (120) and/or said protrusion (220) are positioned.

14. Container with a closure according to claim 1.

15. Container according to claim 14, wherein said closure (10) is attached to a neck (300) of said container and wherein the neck (300) comprises, at its outer surface, a protrusion (340), wherein said tongue member (120) is arranged such that it extends in an inward direction at a position above said protrusion (340) of said neck (300) of said container.

Description

[0048] These and other features and advantages of a closure or a container with a closure will be also described in connection with the following description of an embodiment of a closure device according to the present invention:

[0049] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a closure of the present invention in its fully closed position;

[0050] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1, wherein the flip-top lid is in its fully opened position;

[0051] FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of the embodiment according to the present invention with the flip-top lid being in its fully closed position;

[0052] FIG. 4 shows a cross-section through the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 with the flip-top lid in a partly opened position;

[0053] FIG. 5 shows the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 with the flip-top lid being in its fully opened position;

[0054] FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 with the flip-top lid being in its fully closed position.

[0055] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a closure 10 for a container according to the present invention. The closure 10 comprises a base element 100 and a flip-top lid 200, whereas the flip-top lid 200 is, in FIG. 1, shown in its fully closed position.

[0056] The base element 100 comprises an essentially cylindrical skirt 110, which has, on its inner surface, attachment means for attaching the closure to a neck of the container, see especially FIG. 3 as described hereinafter.

[0057] The closure 10 also comprises a flip-top lid 200, being shown in its fully closed position, while the flip-top lid 200 is attached to said base element 100 by means of a hinge 150.

[0058] The hinge 150 in this embodiment comprises two elastic sheets 152, being arranged with a distance from each other along the circumferential direction of the closure 10.

[0059] The base element 100 further comprises a tongue member 120, extending from an upper edge 160 of said skirt no in an upward direction, i.e. in a direction parallel to a central or longitudinal, vertical axis, the x-axis as shown in FIG. 1.

[0060] Furthermore, the tongue member 120 and its outer surface extends, in one part thereof, into an inward direction, which is in more detail shown and explained with respect to FIG. 3 hereinafter.

[0061] The flip-top lid 200 comprises a protrusion 220, extending outwardly from said flip-top lid 200 in a direction being normal to said upward or vertical direction or x-axis direction, into which said tongue member 120 extends.

[0062] FIG. 2 shows another perspective view of the embodiment of the closure according to the invention as shown in FIG. 1, with the flip-top lid being in its fully opened position.

[0063] As can be well seen in FIG. 2, the angle of opening of said flip-top lid, e.g. the angle around which the flip-top lid 200 is rotated from its fully closed into its full opened position, is remarkably larger than 180, in the present invention, the angle of opening is about 250, see e.g. also FIG. 5 hereinafter.

[0064] The flip-top lid 200 also comprises an inner ring 260, which is suitable to seal the closure against the neck of a container, see especially FIG. 3 hereinafter.

[0065] As can be also well seen in FIG. 2, the protrusion 220 of the flip-top lid 100 and the tongue member 120 of the base element 100 interact with each other such that the flip-top lid 200 is held and maintained in its fully open position. If the user wants to move or rotate the flip-top lid 200 out of its fully opened position, as shown in FIG. 2, into the direction of the closed position, the protrusion 220 pushes against the outer surface of the tongue member 120, so that a force onto the tongue member 120 is exerted, creating a counter-force thereby, so that the user has to exert a higher force in order to move the flip-top lid 200 out of its fully opened position as it would be the case if no tongue member or protrusion would be present.

[0066] As mentioned earlier, the exact force can be set and fine-tuned e.g. by selecting a specific thickness of the elements, especially the tongue member, and by selecting the material of the tongue member with respect to its mechanical properties.

[0067] As can also be well seen in FIG. 2, the skirt 110 of the base element 100 comprises, on an inner surface of the skirt 110, attachment means 132 and 134, being suitable for attaching the closure to a neck of a container, as will be described hereinafter in connection with FIG. 3.

[0068] FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, with the flip-top lid 200 being in its fully closed position and with the closure 10 being attached to a neck 300 of a container.

[0069] As can be well seen in FIG. 3 the neck 300 of a container comprises an annular protrusion 330, extending in an outward direction at the outer surface of the neck 300.

[0070] The skirt 110 of the base member 100 of the closure 200 comprises, at its inner surface, inwardly protruding fastening means 132 and 134, while the fastening means 132, comprising various protrusions, are positioned below the protrusion 330 of the neck 300, when the closure 10 is mounted onto the neck 300 of the container, while the protrusion 134 of the skirt 100 are positioned above, or vertically above, the protrusion 330 of the neck 300 of the container.

[0071] In order to bring the closure 10 into its mounted position on the neck, the closure 10 is pushed onto the neck 300 of the container, so that the embodiment shown here is a so-called snap-on closure.

[0072] In this respect, however, it also has to be noted that it would be also possible to provide different fastening means. The closure could be e.g. also realized as a closure having internal threads which correspond to external threads of a neck of a container, so that the closure can be screwed onto the neck of the container.

[0073] As can be also well seen in FIG. 3, the inner ring 260 extending from a lower inside wall of the flip-top lid 200 fits into an opening defined by the neck 300 of the container, so that the flip-top lid 200 seals the opening of the neck 300 of the container when it is in its fully closed position.

[0074] FIG. 4 shows the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, also in cross section, however, with the flip-top lid 200 being in a partly opened position.

[0075] As can be well seen in FIG. 4, the protrusion 220 abuts against an outer surface of the tongue member 120, such that a force is exerted by said protrusion 220 onto said tongue member 120, which thereby generates a counter-force.

[0076] The user will therefore have to exert a higher force in order to further move or rotate the flip-top lid 200 into the direction of its fully open position.

[0077] However, due to the fact that, as can be also well seen in FIG. 4, the end of a protrusion 220 moves, with a further rotation of the flip-top lid into its fully open position, into an area of the tongue member 120, which is flexed or bent partly into an inward direction, the force and counter-force created between these two elements is gradually reduced starting from a certain, predetermined angle of rotation.

[0078] This has the advantage that the flip-top lid 200 will on the one hand be further pushed into its fully opened position, starting from a certain, predetermined angle of rotation, however, the force is reduced such that there is no strong snapping of the flip-top lid into its fully opened position, and this avoids splashing or spilling of any liquid from the container.

[0079] FIG. 5 shows the embodiment according to the present invention as shown in FIG. 4, however, with the flip-top lid being in its fully opened position.

[0080] As can be well seen in FIG. 5, the protrusion 220 now essentially fully fits into the area of the tongue element 110, which is shifted radially inwardly.

[0081] The specific form of the tongue member 120 or of the outer surface thereof therefore succeeds in providing a suitable development of the force and counter force created between the tongue element 120 and the protrusion 220, depending on the angle of rotation, so that, on the one hand, the movement of the flip-top lid 200 into its fully opened position, after having reached a certain angular position, is supported and especially the flip-top lid is maintained and retained in its fully opened position, while on the other hand avoiding a too strong force being developed between these two elements, which would otherwise lead to an undesirably strong snapping of the flip-top lid into its fully opened position, as this frequently causes a splashing of spilling of content from the container, especially in case the container comprises a liquid and in case the container is relatively full.

[0082] In this respect it also has to be noted that the closure in this embodiment is also, essentially automatically, realized such that the movement of the flip-top lid 200 back into its closed position is supported when the user moves the flip-top lid 200, from its fully opened position, back over a certain angular position.

[0083] In other words, there is an angular position 1, a neutral position, while a slight movement to an angular position being closer to the fully closed position leads to a support of the movement of the flip-top lid 200 in the direction of its closed position, while otherwise, as described above, a movement beyond this angular position 1 into the direction of its fully opened position, leads to the effect that the movement of the flip-top lid 200 into its fully opened position is supported.

[0084] FIG. 6 shows a partial enlargement of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, with the flip-top lid 200 in its fully closed position.

[0085] In FIG. 6 one can especially well see the realization of the tongue member 120, which not only extends in an upward direction, but also has a section 122, in which said tongue member 120 also extends in an inward direction, in this case a radially inward direction, with a final or upper section 124, which again only extends in an upward direction.

[0086] The outer surface 126 of the tongue member 120 is therefore curved and has first a partly convexly formed surface, which, when moving more upwardly, transitions into a partly concavely formed cross section, before, in an upper area 124, extending essentially linearly or vertically. The outer surface 126 of the tongue member 120 therefore describes essentially an S-form or part of an S-form.

[0087] In this embodiment, the thickness of the tongue member 120 is essentially constant, however, it would be of course also possible to have a tongue member with different thicknesses over its extension.

[0088] It is clear to the expert that various amendments can be made to the embodiment, without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the attached claims, and any features disclosed in connection with the embodiments or the general description can be important for realizing the invention, either alone or any combination thereof.