Container seal with removal tab and security ring seal

Abstract

A holographic sealing member for a container comprises a heat actuated sealant or adhesive layer that secures the sealing member to a container, a metal foil sealing layer over and covering and adhesively bonded to the heat actuated sealant or adhesive layer, a holographic layer over and covering and adhesively bonding to the metal foil layer having an upper plastic layer and a lower embossed image layer, and a tab over and covering and adhesively bonded to the upper plastic layer that may be pulled to remove the tab and the plastic layer from a container, thereby exposing the lower embossed image layer which must then be perforated to gain access to the contents of the container.

Claims

1. A tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member for a container configured, upon sealing member removal, to leave a ring of material that remains bonded to a land area of a container rim, the tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member comprising: a heat actuated sealant or adhesive layer for securing the tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member to a land area of a container rim; a sealing layer bonded to the heat actuated sealant or adhesive layer, the sealing layer including a metal foil; a separation film between the sealing layer and the heat actuated sealant or adhesive layer, the separation film bonded to a lower surface of the sealing layer metal foil and including an upper polymer layer and a lower metal substrate; a splitting point for the tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member between the upper polymer layer and the lower metal substrate within the separation film so that the upper polymer layer can be separated from the lower metal substrate to form a tamper-evident peripheral ring of the lower metal substrate and the heat actuated sealant or adhesive layer that remains bonded to a land area of a container rim upon removal of the tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member from a container; a polyethylene or polypropylene or polyester foam or film layer bonded to an upper surface of the sealing layer; and a tab extending over at least a first portion of, but not bonded to the first portion of, the polyethylene or polypropylene or polyester foam or film layer where upward pulling of the tab, with the placement of the separation film below the sealing layer metal foil, causes the tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member to separate at the splitting point leaving a ring of the heat actuated sealant or adhesive layer and a ring of the lower metal substrate secured to a land area of a container rim to form the tamper-evident peripheral ring.

2. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member in accordance with claim 1, wherein the lower metal substrate of the separation film is aluminum.

3. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member in accordance with claim 1, wherein the heat actuated sealant or adhesive layer for securing the tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member to a container includes a medium density polyethylene.

4. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member in accordance with claim 1, wherein the tab is formed by a PET tab defining layer bonded to the tab but not bonded to the first portion of the polyethylene or polypropylene or polyester foam or film layer.

5. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member in accordance with claim 4, comprising an EVA film or foam layer bonded to both a second portion of the polyethylene or polypropylene or polyester foam or film layer not covered by the PET tab defining layer and also to the PET tab defining layer itself.

6. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member in accordance with claim 5, comprising a PET layer over and covering and bonded to the EVA film or foam layer.

7. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member in accordance with claim 6, wherein the polyethylene or polypropylene or polyester foam or film layer comprises a PET layer.

8. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member in accordance with claim 7, wherein the PET layer of the polyethylene or polypropylene or polyester foam or film layer is white.

9. A tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member for a container having a rim surrounding a container opening, the tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member comprising: a sealing portion having a periphery thereabout including a foil layer and a separation film bonded to a lower surface of the foil layer, the separation film including an upper polymer layer and a lower substrate; and a tab structure bonded to the sealing portion and comprising a tab such that the tab may be pulled to remove the tab structure and, with the placement of the separation film below the foil layer, the upper polymer layer of the separation film from a container rim while leaving peripheral ring portions of the lower substrate bonded to a land area of a container rim so that a tamper-evident ring of the lower substrate is undisturbed by the removal of the tab structure and the upper polymer layer.

10. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member of claim 9, wherein the tab lies wholly within the periphery of the sealing portion.

11. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member of claim 9, wherein the separation film has a splitting point between the upper polymer layer and the lower substrate such that upon pulling of the tab, the separation film separates at the splitting point corresponding to a land area of a container rim.

12. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member of claim 9, wherein the tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member includes a heat actuated sealant or adhesive layer for bonding to a rim of a container.

13. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member of claim 9, wherein the strength of a bond between the tab structure and the upper polymer layer of the separation film is greater than the strength of a bond between the upper polymer layer and the lower substrate of the separation film.

14. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member of claim 9, wherein the sealing portion further includes a polyethylene or polypropylene or polyester foam or film layer covering the foil layer.

15. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member of claim 9, wherein the sealing portion further includes a foam layer covering the foil layer and a polyethylene, polypropylene or polyester film layer above the foam layer.

16. The tamper-evident, tabbed sealing member of claim 9, wherein the lower substrate includes a metal substrate.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIGS. 1 and 2 each present a cross-sectional side view of a prior-art laminated sealing member having a removable tab structure facing to the right. The vertical dimensions are exaggerated and are not drawn in proportion to the actual vertical dimensions of each layer of the sealing member. (Cross-sectioning lines are omitted from some layers for clarity.)

(2) FIG. 3 presents a cross-sectional side view of a laminated sealing member having a removable tab structure facing to the right, the sealing member shown attached to the mouth of a container. The vertical dimensions are exaggerated and are not drawn in proportion to the actual vertical dimensions of each layer of the sealing member. (Cross-sectioning lines are omitted from some layers for clarity.)

(3) FIG. 4 presents a cross-sectional side view of the laminated sealing member shown in FIG. 3 following removal of the tab and the layers attached to the tab, the lowermost layers of the sealing member shown still attached to the mouth of the container.

(4) FIG. 5 presents a cross-sectional side view of a laminated sealing member in accordance with an embodiment of the invention having a removable tab structure facing to the right. The vertical dimensions are exaggerated and are not drawn in proportion to the actual vertical dimensions of each layer of the sealing member. (Cross-sectioning lines are omitted from some layers for clarity.)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(5) A sealing member 500, designed in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, is illustrated in FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is described in several later paragraphs. The immediately following paragraphs describe FIGS. 3 and 4, which describe a related invention.

(6) FIG. 3 presents a side, cross-sectional view of the sealing member 300 and of the upper, circular rim of a PET container 324 to which the sealing member 300 is sealed by induction heating of an aluminum layer 310, which melts the hot melt bonding material or adhesive layer 322 and binds the sealing member 300 to the circular rim of the container 324. (Note that the cross sectioning lines have been omitted from the layers 302, 304, 308, 310, 307, and 309 in FIG. 3 and are shown in the urethane adhesive layers 318 and 320 and hot melt bonding material or adhesive layer 322.)

(7) The structure of the sealing member 300 (FIG. 3) is essentially the same as that of the sealing member 200 (FIG. 2 described above) except that the lower PET layer 212 in FIG. 2 has been replaced in FIG. 3 with a holographic film comprising a PET layer 307 bonded to a embossed image layer 309 which bears a holographic image and which has an aluminum substrate. The layer 309 in its turn is bonded by the hot melt bonding material or adhesive layer 322 to the land area of the container 324 (the land area of the container 324 is the uppermost, ring-shaped upper surface of the circular upper rim of the container 324). The PET layer 307 and the embossed image layer 309 are bonded together in such a manner, and with such a bonding strength, that the layers 307 and 309 are separable along their peripherythe bond at a splitting point 311 is not as strong as the bond formed by the layer 322 between the layer 309 and the container 324.

(8) Accordingly, when the tab formed by the layers 302, 304, and 306 is pulled, all of the uppermost layers 302, 304, 308, 310, and 307 of the sealing member 300 are pulled away along with all save a thin peripheral ring of the embossed image layer 309, leaving only a thin peripheral ring 309A (see FIG. 4) of the embossed image layer 309 sealed by means of a thin ring of the hot melt bonding material or sealing layer 322A to the land area of the container 324.

(9) Accordingly, a circular ring of the embossed image layer 309A remains bonded to the land area of the container 324 after the sealing member 300 is removed. Thus, a thin ring of the hologram which the embossed image layer 309A carries remains attached to the upper lip of the container 324, while the remainder of the embossed image layer 309 is peeled away and is removed from the container 324 and is separated from the circular ring portion 309A of the layer 309. Hence, removal of the tab (formed by the layers 302, 304, and 306) necessarily produces destruction of the hologram such that the holographic seal borne by the embossed image layer 309 is tom through and can never be reassembled and reattached to the container 324.

(10) The sealing member 300 is thus entirely removed in a single motion, but the ring portion 309A of the embossed image layer 309 remains behind, attached to the land area of the container 324, tom away from the remainder of the embossed image layer 309 in a way that destroys the hologram and makes it impossible to re-seal the sealing member 300 back onto the container 324. After the sealing member 300 is removed from the container 324, the holographic image is visible on the top side of the rim of the container 324. It is not possible to reseal the container.

(11) The bonding of the PET layer 307 to the embossed image layer 309 is carefully controlled to set the amount of adhesion that exists between the PET layer 307 and the embossed image layer 309. This bonding strength must be low enough so that when force is applied to the tab formed by layers 302, 304, and 306, the sealing member 300 splits at the splitting point 311 around the periphery of the sealing member 300 but only above the land area of the container 324, thus permitting most of the embossed image layer 309 to be ripped away still attached to the layers 302, 304, 306, and 307 but leaving behind the ring portion 309A of the embossed image layer 309 attached to the land area of the container 324, as is shown in FIG. 4. PET holographic film produced by American Bank Note Holographics (ABNH) works well in this application. A product could be designed that would function in the same manner if the holographic film was modified to contain some type of release layer between the PET film layer 307 and the embossed image layer 309. The PET film produced by ABNH has proved (in its normal, unmodified form) to have a structure that functions properly.

(12) The PET layer 307, the embossed image layer 309, and the bond between them are preferably chosen to be relatively heat insensitive so that overheating by inductive heating of the hot melt bonding material or adhesive layer 322 does not adversely affect the amount of effort that is required to remove the sealing member 300. In conventional designs, such as that shown in FIG. 2, it is the seal between the container (not shown in FIG. 2) and the entire sealing member 200 that must be broken, and the amount of effort that is required to remove the sealing member 200 can be adversely affected by overheating during the inductive heat sealing of the sealing member 200 to a container. The ABNH PET holographic film is relatively insensitive to heat variations, as is explained more fully in a later paragraph.

(13) In another embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, two American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. films are included in the same structure. The structure is the same as described in FIGS. 3 and 4 with the addition of a second holographic film that is laminated between the aluminum foil layer 310 and the holographic film layer (layers 307 and 309) which is coated with the heat actuated coating (the layer 322). In addition, gold pigmentation is added to the adhesive layer between the two holographic film layers. When separation of the layer 322 and the metal and holographic embossed image layer 309 from the PET layer is invoked upon removal of the sealing member 300, the holographic ring 309A from the primary holographic layer remains on the rim of the PET container 324, and the uncovering of the area where this ring separates from the primary seal exposes the secondary holographic film that appears in gold because of the added pigmentation. This leaves a portion of a holographic image on the container rim and another portion on the removed sealing member 300 components.

(14) The heat activated hot melt bonding material or adhesive layer 322 in FIG. 3 is a polyester heat seal coating 40-3 obtainable from Rohm and Haas. This heat actuated coating is applied to the metallic side of metallised holographic film (comprising the PET layer 307 and the embossed image layer 309 which includes a metal layer formed from aluminum). The PET side (307) of the holographic film is laminated and adhered to an aluminum foil layer 310. Above this foil layer 310 an optional insulating layer 308 (polyethylene foam in FIG. 3, for example) can be applied, and polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyester may be applied above this insulating layer, or these materials may be applied directly to the foil layer if the optional insulating layer 308 is absent. A tab defining PET release strip 306 is placed over and covers at least a portion of the foil layer 310 or insulating layer 308. An EVA or adhesive layer 304 lies above the PET release strip 206 and is covered by a PET layer 302 to form the tab that is used to remove the sealing member 300 from the rim of the container 324. The splitting or separation point 311 occurs within the holographic film layer. Because the embossed image layer 309 is thin and is bonded firmly to the rim of the container 324, in this case a PET container 324 to coincide with the PET heat seal coating (the hot melt bonding material or adhesive layer 322), the upper liner is completely removed from the rim, leaving the PET heat seal coating layer 322A and the metal and image layer 309A only on the rim of the container 324. A strong bond is desired between the layer 322 and the upper lip of the container 324 to firmly attach the ring of embossed image layer 309A to the upper lip of the container 324. Some other heat seal coating can be selected that can provide a seal to other types of containersfor example, a polypropylene heat seal coating or a polyethylene heat seal coating can be used with a container made of those materials. It may also prove feasible to extrusion coat the metal side of the holographic film with a suitable polymer film as thin as 0.5 mils that would provide the desired splitting and adhesion in the rim area of the container 324.

(15) With reference to FIG. 5, the present invention is illustrated embodied in a sealing member 500. (Once again, the cross sectional lines are omitted from the layers 502, 504, 506, 508, 507, 509, and 510 in FIG. 5 for clarity and are shown in the urethane adhesive layers 516, and 518 and hot melt bonding material or adhesive layer 522.)

(16) The sealing member 500 is similar to the sealing member 200 shown in FIG. 2, but the polyester foam layer 208 shown in FIG. 2 is replaced by a white PET layer 508 that is bonded to a holographic film formed by the combination of a PET layer 507 with an embossed image layer 509 that includes a metal (aluminum) layer, the layers 507 and 509 being bonded together in a manner such as to form a splitting point 511 that gives way then the layers 502, 504, and 506 are pulled. The splitting point 511 is thus within the holographic film structure, between the image layer 509 and the PET layer 507. The urethane adhesive layer 518 binds the metal and embossed image layer 509 to the upper surface of the adhesive coated (adhesive layer 522) aluminum foil layer 510. The adhesive layer 522 is an easily punctured film such as MDPE (medium density polyethylene) 1.5 mils in thickness, obtainable from Covalence Specialty Materials Corporation. This design allows the holographic embossed image layer 509 and aluminum film layer 510 to be destroyed easily by puncturing through these two layers. In this design, there is no PET acid barrier layer beneath the two layers 509 and 510, since such a layer would be difficult to penetrate with a finger. Other easily-punctured films, such as a NEX (a trademark of New England Extrusion, Inc.) sealant having an EVA content or SURL YN (a trademark of DuPont for a particular DuPont thermoplastic ionomer resin product), etc., may be used to form the layer 522.

(17) The strength of the bond between the layers 507 and 509 is chosen to cause the sealing member 500 to split apart at 511 when the tab formed by the layers 506, 504, and 502 is pulled upwards and to the side. Accordingly, when the tab formed by the layers 506, 504, and 502 is pulled, the sealing member 500 splits apart at the splitting point 511, uncovering the hologram which is visible in the embossed image layer 509 and leaving in place the seal formed by the aluminum layer 510 that is bonded to the embossed image layer 509.

(18) After removing the upper layers 502, 504, 506, 508, and 507 of the sealing member 500 by pulling on the tab formed by the layers 506, 504, and 502, an individual wishing to access the container (not shown) must then pierce the remaining layers 509 and 510, thus breaking the holographic seal over the container. Hence, the seal on the container cannot be broken without the simultaneous destruction of the hologram.

(19) This design again uses ABNH PET holographic film. The chemistry of the image layer of this product supports heat resistance for the image. The image layer is highly cross-linked, and this gives the film superior heat resistance and also explains why the bond between the layers within the holographic film tend to be relatively weaker. Many holographic films do not have this heat resistance, especially if the image is cast on a polypropylene film. Since induction container sealing can produce temperatures that can be in the range of 350 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, if the holographic film technology does not possess adequate heat resistance, then the image or film or both would become distorted during induction heating, particularly when excessive heating is applied.

(20) By removing, separating, or splitting the PET layer away from the image layer, the image of the hologram remains undisturbed and completely legible above only an easily pierced layer of foil and sealant and can be destroyed by simply puncturing it with a finger. If the PET layer were not stripped away when the tab layers were pulled away, then the PET layer would need to have sufficient heat stability, and it would also have to maintain the integrity of the image layer. It would be difficult to puncture through the lining of such a structure.

(21) An alternative arrangement omits the white PET layer 508 and the bonding material 516 and has the EVA layer 504 bonded directly to the PET layer 507.

(22) While several embodiments of the invention have been described, numerous alternatives will occur to those skilled in the art. The claims appended to and forming a part of this patent application are intended to cover all such alternatives that fall within the true scope of the invention.