Container Pour Spout With Peelable Tamper-Proof Seal

This invention relates, generally, to innovations and improvements in readily removable, safety or tamper-proof seals for containers of the type having pour spouts and screw caps as their primary closures

In order to assure customers that products such as motor oil, anti-freeze, insecticides, solvents, cooking oils, etc. have not been tampered with prior to use by the consumer, it has been customary to seal the mouths of the pour spouts of the containers for such products with membrane-like or diaphragm-like seals or closures. Conventionally, such seals remove by the consumer and require puncturing and pealing away most if not all of the closure or seal. Usually fragments of the closures are left adhering to the containers and have to be removed piece by piece.

The object of the present invention, generally stated, is the provision of a novel form of tamper-proof closure seals for containers of flowable contents which have pour spouts equipped with screw caps as the primary closures.

An important object of the invention is the provision of such tamper-proof seals or closures provided with pull tabs which may be used to peel away the closures even during the act of pouring out the contents so as to eliminate the chance of contamination while facilitating the removal of the tamper-proof seals.

The invention has particular utility with containers for motor oils which are usually completely emptied on being opened.

Certain other objects of the invention will become apparent in the light of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the preferred manner for using the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 2 showing the tamper-proof seal partially removed while the contents of the container are beginning to flow out from its pour spout.

In the drawings, a container is indicated generally at 5 having an integrally formed pour spout 6 which is cylindrical in configuration and provided with external threads 7. The container 5 may be blow-molded from plastic material or it could be formed glass or metal. Flexible plastic containers of this type are widely used in one-quart size for motor oil.

An internally threaded screw cap 8 serves as the primary closure for the pour spout 6. However, the pour spout 6 is also provided with a tamper-proof or safety seal 10 in the form of a membrane-like or diaphragm-like disk from which an integrally formed pull tab 11 extends. The closure seal 10 may be formed from various types of thin membrane-like material including various plastics, paper-based material, metal foils and combinations or laminates of such thin sheet materials. The disk portion of the closure seal 10 will be sealed to the circumferential lip 12 and the spout 6 by a suitable contact adhesive material or by being heat sealed directly to the lip. The details of formation of the closure seal 10 and the various manners in which the same may be adhered or secured to the lip 12 with a peelable seal are well known in the prior art.

An important feature of the invention is to have the external thread 7 on the pour spout 6 interrupted so as to form a vertical or axially extending slot or groove 13 in the threads of sufficient width and depth to receive therein the pull tab 11. With this arrangement, the screw cap 8 can be applied to the spout 6 after the tamper-proof closure 10 has been sealed to the lip 12, without the pull tab 11 being engaged or disturbed by the threads on the interior of the cap 8.

As a further safety or tamper-proof feature, all but the end of the pull tab 11 may be sealed to the spout or neck 6 with a peelable seal. Thus, if the consumer on removal of the cap 8 finds that the pull tab 11 has been freed from the spout 6 this will serve as an indication that the package has been tampered with.

In use, the membrane-like seal 10 may be removed from the container 5 in its upright position by pulling up on the pull tab 11 so as to peel the closure 10 off from the lip 12. However, particularly, in opening a quart container of motor oil, the preferred way of removing the closure 10 is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. The pour spout 6 is held directly over the opening 14 (e.g. the oil fill pipe of a car) in a receptacle 15 with one hand of the user. The other hand of the user grasps the pull tab 11 and gently peels away the closure 10 as illustrated in FIG. 3. By removing the tamper-proof closure 10 in the particular manner illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the flowable contents of the container 5 may be removed and transferred into another receptacle without the contents touching the user's hands and without the danger of foreign material entering the container 5 or contaminating the contents as they are poured.

If desired, the tamper-proof seal 10 may be only partially removed if the contents of the container 5 are not to be completely emptied out and then the disk 10 while still partially attached to the lip 12 may be replaced on the spout 6 along with the pull tab 11 so as to provide an additional measure of protection to that provided by the screw cap 8. It will be seen that this replacement or repositioning of the partially removed closure 10 will not interfere with the application of the screw cap 8.