In today's service industries, the possibility exists that proprietors may purchase premium products having distinctive packaging and may refill the contents of that packaging with a less expensive substitute product having characteristics and quality which may be inferior to the premium product while passing off the product as the genuine premium product.
For example, a container, such as a bottle intended to contain a flowable liquid or gel (e.g., condiments, alcoholic beverages, personal products, motor oils) may be re-filled with a replacement quantity of another liquid where the characteristics and quality of which differ from the original contents. While a single-piece molded bottle design may effectively inhibit refilling the bottle with an inferior product, it will likewise inhibit the initial filling by the manufacturer. Therefore, it is desirable to affix a non-removable closure following an initial filling of a bottle.
Attempts to provide closures which make refilling difficult are not always effective against determined tampering. While it is considered advantageous to utilize a tamper-indicating means which provides evidence that the bottle, its cap and/or its contents are in their original conditions, if the bottle is re-sealable with a substitute cap or closure, there may be little to indicate to a purchaser or consumer that the bottle has been tampered with and that the contents may be inferior to the original contents.
Furthermore, there is a need for simple designs of closure assemblies allowing easy and reliable manufacture, assembly and fitting to bottle necks. Such simplicity has been somewhat lacking in previous closure designs. Currently, non-removable closures incorporate mutual ratcheting mechanisms between the closure and the bottle. Such mechanisms require custom closure and bottle tooling which can be expensive.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a non-removable bottle closure mechanism where existing removable bottle closure technology may be adapted to become non-removable.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds