Closure

Abstract

A tamper-evident closure for a container mouth, comprising a cap and a retaining ring arranged under the cap for retaining the closure on the container, the cap is separable from the ring, the cap and ring are joined by a pair of arms, the arms are non-frangibly connected to a common root at one end, the other end one of the arms is non-frangibly connected at a circumferentially clockwise location from the root and the other end of the other arm is non-frangibly connected to a circumferentially anticlockwise location from the root, whereby the arms permit axial separation of the cap from the ring and assume a generally V-form configuration when doing so and whereby the cap remains tethered to the ring.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A tethered closure comprising a cap and a retaining ring, the cap and ring being joined by a hinge area and two flexible links, the ring is made by non-continuous slitting which leaves several breakable bridges between the ring and the cap, the hinge area and two flexible links are formed by first and second superposed horizontal slittings, the first slitting defines breakable bridges and also a wider sector creates one link that serves as a hinge area at the opening of the cap, the second slitting defines the flexible links which allow a deformation to help at the opening at the opening of the closure, in which the closure has an open configuration in which the hinge is an open trapezoid with the two flexible links forming the inclined sides of the open trapezoid and the ring and the cap forming the other two opposing sides of the open trapezoid. 
     
     
         3 . A closure according to  claim 2 , in which the first slitting line includes:
 a breakable slit comprising a plurality of breakable bridges, and a single non-breakable, horizontally extending strip that is horizontally wider than the breakable bridges and that creates a first link having two ends that serves as the hinge area between the retaining ring and the cap;   wherein the breakable slit extends from one of the two ends of the first link to the other of the two ends of the link;   wherein the second slitting line is a single linear slit sharing a common mid-point with the non-breakable strip of the first slitting line and defining two horizontally extending flexible links located axially between the first and second lines; and   wherein the second slitting line is horizontally wider than the non-breakable strip.   
     
     
         4 . A closure according to  claim 2 , in which the first slitting line comprises proximal frangible bridges on either side of the single, non-breakable horizontally extending strip, and in which a circumferential extent of the single linear slit of the second slitting line is less than the circumferential extent between the proximal frangible bridges. 
     
     
         5 . A closure according to  claim 4 , in which the two horizontal slittings are continuously linear. 
     
     
         6 . A closure according to  claim 2 , in which the cap is screw threaded. 
     
     
         7 . A closure according to  claim 2 , in which the cap is free from locking means. 
     
     
         8 . A closure according to  claim 2 , in which the cap comprises a top plate and a depending sidewall. 
     
     
         9 . A closure according to  claim 2 , in which the retaining ring has upturned retention flaps for engaging under a container neck. 
     
     
         10 . A closure according to  claim 2  in combination with a container. 
     
     
         11 . A combination according to  claim 10 , in which the container is a bottle. 
     
     
         12 . A combination according to  claim 10 , in which the container has a short neck finish.