The present invention relates to an improved device or arranged for enhanced retention of dissolved, compressed or dispersed gases in liquid media. More particularly, this invention pertains to a device for sealing the mouth of a container wholly or partly filled with the liquid media containing gas in dissolved, compressed of dispersed form, or combination thereof. Typically, the device finds a common application in sealing bottled containing aerated or carbonated liquids or drinks.
In the early days, bottles made of glass, or other metallic or non-metallic material was sealed using a piece of cork. Though sealing was adequate , if and when the liquid inside became pressurized, due to rise in temperature, fermentation or any other physical or chemical reason, it tended to eject out the cork, creating a source of potential danger, not to speak of the wastage and mess. The initial solution to this problem was found in incorporating a groove at the neck of th3e container, and, after inserting the cork, tying it is position with a strong wire, often made of steel, passing it over the cork and around the groove in the neck of the container.
The groove in the neck gave rise to an improved sealing arrangement, called the crown. It consisted of incorporating a thin sheet of cork at the centre of a circular metal plate of suitable size, placing the cork on the opening of the liquid container, forcing the said metal plate with the cork sheet, protected by a thin metallic or plastic film, axially to press on the opening and ensuring sealing, drawing the edge of the plate onto the neck and crimping the said edge around the groove to ensure the sealing. Typically the metal plate is imparted the shape of a crown after the operation is complete, hence the name.
With the passage of time, the inner cork lining was rendered obsolete with the advent of polymer technology, so much so, that the cork gasket has now been practically abandoned. The inner linings are almost always of materials like PVC, HDPE, LDPE, nylon, polyester and similar polymers.
Since the polymer lining is easily formable, maintaining a uniform thickness all through was no longer a necessity as in the case of cork sheets, and suitable profiles could be imparted to them, most preferred being a lip or plurality of lips of suitable shapes(s) around the sealing periphery, and a comparatively thinner covering towards the centre, which

resulted in a lot of material and cost saving. Also, the process of incorporating the polymer inner lining was much simpler and easier to combine with the crowning and sealing process, with better repeatability. Thus, polymer linings replaced the cork-sheet linings almost completely in the present times.
The crown itself, introduced first in the late nineteenth century, has seen its share of development, and mainly aimed at making it more reliable, efficient and cost effective. The trade-off of the crown profile has mainly been on its shape and size. While the "long-skirted" crowns employ more material and end up costing more, the "short-skirted" crowns would often result in improper sealing, and bottles have had to optimize to a suitable size in between.
Two typical profiles of the polymer sealing lips in the crown lining in the prior art, namely profiles 915 and 916, have been depicted in the accompanying drawings, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings. The profile 915 has one sealing protrusion, whereas profile 916 is an improvement, with two sealing protrusions of virtually the same shape and dimensions. Profile 916 obviously provides a better sealing, as it presses down on the container lip along two distinct lines, thus, reducing the chance of leakage.
However, the biggest drawbacks of the prior art described above were :
a. Firstly, the quality of sealing had room for improvement, as the gas volume
retention especially under tropical conditions with the sealing of the prior
art was below the desired level.
b. Secondly, since the glass containers themselves are reusable, the strain of
forward and reverse transportation, repeated crating and de-crating and
repeated opening of the crown resulted in the lips of the bottles developing
micro-chipped surface, which rendered the sealing ineffective, and this
drawback needed to be overcome.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an improved device or arrangement that provides a sealing that ensures better retention of dissolved, compressed of diffused gas in a liquid medium, overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art.
The principal object of this invention is to provide an improved device or arrangement that provides a sealing that ensures better retention of dissolved, compressed or diffused gas in a liquid medium, overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art.
A further object of this invention is to provide a sealing that ensures better retention of dissolved, compressed of diffused gas in a liquid medium under tropical conditions, as is prevalent in a country like India.
A still further objective of this invention is to provide a sealing that is effective on containers that have micro-cracks near the opening(s).
Another object of this invention is to provide a device or arrangement for sealing that is not uneconomical and does not use too much of material to achieve the sealing.
The foregoing objects are achieved by the present invention which relates to an improved device or arrangement for enhanced retention of dissolved, compressed or dispersed gases in liquid media, comprising a circular metal body / the edge of which is configured into a serrated / crimped profile, and the inside surface being covered with a non-reactive polymeric sheet, characterized in that the said polymeric sheet is formed with a plurality of ring-like unequal protrusions with a dented annular ring formed between the raised profiles, the lip of the inner protrusion being large in dimension in comparison to the outer lip, thereby affording better sealing due to the formation of a hermetic sealing with the inside surface contour of the container / bottle lip.
Around the turn of this century, the bottlers started coming out with the problem of inadequate gas retention while using polymeric liners on the inside surface of crowns, which by then had already replaced cork-sheets for reasons already cited.

The profile 916 as in the accompanying drawings, with two sealing lips, was already developed, but this provided virtually no improvement over the existing profile 915, also detailed in the accompanying drawings, with one sealing protrusion, when it came to gas retention under tropical conditions, or with sealing of containers/bottles with micro-chipped lips at or near the opening.
The material of the liner that comes in contact with the liquid and the gas dissolved, compressed or dispersed into the same is, by design, inert to any reaction with the said liquid(s) or gas(es). The liner material must, for example, be free from halogens and other similar compounds that could have the remotest chance to react with the contents of the container, thus altering its intended properties, and making it unsuitable for consumption/use. By extension of the logic, achievement of proper sealing can not be through any chemical phenomenon. Sealing has to achieved through physical means, firstly by ensuring that the liner is pressed adequately against the lip of the container with adequate and consistent axial force before crimping the edge, and secondly by ensuring that there is enough area of contact between the protrusion(s) in the liner and the lip of the container, eliminating the chance of leakage even if the lip had developed micro-chipped surface due to repeated use.
With the present invention, it has been possible to achieve a sealing which is effective both for tropical conditions and containers with micro-chipped lips, as hereinbefore stated. The invention relates to an entirely new profile of the liner, called profile "M", that has two lips or protrusions, with an annular valley like depression naturally formed there between, that contacts the container lips at two peripheries, and, on application of axial pressure, provides the sealing, much like the profile 916 as hereinbefore described. The similarity ends there. Profile "M" is superior to profile 916 in that the inner protrusion of profile "M" is larger than the outer protrusion. This ensures that, on application of the axial pressure, the contact area between the liner and the container is substantially more than the earlier profiles, as also the pressure of sealing is considerably more. Also, the sealing pressure is first imparted is first imparted on the inner surface of the union, the first point from where the gas would try to escape. Any minute quantity of gas escaping can easily be locked in at the second sealing point, between the outer protrusion of the liner and the container lip.

Resin Used in this invention for preparing the liner is free from PVC and is usually "SVELON 855", which is a thermoplastic polymer like HDPE (high density polyethylene) incorporating cyclodextrim to provide improved barrier properties.
The fact that the inner protrusion in profile "M", as shown in the accompanying drawing, is larger and higher, it also ensures that on application of the axial pressure, the area of sealing with the liner having the profile "M" is considerably larger than with the earlier profiles, especially at the inner lip, which ensures better gas retention even under tropical conditions and with container having micro-chipped lips.
The present invention will be further illustrated by the accompanying drawings, wherein.
Fig. 1 is the earlier profile, named profile 915. The outer edge of the liner lip is shown as 1, the inner edge as 2, and the crown is shown as 3. The lip of the container is 4 and 5 is the container neck.
Fig. 2 depicts the other profile of the liner of the prior are, namely profile 916. Here, 1 is the outer lip or protrusion of the liner and 2 is the inner lip. The lips 1 and 2 are virtually of the same dimension and height. The crown is shown as 3, the lip of the container as 4 and the neck as 5.
Fig. 3 depicts the sealing of the present invention, namely profile "M". Here, the inner lip or protrusion 2 is substantially larger and higher than the profile of the outer protrusion 1, which ensures better and more contact as well as higher sealing pressure at the inside of the lip, the first point from where gas could start escaping. The crown is again shown as 3, the lip of the container as 4 and the neck as 5.
Advantages of the present invention :
1. Retention of dissolved, compressed or diffused gas in the liquid of the container using the liner with profile "M" was found to be considerably higher that in containers with liners of the profiles of the prior art, at high tropical ambient temperatures, a marked improvement as far as product quality and its acceptability to customers in concerned.

2. The sealing using the liner with profile "M" was found to be effective in bottles with micro-chipped lips, which was a vast improvement over the profiles of the prior art, enabling re-use of the containers without possibility of excessive leakage.
3. There is very little, if any, material addition in the profile "M", when compared to the material of the prior art. It is more about the shape of the die where the profile of the lips is formed during manufacturing/bottling/sealing process.
It is needless to say that the improvements as hereinbefore described would go a long way to increase the shelf life of the product in the bottle, and make it a very profitable proposition to manufacturers/bottles who sell and market products like aerated drinks, which involves bottling, crowning and sealing of liquids with dissolved, compressed or diffused gases in a liquid medium.
While the invention has been described in detail and with reference to the specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without deviating or departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus the disclosure contained herein includes within its ambit the obvious equivalents and substitutes as well.
Having described the invention in detail with particular reference to the illustrative drawings, it will now be more particularly defined by means of claims appended hereinafter.

We claim:
1. An improved device or arrangement for enhanced retention of dissolved, compressed or dispersed gases in liquid media, comprising a circular metal body the edge of which is configured into a serrated/crimped profile(3), and the inside surface being covered with a non-reactive polymeric sheet, characterized in that the said polymeric sheet is formed with a plurality of ring-like unequal protrusions with a dented annular ring formed between the raised profiles, the lip of the inner protrusion(2) being larger in dimension in comparison to the outer Iip(l), thereby affording better sealing due to the formation of a hermetic sealing with the inside surface contour of the container/bottle lip(4).
2. An improved closing device or arrangement as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the lip of the elevated circular bodies are of unequal dimensions, which get deformed and produce a hermetic sealing with the container lip on application of axial pressure on the exterior surface of the said device.

3. An improve closing device or arrangement as claimed in Claim land 2, wherein the said non-reactive material is halogen-free and is preferably selected from the group of HDPE (high density polyethylene.) polypropylene, polyvinyl acetate, or co-polymer of cellulose derivative(s) with HDPE.
4. An improved closing device or arrangement as claimed in Claim 1 to 3, wherein the unequal dimensions of the lips of the annular protrusions help to produce a hermitic sealing even on bottle lips that had developed micro-chipped surface.

5. An improved device or arrangement for enhanced retention of dissolved, compressed or dispersed gases in liquid media, substantially as hereinbefore described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the prior art it has been observed that closing arrangement of bottles containing aerated liquids have been found to be inadequate to satisfactorily hold the gases dissolved in the liquid.
This drawback is overcome by the subject invention which relates to an improved device or arrangement for enhanced retention of dissolved, compressed or dispersed gases in liquid media, comprising a circular metal body the edge of which is configured into a serrated/crimped profile, and the inside surface being covered with a non-reactive polymeric sheet, characterised in that the said polymeric sheet is formed with a plurality of ring-like unequal protrusions with a dented annular ring formed between the raised profiles, the lip of the inner protrusion being larger in dimension in comparison to the outer lip, thereby affording better sealing due to the formation of a hermetic sealing with the inside surface contour of the container/bottle lip.