FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 of 1970)
& THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
[See section 10, Rule 13]
TAMPER EVIDENT ASSEMBLY;


MARICO LTD, A COMPANY
INCORPORATED UNDER THE
COMPANIES ACT, 1956, WHOSE ADDRESS IS RANGSHARDA, KC MARG, BANDRA RECLAMATION, BANDRA (W)

MUMBAI 400050, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA
THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION DESCRIBES THE INVENTION


FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a tamper evident assembly, more particularly to a tamper evident ring.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART
It is very important to make a product available in its original and pure form to the consumers. In industries where purity has lot of importance, the brand value is developed on the services rendered. Incase of the oil industry assembly available for storage of oil are in form of screw-cap type. Each containers of oil undergoes a long journey from the factory to depot to distributor and then finally to the retailer outlet. However the screw-cap design is risky, since at any point in its long travel, the pack can easily be tampered with, that too, without any external evidence. Thus a chance of adulteration is high. This poses a serious threat to a brand. The consumers purchase oil considering its brand value in the market and receiving a sub-standard edible product could severely dis-satisfy them.
The caps of synthetic resin container have a ring which helps to detect tampering. However the ring breaks and comes out with the cap. Therefore the entire idea of tamper-evidence is not achieved as new cap can be easily replaced after tampering. Moreover, the connection between the ring and the cap is not sturdy enough and can break easily.
Further the sealing on the cap is such that it requires significant amount of force to break the ring and open the cap. This becomes cumbersome for the consumer. Also, the polymer usage in these caps is high and is not an environmentally friendly.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The present invention is further illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
Fig 1 illustrates a tamper evident ring according to an embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 2 illustrates a tamper evident assembly for closing a container according to another embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
It is an object of the invention to provide a tamper evident ring for a container to detect any tampering of the container.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tamper evident assembly to detect any tampering of the container.
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Vet another objective of the invention is to provide a simple and economical process for the manufacture of a tamper evident ring and the assembly.
An embodiment of the invention encompasses a tamper evident ring comprising of grooves and ridges. The grooves and ridges are located on the circumference of the ring. The ridges are protrusions extending from the circumference of the ring. These protrusions or the ridges are not straight. They have a very unique shape as shown in fig. 1 that is responsible for providing the much needed strength to hold the tamper- evident ring with the cap. The ridge comprises of a base, a neck portion that is connected to the base and a body connected to the neck portion at one end. The base of the ridge is connected to the cap with which the tamper evident ring is to be joined. The unique shape of the ridges provides a strong joining of the ring with the cap. The grooves are placed at equal intervals on the ring.
Another embodiment of the invention relates to a tamper evident assembly for closing a container. The assembly comprises of a cap and a tamper evident ring joined to each other. The ring comprises of grooves and ridges. The ridges are protrusions having a base, a neck portion that is connected to the base and a body connected to the neck portion at one end. The base of the ridge is connected to the cap thereby providing a strong joining of the cap to the ridge. This assembly is used for closing a container. When the assembly having a cap and the ring is opened for the first time, the connection between the ring and the cap is broken. The ring expands during opening and slides on to the neck of the container. The grooves provided in the ring do not allow the ring to slide out of the neck of the container thereby enabling a person to identify any tampering with the container.
Yet another embodiment of the invention relates to a container comprising of a body and a neck, joined to each other, wherein the neck is provided with dent and grooves. The dent is provided just below the tamper evident ring (when the assembly comprising of cap and ring is in a closed position) on the outer surface of the neck of the container to hold the grooves of the ring after unscrewing or opening the assembly from the container. The dent also ensures that the assembly is held on tightly to the container in a closed position. . The dents are of discontinuous type which provides better clasping of the tamper evident ring on the closure.
The dent does not allow the ring to slide back from the neck of the container thus enabling a person to identify any tampering with the container.
Another embodiment of the invention describes a tamper evident assemblage comprising of a container and an assembly comprising of a cap and a tamper evident ring as described herein above.
Another embodiment of the invention discloses a process for making the assembly for closing a container by injection moulding process. In this process, molten polymer is inserted under immense heat and pressure through a small hole called "gate" into a mould cavity. The mould is
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cut using CNC machines to achieve the desired design taken of the part to be moulded, in this case "cap". The polymer is injected at the top of the cap and then the polymer flows to take the shape of the mould. Once the cap part is formed the polymer further flows through the ridge shape part in the mould to form the entire tamper evident ring. The mould is then ejected using an ejector so that the threads on the inside of the cap do not get damaged to obtain the assembly.
Another embodiment of the invention discloses a process for making the container by extrusion blow moulding process. The process comprises of inserting the molten polymer from which the container is to be made through a cup and cone arrangement to form a parison tube. The molten polymer is passed under immense heat and pressure through the cup & core arrangement The parison tube is then cut and enclosed by the 2 parts of the mould for the container. Hot air under pressure is blown through a blow pin. forcing the polymer in the parison form to take the shape of the mould surface. Post a few seconds of cooling, the mould opens and the part is ejected thus forming a container. The parting line surface finishes are done manually using a hot knife.
This process is used for all components formed by extrusion blow moulding process. As per the design of the mould, the components will differ. In this case, the design is such that at the neck, the tamper evident ring is formed along with the well-designed dent just below the ring. This dent ensures that the cap fits in the jar with a nice click sound and then is held tight at the grooves part. Such that while unscrewing only the ridges will break and the ring will be held tightly to the jar, providing a tamper-evident feature to the end-consumer.
The assembly comprising of cap and ring utilizes lesser amount of the substance from which it is formed. There is no polymer present in between the cap lining and the ring, thus utilizing lesser amount of polymer and making it more economical and eco-friendly.
The ridges of the tamper evident ring are sturdy enough to survive the entire supply chain. The force required to open the assembly from the container is quite less due to the ridges.
Preferably, the tamper evident assembly for closing the container is made from a single material, preferably polymers used conventionally.
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While the present invention has been described herein with respect to the various exemplary embodiments, it will be apparent to one of the ordinary skill in the art that many modifications, improvements and sub combinations of the various embodiments, adaptations and variations can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and the scope thereof.