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O-ring bottle top

Avoid leaks due to loose tops
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In most bottled products, the seal between the bottle and the cap is between the top of the bottle's lip, and the underside of part of the cap. If the cap becomes the slightest bit loose, there's a gap between lip and cap through which the bottle's contents can leak.

I propose a bottle cap which has an extension that inserts into the bottle's neck, and has an o-ring on it's outside; in effect, the cap becomes a screwed on / screwed off cork.

If the cap is a little loose, the o-ring will still be in the bottle's neck, and still keep the contents inside. Only if the cap is completely unscrewed would the o-ring cease to be inside the bottle's neck.

Now, I know that this is probably not worthwhile for *most* types of product package, since it's easy to include, under the cap, a foil or foam seal glued to the top of the bottle. But for spray bottles, a seal of that sort isn't possible, but an o-ring would be.

What inspired this idea? I was at a garden center, and picked up a spray bottle of Bobbex deer repellent. Unaware that the cap was loose, I didn't hold the bottle perfectly upright. The result was garlic and rotten egg smelling liquid all over my hand. (I was lucky it didn't get any on my clothes).

goldbb, May 07 2009

Grolsch Beer Bottle http://farm1.static..._0be51f47cc.jpg?v=0
note rubber ring seal at top. These were great bottles. I still have some of them. [xenzag, May 08 2009]

[link]






       but caps 'need' to fail under pressure, they cannot function in a "pressure makes a better seal" because many containers would rupture in a leaky fashion. a "leaky" fit is frequently a design feature. In "sealed" containers the seals are typically designed with the capacity to rupture before the container does. Its actually pretty important. This is not a castigation of your idea, which I note is very baked, simply a reason why maybe it isn't more frequently used. It's also a more expensive and has a lower tolerance in manufacture.
WcW, May 08 2009
  

       What do you miss in a cork that you need it to be screwable? Many corks have handles, and many srewtops have pretty involved seals.   

       Additionally, i think o-rings (ungreased) do not react well to tangential forces. They like axial ones.
loonquawl, May 08 2009
  

       I can remember lemonade bottles with hard screw tops which had rubber rings that acted as seals. This is old news [goldbb] I will find a link.
xenzag, May 08 2009
  

       Just don't try to launch these bottles at sub-zero temperatures...
wagster, May 08 2009
  

       look it's a great idea but the added price and reduced manufacturing tolerances are a killer. Used in many scientific vessels and cheap bubbly bottles the world round. If leaking and tampering are a real problem plastics designers are likely to simply design an unreversable latch into the lid so you cannot loosen it.   

       Fish sauce, however, will always come in a paper thin, leaky, unsteady, bottle. Fish sauce bottles must also distort on the base after a few uses so they fall over on their own. I have no idea how they ship the stuff but they seem to have put a special effort into producing slippery labels and failure prone tops.
WcW, May 08 2009
  
      
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