Beverage & Packaging Sealings - 15'th Edition: A peep into Beverage Bottles History & the ways they were sealed.

sealing is the interaction between two surfaces. Just like, we need two hands with equal participation to CLAP; In the same way, both surfaces are equally responsible for an effective sealing. These 2 surfaces can be identified with standard nomenclature as caps/closures & neck-finish. In the whole package, closure is the least expensive part, but it is the primary interface between the product and the customer – hence this poor chap carries a big responsibility on it’s shoulders. It is generally(and most of the times) the Cap which is blamed for a poor sealing, resulting in product leakages/ spoilage, it spite of the fact that the neck finish may equally contribute to the sealing failures.

Having said above, Cap is the only moving part in the package and is the first one to have a direct interaction with consumer. Hence the role of Cap becomes of paramount importance in creating a positive consumer perception and brand image for the product. Here following are the main consumer expectations from a cap :

·?????? Ease of opening for all beverage packs(difficult opening in case of Child Resistant Caps).

·?????? Ease of resealing for multi-serve packs.

·?????? A safe product, well Protected against leakages/spillages/oxidation/degradation/micro-organism growth.

·?????? A clear and visible evidence against Tampering/counterfeiting.

History of Caps: First metal Cap capable of withstanding Carbonation pressure was crown cap. However; Prior to the invention of Crown Cap special type of Glass bottles called “Codd-Bottles” were used for Carbonated beverages. In 1872 a 34 year old Gentleman named Hiram Codd patented a bottle sealed with a glass marble trapped in the neck, which was held against a rubber seal by the CO2 pressure inside. These bottles used to have small circular rubber gasket fixed inside bottle neck, against which a spherical glass marble was pressed by the internal CO2 pressure. Similar soda-bottles can still be seen in small cities and towns of India, and are identified with the name “POP-SODA” or “MARBLE-SODA” or “KANCHA-SODA” or “GOLI-SODA” or “BANTA-SODA” or “GOTI-SODA”. Banta/ Goli/ Goti/ Kancha are all synonyms for Glass-Marbles in local Indian languages. Refer to below image:

For flat/ non-carbonated beverages a special glass bottles fitted with some mechanical lever made of wire; were used with ceramic Stoppers capping them. These Bottles can still be seen in some hotels/restaurants. These are called “Korken – Bottles”; sealed with Ceramic Stoppers fitted with rubber washers. See below image for reference:

Present day Crown Cap was first invented and patented by William Painter of “Crown Cork & Seal Company” in 1892. The name “Crown Cap” came from the fact that these caps looks like a crown used by the nobilities of that era. Even after 130 years, original principle of Crown cap application and working remains the same. Among all types of caps, Crown cap is the one which has undergone the least changes in it’s design.?

There has been some small changes to save steel (from Standard Crown to Short/ Intermediate Crowns), but it’s basic geometry & number of corrugations (21) remains the same over last 130 years. Other change in Crown, has been in the sealing liner: Starting with Natural Cork discs in it’s early days, liners went through PUFF/Plastisol, then to dry-blend PVC – & finally settled down to PVC-free liners.?

A liner in a metal cap like crown cap, is needed in order to provide a soft cushion between glass neck and metallic crown. Being softer/ rubbery, it provides excellent sealing and fill-up all irregularities/ imperfections of glass neck finish surface. As explained in my first article, metal and glass being both hard substances, can’t have a sealing when they interact – hence a liner, made of softer material, becomes absolute necessary.?

Then came the Aluminium Closure in year 1940, famously known as ROPP(Rolled On Pilfer Proof). Unlike plastic closures that are produced pre-threaded; Aluminium closure is produced as a plain cylindrical shell (without any thread). At the bottling end, this shell is put on the bottle neck and threads are replicated during application on a capping machine.