Security tap for liquid containers
The invention relates to containers commonly used for the sale of wine, including a tap essentially comprising a stationary body and a deformable elastic plug that tends to stay closed. According to the invention, transverse grooves are provided at one of the rear corners of each of the windows in which the flanges move and, by means of the angular rotation of the cylindrical cap, said grooves can be used to lock the flanges axially in the forced closed position, before and after removing the seal, thereby hindering the opening of the tap, which requires a combined rotation and pulling movement. In addition, the stationary and moving elements include coaxial through-holes allowing the installation of a padlock preventing unauthorized persons from accessing the container.
1. Safety tap for containers for liquids which are sensitive to certain gases and environments, the container having a plastic bag to hold the liquid, and a stabilizing box of cardboard or similar, to house the bag, where the safety tap comprises:
a hollow base body, equipped with a first end, for being coupled to the bag, and a second end;
a sealing seat, incorporated in the base body, in the proximity of the first end of the base body;
an access orifice located in the sealing seat so as to allow the liquid to access from the bag to the tap;
a pouring spout so as to allow the liquid which has accessed the tap through the access orifice to exit the tap;
windows made in the base body;
a bushing displaceable through the interior of the base body;
ribs, located at a first end of the bushing and protruding from the base body through the windows, and which can be actuated, to allow a user to displace the bushing, distancing the bushing from the sealing seat, from a safety lock position, wherein the liquid does not have access to the pouring spout, until an open position wherein the liquid has access to the pouring spout;
a deformable elastic element linked to the base body; and
a plug located at a second end of the bushing, opposite the first end of the bushing, and linked to the elastic element;
wherein, in the closed position, the elastic element is pressed by the effect of the plug against the sealing seat to close the pouring spout, and in the closed position, the elastic element is configured to exert a recovering force on the bushing;
the tap further comprising grooves in the base body, in extension of the windows, to house the ribs in the closed position by axial rotation of the ribs and to block the axial displacement of the bushing, maintaining the closed safety position.
2. The tap of claim 1 , wherein the base body further comprises:
a first portion for connecting with the bag;
a second portion for housing the bushing and the elastic element; and
an area of confluence of the first portion and the second portion;
wherein the sealing seat is located in the area of confluence, and the sealing seat and the elastic element have corresponding spherical forms, with the access orifice being located in a polar position of the sealing seat, and the pouring spout is located in the area of confluence so that in closed position the elastic element also plugs the pouring spout, to increase the water-tightness in the closed position.
3. The tap of claim 1 , wherein the plug is fitted in the elastic element so that, in the closed safety position, the elastic element is radially expanded in the interior of the access orifice, by means of the pressure exerted by the plug on the elastic element.
4. The tap of claim 1 , wherein the ribs extend, axially and externally, in corresponding flaps for covering the windows during the displacement of the bushing towards the open position.
5. The tap of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first safety orifice located in the bushing; and
a second safety orifice, located in the base body, in correspondence with the first safety orifice, so as to allow the passage of a padlock through the safety orifices in the closed safety position, to prevent the axial rotation of the bushing, avoiding an unauthorized opening of the tap.
6. The tap of claim 5 , further comprising:
a cap fixed in the second end of the base body, wherein the cap internally extends through the base body, and the cap comprises a first end to cover the second end of the base body, wherein the cap extends towards a second end which contacts with the elastic element; and
a third safety orifice made in the cap to allow the passage of the padlock, in correspondence with the first and the second safety orifices.
7. The tap of claim 1 , further comprising a cap fixed in the second end of the base body, wherein the cap internally extends through the base body, and the cap incorporates a first end to cover the second end of the base body, wherein the cap extends towards a second end which contacts with the elastic element.
8. The tap of claim 1 , wherein the grooves are configured to exert in the closed safety position a wedging pressure on the ribs towards the sealing seat.