WO2001034489A1

WO2001034489A1 - Anti-theft tube

Info

Publication number: WO2001034489A1
Application number: PCT/IB1999/001796
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andreas Huber
Original assignee: Hoffmann Neopac Ag
Priority date: 1999-11-08
Filing date: 1999-11-08
Publication date: 2001-05-17
Also published as: EP1227989A1

Abstract

An anti-theft surveillance system has a component which generates an alarm signal in a surveillance device when activated, which is connected to the tube under surveillance and which can be deactivated. In electro-magnetically operated systems, said component is a wire (1). The wire (1) is located on an adhesive strip (2) which in turn is attached to a support film (3) consisting of an elastic material. Said elastic support film (3) together with the wire (1) can be rolled to form a label, secured and inserted into the body of a tube. In the tube body, the label is released and lies against the inner surface of said tube body as a result of the elastic restoring force of the material. The label can be produced completely independently of the tube body.

Description

Anti-theft tube

Technical field

The present invention relates to a tube with a tube body for receiving a filling material, which tube is equipped with a component intended for cooperation with a thief-monitoring device.

State of the art

Theft of goods in department stores and shops is a growing problem. Various anti-theft steel security systems have been developed to counter theft.

A system based on radio frequency can be mentioned as an example. This system has a component designed as a label, which consists of a carrier and a flat, integrated in the carrier, for example printing technology applied electro-coil. If the electrocoil is excited by an RF transmitter arranged in a theft monitoring device, it responds with a signal indicating the theft. The anti-theft device is usually located at the store exit. The electrocoil is deactivated at the cash register by a strong impulse, which creates a short circuit in the electrocoil so that no excitation takes place.

Electromagnetic systems are also known. These have a label that can be reactivated or deactivated once or several times. This contains a magnetizable or magnetic thread, a wire or a thin band. If the thread, wire or tape that is not deactivated moves in the area of a magnetic field of an anti-theft monitoring device, the magnetic field is disturbed and a signal is triggered. There are also acousto-magnetic systems. In the case of these, a label, which has two special strips placed one on top of the other, interacts with a pulsating transmitter of an anti-theft monitoring device, with the strips generating a resonance which is used as an acoustic signal.

While the connection of the components mentioned, for example, does not pose any problems with relatively large-area goods, considerable difficulties arise with smaller goods, for example tubes.

Among other things, these components should be attached invisibly from the outside and the costs should not be too high in relation to the price of the goods.

Tubes are manufactured in different dimensions and consist of a flaccid or easily deformable material. The components which interact with theft and which are connected to the goods form a cost factor of the final product and consequently the production of components which are dimensioned differently and matched to the respective tube sizes leads to excessively high costs. The production of a laminate with a built-in component in the form of a tube body blank also leads to high production costs, since such blanks have to be made dependent on different tube sizes and cutting of the components made of metal is out of the question because regulations often exist that bare metal must not come into contact with the contents of a tube. These requirements could probably be met by using an additional amount of plastic when welding the tube body together to cover bare metal sections, but such a solution would lead to increased material costs.

Presentation of the invention

The invention seeks to remedy this. The invention as characterized in the claims solves the task of creating a component for security against theft that interacts with a theft monitoring device, which can be used with the same regardless of the dimensions of the respective tubes and in particular can be inserted into the tube completely separately from the tube.

Another object is to create a tube with a tube body, which tube is equipped with a component intended to interact with an anti-theft monitoring device, in which the component is arranged in the latter in a state that is not connected to the tube body.

Another object is to create such a tube, in which the component in question is arranged on an elastically deformable carrier.

The advantages of the invention can be seen essentially in the fact that the component interacting with an anti-theft monitoring device is independent of the dimensions of the tube. This means that it can only be introduced into the tube together with the filling of the filling material. As a result, the component is completely invisible from the outside. For cost reasons, it can only be introduced in a limited number of a series of tubes produced, so that monitoring can be carried out on a random basis, with the result that a further reduction in costs can be achieved.

Brief description of the drawings

In the following, the invention is explained in more detail, for example, with the aid of drawings showing several embodiments. It shows:

FIG. 1 shows a plan view of an elastic film on which a band-shaped component is arranged,

FIG. 2 shows a section along the line II-II in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows a section similar to that of FIG. 2 through a further embodiment, 4 shows a tube with an inserted film equipped with the component, and

FIG. 5 shows the front end of a filler neck of a filling machine, by means of which the filling material is introduced into a tube body together with the elastic film.

WAYS OF IMPLEMENTING THE INVENTION As an example of an embodiment of the invention, it will be described in the context of an electromagnetic theft detection system. The component described at the outset is designed as a function of specific methods of electromagnetic detection. In the case of a unique reactivatable and deactivatable system, the component in question consists of an approximately 1 mm wide magnetizable or magnetic thread which is arranged on a label-shaped carrier. Alternatively, the carrier is printed accordingly. In the case of a system which can be activated and deactivated several times, the component comprises an approximately 1 mm wide magnetizable or magnetic thread and additionally an Ni-Fe thread which is interrupted at intervals. The threads can again be arranged on a label-shaped carrier, or the carrier could be printed accordingly.

The embodiment described below encompasses the alternative with a single thread, it being understood that this can also be referred to as wire or tape, the term tape being used here.

This band, ie the component, is designated by the reference number 1. This band 1 is arranged on a strip 2 made of plastic. The tape 1 can be glued to the strips 2, can be printed on the strip 2 or can also be embedded in the strip 2. In the embodiment shown, the strip 2 has on the side facing away from the viewer, te, on which the tape 1 is arranged, an adhesive or adhesion promoter, so that the strip 2 can be regarded as an adhesive strip.

This strip 2 with the band 1 is now connected to a carrier film 3 made of an elastic material. If the strip 2 is designed as an adhesive strip, the connection consists of an adhesive. Alternatively, the strip 2 can consist of a substance that can be fused to the carrier film 3, so that the connection can be carried out by fusing.

There are cases in which certain substances must not come into contact with the contents of the tube because they could have a damaging effect on the contents of the tube. Such cases occur, for example, in the food industry. Therefore, the strip 2 and the carrier film 3 consist of substances compatible with the tube content. In the case of foodstuffs, therefore, the strip 2 and the carrier film 3 are made from food-grade materials. In FIG. 1, the band 1 is arranged in alignment with the longitudinal direction of the carrier film 3. This arrangement is not mandatory. Band 1 might as well run diagonally. Thus, the carrier film 3 could be made shorter while the length of the band 1 remains the same.

The elastic carrier film 3 with the strip 2 and the band 1 is drawn in cross section in FIG. 2 and it can be seen that the band 1 is completely enclosed by the strip 2 and the carrier film 3.

Another embodiment is shown in FIG. 3. In this embodiment, the magnetizable or magnetic tape 1 is embedded between two foils 4, 5, which likewise consist of an elastic material, an elastically deformable plastic. Thus, overall there is an elastically deformable product in the form of a label which contains at least one film 1, 4, 5 and a wire 1.

This label can be elastically deformed against the restoring force of the material of the film (s) 1, 4, 5, e.g. are bent, and returns to the original, planar shape when the force causing the deformation is removed.

This label can also be rolled up and obviously locked in the rolled up form by any mechanical means.

During the manufacture and in particular when filling tubes, a tube blank is present for a certain period of time, which is closed at one end, the future front end of the tube, and is open at the opposite end.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4. To insert the label into a tube that is not closed at the back, i.e. the tube body 6, the label is rolled up against the elastic restoring force of the material of the film 1 and locked in the rolled-up state so that the label is introduced into the tube body 6 through the rear, open opening can be. The label can obviously be placed anywhere along the tube body 6, for example aligned with a bar code on the outside of the tube.

If the label is now placed at the specified position in the tube body 6, the locking is released so that the label expands under the action of the elastic restoring force. Since the tube body 6 has a circular cross-sectional shape prior to sealing, the label specifies snugly against the inner wall of the tube body 6 on, while still a small force is applied to the inside of the tube body 6 due to the not ^'fully relaxed carrier foil. 1 Advantageously, this label is introduced into the tube body 6 during the introduction of the filling material in a filling machine, which after placing and releasing the label and after filling the filling material at the rear end, as is generally known by welding or by forming one Falzes, is closed. The relevant tube end is designated by the reference number 7 in FIG.

Now there is a tube with a component intended to interact with an anti-theft monitoring device, e.g. Wire 1, which is completely invisible from the outside.

The label is advantageously inserted into the tube body by means of a somewhat modified filler neck which is used in the filling machine to introduce the filling material into the tube body.

The front end of such a filler neck is shown schematically in FIG. 5 in section.

According to a general filling process, the filling material is filled into the tube body by means of a filling nozzle. The filler neck shown for example in FIG. 5 has an inner tube 8 with a longitudinal bore 9 through which the filling material is conveyed into the tube body. This inner tube 8 is surrounded by a sleeve 10, which in turn is surrounded by an outer tube piece 11.

The rolled-up label 12, as described above, is inserted in the annular space between the inner tube 8 and the outer tube piece 11. Rolling up and inserting the label 12, actually pushing it onto the inner tube 8 which converges at the front, can be accomplished with a simple mechanical auxiliary device. The label 12 is locked in this annular space due to its elastic bias. Then the filler neck is inserted into the body lowered by a predetermined distance for placing the label 12. The label 12 is released by pulling back the outer tube piece 11, so that it expands and lies against the inside of the tube body. The filling material is then conveyed through the longitudinal bore 9, so that it also covers the label 12. It is remarkable that no filling material can flow between the label and the inside of the tube body, since the label is pressed against the inside of the tube body by the elastic restoring force. The filler neck is withdrawn during or before dispensing to a final position in the tube body that concludes the filling.

The process just described is only an example. Obviously, other devices for inserting and releasing the label 12, followed by filling the filling material, are also possible. It is also possible to use a separate device in or at a filling machine for inserting the label 12, which does not introduce any filling material into the tube body.

It is possible to retrofit a filling machine with a plurality of filling nozzles in such a way that only one of these filling nozzles is designed according to the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 5, or that a filling nozzle is replaced by a device for exclusively inserting the label 12. As a result, not every tube is equipped with a label 12, so that the theft monitoring is only carried out on a random basis. However, this can significantly reduce the cost of manufacturing tubes for an anti-theft monitoring system.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in the present description, it should be clearly pointed out that the invention is not restricted to these and can also be carried out in other ways within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

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