1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tamper evident closures, which are used to verify that a container has not been opened subsequent to its sealing. More particularly, the present invention provides a tamper evident closure for a container and system for installing, which is simple to install and can be incorporated onto an existing container assembly line at a minimum of cost.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Contemporary package designs often utilize a band of tape or other tamper evident seal around a lid of a packaged article to enable a consumer to determine whether the container may possibly have been breached or contaminated prior to use. Such tamper evident seals are particularly advantageous for use with containers for storing food stuffs or the like. An example of such a seal and an apparatus which is used to apply the seal to a container is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,018 to Donnay. In that system, an additional station was provided on a manufacturing line for applying a band of tape between a lid of the container and the container body after placement of the lid on the container. Thus, tamper evident seals for containers have in the past been installed on the containers in a manufacturing step that is performed separately and subsequent to assembly of the containers.
One disadvantage of such prior art systems is that the equipment required to place a tamper evident seal upon a container is relatively expensive to purchase and maintain. Moreover, such systems are relatively bulky and take up a substantial amount of space on a manufacturing floor.
It is clear that there has existed a long and unfilled need in the prior art for a system to apply a tamper evident seal to a container that is less expensive to purchase and maintain, and that does not take up a great deal of space on a production floor.