Screw cap

Screw caps had been used in Europe since the 1500s and a British patent was filed in 1810 by Peter Durand acting on behalf of Nicolas Appert. In 1858, John Landis Mason patented a screw-on lid for a jar that became known as the Mason jar.

The screws and caps on PET beverage bottles were standardized in the 2000s by the International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT) as the voluntary standard PCO 1881, replacing the older and taller PCO 1810 standard.

A screw closure is a mechanical device which is screwed on and off of a "finish" on a container. Either continuous threads or lugs are used. It must be engineered to be cost-effective, to provide an effective seal (and barrier), to be compatible with the contents, to be easily opened by the consumer, often to be reclosable, and to comply with product, package, and environmental laws and regulations. Manufacturers may ensure the integrity of a screw cap using a cap torque tester. Some closures need to be tamper resistant and have child-resistant packaging features. A tamper-evident band is a common tamper warning for screw caps of bottles, for example.

Screw caps' use as an alternative to cork for sealing wine bottles is gaining increasing support. A screw cap is a metal cap that screws onto threads on the neck of a bottle, generally with a metal skirt down the neck to resemble the traditional wine capsule ("foil"). A layer of plastic (often PVDC), cork, rubber, or other soft material is used as wad to make a seal with the mouth of the bottle.

Sake bottles are almost universally closed with screw caps (some are packed in barrels, or novelty bottles).