Patent Application
20230211928
The present invention relates generally to a child-resistant combination of container and closure, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a reusable combination of container and closure that is difficult to be opened by a child but an adult can easily open the same.
Child-resistant packaging or CR packaging is known in the art as special packaging that is difficult for a child to open but can be easily opened by adults. Child-resistant packaging is mandatory for certain substances, particularly hazardous substances, to reduce the risk of children ingesting hazardous substances. People do not want containers to be easily opened by children or unauthorized individuals when the containers carry a substance that is harmful, controlled, dangerous, or costly. Notably, prescription medicines and household chemicals are at particular risk of being accessed by children. Some substances are subject to legal restrictions, such as most notably, mind-altering substances, like marijuana and derivatives. Another type of consumable that is restricted is pharmaceuticals and marijuana-based or hemp-based products. Casual consumption can become dangerous when consumed in excess or without proper administration. The laws and regulations prescribed by concerned authorities of many countries mandate that child-protective barriers be used to prevent minors from accessing controlled substances, such as cannabis and cannabis products.
The European Union and the United States maintain regulations as to child-resistant packaging for drugs and other substances. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regulated child-resistant packaging based on the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA). The special packaging requirements under the PPPA are directed towards designing packaging to make it significantly difficult for children under five years old to open the packaging or obtain a toxic or harmful amount of the substance therein within a reasonable amount of time. The requirements also maintain that it should not be difficult for ordinary adults to use the packaging properly. Thus, caps and closures for containers should usually be tight enough to maintain a seal and resist working loose. Still, such containers should not be so difficult to open that the intended end user cannot conveniently open the container.
Therefore, a desire is always there for child-resistant packaging that is economical to manufacture and can be opened readily and easily by adults.
The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodiments of the present invention in order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all embodiments nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The principal object of the present invention is therefore directed to a child-resistant combined container and closure which a child under an age of five cannot open.
It is another object of the present invention that an adult can easily open the disclosed combined container and closure.
It is still another object of the present invention that the disclosed combined container and closure are economical to manufacture.
It is yet another object of the present invention that the disclosed combined container and closure are reusable.
It is a further object of the present invention that the disclosed combined container and closure are simpler in construction but more effective as child-resistant packaging.
In one aspect, disclosed is a combination of container and its closure as a child-resistant packaging. The container has an open top for gaining access to the inner volume of the container. The closure can close the open top of the container, wherein the closure can be placed over the open top and turned to engage the interlocking mechanism between the container and closure, thus securing the closure over the container. In order to turn the closure relative to the container, for either closing or opening the closure, some torque must be applied to the closure to pass over predefined resistance, wherein a child may lack the strength to apply such an amount of torque, but an adult can turn the closure easily. Such resistance and torque required can be predefined.
In one aspect, the first upper pointer and the first lower pointer can be triangular.
In one aspect, the container can have a second lower pointer and a third lower pointer, and the closure can have a second upper pointer and a third upper pointer, wherein the alignment of the first upper and lower pointers results in the alignment of the second upper and lower pointers and the third upper and lower pointers. The first upper and lower pointers can be visually distinct from the second and third upper and lower pointers.
In one aspect, to close the closure, the pointers in the closure can be aligned to the corresponding pointers in the container, thereafter, the closure can be slightly depressed over the container and then twisted, thereby preventing the separation of the closure from the container. To remove the closure, the closure can be twisted till the pointers in the closure can be aligned to the corresponding pointers in the container, and thereafter the closure can be pulled using slight force, thereby resulting in the separation of the closure from the container.
In one aspect, disclosed is a childproof combination of container and closure comprising a container and a closure. The container comprises a base and a wall defining an inner volume of the container, the container has an open-top, a neck extends from a periphery of the wall, two or more elongated grooves in an outer surface of the neck. The closure comprising a central section and a skirt that extends downwards from a periphery of the central section, the skirt has an inner surface and an outer surface, the inner surface of the skirt has two or more protrusions, each of the two or more protrusions is configured to engage and disengage with the respective elongated groove for closing and opening the closure, wherein each protrusion is configured to be slidably received within the respective elongated groove, wherein each elongated groove has a bump, the bump configured to offer predetermined amount of resistance to respective protrusion, and wherein predetermined amount of torque must be applied to the closure for the two or more protrusions to pass over the respective bumps. The childproof combination of container and closure further comprises at least one upper pointer on the outer surface of the skirt, wherein the at least one upper pointer points downwards; and at least one lower pointer on an outer surface of the wall, wherein the at least one lower pointer points upwards, wherein the at least one upper pointer and the at least one lower pointer are positioned such that when the at least one upper pointer is aligned with the at least one lower pointer, the two or more protrusions are aligned with the two or more elongated grooves. A number of the at least one lower pointer or a number of the at least one upper pointer are equal to a number of the two or more protrusions. The two or more protrusions comprise three protrusions and the two or more elongated grooves comprises three elongated grooves. The two or more protrusions are disposed along a rim of the skirt.
In one aspect, disclosed is a method for restricting access to a container for a child, the method comprising the steps of providing a childproof combination of container and closure comprising a container and a closure. The container comprising a base and a wall defining an inner volume of the container, the container has an open-top, a neck extends from a periphery of the wall, two or more elongated grooves in an outer surface of the neck. The closure comprising a central section and a skirt that extends downwards from a periphery of the central section, the skirt has an inner surface and an outer surface, the inner surface of the skirt has two or more protrusions, each of the two or more protrusions is configured to engage and disengage with the respective elongated groove for closing and opening the closure, wherein each protrusion is configured to be slidably received within the respective elongated groove, wherein each elongated groove has a bump, the bump configured to offer predetermined amount of resistance to respective protrusion, and wherein predetermined amount of torque must be applied to the closure for the two or more protrusions to pass over the respective bumps. The method further comprises depressing the closure over the neck of the container such that the two or more protrusions are slidably received within the two or more elongated grooves; and upon depressing, turning the closure, under the predetermined amount of torque to prevent separation of the closure from the container by a child. The childproof combination of container and closure further comprises at least one upper pointer on the outer surface of the skirt, wherein the at least one upper pointer points downwards; and at least one lower pointer on an outer surface of the wall, wherein the at least one lower pointer points upwards, wherein the at least one upper pointer and the at least one lower pointer are positioned such that when the at least one upper pointer is aligned with the at least one lower pointer, the two or more protrusions are aligned with the respective two or more elongated grooves. A number of the at least one lower pointer or a number of the at least one upper pointer are equal to a number of the two or more protrusions. The two or more protrusions comprise three protrusions and the two or more elongated grooves comprises three elongated grooves. The two or more protrusions are disposed along a rim of the skirt.
These and other objects and advantages of the embodiments herein and the summary will become readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying figures, which are incorporated herein, form part of the specification and illustrate embodiments of the present invention. Together with the description, the figures further explain the principles of the present invention and to enable a person skilled in the relevant arts to make and use the invention.
Subject matter will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments. Subject matter may, however, be embodied in a variety of different forms and, therefore, covered or claimed subject matter is intended to be construed as not being limited to any exemplary embodiments set forth herein; exemplary embodiments are provided merely to be illustrative. Likewise, a reasonably broad scope for claimed or covered subject matter is intended. Among other things, for example, the subject matter may be embodied as methods, devices, components, or systems. The following detailed description is, therefore, not intended to be taken in a limiting sense.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Likewise, the term “embodiments of the present invention” does not require that all embodiments of the invention include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of embodiments of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprise”, “comprising,”, “includes” and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
The following detailed description includes the best currently contemplated mode or modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention will be best defined by the allowed claims of any resulting patent.
Referring to
A cylindrical neck 120 can extend upwards from a periphery 130 of the wall 110. The neck 120 can be seen offset from the wall 110, wherein the wall 110 can curve inwards to form a step and then extend upwards to form the neck 120, the step is more clearly shown in
The outer surface of the neck 120 includes an L-shaped groove 140 that has a vertical leg and a continuous horizontal leg. A protrusion 210 on an inner surface of the closure can slide into the vertical leg when the closure is placed over the neck of the container, and then slide into the horizontal leg of the L-shaped groove when the closure is turned relative to the container.
Two or more of the L-shaped groove 140 can be provided spaced apart from one another on the outer surface of the neck 120. It may be preferable for small-size containers to have three L-shaped grooves equally spaced apart from one another and disposed along the circumference of the neck. It is understood, however, that two or more L-shaped grooves are within the scope of the present invention. For example, containers with a larger diameter may have four or more consecutive L-shaped grooves.
Moreover, clearly shown in
The closure 200 can be used to close the open top of the container 100. The closure 200 can have a central section 220 and a skirt 230 that extends downwards from a periphery of the central section 220. The skirt 230 can overlap the neck 120 of the container 100 when mounted over the container. The step formed between wall 110 and neck 120 of the container can receive the skirt 230, such that the outer surface of the skirt and the outer surface of the wall of the container can be smooth and continuous. However, the outer surfaces of the skirt and the wall may not need to be continuous and such variation in the surfaces are within the scope of the present invention.
The inner surface of the skirt 230 can have protrusions 210 that can engage and disengage with the L-shaped grooves 140 in the neck 120 of the container 100 for closing the closure to the container. The protrusions are visible in
For each lower pointer on the container, there can be a corresponding upper pointer on the closure. The lower pointer and the corresponding upper pointer can form a pair, wherein the pointers in the pair are positioned such that when the upper pointer and the lower pointer of the pair are aligned, the protrusions are above the vertical leg of the L-shaped grooves. The closure and the container can be engaged and disengaged when the upper pointer is aligned to the lower pointer. When the pointers are aligned, the protrusions are aligned with the vertical legs of the L-shape grooves. To close the closure, the closure can be aligned relative to the open top of the container such that the upper pointer and the lower pointer are along a common axis. Typically, when the pointers can be aligned, the closure can be placed over the neck of the container. Now the closure can be slightly depressed so that the protrusion in the closure can slidably engage with the corresponding L-shaped groove of the container, and then turned under force to pass over a bump 150 in the horizontal leg, thereby preventing the separation of the closure. To remove the closure from the container, the closure can be turned under force in a reverse direction to pass over the bump, and then the closure can be pulled upwards to release the closure.
Also, as can be seen in
The bump 150, more clearly shown in
In certain implementations, the bump can be formed by an embossing process using a male and female embossing plate. The bump can be approximately 1 mm long or may be slightly higher or lower. The actual dimensions may depend upon the dimensions of the protrusions and required resistance generated by the bump relative to the protrusion for the protrusion to pass over the bump. Similarly, the protrusion can also be about 1 mm long. In a preferred embodiment, the amount of resistance offered can be such that children under the age of 5, as a rule, do not possess the dexterity nor the hand strength to open and close the disclosed container but adults can.
While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above-described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention as claimed.
This application is a continuation-in-part of a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/476,396 filed on Sep. 15, 2021, which claims priority from a U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/163,037, filed on Mar. 18, 2021. This application also claims priority from a U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/424,370, filed on Nov. 10, 2022. All above three applications are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63424370 | Nov 2022 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17476396 | Sep 2021 | US |
| Child | 18120625 | US |
