The present invention relates to packaging and, more particularly, to a child resistant paperboard box.
Cartons or other paperboard containers may be used for holding and storing small items. In some implementations, the items held or stored in the containers may be harmful to certain users, such as children (e.g., a pharmaceutical drug). A user may desire to hold or store items in a lockable, child-resistant container.
Child-proof containers, i.e., containers that at least small children cannot open are desirable for a plurality of goods, which could be harmful to the children and/or to the surroundings. Such goods can be, e.g., medical pills, matches or needles.
For such purposes, well-functioning child-proof containers have been more or less developed. In most cases, these containers are formed with ledge-shaped locking members projecting from the flat side surface of the casing. These conventional locking members, however, have generally only a very modest locking ability, which can often be overcome without large or extreme forces, by merely pushing the box in its normal direction of opening, and this can often also be accomplished by small children.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,210 to Anjou discloses one such child-proof container consisting of a casing and a box displaceably arranged therein, whereby the side walls of the casing at the interior are provided with locking members located diagonally to each other and intended to cooperate with recesses in the side walls of the box, whereby the locking members are arranged to be able to be moved away from locking position in the recesses via external forces, which can be applied with two fingers diagonally on the casing to give this a rhomboidic shape, whereby at the same time a pressure force exerted by a third finger can push the box out of the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,031 to Evans et al. discloses a method and another child resistant carton assembly that includes a carton having a body panel. A locking panel is spaced apart from the body panel. The locking panel and the body panel define a locking chamber. A tray is slidably mounted in the carton. The tray includes a locking tab adapted to releasably engage the locking panel such that at least an insert portion of the locking tab is disposed in the locking chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,576 to Intini discloses a child-resistant/senior friendly dispensing package comprising a dispensing member having a dispensing cavity and a product storage cavity, where the dispensing member is mounted within a sleeve that is movable from a first stored position to a second position, and where the dispensing cavity is external to the housing to permit dispensing of the product. The dispensing package also includes a device having first and second locks that must be operated either sequentially or simultaneously in order to move the dispensing cavity exteriorly of the housing, where the device preferably permits the dispensing of only a single tablet or product.
There is a need for a child-proof container, which functions well to safely prohibit opening by a person who unfamiliar with the opening method and which, at the same time, does not require high forces to correctly open the container.
Disclosed is a paperboard box, which is configured in a child-resistant manner. The paperboard box includes a paperboard tray and a paperboard over-sleeve that is closed at one end and open at the opposite end. The paperboard tray is housed within the paperboard over-sleeve. The paperboard tray and the paperboard over-sleeve are locked together by interlocking tabs, where one tab is located on the inside of the paperboard over-sleeve and another tab is located on the outside of the paperboard tray. These two tabs engage with each other and prevent the paperboard box from being opened through normal force when attempting to slide the paperboard tray out from the bottom of the paperboard over-sleeve.
In order to open the paperboard box and access products located within the paperboard tray, (i) a sleeve divider tab located within the inside of the tray must be pushed or folded downward, (ii) the tray must be slid to the opposite side of the paperboard over-sleeve—beyond the now folded tab of the paperboard over-sleeve, and (iii) the paperboard tray is then unlocked to permit its removal by pulling it out of the open end of the paperboard over-sleeve to a position that permits access to products within the paperboard tray.
In order to close the paperboard box, the paperboard tray must be slid back to the opposite side of the paperboard over-sleeve, and then pushed into the paperboard over-sleeve.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to the drawings, this comprising schematic and greatly simplified figures in which:
The paperboard box 100 is constructed from a material, such as cardboard, which provides resistive properties, while at the same time is thin enough to be folded into the final form of the paperboard box 100. The paperboard box 100 is manufactured from 18 point to 22 point, preferably 20 point, board grade paper, which is a grade of paper made for packaging, as opposed to finished grade paper. The paper grade has been found to be a critical aspect of the invention and thus it has been found that the grade of 20 points provides the optimal level of resilience to provide required resistive or properties associated with resilience. The paperboard over-sleeve 110 and paperboard tray 115 are folded into mutually engaging rectangular forms, where the final assembly is held in shape via a suitable glue, in a manner known to the skilled person. In order to provide resistance to merely tearing the paperboard box 100 apart to gain entry, the box is provided with a plastic laminate layer. In this way, a child cannot simply tear the box apart without resorting to more destructive methodologies, such as cutting the box with scissors.
As shown in
The inventive child-resistant paperboard box 100 advantageously includes a sleeve divider tab 125 and requires the paperboard tray 115 to be slid from one side to the other so as to “unlock” the paperboard box 100 before the paperboard tray 115 can be pulled from the paperboard over-sleeve 110.
Thus, in accordance with the disclosed embodiments of the invention, in order to open the paperboard box 100, the paperboard box 100 is held in both hands with the top of the box facing up and a first side facing proximately, i.e., toward the body of the person seeking to open the paperboard box. While applying equal pressure to all tabs, they are push down and the paperboard tray 115 is pulled/slid toward the body of the person seeking to open the paperboard box 100.
Once the paperboard tray 115 is completely pulled and touches the wall of the paperboard over-sleeve, fingers are placed on opposite sides of the end of the tray-(one on each side) to pull/slide the paperboard tray 115 from out the paperboard over-sleeve until it catches, i.e., the tabs engage. The box is now open.
In order to close the inventive paperboard box 100, with the paperboard tray 115 fully extended from the paperboard over-sleeve 110, fingers are placed at opposite sides of the ends the paperboard tray 115. The paperboard tray 115 is now slid/pushed distally, i.e., away from the body of the person seeking to close the paperboard box 100 toward the opposite side of the paperboard over-sleeve 110.
Once the paperboard tray 115 is completely pushed to the opposite wall of the paperboard over-sleeve 110, the paperboard tray 115 can now be slid/pushed back into the sleeve until it “clicks” in place to thereby lock the paperboard box 110.
Thus, while there have been shown, described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the methods described and the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements or structure shown which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that elements or structure shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/073,275 filed Sep. 1, 2020, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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