Container system

Abstract

A container system includes a squeeze bottle of a specific volume having a neck with an open end and a medicament disposed within the bottle. A tip is provided which is insertable into the open end of the squeezable bottle and includes an internal tapered nozzle with the nozzle having increased diameter toward a tip opening. A cap is provided for removable attachment to the bottleneck for sealing the tip opening and a shoulder formed in the bottle proximate the neck and disposed at an angle is provided in order to enhance bubbless flow of the medicament to the nozzle and facilitate tamper proof sealing of the cap.

Description

The present invention generally relates to dropper bottles for dispensing of medicaments in droplet form and is more particularly directed to a container system for dispensing medicaments in less than 100 ml volumes with precise and uniform droplets.

Heretofore, dropwise container systems have typically included nozzles that are press fitted or otherwise inserted into a neck portion of a squeeze bottle.

In operation, squeeze bottle is inverted and manually squeezed by a user to dispense one or more drops through the nozzle. When medicament delivery when the medicament is fully dispensed, the container system is typically discarded.

Heretofore, resilient squeeze bottles often have substantial drop-to-drop volume variation when dispensing one or more drops in volumes of less than 100 ml, particularly in the 10 to 50 ml range.

This variation may be due to a bubble formation on interior surfaces of the bottle when the bottle is inverted so that drops, particularly eye drop medication, are dispensed unevenly. Such adhered bubbles may be prevalent in square shoulder bottles and nozzles having areas which promote such bubble formation.

In addition, in view of the popularity of tamper proof bottles, it is desirable to facilitate the installation of such tamper proof systems.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved container system for providing a uniform dropwise dispensing of medication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A container system in accordance with the present invention generally includes a squeeze bottle of a specific volume having a neck with an open end and a medicament disposed within the bottle.

A tip fixable to the open end and includes internal tapered nozzle with the nozzle having increased diameter toward a tip opening.

A cap is provided for removably sealing the tip opening by attachment to the bottleneck.

A shoulder formed into the bottle proximate the neck and disposed at an angle of between about 45° and about 50° to a bottle centerline, is provided in order to both enhance bubbless flow of medicament to the nozzle and facilitate tamper proof sealing of the cap.

More particularly, the container system in accordance with the present invention may include a tip face surrounding the tip opening with a face width to control the uniformity and size of the droplets formed at the tip opening by squeezing of the bottle. In that regard, the face width may be between about 0.015 inches and about 0.060 inches with the specific volume of the bottle of between about 5 ml and about 15 ml.

Preferably, the container system in accordance with the present invention provides droplet sizes between about 10 ml and about 50 ml.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The advantages and features of the present invention will be better understood by the following description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a 5 ml bottle in accordance with the present invention generally showing a neck with an open end and a shoulder formed into the bottle proximate the neck having an angle of between about 45° and 50° to a bottle centerline;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the bottle shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the bottle shown in FIG. 2 taken along the line 3-3;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the bottleneck shown in FIGS. 1 and 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a 10 ml bottle in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the bottle shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of the bottle shown in FIG. 6 taken along the line 7-7;

FIG. 8 is a side view of a 15 ml bottle in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a top view of the bottle shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 10-10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a side view of a tip in accordance with the present invention for insertion into the neck of the bottle of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a top view of the tip shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a bottom view of the tip shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a cross sectional view of the tip shown in FIG. 13 taken along the line 14-14 and showing an internal nozzle and a face surrounding a tip opening;

FIG. 15 is a side view of another tip in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a top view of the tip shown in FIG. 15;

FIG. 17 is a bottom view of the tip shown in FIG. 15;

FIG. 18 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 18-18 of FIG. 17 showing a larger face surrounding a tip opening and an internal nozzle;

FIG. 19 is a side view of a cap suitable for closure of the tips and bottles of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a top view of the cap shown in FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a bottom view of the cap shown in FIG. 19;

FIG. 22 is a cross sectional view of the cap taken along the line 20-22 of FIG. 21; and

FIG. 23 is a side view of an assembled bottle and cap along with a taper proof seal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to FIGS. 1-3, there is shown a squeeze bottle 10 in accordance with the present invention having a neck 14 with an open end 16, see also FIG. 4, which is an enlarged view of the neck 14 of the bottle 10 in accordance with the present invention.

The bottle 10 may be formed from a suitable material, such as, for example, low-density polyethylene. The bottle 10 has a specific volume of 5 ml for containing a medicament 20 suitable for installation into an eye, not shown, by droplet formation, as will be hereinafter discussed in greater detail.

FIGS. 5-7 illustrate a bottle 24 in accordance with the present invention similar to that shown in FIGS. 1-3 with the bottle 24 having a specific volume of 10 ml and a neck 26 with an opening 28 therein.

FIGS. 8-10 illustrate a bottle 32 in accordance with the present invention which has a specific volume of 15 ml along with a neck 34, an opening 36.

As illustrated in FIGS. 12-14, a tip 40 in accordance with the present invention includes a base 42 sized for insertion into the bottleneck opening 16 and includes an internal tapered nozzle 46 having increased diameter toward a tip opening 50.

With reference again to FIGS. 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10 each of the bottles 10, 24, 32 include shoulders 50, 52, 54 proximate necks 14, 26, 34 and disposed at an angle of between about 45° and about 50° to bottle centerlines 58, 60, 62, with an angle of 47° in 30 seconds being shown as a specific example.

This shoulder angle enhances bubbless flow of medicament 20 to the nozzle 46.

FIGS. 15-18 illustrate another nozzle 66 in accordance with the present invention including a base 68 sized for insertion into openings 16, 28, 34 and including an internal nozzle 70 similar to the nozzle 46 of the tip 40.

In comparing the tip 46 and 68, it can be seen that each include tip faces 72, 74 respectively surrounding openings 50, 80 respectively and having different surface areas, or face widths.

In the case of tip 40, the face width is about 0.015 inches while with the tip 66 the face width is about 0.060 inches. While only two tips 40, 66 being shown, it should be appreciated that similar tips having different tip face width dimensions are to be considered within the scope of the present invention and taken in combination with various bottle sizes, such as, for example, 5 ml, 10 ml, and 15 ml illustrated by the bottles 10, 24, 32 enable the control dropwise dispensing of medicament 20 with droplet sizes between less than 10 μl and about 50 μl, preferably between about 8-12 μl. A greater face area provides for a larger droplet size.

With reference to FIGS. 19-22, there is shown a cap 80, formed from a suitable material having internal threads 82 for engaging a neck threads 84, see FIGS. 1 and 3 for example, and sealing the tip opening 50 with a convex surface 88.

An assembled container system 92 is shown in FIG. 23 along with a tamper proof seal 96. Importantly, the sloped shoulder 50 facilitates the application of the seal 96 and enables a larger surface of the bottle 10 upper surface 100 to be sealed along with the cap 80 in order to provide a more secure tamper proof seal 96.

Although there has been hereinabove described a specific container system in accordance with the present invention for the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the invention may be used to advantage, it should be appreciated that the invention is not limited thereto. That is, the present invention may suitably comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of the recited elements. Further, the invention illustratively disclosed herein suitably may be practiced in the absence of any element which is not specifically disclosed herein. Accordingly, any and all modifications, variations or equivalent arrangements which may occur to those skilled in the art, should be considered to be within the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A container system comprising: a squeeze bottle of a specific volume having a neck with an open end; a medicament disposed in the bottle; a tip insertable into said open end and having an internal tapered nozzle, the nozzle having increased diameter toward a tip opening; a cap for removable attachment to the bottle neck for sealing said tip opening; a shoulder formed into the bottle proximate said neck and disposed at an angle of between about 45° and about 50° to a bottle centerline in order to enhance bubbless flow of medicament to the nozzle and facilitate tamper proof sealing of said cap.

2. The container system according to claim 1 further comprises a tip face surrounding said tip opening with a face width to control uniformity and size of medicament droplets formed at said tip opening by squeezing of the bottle.

3. The container system according to claim 2 wherein said face width is between about 0.015 inches and about 0.060 inches and the specific volume is between about 5 ml and about 15 ml.

4. The container system according to claim 3 wherein the droplet size is between about 10 μl and about 50 μl.

5. A container system comprising: a squeeze bottle of a specific volume having a neck with an open end; a medicament disposed in the bottle; a tip insertable into said open end and having an internal tapered nozzle, the nozzle having increased diameter toward a tip opening, said tip including a face surrounding said tip opening with a face width to control uniformity and size of medicament droplets formed at said tip opening by squeezing of the bottle; and a threaded cap for removable attachment to the bottleneck for sealing said tip opening.

6. The container system according to claim 5 wherein said face width is between about 0.015 inches and about 0.060 inches and the specific volume is between about 5 ml about 15 ml.

7. The container system according to claim 6 wherein the droplet size is between about 10 μl and about 50 μl.

8. The container system according to claim 5 further comprising a shoulder formed into the bottle proximate said neck and disposed at an angle of between about 45° and about 50° to a bottle centerline in order to enhance bubbless flow of medicament to the nozzle and facilitate tamper proof sealing of said cap to said neck.