Patent Application
20150129531
The invention relates to container caps and, more particularly a cap for use on, for example, a container capable of dispensing, but not limited to, liquids, powders and solids including, for example, capsules, caplets, tablets, and gel caps.
Safety or child resistant caps are used to reduce the risk of children accessing and ingesting dangerous or toxic items. Prior attempts at designing and engineering a safety or child resistant cap for dispensing items are either insufficiently childproof or too difficult for an older adult to open. For example, existing child resistant closures require a simultaneous push and turn manipulation with one hand holding the container and the other hand pushing down on the closure while turning the closure in the unscrewing direction. Another example requires holding the container in one hand and with the other hand squeezing the skirt from the opposite sides and simultaneously unscrewing the closure from the container. These prior attempts do not, however, provide an adequate child resistant design to a flip top closure. Generally, the common flip top dispensing caps used for tablets, such as vitamins and drugs, use a screw on non-child resistant cap. However, those type of caps can only be used on products that do not require a child resistant feature. There is, therefore, a need for an efficiently designed child resistant flip top dispensing closure.
The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantages are provided through use of a dispensing cap constructed in accordance with one or more principles of the present invention. The dispensing cap constructed in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention may be used with any type of dispensing container containing, for example, but not limited to, liquids, powders and solids including, for example, capsules, caplets, tablets, and gel caps. Additionally, other uses may be made of the invention that fall within the scope of the claimed invention but when are not specifically described below.
In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a dispensing cap comprising a closure and a ring. The closure includes a base including an annular base side wall and a top surface including a dispensing orifice. The closure also includes a top pivotably mounted to the base for pivoting the top between an open position and a closed position over the dispensing orifice of a top surface of the base, The top may include at least one projection extending outwardly and/or the base may include a thumb depression to assist a user flip open the top. The ring is rotabably mounted to the base of the closure. The ring includes a ring side wall comprising a first set of opposite wall sections and a second set of opposite wall sections. The first set of opposite wall sections each includes a respective notch. The second set of opposite wall sections comprises a flexible area and an inner wall including at least one projection extending inwardly.
In another aspect of the invention, the at least one projection extending outwardly from the top engages the at least one projection extending inwardly from the inner wall of the second set of opposite wall sections when the hinge is aligned with one of the notches to prevent the top from pivotably opening from the closed position. In another aspect of the invention, the top of the closure is further prevented from pivotably opening from the closed position when the hinge is not aligned with the first set of opposite wall sections. The top of the closure is pivotably opened from the closed position when the hinge is aligned with one of the notches in the first set of opposite wall sections and when compression is applied to the flexible area to disengage the at least one projection extending outwardly from the top from the at least one projection extending inwardly from the inner wall of the second set of opposite wall sections.
Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed invention.
One or more aspects of the present invention are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed as examples in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and objects, features, and advantages of one or more aspects of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of a closure designed and constructed in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments, or examples, illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe these. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications in the described embodiments, and any further applications of the principles of the invention as described herein are contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the check valve invention relates.
Presented herein is a dispensing cap comprising, in one embodiment, multiple features that may be attached to or integrated into the cap to, for example, prevent access to a child. Generally, in one aspect, the dispensing cap that involve a closure surrounded by ring that require specific alignment and engagement by two hands. For example, opening of the cap requires orientation and alignment of a ring in relation to a hinge and/or opening flange of a top of the cap, as well as, application of pressure to the sides of the ring to disengage the ring from the top. A dispensing cap constructed in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention may be mounted on to a container capable of dispensing, for example, liquids, powders and solids including, for example, capsules, caplets, tablets, and gel caps. To ensure that a child cannot simply unscrew the cap, the dispensing cap may be, for example, press or snap fit onto the container or affixed or attached by other suitable means to prevent the removal of the cap from the container.
By way of example,
Top 130 includes flange 132 projecting outwardly from an edge or region of top 130 opposite the edge or region where hinge 200 connects top 130 to base 120. Flange 132 may be used to assist in opening and closing cap 100. Base 120 may also include a thumb recession 126 that is, for example, formed in side wall 122 to assist in opening cap 100. Cap 100 may use both flange 132 and thumb recession 126 or only one of these features to assist a user in pivotably opening top 130 from base 120.
Ring 140 may be used in conjunction with closure 110 to provide numerous ways to prevent a child from opening dispensing cap 100. In one embodiment, as illustrated in
In another embodiment, as illustrated in
Outer walls 180 and 182 include a flexible areas 184 and 186, respectively. Flexible area 184 and 186 are partially severed between a pair of vertical cuts 190 extending upwardly from the bottom of ring 140, as depicted in
Dispensing cap 100 may be childproof because opening of top 130 from base 120 requires, for example, alignment of notches 154 and 156 with hinge 200 and flange 132 of top 130 and/or thumb depression 126 of base 120, or in alternative embodiments another engageable part of either top 130 or base 120 that assists a user to flip open top 120 from a closed position, and application of enough pressure against flexible areas 184 and 186 between the pair of vertical cuts to disengage ridges 168 and 170 of inner walls 164 and 166, respectively, from flanges 134 and 136 of top 130. In order to open the embodiment depicted in, for example,
While the invention has been described in detail in connection with only a limited number of embodiments, it should be readily understood that the invention is not limited to such disclosed embodiments. Rather, the invention can be modified to incorporate any number of variations, alterations, substitutions or equivalent arrangements not heretofore described, but which are commensurate with the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, while various embodiments of the invention have been described, it is to be understood that aspects of the disclosure may include only some of the described embodiments. Accordingly, the invention is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.
