Safety Closurer

Abstract

A safety package consisting of a one piece cap and a container having co-operating elements which make the closure significantly difficult of removal by a small child. The cap has a top and an internally threaded inner wall which mates with threads on the container neck. The cap also has an outer spaced, concentric flexible skirt. The shoulder of the container near the threaded neck has one or more recesses and the outer skirt of the closure has a corresponding number of depending lugs. Each lug snaps into a recess when the cap is threaded onto the neck to a sealed position. Inward deformation of the outer skirt is necessary to flex the skirt to move each lug radially outwardly beyond its recess in order for the cap to be removed. Cooperating means on the cap and container prevent the cap from being threaded onto the neck beyond the normally sealed position.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many so-called childproof closures for medicine bottles and the like have been designed and many combinations of closures and container neck configurations have been suggested in the past in order to make it difficult for a small child to remove the cap from such a package and thus to gain access to harmful or dangerous contents of the package.

Many of these previously suggested childproof closures have been complex and expensive, many consisting of at least two cooperating parts and thus requiring assembly prior to placement on a container. Others have required special capping equipment in order to place the caps or closures on the bottles or other containers, again increasing the cost of manufacture and thus the cost to the packager.

The principal object of the instant invention to provide a safety package comprising a one-piece cap and a bottle or other container having a threaded neck, the cap and the bottle having cooperating means which function to prevent removal of the cap but which allow the cap to be put on the bottle by the use of conventional capping equipment.

A further object of the instant invention is to provide a one-piece safety closure for a bottle or other container having a threaded neck which not only has cooperating means to prevent the closure from being removed from the container by a small child, but also comprises means to prevent the closure from being screwed onto the neck of the bottle or container beyond its normal sealing distance thus to prevent injurious compression of the sealing liner in the cap so that the package will continue to function adequately for containing liquid materials.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view partially in elevation and with parts broken away showing a safety package embodying the invention and comprising a closure and a glass bottle;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view, partly in plan and partly in section taken along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the line 3--3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a cap embodying the invention as provided with means for preventing the cap to be screwed too tightly onto the neck of a container;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a container neck as provided with a modified form of means for preventing the cap from being screwed too tightly onto the container;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a cap according to the invention also embodying an improved construction by which the overall external diameter of the cap may be minimized, and shown in a smaller scale than that utilized in FIGS. 1-5, inclusive; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view in elevation, with parts broken away, of the cap illustrated in FIG. 6 as it is utilized on the neck of a bottle according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A safety package embodying the invention as illustrated in FIG. 1 consists of a one piece cap 10 and a container 11 illustrated as a bottle. The cap 10 has a top 12, an internally threaded inner wall 13 and an outer concentric skirt 14. The threads on the inner side of the inner wall 13 mate with threads 15 on a neck 16 of the container 11.

Cooperating locking means in this embodiment of the invention consists of a pair of diametrically opposed, depending lugs 17 on the lower margin of the skirt 14 and cooperating lug recesses 18 formed in a bevelled shoulder 19 of the container 11.

In this embodiment of the invention, the back edges of the recesses 18 lie in an axial plane in which a parting line, generally indicated by the reference number 20, also lies. This arrangement of co-planar alignment of the back edges of the recesses 18 with the mold parting line of a container 11 is important in glass bottles designed according to the invention and is helpful in blow-molded plastic bottles. Such an alignment of the locking edges of the recesses 18 and the parting plane of the mold for a glass bottle 11 is easy to arrange and facilitates manufacture.

Engagement of threads 21 on the inner surface of the inner wall 13 with the threads 15 on the neck 16 of the container 11 provides for the placement of the cap 10 on the container 11 by automatic capping machinery having a conventional chuck which has a torsion clutch so that the cap 10 is rotated downwardly onto the neck 16 of the container 11 in the usual fashion until the locking lugs 17 engage the bevelled shoulder 19 and rotate sufficiently to drop into the respective recesses 18. A resilient liner 22 positioned on the underside of the cap top 12 at this point, also engages tightly against the upper end of the neck 16 to seal the neck against the escape of liquid material.

The cap 10 cannot now be removed from the container 11 without distorting the cap 10 by pressing inwardly on its opposite sides at midpoints around it circumference between two locking lugs 17, i.e., in the direction indicated by the arrows labeled "Press" in FIG. 2, to flex the outer skirt 14 distorting it from circular and moving the locking lugs 17 radially outwardly to the positions shown in broken lines in FIG. 2 and indicated by the reference numbers 17a. After thus squeezing inwardly on opposite sides of the outer skirt 14 and flexing the locking lugs 17 outwardly, the cap 10 may then be removed by rotating it in a counter-clockwise direction.

Distortion is also illustrated in FIG. 3 where the locking lugs 17 are shown in solid lines in their normal, locked position and illustrated in broken lines indicated by the reference numbers 17a in their outwardly flexed position.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4 also includes cooperating means which function to prevent the cap 10 from being screwed onto the neck 16 beyond its normal sealing position with the lugs 17 engaged in the recesses 18. In this embodiment of the invention these cooperating means comprise blind ends 23 on the threads 21 of the cap 10 and blind ends 24 on the cooperating threads 15 of the neck 16. It will also be observed in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4 that the blind end 23 on the cap thread 21 and the cooperating blind end 24 on the neck thread 15 lie in a radial plane positioned angularly only a degree or so beyond the radial plane of the parting line and the walls of the recesses 18.

When the cap 10 is threaded onto the neck 16 the lugs 17 first engage the bevelled shoulder 19 and are flexed outwardly and then snap into the recesses 18 when the cap 10 reaches its normal sealing position. Immediately after the lugs 17 snap inwardly into their respective recesses 18, the blind ends 23 and 24 of the respective threads on the cap 10 and neck 16 engage each other, thereby preventing further clockwise rotation of the cap 10 onto the neck 16 and preventing excessive damage to the liner 22.

In the embodiment of the invention partially illustrated in FIG. 5, a container 25 has a threaded neck 26 and a bevelled shoulder 27 which is provided with two opposed lug recesses 28. In this embodiment of the invention, the recesses 28 have two parallel sides, i.e., a back wall 29 and a front wall 30. When a cap 10 having lugs 17 is threaded onto the neck 26, the lugs 17 engage the shoulder 27 and are flexed outwardly and then snap into the respective recesses 28 with their trailing edges adjacent the back recess walls 29. Similarly, the front edges of the lugs 17 are adjacent the front walls 30 of the recesses 28 thereby preventing the cap 10 from being threaded onto the neck 26 any more than a degree or so beyond its normal sealing position.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrates a further modification which is desirable when a large size cap is to be employed with a large container neck. Of course, this improvement may also be utilized in a smaller sized cap if desired.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, a pair of oppositely located arcuate slots 31 are formed in a cap top 32 between the upper ends of an outer flexible skirt 33 and an inner threaded wall 34. In this embodiment cooperating lugs 35 and lug recesses 36 prevent opening of the package without distortion of the flexible skirt 14.

When the outer skirt 33 is distorted in order to open the package, by squeezing inwardly at the points intermediate the two lugs 35, the relief provided by the slots 31 allows the skirt 33 to flex to a greater degree than is possible when the top 32 is uninterrupted across its entire upper surface. Such excessive flexing is illustrated in FIG. 7 with the upper edge of the outer skirt 35 being shown as distorted or flexed upwardly, thus providing for a greater distance of outward movement of the lugs 35 without requiring as much annular space to exist between the inner surface of the flexible skirt 33 and the outer surface of the relatively stiffer, inner threaded wall 34.

This invention consists of an improvement on the disclosure in Gach et al. co-pending application, Ser. No. 278,101 filed Aug. 4, 1972 to which reference is hereby made for illustration of modifications to which the invention of the instant application readily may be applied.

Claims

What we claim is:

1. A safety package comprising a container and a cap, said container having a bottom, a sidewall, a neck and an annular shoulder extending between said neck and said sidewall, and at least one lug recess in said shoulder, said cap having a top, an inner wall depending from said top, cooperating threads on said container neck and said inner wall for retaining said cap in sealing position on said container, a liner on the underside of said cap top, an outer skirt depending from said top in concentric relationship to said inner wall, and at least one depending lug on said outer wall having a lower portion extending below the bottom of said inner wall that is adapted for engagement in said recess when said cap is turned to sealing position, the trailing side of said lug engaging the back wall of such recess to prevent said cap being unscrewed off of said neck, and cooperating means on said cap and said container for preventing the rotation of said cap onto said container neck beyond such sealing position.

2. A safety package according to claim 1 in which the container is a glass bottle having an axial mold parting plane and the back wall of the recess lies in such plane.

3. A safety package according to claim 1, and camming means comprisng a container camming surface on said shoulder whereby when said cap is moved downwardly, said lug engages said camming means and is urged outwardly.

4. A safety package according to claim 3, wherein said cap includes two opposed lugs depending from said skirt and said container shoulder has two opposed recesses.

5. A safety package according to claim 1, wherein said cooperating means consists of blind end threads on said neck and on said inner wall so positioned as to be engaged when said lug enters said recess.

6. A combination safety package comprising a container and a unitary screw-on cap, said container having a bottom, a cylindrical sidewall, a threaded neck and a shoulder extending between said threaded neck and said sidewall, said container shoulder having at least one lug recess, said screw-on cap having a top, a downwardly extending threaded inner wall for mating with said threaded neck of said container, a sealing liner within said inner wall, and an outer, spaced, concentric, resilient skirt depending from said top, said skirt extending below said inner wall, said skirt having at least one downwardly extending locking lug, said lug overlying and being in an engageable relationship with said container shoulder and engageable in said lug recess when said cap is screwed onto said container to sealing position and cooperating means on said cap and said container for stopping the rotation of said cap onto said container neck when said lug engages in said lug recess.

7. The safety package of claim 6 wherein said cooperating means consists of a stop on the threads on said threaded inner wall.

8. The safety package of claim 6 wherein said cooperating means consists of a lip on said recess engaged by the leading edge of said lug after said lug engages in said recess.

9. The safety package of claim 6 wherein said container has a pair of circumferentially spaced lug recesses, and wherein said outer concentric skirt has a pair of similarly spaced lugs complementary to said recesses, for releasably locking said cap to said container.

10. A safety package combination as in claim 9 and oppositely located arcuate slots in said cap top between the upper ends of said inner wall and said outer skirt and located above said lugs, whereby inward displacement of the lower portion of said outer skirt intermediate said lugs is facilitated and said lugs are radially outwardly displaced by flexure of the upper edge of said outer skirt adjacent such slots.