GB2317870A - Container with openable closure between two compartments - Google Patents

Abstract

A container comprises a first compartment 1 and a second compartment 8 for containing respective substances 24,25. The second compartment 8 contains a plunger mechanism 15 for opening a sealed opening 13 in the base 10 of the compartment 8 to enable the substances 24,25 to be mixed together. In one application, the compartment 1 may container medical waste 26 and the substances 24,25 may be components of a hardenable foam material which react together when mixed to encapsulate the medical waste 26 for safe disposal thereof. Compartment 8 is located in an opening 4 of the container which also has an opening 5. Closure member 14 of the opening 13 may be a pierceable seal as shown, or a stopper.

Description

CONTAINER The present invention relates to a container and in particular, though not exclusively, to a container suitable for safe disposal of medical waste, such as used syringes, dressings, protective gloves, etc.

In these days of great concern over the spread of highly contagious and dangerous diseases, such as AIDS and other serious communicable infections, the safe disposal of used medical waste is vitally important. The disposal of such items cannot only cause great environmental problems by polluting beaches, canals, sewers etc., but also poses rapidly increasing occupational safety hazards to workers and personnel in hospitals and health-care facilities, even outpacing the hazards traditionally faced by industrial workers.

In order to help control this ever increasing problem, various devices have been made to provide safe disposal of used syringes. These devices may comprise individual compartments into which the needle-end of a used syringe is inserted, the compartments either containing a hard foam material into which the needle is pushed or a material which hardens upon insertion of the syringe so as to encapsulate the needle. However, these devices are only suitable for the safe disposal of syringes and do not take account of the problem of disposal of used dressings, protective gloves and other medical items which obviously can also become contaminated along with the used syringe.

Other known containers are large enough to contain different types of medical waste and, whens filled with such waste, involve adding various components of a foam encapsulating material to the container. The components then react together in the container and produce a hardened foam which encapsulates the waste. However, this involves manual handling of the various foam components which may need to be mixed in precise quantities, thereby making the disposal messy and time-consuming.

Another major problem of today is the safe storage of items, particularly food products including vitamins and food supplements and enhancers, which have a long shelf life in their granular or powdered form, but need to be mixed with a liquid, usually water, to make them palatable, and once they are mixed, they normally need to be refrigerated.

Use of such food items in areas such as Third World countries and areas of major catastrophes such as natural disasters and war zones is therefore extremely limited, because of the usual lack of fresh water to mix with the dry ingredients and also the lack of refrigeration facilities.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a container which can provide a cheap, practical and very usable means for disposing of medical waste and/or can be used for the storage and mass supply of the abovementioned food and other mixable products.

Accordingly, the invention consists in a container having first and second compartments for containing respective substances, said compartments being separated by a wall, and said container including means for destroying the separating ability of said wall to enable the substances to be mixed together in said container.

Preferably, the wall is formed with an opening closed by a closure member and the means for destroying the separating ability of the wall are arranged to act on the closure member to open the opening. The closure member may comprise a pierceable seal or a stopper, and the means for destroying the separating ability of the wall may be arranged to pierce the seal or push out the stopper so as to open the opening.

In one embodiment, the means for destroying the separating ability of the wall comprises a plunger mechanism, which may be mounted in one of the compartments and operable from outside the container. The part of the plunger mechanism which is external of the container is preferably protected by a removable cover, such as a releasable sticker, to prevent accidental operation of the mechanism. The distal end of the plunger mechanism, ie. the end extending into the container, may be sharp so as to aid the destruction of the separating ability of the wall.

The first and second compartments may be formed by primary and secondary containers respectively, with the secondary container being located within the primary container and being formed at least partially by the wall, and the means for destroying the separating ability of the wall are preferably mounted in the secondary container. The primary container may be formed with two openings, one within which the secondary container is mounted and the other for insertion of items and/or a substance into the container and/or for removal of mixed substances from the container, at least this other opening being closed by a removable cover, such as a screw-threaded cap.

The container may be made suitable for disposal of medical waste in which the substances contained therein comprise respective components of a hardenable foam material which, when mixed, react together to encapsulate medical waste retained in the container. Alternatively, the container may be suitable for storage of mixable products, in particular food products, the substances comprising respective components of a product which when mixed together render the product suitable for consumption or use.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which shows schematically a container, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, for disposal of medical waste.

Referring now to the drawing, a primary container 1 is formed with side walls 2 and a base 3 and has two screwthreaded openings 4, 5 and a handle 6 formed in its upper face 7. A secondary container 8 is formed with side walls 9, a base 10, and an upper opening 11 on which a cap 12 is screw-threaded. The base 10 is formed with an opening 13 which is closed by a pierceable or shearable foil seal 14.

The cap 12 is also screw-threaded onto the opening 4 to mount the secondary container 8 within the primary container 1.

A plunger mechanism 15 is mounted in the secondary container 8 and comprises a push rod 16 having a push knob 17 on its upper end and a sharp member 18, such as a metal shearer, mounted on its lower distal end. The push rod 16 has mounted on it two rubber 0-rings 19 to prevent leakage and a spring 20 to keep the plunger in its "up" position.

The upper end of the push rod 16 extends out of the upper opening 11 of the secondary container into a central through-aperture in the cap 12 which is covered by a removable sticker 21 to protect the plunger mechanism from accidental operation.

The second screw-threaded opening 5 in the primary container 1 has an anti-waste retrieval cone 22 mounted in it and is closed by a removable screw-threaded cap 23.

A first substance 24 is contained within the primary container 1 and a second substance 25 is contained within the secondary container 8, the fist and second substances comprising respective components of a hardenable encapsulating foam material, such as a two-part polymerizable material.

In use of the container, the cap 23 is removed from the primary container 1 and medical waste 26 including used syringes, dressings, protective gloves, etc, are inserted into the primary container through the cone 22. When the primary container is sufficiently full, the cap 23 is secured on the opening 5 and the cover sticker 21 is removed to gain access to the plunger knob 17. The plunger is then depressed which causes the sharp member 18 to pierce the foil seal 14 which in turn causes the second substance 25 to flow from the secondary container into the primary container. The two substances 24 and 25 can therefore be mixed together in the primary container by a slight swirling motion of the container so that they react together to encapsulate the medical waste 26 in a hard foam material (not shown) within a short period of time (for example 25 minutes). The whole container including the medical waste can then be safely disposed of.

The primary container 1 is preferably made of light weight sheet metal or puncture-resistance plastics material and the secondary container is preferably also made of light-weight sheet metal, such as in the form of a can, or plastics material. The containers may be made of a suitable transparent material to enable their contents to be visible.

The containers can be any suitable size and shape, and the primary container 1 may have openings of different sizes, in particular the opening 5 may be larger than the opening 4. The secondary container 8 is illustrated as being bottle-shaped with the opening 13 in its base 10, but it may have any other suitable shape and opening position.

Furthermore, the opening 13 may be closed by any other suitable closure member instead of the foil seal 14. An alternative suitable example may be a stopper, such as a cork (not shown), inserted into the opening 13, or a digestible gel seal (not shown) covering the opening 13, which would be pushed out into the primary container by the plunger mechanism. In this example, the sharp member 18 of the plunger mechanism may not be provided.

In another application of the present invention, the container can be used as a multiple component delivery system, particularly suitable for food products including vitamins and food supplements and enhancers, which have a long shelf life until they are mixed with liquid to make them palatable.

Refrigeration is in short supply in many areas of emerging economy countries and in times of catastrophes such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, volcano eruptions, etc.

Products such as fortified drinks and foods can be shipped and stored without refrigeration if they are packed in boxes made in accordance with the two-part container of the present invention. The containers can be made very cheaply out of foil or cardboard or cheap plastic - such as dixie cups etc. The dry mixture would preferably be in the primary container with the secondary container holding the liquid part. When it is needed, it can then be mixed. The plunger can be made cheaply out of cardboard with a sharp edge at the bottom. Huge amounts of these two part containers can be dropped from aeroplanes. The contents will not spoil as it lays out in the open, such as the African bush. Thus, the present invention can be a major element in the relief of hunger and starvation the world over. Many different products may be stored and distributed in this manner, some examples being as follows: Powdered Baby Formula Powdered or crystallized drink mixer Powdered milk Instant Pancake mix Powdered water based paints - (the kind children use in school).

Cement mix (in small or large sizes) Dry pet food Powdered or crystallized chlorine (for home pools) Military dehydrated foods, as well as regular dehydrated foods for use by campers, astronauts, etc.

Such a delivery system can improve the taste of many dehydrated foods and the containers could even be buried underground. The containers can of course be made of any suitable material and be any suitable size or shape depending on their intended use.

The present invention can thus be seen to possess a number of unique advantages. For example, it can be used for the mixing of any liquid, granules or powdered materials which can be kept separate until actually required to be mixed. The container does not require any external devices, such as a sharp, for puncturing of the housing to effect mixing of the substances, and accidental access to the plunger mechanism is prevented to avoid premature mixing.

Additionally, there is no exposure of the user to the substances contained in the container. In the application of safe disposal of medical waste, the invention enables all sharps such as syringes and other medical waste such as gloves, tongue depressors, butterflies (i.e. wingedinfusions with tubes attached), cotton swabs, bandages, etc.

to be encapsulated simultaneously in the same container.

Claims (14)

1. A container having first and second compartments for containing respective substances, said compartments being separated by a wall, and said container including means for destroying the separating ability of said wall to enable the substances to be mixed together in said container.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wall is formed with an opening closed by a closure member, and said means for destroying the separating ability of said wall are arranged to act on said closure member to open said opening.

3. A container as claimed in claim 2, wherein the closure member comprises a pierceable seal and said means for destroying the separating ability of said wall are arranged to pierce said seal to open said opening.

4. A container as claimed in claim 2, wherein the closure member comprises a stopper and said means for destroying the separating ability of said wall are arranged to push out said stopper to open said opening.

5. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said means for destroying the separating ability of said wall comprise a plunger mechanism.

6. A container as claimed in claim 5, wherein said plunger mechanism is mounted in one of said compartments and is operable from outside said container.

7. A container as claimed in claim 6, wherein the part of the plunger mechanism which is external of said container is protected by a removable cover to prevent accidental operation of said mechanism.

8. A container as claimed in claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein the distal end of the plunger mechanism is sharp so as to aid in the destruction of the separating ability of said wall.

9. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said first and second compartments are formed by primary and secondary containers respectively, the secondary container being located within the primary container and being formed at least partially by said wall.

10. A container as claimed in claim 9, wherein said means for destroying the separating ability of said wall are mounted in said secondary compartment.

11. A container as claimed in claim 9 or 10, wherein said primary container is formed with two openings, one within which said secondary container is mounted and the other for insertion of items and/or a substance into said container and/or for removal of mixed substances from said container, at least said other opening being closed by a removable cover.

12. A container as claimed in any preceding claim, suitable for disposal of medical waste material, wherein said substances comprise respective components of a hardenable foam material which, when mixed, react together to encapsulate medical waste retained within said container.

13. A container as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11, suitable for storage of mixable products, in particular, food products, wherein said substances comprise respective components of a product which, when mixed together, render the product suitable for consumption or use.

14. A container substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.