GB2494696A

GB2494696A - Combination Lock Closure

Info

Publication number: GB2494696A
Application number: GB201116100A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Shafik Salih
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-09-17
Filing date: 2011-09-17
Publication date: 2013-03-20
Also published as: GB201116100D0

Abstract

A tamper resistant cap comprises an inner, threaded closure 11 and an outer intruder resistant device 1 rotating together with the closure when aligned allowing opening of the container, and rotating relative to the closure when misaligned to prevent opening. The device may comprise rings 1, 3, 4 joined by teeth 9 received in annular gaps. Marks e.g. numbers on each ring (figure 1) indicate correct alignment e.g. in the form of a code or password. The lower ring 4 has a stepped portion engaging a flexible lower part 12 of the closure. When the rings are not aligned a projection presses against part 12 preventing this part from passing the bottom 13 of a screw thread 20 on the container neck. When the rings are aligned the device may be pressed down, a gap 21 allowing space for portion 12 to pass the end of the screw thread so that the closure may be rotated and removed. Corresponding teeth 14, 23 and gaps on the inner surface of the device and outer surface of the closure engage when the rings are aligned providing a clutch to allow the device to be pressed down.

Description

A CONTAINER WITH AN INTRUDER-RESISTANT DEVICE (CAPCODE) This invention relates to a container and, more especially, this invention relates to a container with an intruder-resistant device.

Containers with intruder-resistant devices are known. The intruder-resistant devices may be devices for preventing access to the container by children. Alternatively, the intruder-resistant devices may be for preventing unauthorised tampering with the contents of the container. Often the known containers with their intruder-resistant devices are not as secure as is desirable.

It is an aim of the present invention to reduce the above mentioned problem.

Accordingly, in one non-limiting embodiment of the present invention there is provided a container comprising a body, a closure member which screws onto the body to close the container and which unscrews from the body to open the container, and an intruder-resistant device, and the container being such that: (i) the intruder-resistant device is positioned over the closure member; (ii) the intruder-resistant device is rotatable with respect to the closure member so that the closure member cannot be unscrewed to open the container; (iii) the intruder-resistant device is operably engagable with the closure member such that the intruder-resistant device is rotatable with the closure member in order to allow the closure member to be unscrewed from the body to open the container, and to be screwed onto the body to close the container; and (iv) the intruder-resistant device is only operably engagable with the closure member when the intruder-resistant device has been rotated to a predetermined opening position with respect to the closure member, the predetermined opening position being one position within a plurality of non-opening positions.

The capcode is a set of pieces of rings connected to each other and protecting the closure member of a container from accessing and only the correct alignment of them with each other can allow the user to reach the cap and open it, When the container is closed the closure member is unable to be turned or removed by any mean because of the lack of connection between the internal closure member and the intruder-resistant, therefore, the closure member can not be opened as usual. The intruder-resistant is the tool that separates the intruder from the internal closure member with which the container is covered or closed. The intruder-resistant coded cap is a set of rotatable pieces forming the external cap which is reachable by the user; this external cap can be formed with one, two or more pieces or rings, the complexity of the code can be increased by increasing the number of pieces and the possible positions of each piece, and that will make it more unlikely to guess the correct combination of these pieces which is necessary to open the container.

The container of the present invention is advantageous in that the intruder-resistant device is only operably engagable with the closure member when the intruder-resistant device has been rotated to a predetermined opening position with respect to the closure member. The container of the present invention is thus more secure than known containers with their intruder-resistant devices.

The container may be one in which the intruder-resistant device is operably engagable with the closure member by being movable longitudinally down or up of the container and into a friction-engaging contact with the closure member. The intruder-resistant device may comprise clutch formations which provide the intruder-resistant device with the friction-engaging contact. The clutch formations may be at least one segment operating in at least one recess. The segments may be moved into and out of their recesses with a longitudinal twisting motion of the intruder-resistant device with respect to the closure member. Other types of clutch formations may be employed.

The container may be one in which the intruder-resistant device and the closure member remain together whilst the closure member is being unscrewed from the body.

The intruder-resistant device may be in the form of a cover which fits over the closure member.

The closure member may be made in one or more pieces.

The container may be one in which the intruder-resistant device is made of more than one piece, in which the pieces are permanently connected together, and in which the closure member is made in one or more pieces.

The closure member may be rotatable with respect to the body and the intruder-resistant device.

The container of the present invention may include a ring member which is fixed with respect to the body, the ring member being connected to the closure member or the intruder-resistant device with breakable connections which break on the first opening of the container. The ring member or the body may contain markings which form part of an opening combination.

The container of the present invention may be one in which the intruder-resistant member is made of one or more pieces, and in which the pieces are permanently connected together. The container may then be one in which the permanent connections are formed by teeth or segments in gaps or grooves, and in which the teeth or segments are continuous or separated by gaps of grooves. Also, the container may be one in which the pieces of the intruder resistant member are marked on their outer surface to show a user how to find the predetermined opening position. The pieces of the intruder resistant member may be permanently connected together but such that they are able to be rotated with respect to each other.

The container may be one in which the intruder resistant member cannot be separated from the closure member.

The container may be one in which the closure member has connecting formations on its outer surface or its top surface. The connecting formations may be teeth, grooves or gaps. Other types of connecting formations may be employed. The connecting formations may be of a size and in a position to optimise the connection in the closed condition of the container.

The container may be one in which the connecting formations are on an external surface of the closure member, and on an internal surface of the intruder-resistant device. In this case, in the closed position of the container, the connecting formations on the external surface of the closure member may occupy a position in longitudinally spaced apart continuous grooves in the internal surface of the intruder-resistant device.

The container may be one in which the intruder-resistant device is operably engagable with the closure member by being movable longitudinally down or up of the container and into a friction-engaging contact with the closure member, and in which in the opening position of the container, the connecting formations on the external surface of the closure member occupy gaps in the intruder-resistant device.

Alternatively, the container may be one in which the intruder-resistant device is operably engagable with the closure member by being movable longitudinally down or up of the container and into a friction engaging contact with the container, and in which in the opening position of the container, teeth, notches or attached segments on the inner surface of the intruder-resistant device occupy gaps in the closure member In all embodiments of invention, the closure member may be a screw connection to the body. The container may be one in which the body has a neck, and in which the screw connection of the closure member is at the neck of the body.

The container may be one in which the closure member has flexible abutment means for engaging a part of the thread of the screw connection, and thereby stopping unauthorised attempts to open the closed container by preventing rotation of the closed member in the closed position of the container. The closure member may have a thicker portion to form a flexible abutment member which is pressed by the intruder-resistant device in the closed position to occupy gaps in between a thread of the screw connections to resist the closure member from rotating in the closed position while this portion automatically clears the gap in the opening position so that the intruder-resistant device releases the portion to allow the closure member to rotate.

The closure member may be a lid. Other types of closure member may be employed.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows an external appearance of a container using intruder-resistant device made of 3 pieces, the closure member is hidden while the 3 pieces of the intruder-resistant, a ring with its weak connections to the hidden closure member, the neck of the container, and the upper part of the container appear; Figure 2 shows a vertical section of the intruder-resistant device shown in figure 1 in the closed position; Figure 3 shows a vertical cross section of the device shown in 1 and 2 with another way to implement the connections between the pieces of intruder-resistant by teeth and gaps. Only the left half is depicted while the right half is similar, and only the appearing features are depicted roughly not the hidden features; Figure 4 shows a possible optimisation of the teeth connections; Figure 5 shows piece 3 with a possible modification of teeth 25 and 26 (roughly not accurate); Referring to the drawings, figure 1 has the following components: (1, 3, and 4) the 3 pieces of the intruder-resistant that can rotate and move together up and down. In the opening position these pieces are rotated to the predetermined positions and pressed down.

(2) A numerical symbol as an example of the marking used to identify the predetermined opening position of the intruder-resistant.

(5) Weak connection between the hidden closure member and the ring 6.

Before the container is opened for the first time, these connect the ring to the closure member, when the container is opened, these connections are destroyed but the ring stays fixed at the neck of the container. The ring can not move up and down or rotate in respect to the body, for this reason it is used for marking the position of the body and the marks form another part of the code that specifies the predetermined opening position of the device amongst a plurality of positions.

(6) A ring fixed on the neck of the container. The marks on this ring indicate the opening position of the intruder-resistant in respect to the closure member and the body of the container because the normal containers and caps are closed by screwing the cap tightly into the container until the cap can not be screwed any more, this position of the closure member in respect to the body is unique and fixed and it is the position where the intruder-resistant must be aligned to open the container and therefore, this position is indicated by the marks on 6 with marks forming a part of the cape code or the password to open the container.

(7) Neck of the container.

(8) The body of the container.

Figure 2 includes the following components: (9) One of the teeth piece 1 occupying the continuous gap in piece 3, there are similar ones in piece 3 occupying the gap in piece 4, these teeth are able to rotate inside the gaps but are unable to be released out of them in any case.

(10) Spiral tooth on the outer surface of the neck of the container, this tooth is ended as the part 20.

(11) The closure member of the container. It has teeth and gaps on its outer surface to provide connection with the intruder-resistant in the opening position through other teeth and gaps on the inner surface of the intruder-resistant; this connection allows the user to access the closure member, rotate it, and unscrew it from the neck of the container. The closure member has a spiral tooth on its inner surface as usual to be screwed and engaged with teeth of the neck. Therefore, the intruder-resistant device capcode can be used with any normal container with a cap.

(12) Thick portion of 11 which has a flexible connection with the closure member. In the closed position shown in figure 2, 12 is pressed by the piece 4 to occupy the space 17 between the inner surface of the closure member and the outer surface of the neck of the container where the spiral tooth of the closure member ends up as 13 and the spiral tooth of the container's neck ends up as 20. In this case, if the closure member was rotated in the closed position by any dodgy way such as friction with the intruder-resistant, the thick portion 12 must be rotated together with the closure member because it is part of it, when this portion approaches the end 20 of the spiral tooth of 7, the rotation stops because the portion is unable to continue occupying the space between 11 and 7 and rotate as the tooth end 20 is already occupying the space between 11, and 7 while 12 must occupy this space to continue rotating, therefore, the closure member stops rotating and the container stays locked securely. In the opening position the pieces 1. 3 and 4 are aligned correctly in respect to the closure member and the body to allow the intruder- resistant to move down, and then the portion 12 is released by the intruder-resistant. At this time the flexibility of the portion 12 connection pushes it away to clear the space between 1, and 7 and occupies the continuous gap 21 in piece 4, then the space is cleared and 11 is able to rotate freely with no restriction and the container is opened. When 11 and the intruder-resistant all together separated from the body, 12 prevents 11 from falling down to the closed position because 12 occupies the gap 21 and obstacles 11 from moving down with its own gravity, and the last advantage makes the usage of Capcode easier as it is not needed to be adjusted to the opening position each time 1 falls as a result to its own gravity. When 11 is screwed to close the container, it must be fully screwed and the container tightly closed because when the intruder-resistant is pulled up to close the container, if it is not tightly screwed, the portion 12 will be touching the end 20 of the spiral tooth 10, and then 20 prevents 12 from occupying the space between 11 and 7 and so, piece 4 can not be moved upward as it is restricted by 12. For that reason, part 12 causes the need of closing the container tightly which makes it safer. The last feature is another advantage of 12. Alternatively, a portion that does similar functions can be as a part of the neck of the container, the intruder-resistant or the closure member devoted to create connection between the closure member and the body or the neck to resist any possible rotation of the closure member caused by any dodgy attempt to open the container while the container is in the closed position. For example, if the portion was thick enough to occupy a gap 22 made in the neck, when the intruder-resistant pulled up in the closed position, it presses the portion down and push it to occupy the gap or the groove as the closure member ideally has a unique position in the closed position. Therefore, the portion becomes like a notch occupying a gap in the neck and it prevents the closure member from rotation in respect to the neck. Other forms of the portion can be done as well such as a flexible notch in the neck to occupy gap in the closure member and so on.

(14) One of the teeth attached at the outer surface of the closure member.

The teeth are occupying the continuous gaps made in the inner surface of the pieces of the intruder-resistant such as gap 16, in this position the teeth are able to rotate freely inside the gaps but the actual rotating parts in this case are the intruder-resistant pieces, so there won't be any connection with the closure member or any torque to rotate it. In the opening position, the intruder-resistant must be pressed down but the pieces must be in the predetermined positions o that the teeth 14 do not restrict it from pressing down by hitting the teeth 23 on the inner surface of the intruder-resistant, this can be done by rotating the pieces to the positions where the teeth 23 occupy the gaps such as 24 on the outer surface of the closure member and the teeth 14 occupy the gaps such as 15 in the inner surface of the intruder-resistant.

In the opening position, the teeth and gaps 14 with 15 and 23 with 24 clutch each other and provide the torque needed to rotate the closure member and open the container.

(18) Notches and grooves in the ring 6 and the body of the container used to fix the ring permanently in a unique position in respect to the body.

(19) A continuous teeth in piece 4 used to prevent the closure member form getting out the intruder-resistant in any case and keep it encapsulated inside the intruder-resistant permanently.

Figure 3 shows most of the components of figure 2 in addition to the following components: (25) Can be discrete or continuous teeth at the internal surface of the pieces 1 and 3 at one end. If 25 were discrete teeth that would make it easer to manufacture. 25 of 1 and 3 restrict teeth 26 of the next pieces 2 and 3 respectively and provide a permanent connection between the pieces 1 with 3 and 3 with 4 respectively.

(26) Teeth from 3 and 4. These teeth have two functions; the first is to provide the permanent connection between the pieces and prevent them from moving longitudinally away from each other, the second function is to occupy the gaps 24 between the teeth 14 in the opening position and as a result provide the connection and the torque needed to rotate the closure member, while they occupy the continuous space 27 on the outer surface of the closure member. A possible form of teeth 25 and 26 in piece 3 is shown in figure 5.

Figure 4 shows a possible distribution of the teeth and gaps referred to in the suggested intruder-resistant to provide an optimised connection in the opening position and resistance in the closed position. In figure 5 the permanent connection teeth are 25 while the teeth 26 and gaps provide temporary connection in the opening position such as the teeth 14 and gaps 15. The suggested distribution is not unique and it can be enhanced to maximise the resistance. The diagram is just a rough depiction of a possible distribution, and the dimensions of the diagram do not reflect these of the real implementation. The number of lines used is 10, and then the required quantized positions are 10. The lines 43 in the diagram mark these positions and are numbered form 1 to 10 (not all the numbers appear). AS an example, the distribution is applied on piece 1. The borders 44 marked with thick lines represent the gaps made for teeth (for example 14) to be passed through in the opening position, while the other sectors of the pie represent the teeth 23.

In this case, the diameter of circle 42 represents the diameter of the internal surface of piece 1, and the internal diameter represents the outer diameter of the closure member 11. The suggested optimized angles in this example are as follows: the thick borders between the radiuses 43 named 1 and 10 comprise an angle of 36° which is equal to the angular step between one position and the next one of the rotating pieces of the intruder-resistant. The centre of this area is located on the radius at 0° in the diagram. The area bordered with thick lines between radiuses 2 and 4 in the diagram comprises an angle of 54°=1.5*36 0 and its centre is located at the angle 99° of the diagram. The area bordered with thick lines between radiuses 7 and 9 in the diagram comprises an angle of 54°=1.5*36 and its centre is located at the angle 261° of the diagram. These values and locations make the resistance optimized in the closed position, in this case of the link, at least 3 points of restriction are provided between the two sets of teeth in the two parts in question. In general, to optimize the link, the following suggested values can be used, but these are not necessarily the best: the number of teeth is 3 if the lines are more than 4. The first tooth or gap comprises an angle equals to 360° divided by the number of required lines L (360°/L), and its centre is located at a proportional angle 0°. The second tooth (or gap) comprises an angle = 36001L*1.5, and its centre is located at an angle = 99°. The third tooth (or gap) comprises an angle = 3600/L*1.5, and its centre is located at an angle = 261°.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention described above with reference to the accompanying drawings have been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected. Individual components shown in the drawings are not limited to use in their drawings and they may be used in other drawings and in all aspects of the invention.

Claims

<claim-text>CLAIMS1. A container comprising a body, a closure member which screws onto the body to close the container and which unscrews from the body to open the container, and an intruder-resistant device, and the container being such that: (1) the intruder-resistant device is positioned over the closure member; (ii) the intruder-resistant device is rotatable with respect to the closure member so that the closure member cannot be unscrewed to open the container; (iii) the intruder-resistant device is operably engagable with the closure member such that the intruder-resistant device is rotatable with the closure member in order to allow the closure member to be unscrewed from the body to open the container, and to be screwed onto the body to close the container; and (iv) the intruder-resistant device is only operably engagable with the closure member when the intruder-resistant device has been rotated to a predetermined opening position with respect to the closure member, the predetermined opening position being one position within a plurality of non-opening positions.</claim-text> <claim-text>2. A container according to claim I in which the intruder-resistant device is operably engagable with the closure member by being movable longitudinally down or up of the container and into a friction-engaging contact with the closure member.</claim-text> <claim-text>3. A container according to claim 2 in which the intruder-resistant device comprises clutch formations which provide the intruder-resistant device with the friction-engaging contact.</claim-text> <claim-text>4. A container according to claim 3 in which the clutch formations are at least one segment operating in at least one recess.</claim-text> <claim-text>5. A container according to claim 4 in which the segments are moved into and out of their recesses with a longitudinal twisting motion of the intruder-resistant device with respect to the closure member.</claim-text> <claim-text>6. A container according to any one of the preceding claims in which the intruder-resistant device and the closure member remain together whilst the closure member is being unscrewed from the body.</claim-text> <claim-text>7. A container according to any one of the preceding claims in which the intruder-resistant device is in the form of a cover which fits over the closure member.</claim-text> <claim-text>8. A container according to any one of the preceding claims in which the closure member is made of one or more pieces.</claim-text> <claim-text>9. A container according to claim 8 in which the intruder-resistant device is made of more than one piece, in which the pieces are permanently connected together, and in which the closure member is made in one or more pieces.</claim-text> <claim-text>10. A container according to claim 8 or claim 9 in which the closure member is rotatable with respect to the body and the intruder-resistant device.</claim-text> <claim-text>11. A container according to any one of the preceding claims and including a ring member which is fixed with respect to the body, the ring member being connected to the closure member or the intruder-resistant device with breakable connections which break on the first opening of the container.</claim-text> <claim-text>12. A container according to claim 11 in which the ring member or the body contain markings which form part of an opening combination.</claim-text> <claim-text>13. A container according to any one of the preceding claims in which the intruder-resistant member is made of one or more pieces, and in which the pieces are permanently connected together.</claim-text> <claim-text>14. A container according to claim 13 in which the permanent connections are formed by teeth or segments in gaps or grooves, and in which the teeth or segments are continuous or separated by gaps.</claim-text> <claim-text>15. A container according to claim 13 or claim 14 in which the pieces of the intruder-resistant member are marked on their outer surfaces to show a user how to find the predetermined opening position.</claim-text> <claim-text>16. A container according to any one of claims 13-15 in which the pieces of the intruder-resistant member are permanently connected together but such that they are able to be rotated with respect to each other.</claim-text> <claim-text>17. A container according to any one of the preceding claims in which the intruder-resistant member cannot be separated from the closure member.</claim-text> <claim-text>18. A container according to any one of the preceding claims in which the closure member has connecting formations on its outer surface or its top surface.</claim-text> <claim-text>19. A container according to claim 18 in which the connecting formations are teeth, grooves or gaps.</claim-text> <claim-text>20. A container according to claim 18 or claim 19 in which the connecting formations are of a size and in a position to optimise the connection in the closed condition of the container.</claim-text> <claim-text>21. A container according to any one of claims 18 -20 in which the connecting formations are on an external surface of the closure member, and on an internal surface of the intruder-resistant device.</claim-text> <claim-text>22. A container according to claim 21 in which, in the closed position of the container, the connecting formations on the external surface of the closure member occupy a position in longitudinally spaced apart continuous grooves in the internal surface of the intruder-resistant device.</claim-text> <claim-text>23. A container according to claim 21 or claim 22 in which the intruder-resistant device is operably engagable with the closure member by being movable longitudinally down or up of the container and into a friction-engaging contact with the closure member, and in which in the opening position of the container, the connecting formations on the external surface of the closure member occupy gaps in the intruder-resistant device.</claim-text> <claim-text>24. A container according to claim 21 or claim 22 in which the intruder-resistant device is operably engagable with the closure member by being movable longitudinally down or up of the container and into a friction-engaging contact with the container, and in which in the opening position of the container, teeth, notches or attached segments on the inner surface of the intruder-resistant device occupy gaps in the closure member.</claim-text> <claim-text>25. A container according to any one of the preceding claims in which the closure member is a screw connection to the body.</claim-text> <claim-text>26. A container according to claim 25 in which the body has a neck, and in which the screw connection of the closure member is at the neck of the body.</claim-text> <claim-text>27. A container according to claim 25 or claim 26 in which the closure member, or the neck has flexible abutment means for engaging a part of the thread of the screw connection so that the thread of the screw restricts the portion and the closure member from rotation, or the portion if it is in the neck restricts the closure member from rotation in respect to the container, and thereby stopping unauthorised attempts to open the closed container by preventing rotation of the closure member in the closed position of the container.</claim-text> <claim-text>28. A container according to claim 25 claim 26 or claim 27 in which the closure member or the neck of the container has flexible abutment means for occupying a gap in the container neck or in the closure member in the closed position so that the closure member is restricted from rotation in respect to the container, and thereby stopping unauthorised attempts to open the closed container by preventing rotation of the closure member in the closed position of the container.</claim-text> <claim-text>29. A container according to claim 27 or claim 28 in which the closure member or the neck of the container has a thicker portion to form a flexible abutment member which is pressed by the intruder-resistant device in the closed position to occupy gaps in between a thread of the screw connections, the normal gap between the closure member and the neck of the container, or special gap or groove in the neck or the closure member so that the closure member is resisted from rotating in respect to the neck in the closed position while this portion automatically clears the gap in the opening position so that the intruder-resistant device releases the portion to allow the closure member to rotate.</claim-text> <claim-text>30. A container according to any one of the preceding claims in which the closure member is a lid.</claim-text> <claim-text>31. A container substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.</claim-text>